13) The Nightingale
The anti-rape revenge movie, Jennifer Kent’s follow-up to The Babadook, continues to show how she’s a master of horror. The film tackles female empowerment, racism, colonization, and trauma with confidence and prowess. Subverting tropes from rape-revenge films, such as Ms. 45 and Thriller a Cruel Picture, Kent puts her characters, and the audience, on a hate-fueled journey through the worst of toxic masculinity and cultural appropriation. Mankind is viewed at its most horrific and its most powerful in this film, as we follow Aisling Franciosi quest for vengeance, and as we witness her journey, we experience her emotional ringer at its most brutal. Coupled with compelling performances from both Aisling Franciosi and Baykali Ganambarr, and intense action sequences in the Tasmanian wilderness, this is a film that earns its uncomfortable premise thanks to its compelling storytelling and characters.
