Title: The Misandrists
MPAA Rating: Mature
Director: Bruce La Bruce
Starring: Kita Updike, Susanne Sachbe, Olivia Kundisch, Til Schindler
Runtime: 91 minutes
What It Is: Hidden within the woods of Germany grows a revolt. Women brought together through pain and hardship band together to form the Female Liberation Army, in a plot to take on the patriarchy that had exploited them without consequence for years. When a young man is found injured and in need of help from one of its members, the deception of keeping him hidden is but the beginning of unraveling truths for the determined women.

What We Think: Throughout the film, there seemed to be a pause; between lines, between scenes, between focus. It was almost as if it sought to tell a moral that eluded it. From the disjointed romance between Isolde (Kita Updike) and Hilde (Olivia Kundisch), to the almost forgettable placing of Volker (Til Schindler), the film just never served a purpose. The remaining characters were introduced with interesting backstories that remained part of the history of its plot, left amongst awkward sex scenes that play more to male adolescent fantasies than serve its feminist plot. Even Big Mother (Susanne Sachsse) showed promise of fulfilling a powerful female role, only to fall victim to stereotypical anti-feminist thought.

Our Grade: D, I kept wanting this film to be more. Beyond the misogynistic rooted title and tepid acting lies a movie that feels exactly as one would expect a male-written movie on feminism would. Director Bruce La Bruce is more artist than Hollywood drone in his attempt to go beyond societal norms, but he proves he is still an outsider when it comes to female empowerment. Neither the gratuitous sex scenes played out in a hormonal male fashion or the petty interaction among the women displays any sense of true understanding of what such a movement would seek. Unfortunately, it reduces the film to campy, and tone deaf to an evolving audience.