FYC: Julianne Moore in "May December" for Best Supporting Actress

by Nick Taylor

I don't think Julianne Moore has enough awards

Another year, another Todd Haynes film in grave danger of being overlooked by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. I don’t love May December as deeply as some of y’all, but its complete omission from SAG was a gigantic bummer. With Oscar voting underway, I’ve decided to do what I do best: write about actresses for a moderate and appreciative corner of queers on the internet. I’m bringing back my Supporting Actress write-ups as an For Your Consideration pulpit, starting with my absolute favorite of the performances currently contending for a nomination: Julianne Moore’s black hole of pathetic neediness and weaponized ignorance in May December.

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Goodbye, 2023...

by Cláudio Alves

SUPERSTAR is my favorite new-to-me film of 2023. What's yours?

As the year draws to a close, it's time for reflection and hopes for the year to come. All over film publications, lists dominate, cataloging the best pictures of 2023, rushing to proclaim their champions before the ball drops. Here, however, let's do another exercise. Looking back at the past twelve months, I like to think about my favorite first-time watches of years gone by, classics and other sorts that were new to me, even if they were well known to everybody else. 

I think of Brian De Palma's Body Double, a perverse predilection I discovered on my travails through Erotic Thrillers. Then, there was Labyrinth of Cinema, Nobuhiko Obayashi's swan song, and a wild counterpoint to Nolan's Oppenheimer. While I wrote about those two, I have yet to mention my affection for Jafar Panahi's rebellious Offside or how Jan Svankmajer's Food seemed to synthesize its auteur's visceral cinema in one bite-sized grotesque. However, no flick inspired as much adoration as Todd Haynes' long-banned Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story. In the year when Barbie reigned supreme, his was still the superior plastic picture, nightmarish and moving, a song on biopic limitations and truth at 24 frames per second.

New or old, may 2024 bring more cinema triumphs. Happy New Year!

Natalie Portman: Queen of Artifice

by Cláudio Alves

Some actors thrive through mimesis, reaching for realism when performing. In cinema, they bring the actuality of everyday life to the screen, psychology and material terms. Or they replicate others like straight mirrors. Since midcentury developments, that approximation of off-screen life has been standardized into what most recognize as "good acting." It's the mainstream, the rule, the de facto way of doing things. But is it the only way? I would think not and have grown to appreciate those who step outside those lines, whether deliberately, through their director's influence, or by mere accident.

When done right, embracing fakery may feel more honest and insightful than the attempt to copy - realer than real, truer than truth. All this to say, I love Natalie Portman at her most artificial and absurd…

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Queering the Oscars: Best Original Screenplay "Far From Heaven"

by Patrick Ball

It certainly isn’t a stretch to consider any Todd Haynes filmography part of the Queer Oscar Canon. The filmmaker brought us La Blanchett in the all-timer Carol and as a gender-bent Bob Dylan in I’m Not There. He directed Laura Dern and Kate Winslet on the small screen in prestige HBO offerings Enlightened and Mildred Pierce (respectively). And I know I’m not alone in my extreme anticipation for his forthcoming May/December, his third collaboration with primary muse Julianne Moore. If the proverbial Dorothy is 'a great actress or queer icon of her generation' than the man is a *friend* of Dorothy. But my favorite, and an early example of how a queer perspective permeates through his style, enriching the work, is Far From Heaven. 

Far From Heaven, a juggernaut on the 2002 Critics Circuit, eventually was nominated for four Academy Awards- including one for Haynes’ himself for Best Original Screenplay. Though it didn’t take home any trophies that night (in an intensely competitive and notorious Oscar race), Far From Heaven was considered a breakthrough for Haynes as a filmmaker...

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Cannes: "May December" with Julianne Moore & Natalie Portman

Elisa Giudici reporting from Cannes

Todd Haynes new feature May December could easily be my favorite movie of this Cannes edition, but it took me two screenings to realize it. May December's most striking trait is its elusiveness. Like its protagonist Gracie (Julianne Moore), it's unapologetic. It's also candid in its campiness but able to turn into a savage experience in its rare moments of truth. I heard someone describethis one as it as Haynes’ Brian De Palma homage. I think it's closer to Paul Verhoeven and his way of never explaining himself, leaving you wondering “Is this intentionally parodical…or is it not?”.

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