Can You Ever Forgive Me?
When the movie opens Lee (Melissa McCarthy) is seen as a bitter and mean spirited alcoholic who has just been fired from her latest job and is in her squalid unkempt Manhattan apartment with just her cat for company. Totally broke and not having paid her rent for months , she has exhausted anyone … Continue reading
CANARY : a coming-of-age musical dramedy set in South Africa in the 1980’s
FIlmmaker Christiaan Olwagen’s enchanting coming-of-age musical dramedy set in his homeland of South Africa takes a trope of extreme obstacles facing gay men in the 1980’s with such an inspired touch that makes this such a sheer joy of a movie. It’s the tale of teenage Johan Niemand (Schalk Bezuidenhout) who although he lives … Continue reading
Cate Blanchettt ….. is one of the ‘girls’ again
It’s been some sixteen years since his last film the Oscar Nominated Little Children but writer/director Todd Field is back with Tár and what looks like a real humdinger. Cate Blanchett stars as renowned (and highly fictional) composer Lydia Tár, in the film regarded as the first-ever female chief conductor of a major … Continue reading
Chase Joynt’s ‘Framing Agnes’ on how the legacy of trans research shapes the future
Canadian trans filmmaker Chase Joynt can confidently leave this Sundance Film Festival clothing two awards, knowing he has been successful in a rare achievement. His sophomore feature-length documentary Framing Agnes is even better than his remarkable debut No Ordinary Man which he had co-directed with Aisling Chin-Yee. Joynt, whose day job is as Professor … Continue reading
Chavela
Chavela is an affectionate profile of the wonderfully outrageous legendary woman who introduced the world to soulful Mexican ranchero music, the likes of which had never been heard before. As another singer so aptly said, Chavela Vargas would strip all the happiness out of these songs and make it the music of the wounded … Continue reading