APRIL 25 — Because the movie industry is still very much dominated by men, even today, believably accurate representations of female characters, especially a group or at least a pair of female characters, are still very hard to come by. 

This is not to say that only women can write female characters or that male writers will never be able to write believably “true” female characters, but the fact remains that even after the onslaught of “bromance” movies in the last few years, hardly any notable female versions of the genre have actually turned up on people’s radars.

Even when they do, with arguably Bridesmaids, Pitch Perfect and The Heat being the most prominent examples, it’s usually at the expense of demonising or making fun of other female characters. 

Rare is the female bromance where everyone has their reasons and there are a tad more shades of grey instead of simple black and white. Sorting out needles from the big haystack has actually unearthed a few worthy examples of female bromances, but while these are winners in terms of script and well-rounded characters, quite a lot of them unfortunately possess cinematic qualities that barely extend beyond the level of sitcom or TV movie of the week. But beggars can’t be choosers, so we’ll just have to make do with what we have right now.

A shining example of this is a rom-com from 2002 called Kissing Jessica Stein. Written by the film’s two stars, Heather Juergensen and Jennifer Westfeld and directed by Charles Herman Wurmfeld, it’s clear when watching the movie that the movie’s real auteur are the two writer-actors, as not only have they written some really meaty parts for themselves, they’ve also put in some really spot on observations about love and friendship between two women that could only have come from personal experience and understanding about being a woman in today’s world. 

Juergensen and Westfeld play two women who thought that it’d be interesting to try being lesbians by writing and answering a personal ad and found out that they actually really liked hanging out with each other.

Following the standard rom-com formula, at first the film seemed to be just an enjoyable lesbian rom-com as the two women strive to come out of the closet and fight for each other’s (and their families’) acceptance, but towards the end it reveals its true hand, which is that it’s a film about female friendship all along.

A clever inversion of this concept came out (excuse the pun) recently in a film called BFFs, which was again written by two women (Andrea Grano and Tara Karsian) and directed by a man (Andrew Putschoegl), with visual and cinematic qualities that never rpse beyond a TV movie. 

It’s a testament to the script’s eloquence when it comes to what makes female friendships tick that the viewer is still able to ignore the film’s TV movie visual qualities and concentrate on the story, script and acting. 

In here, Chloe and Rebecca, already BFFs (that’s “best friends forever” if you’re out of the loop as to how young people talk today) and single for different reasons, think that it’d be a hoot to attend a couples therapy getaway, pretending to be lesbian lovers. What they didn’t realize was how convincing they’d be as a “pretend” couple and how they might actually be meant for each other all this time.

A much better example of a recently released female bromance would be Life Partners, which was written and directed by a woman, Susanna Fogel. No lesbian love affair here, as it strictly involves a platonic friendship between two BFFs, Sasha and Paige, and the kind of trouble that comes into the picture once a new boyfriend enters Paige’s life. 

Anyone who’s ever had a close friend will be able to identify with this movie, whether they’re women or men, as the fear of losing all those fun little times together with our best friend and the balance that needs to be struck between friends and a loved one are truthfully and mercilessly explored here. 

Both hilarious and painfully true, this is one movie whose subject, script and performances again lift it above its merely functional visual treatment.

Finally, we come to something that’s definitely cinematic and more than worthy in content and subject matter as well. Also written and directed by women, in this case director Caryn Waechter and writer Marilyn Fu (adapting Steven Millhauser’s short story), The Sisterhood Of Night is another rare film about the female experience, this time about the bond that teenage girls form with their group of close friends. 

A clear commentary on how social media shapes the world right now, the film starts out with outlining a sort of personal battle between two high school kids, Mary and wannabe blogger Emily. After enough humiliation on social media, Mary decides to drop out of it all and take a “vow of silence” by deleting her online profile.

A few other kindred spirits follow Mary’s actions and all of a sudden rumours of some sort of “cult” forming between these “vow of silence” kids start to float, as they generally just hang out with each other and keep to themselves.

What plays out afterwards will both outrage you and reinforce your belief that “the kids are all right”, as the meaning and value of sisterhood is beautifully explored here.

* This is the personal opinion of the columnist.