Killer Lesbian Comedy with a Twist—at TWIST This Friday

October 20, 2016• byXanna Don't

The comedic/thriller/lesbian romance WOMEN WHO KILL screens at Seattle’s TWIST Film Festival on October

“Women Who Kill” makes its Northwest debut Friday night.

When my wife and I hurled ourselves into the Pacific Northwest from down south in 2012, we did so with both reckless abandon and purpose. We knew we wanted to be here, but we didn’t have a plan. We had no clue how it would work out and we lucked out. Seattle is cool. Brooklyn is cool, too. It’s more quirky in that Austin/Portland way, “keeping it weird,” and that’s the jumping off point for the remarkably deadpan funny odyssey that is WOMEN WHO KILL.

The film’s protagonist, played by Ingrid Jungermann (also its director and writer, who won for the latter at both Tribeca and Outfest film festivals this year) approaches a new romance with the same topsy turvy approach my wife and I employed with our cross country move. Jungermann’s Morgan is drifting through hipster Brooklyn’s Park Slope neighborhood, still living with and doing a perversely popular podcast about female serial killers with her ex-girlfriend when she encounters her Emerald City, Simone. She’s an enigmatic, perhaps interloping, new volunteer at the banal local food coop. Morgan is drawn to her in ways she struggles to understand. Suddenly her stagnation gives way to purpose. Their cryptic banter over a first drink raises the bubbling noir feel of this casually taught film to a cautioned height.

Yet Morgan still strolls through her cool blasé environment, going along to get along by attending a stripper lesbian bachelorette party and a sex toy house party conducted in the same flat fashion as a 1960s Tupperware party. What many would find titillating is just another day in ever eccentric Brooklyn. Even the coup of interviewing the “Bad Professor” serial killer (played bitingly sharp by Annette O’Toole) is just another day at the office. Oh, but then there’s Simone, looming and confounding her rote existence.

As a New York breakout star/writer/director, Ingrid Jungermann’s filmmaking could easily be seen as a more mature, lesbian approach to that of Lena Dunham, who performs the same triple threat with her “Girls” on HBO. But Jungermann’s work is drier and less sensational. The way she mockingly spoofs the concept of a podcast that explores the techniques of and qualifies levels of sophistication of female serial killers conveys the depth of her understanding that society has become insidiously overstimulated with violence to the point of boredom. But the film never feels that heavy. It’s a dark, scary, fun modern classic.

TWIST: Seattle Queer Film Festival

http://twist.strangertickets.com/films/36508863/women-who-kill

Women Who Kill: Friday, October 21, 7 pm at AMC Pacific Place, 600 Pine Street, Seattle 98101

About the Author: Xanna Don't

After studying operatic vocal performance at Boston Conservatory in the late 1980’s, Xanna Don’t made a name for herself in her hometown’s alternative music scene; that name, according to The Boston Herald, was “The Country Queen of Boston.” She has toured with Southern Culture on the Skids, opened for Devo, Jerry Jeff Walker, The Old 97’s, The Cherry Poppin’ Daddies, and Lucinda Williams, and played CBGB’s and The Bitter End in New York City. In 1994, Xanna moved her award-winning act to Austin, Texas, where she showcased for SXSW and appeared in indie films, including Office Space. Booking live music for Austin’s Gay Pride led to her proudest accomplishment: the creation and co-production of SXSW’s first ever all-gay music showcase, selling out Austin’s largest gay venue. During 8 years in Atlanta, Xanna served as a board member for their gay film festival and on Atlanta Film Festival’s screening committee, taught voice lessons, published her own ‘zine, and performed with her quintet. She was Entertainment Editor for Atlanta’s lesbian magazine, served as Interim Editor of ATL Free Press, and wrote the music preview for Atlanta Pride’s official guide distributed to 250,000+ attendees. In 2012, Xanna and her wife of 20 years relocated to the Pacific Northwest where she has served on the screening committee of Seattle Lesbian & Gay Film Festival, coordinated the festival’s Opening & Closing Nights’ Parties in 2013, and in 2014 was a guest judge for Seattle Pride’s singing competition, Pride Idol. Some of Xanna’s press quotes include: GIRLS-WORLD: “The Grande Dame of Austin Music” // AUSTIN AMERICAN-STATESMAN: “Austin’s Underground Country Queen” // “Miss Xanna Don’t does. Sing great, that is.” / “…fiery twang vibe that has won fans over from Emo’s to Cibolo Creek Country Club to gay pride rallies.” // AMERICAN AIRLINES AMERICAN WAY: “[Mike] Judge [director of Office Space] was looking for the fabled ‘Texas big-hair look’…Miss Xanna was perfect.”// BOSTON GLOBE: “[one of] Boston’s most respected musical minds.”