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They had me at “aerial dance troupe”: The Gymnast hits NYC

by bad machine

If you’re lucky enough to live in a city that offers gay and lesbian film festivals, screenings and events, perhaps you’ve seen or heard about a film called The Gymnast, starring Everything Relative co-star Dreya Weber. I just happened to read the synopsis of the film in this month’s newsletter from NewFest, a New York City-based LGBT film organization. Here’s what The Gymnast is about:

Dazzling and sexy, this high-flying drama chronicles the journey two women take to grow and to find new found strength together. Jane, a 43-year-old masseuse, was once an Olympic gymnast until an accident forced her early retirement. Unhappily married, she is drawn back to the gym where she meets gymnastics instructor Nicole and her gorgeous student Serena, a 28-year-old lesbian. Together they form an aerial dance troupe. While training for an audition in Las Vegas, Jane develops an undeniable attraction to Serena, putting both women’s commitment to their work to the test, and forcing them to make hard decisions.

I don’t know why the plot summary made me laugh, but it did. Perhaps it was the vision of the masseuse, deformed by her accident, unhappily massaging people (with her good hand) all day while dreaming about hot aerial artists.

(Click “read more” to continue.)

Then, having realized her dream of reentering the demanding world of gymnastics, said masseuse goes to Vegas, where my mind turns the whole film into a trapeze version of Showgirls.

I imagine the part where both women’s commitment to their work is put to the test and they’re forced to make hard decisions involves a love triangle made up of the masseuse, the instructor and the student — which ends tragically when the masseuse wantonly chooses to not catch her rival during the big finale.

I should so be writing a lesbian film. Ninety percent of them suck out loud, quite frankly. Got a good lesbian film plot of your own? Let’s take a meeting.

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