What can I say?
It’s a raw, traumatic, challenging, immersive, spectacular film.
Not for faint of heart or weary of head. But boy oh boy does it educate, inform and inspire. EVERYTHING I EVER WANTED TO TELL MY DAUGHTER ABOUT MEN is, to my mind, a watershed moment.
It manages to convey the still untold, unspoken truths that women endure. There is a documentarian, almost real-time urgency to the tone and style; without losing the essentially experimental, dramatic innovation on display.
And philosophically, this is by no means a misandrist piece, either. Reflecting on and redirection of a man’s behaviour need not, in itself, be an attack on ‘men’. And if you see things that way, as a ‘man’? Ask yourself WHY. Yep.
What impressed me especially about the film was how a number of what might be otherwise ‘shorts’; cohered into one, all the while remaining self-contained in merit.
Because that, ultimately, is how one conveys pain, love; human interest and the need for reform (be that personal or political and so on).
The screening I attended was in aid of REFUGE. That is a vital charity. PLEASE SUPPORT IT.
It was a real privilege to be at the event. 23 short films. In one! And made by a team of entirely female directors. Those include Maryam D’Abo (see, a Bond connection is always there!) and Susannah Harker (someone I have had the pleasure of corresponding with, on occasion).
If I totally stuffed up at the event? It was by asking a movie-nerd question about editing. When what the Q and A was ‘for’ was the promotion of a vital and life saving charitable drive.
That said? I was very nervous. And I simply meant to laud the sublime editing quality. Such cinematic craft and graft is something to celebrate. It exists as both escape from and tool in the fight against oppression.
IE: Aesthetics and morality connect, through film. And it is in the style and substance of a cut whereby that relationship between director and audience is grown.
Spielberg conveyed that beautifully in THE FABELMANS. And everyone involved with EVERYTHING I EVER WANTED TO TELL MY DAUGHTER ABOUT MEN has done so, too, in similar method, albeit with more urgent and specific aim.
Please do check out the film if and when you can. I recommend it, albeit with a warning that you will be forced to think, feel, reflect and that is not something to do lightly over popcorn or whatever. Serious subject matter. And substantial, distinguished art is here the perfect platform match.
With special thanks to Freya and Penni, for inviting me. x
