Joanna Hogg has done a very clever thing. And thankfully for her audience, she has made a superbly vivid and observant film that is so much more than merely clever. The excellent original The Souvenir gave no indication that it needed or even could have a sequel. Yet here is its symmetrical compliment. For those … Continue reading
The Stroll, the opening documentary of the British Film Institute Flare Festival just blew the bloody doors off. Some things in LGBTQ+ film festivals are good, some things are important. They don’t always coincide. With this authentic yet deeply authoritative work by Kristen Lovell and Zackary Drucker they have achieved both. A threading of black … Continue reading
On a film that loosely follows the seasons, to say that Lukas Dhont’s Close might make you weep is as inevitable as saying winter might follow autumn. The emotions are so finely evoked in this masterful coming of age drama they could have been drawn with an eyelash. 13-year-olds Leo (Eden Dambrine) and Remi … Continue reading
The Male Gaze: Celluloid Dreams showcases a collection of seven short films from both the 20th and 21st centuries. The first film Just Out of Reach (Dir. Jonathan Wald) runs for a blink-and-a-miss four minutes but manages to convey more than the combination of lines uttered by the two actors in it. The story … Continue reading
“Bottoms” was the happy surprise of the Provincetown International Film Festival for this reviewer. The official synopsis said, “Two unpopular queer girls in their senior year start a fight club to try to impress and hook up with cheerleaders.” Of course, we try to approach every film with an open mind, but this old … Continue reading