100 Nights of Hero

Bound by the rules of a patriarchal land, a fair maiden and her maid stir the embers of resistance through storytelling and caregiving. Queerness burns like a liberating wildfire in Julia Jackman’s visually mesmerising take on the Scheherazade tale, starring Emma Corrin, Maika Monroe and Charli xcx.

Ignored by a husband who refuses her and pursued by a man who objectifies her, young Cherry (Maika Monroe) asks Hero (Emma Corrin), her maid and best friend, to tell her stories over the course of 100 nights to escape their conniving grasp. This secret trove of tales becomes Cherry’s only saving grace in a fantastical land with three moons ruled by Birdman (Richard E. Grant), whose ironclad grip repeatedly demands male heirs of the populace – or cruel consequences. Based on Isabel Greenberg’s graphic novel of the same name, what unfolds is a majestic set of kaleidoscopic stories connecting the many women who seek freedom to do as they please in a world where they are forbidden to read or write.

In 100 Nights of Hero, Julia Jackman builds a highly inventive world through gentle neon lighting, a thrumming orchestral score and ornate production design set predominantly in a resplendent mansion. Half-fairytale and half-fantasy, this quietly queer and compellingly feminist film uses the Scheherazade story to create an enchanting fable of resistance and rebellion against the heteropatriarchy.

– Olivia Popp

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