UPDATE: Screens at the 40th Anniversary Outfest Los Angeles LGBTQ+ Film Festival on Saturday, July 23rd at 9:30pm at Directors Guild of America, Theater 1. Director Craig Boreham (Teenage Kicks, Drowning) is back with another tale of young gay men looking for meaning and connection, alienated from the support structures around them in the aptly... Continue Reading →
Mardi Gras Film Festival 2022 Review: Finlandia ★★★★★
Horacio Alcalá’s Finlandia is a sumptuous, multifaceted drama filled with life, love, and despair; a glorious explosion of creativity and cultural insight. It refuses to be limited in its scope, dealing with the lives of a group of muxes, gender nonconforming artisans recognized as a third gender by the Zapotec people in Oaxaca, Southern Mexico.... Continue Reading →
Berlin Film Festival 2021 Review: Petite Maman ★★★★1/2
Writer-director Céline Sciamma follows her 2019 Queer Palm-winning masterpiece Portrait of a Lady on Fire with the immensely evocative Petite Maman, which received its world premiere at Berlin today. While Portrait captured the intensity of romantic love between two women, Maman delicately and ingeniously explores the bond between mother and daughter. Eight-year-old Nelly (Joséphine Sanz)... Continue Reading →
Mardi Gras Film Festival 2021 Review: Suk Suk (Twilight’s Kiss) ★★★★
Hong Kong director Ray Yeung’s Suk Suk (released as Twilight’s Kiss in North America) has been drawing rave reviews since its premiere at the Busan International Film Festival, and it’s easy to see why; gentle, subtle, and deeply moving, Suk Suk is a real gem. Pak (Tai-Bo) is a married taxi driver and grandfather coming... Continue Reading →
Sundance 2021 Film Review: The World to Come ★★★★
Part of Sundance 2021's Spotlight program, director Mona Fastvold's Queer Lion-winning The World to Come, adapted from a short story by Jim Shepard, immerses us in the bleak daily life of a contemplative mid-nineteenth century woman, Abigail (Katherine Waterston), living on the stark, unforgiving Northeastern frontier with her husband Dyer (Casey Affleck). The film opens... Continue Reading →