Get Your Reps In: This Week’s Films Center on Complicated Women on the Fringes of Society

These heroines and antiheroines are pushed to their breaking points, be they impoverished and desperate or privileged and isolated. In other words, the theme is “Women Be Snapping.”

By Mia Vicino

While the local rep theaters are out of commission, we'll be putting together weekly watchlists of films readily available to stream. This week's suggestions center on complicated women on the fringes of society who are pushed to their breaking points, be they impoverished and desperate or privileged and isolated. In other words, the theme is "Women Be Snapping."


Wanda (1970)

With her debut film, Wanda, Barbara Loden became the first woman in cinematic history to direct, write and star in her own feature. Playing the titular role, Loden crafts a heartbreaking character study of an aimless antiheroine who, after being fired from her low-paying job in a sewing factory, inadvertently goes on the run with a hapless bank robber. Criterion Channel, Kanopy.


Swallow (2019)

Emotionally repressed, newly pregnant and feeling trapped by her new husband's overbearing family, a housewife (Haley Bennett) develops a concerning new habit in order to gain some sense of control over her life: swallowing inedible objects. Amazon Prime, Google Play, Hulu, Showtime, Sling TV, Vudu, YouTube.

Morvern Callar (2002)

Traumatized after discovering her writer boyfriend has committed suicide, Scottish grocery worker Morvern Callar (Samantha Morton) decides to chop up his body, steal his unpublished novel, pass it off as her own, and go on vacation with her best friend. Written and directed by the great Lynne Ramsay. Amazon Prime, Kanopy.

Fish Tank (2009)

Academy Award winner Andrea Arnold directs this coming-of-age drama about Mia (Katie Jarvis), a volatile 15-year-old living in the projects of Essex. When her mum snags an attractive new boyfriend (Michael Fassbender), Mia becomes infatuated with him despite their wide age gap, irrevocably complicating the relationships between the three. Amazon Prime, Criterion Channel, Google Play, iTunes, Sling TV, YouTube.

Beast (2017)

Jessie Buckley stars as Moll, a troubled 27-year-old whose life is upended when a handsome stranger (Johnny Flynn) rolls into her small island community on the English Channel. Sure, he's suspected of a string of brutal murders, but Moll, wanting to rebel against her affluent family and harboring a few dark secrets of her own, willfully ignores the rumors. Amazon Prime, Google Play, Kanopy, Sling TV, Vudu, YouTube.

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