Earlier today I saw the drag ballroom version of Cats and then tonight I saw I Saw the TV Glow on my TV. Quite the one-two punch for queer/trans art.
Really struck a chord with me. A terrific, existentially dreadful film that left me feeling like my own heart was scooped out by the end. I was primed to view this as a distinctly transgender story, from various reviews and reactions, but even without that I think I would have…
By no means a "good" movie — the script gestures at something meaningful but doesn't quite get there and the direction is bland. Perhaps because the perspective is so focused on Solène (wack-ass name) that Hayes Campbell has the barest of arcs. We never really understand why these two embark on a serious relationship later in the film... sure they are hot and like having sex with each other, but that's not the same as getting serious. But whatever, I…
Honestly it's pretty fun when this is a buddy comedy with Annette Bening and Jodie Foster playing two old lesbian best friends. The true-story swimming stuff is competent, more or less... but Bening and Foster's chemistry make this somewhat worthwhile. They're two of the best actors around, and their terrific performances make the film feel deeper than it really is.
(To be fair, I watched this while doing some cooking prep.)
Nimona is mostly aimed towards children, so the action sequences and a lot of the jokes didn't work for me at all. I found myself zoning out during a decent chunk of this movie. But the themes and characters are so strong and emotional that it should affect a viewer of any age. The allegory of gender identity and transphobia is really clear (and queer) to grasp, but also, sadly, very timely. The film effectively advances its message, not just…
Harrowing tale of survival against all odds, with the survivors' faith keep their hope alive. There's no artificial drama or forced character arcs in the script, which seems to hew close to reality. Makeup work is excellent; the actors seem to age fifteen years over the course of this film.
Beautiful, beautiful cinematography from Greig Fraser and Oren Soffer (who happens to be a Letterboxd mutual — great work!!) that seamlessly blends real world locations with visual effects. And both those locations and effects are stunning! Wish I had made it a priority to see this in a theater. Terrific performance from child actor Madeleine Yuna Voyles as well.
The story has a lot of great ideas, and it was an inspired choice to set the film in Southeast Asia,…
Honestly I might have liked this more had I not just watched some mind-numbingly bad short films. The rapid-fire dialogue-narration in this piece quickly grew exhausting. Dev Patel MVP. Definitely need to see the other Wes Anderson/Roald Dahl shorts on Netflix, but these really ought to have been released theatrically as an anthology film. Fuck Netflix.
Even if I didn't know that there was a four-hour director's cut waiting in the wings, it was painfully obvious that Napoleon was literally missing a third of its scenes. It turns what I suspect was a comprehensive epic into a disted mess that makes the truncated version feel so, so long. In a weird way, the "let's skim through the history" aspect of this movie reminded me of Baz Luhrmann's Elvis, but lacking the gaudy exuberance that at least…
On the day that I was born black, I was also born a homosexual. They either believe in freedom and justice for all, or they do not.
The opposite of Maestro, in a way, even if both were made by Netflix and garnered Oscar nominations for their leading men. The Bradley Cooper pic skims through Leonard Bernstein's accomplishments as a musician, focusing instead on his love affairs. Rustin does the opposite — the overarching plot is about organizing the March…
A Chinese city near the North Korean border provides a snowswept backdrop for the three lonely people who befriend each other in this subtle, understated mood piece. Yanji is certainly an interesting place: the signs are in both Chinese and Korean, and it's not uncommon for people to switch between the two languages in casual conversation. Nearly half the population has Korean ancestry. This blurring of boundaries parallels with the characters, who are on the border between youth and adulthood.…