LGBTQ
Inside Out 2022: ‘Out in the Ring’
Full disclosure: Prior to his filmmaking debut with Out in the Ring, director Ryan Bruce Levey and I have worked together and we’ve kept in touch online. When he announced Out in the Ring, I was excited to watch the doc because I was interested in the subject matter: wrestling and the LGBTQ+ influence the sport has had over decades. The finished film, while mechanical in its style and a little long in the tooth,…
Death Drop Gorgeous
Camp is notoriously tricky to pin down, and even tricker to execute. As Susan Sontag notes in her 1964 essay “Notes on ‘Camp’”, “[o]ne must distinguish between naïve and deliberate Camp. Pure camp is always naïve. Camp which knows itself to be Camp (“camping”) is usually less satisfying”. Sontag suggests that the best, most satisfying examples of camp are those that are trying to be serious. When something tries to be camp, it usually fails….
Jump, Darling
At a time when drag has made its way into mainstream media (thanks, in no small part, to the Emmy winning reality television show Ru Paul’s Drag Race), Jump, Darling stands as a much-needed antidote to the commodification of an art form that was created by and for queer and trans people. It isn’t a bad thing that straight folks these days know what a death drop is, but at times it does feel as…
The Prom
The Prom is a musical about a group of famous performers who use their clout and flashy personalities to make a stand against the discrimination of the LGBT community. However, despite how inspiring this story is supposed to be, the movie is also supposed to be satirizing celebrities who are more concerned about their image than the cause they’re fighting for. It’s a piece of irony that’s lost on The Prom, a film that wants…
Roobha
Lenin M. Sivam’s Roobha explores two intersecting narratives: one, a young dancer, Roobha (Amrit Sandhu), a transgender woman living on the streets; two, an older bartender Antony (Jesuthasan Antonythasan) whose poor lifestyle choices have severally worsened his health. The two unexpectedly fall in love, creating tension in both characters’ lives.
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.