Women In Trouble

Women In Trouble is an interesting little film by Sebastian Gutierrez. It’s the interwoven tale of several groups of women having a bad day in the Los Angeles area; porn star Elektra Luxx finds out she’s pregnant and ends up stuck in an elevator during a heat wave with Doris who is struggling with her sister Addy & niece Charlotte; Charlotte is seeing her mother’s shrink and Addy is seeing the shrink’s husband; two prostitutes run into the distraught shrink and help her get drunk to drown her sorrows; meanwhile in the air two flight attendants deal with Nick Chapel – Elektra’s boyfriend & a high profile rock star.

The obvious comparison here is to Perdo Almodovar’s Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, but I don’t think this was Gutierrez’s full intention –his film may be more homage than American remake. While the cast of distraught female characters is there, and a bit of a quirky artistic flare, I do think that Gutierrez was trying to make a artistic statement about a day in the lives of these women in a difficult environment.

I’ve read a few reviews that based Women In Trouble for being a horrible depiction of women – hookers, porn stars, victims & dumb blondes. While I do agree that these women are all an extreme I didn’t find this offensive and I am a woman. To serve this film justice the characters in this film needed to be pretty extreme – otherwise it would have to be a serious drama like Far From Heaven or Revolutionary Road instead of being quirkily upbeat. Besides, if you’ve spent any time at all in LA – you’ve seen plenty of women like all of these women – even the naive shrink and too world-wise child.

All in all I enjoyed the quirky pace of this film. I’ll probably check out the sequel Elektra Luxx when it makes it’s way to me. Gutierrez painted a unique enough world that I would not mind visiting it again and finding out what happened to Elektra after the credits rolled.

Director & Writer: Sebastian Gutierrez
Elektra Luxx: Carla Gugino
Holly Rocket: Adrianne Palicki
Doris: Connie Britton
Addy: Caitlin Keats
Charlotte: Isabella Gutierrez
Travis McPherson: Simon Baker
Maxine McPherson: Sarah Clarke
Bambi: Emmanuelle Chriqui
Cora: Marley Shelton
Nick Chapel: Josh Brolin
Bert Rodriguez: Joseph Gordon-Levitt

The Devil Wears Prada

Andy is one of the newly graduated individuals looking for her big break and is shocked when she gets it – she is hired as Miranda Priestly’s assistant at Runway, the world’s premier fashion publication. If Andy can survive a year under Miranda’s intense scrutiny and flair for the dramatic she can get hired at any publication she applies for. However, Andy quickly realizes that to survive at Runway means some large changes in her life; from her fashion sense to her attitude Andy is forced into a new world that she doesn’t fully understand yet and attempts to discover where the line between ambition and selling your soul truly lies.

The Devil Wears Prada was one of the biggest surprises for me the year it came out. I expected a garden variety chick flick and was shocked to find a genuinely great movie that I would want to see over and over again. From the fashion on the screen, to four uniquely memorable characters I could not get enough of this movie. Perhaps, I identify with Andy Sachs because I too am looking for my big break into an impossible industry, but I think this is a great movie.

What I actually remember most about this movie, and think is one of the most brilliant things it could have done is the marketing strategy. Though the film had a built in audience as it is based on a best selling book, and Meryl Streep guaranteed a certain box office cache, the moment the first trailer for The Devil Wears Prada hit it became a sensation, and it spawned a trend.

The trailer for the film was a scene from the film. Not just any scene mind you but one of the most memorable scenes in the film, the scene where Miranda first arrives to the office and you see the entire staff of Runway whip into a frenzy of subject terror as Andy watches in wonderment. It was brilliant. It not only set up the film perfectly, but gave you a taste of what the film would be like if you went to the theater to see it. I know more people that went to this movie after seeing the trailer than I can say for any other movie of its kind.

Along with being a witty and well made film The Devil Wears Prada is a film filled to the brim with good performances and memorable characters. This is definitely a film to see.

Director: David Frankel
Writer: Aline Brosh McKenna
Miranda Priestly: Meryl Streep
Andy Sachs: Anne Hathaway
Emily: Emily Blunt
Nigel: Stanely Tucci
Christian Thompson: Simon Baker
Nate: Adrian Grenier
Lily: Tracie Thomas
Doug: Rich Sommer
James Holt: Daniel Sunjata

Miranda Priestly: Do you know why I hired you? I always hire the same girl- stylish, slender, of course... worships the magazine. But so often, they turn out to be- I don't know- disappointing and, um... stupid. So you, with that impressive résumé and the big speech about your so-called work ethic- I, um- I thought you would be different. I said to myself, go ahead. Take a chance. Hire the smart, fat girl. I had hope. My God. I live on it. Anyway, you ended up disappointing me more than, um- more than any of the other silly girls.