Popular reviews

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  Review by Wes Edwards ★★★½

  When Jane Campion won the Best Director Oscar this week, she became just the third woman in Academy history to win that award. Just seven women have been nominated. The first was Italy's Lina Wertmuller, for Seven Beauties in 1976.

  Wertmuller died in December at age 93. She was one of the actors and filmmakers remembered at the Oscar ceremony on Sunday.

  The director made over two dozen films in her career, including four in the 1970s that won international acclaim–The Seduction of Mimi, Seven Beauties, Swept Away and Love and Anarchy. This documentary, now streaming on Criterion, is a brisk and well-made appreciation of those films and the entirety of Wertmuller's work.

  I am not sure who the audience…

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  Review by 🖤 ★★★½

  john simon is kind of a huge dick

  
  also lina saying she fostered harvey keitel’s sex appeal? iconic.

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  Review by lee ray ★★★½

  now knowing that lina had a background in musical comedies really contextualizes the over-the-top playfulness of her films that balances with the socially conscious aspect as well; the perfect balance for a perfect satire. but there’s so much more to learn about lina here in this doc and quite frankly, my admiration for her has grown!

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  Review by quietprofanity ★★★½

  So, I thought this was going to be a film that I watched while playing 2048 and then the opening began with shots of her beautiful lamp collection/photographs and led into Lina Wertmueller singing about orgies and I decided that this needed my full attention.

  I really wish that some female directors had been called to be talking heads for this one, especially since the film still plays into Great Auteurs Who Are Headstrong Artistes and Take No Shit in a very masculine way. (There's a story Massimo Wertmuller tells about her yelling at some actors that sounds very Amy Klobuchar-ian ... which is a contrast to her friend saying that she never says anything bad about anybody.) I really…

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  Review by ‮דניאל ניקראסוב‬ ★★★

  אני חושב שבזכות הסרט אני מאוהב בה כפליים.

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  Review by Boxer_Santaros

  Pleasant enough hagiography, was worth it just to salivate over footage of some more obscure Wertmueller joints that I'll probably never be able to actually find anywhere, but lord my fucking jaw hit the floor during the quick bit where everyone (or maybe it was just that one relative of hers?) was having a quick larff over all the various times Wertmuller had physically assaulted actors on set. Like, hitting one guy repeatedly in the face until it left a mark, and biting another on the finger so hard he had to go to the hospital, oddly enough always related to them performing hand movements she didn't like/want, jesus fucking yikes.

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  Review by a ★★★½

  tag yourself i'm fellini who keeps 3422002 different photos of women /and/ marcellino

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  Review by jshopa ★★½

  Having only just started to get into her work, I was interested in this but really the only films it talks about are the three I've seen plus Swept Away and it feels more like a documentary about her house than about her as a director most of the time. One of the first statements made in this film is that she is one of only two important female directors (along with Leni Riefenstahl) which is a really bad foot to start out on

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  Review by The Pieper Review ★★★½

  Intriguing documentary about one of world's most underrated directors. The sections about her work in the 70s, her debut, and her work on 8 1/2 with Fellini are the most interesting. There is also some great insights about her movies from various sociologists, critics, and Martin Scorsese.

  2020: The Pieper Review -- Film #83 (2/29/2020)

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  Review by pommes_fukck

  i need more wertmüller content

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  Review by Mtume ★★★★

  Lovely document of a genius who is vastly underrated. It was great to get a real peak into her work and life. 

  Available on the Criterion Channel. Def check it out.

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  Review by Leah ★★★½

  A nice overview on Lina Wertmüller's career highlights and getting to know her better as a person, but I felt like they could have gone deeper on the themes she explored and given more time to some of her masterpieces.

  Also. Why was John Simon in there as a talking head? All he brought was a real negative vibe and to give him the last word in the doc felt off, imho.

  That said, there were some excellent talking heads and especially hearing Giancarlo Giannini talk about his collaborations with Lina did not disappoint. Having watched four of their movies together back-to-back, I was struck by how different Giannini was able to look in each through makeup so hearing him…