Movie Recs | What to Watch with Mrs. America 

The most recent episode of Mrs. America *actually* included a clip from Jeanne Dielman so just putting it out there I'm feeling validated.

I just want to remind everyone that BKR clearly worked really hard on this video, and it can sometimes be disheartening and unencouraging for content creators to pour their soul into a project, only to read comments about how they should "cover [topic] or [actress] instead!". This video has been up for less than an hour, let's take a moment to talk about/appreciate THIS video before we flood the comments with recommendations. :) And because I'm a grandstanding hypocrite, I must admit that I too would love to see a Cate Blanchett video... but in your own time of course. Thank you BKR for exposing your audience to underappreciated films.

I would like to recommend a few Indian films about inequalities faced by women in both earlier and modern times. 1. Mother India (1957) IMDb 8.1 ---- Nominated for Academy Award - Best Foreign Language Film) 2. Sujata (1960) IMDb 7.3 3. Teen Kanya (1961) IMDb 8.1 4. Aandhi (1975) IMDb 8.1 5. Arth (1982) IMDb 8.0 6. Fire (1996) IMDb 7.2 7. Astitva (2000) IMDb 7.3 8. Chandni Bar (2001) IMDb 7.6 9. Water (2005) IMDb 7.7 ---- Nominated for Academy Award - Best Foreign Language Film) 10. English Vinglish (2012) IMDb 7.8 11. Kahaani (2012) IMDb 8.1 12. Ship of Theseus (2012) IMDb 8.0 13. Bol (2011) IMDb 8.2 ---- a Pakistani film, our languages are very similar 14. Parched (2015) IMDb 7.5 15. Pink (2016) IMDb 8.1

You should do a “why we love Cate Blanchett” like you did with Meryl. She is the best actress right now.

Secretly hoping Oscars So White gets a part 3 about Hispanic and Latina women 🤞🏻

I immediately watched “The Watermelon Woman” after watching this and all I can say is Thank You

Claudine is such an iconic black film, I highly recommend that everyone watch it, bc Im a bit afraid that it may be forgotten soon. Great soundtrack, fantastic acting, realistic story 💕Diahann Carroll 💕 Also, Daughters of the Dust is cinematic ART

Eve's Bayou is also a great movie directed by a woman that focuses on women of color

First off I'd just like to say that I've been going through your backlog after recently discovering your channel, and I'm loving all of it. You bring a perspective on film history and analysis that I feel his for the most underrepresented on this platform. You've actresses and films that discuss and portray various nuance perspective on issues of race, sexuality, and gender equality, but I feel that you have lacked in discussing any films or actresses regarding disabled populations. Excluding the times you have discussed disability from a strictly mental illness-centered perspective -- which is fine and good too -- you haven't really shown much on the physically disabled. I think it'd be a very interesting and different perspective to take on film history and analysis (especially since there are very few channels here on youtube that even sparsely mention it). Thanks again for all the amazing work and art your putting out there, I think it is truly amazing.

There's a film with Barbra Streisand called "Up the Sandbox", about a woman who is preagnant with her second child and reflects whether she wants another baby or not. The film is not quite easy to find, and it's a little confusing to understand, but it's a good one.

This Is such an amazing video! As a woman of color, I love how you mention and discuss diversity in films and the problems black women face! Thank you for using your platform to promote these awesome films!

I saw the thumbnail and I came here just to hear your thoughts about it. I tune like every week for an episode to air.

Love you BKR. Yes, I also think that it's okay to make tv stuff and theater. You have great tastes.

Excellent use of the sorry to this man meme!!

RIP Diahann Carroll. It may be months after her passing but it still hurts...

Your content always leaves me with more knowledge and new perspectives, than before I pressed play. The sheer breadth and nuance of subjects you cover in around 20 minutes, most couldn't do in an hour. Another stellar video and I love your expansion away from strictly best actresses, cannot wait for more.

"My Brilliant Career" is my mum's favourite movie. I'm so lucky she's so passionate about women's rights--she made a concerted effort to show me more balance of media made by and about both women AND men. And, with all their flaws, we have had more female PM's in my country (New Zealand) in my lifetime than male (Jenny Shipley, Helen Clarke, Jacinda Ardern). I went to an old girls' high school, and was raised on the plights of our early suffrage being commonly talked of, Kate Sheppard on our money, renowned female authors and knowing we were the first country of legalising the vote for women, and making more of an effort to be intersectional re race than some others. I've gone on to be a strong unionist myself in the public service. And yet. Our movies and media don't really reflect that as much as we would want. But still? So glad I'm not in the USA!!

Since you started to talk about tv shows, I'm curious about your take on Ryan Murphy's Hollywood, especially after your two videos about Anna May Wong.

Mrs. America has been a real gem to watch--it's so rich and dynamic and complicated (and that cast!), and I find myself leaving each episode itching to learn more about these fascinating women and the worlds that they lived in. These recommendations are such a timely gift, thank you!

Dee Rees "Pariah" (2011) is an excellent film about the coming of age of a black lesbian poet.

It would be nice to touch the topic of Latinas in film. I mean, there is no latin or even hispanic 'Best Actress' awarded, which is odd considering the large percentage of latino women living in the U.S.

Alice was the most invisible among all the ladies in the Schlafly camp and yet at the end she became the most enlightened one. The complete transformation she went through during episode 7 and 8 were among the best bits of the show for me.

I would recommend a couple of movies from the other side of an iron curtain, since I come from Poland. They don't exactly fit into this subject, because we didn't have such a movement, but women have had the same problems here. So I would say: Agnieszka Holland's "Lonely Woman" www.imdb.com/title/tt0082625/plotsummary?ref_=tt_ov_pl and Věra Chytilová's "Daisies" en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daisies_(film)

I can't tell you how amazing it is to see Shirley Chisholm represented in the same video that touches on The Watermelon Woman as a black woman film nerd. May I also suggest Kyle Kallgren's video on it alongside just watching it.

"Spoilers. For History??" Love that, love this whole video. Not many can take an important topic, teach it and entertain at the same time. You are brilliant.

Thanks for this. I'll be working through a number I've not seen, notably 'The Watermelon Woman', 'Claudine', 'Unbought and Unbossed', and clearly the work of Agnes Varda. A couple your piece here brought to mind, 1972's 'The Bitter Tears of Petra Von Kant' (yes, made by a man), but always struck me as a powerful statement on both sexual and class relations, and, also, of course, again directed by a man, but Sally Field is still worth recommending for 'Norma Rae' ( 1979). Love your channel. Thanks again, and cheers from blighty.

Queen of Katwe, She's Gotta Have It, Crooklyn, The Color Purple, Their Eyes Were Watching God.

I'm so thankful I found your videos like 2 years ago. Through these I was able to find my love for old films, which alrdy intrigued me as a child ngl. But more than that, the fact that this channel also talks ab women, for women by a woman. As a young woman myself, I love being educated through this medium. Just very thankful this channel exists. Can't wait for the next video, I will literally watch anyth you put up

I lived it. I turned 18 in 1980 and growing up female in the 70’s was intense. Coming out in 1978 added to the intensity. Thankfully, doing it in San Francisco was a blessing and working at Frameline when we Premiered “Watermelon Woman” was an excellent experience. Thanks for your always interesting and well researched videos.

Unbelievable Watchmen Killing Eve Big Little Lies Little Fires Everywhere The Good Fight So many good shows out there that deals weekly with those topics, it's so good. You should definitely do more TV series and videos about the Emmys, I would love to see it.

If you haven't seen 2018's "Support the Girls," I highly recommend it. Regina Hall stars as the manager of a Hooters-style restaurant, and the movie almost entirely takes place in one day on the job where she has to just deal with crap all day. It most closely relates to the struggles we're still facing with accepting women in the workplace. And, for what it's worth, that was an Oscar-worthy performance from Hall.

This list needs to be a collection on The Criterion channel!

Watermelon Woman.... required watching in 2005/6... never thought I would ever hear it referenced outside a classroom. Much respect! This video gave me chills... the film references (including the homage to Foxy Brown and my fav genre) were well placed. As always, well done on the critique/analysis

We've been waiting for the Cate Blanchett video, it's so overdue. We badly need a Cate Blanchett video this quarantine ‼️

I definitely feel this. I reported a guy I work with for harassment (and homophobia/hate speech) a month ago and my boss refused to fire him. The guy quit anyway. Then last night, he sent a bunch of pizzas (yes pizzas) to my workplace in my name with nasty insults on them. I am the first woman to hold my position in the history of my store. It has been open for 20 years

Be Kind Rewind: As office workers suffering under a sexist, e- Me: GOTISTICAL LYING HYPOCRITICAL BIGOT! :D Seriously, 9 to 5 is such a classic and everyone should absolutely watch it 10 times over!

A film I'd recommend is George Romero's Season of the Witch (also known as Hungry Wives) doesn't tick the female director box but I think it's a very interesting examination of many of the ideas of the women's movement at the time, following a house wife who feels some what caged by her life and starts getting into witchcraft. It feels a little like a companion piece to his vampire film Martin in many ways too.

my netflix DVD queue is super long because of you, and for that i'm eternally grateful! it comforts me to know there's always a good movie to find

The undisputed best film/tv channel on RU-vid. Thank you for all of the effort you put in!!

In 1972 Barbra Streisand starred and produced “Up the Sandbox”, a film about a housewife dealing with an unwanted pregnancy. The film was never given a fair evaluation at the time of its release, especially with it mix of fantasy, drama, and comedy but is smart, funny, and real for 1972. Kudos to Streisand for making this film and taking the risk of making this picture(that ultimately flopped at the box office).

beloved character actress margo martindale!?

Just want to shout out the quality, effort and depth of your productions. I'm always so impressed!

The passion and work that you pour into these videos is always very apparent. This was a great video to watch. Thanks for taking the time to put it all together!

You saying that you have gap in your film knowledge, or film history knowledge, or something along those lines had me laugh. You just provided us/me with a list of movies I, for the most part, had never heard of. I wrote some of them down and know that I will come back to this video for resources or for a reminder at one point. I am not at all surprised so many of these movies have been forgotten, or have not been heard of by a lot of people, unless you’re in film studies or courses, or unless you’re really, on your personal time, really passionate about film history and movies, especially the ones focusing on women and minorities representation. Thanks for this video. It gave me keys to look for more of that kind of content. It also encourages me to consciously look for it. It’s both exciting and overwhelming because it’s a reminder of how much is out there and that I don’t know of, but genuinely want to know and discover. Of course I will probably not always be in the mood to look for such types of niche movies (for lack of a better word) and will probably fall back, more often than not, on some dumb popular comforting shit (which definitely has its place) that I have already watched a hundred times. But it also really makes you think how some of these works and movies have been unappreciated, and never really seen by many people. Not that I think there is a sort of conscious evil entity that has been working on making all of these works of art almost invisible for the last 80 years, but it shows how the mood of certain times of our history, and how systemic discrimination and prejudice has purposely (and not purposely also I would imagine?) push those movies under the rug, even when they were carrying such important and strong and empowering messages at the time, and which are still resonating with us today with such intensity. I do not know if I am making any sense at all so I am sorry for the wording and the insufferably long sentences. All of that rant to say : thank you for taking the time to make this video, to give a glimpse to an idiot like me of a whole category of film work that I am glad exist and which I need to explore. Thank you to have taken so much time to make a video, which for 20 minutes or so, brings back to light for a little while, the works of women and men (of colour, queer, etc) who often times have unfortunately and sadly been forgotten. P.S. : Also I didn’t really know about the whole “evil lesbian trope” thing in old movies. As a gay man, I was more aware of the evil campy representation of (mostly male) homosexuals for sure (Hello Jafar lol). Especially in some Hitchcock movies (that’s what’s coming to mind as I am writing this). Also talking about Hitchcock, have you ever noticed that he tends to always represent women wearing glasses as absolute manipulative bitches who are perceived as ugly and therefore undeserving of our sympathy ? Oh dear Alfred, you were kind of an arsehole. Ok rant over this time. Thank you and love from France BKR ❤️

another incredible video! i am always astounded by how well edited your videos are, how comprehensive and detailed your research and just how well spoken you are! so many youtube channels could learn a thing or two from you. thank you for sharing another amazing video ✨

Every video keeps getting better and better! Thank you BKR ❤️

Your videos are always so well researched. I look forward to each and every one. Thanks for highlighting 'Claudine', for me it's always been a very special film.

I saw Phyllis Schlafly speak against the ERA at Harvard around 1986-87. The thing I remember most about her speech wasn't that she was against men using the women's bathroom or that women would go to war, but that homosexuals, under the ERA, would be allowed to marry. I often wonder why this point is never brought up and why didn't the LGBT community support the ERA?

this is amazing, thank you!! i love that you're branching out into not just covering oscar-nominated performances (even though i love those videos too). you are the karina longworth of youtube!

This was a nice and new turn.. Loved it... But I desperately want a video about how Gloria Swanson (Sunset Boulevard) and Bette Davis (All about Eve) lost the oscar to Judy Holiday in 1951

Thank you for showing live to Claudine! 💕 One could do a while video analysis on that classic alone. Thank you for constantly putting a light on other communities that deserve equal recognition!

What goes on in the head of someone like Phyllis? Seriously. I can't fathom it. They even go after domestic abuse laws. Sheesh.

This video is so awesome. the levelsss! such a great concept and Mrs. America's cinematography is so beautiful.

I really love the deep job in your videos, thank you so much for this quality, you deserve your own show on tv.

Isabel has the talent of making me interested in topics I never imagined I could conceive! I’m definitely watching all of these, thank you so much for all your hard work and effort, my favorite RU-vid channel.

The apple-peeling scene was powerful enough, even when the reference went right over my head. Now the appreciation is all the deeper, thanks to how you've enlightened us. BKR = the best

In 2022, we have lost one of the most important rights we fought so hard to gain -- the right to bodily autonomy. We must fight to get it back as a FEDERALLY PROTECTED RIGHT.

I recently saw The Watermelon Woman for the first time so I was happy to see that mentioned here specifically. Had it not been for a random tweet I came across, I'm not sure I would've known about it. It's not talked about very much.

Thank you for putting together such an amazing list! So excited to watch all of these classics.

This channel offers the best video essays. Please keep up the amazing work.

Thanks for making a video about this show! Everyone’s performance is amazing.

Every single video of yours is so interesting and well researched. WE STAN A HARDWORKING QUEEN

The saddest moment of this episode was the “Conclusion” title card.

This is one of your best videos. I love this page. And I’m here for that lil bit of shade in the beginning

you have such a gift for pitching movies-i have just come away from your “25 days of actress” series and now have twenty-five new films on my watchlist! and now i’ve found this video, which is equally wonderful 🥰 thank you so much! your recs always sound so impeccable

I'm so glad that I found your channel. I've been working my way through your videos, and just watched this one tonight. Actually, I'm not quite finished watching it, and had to stop to come here and comment. Like all of your videos I've seen so far, it's outstanding -- I watched and greatly enjoyed Mrs. America, and have written down four films from your video that I plan to track down. I just wanted you to know how much I am enjoying your excellent work.

"I pray you've seen this, but if you haven't... don't" brilliant

This channel is such a gift!

It's been ages since I watched a TV show, and of course it's your take that makes me want to watch one. Thank you for another awesome video and I hope you stay safe!

This video is so well produced! So eloquent - informative and interesting. Thank you. Really inspired me!

THANK YOU for making this! 💗💗💗

I fell out of my chair at the shade side eyeing of Hollywood LOL! That being said I'd love to hear your take on it I devoured all the videos as soon as I discovered your channel, such brilliant work I'm obsessed :)

Acclaimed Character Actress Margo Martindale always delivers

Thank you so much for this ! I like Mrs. America for what it is but I'm glad we can all see that this story isn't completely relatable to every viewer. excited to check out your recommendations wooot

Joanna Kramer from Kramer vs. Kramer? Meryl was able to rewrite her lines for Joanna, which had originally been written from a male point of view.

Watching all the movies from this video is my new project! Thanks for such awesome depth and thoughtfulness.

I wish you could add a section about creative control women got at that period in TV. I mean, during that same decade we had Mary Tyler Moore show, Maude, Rhoda, Phyllis, (Lucile Ball, duh) and some other female led series in Day or Prime times. But still, it never felt like a real creative control for women. But I wish we could explore, how it happened? Why TV was partially progressive compared to Hollywood film making? And how does that affect the current scene in TV industry?

I binge watched the hollywood series and while i was it, i could only be thinking of your videos!!

as an intersectional feminist and...not garbage person, phyllis schlafly is one of those female political figures like anita bryant who makes my blood boil every time i see her. combine this with the mind-blowing fact of cate blanchett somehow being a wlw icon despite her being a massive woody allen stan, and i was not exactly hyped for this series. but after watching this video, i am kind of interested in seeing the friedan/steinem/chisholm stuff and a couple of other things on this list. i'm really glad you pointed out the dissonance between these figures and the bases they target, despite the fact that a lot of them use their platforms to do good work. every time i remember schlafly smugly saying "i'd like to thank my husband for letting me come here today uwu take that libcucks~" i'm always like, phyllis...there are women who literally cannot leave abusive environments because of the shit that people like you pedal. it's...a lot.

But, like, can you do a video essay on Netflix's Hollywood??? Would love your thoughts.

Thank you for this and all of your videos! keep up the good work!

I’ve been seeing this show pop up in my scrolls on HULU for a while now, but I never stop to check it out. I look forward to watching it now. Thanks for the video. ❤️🙏🏽 Stay safe, everyone.

Thank you for some exciting recommendations! Looking forward to watching the ones that I haven't seen yet!

Thank you so much for these!! I've been looking to watch more films exactly within this vein for a while now, since I have a major gap in film knowledge here.

Super excited for your first (???) TV-centric video.

Thank you so much for your insightful commentary!

Really well done! I'm an old man, was in my 20's during Mrs America time period, and was/am pro ERA. Thought it absurd anyone with rational mind could oppose it. Mrs America nails that time period, evocative, all the details ring true to my take on the times. Can't praise all aspects enough. I like to read all the credits for a show or movie, and year or so ago paid special attention to rough ratio of women to men are listed, right down to grips etc. It's been going up, and Mrs America fine example. Last thoughts: I was well aware of the burdens of expected male behavior (different from women, for sure, and not as onerous, but still there. Getting sent off to fight wars and maybe die biggest example but not only one). The feminist movement would also liberate men as well as women from dehumanizing aspects of how society organized itself. "Communication is only possible among equals" (from Illuminatus Trilogy). or perhaps better "As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master. This expresses my idea of democracy." -Lincoln. Not to minimize the differences between slavery & ERA, but rather power imbalances

Hello! Thank you so much for this list! Loving Mrs. America and I went and watched The Watermelon Woman right after I watched your video. I loved it!

I just finished watching Mrs. America, which I enjoyed immensely, so I had to come back to rewatch your video. Thank you so much for all the recommendations!

I’m in love with this show. Like I want season 2. It could totally happen. I’m even reading the Feminine Mystique because of it!

I legitimately laughed out loud when "for history" flashed on screen. The editing humor in these videos is underrated.

Going to check out these movies, thanks for all the hard work.

Now I totally want to watch Mrs. America AND several of the movies you recommended. Thank you!!

Thank you for blessing my life with your videos

This video made me want to watch so many of the films mentioned. The only one I've seen is 9 to 5. Your videos are such a joy; with the vast research, thought-provoking topics and the clear and focused presentation. Thanks for your hard work!

One again BKR, you are the bee’s knees. Thank you so much for making this vid

Absolutely adore My Brilliant Career and everything Varda. Will have to see the others!

Beautiful work you've done here. Putting a light in women's history, especially when it comes to maginalized perspectives, is always VERY IMPORTANT. Loved it!

This channel is such a dream. You literally just talk about all of my favourite women and films, from old Hollywood to present day. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Would love to see a whole video on Cate Blanchett, she's the best 👌

As always, incredible.