If you enjoyed Santa Olivia

[jesse_the_k]

as much as I did, you may be interested in a 2000 indie movie called GIRLFIGHT. You can watch it free online. The lead, Michelle Rodriguez, is outstanding. No SFnal elements, but there's plenty of chewy boxing scenes (but not brutality for its own sake), class, race & ethnicity issues, and a love-hate relationship with greater NY city.

also posted to LJ comm

Comments

[were_duck]

Also if you enjoyed Santa Olivia, you may be interested to hear a sequel has just been published!

Thanks for the film rec, I have been meaning to check this one out. Unf Michelle Rodriguez.

[jesse_the_k]

Great news! And the first chapter of the sequel Saints Astray, is available to read or download at this link.

At her site, Jacqueline Carey says

begin quote  Having known nothing but their very circumscribed lives in Outpost, I wanted to give my teenaged heroines [Loup and Pilar] a chance to experience the world writ large, with exuberance and aplomb. Of course, they're also dreaming about a chance to liberate everyone they left behind, which will prove a dangerous undertaking... but they have a lot of fun along the way. I hope all of you do, too! quote ends

[sasha_feather]

Michelle Rodriguez, aka the hottest woman in Hollywood!

[jesse_the_k]

I don't like to objectify women, but she was stunning! Especially as the "girly girls" tease her for her drab look (no gay-bashing, I was glad to not see) and I think M.R. just smokes! She can express paragraphs of doubt and thought and pain with a glance.

Also moves her body beautifully.

Also gets to have the showdown fight with her boyfriend! It seems there are narrative cliches with boxing that can't be avoided, no matter what.

[sasha_feather]

I don't think I'm "objectifying" her, but YMMV.

I have a suspicion that MR is queer, but that is not confirmed.

[jesse_the_k]

My intention was not to accuse you of objectifying; I am uncomfortable with my own willingness to perform the textual equivalent of a wolf whistle.

My gaydar was buzzing, I'll tell you that!

[sasha_feather]

I am perhaps a little over sensitive on this point. :)

[jesse_the_k]

It is problematic. When the object of my -ification is a shiny, pretty celebrity — JFlan, Rachel Luttrel — then it's easier to whistle without feeling their pain. Yet for someone who is as solid and human a presence as M.R., I can just relate to how she might move through the world more slowly because of the sticky mantle of objectified attention weighing her shoulders.

If I never heard ze's hot again, it would be OK. I want easy answers! I want empty headed admiration of pretty people!

Maybe this is what drives nature photography?