The Gesture: Merrit Wever in "Unbelievable"

Having long been fascinated by gestural movements in acting, we thought we'd try a series on it.  - Ed. 

by Nathaniel R

There is no one working like Merrit Wever. She's so real, so in the moment onscreen, that you can sometimes flash to one of her scenes like its pulled from you own very human memory. No matter how outlandish (Run) or specific (Unbelievable) her situation, you're in the space with her, living it, no cameras in sight. Queen of naturalism!

Take this diner sequence from Unbelievable...

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What did you see this week?

I miss going to the movie theater so much that I ache sometimes. This week inbetween work and stress and social-distanced social activities (sigh), I finished Normal People and Love Victor. Then I made time for Hannah Gadsby's Douglas which was brilliant. Somehow she nailed the very tough follow-up expectations set by Nanette -- I'm still giggling hours later about "Karen's handful" and women's hobbies during the Renaissance.

Finally we screened Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga. Regarding the latter, my best friend and I had heard great things but save Rachel McAdam's usual magnetism and Dan "I've got range!" Stevens' pompous hilarity as a seductive Russian pop star, it was dreadful. About 40 minutes too long (no really), predictable at every turn, with death rattle pacing, and Will Ferrell continuing to be the least funny of the successful comic film stars.

What did you see this week? 

Landmark gay adult film Passing Strangers (1974), restored

by Nathaniel R

If you use movies for time travel, as we often suggest people should given that they're cheaper than time machines, you could do worse than renting the restored 1974 porn Passing Strangers.  The site Pink Label.TV, which is queer owned and operated, and specializes in ethical and niche adult queer indie fare is currently hosting a restored print. It's the latest restoration for the work of the trailblazing filmmaker Arthur J Bressan Jr. Bressan also made the landmark gay drama Buddies (1981) and the documentary Gay USA  (1977) which Glenn recently raved about. His earlier porn, Passing Strangers, emerged during that brief heyday in the 1970s when mainstream media was taking porn seriously -- think Deep Throat and Behind the Green Door's blockbuster box office.

More, but definitely NSFW, after the jump...

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Loving "Love, Victor"

by Nathaniel R

Is this what good fan-fiction is like? In the first awkward episode of Love, Victor... and, again in the eighth "very special" cringe-worthy episode, and, fiiine, in scattered bits inbetween in virtually all episodes, the new Hulu series perpetually draws attention to the fact that it's inspired by the motion picture Love, Simon (2018). That said it wisely positions itself as a sequel, rather than a remake.

Instead of writing to a mysterious gay schoolmate online as Simon did in the first mainstream wide release gay romcom, Victor writes to Simon himself, inspired by his story and perpetually sliding into his DMs asking for advice...

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Phantom Thread: When bad fashion is good costume design

by Cláudio Alves

There are many ways to talk about Phantom Thread. My favorite Paul Thomas Anderson production is, among other things, one of the best films about romantic love I've ever seen, looking at the way that loving another person is to willingly become vulnerable to them. To love is, in essence, to open ourselves up to the possibility of mutually assured destruction. The picture is also a canny dissection of the muse/artist relationship, one that illuminates matters of obsession, dynamics between the sexes, the luxuriant pleasure of touching silk, and gazing upon that which is beautiful. It's all that and much more, a multifaceted jewel of cinema about which I could write endless rhapsodies of passionate praise.

Still, for this piece, let's look at the aspect of the movie that earned one of its makers an Oscar (and a jet ski). I invite you all to peruse the costumes Mark Bridges created for Phantom Thread, a film which proves that lackluster fashion can be masterful costume design…

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