Gay Best Friend: Oliver T'Sien in "Crazy Rich Asians" (2018)

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

Nico Santos does what every gay best friend does in a romantic comedy, stage a makeover montage.After a few retro episodes, we've made it back to modern examples of the Gay Best Friend trope. Crazy Rich Asians employs so many classic romantic comedy moments. When Nick Young (Henry Goulding) asks Rachel Chu (Constance Wu) to meet his family in Singapore, some nearby people overhear and set off a chain of texts that break the news to the entire Young family circle. Bright animated colors pop around the screen to demonstrate word spreading, recalling classic Doris Day title sequences of the 50s and 60s. This pastiche blends well with the grand opulence of the Young’s Singapore compound that feels in line with the worlds of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and the recent Sex and the City movies. 

Any love letter to the romantic comedy has to employ one of the character mainstays of the genre: the gay best friend. This comes in the form of Oliver (Nico Santos), the rainbow sheep of the family...

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Showbiz History: Stewart enlists, Blade returns, and Streisand's legend begins

7 random things that happened on this day, March 22nd, in showbiz history

1941 James Stewart joins the Air Corps, three weeks after winning the Oscar. He was the first American movie star to join the military for  World War II

1957 The Elvis Presley single "All Shook Up" is released, soon hitting the top of the charts and becoming one of his signature songs...

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SXSW: The possibilities of documentary portraiture

by Cláudio Alves

Before saying goodbye to SXSW 2021, I'd like to shine a light on some of the documentaries presented at this online edition of the festival. As it happens, many of the most interesting films I saw from the selection were docs, specifically the sort of non-fiction cinema that functions as a portrait of the individual. At the very least, the sort that presents itself as such. From idiosyncratic political profiles to feats of music journalism, from straight biography to epistemological investigations, the filmmakers of SXSW showcased the possibilities of documentary portraiture…

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Oscar History: Marty vs Rose Tattoo, The Piano vs Schindler's, Shakespeare vs Private Ryan

5 random things that happened on this day, March 21st, in Oscar history only: 

1941 The Sea Wolf starring Edward G Robinson and Ida Lupino is released. Director Michael Curtiz is warming up for his rather incredible peak decade (Yankee Doodle Dandy, Casablanca, Mildred Pierce are next) but this one only snags one Oscar nomination for Best Visual Effects

1956 The 28th annual Academy Awards are held honoring the films of 1955...

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SXSW: The Fallout, Lily Topples the World, and The End of Us

 by Christopher James

Lily Topples the World won the juried Documentary Feature prize at the 2021 SXSW Film Festival.We are far enough into the 2021 SXSW Film Festival that the Jury awards have been handed out. There were a variety of awards handed out. The Narrative Feature Competition went to The Fallout, and Documentary Feature Competition went to Lily Topples the World. As premieres were lighter in these final days of the festival, today felt like the right day to give both of these winners a chance. Add in a dash of pandemic comedy, in the form of The End of Us, and you have my Day Four at the 2021 SXSW Film Festival...

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