“There’s a massive number of trans women who have been murdered, and they’re yelling out from their graves for justice”.
Director David France makes stunning a return with The Death And Life Of Marsha P Johnson, and it’s devastatingly relevant as dozens of trans women, particularly of colour, are murdered every year across the globe.
In 1992 Marsha went missing she was last seen on the 4th July, two days later her body turned up in the Hudson River, New York. Police and an autopsy ruled her death a suicide, but friends and relatives believe that she would never end her own life.
Was her death an accident, suicide or something more sinister? This is the question that activist and crime victim advocate Victoria Cruz from the New York Anti-Violence Project has set out to determine as she launches her own investigation into the death of one of New York‘s most prominent LGBT figures.
Marsha was and is, without a doubt, one of the leading activists who created the modern LGBT+ rights movement in the USA. The film also pays kind tribute to another unsung hero of the movement, Sylvia Rivera who died in 2002. Previously unseen, fascinating footage of Rivera shows her to be a formidable character and unrelenting trans and gay rights advocate. Her life was cut short at the age of just 50 of complications from liver cancer.
Documentary maker David France, whose other notable work includes, How To Survive A Plague, uses stock and archive footage and touching interviews with those who knew Marsha to haunting effect, bringing alive the formative years of the burgeoning gay rights movement in New York, following the Stonewall Riots in the summer of 1969.
Rupert Everett has reached a new pinnacle in his career with the release of his new film The Happy Prince.
In a film in which he wrote and directed, Everett plays Oscar Wilde in the final years of his life. Everett, if you remember, played Wilde a few years back in London’s West End in the critically-acclaimed show ‘The Judas Kiss’ which won Everett awards. Now, and ten years in the making, sees Everett play the role he was practically born to play. It was ten years of struggling to get funding for this film, and once Colin Firth had signed on (he is an Executive Producer as well as playing Reggie Turner, one of Wilde’s best friends, in the film), The Happy Prince was finally made, and what an excellent film it is.
In the very late 1890’s, Wilde was a penniless man, living in France, with lots of stories to tell yet not a whole lot to his name. However, three years prior to his death (in 1900), Wilde had been released from prison where he served time for sodomy and gross indecency. Before his prison sentence, Wilde had enjoyed being a member of high society and was usually the centre of attention (we see as flashbacks in the film), and in The Happy Prince, we see this side of his life portrayed. We also see the desperate side in the opening sequence in the film where he happily takes money from an old friend in a dark alley while he struggles to come to terms with the fact that his life will never be the same ever again. He does, however, have occasional contact with friends, and with his long-forgotten wife (yes he was married) Constance Lloyd (Emily Watson) – the mother of their twin sons – while he surrounds himself with young men, cocaine, and not much else.
It’s a bravura performance from Everett that makes The Happy Prince both an ode and tribute to a man who has been the subject of many a book and show. By making The Happy Prince his way, Everett will reap the respect, and the rewards and awards, that he truly deserves for making this magnificent film.
Fashion designer Alexander McQueen was a genius He had an eye for fashion but was also a troubled soul. The new documentary McQueen shows the highs, and the lows, of McQueen’s life.
Alexander McQueen, born in London’s East End in 1969, seemed not to be destined to become one of fashion’s hottest and most successful designers in the 1990’s, but according to the documentary, he had talent, talent that can only be described as natural – he was born with it.
McQueen begins with old footage of McQueen talking directly into the camera, footage that was taken at the height of his illustrious career. He enrolled as a student at Central St. Martin’s College of Fashion, and then moved on to Paris to learn the trade, then became a tailer, but it was when he met Isabella Blow, who happened to take him under his wing and, which is, according to the documentary, made him what he was. But McQueen was extremely talented, and not only did he launch his own fashion brand, but at the same time he was also head designer for fashion brand Givenchy all the while picking up various people along the way who became his trusted staff, people who speak to the camera effortlessly and honestly about McQueen and their time together.
But all was not meant to be. McQueen dabbled in cocaine and London’s gay fetish scene, he was under enormous pressure to put together several collections a year, including haute couture, and he had a falling out with Blow, who would commit suicide at the age of 46, which put on more pressure and guilt on McQueen. But it was when his dear mother died when McQueen decided that enough was enough, and ended his pain. He committed suicide at the age of 40 in 2010.
McQueen is an excellent testament to the man who was also called Lee. Through his friends, associates and sister Janet, we really feel that we get to know who Lee actually was ourselves. But it’s through the footage of his fashion shows where we get to see the real talent that he had. His shows were events, some very dark (which explains how deep and troubled he was), and showed how gorgeous, and emotionally beautiful, his creations were. Alexander McQueen died way too young, but through this documentary, you can at least experience his life and work, which was cut way too short.
DEADPOOL 2 – The foul-mouthed superhero is back in an improvement on the very good first film upping the laughs and story twists – the fourth wall is not just broken as destroyed making the viewer part of the movie throughout.
Just how good is Deadpool?
Nutshell – Our hero fails to kill one villain on a mission resulting in tragic personal consequences. A successful suicide attempt follows but he forgets he is the superhero that cannot die which sets everything in motion. Introduced to the X-men he meets a boy with fiery powers who has a murderous future ahead of him triggering a Terminator time travelling super villain to come back in time to change things – that’s just for starters then it gets complicated, funnier and more exciting by the minute.
Running Time – 119inutes – Cert 15 – this superhero film is definitely not for your young nephew.
Tagline – ‘Prepare for the second coming’ and ‘ From the studio that killed Wolverine’ – underlining this is the superhero franchise with the comedy chops.
The Gay UK Factor – Really??? This movie stars Ryan Reynolds, the sexiest man on the planet not called David Gandy (He has been on top of the sexiest man alive polls). The trouble here is that a lot of the time he is covered face and all in his coverall superhero neoprene outfit and most of the rest of the time to fit with the storyline his face is disfigured. You do get some normal straight shots of Mr Reynolds but you do have that voice throughout so this is a movie to listen to as much as watch and let your imagination run riot…just imaging Ryan Reynolds sitting on our faces for two hours and you will get the picture.
Cast – Ryan ‘time to get off my face’ Reynolds and some other people… well you get Josh Brolin, TJ Miller and appearances from Brad Patt, Matt Damon, Nicholas Hoult and James McAvoy.
Key Player – Well, we would like to write more about Ryan Reynold’s ass, abs and bulging lycra but credit should also go to the superb writing team of Rhett Reese, Paul Wernick and … Ryan Reynolds, is there no end to the man’s talent. Also, the director David Leitch who just gets everything right here in that rare thing a sequel that is a great improvement on the original. Leitch is new to directing after formally being Hollywood’s top stunt guy for such films as The Matrix, 300, Wolverine, XXX, Troy and the Jason Bourne films so you bet the action here is fierce.
Budget – $110 Million less than half that of Infinity War and this is a better film – Already it has made over $630 million in just a few days and that’s just from the gay members of the Ryan Reynolds fan club, so lockdown for Deadpool’s 3 through 10. It is the third biggest grossing movie of the year and climbing just edging out The Greatest Showman and that bird with the beard singing “This Is Me” repeatedly.
Best Bit – 0.47 mins; A prison convoy assault by our heroes and his buds and boy does it go spectacularly wrong in a fashion that only the Deadpool franchise can pull off.
Worst Bit – 0.41 mins Nothing very bad here at all but you do get the slight deja vu feeling when the Terminator back in time plot to change the future kicks in. Also with Josh Brolin playing the bad guy in Marvel’s Avenger’s Infinity War last month do we need him playing a different villain here… does the studio not have a release calendar?
Little Secret – Marvel main man Stan Lee rarely does not appear in this movie. The film was shut down for two days after the death of a stunt woman in the motorcycle chase. We are also promised a wonderful extended cut with an added hour that we cannot wait for but most of all throughout Deadpool makes many references to his pansexuality and the appeal of guys and with the characters of Warhead and Yukio we get the first LGBTQ couple in Marvel history. So this is the gayest superhero film yet.
Further Viewing – With 19 Marvel films to pick from as well as the DC Universe and many others also you may consider the best of Ryan Reynolds naked and topless go straight for Blade Trinity or his gayest roll is The Nines.
Any Good – Absolutely – this is better than Black Panther, Infinity War, Wonder Woman and Guardians 2making it the best superhero movie of the last year. It is so on the money from the first minute to the incredibly funny mid credit scenes. There are countless great pop culture references, superb action sequences and a laugh every 30 seconds. Pure Friday night entertainment, this is what all cinema should be like, just don’t take the kids.
Jeffrey Dahmer, the American who murdered 17 young men back in the 1980s and 1990s, was showing signs of strange behaviour at a young age, according to the new film My Friend Dahmer.
Based on the 2012 novel of the same name by cartoonist John Backderf, who had been friends with Dahmer in high school, the film shows how Dahmer came from a home where his parents constantly fought, and where he had an unnatural curiosity of the insides of animals. Dahmer, who grew up in Bath, Ohio, is brilliantly played by Ross Lynch, in a film that’s sharply edited and continually tense and spooky by the director, and writer, Marc Meyers. We see that Dahmer was awkward even to his own family, with a crazy and alcoholic mother (played by Anne Heche – in her best performance ever), and how Dahmer had a shed in the woods where he did certain experiments with animals.
Dahmer is eventually adopted by some of the cool kids in his class to perform certain acts that drew attention to himself, basically these acts were spasms set out to cause disruptions, but they also seemed to do something to Dahmer’s soul, for he became more and more intense and weird, turning some of his evil thoughts from animals to, eventually, humans. Dahmer even plotted to kill a local doctor whom he became attracted to, but it was not meant to be. But it’s in these early years that we see the beginnings of Dahmer’s sinister future – how he would end up becoming one of the world’s most cruel and crazy mass murderers.
Luckily for us, this film ends before the killings begin, but we know that this was the path that Dahmer’s life would take – the murder of many gay men in some of the most brutal and horrific ways.
My Friend Dahmer is an excellent film that preludes an adult life where Dahmer would turn into a complete monster.
My Friend Dahmer is released in the UK & Ireland on June 1st.
Simon Spiel (portrayed by Nick Robinson) has a “huge ass secret” in Love, Simon… he’s gay. The seventeen-year-old hasn’t told his perfectly ordinary nuclear family or his perfectly ordinary group of friends yet, but begins communicating with an anonymous Blue via email when he finds out through the school’s gossipy blog that Blue is also, in fact, closeted. Teenage drama ensues, complications arise but boiled down to its core, you’re left with a syrupy-sweet premise and a completely revitalised romantic outlook on life.
Despite knowing the reactions he’ll get probably won’t be as severe as they could be, Simon’s worry and fear of change encapsulate the paralysing effect of coming out – or the process of coming out – can take on any individual. As Simon attempts to figure out who Blue is, his daydreams and fantasies remind me just how much I used to do the same with every boy who smiled at me. Like Simon, I was lucky enough to have a minimal reaction when I came out; a cryfest followed by group hugs and soppy speeches from my parents. But watching the fear in his eyes when Martin (Logan Miller) threatens to leak his emails with Blue to the school reminded me just how insufferable the thought of this secret being exposed used to be. The constant guard that he has up, the fake bro talks that he has to keep having, to not let it slip is painstakingly familiar. The journey that Simon goes on, from not understanding why straight people don’t have to come out to the heart-warming post he makes where he embraces himself irrevocably, is something that I think most of us have experienced. It’s a feeling of rejoicing and acceptance that director Greg Berlanti makes you feel as if for the very first time. My eyes first watered when Simon choked on the word. He sputtered and couldn’t seem to get it out. Gay. These small nuances are what make the film more than a teen rom-com, even with the archetypal bullies and linear plot structure, there’s so much depth and warmth in this story that so many of us can see ourselves in.
Outside of Simon and Blue, the other characters (while, for obvious reasons, not getting as much screen time) still serve valuable purposes not only to the plot but to the world built around Simon himself. His parents (played by Jennifer Garner and Josh Duhamel) give the right balance of comedic and heartfelt, making us laugh and swoon and cry. Garner and Duhamel give equally charming and memorable performances, but Garner’s speech especially had the audience waiting with bated breath until she delivered the line – “You get to exhale now, Simon.” At that point, no one even attempted to hide their tears. Speaking of the audience, every time the drama teacher Ms Albright (Natasha Rothwell) came on screen our collective shoulders were shaking and our tummies were hurting from the amount of rip-roaring laughter she instantly produced. Out of Simon’s group of friends, while Abby (Alexandra Shipp X-Men: Apocalypse) and Nick (Jorge Lendeborg Jr. Spider-Man: Homecoming) certainly had their moments, Leah (Katherine Langford – 13 Reasons Why) shone the brightest but definitely suffered from sidekick syndrome. Maybe we’ll get to see more of her in future, if Becky Albertalli – the author of the book Simon Vs. The Homosapien’s Agenda, which the film is based on – gets Leah’s book on the big screen.
Everything from the cinematography to the marketing to the soundtrack had undertones of the old school teen movie genre, which makes sense since it’s the first major studio film focusing on a gay love story. I feel incredibly lucky to still be a teenager and have this film validate my experience with its normalcy, opening up a plethora of opportunities for more people’s stories to be told. The tagline of the film itself, “Everyone deserves a great love story”, encourages the exemplar celebration of diversity that Love, Simon does. Simon himself feels like such an easy character to get lost in, you see yourself in him or if not you, then your brother, your cousin, your friend, he’s an every man in the best possible sense and watching him fall in love is both infuriatingly sweet and extremely awkward in the best-worst relateable way as he navigates conversations with his potential love interests.
The characters that surround him are so vividly real, with their own quirks, going through their own things, you feel a part of Simon’s world just watching him listen to his playlist as he drives to pick up his friends. That kind of audience inclusion, be it through the editing or the camera technique, enhances the moral of the film of tolerance and inclusion. I might be biased, being the exact target audience (a gay teenager) but Greg Berlanti and the whole cast and crew have created a modern-day classic for those who liked but never identified with the Cady Herons, the Ferris Buellers, the Jim Levensteins and the Olive Penderghasts. I feel incredibly lucky to now have a Simon Spier.
Daniela Vega gives an award-worthy performance in the Chilean film A Fantastic Woman. Vega’s performance as a woman who, after the death of her lover, is rejected and scorned by his family that is superb.
You see, Vega is transgender, and her character Marina Vidal, who happens to be an aspiring singer, is also, of course, transgender. She and her lover Orlando (Francisco Reyes) had a regular relationship, but his ex-wife and son never truly accepted her nor her relationship with Francesco. But after a birthday celebration where they shared a romantic dinner, a sexy dance in a club, and a night of passion at home, Francisco starts having problems breathing, and after a tense drive to the hospital, Francesco dies, and in panic and a state of confusion, Marina walks away from the hospital. But after a police car picks her up and takes her back to the hospital, she realises that she’s being treated as a suspect in Francesco’s death and not as a grieving partner. To make matter much much worse, Francesco’s grown up son wants her out of Francesco’s apartment, and his ex-wife wants his car and explicitly tells Marina, to her face, that their relationship was perverted and not normal. It’s too much for anyone to take, but Marina is strong, and she will do anything to attend Francesco’s funeral, even when Francesco’s family tries to keep her way. Marina loved Francesco and wants to say a final goodbye.
There’s no doubt about Vega’s performance. We feel her pain, and her anger, and her confusion over the series of events that have happened in her life in a short period of time. Vega is a revelation, and she should’ve been nominated for a Best Actress Oscar, nevertheless she’s been nominated for a slew of other awards, and has won Best Actress at the Palm Spring International Film Festival, while the film, written and directed by Sebastiån Lelio, won the prestigious Teddy Award at the Berlin International Film Festival. ‘A Fantastic Woman’ is really fantastic, one of the best films of the year, and Vega’s performance will most definitely move you.
A young man plays it very cool with his friends while he hides his true sexuality in the new film Beach Rats.
19-year old Frankie (Harris Dickinson) lives with his mother and dying father in Brooklyn, New York. His mother constantly nags him to get a job but he spends his days doing drugs and hanging out with his gang of homeboys. They are all very macho and straight and while away the hours hanging out on the boardwalk and chatting up local girls. But what they don’t know about Frankie is that he secretly spends his time on gay hookup sites and meets other men at a local cruising spot for sex.
There is one girl, however, from the neighbourhood (Madeline Weinstein) who he hooks up with – he really likes her and she really likes him, but expectedly it doesn’t go anywhere. And when he gets involved in an incident with his friends that involves a gay man his life suddenly takes a turn.
UK born Dickinson is very good as Frankie. He nails down the accent and the attitude almost perfectly. With no previous film credits, he’s a natural and very compelling to watch on the big screen (and boy is he sexy)! Director Eliza Hittman gets almost everything right in this film, with the exception of the last 20 minutes that gets a bit too unbelievable. But it’s Dickinson you’ll remember when the screen credits go up. He’s on to bigger and better things.
There is a gay-themed film that has just been released that is getting rave and five-star reviews. And while it is very good, it’s also not your typical gay relationship film.
Call Me By Your Name tells the story about an adult who has an affair with a younger man. The adult in question is the actor Armie Hammer (who in real life happens to be 31, but looks older, and in this film he is playing a 24-year old) who is playing is Oliver. The young man in question is Elio, played by Timothée Chalamet (who happens to 21 in real life but plays a 17-year old in the film but looks a lot younger). The story, based on the 2007 book of the same name by André Aciman, is about a sexual relationship between Oliver and Elio.
Oliver, you see, has been hired by Elio’s parents, wealthy couple the Perlmans (Michael Stuhlbarg and Amira Casar), to help Mr. Perlman with his archeological work. But what happens is that the closeted Elio (who is wooed by the local girls who vie for his attention) becomes enamoured with, and by, Oliver. Oliver, who is a man’s man, with a chest full of hair, is a very confident man who can practically have anyone he wants. He, however, enters into a relationship with Elio. It’s really hard to believe that a man of the world like Oliver could be sexually attracted to Elio. And while Elio is a good-looking young man, he’s still quite young for someone whom Oliver could fancy. So it’s a bit inappropriate for a man like Oliver to be sexually attracted, and to sexually satisfy Elio, in various locations, including having interludes in the Perlman family home where they conveniently have adjoining rooms which allow for lots of loving glances across their rooms. Elio’s parents do realise what’s happening and turn a blind eye to the relationship and let nature take it’s course.
Call Me By Your Name is a beautiful and lush film, directed with care by Italian director Luca Guadagnino. It lovingly highlights the Italian countryside and the small cityscapes of Lombardy; the film has beautiful camerawork and the acting by all involved is top notch. Chalamet is a real find – his Elio commands the screen. Chalamet looks very very comfortable in front of the camera, clothes on or off (there is absolutely no full frontal nudity in this film, though some of the sex scenes look all too real). Hammer is also very good in this role – a role that is not a typical role for him to play. And there is scene, which you must have heard about by now, that involves a peach. Yes, a peach, which Elio uses, and which involves Oliver, that was a bit too much for me. But it’s the scene where the credits roll up at the end of the film where you can’t leave your seat or avert your eyes – it’s these few minutes where Chamalet as Elio will mesmerize, and seduce you. So it’s at this point that you think that perhaps you can’t blame Oliver for falling for him because it’s at this point you will do the same as well.
Pim is a young boy from a small Belgian coastal town who lives a dreary existence with his mother, Yvette, who is a boozy accordion player.
Pim dreams of beauty pageants, princesses and Gino, the handsome boy next door to escape life with his blowsy neglectful mother. As Pim moves into his teenage years, his life takes on unexpected turns as he becomes more deeply involved with Gino and his family and a hot and hunky young traveller called Zoltan arrives back on the scene.
Cult short filmmaker Bavo Defume has made a film which is inspired more by beauty than by social realism. The intention was to make a film which depicts more than the sometimes grey and gritty world we can inhabit. The film is set in an unspecified time period with classic retro patterns and furniture and luscious coastal landscapes.
Although the world that the characters inhabit is sometimes stylised, the acting is natural and convincing. The result is a film which is both moving and beautiful to watch. It also holds the viewer’s interest through the drama played out so convincingly between the young actors. Coming of age dramas don’t get much more luscious, stylish and watchable than this.
In 2005 there was Brokeback Mountain, and in 2017 there is now God’s Own Country.
Being referred to as a West Yorkshire Brokeback Mountain, God’s Own Country tells the story of a young farmer who works on the family farm and has casual sex with some of the local boys. But when a Romanian migrant worker shows up to help him out on the farm, their working relationship turns into more than just work, changing both their lives. Shot against the beautiful backdrop that is Yorkshire, God’s Own Country is definitely this year’s hottest and most mainstream gay film. Director and writer Francis Lee, in his feature length directorial debut (he has acting credits that go back to 1994), has crafted a gay romance set on a farm, a romance that, when it gets lit, is explosive.
Josh O’Connor is fantastic as Johnny Saxby, a young man who thinks he has only one purpose in life – the farm. He lives in a house on top of a hill with his grandmother (Gemma Jones) and sick father (Ian Hart). But as his father is unable to participate in the hard daily chores, a Romanian immigrant, and ruggedly handsome, Gheorghe (Alec Secareanu) arrives, and with his arrival comes the romance that we know is going to happen.
God’s Own Country is not the perfect film, Johnny and Gheorghe’s first stab at having sex, outdoors, right in the middle of the farm, was a bit unbelievable (and it looked cold). And Johnny’s habit of taking presumably straight men into his local pub toilets for sex (that would be every gay man’s fantasy – no?) is far-fetched. But God’s Own Country is beautiful, complex and engaging, and it doesn’t hurt that we get to see both O’Connor and Secareanu naked.
God’s Own Country has already won several awards, including Best Film at both the Berlin and Edinburgh International Film Festivals as well as the World Cinema Directing Award at Sundance. And it’s gotten rave reviews, with some critics calling it “The British Brokeback Mountain,” but better.
