Gay Best Friend: Abby Gerhard in Carol (2015)

In this series by Christopher James we investigate the 'Gay Best Friend' trope in movies.

 

In honor of "Carol Day" (December 21st, the day Therese went to Carol’s house), the choice for Gay Best Friend was obvious! No Holiday Movie Watchlist is complete without a viewing of Carol, Todd Haynes’ romance masterpiece. A single sultry glance from Cate Blanchett’s Carol could keep you warm all winter long. As much as we’re transfixed by her and her love for Therese Belivet (Rooney Mara), this article isn’t about them. In a sea full of lesbians in this film, there’s only one that's on our hearts and minds for this column.

Abby Gerhard (Sarah Paulson) is perhaps the greatest and most fully realized examples of a gay best friend... 

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Red Carpet Lineup: 30 Looks from Venice 2020

The 77th Venice Film Festival wrapped today with the Golden Lion going to Chloe Zhao's Nomadland (which we'd predicted as far back as our annual April Foolish Predictions to be in the forthcoming Best Picture and Best Director lineups (we'll update all those charts this week). Venice wasn't the star-studded affair it usually is due to the shortage of travel and the ongoing troubles of the pandemic but they shouldered on. Cate Blanchett was in town for the whole festival as the President of the Jury and she made the all too rare decision to be sustainably fashionable by wearing only red carpet looks she'd worn before at other glitzy events. But her superpower, well one of them at any rate, is to make any year's fashions look utterly timeless.

29 other looks after the jump from the small batch of stars who went to Venice...

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Emmy Review: Lead Actress in a Miniseries or Movie

by Juan Carlos

We now reach this hotly contested category, consisting of Emmy favorites, Oscar winners, and a breakout performer. Aside from Regina King and Cate Blanchett, pundits were trying out several combinations of who would fill the remaining slots, especially with the decrease from six to five nominees. Unbelievable is competing for Limited Series, but neither of its widely predicted leads Merritt Wever or Kaitlyn Dever made it. Previous Emmy winners and nominees that were also in the running but didn't make it included Reese Witherspoon, Michelle Dockery, Helen Mirren, Ellie Kemper, and Aunjanue Ellis.

Without further ado, let's consider the lucky five who were nominated...  

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Emmy FYC: "Mrs. America" for Best Period Costume Design

by Cláudio Alves

The voting period for the Emmy nominations is coming to an end. It's true that, now, a FYC may feel a bit late, but I can't let go of the opportunity to shine a light on one of the most impressive achievements in recent television. While I love to explore the marvels of acting, costume design will forever be my main passion when talking about the performing arts. The Emmys are particularly interesting when it comes to the honoring of costume excellence since, unlike the Oscars, they have categories separating Period, Contemporary and Fantasy designs, not to mention separate prizes for live specials. In theory, that makes it somewhat easier for great costuming to be honored but that's not always the case, especially when the clothes being considered are more subtle than showy. Sometimes, sheer flashiness can blind people, and subtler creations are left unrewarded. 

Hopefully, such an unjust fate won't happen to the wondrous Mrs. America…

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Halfway Mark Links

A Must Read
• Tom & Lorenzo "One Iconic Costume" a fascinating funny and poignant piece on Dorothy Gale in The Wizard of Oz

More Links
• Paper terrific piece on the new generation of queer comedy: Matt Rogers, Grace Kuhlenschmidt, Alex English, Cole Escola, and many more. 
• Cartoon Brew despite Academy efforts toward gender parity the animation and visual fx industries are still struggling with inclusion of women. (Only 1 in 8 people invited to join the visual effects Academy branch are women this year.)

More after the jump including Hamilton, Netflix hit 365 Days, best of the first haf of the year and more...

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