Tag: Queer Cinema

Female Filmmaker, Indie Film, Interviews

Exclusive Interview with Georgia Hurt and Sian Astor-Lewis Regarding “To Nowhere”

“To Nowhere” is a micro-budget film that focuses on telling a queer love story and exploring gender identity. It’s currently in its final stages of post-production but the filmmakers need your help to raise the funds necessary to finish this project. ITOL editor, Bianca Garner, sat down with producer Georgia Hurt and director Sian Astor-Lewis to discuss the film in more depth, from its inception to the challenges they faced making a film on such a small budget. Most importantly, we discuss how you can show your support for this project and help to promote new and emerging talent in the indie filmmaking scene. Continue reading Exclusive Interview with Georgia Hurt and Sian Astor-Lewis Regarding “To Nowhere”

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Female Characters, Female Filmmaker, Women in Film, World Cinema

ITOL 2019 Round-up: Portrait Of A Lady On Fire

“Portrait Of A Lady On Fire” is a wonderfully subtle, minimalist film, one that trusts the audience’s ability to pick up on the slightest glance, the coyest smirk. It’s also worth nothing that the director is herself a queer woman, having known Haenel as a partner both professional and romantic, and reminding us that queer and trans folk should be taking the lead on LGBTQ+ cinema. Continue reading ITOL 2019 Round-up: Portrait Of A Lady On Fire

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Film Reviews, LGBTQ Cinema, Retrospect Reviews, Reviews

Retrospective Review: Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles

Anne Rice’s debut novel, “Interview with the Vampire” was published in 1976 and was somewhat controversial at the time for its openly erotic depiction of the undead. Two years later, “Dracula” would open on Broadway with first Frank Langella and then Raul Julia as the Count with obvious sex appeal. The book would take nearly two decades to be adapted to the screen but by that time, Rice had paved the way for vampires to be portrayed with animal magnetism such that Bela Lugosi would never have gotten away with in the 1930’s.

 Brad Pitt plays Louis as a mournful sympathetic vampire, regretful of his lost humanity and the loss of human life he is directly responsible for. His desire to unburden his conscience sets up the interview of the film’s title as he tells his life story to Christian Slater. Director Neil Jordan deliberately shows Pitt as androgynous with long hair, perfect skin and full lips. It is no surprise that the vampire Lestat (Tom Cruise) desires him or that other vampires will want to possess him as well Continue reading Retrospective Review: Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles

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Documentaries, Reviews

Review: Jonathan Agassi Saved My Life

“I don’t feel anything”, Jonathan (Yonatan Langer, also known as the internationally-recognized porn star Jonathan Agassi) laments at the end of the film, having ostensibly reached an all-time low. He is broken, sick, depressed, numb, and addicted to drugs. He’s also a hardcore gay pornstar who does some escorting on the side. This documentary (by Tomer Heymann) establishes early on that porn is about building a fantasy and attempting to break the fourth wall. Here, we scratch the surface of Yonatan’s psyche; we learn that despite all the supposed fun that keeps pornstars like him busy, he seems terribly dissatisfied. Continue reading Review: Jonathan Agassi Saved My Life

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Female Filmmaker, Film Reviews, LGBTQ Cinema, LGBTQ Filmmakers, Reviews, Top 50 of the Decade

ITOL Top 50 Films of the Decade, Entry No. 48: Appropriate Behavior

Heartbreak is the worst, and heartbreak in New York City is a crime against the universe. All it takes is a little New York ingenuity, some comic misadventures, and then everything will come back together again, right? That’s how it works in a romantic comedy!

But what about when the star of our romantic comedy isn’t just a typical New York artist? What about when she’s bisexual out of work journalist, when she’s the daughter of traditional Iranian immigrants, and when she’s determined to get back together with her ex-girlfriend? Continue reading ITOL Top 50 Films of the Decade, Entry No. 48: Appropriate Behavior

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LGBTQ Cinema, Personal Essays

We Need to Talk About the Gay Stuff in IT: Chapter Two

“IT: Chapter Two” (2019) has been talked about a lot since its still fairly recent release, and the internet has already gone through multiple modes of discourse on its queer representation. The first consisted of people posting extremely necessary content warnings for the film’s opening scene, which features a violent homophobic hate crime. The second occurred when many people took to Twitter to mock a recent Out article which labeled the character of Pennywise “homophobic”. Continue reading We Need to Talk About the Gay Stuff in IT: Chapter Two

Caelyn O'Reilly1 Comment