Since the summer of 2023, when Greta Gerwig’s Oscar-winning box office blockbuster “Barbie” opened in theaters, prominently featuring the Indigo Girls’ “Closer To Fine,” the queer musical duo has been having a boffo year.
Film
In “Silver Haze” (Darkstar), writer/director Sacha Polak has struck gold with queer actors Vicky Knight and Esmé Creed-Miles, both of whom she has worked on previous projects (“Dirty God” and “Hanna,” respectively). Loosely based on Knight’s life, “Silver Haze” is a difficult film to watch, but well worth sticking with until the very last scene.
Gay British filmmakers such as Andrew Haigh, writer/director of the acclaimed “All of Us Strangers,” have taken the art form in new and thrilling directions. You can now add the names Sam H. Freeman and Ng Choon Ping, the British co-writers/co-directors of the mind-blowing “Femme” (Utopia/BBC Films) to the list of filmmakers in the UK who, along with Haigh, are making indelible impressions in queer cinema.
It should come as no surprise that gay writer and actor Julio Torres’ film directorial debut “Problemista” (A24) would not only be quirky and original but also deeply moving, while subtly making a political statement.
Let’s be honest. Director Tom Gustafson, and his longtime writing partner Cory Krueckeberg, had one good movie in them: 2008’s “Were The World Mine.”
The March 2024 Oscar ceremony is just a couple of days away. LGBTQ representation among this year’s nominations ranks among the highest ever.
There is little doubt that 2023 was one of the queerest years on record when it comes to LGBTQ films, with Andrew Haigh’s dazzling “All of Us Strangers” receiving most of the praise and attention. With that in mind, 2024 has already gotten off to a good start, beginning with the recent release of the lesbian comedy “Drive-Away Dolls,” currently in theaters.
Said to be the first installment in a trilogy, “Drive-Away Dolls” (Focus), which was originally titled “Drive-Away Dykes” marks Ethan Coen’s solo narrative directorial debut. Co-written by Coen and his out lesbian wife Tricia Cooke (seriously, Google it), “Drive-Away Dolls” harkens back to early Coen brothers films “Blood Simple” (the violence) and “Raising Arizona” (the comedic, rapid-fire dialogue and situations). Additionally, there is the presence of queer characters, something the filmmakers dabbled with in “Miller’s Crossing,” “The Man Who Wasn’t There,” and especially “Hail, Caesar!”
The double meaning of “Fitting In” (Blue Fox), the title of writer/director Molly McGlynn’s second feature film, is a good place to begin this review. Because the main character Lindy (Maddie Ziegler) is a 16-year-old high school, the concept of fitting into the complex and often challenging social situations in which 21st century (or any century, for that matter) teenagers find themselves, the title has that covered with no problem.
One thing you can say about Oscar-winning screenwriter Diablo Cody: she’s consistently inconsistent. Since her groundbreaking screenwriting debut in 2007 with “Juno,” her track record has been uneven, with the misses (“Ricki and the Flash,” “Paradise,” and “Jennifer’s Body”) outweighing the hits (“Young Adult” and “Tully”).
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