Girlfriends

i saw this at the theater when it came out, haven't thought about it since and i think very few others have either. it's not even in my 1994 Leonard Maltin guide. but it remained with me regardless, to the point that a chance encounter with the title just now provoked me to come here to say that all these good reviews are well deserved. i'm almost afraid to find and watch it again... no, i'm confident i'll like it just as much, even thirty-five years later. hmm, too bad i have to write ten lines; i thought i had said it all. what to add? that sometimes, as with this review, less is better, and film might be better with less than Woody Allen would have done with more. oh, and that Kubrick called it the best film of 1978.

When Susan's housemate gets married and moves out, Susan (Anita Mayron) realizes she's on her own now. At a party, she meets up with "Eric", played by Christopher Guest, in an early role. She's a photographer, taking bar mitzvah pictures to pay the bills. Bob Balaban is in here also, as the husband of the housemate, Anne ( Anita Skinner) . Pretty slow moving. Was expecting a bit more humor or something to jazz it up, but it DOES have a touch of the 70s hippie flare to it. LOTS of talking. Susan talks about everything before and after she does it. Sort of a month in the life of... story. Comparison of single-life versus married life. Some artsy fartsy art gallery commentary. And I love the NYC street scenes. It's very Woody-Allen-Ish. Directed by Claudia Weill, who directed a whole lot of TV stuff. This one was featured as part of the "Women in Film" week on Turner Classics. Some nudity.

I came across Girlfriends after reading a list of Stanley Kubrick's favorite films, and he rightly called it 'wonderful'. Shot in New York in the late 70's, when master filmmakers such as Cassavetes, Scorsese and Woody Allen ruled the cities screens Weill's film went largely ignored and her brilliant lead actress never went on to make another film except for a small role in a B sci-fi thriller.

There is an obvious kinship between Weill's style and that of Woody Allen - the nervous Jewish humor, the wit and sharp dialog, but Girlfriends omits the irony and stands on its own as a singular, intelligent story of friendship and troubled relationships told from a uniquely female perspective.

Sadly it is very hard to see this film today, No streaming service carries it, and Kim's New York just shut its doors for good. I bought a poor transfer on DVD. I hope Criterion gets around to it one day, because it is truly a wonderful film.

Susan Weinblatt (Melanie Mayron) is a struggling photographer hoping to stop doing weddings and such. She lives with aspiring writer best friend Anne Munroe in New York City. They are moving into a new apartment when Anne tells Susan that she's marrying Martin (Bob Balaban). Susan struggles professionally and personally. She's lonely with less of her best friend. She takes in hitchhiker Ceil and has an aborted fling with Rabbi Gold (Eli Wallach).

It's a New York indie about the single modern girl. It's not a sitcom where the cute blonde just can't find Prince Charming. It's more truthful and yearning than that. Her need to find her place in the modern world is palpable. Mayron has a great sense of a New York girl. The visual work is a bit flat which is excusable for an indie. Eric is a bit of a frustrating nothing. I'd rather have more awkward drama with Rabbi Gold or Ceil. The plot unfolds rather than builds drama.

This movie set in 1978, is a wonderful analysis of women's relationships with their friends and how relationships with men can change their relationships with each other. It is subtle and nuanced and emblematic of the independent films of the 1970's.

Claudia Weill was a women who tried to get into that very exclusive circle of directors which are very male. When this movie was made it was considered to be the first of many such independent films by women to try to climb that fortress.

The acting of Amy Wright and Melanie Mayron at the time felt like it wasn't acting at all. Since they were both unknowns, you felt like you were snooping into someone's personal lives rather than watching two actresses go through a script.