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Flying: Confessions of a Free Woman
DVD Review by Kam Williams
Feminist explores self
and sisterhood in soul-baring
biopic
 Jennifer
Fox intermittently repeats the melancholy refrain “I never wanted to be
a girl,” over the course of this soul-baring bio-pic, even though she
seems to be doing just fine as a female. The 45 year-old, NYC filmmaker
devotes the bulk of her intriguing documentary to introspective
ruminations by her and her friends about their love relationships.
Suffering from low self-esteem in terms of her looks, Fox frequently
refers to herself as “ugly” and a “tomboy,” and wonders aloud whether
she’ll ever have kids or get married. But she is pleasant enough to
watch, which is important, given that she’s in virtually every scene of
this six-hour gabfest. She’s also intelligent, insightful, likable and
brutally honest about the intimate details of her unconventional
lifestyle, which makes her a rather worthwhile and compelling subject
for cinematic examination.
Inter alia, the free-spirited feminist informs us of her ongoing affair
with Kye, a 36 year-old, former freedom fighter from South Africa. She
somehow doesn’t let it bother her that the guy lives half a world away
and happens to have a spouse and kids. So, when she later falls for
Patrick, she lets her new Swiss lover know that she can’t commit to
monogamy, but plans to enjoy them both.
Broken up into six hour-long episodes, each installment of Flying has
been cleverly constructed to end on a bit of a cliffhanger. Will she
dump her adulterous, absentee beau for patient, present Patrick? Will
she opt to overcome her ambivalence about motherhood when she not only
hears her biological clock ticking but finds herself unexpectedly
pregnant? And who’s the daddy? Will Kye’s wife’s learning of her
existence put the kibosh on their lusty liaisons? All intriguing
questions, and with some very surprising answers.
A real-life cross of Annie Hall and Erica Jong.
Unrated
Running time: 351 minutes
Distributor: Easy Film and Zohe Film Productions
2-Disc DVD Extras: Interview with star/director Jennifer Fox and a
theatrical trailer.
To purchase the DVD, visit: www.alivemindmedia.com
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Lloyd Kam Williams
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 Lloyd
Kam Williams is a syndicated film and book critic who
writes for 100+ publications around the U.S. and Canada. He is a member of
the African-American Film Critics Association, the New York Film Critics
Online, the NAACP Image Awards Nominating Committee, and Rotten Tomatoes. In
addition to a BA in Black Studies from Cornell, he has an MA in English from
Brown, an MBA from The Wharton School, and a JD from Boston University. Kam
lives in Princeton, NJ with his wife and son.
IMDiversity.com is committed to presenting diverse points of view.
However, the viewpoint expressed in this article is the opinion of
the author and is not necessarily the viewpoint of the owners or
employees at IMD.
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