''American Woman'' is a 2019

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...

written and directed by

Semi Chellas Semi Chellas (born 1969) is a director, writer, producer who has written for film, television and magazines. She was born in Palo Alto, California and grew up in Calgary, Alberta. She is known for her work on the television series ''Mad Men'' an ...

, in her feature directorial debut. It stars

Hong Chau Hong Chau (born June 25, 1979) is an American actress. She has received several award nominations for her film roles as Ngoc Lan Tran in '' Downsizing'' (2017) and as Liz, a nurse, in '' The Whale'' (2022), including a nomination for the Academ ...

Sarah Gadon Sarah Lynn Gadon (born April 4, 1987) is a Canadian actress. She began her acting career guest-starring in a number of television series, such as ''Are You Afraid of the Dark?'' (1999), '' Mutant X'' (2002), and '' Dark Oracle'' (2004). She also ...

John Gallagher Jr. John Howard Gallagher Jr. (born June 17, 1984) is an American actor and musician best known for originating the role of Moritz Stiefel in the 2006 rock musical '' Spring Awakening'', which earned him a Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Mus ...

Lola Kirke Lola Kirke (born September 27, 1990) is an American actress, singer and author. She was born in London and raised in New York City. She starred in the 2015 film '' Mistress America'' and the Amazon Studios television series '' Mozart in the Jun ...

David Cubitt David Cubitt (born 18 March 1965) is an English-born Canadian television actor. Born in England in 1965 to a Dutch mother, Jette, and an English father, David, he moved with his parents to Vancouver, British Columbia when he was six months ...

, Jordan Pettle, Richard Walters and

Ellen Burstyn Ellen Burstyn (born Edna Rae Gillooly; December 7, 1932) is an American actress. Known for her portrayals of complex women in dramas, she is the recipient of numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, a Tony Award, and two Primetime Emmy A ...

. Based on the 2003 novel of the same title by

Susan Choi Susan Choi (born 1969) is an American novelist. She is the author of several acclaimed novels, including ''The Foreign Student'' (1998), ''American Woman (novel), American Woman'' (2003), and ''Trust Exercise'' (2019), which won the National Book ...

, the film is a fictional account of Wendy Yoshimura, the real-life woman who cared for heiress

Patty Hearst Patricia Campbell Hearst (born February 20, 1954) is an American actress and member of the Hearst family. She is the granddaughter of American publishing magnate William Randolph Hearst. She first became known for the events following her 197 ...

after she was abducted. It had its world premiere at the

Tribeca Film Festival The Tribeca Festival is an annual film festival organized by Tribeca Enterprises. It takes place each spring in New York City, showcasing a diverse selection of film, episodic, talks, music, games, art, and immersive programming. The festival ...

on April 28, 2019, was released in Canada on June 30, 2020, by

Elevation Pictures Elevation Pictures is a Canadian film distribution and production company owned by Black Bear Pictures. The company was founded in 2013 by Laurie May and is co-led by Noah Segal. The company made its debut at the 2013 Toronto International Fi ...

Plot

Adept at living off the grid ever since she masterminded an act of violence against the American government, 25-year-old former radical Jenny Shimada agrees to take care of three fugitives who are on the run. One of the three fugitives happens to be the kidnapped granddaughter of a wealthy newspaper magnate and has become a national celebrity for embracing her captors’ ideology and joining their revolutionary cell.

Cast

as Jenny *

as Pauline *

as Juan *

as Yvonne *

as Miss Dolly *

as Agent John Spivey * Jordan Pettle as Rob Frazer * Richard Walters as Thomas

Production

In September 2017, it was announced

had joined the cast of the film, with

directing from a screenplay she wrote.

Killer Films Killer Films is a New York City-based independent film production company founded in 1995 by film producers Christine Vachon and Pamela Koffler. The company has produced many acclaimed independent films over the past two decades including ''Fa ...

was announced as producing the film.

Release

The film had its world premiere at the

on April 28, 2019. It had a gala premiere at the

Toronto International Film Festival The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the most prestigious and largest publicly attended film festivals in the world. Founded in 1976, the festival takes place every year in early September. The organi ...

in September 2019.

Reception

, of the reviews compiled by

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

are positive, with an average rating of .

The Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Newspapers in Canada, Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in Western Canada, western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of more than 6 million in 2024, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on week ...

calls it a "Canadian heist thriller ''American Woman'' knows when to simmer and when to boil over." It competed in the

Calgary International Film Festival The Calgary International Film Festival (CIFF) is a film festival held annually in Calgary, Alberta, in late September and early October. CIFF is the largest international film festival in Alberta and the sixth largest in Canada. In 2020, thei ...

in 2019, where it was awarded a Special Jury Mention for Acting. It also won Best Picture, Best Director (

), Best Actress (

), and Best Cinematography (

Gregory Middleton Gregory Middleton is a Canadian cinematographer,Mark Dillon"Gregory Middleton’s sense of vision" '' Playback'', December 15, 1999. who won the Genie Award for Best Cinematography at the 29th Genie Awards for his work on the film '' Fugitive Pi ...

) at the

Downtown Los Angeles Film Festival The Downtown Los Angeles Film Festival (DTLAFF) is an annual film festival based in Downtown Los Angeles. History The festival was founded in 2008 and the venue used is the Regal Cinemas at L.A. Live. The Grammy Museum helped sponsor the fes ...

in 2019.

Awards

References

External links

* * {{Rotten Tomatoes, american_woman_2019, American Woman 2019 films 2019 drama films American drama films Canadian drama films Cultural depictions of Patty Hearst English-language Canadian films Films set in the 1970s Killer Films films Films directed by Semi Chellas 2010s English-language films 2010s American films 2010s Canadian films 2019 independent films 2019 directorial debut films English-language independent films