Joan Micklin Silver [May 24, 1935 - Dec. 31, 2020]
Writer-Director Joan Micklin Silver is one of my favourite filmmakers from the 1970s American Renaissance - a time when it was even more rare to see women making feature films. One could say that Ms. Silver (along with others in that small camp: Claudia Weill, Joan Darling, Martha Coolidge and Barbara Loden) was a trailblazer in that vein, as women had to make movies outside of "the system" (aka- The Hollywood Boys Club), and one could make the case that they still have to. But the term "trailblazer" is perhaps the incorrect term to describe the delicate beauty of her work. Rather, her films are of the subtle attributes that many works in "the system" still require: they are understated, unpretentious, disarmingly quirky, subtly surprising, and feel so organic, alive!
After directing some short films, including the well-regarded PBS short film, Bernice Bobs Her Hair, and co-writing the screenplay for Limbo (directed by Mark Robson), she made her feature-film debut with 1975's Hester Street, featuring Carol Kane in a breakthrough Oscar nominated role. My favourite of her work, 1977's Between The Lines, features an ensemble of now-familiar talent that was just on the cusp of breaking out (Jeff Goldblum, John Heard, Lindsay Crouse, Marilu Henner, Jill Eikenberry, and many others). Her subsequent film, the Bergman-esque Chilly Scenes Of Winter (1979), featuring Heard, Mary Beth Hurt and Gloria Grahame in one of her final roles, is a haunting fable of love gone wrong. The romantic comedy Crossing Delancey (1989), with Amy Irving, was a fine return to feature filmmaking, after spending a decade in television. (Many female directors found work in television after breakthrough features.) Her films were often produced by her husband, the late Raphael D. Silver. He directed one film, On The Yard, a 1978 prison drama also with Heard, which she in turn produced. The Silvers had three daughters: Dina, Marisa, and Claudia. Marisa also began a career of directing similarly subtle, affecting films: Old Enough (1984), and Permanent Record (1988).
FILMS: (as director, and screenwriter*, unless specified): The Immigrant Experience: The Long Long Journey (1972 short, +scr.),Limbo (1972; screenplay only, based on her novel), The Fur Coat Club (1973 short; +scr.), The Case of the Elevator Duck (1974 short; +scr.), Hester Street (1975; +scr.), The Frontier Experience (1975 short, screenplay only), Bernice Bobs Her Hair (1976 short; +scr.), Between the Lines (1977), On The Yard (1978; producer only) Chilly Scenes of Winter (aka- Head Over Heels) (1979; +scr.), Faerie Tale Theatre: The Nightingale (1983 TV short; screenplay only), How to Be a Perfect Person in Just Three Days (1983 TV movie), Finnegan Begin Again (1985 TV movie), Crossing Delancey (1988), Loverboy (1989), Prison Stories: Women on the Inside (1991 TV movie - segment 2), Big Girls Don't Cry... They Get Even (1992), A Private Matter (1992 TV movie), In the Presence of Mine Enemies (1997 TV movie), Invisible Child (1999 TV movie), A Fish in the Bathtub (1999), Charms for the Easy Life (2002 TV movie), Hunger Point (2003 TV movie)
 |
| Hester Street: Carol Kane |
 |
| Between The Lines: Jeff Golblum |
 |
| Between The Lines: Lindsay Crouse, Gwen Welles |
 |
| Chilly Scenes Of Winter: John Heard, Mary Beth Hurt |
 |
| Chilly Scenes Of Winter: Gloria Grahame |
 |
| Crossing Delancey: Amy Irving, Peter Riegert |
No comments:
Post a Comment