52 Films By Women Highlights: Slums of Beverly Hills, Sunshine Superman, and American Mary

Well it's been nearly a year, but I've finally finished my goal to watch 52 films directed by women within a year's time. While this isn't difficult for a frequent movie-viewer like myself, it should be noted that I've easily watched over more than 52 films with female directors in genres ranging from action, romance, dramas, documentaries, and even horror. As such today's highlighted films represent a collection of genres and ideas. Here's to more female influence in movie making now and moving forward.

Slums of Beverly Hills

Before she endeared herself to Netflix fans in Orange is the New Black, Nathasha Lyonne endeared herself to audiences with a series of small cult films including But I'm A Cheerleader and this slice of life comedy. Following a teenage girl and her nomadic Beverly Hills family, Lyonne's Vivian deals with her burgeoning womanhood as her father tries to keep money from his brother in law coming in to maintain a better lifestyle. The cast is stacked with Lyonne, a young David Krumholtz, Eli Marienthal, Jessica Walters, and Alan Arkin all turning in solid slightly subdued comedic performances. However, the highlight has to be a livewire turn from Marisa Tomei, as a recovering drug addict. The movie is a tad uneven, ranging from melodrama to the amusement of everyday life, but the end result is fairly funny and slightly touching.

Sunshine Superman

By now, base jumping is a world unto itself with daredevils going as far as the Earth's orbit for their jumps. But the springboard for all of that was an electrical engineer with a zest for life named Carl Boenish. In this doc, we track Carl's BASE jumping origins, his clashes with the law, and his eventual demise with interviews from former jumpers and stunning footage from Carl and company's adventures. The movie is full of interesting tidbits such as the involvement of Boenish's wife, whom many describe as "looking like a librarian" as well as the crew's method for jumps in cities. The only notable weakness however, is how Boenish's personal beliefs may have a played a role in his death, but this is a hiccup in an otherwise exciting film.

American Mary

This movie is great for body horror enthusiasts and.....that's about it. The film centers around the titular Mary, a med student looking for a way to pay her tuition, as she is drawn into a world of surgical enhancement. With a natural gift and plenty of curiosity, Mary is quickly drawn into a seedy underworld of modification surgery that thrills her artistic side but could lead her down a terrifying road. While the movie's finale is notably lacking in thrills and chills, there's plenty of gross-out, gore, and body horror to go around here.