MOVIE
ARCHIVES: 2003
- 2002
(chronological,
with most recent article on top)
|
Movie
Archives: 2005
/ 2004
/ 2003 and earlier |
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2003:
The Year of the Depressing Lesbian in Film...Again
In 2003,
lesbian characters were mostly absent from the movies found at your
local theaters, and the few lesbians that were
on the big screen collectively painted a portrait of lesbianism that
was, well...less than flattering. Far, far less. |
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Review
of Mona Lisa Smile Mona
Lisa Smile does an excellent job of conveying a world where rules
and restrictions abound and students are so well trained they don't
even question them. But an interesting setting can't make up for the
lack of a coherent, compelling narrative. |
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New
Bollywood Movie Shock to Include Lesbian Relationship
India
is not known for embracing lesbian themes in film, but a new film
by director Karan Razdan is making waves in India
for including a lesbian relationship. Shock is about the
elite class in India whose lives revolve around parties and gossip--including
an unhappily married woman who gets involved in a lesbian relationship.
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Dropping
Lesbian Romance From Beckham the Right Decision
Many fans
of Bend it Like Beckham are likely to be disappointed at
learning the film was originally written to feature a romance between
Jess and Jules. But I want to offer what is likely to be an unpopular
opinion: in this particular context and at this particular time, the
director made the right decision. |
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Review
of Wave Babes The
new movie Wave Babes is supposed to be a spoof on Blue
Crush and the whole beach-movie genre, but it ends up being more
cheesy than satirical. Which doesn't mean it isn't worth watching,
as long as you're in the mood for campy humor that veers between smart
and silly in the same scene. |
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Heather
Graham in Upcoming Gray Matters
The indie
film Gray Matters, currently in production, tells the story
of a woman and her brother who both fall for the same woman. Will
this film be just another story of the triumph of heterosexuality,
or will the lesbian relationship triumph for a change? |
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Review
of Under the Tuscan Sun
The new
film Under the Tuscan Sun is exactly what it appears: a
light-hearted romantic comedy about heartbreak
and healing set in a picturesque small town in Italy. What the promos
don't tell you, however, is that the main character has a lesbian
best friend who takes a similar journey in the film. |
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Review
of Laurel Canyon The
chemistry between Alex (Kate Beckinsale) and Jane (Frances McDormand)
builds slowly and realistically, so that when Alex and Jane finally
kiss, you're emotionally rooting for them, even if intellectually
you're recoiling at the the thought that Alex is kissing her boyfriend's
mother. |
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Review
of Prey for Rock and Roll
This
is a powerful film about perseverance through sheer determination,
and how sometimes simply surviving can be defined as success.
And although it tells the story of a female rock band, it's really
a gritty,
realistic, and disturbing meditation
on the pervasiveness of violence against women in our culture.
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Review
of It's In the Water
There
aren't many lesbian romantic comedies about middle and upper-middle-class
women, and that combined with the two strong female leads, an interesting
story, and good production quality make this film better than most
independent lesbian films, and well worth watching.
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Review
of Gia There
have been few movies on television or the big screen that portray
a lesbian relationship as frankly and movingly as Gia does,
and this, combined with the knowledge that Jolie is herself bisexual
in real life, makes this film a favorite among many lesbian viewers
despite the tragic ending. |
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Review
of Desert Hearts Desert
Hearts is just as interesting and compelling today as it was
when it debuted almost twenty years ago, and is a example of the
heights you can achieve even without a big budget if you have strong
actors, the right story, and a director who knows how to pull it
all together. |
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Review
of Savage Roses This
lesbian love story between a Latina gang member and a young mother
gets points for its original subject matter, but the film's good
qualities are almost completely overshadowed by the production quality
of the film, which is so poor it renders the film almost unwatchable.
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Eulogy:
Two Lesbians and a Funeral No
dysfunctional family get-together is complete without at least one
lesbian relationship among the shocking secrets revealed, and the
upcoming film Eulogy appears to deliver this and more when
Kelly Preston and Famke Janssen play lovers returning home for a
family funeral. |
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D.E.B.S.
the Movie: Will the Lesbians Stay in the Picture?
The
hit short film about four high school girls-turned-secret agents
is being turned into a feature film by Sony. But will the lesbianism
from the short make it into the full-length version, or will Hollywood
turn it into another Fried Green Tomatoes? |
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Review
of Bound Mob
movies generally take us into a world in which men rule the universe
and women are merely pawns trying to survive.
Bound--a film about two women who design a scheme to double-cross
the mob--operates within that same world, but quickly flips the
formula on its head as the women exploit the bravado and ego of
the men around them to achieve their own freedom. |
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Review
of By Hook or By Crook By
Hook or By Crook is an odd little movie, but in the best sense
of the word--it has a magnetism that is difficult
to explain, and a plot that is difficult
to categorize.
It's a buddy movie about the friendship between
two gender-ambiguous characters, but it's also an indictment of
how we treat the mentally ill in our society; it's a love story,
but it's also a story about injustice
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Review
of Bar Girls Bar
Girls is officially The Worst Lesbian Movie in the World.
I have suspected this ever since the movie was first released
in 1995, but I recently confirmed it when a newly-out bisexual friend
visited and we had "lesbian movie" weekend; she
was so horrified watching Bar Girls that she made me turn
it off after only thirty minutes. |
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Review
of What's Cooking? In
this movie about the Thanskgiving weekend celebration of four different
L.A. families, Rachel and Carla experience the lesbian couple's
version of hell: a big family dinner in which they
are supposed to pretend they're "just roommates" because
Rachel's parents don't want the other family members to know the
truth.
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Review
of Femme Fatale Femme
Fatale follows the exploits of Laure/Lilly, a self-described
"bad girl, rotten to the heart" who manipulates and double-crosses
everyone she encounters--except, interestingly, her lover Veronica,
which is where the film becomes more than just a vehicle for bad-girl
eye candy. |
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Review
of A Family Affair The
new independent film A Family Affair is a lesbian love
story, but it's also a movie about extremes. Although I would have
been happier with a little more subtlety, there aren't enough movies
that explore lesbian life post-coming out, and A Family Affair
is a welcome addition to the canon.
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Review
of The Incredibly True Adventures of 2 Girls in Love
The
1995 film The Incredibly True Adventures of 2 Girls in Love
is a classic indie success story: a teenage lesbian love story filmed
in only 21 days that became a Sundance hit, starred two young actresses
who have since gone on to successful careers, and is still enjoyed
by viewers almost eight years later. |
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Review
of 8 Women The
fluidity with which women's sexuality is portrayed in this musical
murder mystery is unusual, as is the casual way it
is revealed: in a cast of eight supposedly heterosexual women, half
turn out to be something other than straight as they alternate between
insulting, accusing, and seducing each other. |
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Review
of A Girl Thing In
the first of four stories in A Girl Thing, Elle Macpherson
plays a heterosexually-identified woman who is paralyzed by her
own insecurities when she suddenly finds herself attracted to Kate
Capshaw's bisexual character Casey. The rise
and fall of their relationship makes for a very entertaining and
thought-provoking story.
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Review
of The Haunting Catherine
Zeta Jones' Theo in The Haunting is still one of the few
positive and complicated bisexual women in a mainstream Hollywood
movie--a point which has mostly been lost amidst the criticism of
her bisexuality and all the complaints about the movie itself. |
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Review
of Marion Bridge The
powerful performances and well-written dialogue of the new indie
Canadian film Marion Bridge quickly make you forget anything
but the delicate dance between the three estranged sisters,
one of whom is a lesbian on the verge of coming out.
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Review
of All Over Me All
Over Me is one of those films that is so realistic, it's difficult
to watch. The movie tells the story of Claude, a solid, socially-awkward
teenage girl into punk music and in love with her best friend Ellen,
a self-absorbed, volatile anorexic just waiting for some guy to
come along and treat her like shit--which is exactly what happens. |
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Review
of Everything
Relative This movie
showcases every cliche from the bad-lesbian-movie handbook: awkward
dialogue, preachy messaging that is about as subtle
as a gay pride parade; a few bad actors; a few really bad haircuts;
and a corny sing-along to an improvised version of a Holly Near
song. But I just can't help liking the movie anyway. |
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Review
of Treading Water The
premise of the movie is a young woman's struggle to deal with her
mother's unwillingness to accept her lover. This is where Treading
Water is at its best--in recreating the subtext and silence
that hangs thickly in the air in so many white, upper-middle-class
American homes, particularly around issues of lesbianism.
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2002:
The Year of the Bisexual Woman
This
was the year movies weren't afraid to bravely
tackle the issues that so many bisexual women face today, like suicide,
incest, drug abuse, debilitating illness, murder, and comas
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The
Question of The Hours On
the surface, this film seems like a great leap forward for lesbian
and bisexual visibility on film: A-list actresses playing
complex characters grappling with issues of (lesbian) sexuality.
But delving deeper into the story, I'm reminded less of "Mrs.
Dalloway" and more of "The Well of Loneliness." |
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Review
of The Truth About Jane
Alternately
cheesy, angsty,
humorous, and occasionally melodramatic, The
Truth About Jane has all the hallmarks of a classic coming-out
narrative combined with excellent acting and a positive if overly
preachy message. |
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Review
of Higher Learning
Like most mainstream movies, Higher Learning's depiction
of lesbianism and bisexuality is both compelling and problematic.
Such an honest portrayal of bisexuality in a mainstream film was
almost unheard of in 1995, but the movie reinforces some negative
stereotypes about both lesbians and bisexuals.
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Teen
Thrillers and the Evil Bisexual Girl
The Evil Bisexual Girl in the teen psychological thriller is like
the Lone Black Guy in the suspense films of the 80's and 90's: you
know right away they're going to come to a bad end. |
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Review
of Kissing Jessica Stein
I didn't want to see this movie when I heard what it was about,
although for different reasons than you might assume. But I was
stuck in a hotel room in Vegas with time to kill and there it was
on Pay-Per-View, so I finally gave in and decided to watch it. |
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Review
of Fucking Amal/Show Me Love
This movie is unflinchingly honest in showing the serious and long-term
scars that teenage cruelty can create. But it is at its most powerful
in demonstrating that a kindred soul is instrumental in helping
you rise above it. |
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Lesbianism
in Middle-Class Black Movies
Attitudes of straight African-Americans towards black lesbians and
bisexual women have changed over the last twenty years -
but you would never know it from watching movies produced by and
for the black community. |
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Lesbian
Filmmaking 101: Dumbing It Down Why
is it that movies for lesbians must have at least five minutes of
show-stopping monologue or dialogue on an Official Lesbian Cause
for every five minutes of actual storyline advancement? |
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Review
of Lost and Delirious The
overall message is clearly and powerfully delivered, and
the romantic and sexual relationship between Paulie and Tori is
well-handled and realistic - unfortunately, too realistic
for me. |
