Citizen Dame

This month we're traveling back to 1987, starting with the Academy Award-winning romance, Moonstruck.

Plot: Loretta Castorini, a bookkeeper from Brooklyn, New York, finds herself in a difficult situation when she falls for the brother of the man she has agreed to marry.

Directed by: Norman Jewison

We close out our Women's History Month discussion of Penelope Spheeris with THE movie of the 1990s: Wayne's World, starring Mike Myers and Dana Carvey! Hear about the film that introduced a generation to "Bohemian Rhapsody" and maybe sort of formed Lauren's entire psyche.

Next week, we'll be chatting about Moonstruck, so defo prep for that!

Party on!

We continue our Penelope Spheeris series with her first narrative feature, Suburbia.

Plot summary:

Suburbia is director Penelope Spheeris's study of the Los Angeles punk rock scene in the early 1980s. Evan and his younger brother leave their broken home in an attempt to escape their alcoholic mother. They find family in a group of punks who live as squatters in an abandoned house by the side of the highway.

We're celebrating Women's History Month by discussing some of the best films of the severely underrated Penelope Spheeris, whose filmography is quite something. First up: Spheeris's first feature, The Decline of Western Civilization, an intense, enjoyable, wholly strange documentary about the LA hardcore punk scene in 1979/1980. Even if you're not a punk fan, this is a must-see.

We'll be on a brief break next week, but will return the week after to discuss Spheeris's Suburbia (1983), a fictionalized take on the punk lifestyle.

We conclude our David Lynch series with his first Academy Award-nominated feature, The Elephant Man. Released in 1980, John Hurt stars as John Merrick, a Victorian era freak show star whose life changes when he meets Dr. Frederick Treves, played by Anthony Hopkins. But of course, with David Lynch telling the story, there is so much more to it than what lies on the surface.

This week we continue our David Lynch series with Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me, the prequel film to the remarkable series.

Trigger warning for discussion of sexual abuse/incest.

This week, we continue our David Lynch series by exploring the mysteries of Mulholland Drive.

Plot summary: After a car wreck on Mulholland Drive renders a woman amnesiac, she and a Hollywood-hopeful search for clues and answers across Los Angeles in a twisting venture beyond dreams and reality.

We're back and better than ever! After a brief hiatus while Karen was at Sundance, the Dames return to discuss some of the must-sees of the festival, followed by a deep dive into David Lynch's 1986 masterpiece Blue Velvet, starring Kyle MacLachlan, Isabella Rossellini, and Laura Dern.

This week, we're discussing Andy Griffith's first big screen role in A Face in the Crowd, the 1957 film from Elia Kazan. Griffith stars as Lonesome Rhodes, a wandering musician who is discovered in a small county jail and goes on to become an influential television star. It is a fascinating and timely examination of fame, influence, and the cult of personality.

Additional Reading:

Vulture Article: "There Is No Safe Word: How the Best-Selling Fantasy Author Neil Gaiman hid the darkest parts of himself for decades."

The Dames delve into the darkness and despair with Robert Eggers's Nosferatu, a Dracula adaptation, remake of Murnau's 1922 film, and work of art all its own.