‘Black Widow’ Is About Yelena, Not Natasha
"Black Widow" has strong female characters but sidelines its title character and serves as a launchpad for her successor, Florence Pugh's Yelena.

Shunsaku was paralyzed from the neck down at the young age of 36 by a spinal injury suffered in a motorcycle accident. A blind woman named Hanae arrives to be his caregiver. Despite her frustrations with Shusaku's ill-nature and verbal abuse, Hanae also harbors a tremendous sense of being deprived that she doesn't tell others.
"Black Widow" has strong female characters but sidelines its title character and serves as a launchpad for her successor, Florence Pugh's Yelena.
I was able to sit down and talk with the director of the short film Dog Lover Anne-Sophie Bine as she discussed and how she came to be in film.
The film basically says she was a lost cause from the start. We don't get a sense of who Marilyn was.
Despite its glaring flaws, First Girl I Loved is not entirely undeserving of a watch. For people who can handle the more difficult aspects of the story and graphic scenes, it is worth looking into. It’s not a film worthy of rewatch, but it may still resonate somewhat with those who need a story like this. It is a genuine, if flimsy attempt at a coming-of-age tale. Were the film to be directed by someone with experiences more similar to Anne, it would likely be more powerful--as it is, it feels like a man’s perspective of what it means to come to terms with your identity as a lesbian.
Netflix's Afterlife of the Party might fall into the rom-com genre, but it's much more about grief, strong female friendships, and platonic love than it is about romance.