Queersighted: Breaking Taboos on the Criterion Channel

by Cláudio Alves

O FANTASMA (2000)

For the past few years, the Criterion Channel has highlighted taboo-breaking pictures in queer cinema with their series "Queersighted." For its fourth edition, programmer Michael Koresky invited film critic K. Austin Collins to select and discuss a series of works that look at film history through a decidedly queer lens. This year's installment features movies that go from 1930s Hollywood productions to 2000s Portuguese provocations. Controversial and wildly transgressive, these films run a gamut of genres and formalistic approaches, showcasing how it's possible to push the envelope both from within the Hays Code-abiding studio system and the vanguard of New German Cinema.

Before saying farewell to Pride Month 2021, join us in exploring ten films presented in this program...

Click to read more ...

June. It's a Wrap

And just like that 2021 is half over. WHAAAA? We'll do the "halfway mark" listicles stuff any day now but it sure feels like the year has only just started. Surely due to how long Oscar season was delayed plus movie theaters just starting to trek back to full capacity (in some cities)...

A dozen highlights from June in case you missed 'em
• "Blue" Five great scenes in film using Joni Mitchell's music
• In the Heights Nathaniel's rave for a joyful perfect-for-summer movie musical
• Almost There: Myrna Loy this classic star was never Oscar nominated!
• Moulin Rouge! 20 appropriate ways to celebrate its big anniversary
• Gay Best Friend: Artie in Cruella Disney does it (sort of just barely) again
• Cannes an index of our coverage: sections, posters, stills, buzz, juries
• Judy Holliday Centennial a too short but fascinating career
• Emmys Watch FYCs and Predictions
• Joan vs Olivia the Old Hollywood feud explained
• Hunchback of Notre Dame the first movie Cláudio ever saw!

...and the most discussed articles
• The Honorary Oscars Ullmann, Jackson, May, and Glover announced
• Yes No Maybe So: The Eyes of Tammy Faye a buzzy trailer
• The 1946 Smackdown Duel in the Sun was just one of the five crazy hysteric dated melodramatic films discussed. Like so many Smackdowns I never want them to end. Even when the field is as weak as this one was. Thanks again to the wondrous guests.

Coming in July. Things are heating up! 
A 50th anniversary tag team Klute retrospective, a trip back to the 1998 Oscars via the Supporting Actress Smackdown, the Emmy nominations for 2021, Cannes buzz and awardage, a tribute to the upcoming Jean Hersholt Humanitarian honoree Danny Glover, and a weekly retrospective series begins on Pedro Almodóvar as we approach the release of Parallel Mothers in time for the next Oscar race.

Smackdown Season Schedule

Attention actressexuals and awards-nuts. The final (?) season of Supporting Actress Smackdown is deep in progress. Ep. 1 on 2020, Ep. 2 on 2000 and Ep. 3 on 1946 are behind us. Here's what's next and if the movies are currently on a streaming service we've indicated that otherwise they're all available to rent at the usual places like YouTube, iTunes, Amazon, and Apple TV. As per usual we'll be intermittently celebrating the following film years leading up to these events... 

Smackdown 1998 on Monday July 26th, 2021

• Kathy Bates, Primary Colors (Hulu)
• Brenda Blethyn, Little Voice
• Judi Dench, Shakespeare in Love (Fubo and Starz)
• Rachel Griffiths, Hilary and Jackie
• Lynn Redgrave, Gods and Monsters (HBOMax)

To get the maximum enjoyment out of the Smackdown consider rewatching the films along with us! Voting is open from now until Saturday July 24th. email in your votes with "1998 smackdown" in the subject line and a heart rating on each actress from 1 (poor) to 5 (perfection). You can include notes if you'd like as we might quote you.

Smackdown 1986 on Thursday August 26th, 2021

• Tess Harper, Crimes of the Heart (Amazon Prime)
• Piper Laurie, Children of a Lesser God (Amazon Prime)
• Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, The Color of Money 
• Maggie Smith, A Room With a View (HBOMax)
• Dianne Wiest, Hannah and Her Sisters (Fubo)

Voting opens August 1st!

Tentative Dates Thereafter
Sept 27th - Revisiting 1937
Oct 21st - Revisiting 2004
Nov 18th - Revisiting 1997
Dec 16th - Revisiting 1951 

Gay Best Friend: Cleo (Queen Latifah) in "Set It Off" (1996)

A series by Christopher James looking at the 'Gay Best Friend' trope

Queen Latifah stood out in the ensemble thriller "Set It Off" as Cleo, a butch lesbian bank robber.Be gay, do crimes.

The film business was born with stories of outsiders committing crimes just to survive. The entire gangster genre is built on that premise. Bonnie & Clyde captured the zeitgeist by making robbing banks seem cool. F. Gary Gray’s 1996 thriller Set It Off gives us a very different view of the Bonnie & Clyde story. The film focuses on four inner-city black women each pushed to the brink by a financial system working against them. Rather than lay down and take it, they band together and start robbing banks just to get by. The cast, which includes Jada Pinkett (before Smith), Queen Latifah, Vivica A. Fox and Kimberly Elise in her first role, is uniformly excellent, building a dynamic that believably has lasted decades.

For the purposes of Gay Best Friend, we’ll take a look at our butch firecracker, Cleo, played with great ferocity by Queen Latifah in the midst of her Living Single fame...

Click to read more ...

Emmys Watch: Will Anya Taylor-Joy win in the crowded Lead Actress in a Limited Series category?

Our team is breaking down the top contenders in all the major Emmy races and highlighting some of our favorites over the next few weeks. 

So far, Anya Taylor-Joy has won the Golden Globe, SAG Award and Critics Choice Award for "The Queen's Gambit." Is an Emmy next?By: Christopher James

The limited series field became the go-to place for stories about women this past year. Great performances from Oscar winning actresses go head to head with buzzy, zeitgeisty performances from rising stars. There’s no shortage of contenders, but a shortage of slots. Only five women will earn nominations when they are announced on July 13th. Perennial winner Anya Taylor-Joy (The Queen’s Gambit) will likely show up. Will she win though once up again Oscar winner Kate Winslet (Mare of Easttown)? Could a critical favorite like Michaela Coel (I May Destroy You) or Thuso Mbedu (The Underground Railroad) surprise? Or will they end up as a shocking snub?

Read on to see who might be in contention this year...

Click to read more ...