London’s BFI Flare is one of the early queer film Festivals that kick off the new year,  following on from Queer Screen in Sydney and The Berlinale.  Now in its 39th year, it is still one of the oldest ones across the globe (we wonder like so many gay men, if it will publicly acknowledge its 40th birthday next year?

This year more than most, it’s an exciting and extremely well-curated program that celebrates the whole spectrum of the LGBTQA+ community, which is even more important now in this extremely hostile political climate, which is such a threat to our very survival.

Our Queerguru Team of reviewers, who can be a tough bunch of critics, believe that this year’s Flare has so many excellent films that deserve to find their audiences that we have, for the very first time, split our MUST SEE TOP PICS into two parts. Here’s the first one. 

 

THE  ASTRONUAT LOVERS In this romantic comedy from Argentinian Teddy Award Winner Marco Berger (one of Queerguru’s very favorite queer filmmakers)  Javier Orán and Lautaro Bettoni are Pedro and Maxi,  friends from childhood reunited years later at a beach house with a group of friends, during a weekend. With incessant flirting, the two friends talk about the universe, planet Earth, Mars, the stars,  the Milky Way, super rockets, black holes, a planet and the astronaut that lands, and to enter into orbit.  It is not until the last third of the film that terms of understanding and attraction are clearer amongst the protagonists, and a happy ending closes the narrative.

 

ENIGMA : made by the trans filmmaker Zachary Drucker, who, in this documentary, has paired April’s life story with that of French pop singer/model Amanda Lear.  By the end of this 95min film from HBO, you eventually realize why Drucker chose to show both of these trans women’s lives side by side, but whilst it serves to show April as the most courageous and honest woman, Amanda paints herself as someone still in total denial of her life story even when she is presented with indisputable facts of her reality  UNMISSABLE

 

HEIGHTENED SCRUTINY Since the hate-spewing Trump was returned to the White House to begin his vicious campaign of revenge and retribution, the silence from the Democrats and the opposition has been deafening. It’s as if they all gave up collectively and rolled over to play dead.  Thus, watching Sam Feder‘s excellent doc HEIGHTENED SCRUTINY at its is perfect timing. It’s the story of the battle to preserve trans rights in this extremely paranoid political climate that seems hell-bent on destroying that community.

Even though the odds are stacked against them the fight to preserve trans rights is very much alive and in the good hands of Chase Strangio.  He’s a trans lawyer and activist, and the deputy director for transgender justice and staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union.  His passion for his work is exhilarating and infectious, and it is impossible not to feel so completely involved as Feder follows him preparing to be the first ever trans person to argue a case in the US Supreme Court. 

 

 

HIGH TIDE: Some 18 months ago Italian/American queer filmmaker Marco Calvani unexpectedly found himself staying in Provincetown for 6 months in the off-season.  This is the time of year when this gay mecca at the tip of Cape Cod, is empty of all the summer tourists and has a full-time population of just 3000 souls.  It’s when Calvani fell in love  …… with the town that is …. and the result is that he ended up writing/directing High Tide his debut feature film.

I’m not sure how Calvani pulled it off but for a small budget feature (shot in just 14 days) it also has a remarkable first-class cast of supporting actors that included Marisi Tomei, Bill Irwin, Todd Flaherty, and Tangerine’s Mya Taylor.  But even so despite their performances, and an exceptional one from the remarkably talented Marco Pigossi, (the actual real-life BF of Calvani) the real star is Provincetown.

PS You may like to check out QUEERGURU’s interview with the filmmaker HERE)

 

I’M YOUR VENUS  In setting out to document the re-opening the investigation of the unsolved brutal murder of Venus Xtravaganza, filmmaker Kimberly Reed uncovers a side of this story that we would never have expected.  Venus was one of the stars of the legendary 1990 documentary PARIS IS BURNING about drag queens in the ballroom scene of New York City.  She was killed during the film’s shooting and so never got to see the finished movie that would change so many lives then and now.  Its 35 years on and although the likelihood of now actually solving the murder is slim (No spoilers here) its how her biological family link up with her ballroom family that is credit to how Venus left her mark on them in her very short life.  

PS You may like to check out QUEERGURU’s interview with the filmmaker HERE)

 

Writer/directors Filipe Matzembacher and Marcio Reolon have created a deliciously erotic noir thriller with Night Stage. They successfully examine the often-conflicting roles people play in their public lives and their private lives. How much of their careers are these guys prepared to risk to satisfy their carnal lust? There’s a self-destructive streak in them that many viewers will recognise and connect with. Success has different, conflicting meanings to them and the journey between different successful outcomes could end up being troubled.  The mix of romance, suspense and adrenaline is  just right, and it’s so worth making an effort to see this Brazilian gem.

 

In an alignment of the stars, director Luca Guadagnino (Call Me By Your Name, A Bigger Splash, Challengers) and Bond actor Daniel Craig have come together with Queer, the film adaptation of William Burroughs’ 1985 semi-autobiographical classic, Queer. Burroughs is widely considered one of the primary figures of the Beat Generation and a major author and cultural influencer of his time. It’s immediately clear that Craig relishes playing the role of the hard-drinking, heroin-using, gun-toting, man-fucking Lee, a writer, as he wastes his days in the gay-frequented bars of early 1950s Mexico City.  Guadagnino has shone a spotlight on the life of drug and alcohol addicted middle-aged men without a social or familial support system, a group who largely fall under the radar of society. The solitude, the longing, the aches and cravings, all are brilliantly portrayed by Craig, who gives a faultless account of the needy, horny Lee, searching for a connection.

 

SANDBAG DAM a superb coming-of-age drama that was nominated for the prestigious Teddy Award at the Berlinale and is a modest film  that packs a big punch. The affair between the two leading young men  is treated delicately and after the gay floodgates burst open we get to see the true nature of their relationship and the true nature of their families and friends. The screenplay and acting are superb and writer, Tomislav Zajec with director Cejen Cernic accurately present the pressures and prejudices of contemporary village life plus the touching performances of Lav Novosel as Marko and Andrija Zunac as Slaven are pitch perfect.

 

Coming straight from Un Certain Regard Section at Cannes Film Festival comes this extraordinary… and quite beautiful Vietnamese movie  VIET AND NAM that surrounds the most gentle queer love story that has already been banned in Vietnam. Surprisingly not because of the romance between these two young men, but reportedly for its portrayal of “a gloomy, deadlocked, and negative view” about the country and its citizens, according to an official letter from Vietnam’s Cinema Department.  We see qhy  the Vietnamese Censors believe this very bleak slice of life can be written off as depressing, but in this bleakness is this captivating love affair that we get so invested in, and that gives us hope too.  Written and directed by Trương Minh Quý

 

 

Will and Harper is ostensibly a road trip across America undertaken by two old friends.  The comic actor Will Ferrell had met former Saturday Night Live writer Harper Steele some 30 years ago, but now Harper has transitioned and living her authentic life as a woman. This documentary is a story about friendship, allyship, and the journey to becoming your true self. It’s about identity, America, pain, laughter, and acceptance — both of each other and, more importantly, of ourselves. It’s also about the power of Pringles, cheap beer, and road trips with your best friend. Its a sheer joy to watch

 

 

for full reviews of over 2000 queer films check out www.queerguru.com and whilst you are there be sure to subscribe to get all the latest raves and rants on queer cinema …best of all its FREE