Girl Week 2018: Female Directors of 2018

I’ve been following the amazing Dell of Dell on Movies for years now, and for the last 4 years, he’s hosted a week-long blogathon celebrating all females in movies, called Girl Week! I took part in his very first edition but missed the last 2, so there was no way I was going to duck out this year. If you want to find out more about Dell’s Girl Week, check out his announcement post here.

This year, I decided I wanted to celebrate the female directors of movies I’ve seen so far in 2018. Excitedly, I spend a bit of time on my Letterboxd account checking who directed all of the 2018 releases I’ve seen. The results were honestly quite shocking. Out of the 47 movies I’ve seen, only 4 were directed by women. 4! I wasn’t expecting a high figure, but I’m shocked it’s that low.

So although my post won’t be as long as I thought/hoped it would be, let me tell you about these 4 movies and what I love most about them.

To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before, Directed by Susan Johnson

This is an absolute gem of a Netflix movie. At face value, To All the Boys is a generic high school rom com with nothing new to bring to the table. Predictable it is, but it has such an infectious charm that you can’t help but love it. I’m yet to find someone who’s watched it and hasn’t enjoyed it!

Susan Johnson has also directed Carrie Pilby (2016).

The Spy Who Dumped Me, Directed by Susanna Fogel

I only watched and reviewed this movie recently, but it’s one I had been looking forward to for a really long time. Whilst it’s not one of the greatest comedies out there that I’m going to rewatch several times, it was a lot of fun when I viewed it. The chemistry between the two lead actresses really made it worthwhile for me!

Susanna Fogel has also directed Life Partners (2014).

Blockers, Directed by Kay Cannon

Okay everybody, raise your hand if you expected Blockers to be anywhere near as funny as it turned out to be…no one? I know, right! I’m just so glad for the bloggers out there who gave this movie a chance because I was going to skip it completely. If you haven’t watched it yet – please do! It’s one of the better comedies of this year for sure.

Blockers is Kay Cannon’s directional debut.

I Feel Pretty, Directed by Abby Kohn (and Marc Silverstein)

From what I can gather, Amy Schumer is a bit like Marmite, people either love her or hate her. I don’t follow her activities closely enough to have formed any real judgement, and whilst I Feel Pretty wasn’t a perfect movie, it had some brilliantly funny moments and I really appreciate the sentiment that it was rooting for.

I Feel Pretty is Abby Kohn’s feature-length directional debut.

I don’t feel like I’ve been able to make this post as positive as I would have liked, but if nothing else I think I’ve highlighted the fact that we need more female directors out there!

Thank you again Dell for hosting this amazing blogathon – I’m looking forward to reading everyone else’s posts!