With so much attention paid to the late Diana Spencer in recent times, with the most current season of The Crown and the Broadway musical among the high profile endeavors, it may seem a film entry would not have anything new to say on the subject. Luckily, with Pablo Larraín (Jackie) directing Steven Knight’s (Locke,... Continue Reading →
I’ve always had a soft spot for immigration stories, especially considering both sets of my grandparents came to America from Eastern Europe at the turn of the 20th century. By escaping the oppression they faced as Jews, my grandparents traveled to a new world rife with problems of its own. They struggled to fit in... Continue Reading →
For me, good art is pretty, but great art is confrontational, forcing the viewer to reflect upon the human condition and reveal truths, however inspiring or ugly. The 2021 Cannes Palme d’Or winner, Titane, writer-director Julia Ducournau’s sophomore effort, definitely veers towards the latter type of confrontation. With enough brutal violence to fill all of... Continue Reading →
Watching so many films in a row can prove daunting at times. You can almost picture a room full of filmmakers shouting at once, “Look at me here!” or “My topic is most important!” As you ping-pong from one subject to another, it feels difficult to digest one before quickly, and kind of grossly, moving... Continue Reading →
I became an instant fan of the BBC sitcom, Absolutely Fabulous, in the early 90s when visiting my sister Wendy in Melbourne, Australia. We were at a bar called The Exchange when the Season One Episode “Iso Tank” was played on the monitors. I was hooked the moment Edina (the genius show creator Jennifer Saunders)... Continue Reading →
Picture a story of two young men who meet in an Italian village one fateful summer. They share a strong bond, but circumstances seem fated to drive them apart. Bicycles get ridden. Sun-dappled scenery evokes pure romance. Peaches, or perhaps peach gelato, may or may not play a role. You’d find yourself forgiven for immediately... Continue Reading →
Sometimes a movie comes along and meets its moment, transcending its innate flaws to feel more important, more powerful than it may have been perceived otherwise. In The Heights, the long-awaited film adaptation of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s pre-Hamilton Tony Award-winner, initially had a Summer 2020 release date, but now lands at a time where we’ve suffered... Continue Reading →
Based on his semi-autobiographical and groundbreaking play, filmmaker Rodrigo Bellott’s Tu Me Manques became Bolivia’s official International Feature Film Oscar entry. Roughly translating to “I miss you in me”, the film tells the story of Jorge (Oscar Martínez), who travels to New York following his gay son Gabriel’s suicide to atone for how he treated... Continue Reading →
While everyone else has picked apart the differences between the Snyder and Whedon cuts of the Justice League films, this film nerd spent 5 1/2 hours poring over the two versions of a little seen film from 2005 which went from fascinating 2 1/2 hour mess to out and out masterpiece on its journey to... Continue Reading →
Jump, Darling, the feature debut of writer-director Philip J. Connell, receives its international premiere at the 35th BFI Flare: London LGBTIQ+ Film Festival. On the surface, the tale of a young gay man escaping the big city to live with his grandmother in the countryside, reeks of every fish-out-of-water story ever conceived. The beauty of... Continue Reading →
