WOMEN’S HERSTORY MONTH 2021

HERstory. It’s not an afterthought. It’s not a subplot to gallant Biff Muscles’s quest. It doesn’t need you to believe women are worth your attention, because this story transcends any attempts to belittle. HERstory is not about anything but her story: the way all the wonderful variants of “she” moves through the universe. HERstory is adventurous, daring, dangerous, uplifting, regal, fraught, loving, brawling, humorous, sensual, brilliant, imaginative…and complete.

Take a while to enjoy this story. A long while. Its rewards will literally change who you thought you were.

Team Narazu

All Indie. All Awesome.

It’s been almost an entire century since the first full-length animated feature released, 1926’s The Adventures of Prince Achmed. Its director Lotte Reiniger was a German filmmaker and animation pioneer, specifically within the field of silhouette animation, utilizing a multiplane camera of her own making. The different layers allowed her to structure animated sequences of remarkable depth and experimentally creative potential throughout her long career, with Prince Achmed an incredible demonstration of this technical marvel and starring Reiniger’s signature handcrafted shadow-puppet-like elements. Incorporating an orchestral soundtrack in a story that drinks deeply from One Thousand and One Nights, the film tells a story of a kidnapping sorcerer with the titular prince fighting to rescue his sister. While a series of gorgeously designed intertitles feature narrative text, the film is bursting with novelty and style, always seemingly hiding another trick up its sleeve, whether it be the curious special effects that render sparkling magic spells and smoking volcanoes or the way it transforms a flat two-dimensional plane into an insectile crowd scene. Reiniger’s film, despite being fairly well known and highly regarded, is currently trickier to find online than should be the case. Criterion Channel hosted it for a while, but your best bet will probably be directly from Milestone Films which seems to own the American rights, and offers both Blu-Ray and streaming rental options. While you’re at it, this New York Times article is a good primer on Lotte Reiniger.

For women, the Best Director Oscar still only counts Kathryn Bigelow as recipient. It may have been The Hurt Locker that seemingly propelled her to household name, but I will never forget first meeting her work in the theater where I watched Strange Days. Still and to this day one of the finest cyberpunk films ever made, Strange Days also finds connective tendrils to recent contentiously released game Cyberpunk 2077’s “Braindance” concept, in the form of a VR module that translates tactile, psycho-emotional experiences to drug-like escapes. Ralph Fiennes plays sleazoid hipster doofus Lenny, who peddles these recordings to “playback addicts” and constantly gets his ass saved from sawblades by Mace, a no-less-than-stunning Angela Bassett. It’s a grimy, urban futurist mélange, complete with shady corporations and melting-potluck city enviros, even if the political rap performances by Glenn Plummer as Jeriko One come off a bit strained. James Cameron may have penned it but, really, Strange Days is Bigelow’s story, and her gritty directorial signature summons memorable scene after memorable scene. I’ll never forget the women’s studies class I took which spent an entire lesson on the extensive first-person sexual assault scene, detailing what’s so sickening about it while also serving as a peerless commentary on entertainment. It’s probably the most-discussed and challenging scene in the film, but it’s merely a standout among a dozen or so more. A notorious box office failure that’s now risen to cult status in spite of the fact that it features Tom Sizemore playing himself, celebrate the turn of the millennium with Bigelow’s ahead-of-its-time, provocative, but approachable sci-fi masterpiece. Unfortunately, streaming this film is a tough pull at the moment, but some DVDs are still available for purchase on Amazon – note that many are not region-free, so you may want to rifle through the options to find an American release, with used copies predictably more wallet-friendly.

Finally, the actual future…which, in this case, looks very much like the past. That’s Konstantina Papadopoulou’s iCon, a short Greek film I first learned about over at Rod T. Faulkner’s website The 7^th Matrix. iCon tells a delicate, exquisitely acted tale about technology, living off the grid, and living off the grid while on the grid. Apparently inspired by a 60s sci-fi story by George Henry Smith, the film presents Orpheus and Daphni as a forest-dwelling couple deep in an uncanny wood. As day and night meander it seems unclear what Orpheus’ purpose here is, until battling a dog and awakening back to a high-tech apartment built of smoothed out corners and holo-lenses. The depth of the narrative is ample in spite of its meager script, but the photography in particular is on another level, guided by the hand of collaborator Maria Tzortzatou, whose name I expect to see more of. It’s rare that a sci-fi short goes for this tenor and tone, only able to achieve it via meticulous care on the visual and audio fronts; the breathing sounds at the top of the mix in a sex scene feels unbearably intimate, a small physical gesture to a sleeping lover weighs heavily, and all of it contrasts with the broken dream at the center of the story. Watch iCon on Vimeo, where its mere few thousand views seems drastically low, and follow these filmmakers over the next few years (since I do believe that they’re still both still enrolled in university).

The Banks

TKO Studios

Writer: Roxane Gay

Artist: Ming Doyle

Colorist: Jordie Bellaire

Letterer: Ariana Maher

The Banks women are a multi-generational family of thieves from Chicago out for what seems like one last score, but this is also a tale of revenge. After years of staying away from the family business, investment banker Celia Banks is passed over for a well-deserved promotion to partner. During the party to celebrate the person who received the partnership instead, Celia overhears a conversation about a client’s home that has a substantial amount of money, enough money that she decides to reach out to her family to rob this millionaire. Roxane Gay crafts a tight story with characters who have distinctive flairs to their personalities, further enhanced by the intricate design and solid artwork of Ming Doyle. This book does a lot of different things. Through the eyes of the Banks Women, we get to examine Women in terms of equity in the workplace and relationship dynamics, the good and the very bad, all while wrapped up in a thriller of a heist/payback story that spans decades.

Iris and Angel

Iron Circus

Writer: C. Spike Trotman

Artist: Amanda Lafrenais

I had heard about C. Spike Trotman and Iron Circus Publishing before but hadn’t had a chance to read anything from this publisher until working on a recent project that required some research of Black-owned publishers. As I looked around their website I found this gem of an adult romantic slice-of-life story with a decidedly  kink twist. Iris is looking for an accountant to help her with her business. Her friend suggests she take advantage of an offer made by Angel, who’s looking for someone to share his fetish of wearing women’s clothes. Artist Amanda Lafrenais does a great job visualizing the world that Iris and Angel live in as the character designs are crafted like people we would see in the real world. Again this is an Adult book not for young folks, but grown people will find this story warm and quirky. This is a book that is as funny as it’s engaging, from the friendly banter of Iris and her friend to the awkward first meeting of Iris and Angel in a coffee shop.