Debbie Holloway | Narrative Muse

Debbie Holloway

Debbie is the Communications and Engagement Lead for Narrative Muse and lives in Brooklyn, New York. She loves movies, creativity, advocating for kindness, excellent takeout, yoga, GIFs, getting rush tickets for Broadway shows, reading on the Subway, and working in her community garden.

Reviews by Debbie Holloway:

Image: The Half of It

Whether you were the jock, the nerd, or the popular kid, there’s something in this movie that just might make you feel pretty darn seen.

Image: Miss Juneteenth

Miss Juneteenth

Miss Juneteenth is a treatise on how hopes and dreams are generational and communal, spilling down from mother, to daughter, to granddaughter.

Image: The Matrix

Good news, my dudes. The Matrix might be better now than it was in 1999!

Image: Queen of Paradis

Queen of Paradis

Watch Queen of Paradis not just for a behind-the-scenes peek into stunning photo shoots, but for an inspiring and encouraging look into the world of a young and vibrant creator.

Image: Little Women

Gerwig’s adaptation makes sure to let women know that their narratives, no matter how domestic or ordinary they may seem, are important.

Image: After Parkland

In the wake of this school shooting, something began to change in U.S. dialogue and activism. This documentary holds a magnifying glass up to this pivotal event.

Image: CRSHD

This is the shallow-but-fun, sex-misadventure comedy we’ve all been waiting for, this time (FINALLY!) made by young women and starring young women!

Image: At the Heart of Gold

At the Heart of Gold

The #MeToo movement will be a success if it leads to social and legal change. But it’ll take a lot of heart-wrenching stories like this one to get us there.

Street art of a woman and child

One Child Nation

The most tragic thing is for a nation to lose its memory. Nanfu Wang is doing her part to make sure this period of Chinese history never fades from memory.

Two women lying on a deck

Clementine doesn’t just show the post-breakup grieving process, it reminds us that relationships change who we are forever.

Woman's face

A Regular Woman

This movie gives Aynur her voice back, if just for an hour and a half. And in doing so, it gives a voice to any woman who might be hurting, abused, or silenced.

You've Got Mail movie poster

You've Got Mail

It’s surprising how relevant this movie feels, even 20 years later. But it’s not just nostalgia or deep themes that keep bringing us back, it’s everything!

Private Life movie poster

Private Life is an existential rollercoaster, and only barely about a baby. (It’s more like Waiting for Godot!)

The Favourite movie poster

Here, there is blood, guns, sex, and revenge. The men are bedecked in makeup and wigs, the women run the war, and it passes the Bechdel Test with flying colors.

Happy As Lazzaro movie poster

Happy as Lazzaro

This engaging, unforgettable story lies somewhere between fairy tale and dystopia.

Shoplifters movie poster

Despite the hiding, the brokenness, and the stealing, this family in Shoplifters is a small snapshot of joy, and one that shines a sorely needed light.

Child's hand being held

High Life is richly layered, atmospheric, and as creepy as poison ivy winding its way around your leg.

Too Late to Die Young movie poster

Too Late to Die Young

Watching Too Late to Die Young felt like being carried by a gentle stream. It has a dreamlike, even-keeled quality one doesn’t find in many Hollywood movies.

Dead Women Walking movie poster

Dead Women Walking

Haunting and tender, this exploration of nine incarcerated women deals with the most chilling verdict any justice system has to offer: the death penalty.

Duck Butter movie poster

Naima and Sergio decide to stay awake and in each other’s company for 24 hours straight, having sex and being totally real about their thoughts and feelings.

Daniela Vega in A Fantastic Woman movie poster

A Fantastic Woman

This isn’t a story about discovering identity. This is a story of relationships, of grief, and of how social networks break down for the most vulnerable.

Prince of Egypt movie poster

The Prince of Egypt

The story reminds me that in a world run by men and kings, there is wonder and strength in the woman, in the child, and in the slave, to change the course of history.

A Wrinkle In Time poster

A Wrinkle in Time

It’s a year be proud of the fade of girl-characters in movies who look to male companions and ask, wide eyed “What do we do now?” Not Meg. Not in Ava’s movies.

Image: A Wrinkle in Time

A Wrinkle in Time

This tale of witches, creatures, and clever children is one of the most famous fantasy stories ever written. And it almost didn’t get published.

Image: Loving Vincent

Loving Vincent is a bit like “Starry Night.” It’s simple, it’s soothing, yet somehow it’s unlike anything you’ve ever seen before.

Figure skater

It easily earns high scores across categories: the music is infectious, the direction is like a Coen-brothers romp, and the cast is all-star caliber.

Image: The Florida Project Movie

The Florida Project

This drama provides so many emotional sucker punches. Like Moonlight, it shows, rather than tells, the beautiful, real, and raw story of everyday Americans.

Image: The Incredible Jessica James

The Incredible Jessica James

Jessica James is kind of obnoxious, mean to her dates, and she’s definitely her own biggest fan. But she’s 25 and she’s trying really hard.

Image: Spirited Away

Having watched it (so many times!), I can now say that this curious and lovely coming-of-age tale is one of the most beautiful movies I have ever seen.

Image: Patti Cakes

The cast is solid, the direction is colorful and bold, and our hero Patricia (AKA Killa P) is the talented version of ourselves we all aspire to be.

Image: Ghost Talkers

Set in a re-imaged World War I where a Spirit Corps obtain information from the ghosts of dead soldiers, the real question is, who is a friend? Who is a foe?

Image: Lady Valor: The Kristin Beck Story

Lady Valor: The Kristin Beck Story

U.S. Navy SEAL Kristin Beck voices her newly embraced transgender identity, her transition, and shares the struggles she knows still lie ahead.

Image: Lady Macbeth

I expected a dark period drama – but the film went way past that. This is no Jane Austen piece. Get ready for a truly psychological thriller.

Image: My Cousin Rachel

My Cousin Rachel

This film uses an engrossing love story to pierce the heart of the literary femme fatale archetype to its very core.

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A Woman's Life (Une Vie)

A Woman’s Life is a beautiful, bittersweet reminder of the most euphoric and most heartwrenching parts of life.

Image: The Zookeeper’s Wife

The Zookeeper’s Wife

Antonina Żabiński was a woman of privilege and resources, and her family’s true story of heroism and generosity is almost too beautiful to be believed.

Image: Beauty and the Beast

Beauty and the Beast

This movie brings major nostalgia for the 90’s kid and fairy-tale lover and fills in some of those glaring plot holes from the original.

Image: 20th Century Women

20th Century Women

What did it mean to be born, to grow up in, to die in, the 20th century? Well, it meant a lot of different things.

Image: The Edge of Seventeen

The Edge of Seventeen

The world is full of beautiful, complex humans. Sometimes it just takes a bit of growing up to notice them.

Image: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

I want to be up front with Harry Potter fans - this movie is not Potter caliber. But I still found it to be absolutely lovely and enchanting, with much to admire.

Image: Suffragette

It’s hard to believe that dropping our opinions into a ballot box, something we do so casually, took so much ink, blood, and screaming to accomplish. But it did.

Image: The Hours

Before 13TH and Selma, Ava DuVernay was making her big-screen directorial debut in I Will Follow - and it doesn’t disappoint.

Image: 13th

Systems of oppression tend to reinvent themselves, according to 13TH. Is there a way to move past them?

Image: Miss Representation

Miss Representation

If the media is so derogatory toward the most powerful women in the US, “then what does it say about [the] media’s ability to take any woman in America seriously?”

Image: Bridget Jones’s Baby

Bridget Jones’s Baby

It rises above expectations, and brings back the warmth and quirk so memorable in the original novel.

Image: Queen of Katwe

Their idea of belonging is challenged. “You belong where you believe you belong. Where is that for you?”

Image: A Tale of Love and Darkness

A Tale of Love and Darkness

Natalie Portman’s debut as writer and director is a passion project eight years in the making.

Image: The BFG

I found light, magic, and dreams in The BFG, unfettered by the glitz and headache that so often accompanies movies made for children.

Woman with a guy

It’s the secret agent action movie flipped on its head. Mr. Perfect Agent has a secret weapon in his ear: Melissa McCarthy.

Image: The Little Prince

The Little Prince

He “lived on a planet that was scarcely bigger than himself,” and who “had need of a friend.”

Image: Selma

It’s one thing to know that Dr. King spent time in jail. It’s another to hear the despair in his voice through the bars, wondering if he’s making a difference.

Image: M Train

There’s something touching about the way Smith describes her smallest moments, most fleeting thoughts, softest inclinations and ideas.

Image: Weiner

Weiner is a brisk, laugh-out-loud, fascinating peek into the campaign offices and living rooms of the people ensnared in Anthony Weiner’s bizarre political saga.

Image: The Fits

A beautiful, haunting coming of age drama featuring temporary tattoos and glitter nail polish, giggles and sass.

A man's face, a man with a gun, and a woman in a headset

The temptation to steal, hide, and lie becomes stronger when it means simply moving numbers instead of banknotes, or tucking away data behind passwords and code.

Image: Gayby Baby

Being a kid is hard; being a parent is hard -whether you’re straight or gay- all the time, no matter what.

Image: Eye In The Sky

It's a take on the impossible moral quandaries which arise in wartime - the things we take for granted and situations we hope to never face.

Image: Why Not Me?

Kaling made me laugh out loud. She brings a hilarious and sometimes tragic perspective to Hollywood, friendship, hard work and ambition.

Image: Still Alice

What would I do if tomorrow a terrifying diagnosis dropped out of nowhere? How would I navigate the waters of disappointment and broken expectations?

Image: The September Issue

The September Issue

When Anna Wintour speaks into the camera there’s a glint of fight in her eyes. She dares us to tell her that fashion and Vogue are frivolous.

Image: Room

Room isn’t all heartbreak and despair. It’s also a testament to how we make each other stronger, how we aren’t meant to go at it alone.

Image: Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell

Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell

It is a story of magic and mystery, but also a sprawling Dickensian tale of manners, family, and business in an alternate-history early 1800’s England.

Image: Girls Like Us

Girls Like Us is without a doubt the most brutal book I have ever read. It reminds me to believe survivors. It reminds me to help, encourage, feed, and listen.

Image: Brooklyn

Full disclosure: I did not expect to cry so much during Brooklyn - the journey of one woman learning to navigate her place in the world.

Image: He Named Me Malala

He Named Me Malala

Malala is a unique, surprising individual, who’s part of a larger history of standing up to oppression.

Image: Mad Max: Fury Road

Mad Max: Fury Road

When I eased into my seat, I was pretty unprepared for the visual and thematic feast about to unfold before me.

Image: No One Belongs Here More Than You

No One Belongs Here More Than You

Miranda July knows how to turn a phrase and punch a sentence so that you either swell or deflate. I laughed out loud, winced, and felt stabs of longing.

Image: The Art Of Asking

The Art Of Asking

The book was born out of her Ted Talk. In it, we get not only Amanda’s reflections on how she learned to ask and receive, but many other sagas.