39 and a Half

Kara (Beth Lisick) is living her dream - making films and leading a rich, satisfying life in San Francisco, surrounded by art and friends. But as thirtysomething turns into almost 40, the ticking of her biological clock - and Mom’s phone calls - spur Kara into a last-ditch attempt to have it all. Director Kara Herold takes this oft-examined feminist trope and gives it an inventive spin in her quirky auto-fiction, which combines animation and absurdist comedy to narrate Kara’s pursuit of the holy triumvirate: career, kids, and romance. Bay Area literary celeb Lisick is goofily right as Kara, demonstrating a flair for physical comedy whether running through town with a big box of sperm or struggling into the lotus position in a pair of tight vinyl pants. Yet underneath the hilarity, this meta-movie, which features a film about Kara within a film about Kara by a director named Kara, poses serious questions about what it means to be a woman artist in the 21st century. (Mill Valley Film Festival)