Artistic ambition, hierarchy within matriarchy, heightened psychosis and hormonal pushback act as a sort of microfibre in a dramedy about the individual being a product of their own environment and the boundaries that separate us. Simultaneously working on overlapping themes in three resilient women, Madeline’s Madeline is intoxicating and alive American indie cinema. Josephine Decker bends the form, and continually probing and questions what is identity and does so in her own unique, vibrant brimming approach. With no easy resolutions, one gets a strong sense of authorial prowess and an experimentation that is perhaps double speak and yet upfront about servicing and nurturing your own artistic needs. This masterwork might be my favorite think piece cinema of 2018 and will be anointed at all three year-end indie-friendly award shows in the Gothams, Indie Spirits and AIFAs.
Prior to the film’s international showcase at the Berlin Film Festival, I had the chance to sit with Josephine to discuss the editing process, the mother-stranger-daughter rapport, how the frame and shot selections adhere to this idea of separation, and competitiveness and pushback within this trio.
Eric Lavallée is the founder, CEO, editor-in-chief, film journalist and critic at IONCINEMA.com (founded in 2000). Eric is a regular at Sundance, Cannes and TIFF. He has a BFA in Film Studies at the Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema. In 2013 he served as a Narrative Competition Jury Member at the SXSW Film Festival. He was an associate producer on Mark Jackson's This Teacher (2018 LA Film Festival, 2018 BFI London). In 2022 he served as a New Flesh Comp for Best First Feature at the 2022 Fantasia Intl. Film Festival. Current top films for 2022 include Tár (Todd Field), All That Breathes (Shaunak Sen), Aftersun (Charlotte Wells).
