Queer

Reviews

The People’s Joker

The People’s Joker feels as if it comes from the nichiest corners: an autobiographical mixed media art piece, based on the filmmaker’s own trans coming-of-age, that reclaims pop culture as a way to personally convey and connect the past to the present. But as specific as The People’s Joker may sound on paper and as polarizing as it appears on screen, this wickedly transgressive tragicomedy is one of the most accessible films ever contributed to…

Reviews

Soft

By: Trevor Chartrand Soft (which was featured in TIFF’s Discovery program last year) is a coming-of-age drama that, while captivating, can be difficult to watch – largely due to its meandering nature.

Reviews

Bliss

Sex work is just another shitty job in Bliss, a tender and moving exploration of queer love and intimacy written and directed by German filmmaker Henrika Kull (Intimate Distance, Jibril).

Reviews

The Accompanist

Director, writer, and star Frederick Keeve demonstrates a strong imagination but a weak sense of dramatic ability in his feature The Accompanist, a story about a gay piano accompanist who becomes infatuated with a male ballerina amidst a series of tragedies that befall both men.

Reviews

The Half of It

Two years ago, I seemed to be on the wrong side of the tracks when discussing Netflix’s bubblegum teen movie To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before. Everyone threw their arms around it, except for me who thought teenagers deserved a smarter movie. Excuse my déjà vu as I find myself in the same dilemma. The reviews are in for Netflix’s latest fluffy flick The Half of It and people find it endearing, except for…

Reviews

Paris Is Burning

Jennie Livingston’s award-winning documentary Paris Is Burning has received a 4K restoration twenty-eight years after its initial release, and it’ll screen in select theatres across Canada throughout the year.  I believe the re-release was planned in part to curate the footage, but also because the documentary is relevant as ever.

Reviews

Scotty and the Secret History of Hollywood

If you have ever read Vito Russo’s The Celluloid Closet or have seen the 1995 documentary based on the book, you would know quite well that Hollywood was full of closeted queer individuals working as actors, directors, producers and everything else;  trying their hardest to live their truest lives, while also keeping the truth hidden.  Scotty and the Secret History of Hollywood tells another side of that story.

Festival Coverage

Inside Out 2017: ‘Prom King, 2010’

Charlie, a queer millennial in New York, is looking for love.  His modest expectations are reasonable, yet the mission proves to be a constant bust throughout the course of Prom King, 2010.  Charlie chats with friends, family, and other acquaintances within his community (mostly for catharsis or assistance), but these conversations lead to opinions – sometimes closed-minded views – about love, Charlie’s sexual orientation, and dating etiquette.