Born in Flames (1983)

Directed by Lizzie Borden. Starring Honey, Adele Bertei, Jean Satterfield, Flo Kennedy, Becky Johnston, Kathryn Bigelow, Pat Murphy, Hillary Hurst, Bell Chevigny.

Director Borden’s vision of a leftist cry ringing out in the near-future, presented as a lo-fi, pseudo-documentary collage, a diatribe of feminist fury, activism, dissent, guerrilla radio, and avant-garde art. Too crude and disorganized to succeed despite the occasional clever idea and incendiary topic (its depiction of divisions within the radical feminist and LGBTQ+ agendas is a canny touch), but intellect and candor can only take a film so far—without the filmmaking acumen to back up the outrage, it all just resembles grainy, slapdash tract. Amateur hour acting from a cast composed primarily of rookies and non-professionals. Eric Bogosian can be briefly glimpsed in his first film role. Borden also wrote and produced.

37/100