Radium Girls (film)

Last updated
Radium Girls
Radium Girls (film).jpg
Film poster
Directed by Lydia Dean Pilcher
Ginny Mohler
Written byGinny Mohler
Brittany Shaw
Produced byLydia Dean Pilcher
Emily McEvoy
Starring Joey King
Abby Quinn
CinematographyMathieu Plainfossé
Edited byGiacomo Ambrosini
Ben Garchar
Seth Skundrick
Music byLillie Rebecca McDonough
Production
company
Cine Mosaic
Distributed byJuno Films
Release dates
  • April 27, 2018 (2018-04-27)(Tribeca)
  • October 23, 2020 (2020-10-23)
Running time
102 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Radium Girls is a 2018 American drama film directed by Lydia Dean Pilcher and Ginny Mohler and starring Joey King and Abby Quinn. Lily Tomlin and Jane Wagner serve as executive producers. [1] [2] Originally screened at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2018, the film was supposed to be released to North American theaters in early April 2020, with a wider release later in the month. The release was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. On October 23, 2020, the film was released in select theaters and virtual cinemas. [3]

Contents

Plot

Bessie and Josephine "Jo" Cavallo are sisters who live with their grandfather in New Jersey. Both sisters work at American Radium, where they paint watch dials.

One day, Bessie meets Walt, a young communist and photographer, who comes to take pictures of the young women at work in the factory. Bessie and Walt fall for each other, each involving the other more and more into each other's lives. Walt brings Bessie into his world of subversive political thought and counter-culture, at one point directing her to Ms. Wiley, who leads the Consumer's League of New Jersey.

Jo eventually falls ill, and Bessie seeks out help. When Mr. Roeder, the foreman, sends along the company doctor, Dr. Flint, the latter finds no problem with Jo. After the sisters ask for him to run more tests, he returns with a diagnosis of syphilis, which was the same diagnosis given to the eldest Cavallo sister, Mary, before she died two years prior.

The Cavallo sisters refuse to accept this diagnosis, especially as Jo is a virgin. They seek help from Wiley, who is willing to go against American Radium, but she warns them that the process won't be easy. Bessie tries to warn the other girls at the factory of the dangers and urges them to get tested for radium poisoning, but most are reluctant to quit or get tested. Once Mary's body is exhumed and tested, her bones are found to be radioactive, strengthening the case against American Radium. Eventually two more girls join the Cavallo sisters, but American Radium responds to this momentum by trying to coerce the Cavallo sisters into silence, and then intimidating them by following them around when they walk alone.

Eventually, Mr. Henry Berry agrees to represent the case of the dial painters. The trial proceeds and seems to be going well, but Bessie knows she needs stronger support for her side, so she seeks out Mr. Leech, the branch supervisor, who also had a secret relationship with Mary before her death. Bessie eventually finds Leech in the hospital, suffering of radium poisoning. After much convincing, Leech agrees to testify on behalf of the dial painters, because of the love he held for Mary. Yet, when he is called to the stand, he lies, saying he never had a relationship with Mary, and that he had never warned her of the dangers of radium. When Bessie asks him why he changed his testimony, he says that his sister died of cancer, and while he wasn't able to help or cure her, at least American Radium would provide for her children and grandchildren, so he had to help it survive.

After the state trial judge grants American Radium a long extension on the negotiations, a federal judge who had taken an interest in the case negotiates a deal on behalf of the victims (by now dubbed the "Radium Girls"). The girls are granted $10,000, each, and the factory in New Jersey will be shut down. The girls, with the exception of Bessie, are delighted. Bessie is reluctant to accept this deal, because she wants the impacts of the case to be further reaching - but, as Wiley says, "It is never over." All the girls end up signing the settlement.

The epilogue states that radium was used to paint luminous clocks until the 1970s, that the judge who had negotiated the settlement was a stockholder in American Radium, that the Radium Girls case impacted labor law in the United States, and that if you place a Geiger counter over the grave of a Radium Girl, it will click for more than a thousand years.

Cast

Reception

The film has a 75% rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 36 reviews, with an average rating of 6.4/10. [4] Metacritic reports a score of 52 out of 100 based on six critic reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews". [5]

Roxana Hadadi of RogerEbert.com awarded the film one and a half stars. [6] Kate Erbland of IndieWire graded the film a C+. [7]

Jessica Kiang of Variety gave the film a negative review and wrote, "...the film aims for inspirational true story, but is sadly uninspired, and its relationship to real history is obscured by the schematic way it is fictionalized." [8]

Frank Scheck of The Hollywood Reporter gave the film a positive review and wrote, "Although its low-budget cinematic execution feels a bit lacking at times, the film fulfills a vital function with its dramatization of an important chapter in America's history of labor reform." [9]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ottawa, Illinois</span> City in Illinois, United States

Ottawa is a city in and the county seat of LaSalle County, Illinois, United States. It is located at the confluence of the navigable Fox River and Illinois River, the latter being a conduit for river barges and connects Lake Michigan at Chicago, to the Mississippi River, and North America's 25,000 mile river system. The population estimate was 18,742, as of 2020. It is the principal city of the Ottawa, IL Micropolitan Statistical Area.

<i>Casualties of Love: The "Long Island Lolita" Story</i> 1993 American TV series or program

Casualties of Love: The "Long Island Lolita" Story is a 1993 American television crime drama film based on the story of Amy Fisher and Joey Buttafuoco, written and directed by John Herzfeld. Alyssa Milano and Jack Scalia played the main characters. It aired on CBS on January 3, 1993, the same night and time as ABC's film The Amy Fisher Story, though the latter film was much higher rated in the TV ratings and critically praised.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Radium Girls</span> Women who died from radium poisoning while working as watch painters in the 1910s & 20s

The Radium Girls were female factory workers who contracted radiation poisoning from painting radium dials – watch dials and hands with self-luminous paint. The incidents occurred at three factories in the United States: one in Orange, New Jersey, beginning around 1917; one in Ottawa, Illinois, beginning in the early 1920s; and one in Waterbury, Connecticut, also in the 1920s.

<i>Factory Girl</i> (2006 film) 2006 film by George Hickenlooper

Factory Girl is a 2006 American biographical film directed by George Hickenlooper. It is based on the rapid rise and fall of 1960s underground film star and socialite Edie Sedgwick, known for her association with the artist Andy Warhol.

<i>The Grudge 2</i> 2006 film by Takashi Shimizu

The Grudge 2 is a 2006 American supernatural horror film directed by Takashi Shimizu and written by Stephen Susco. The film is a sequel to The Grudge (2004) and the second installment in the American The Grudge film series. The film stars Arielle Kebbel, Amber Tamblyn, Jennifer Beals, Edison Chen, Sarah Roemer, and Sarah Michelle Gellar who reprises her role from the first film. Like its predecessor, the film features a plot that is told through a nonlinear sequence of events and includes several intersecting subplots. It follows Karen's younger sister Aubrey coming to Japan after finding out about Doug's death, a schoolgirl named Allison being haunted by the ghosts of the Saeki family after entering the house with two of her classmates, and a young boy named Jake whose apartment building is haunted by the ghosts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Radium jaw</span> Former occupational disease caused by radium, resulting in deformation of the jawbones

Radium jaw, or radium necrosis, is a historic occupational disease brought on by the ingestion and subsequent absorption of radium into the bones of radium dial painters. It also affected those consuming radium-laden patent medicines.

<i>Another Cinderella Story</i> 2008 film by Damon Santostefano

Another Cinderella Story is a 2008 American teen musical comedy film directed by Damon Santostefano and written by Erik Patterson and Jessica Scott. The film stars Selena Gomez, Drew Seeley, and Jane Lynch. It is a stand-alone sequel to A Cinderella Story (2004) and the second installment in the A Cinderella Story series. Like the first film, it is a retelling of the Cinderella fairy tale in a modern setting. The film was released on DVD on September 16, 2008, and premiered on ABC Family on January 18, 2009.

<i>The Amy Fisher Story</i> 1993 TV series or program

The Amy Fisher Story is a 1993 American television film dramatizing the events surrounding Amy Fisher's teenage affair with Joey Buttafuoco and her conviction for aggravated assault for shooting Buttafuoco's wife. The film was produced by ABC and originally aired on that network; in 1993, it was released on VHS and in 2001 on DVD.

<i>Mean Girls 2</i> 2011 American teen comedy television film

Mean Girls 2 is a 2011 American teen comedy directed by Melanie Mayron and written by Cliff Ruby, Elana Lesser, and Allison Schroeder. It is a standalone sequel to the 2004 film Mean Girls.

<i>Lovey Mary</i> 1926 silent film by King Baggot

Lovey Mary is a 1926 American comedy-drama film directed by King Baggot, with Bessie Love in the title role. It is based on the 1903 novel of the same name by Alice Hegan Rice, a sequel to Rice's Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch. It was distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

Dance Moms is an American reality television series that aired on Lifetime from July 13, 2011 to September 10, 2019. Created by Collins Avenue Productions, the show followed the training and careers of children in dance and show business under the tutelage of Abby Lee Miller, as well as the relationships between Miller, the dancers, and their mothers. Set originally in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and later in Los Angeles, California, the show was primarily filmed at the Abby Lee Dance Company (ALDC) studios. The show followed the girls on the ALDC Junior Elite Competition Team as they learn their dances and then compete with them at dance competitions all across the country.

<i>Landline</i> (film) 2017 American film

Landline is a 2017 American comedy film directed by Gillian Robespierre with a screenplay Robespierre by Elisabeth Holm from a story by Robespierre, Holm and Tom Bean. The film stars Jenny Slate, Edie Falco, Abby Quinn, John Turturro, Jay Duplass and Finn Wittrock, and follows sisters in 1990s New York City who think their father is having an affair.

Abby Quinn is an American actress. She is known for her role in the 2023 M. Night Shyamalan horror film Knock at the Cabin.

<i>The Kissing Booth</i> 2018 American teen romantic comedy film

The Kissing Booth is a 2018 American teen romantic comedy film written and directed by Vince Marcello, based on the 2012 novel of the same name by Beth Reekles. It stars Joey King, Jacob Elordi, and Joel Courtney. The film follows Elle (King), a quirky, late blooming teenager whose budding romance with high school senior and bad boy Noah (Elordi) puts her lifelong friendship with Noah's younger brother Lee (Courtney) in jeopardy.

<i>Night Comes On</i> 2018 film by Jordana Spiro

Night Comes On is a 2018 American drama film directed by Jordana Spiro, who wrote the screenplay with Angelica Nwandu. The film was developed by Nwandu and Spiro at the Sundance Institute's Screenwriter Lab in 2014. It is inspired by Nwandu's experiences in foster care. The film premiered on January 19, 2018 at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival and was given a limited theatrical and VOD release by Samuel Goldwyn Films on August 3, 2018.

<i>Happiest Season</i> 2020 film by Clea DuVall

Happiest Season is a 2020 American holiday romantic comedy-drama film directed by Clea DuVall, who co-wrote the screenplay with Mary Holland. Starring an ensemble cast consisting of Kristen Stewart, Mackenzie Davis, Alison Brie, Aubrey Plaza, Daniel Levy, Holland, Victor Garber, and Mary Steenburgen, the film follows a young woman who struggles to admit to her conservative parents that she is a lesbian while she and her girlfriend visit them during Christmas. DuVall has said the film is a semi-autobiographical take on her own experiences with her family.

<i>Enola Holmes 2</i> 2022 mystery film by Harry Bradbeer

Enola Holmes 2 is a 2022 mystery film and the sequel to the 2020 film Enola Holmes, both of which star Millie Bobby Brown as the title character, the teenage sister of the already-famous Victorian-era detective Sherlock Holmes. The film is directed by Harry Bradbeer from a screenplay by Jack Thorne that adapts the book series The Enola Holmes Mysteries by Nancy Springer. Unlike the film's predecessor, it does not adapt one of Springer's novels and instead takes real-life inspiration from the 1888 matchgirls' strike. In addition to Brown, Henry Cavill, Louis Partridge, Susie Wokoma, Adeel Akhtar, and Helena Bonham Carter reprise their supporting roles, while David Thewlis and Sharon Duncan-Brewster join the cast.

<i>Sophie Jones</i> (film) 2020 American drama film by Jessie Barr

Sophie Jones is a 2020 American drama film directed, co-written, and produced by Jessie Barr. The film is executive produced by Nicole Holofcener and stars Jessica Barr as a 16-year-old navigating grief, girlhood, and growing up in Portland, Oregon. It also stars Skyler Verity, Claire Manning, Charlie Jackson, and Dave Roberts. The film premiered at the 2020 Deauville Film Festival and had a limited release on March 2, 2021, by Oscilloscope Laboratories. It won Best Feature Film at the Americana Film Festival 2022 in Barcelona, Spain. The original motion picture soundtrack was released on April 1, 2022, by Gardener Recordings, featuring an original score by Grammy-nominated composer Nate Heller.

Torn Hearts is a 2022 American horror film directed by Brea Grant and written by Rachel Koller Croft. The film stars Katey Sagal, Abby Quinn, Alexxis Lemire, Joshua Leonard and Shiloh Fernandez. Jason Blum serves as an executive producer through his Blumhouse Television banner.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Grace Fryer</span>

Grace Fryer was an American dial painter and Radium Girl, who sued U.S. Radium after suffering radium poisoning while employed painting watch faces. Subsequently, joined by fellow workers Quinta McDonald, Albina Larice, Edna Hussman, and Katherine Schaub, Fryer brought a suit labelled in the media “The Case of the Five Women Doomed to Die”. It was a pivotal case for the labor rights movement and in establishing workers' safety regulations.

References

  1. ↑ D'Alessandro, Anthony (25 February 2020). "Lily Tomlin-Produced Feature 'Radium Girls' Starring Joey King & Abby Quinn Acquired By Juno Films". Deadline Hollywood . Retrieved 11 August 2020.
  2. ↑ Reimann, Tom (28 February 2020). "Watch Joey King Uncover the Radium Scandal in First 'Radium Girls' Trailer". Collider . Retrieved 11 August 2020.
  3. ↑ Kinane, Ruth (22 September 2020). "Joey King fights for female factory workers in Radium Girls clip". Entertainment Weekly . Retrieved 24 October 2020.
  4. ↑ "Radium Girls (2018)". Rotten Tomatoes . Fandango . Retrieved 10 October 2021.
  5. ↑ "Radium Girls Reviews". Metacritic . Retrieved 5 December 2020.
  6. ↑ Hadadi, Roxana (23 October 2020). "Radium Girls". RogerEbert.com . Retrieved 24 October 2020.
  7. ↑ Erbland, Kate (22 October 2020). "'Radium Girls' Review: A Forgotten Slice of American Trauma Gets an Important but Inert Retelling". IndieWire . Retrieved 24 October 2020.
  8. ↑ Kiang, Jessica (23 October 2020). "'Radium Girls' Review: Well-Meaning but Pallid 1920s Drama About the Industrial Radium Cover-Up". Variety . Retrieved 24 October 2020.
  9. ↑ Scheck, Frank (20 October 2020). "'Radium Girls': Film Review". The Hollywood Reporter . Retrieved 24 October 2020.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.