Charlotte (and Anne) in Gunpowder Milkshake

The Film Stage reviews the Netflix film Gunpowder Milkshake, directed by Navot Papushado and written by Ehud Lavski and Navot Papushado:

Arriving like the film’s holy trinity, Michelle Yeoh, Angela Bassett, and Carlo Gugino play librarians / arms dealers who, up to this point, have remained neutral gatekeepers in the criminal hierarchy. These wonderful actors enliven Gunpowder Milkshake—more than with badass reverie, a sense of literary yearning that connects back to Jane Austen and Virginia Woolf. During a deeply melancholic eulogy, one character says, “There’s little joy in life for me,” quoting the opening line of Charlotte Brontë’s poem, “On the Death of Anne Brontë.” (Glenn Heath Jr.)

The Wall Street Journal adds

“Gunpowder Milkshake” would be a pretty obvious feminist parable even without the trio of “librarians” who comfort Sam with advice and artillery. Carla Gugino is the dainty but lethal Madeleine; Michelle Yeoh is the quietly deadly Florence; Angela Bassett is the snarling Anna May, who is angry with Sam for never stopping by their bookish armory, where the volumes contain handguns of various sizes and the larger-caliber weapons have monikers like “ Jane Austen, ” “ Virginia Woolf ” and “ Charlotte Bronte. ” (John Anderson)

 

Not the only Brontë mention in the movie, though:

EDIT: The Boston Herald and others also review the film:

The dialogue mixes cliches with attempts at wit and whimsy that fall repeatedly flat. How about guns secreted in hollowed-out books by Austen, Brontë, Woolf and Christie? (James Verniere)

The librarians are three, played by Yeoh, Gugino and Bassett. They give her some Brontë, Austin and Woolf, but inside the books aren’t great insights into the feminine mind. No, inside are guns and knives, phallic symbols to be reappropriated against the wielders of the phalluses, he said, interpreting freely. (John Serba in Decider)

It’s the little things that will make you smile. Sam’s I Love Kittens bag, the library’s book-concealed armoury (“you’ll need a Jane Austen, a Charlotte Brontë and a Virginia Woolf,” Sam is advised) and a scene involving the temporary paralysis of Sam’s upper limbs just some of the highlights. (James Croot in Stuff)

Szerencsére az a könyvtár, ahol Carla Gugino felel a kötetekért, nem hasonlít a Fővárosi Szabó Ervinre. Itt minden Jane Austen és Emily Brontë kötet valamilyen csőre töltött fegyvert rejt. (Nagy Tibor in Filmtekercs) (Translation)

Did I mention that the Librarians got their name because they hid their guns in books? Jane Austen, Charlotte Brontë, Virginia Woolf, (Agatha Christie is for actual reading), and a

The place symbolizes the roles to which women were once consigned — but now, each ornate volume (Emily Dickinson, Charlotte Brontë, Virginia Woolf) is a fake book that contains a compartment that houses a weapon. (Owen Gleiberman in Variety)

Così, la nostra Sam troverà nuove armi per iniziare la sua lotta contro la società maschile all'interno dei romanzi di Jane Austen, Charlotte Brontë o Virginia Woolf (scelte non casuali), creando un piacevole legame tra cultura e forza. (Matteo Maino in Movieplayer) (Translation)

The women hand her Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre and Virginia Woolf’s A Room of One’s Own, with guns in them while also giving Sam an Agatha Christie (could not see which one) “for reading.” (Mini Anthikad Chhibber in The Hindu)