There is a new documentary just about to be released about the late great gay film pornographer Peter De Rome whose erotic and explicit intimate sex short movies that he shot in the 1960's have become cinema classics. Despite the fact he and his work were the toast of the homosexual demi-monde in the US at that time, the films were never ever shown back in his native UK until the BFI unearthed them and finally showed them at London's Gay & Lesbian Film Festivalin 2012.
Now this new profile talks about this disarmingly and charming gay pioneer and celebrates the resurgence of his excellent work. Filmed with De Rome just before he died on the eve of his 90th birthday, this profile is somewhat uneven (click HERE for our full review) BUT the man himself and the very explicit clips of his very sensual work are sheer gems and worth overlooking the documentary filmmaker's rather rambling style.
There is a special screening of Peter De Rome Grandfather of Pornon Sunday 13th March at the ICA in London, and it will be followed by a Q & A with David McGillivray, screenwriter, producer and friend of Peter de Rome. For tickets and information click HERE
Of all the pundits who have been making waves with their predictions of who will go home clutching their gold statutes on Sunday, the Office cat at the best Cinema magazine in the UK ....Little White Lies ..... does an incredible job picking the winners. We actually think she has got them all right ......well almost .... sadly Charlotte Rampling will not be Best Actress as that award will go to Brie Larson for her stunning performance in Room, and The Revenant will probably be voted Best Picture and not Brooklyn.
The very clever movie junkie who is the force behind Movie Munchies has been at it again. This time he has turned his attention to the history of cursing in the movies with this hilarious new video which is also extremely informative too. (Who knew there were so many potty mouths in motion pictures?) On many levels we may boast that we are a free and liberated society but really deep down we have always been heavily censored by the meddling Authority figures who have wanted to keep us all so pure and clean-minded. Not any more however.
queerguru recommends you subscribe to Movie Munchies to see more of his madness.
Like most LGBT movie critics, queerguru is privileged to see many new films that have been launched at Film Festivals throughout the year, and that (hopefully) should be surfacing in a movie theater near you or on a Streaming Platform in 2016 : here is our pick of the best of them.
Late into the night he is Danger Dave, but when this chatty highly-opinionated dj turns off the mike after his gay radio show in Buffalo NY is over, he reverts back into shy Dave who is someone who has a hard time accepting himself, let alone interacting with others. When the movie opens his show has just been cancelled and he is saying goodbye to Chris his assistant, who also happens to be his soon-to-be ex-boyfriend who is moving out of the apartment they share. It seems like there is really no hope and no life for our hero beyond the studio, but luckily for Dave (and us) all is not lost as we soon find out in this quirky and utterly charming wee tale. It's a first feature from Don Scime its writer and star.
Brit filmmaker Jake Witzenfeld's impressive and heartwarming documentary thankfully settles down after a somewhat uneven start to become an intriguing snapshot of what life is like for gay Arabs living in a trendy suburb of Tel Aviv today. He follows three extremely engaging best friends in their early twenties for 18 months through 2013 - 2014 when tensions between Gaza and Israel flared up yet again.
Filmmaker Maya Newell has followed her successful Australian TV series "Growing Up Gayby" with this new full length documentary that takes a look at the lives of four different children whose parents all happen to be gay. It is evidently a subject that is dear to her heart having grown up with two mothers herself. The timing could not have been more perfect as the Australian Government are currently coming under pressure for still refusing to even tackle the whole subject of legalizing same-sex marriage, thus continuing to deny these families the legal recognition they need and deserve. 8) "Daddy"
Actors Dan Via and Gerald McCullouch respectively wrote and directed this rather entertaining movie, adapted from their own successful stage play, about this May-December relationship with more than one twist to the plot. This very engaging wee independent drama is very much a labor of love for its principal players, and is rather a neat little gem.
Like most successful gay couples, Tony and Leo seem to be an unlikely pair. They have been together four years now and Leo thinks that this Christmas he should propose to Tony as he knows this is what he wants. The trouble is that Leo still has a commitment phobia which is put even more to the test the next day when Tony moots the idea of them adopting a recently abandoned premature baby. This refreshing new gay drama written and directed by first time filmmaker Michelle Clay intuitively deals with love and loss, and how we can finally see in ourselves what others have seen all along.
Written and co-directed by newbie filmmaker and Akron native Brian O'Donnell, this a wonderfully refreshing coming-of-age story that simply captures all the passionate excitement of two very fresh-faced wholesome kids in the glow of first love. Full marks to O'Donnell and his co-director Sasha King for both making the boy's scenes of intimacy tastefully discreet, and secondly for ensuring that when the going got tough, even though voices got raised and heated, they avoided taking the usual cliched route of making a melodrama out of it all.
This smart and incisive drama written and directed by newbie filmmaker Arthur Allen, (who also takes a starring role), plays out very well indeed. The chemistry between the two middle-aged handsome gay men (the other is played byJake Street) is very tight and touching, and their scenes together are emotionally charged and very passionate. It is however the bible-loving conservative father who has to run the gamut of all his emotions, who holds our attention most of the time. It is an impressive and powerful performance from Chuck Sigars a comedian and actor in this his first movie role.
This second feature written and directed by Hong Kong native filmmaker Ray Yeung is a very perceptive take on the clash of two very different versions on what was once the same culture, and their opposing views on sexuality and self-expression. It's a very fresh and convincing plot, extremely well written, that has some very neat twists, that allow these two strangers to enjoy some very unexpected happiness in their touching and tender romance. The number of LGBT movies with Asian based story lines that get distributed on a global basis add up to no more than a mere handful, which is a great shame. When they are as good as 'Front Cover', and have a 'message' that audiences will not just relate too but really enjoy too, they so deserve to be seen .
In this refreshing coming-of-age drama from American/Korean filmmaker Josh Kimthe two boys sexuality is of no real consequence to anyone at all. With the help of his excellent young cast, Kim ensures that this tale of social inequality is told without sinking into melodrama or dragging out any of the usual cliched stereotypes. The compassionate fraternal relationship is particular touching and makes this heartbreaking story such a sheer joy to watch.
Gillian Armstrong's captivating documentary on the Australian three-time Academy Award Winning Costume Designer the larger than life Orry-Kelly is a nothing less than a sheer gem. This flamboyant and gregarious openly gay man had a great zest for life (and especially for alcohol) and was adored by all of Hollywood's leading ladies of the day as well as several of the men, including his boyfriend of many years, Cary Grant. We persuaded the filmmakers to give us a sneak preview, and we so hope that this glorious glimpse of the old Hollywood glamour will now get to be shown in the US and other global markets.
This is one of those rare exceptional debut movies from an inspiring new filmmakerJoey Kuhn that seems to be the payback for having to sit through far too many indifferent indie films every day. This tale of unrequited love is both tender and tough, as it is when are in your early 20's and you have been silently wrestling with it for the past 15 years. Kuhn however has a very mature approach to treating this story that is partly based on his own life. and he ensures that we are completely engaged from the opening credits to the very end . Every year queer cinema discovers a fresh new voice that is capable of taking the medium to a higher and different plane, our feeling is that Joey Kuhn could just be one that fits this bill for 2016.
2015 was another good year for queer cinema from mainstream to indie particularly for documentaries, one our favorite genres, and here is our pick of the very best of them that we saw this year. 10)"Before The Last Curtain Falls"
The German/Canadian documentarian Thomas Wallner's very moving record of the closing night of the 'Gardenia' the famous Belgian Cabaret that had been touring Europe for the past years pries far too closely for comfort into the melancholy filled lives of the performers. They are a group of elderly, mainly overweight, transsexuals and gay men who are drag queens and have gathered together for one final performance in the only thing that has given them any real pleasure in life.
As the dust settles down on the historic decision of SCOTUS to pave the way for same-sex marriage to be legalised for all Americans in every State some commentators still consider we achieved so much in a short time. That is probably because what is in their mind as the starting point was when the State of Massachusetts ruled that the ban on same-sex marriages was illegal in 2004. In reality the struggle for recognition actually almost 30 years before that when a gay couple managed to get married in Boulder Colorado when a feminist Court Clerk decided to issue licences. This is their heartbreaking story. 8) "Tig"
It's not unusual for comedians to use their stand up routines as a substitute for a session with their therapists as they use their audience to unburden all their woes too. Tig Notaro however went much further than most when she went on stage to do her usual act one night in the Largo Club in L.A. and she simply blurted out to the somewhat startled packed crowd 'I have cancer!' What followed in the next hour was one unprecedented remarkable set where Tig brought everyone up to date with her extraordinary turn of events.
Out gay Muslim filmmaker Parvez Sharma has followed his award -winning documentary ‘A Jihad For Love’with an even more daring look at what it takes to renew his faith when he goes to Mecca for his sacred pilgrimage called a Hajj. Every Muslim is expected to do this at least once in their lifetime, as it is their way of being forgiven for all their sins by Allah. The trouble is that it takes place in the fiercely conservative kingdom of Saudi Arabia where homosexuality is not only forbidden, but is punishable by death.
Greg Louganis is an American Hero. The sad thing is that it has taken such a long time for many people to truly acknowledge that. Despite him being a four-time US Olympic diving champion whose many records remain unbroken today, he never always got all the acclaim and rewards that other sportsmen got just because he was gay. In this new documentary that covers focuses mainly on his more recent past filmmaker Cheryl Furjanic paints an affectionate and stirring portrait of a remarkable man who has survived more his fair share of trauma and who has come through it all with a big smile on his face.
Stu Maddox is a very determined gay activist and filmmaker whose passionate obsession with LGBT history has resulted in three excellent documentaries that deal with different aspects of gay communities in the past. This latest one 'Reel in the Closet' is a feature length movie that is comprised of a wealth of unseen footage of old gay and lesbian home movies that date back to the 1930's and are backed up with some recorded news stories of the times.
If you are unfamiliar with the alternative drag scene in London's vibrant East End, then discovering the extraordinary performance artist Jonny Woo who had been the ringmaster of it all for the past decade, is quite an eyeopener. In this new documentary from first time filmmaker Colin Rothbart made over six years on a minuscule budget, right from the opening titles it is hard not to be mesmerized by this dynamic larger-then-life strapping powerhouse in his provocative scantily clad glamorous costumes as he struts around the stage belting out his latest rap, or lip-syncing to some anarchic song. Part glam rock, part new wave punk, part S & M with an excessively painted face, he defies you not to take him too seriously.
When journalist David Thorpe found himself single again in his mid-forties he started to angst as to what could possible be so wrong with him that he should be dumped so unceremoniously. His immediate thought was that the problem was his voice that he had always hated was now a turn off for other men too. This started off this glorious and brilliantly witty investigation which always touches the nerve of every gay man.
Tab Hunter was .... and still is at age 83 years-old ...a stunningly handsome man. When he was a teen idol in the 1950's he was the ultimate clean-cut all-American boy and seemingly butter would not melt in his mouth. Now living as an openly gay man in L.A. he opens up to Emmy Award Winning filmmaker Jeffrey Schwarz and talks about his life in and out of the closet as one of Hollywood's biggest movie stars in this fascinating documentary.
For years the veteran gay activist, author and playwright Larry Kramer refused all offers from filmmakers to make a documentary on his life. Now as he approached his 80th birthday he relented and allowed his good friend the filmmaker Jean Carlomusto unlimited access to make this compelling profile on one of the greatest LGBT figures ever but also of the activist movement that he was a major part of in the troubling AIDS decades and ever since.
2015 was another good year for queer cinema from mainstream to indie from drama to documentary, and here is our pick of the very best feature films that we saw this year.
The beauty of this very tender movie of gay self-discovery from Hungarian filmmaker Ádám Császi is the very sensual and somewhat sad way that he rather unsentimentally deals with these boy’s experiences in this rather harsh environment. It is daringly sensuous and although this tender and touching tale is both erotically and emotional charged, for a refreshing change it avoids any temptation to develop into a cliché melodrama.
Newbie Chilean filmmaker Claudio Marcone's impressive debut allowa the whole dilemma of this boy-meets-boy romance to unfurl and blossom before neatly showing us that not everything in life is so black and white. He does so at a slow comfortable pace that makes the story resonate so perfectly as we come to appreciate how tenuous this relationship is, and that as much as we may root for a traditional happy-ever-after ending it's hard to second guess if eventually Bruno will actually walk away from his newly found happiness.
In one of his last movies before his untimely death Robin Williamsgives a career-best performance with this quiet un-showy role as he beautifully captures the angst mixed with relief of a married man finally acknowledging to himself he is gay.
Juanma Carrillo is a Spanish independent filmmaker, producer, photographer and occasional musician whose collection of short movies are always highly intriguing, extremely sensuous, often avant-garde art pieces of art, but always immensely engaging. He seems to set out to shock and titillate his audience, and is not adverse to adding a few humorous touches, and even showing his romantic side some times.
Eric Schaeffer's refreshing and enchanting drama about three 20 year-olds looking for love in a small backwater town in Kentucky ,gently challenges us to suspend our preconceived views on gender labels and be as open to what happens as these lovelorn kids are.
Lily Tomlin shines as a hilarious hippy lesbian grandmother who takes her granddaughter across Los Angeles in search of the money she needs to terminate her unwanted pregnancy in this rather delightful comedy.
Mark Christopher's new Directors Cut of his 1998 movie about the infamous original New York Club is jam-packed with all the excitement and drama that went on behind the scenes at the very birth of the disco era.
Eddie Redmayne gives a stunning Oscar-worthy performance as Einar Wegener, based on the true story of one of the very first sex-changes operations in the World.
This rather wonderful oddball comedy is the work of Canadian filmmaker Pat Millswho wrote, directed and starred in it. He has a remarkable delightful droll sense of humor that is quite black, totally politically incorrect but never ever mean.
Chilean queer filmmaker Sebastián Silva stars in his first US based movie and plays a hot-headed artist who with his gay lover wants to become a parent with the help of a goofy girlfriend but things go very badly wrong and nothing turns out like you would expect it too in this deliciously wonderful black comedy.
Ever since filmmaker Sean Bakershowed this high-voltage movie of his (shot entirely on IPhones) at Sundance, there has been a sensational buzz about the performances of his two lead transgendered newbie actorsKiki Kitana Rodriquezand Mya Taylor. Baker credits the actors for drawing on their own personal experiences that gave such a authenticity and vitality to all their unstoppable bad-mouthing which is such a sheer delight to watch and listen too.
Todd Haynes's six feature film is near perfection in every tiny detail : from Phyllis Nagy's script of this beautiful Patricia Highsmith lovestory, to the superb career-best performances from Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara. If Haynes doesn't finally get an Oscar for this, then there is no justice.
Christmas is the campest of all the holidays we celebrate : it is all shopping, tinsel and sparkly baubles and the season of both joy and sheer excess, and should always be a total blast. To help you plan to have a gay old time this December 25th, we have trailed our extensive queerguru Movie Library to give you our pick of the Top Ten Campest Christmas Movies Ever.
À l'intérieur (Inside)If you are big fan of horror flicks, then this is a real sick Christmas one for you. If this not a genre you like then STOP READING NOW. This exceedingly nasty French movie made in 2009 starts with a baby dying in utero in a car crash on Christmas Eve. This becomes one total bloody fest as one very pregnant woman attempts to stop a stranger in her manger from cutting her unborn baby out of her tummy before it’s fully cooked. It’s on this list as it is as camp as hell. Literally. Click Here to Buy.
Ernest Saves Christmas. Santa travels to Orlando to pick his successor before his magic runs out. When he arrives, he just happens to meet Ernest, a bumbling taxi driver who is filled with holiday joy. Ernest drops Santa off so he can meet with the next Santa, Joe Carruthers but forgets Santa’s magic bag in the trunk. This very silly comedy is a great way to just laugh that excessive Christmas Day dinner off. Click Here to Buy.
Go. This is a wonderfully funny action flick that follows several separate storylines on one very strange Christmas in Los Angeles and Vegas. For purposes here it’s worth noting that the most Christmassy of the storylines involves insanely hot Timothy Olyphant as a drug dealer in nothing but sweatpants and a Santa hat who holds Katie Holmes hostage. Click Here to Buy.
Gremlins. The star of this movie is the mogwai who is a small, furry, fictitious creature that looks something like a cuddly teddy bear with the ears of a rabbit, a Bambi-like nose, eyes as round and deep and dark as glass buttons, a sweet disposition and a physical nature more unstable than hydrogen gas. When Rand gives one to his son Billy (who fervently does not believe in Santa) as Christmas gift, all hell lets loose in their small town. Silly fun. Click Here to Buy
Meet Me In St Louis. Christmas without Judy Garland would be unthinkable and the best one of her movies we think you should watch over the holiday is this classic film, which is one of her very best. After all. MGM promoted this as ‘Technicolor Romance of Gaiety and Song’. Exactly! Click Here to Buy.
Miracle On 34th Street. The original version made in 1947 (and the ONLY one worth watching) earned this Santa Claus played by Brit Actor Edmund Gwenn, a Best Supporting Actor Oscar (one of 5 Academy Awards the movie picked up) and it still never ever leaves a dry eye in the house. Click Here to Buy
The Gay and Lesbian Entertainment Critics Association (GALECA.org) (of which we are one of the 120 proud members) today announced its membership’s picks for their second "Ten Best” list: The 10 Best LBGTQA Films Every Non-LGBTQA Person Should See : Oscar winners to community classics to modern independent discoveries — there’s a movie for every persuasion here. The primary goal was to present films that not only best reflected LGBTQA life and history — but which were also cinematically compelling and even groundbreaking. They weren't looking for a traditional list of feel-good, positive portrayals of our world. They looked for love and stars. Laughs and scars. Bad boys, mean girls and veritable wars. They looked at it all. The films on this list run the gamut, from realism to sensationalism to eye-catching stops in between. They may not always be the most perfect representations of our community, but they are facets.
(here in alphabetical order)
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The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert: Twenty-one years ago, Australia brought the world this tale of the outlandish and endearing adventures of two drag queens and a transsexual, a trio who blaze a trail across the Outback to a drag performance at the continent’s center. Mitzi Del Bra (Hugo Weaving),Felicia Jollygoodfellow (Guy Pearce) and Bernadette Bassenger (Terence Stamp) embarked on a clandestine journey fueled by an infectious disco soundtrack (Gloria Gaynor!ABBA!) that would be at home in any good club.
More than portraying drag queens with a sensational truth, director Stephen Elliot’s joyful film glimmered with vibrant visuals and Oscar-winning costume design that remain influential today. Yet amid the lip-syncing, frock-wearing and smack-talking irreverence is a simple story of three men. One wants to be there for his son (Weaving). One wants to escape the misery surrounding the departure of an accepting husband. One just wants to explore life outside the cesspool of the big city without realizing that finding safety so far from home isn't as easy as it seems. A holiday parable, if you will. (U.S. release date: August 10, 1994. Running time: 104 minutes. Fox Home Entertainment.)
Boys Don’t Cry: A provocative milestone in LGBTQA cinema, co-writer/director Kimberly Peirce’s knockout feature debut relays the true-life story of Brandon Teena (Oscar winner Hilary Swank). Born Teena Brandon, as a young trans man Brandon assumed his male identity and went out looking for love, peace and harmony in the politically repressed community of Falls City, Nebraska. Living in the closet, Brandon found little peace and harmony, but he did find love in the form of a woman, Lana Tisdel (Oscar-nominated Chloë Sevigny). His love and his time here would be short-lived.
Upon release, Boys Don’t Cry opened up widespread dialogue about gender identity, violence toward the LGBTQA community, female sexuality and a lot more that, frankly, too many take for granted as par for the discourse in today’s discussion about queer identity, theory and rights. Let your conversations begin. (U.S. release date: Oct. 8, 1999. Running time: 116 minutes. Fox Searchlight Pictures.)
Brokeback Mountain: Modern audiences have become increasingly more accepting of gay relationships on the big screen, with much of the credit going to the decades-spanning Brokeback Mountain. Painted with humanity and genuine emotion by master filmmaker Ang Lee,the film followed two ranch hands, Ennis Del Mar (Heath Ledger) and Jack Twist (Jake Gyllenhaal), as they find love and fairly graphic passion on a bleak mountainside in 1963. Returning to the “normal" world, over the years they find their hearts crushed by the strictures of society.
Ledger and Gyllenhaal, both nominated for Oscars, are superb crafting scintillating portrayals of tortured gay men at a time that the general public demeaned and isolated them. One the most famous and influential gay dramas ever made, the Brokeback Mountain speaks achingly to the power of love, regardless of gender, and to the unhealthy mandates of a society that builds itself on prejudice and hate. And the ending puts it in the ranks of classic tear-jerkers like Splendor in the Grass.(Release date: December 9, 2005. Running time: 134 minutes. Focus Features.)
Hedwig and the Angry Inch: The film version of John Cameron Mitchell's stage musical, about an East German singer who attempts to come to terms with the botched sex-change operation that left her with an "angry inch," has rightly developed a cult following. Taking musical conventions and turning them on their bejeweled ear, the movie digs its painted nails into an infrequently celebrated subculture and winds up more than enlightening.
Starring Mitchell in the title role, Hedwig angrily, but astutely, observes the state of gender identity at the turn of the 21st Century, long before the transgender rights movement went into full swing. It's a rousing, intense experience— powered by original, hard-pounding rock tunes — that demands at least one viewing even if said intensity seems initially off-putting. Sorry Dr. Frank-N-Furter, but this is one triumphant, and wicked, little musical. (U.S. release date: January 19, 2001. Running time: 91 minutes. New Line Cinema)
The Kids Are All Right: In the end, all any of us can hope for is a little piece of this world where we can build a family and live the life we've always wanted. Co-writer/director Lisa Cholodenko’sThe Kids Are All Right vividly paints the portrait of a suburban family whose peaceful veneer is cracked by curiosity and doubt. Starring Oscar nominees Annette Bening andJulianne Moore as a lesbian couple whose two children (Mia Wasikowska and Josh Hutcherson) seek out and insert their biological father (Oscar-nominated Mark Ruffalo) into their dynamic, the film tackles common issues facing many modern families.
Equally strong performances from Ruffalo, Wasikowska and Hutcherson make this a wonderful slice of modern-family life, albeit a slightly idealized version. Anyone who champions a functional and loving world will find Kids perfect long-weekend company. (U.S. release date: July 9, 2010. Running time: 104 min. Focus Features.)
Longtime Companion: That title suggests coziness, but Companion’s subject matter — and effect — is profound. Exploring the AIDS epidemic at a time when film was too afraid to even utter the acronym, this drama, set in the early 1980s, features a group of gay friends as they come to terms with the mysterious disease that is killing them off. The panic and the outcry within the community contrasting, the prejudice and willful ignorance on both sides . . . this is a true tragedy.
The film’s cinematic importance cannot be understated. The film’s studio release, at a time when the fear of AIDS was reaching a nadir, was something of a marvel. Another brick in the wall of hate crumbled. Knowing this film is tantamount to feeling enlightened and enriched. (U.S. release date: May 11, 1990. Running time: 100 minutes.Samuel Goldwyn Company.)
Maurice: Who doesn’t love a clandestine period romance compliments of Merchant-Ivory productions? In 1909, Maurice (James Wilby)meets fellow Cambridge student Clive Durham (Hugh Grant). At first each man is unsure if the other is, well, you know . . . and it’s not like they can ask around to find out. As the two negotiate their feelings, the pressures of society mount until one of them — spoiler ahead — capitulates to the bourgeois society and enters into — oh, dear — a lovelorn marriage. The remaining bachelor moves on, hoping to find the love that does not bare its name.
Director and cowriter James Ivory’s adaptation of E.M. Forster’s novel exquisitely captures the love and longing of young gay men in Edwardian England. From the sets to the scenery to the (Oscar-nominated) costumes, the film is loaded with such style, one may wish it were once again those grand ol’ repressive times. Viewers will relish, though, the progressive-thinking capper. Sit down, swap out Downton Abbey, and pass the cognac. (U.S. release date: Sept. 1, 1987. Running time: 139 mins. Lorimar Home Video.)
Milk:Featuring a thoughtful, tour-de-force performance by Sean Penn (Oscar’s choice for Best Actor), director Gus Van Sant’s biopic of civil rights icon Harvey Milk — the first openly gay person to be elected to office in California (in 1978) and who was later assassinated by a former colleague — stands as a supremely affecting biopic.
Politics, betrayal, love, lust, jealousy, suicide — Milk’s story was all there in the halls of history, and the screenplay by Dustin Lance Black (also an Oscar-winner) brought it to vivid life before our eyes. James Franco charms as one of Milk’s lovers. And, yes, Josh Brolin chillingly evinces the icon’s killer Dan White. But Milk’s message of courage lasts on and on, instilling an image of its firebrand subject as fun, big-hearted, confident and persistent. He’s good company. (U.S. release date: Nov. 26, 2008. Running time: 128 min.Focus Features.)
My Beautiful Laundrette: Set against the backdrop of Thatcher’s tumultuous and reactionary England, director Stephen Frears’ film tells the tale of two lovers, Omar (Gordon Warnecke), a Pakastani, and his old friend, Johnny (Daniel Day-Lewis), a local gang member. Thanks to Omar, the two begin to run a laundry matt together. But this is lower-class England, where there is always trouble looming for immigrants and young, gay men.
Featuring Hanif Kureishi’s Oscar-nominated screenplay, My Beautiful Laundrette sets itself in a milieu where most films, let alone gay films, fear to tread. Its characters are real working class people with real, hard-to-fix problems. Laundrette also put Day-Lewis, in just his fourth film, on Hollywood’s hot list. For good reason! (U.S. release date: Sept. 7, 1985. Running time: 93 mins. Orion Classics.)
Weekend: One Friday night, Russell (Tom Cullen) and Glen (Chris New) meet at a gay club. The two go back to Russell’s and have sex. From that night on, these two strangers begin to develop an intimate and somewhat intellectual relationship, delving into the nature of identity and love over the course of a weekend. Russell and Glen’s encounter will leave an indelible impression on each other — and viewers as well.
The youngest title on our list, writer-director Andrew Haigh’s second narrative feature was also GALECA’s Dorian Award winner for 2011’s Film of the Year and LGBT-Themed Film of the Year. Obviously, we dig this film. What more do we need to say?(U.S. release date: Sept. 23, 2011. Running time: 96 min. IFC Films.)
