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...

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How Had I Never Seen… the "Valley of the Dolls" movies?

by Cláudio Alves

As part of a robust Pride-themed selection, the Criterion Channel has added Russ Meyer's 1970 Beyond the Valley of the Dolls to its streaming roster. The Roger Ebert-penned follow-up cum send-up to the 1967 trashterpiece Valley of the Dolls is as campy as its predecessor, making the lurid underbelly of show business into the stuff of dragtastic entertainment. In other words, it's a perfect flick to put on whilst celebrating Pride Month. As I'd never seen either picture, I decided to take this as an opportunity to explore them both and share my thoughts with you, dear readers. I don't know what I was expecting from this double feature, but it wasn't what I found. Suffice it to say, I was surprised, gooped, and gagged…

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Nicecore-palooza

by Cláudio Alves

Upon the US release of Paddington 2 in 2018, film critic David Ehrlich wrote about a new age of optimistic movies. He called this phenomenon, nice core. They were films that emerged in the era of Trump and Brexit, little rays of celluloid sunshine that celebrated the power of kindness and the wonder of humanity from filmmakers living in an increasingly cruel world. If you're looking for formalistic vanguard or challenging experiences, you won't find it in this type of cinema, though that doesn't have to be necessarily bad. Art of modest ambition whose main purpose is comfort shouldn't be undervalued.

One could almost say that, when ironic detachment becomes standard, the exaltation of sincere cinema can be a radical gesture…

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Where Have You Seen George MacKay?

by Murtada Elfadl

The young British actor George MacKay is getting many star-in-the making reviews for leading Sam Mendes’ 1917, which screened to press last weekend in New York and LA. Some are even saying he’s a shoo-in for an Oscar nomination in the crowded best actor category. But have you seen him in any movies yet? He’s certainly hasn’t made this big of an impression in his previous movies. Here are 3 movies where you might have seen MacKay...

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"Where are my lesbians?"

(A question fit for any occasion.)