Brainwashed: Sex-Camera-Power (2022)
82%RT Audience Score:
Awards & Nominations: NA
Although its subject calls for a more incisive treatment, Brainwashed: Sex-Camera-Power is a worthy primer on the male gaze in cinema.
If you’re looking for a flick that’ll make you think about the way dudes look at women on the big screen, Brainwashed: Sex-Camera-Power is a solid place to start. Sure, it could’ve gone deeper into the topic, but hey, it’s still a pretty good intro. Plus, you’ll get to see some steamy scenes, so there’s that. Overall, it’s worth a watch if you’re into film theory and want to impress your friends with your newfound knowledge of the male gaze.
Production Company(ies)
DUST, Film/TV/Theater, Social
Distributor
Kino Lorber
Release Type
Theatrical, Theatrical (Limited)
Filming Location(s)
MPAA / Certificate
NR
Year of Release
2022
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Color:Color
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Sound mix:Dolby
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Aspect ratio:NA
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Runtime:1h 47m
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Language(s):English
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Country of origin:United States
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Release date:Release Date (Theaters): Oct 21, 2022 Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Dec 6, 2022
Genre(s)
Documentary
Keyword(s)
documentary, male gaze, cinema, discrimination, sexual harassment, film industry, Nina Menkes, Julie Dash, Penelope Spheeris, Charlyne Yi, Joey Soloway, Catherine Hardwicke, Eliza Hittman, Kino Lorber, $23.0K, English, directed by Nina Menkes, produced by Nina Menkes, written by Nina Menkes, reviewed by Sarah Jane, Marya E Gates, Elizabeth Weitzman, Beatrice Loayza, Clayton Dillard, Peter Bradshaw, Hope Madden, Anne Brodie, Violet Lucca, Jennie Kermode, Carla Hay, Jennifer Merin, genre: Documentary, MPAA rating: N/A, sexism, objectification, film clips, visual grammar, pay inequity, hiring practice, A-list directors, incisive treatment, feminist film studies, empowering images, objectifying images, motion picture code, male gaze, cultural impact, misogynistic camera angles, best way possible, ahistorical information, cherry-picked scenes, bad faith arguments, unexamined assumptions, critical rigour, structured, intentional device, invigorated, required viewing, manipulated images, enabling sexism, audience score: Fewer than 50 Ratings, runtime: 1h 47m, release date (theaters): Oct 21, 2022 Limited, release date (streaming): Dec 6, 2022, distributor: Kino Lorber, box office performance: $23.0K
Worldwide gross: NA
Worldwide gross (inflation-adjusted): NA
Worldwide gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): NA
Worldwide tickets sold (est.): NA
US/Canada gross: NA
US/Canada gross (inflation-adjusted): NA
US/Canada gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): NA
US/Canada opening weekend: $7,409
US/Canada opening weekend (inflation-adjusted): $7,409
US/Canada opening weekend ranking (inflation-adjusted): 2,744
Budget and Earnings Details
Production budget (est.): $1,550,000
Production budget (inflation-adjusted): $1,550,000
Production budget ranking: 1,939
Marketing and distribution budget (inflation-adjusted est.): $834,675
Box office net earnings to date (inflation-adjusted est.): NA
ROI to date (est.): NA
ROI ranking: NA
Penelope Spheeris – Self
Charlyne Yi – Self
Joey Soloway – Self
Catherine Hardwicke – Self
Eliza Hittman – Self
Director(s)
Nina Menkes
Writer(s)
NA
Producer(s)
Nina Menkes
Film Festivals
Sundance, Berlin
Awards & Nominations
NA
Academy Awards
All Critics (42) | Top Critics (12) | Fresh (31) | Rotten (11)
Hollywood has a long way to go in terms of parity for women and there absolutely must be a discussion about the way women are portrayed onscreen… but Brainwashed: Sex-Camera-Power isn’t doing it the best way possible.
December 1, 2022 | Rating: 2.5/5
Sarah Jane
Austin Chronicle
TOP CRITIC
Relies on bad faith arguments, ahistorical information, and cherry-picked scenes used out of context.
October 21, 2022 | Rating: 1/4
Marya E. Gates
RogerEbert.com
TOP CRITIC
As a substitute for a Feminist Film Studies 101 class, “Brainwashed” gets the job done a lot more quickly and cheaply than if you registered for grad school.
October 20, 2022
Elizabeth Weitzman
TheWrap
TOP CRITIC
Limited to a mere pointing out of which kinds of images are empowering to women and which aren’t, the documentary ultimately does a disservice to the art form, feminist or otherwise.
October 20, 2022
Beatrice Loayza
New York Times
TOP CRITIC
Brainwashed comes dangerously close to inhabiting its own title.
October 16, 2022 | Rating: 2.5/4
Clayton Dillard
Slant Magazine
TOP CRITIC
Brainwashed is a bracing blast of critical rigour, taking a clear, cool look at the unexamined assumptions behind what we see on the screen.
October 15, 2022 | Rating: 4/5
Peter Bradshaw
Guardian
TOP CRITIC
It’s important for women to see how the films we love betray us in large ways and small, and perhaps even more important for all of us to see that this is a structured, intentional device that we should notice and change.
November 10, 2022 | Rating: 3.5/5
Hope Madden
MaddWolf
Menkes illustrates in no uncertain terms the motion picture code and detriment of the “male gaze”. No secret that women have been objectified in film across the board in ways you won’t be able to ignore once you see this doc.
October 28, 2022 | Rating: 3/4
Anne Brodie
What She Said
Viewers are meant to wrestle with this film, not passively consume a simple message — and they’ll leave invigorated.
October 27, 2022
Violet Lucca
Bust Magazine
Densely packed as this film is, only so much can be squeezed into an hour and 47 minutes. Menkes succeeds, however, in delivering a pretty thorough primer.
October 26, 2022 | Rating: 4/5
Jennie Kermode
Eye for Film
This documentary should be required viewing for anyone who cares about how manipulated images in movies can play a role in enabling sexism against women in society.
October 22, 2022
Carla Hay
Culture Mix
BRAiNWASHED is AWFJ’s Movie of the Week: A must see documentary about how misogynistic camera angles objectify and demean women and the cultural impact of that. Must see. You will never watch movies in the same way!
October 20, 2022
Jennifer Merin
AWFJ Women on Film…
Plot
Building upon her influential talk, “Sex and Power: The Visual Language of Cinema,” director Nina Menkes continues her interrogation of the film industry’s systemic use of gendered techniques in filmmaking. Using more than 175 film clips from both major award-winners and cult classics as well as interviews with filmmakers and scholars, Menkes breaks down the consistently gendered aspects of shot design to reveal a sinister framework of misogyny and paternalism at play. Menkes argues that these constructed visuals have real-life, tangible consequences for women when it comes to sexual assault and employment discrimination.
Trivia
Goofs / Tidbits
Fresh Kernels does not provide any information under Goofs for the film Brainwashed: Sex-Camera-Power.
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