QUEUE THIS!

It's always so hard to decide which films to include from week to week for this post because, luckily, there are quite a few women-directed films to choose from on Netflix (yes, I'm very happy to have this problem!). This week, I chose an eclectic mix that includes films that I've been wanting to take a look at for some time, plus a tv series about which I've heard a lot of buzz.  From what I can tell, three out of the five directors on Call the Midwife are women and it was created by and written by women.  Of course, it was made outside of Hollywood, but hey, I'm just glad it exists!  
Before we start queueing, just a quick technical note.  While I was pulling the Netflix descriptions last night, I started receiving an error message whenever I tried to search and pull up a movie. This morning it was giving me the same message, so in order to give you fine readers a full post, I turned to the iPhone app. The search worked, but it seems the descriptions are shorter, so you'll see that reflected below. The nice thing about this little tech glitch is that it introduced me to the new version of the iPhone app which has more options than the old one-- including that responsive search feature.  So, if you haven't already, update your Netflix app on your idevices and then QUEUE THIS: 

Ping Pong Playa (dir Jessica Yu, 2007)  Netflix says: "When a car accident sidelines his mother and brother, tough-talking slacker C-Dub (Jimmy Tsai) shelves his pipe dream of becoming an NBA star to run the family's ping-pong supply and coaching business."

Call the Midwife (dir Philippa Lowthorpe, Jamie Payne, Roger Goldby, China Moo-Young, Minkie Spiro, 2012)  Netflix says: "Set in the 1950s, this period drama based on the memoirs of Jennifer Worth follows new midwife Jenny Lee and the other midwives and nuns working in a nursing convent in an impoverished section of London's East End." 

Just Another Girl on the I.R.T. (dir Leslie Harris, 1992)  Netflix says: "Confident high school student Chantel Mitchell (Ariyan A. Johnson) dreams of escaping her tough, poor Brooklyn neighborhood to one day become a doctor. But her college dreams are jeopardized when she realizes she is pregnant."

Map of the Sounds of Tokyo (dir Isabel Coixet, 2009)  Netflix says: "When his boss's daughter commits suicide, an executive assistant hires a hit woman to kill the man perceived as responsible for the daughter's death." With the latest edition of the Cannes film festival ending over the weekend, this seems like a good time to suggest a film by Coixet.  Although the festival has been known for its chilly reception of women directors, this film premiered in the main competition at Cannes in 2009.  Also, Coixet was on the Cannes Jury this year.

The Mexican Suitcase (dir Trisha Ziff, 2011)  Netflix says: "This documentary tells the story of the recovery of 4,500 negatives taken by photographers during the Spanish Civil War." Yep, this was one of the descriptions pulled from the iPhone app.  It really gets right to the point.  

As always, please feel free to share your thoughts about these films in the comment section below. 

QUEUE THIS! is a weekly post by Destri Martino that appears on the Broad Humor Blog every Thursday morning.  The goal of the post is to get more women-directed films in Netflix queues in order to make a sizable impact on Netflix analytics and buying patterns; thus, getting more films by women directors distributed and seen, and generally heightening awareness about this often overlooked pool of talent.  View the past two QUEUE THIS! posts here and here.