In an exclusive conversation for The Queer Review, prolific New Queer Cinema provocateur Todd Verow and veteran actor Guillermo Díaz discuss their collaboration on the atmospheric and captivating indie horror thriller You Can't Stay Here, which opens in New York at the IFC Center on Friday, January 5th, followed by its New Orleans release at... Continue Reading →
NYFF 2021 Film Review: Benedetta ★★★★
Paul Verhoeven's Benedetta, which receives its North American premiere at the 59th New York Film Festival this weekend, is a delectable cloak-and-dagger queer period drama. Inspired by real events and based on the 1986 book Immodest Acts: The Life of a Lesbian Nun in Renaissance Italy by Judith C. Brown, David Birke (Elle) and Verhoeven's... Continue Reading →
Book Review: Shooting Midnight Cowboy – Art, Sex, Loneliness, Liberation, and the Making of a Dark Classic by Glenn Frankel ★★★★
I'm not going to call Midnight Cowboy a masterpiece, that is a word that gets thrown around too much (like luxury it has lost it has lost all meaning.) Midnight Cowboy is better than that. It is a perfect film. All of the elements: the script, the direction, the casting, the costumes, the cinematography, the... Continue Reading →
Sundance 2021 Film Review: Pleasure ★★★★
As twenty year-old Bella Cherry (Sofia Kappel) arrives in Los Angeles from her native Sweden she's asked by a US customs agent whether the purpose of her visit is 'business or pleasure', with her momentarily delayed reply giving director Ninja Thyberg's stunning debut feature, co-written with Peter Modestij, its title. Pleasure, which expands on Thyberg's... Continue Reading →
Exclusive Interview: Showgirls doc You Don’t Nomi filmmaker Jeffrey McHale “it’s absurd, it’s vulgar, it’s beautiful, it’s offensive – there are a lot of layers that queer people respond to”
The multi Razzie Award winning Showgirls is as fervently revered as it is reviled. It has spawned a stage musical homage, legendary interactive screenings hosted by drag queen Peaches Christ and even a book of verse. But those who love it aren't blind to its flaws, including filmmaker Jeffrey McHale whose documentary exploring the film's... Continue Reading →
Film Review: You Don’t Nomi ★★★1/2
The movie Showgirls is infamous. It’s burnt its way into the pop consciousness in a way that few films do. Now Showgirls-apologist Jeffrey McHale is here with You Don’t Nomi, a documentary that forces you to re-examine the film. Is it a glorious flop, a misunderstood masterpiece or something else entirely? The treatise behind You... Continue Reading →
