Women’s History Month is usually in March, but maybe Hulu didn’t get the memo. They just added a bunch of new movies at the beginning of July, and many of them feature strong female protagonists.
Watch With Us is celebrating the power of all things female this weekend with a trio of films that have won awards and goodwill from audiences over the years.
Lady Bird was a big hit nearly a decade ago, and Greta Gerwig’s coming-of-age dramedy still resonates today.
Bend It Like Beckham introduced the world to Keira Knightley, while Run Lola Run showed just how experimental – and fun – movies can be.
‘Lady Bird’ (2017)
Christine McPherson (Saoirse Ronan) is desperate to escape her hometown, but she has one problem she can’t quite overcome just yet – she’s still a kid. But graduation is just around the corner, and she has her sights set on an adult life in New York City. She’ll have to grow up a little first, which means enduring cringey relationships with boys, tolerating her slacker brother and his equally lazy girlfriend, and her complicated relationship with her stressed-out mother, Marion (Laurie Metcalf). Christine wants to grow up fast, but she doesn’t realize she might miss out on the best part of becoming an adult.
Nominated for five Oscars in 2018, Lady Bird is one of the rare films that feels like an instant classic. That’s due to a lot of things: the pitch-perfect acting, especially from Ronan and Metclaf as a mother-daughter who frustrate each other to no end; the almost too-real screenplay, which contains a lot of truths about the agonies and ecstasies of growing up; and the sensitive direction by Greta Gerwig, who is clearly telling a fictionalized version of her own youth. Lady Bird is a movie you hold close to your chest and cherish, hoping nothing will diminish its luster. Nothing will.
Lady Bird is streaming on Hulu.
‘Run Lola Run’ (1998)
Lola (Franka Potente) is too good for Manni (Moritz Bleibtreu); she already knows this before he tells her he’s going to rob a nearby grocery store to pay his drug lord boss for money he lost in a deal. Lola knows if Manni goes through with it, he’ll wind up dead, so she sets off to get the money herself and save her no-good bf from certain death.
On paper, Run Lola Run’s plot is pretty straightforward, but it’s the execution that makes Run Lola Run stand out – and what makes it so fresh and modern a quarter-century after its first release. Director Tom Tykwer tells Lola’s story three times, utilizing a Choose Your Own Adventure approach that details how his main protagonist’s story changes if she makes different decisions, like if she decides to scream at a cyclist she runs into while running, or if fate intervenes, which either dooms or saves her. Run Lola Run is a fun, playful film; if there’s not much beneath the surface, well, then just enjoy the surface – especially the earwormy techno soundtrack.
Run Lola Run is streaming on Hulu.
‘Bend It Like Beckham’ (2002)
Jess (ER’s Parminder Nagra) is 18, lives in London and follows her parents’ strict rules – well, mostly. She’s obsessed with soccer and, in particular, David Beckham, but her parents don’t want her to play for fear of her grades suffering. With the help of her friend Jess (Keira Knightley), Jess tries out for the local women’s team and earns a spot. When the team wins enough games to qualify for the championship, Jess is ecstatic – until she learns it’s on the same day as her older sister’s wedding. Jess faces an impossible choice, and if she makes the wrong one, she could regret it forever.
World Cup fever is still running high, so it’s only appropriate to watch one of the best soccer movies ever made. Even if you’re not a fan of European football, you can still cherish Bend It Like Beckham, which tells a coming-of-age story we can all relate to. Nagra and Knightley are fully believable as teenage girls who get a kick – literally! – out of competing in a sport they love, even when they have a crush on the same guy. Bend It Like Beckham is the rare film that doesn’t trivialize female friendships or center them around men; instead, it focuses on their shared love of scoring goals on the pitch and basking in the glow of winning a hard-fought game.
Bend It Like Beckham is streaming on Hulu.
