Indie Short Review - Wives Of The Skies
Am I allowed to say 'stewardess', anymore?
Wives Of The Skies just popped up out of the blue, and I hadn’t heard anything about it -- but it being only a shade over twenty minutes long, I thought I’d give it a quick watch. I’ll be honest -- I hadn’t a clue about what I was going to see and was kept guessing throughout… but in a good way!
What Wives In The Skies starts off as is a mid ’60s (there is actually a fake copyright, screen dated 1965) 'documentary' about how wanton and promiscuous air stewardesses are. Such were the sensibilities of the time that it was hard to tell whether this was going to be an actual documentary or a period porno film; the saddest thing is that, thinking back to the times, either was equally possible.
I found myself shouting at the screen as all the 'stewardess' stereotypes were paraded in front of us…
...the Fine Air stewardesses are actually air heads, even: “what’s a documentary?”; it’s acceptable to stare at their breasts, bottoms, and legs; the shock horror of them saying they’re married (noooo!!!) -- pause -- to their jobs (yayyyy!!!)... and the assumption that they are waiting to have sex with any man who crosses their paths.
But then writer/director Honey Lauren pulls it all out of the bag and manages to flip things around.
The flip comes about a third of the way through, when 'things' happen, which I would need a heavy spoiler alert to say any more about. Suffice to say Ms Lauren managed to find a way to showcase the roots of toxic masculinity in the way the media presented women, but in a way that is funny and entertaining.
Wives Of The Skies is a short little joy, when it could have been a polemic
The stewardesses are wonderfully played by Rachel Alig (Fran) and Maddison Bullock (Marcy), while Drew Brandon Jones is the delightfully seedy, but not irredeemable, Derrick the Documentary Maker.
I really like this -- to the extent that I’ve watched it four times today -- and can never think of the phrase, “Dinner… is ready,” again, without picturing a certain dish!
Just catch this one. Well worth 20 minutes of your time.
Movie Grade: A-
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https://runpee.com/highlights-from-the-2019-sundance-film-festival/
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