Windy City Media Group Frontpage News

THE VOICE OF CHICAGO'S GAY, LESBIAN, BI, TRANS AND QUEER COMMUNITY SINCE 1985

home search facebook twitter join
Gay News Sponsor Windy City Times 2023-12-13
DOWNLOAD ISSUE
Donate

Sponsor
Sponsor
Sponsor

  WINDY CITY TIMES

Knight at the Movies: Favorite LGBT films of 2013
by Richard Knight, Jr., for Windy City Times
2013-12-25

This article shared 4385 times since Wed Dec 25, 2013
facebook twitter pin it google +1 reddit email


Blue Is The Warmest Color and Interior. Leather Bar, the two most talked about queer-themed movies of the year were, in my estimation, prime examples of the emperor wearing no clothes.

By that I mean that all the hype and folderol about these being cinematic breakthroughs was nothing more than yet two more examples of straight white guys giving us their limited view of Our People through their stereotypical lens. ( I know that the "experimental" Interior was co-directed by the openly gay Travis Mathews, which, for me, made it that even more disconcerting. ) Blue had a strong first hour and some tremendous acting from its two leads but I think has been overhyped. ( See my past discussion with Windy City Times editor Tracy Baim for further thoughts about the film. )

There were other high-profile and must-see LGBT-themed movies this year that I quite liked—Dallas Buyers Club, Kill Your Darlings, Behind the Candelabra, Laurence Anyways, Concussion—but when discussing the year in queer cinema in Chicago the first distinction that needs to be made is always the small number of LGBT-themed movies that actually get theatrical runs here, as opposed to the coasts.

That number has been diminishing for several years—the causes of which are varied ( changing tastes being one ). But the primary reason is always less-than-spectacular box-office returns. Until movie patrons in Chicago make big fat financial hits of some of these queer-themed pictures, I wouldn't expect to see more of them get theatrical bookings here.

All of which speaks to the importance of audiences supporting any venue—especially the independently owned theaters—that are helping to keep the torch lit for queer cinema in Chicago. So, too, is the urgency of patronizing the various film festivals, as these are often the only chance to see these movies in the theatrical setting for which they were made. As both the programming director for this year's Reeling Film Festival and a jury member for the Queer Hugo section of the Chicago International Film Festival, I have seen firsthand the profound impact seeing these movies in a theater can have on audiences. There still is nothing like the anticipation that comes when the lights are about to go down and you're sitting with an audience of your peers.

This, I realize, is a typical exhortation from a film critic. But even without more LGBT movies playing in Chicago proper, the increased advent of Video on Demand and other online services as well as Netflix has made it a lot easier to find access to queer-themed movies—and more are being made directly for television as well. ( Behind the Candelabra for HBO being 2013's most prominent example. )

I have been putting together a list of Top Ten LGBT films since 2004 in preferential order but this year have decided to group my favorites ( most with a runner-up ) in categories. I love all these movies, some more than others and don't want to lessen my desire for you to see them by numbering them.

Queer icons: I Am Divine—Out director Jeffrey Schwarz's illuminating portrait of the 300-pound drag queen Divine who, with his creative partner in crime, John Waters, changed the face of cinema, elevating trash to the mainstream. Runner-up: Six By Sondheim—Director James Lapine's documentary about the openly gay dean of musical American theater is revelatory and creatively assembled ( now showing on HBO, where it debuted earlier this month ).

Queer Lives: The Happy Sad—Out director Rodney Evans followed up his acclaimed debut Brother to Brother at long last with this sexy romantic drama.

Runner-up: Two: The Story of Roman & Nyro—Heather Winters' moving and humorous portrait of an extended group of individuals all gathered together to help raise the adorable twin sons of two gay men truly captures the modern family at its best.

Art-house darlings: Dallas Buyers Club—Matthew McConaughey and Jared Leto give award-worthy performances in this based on a true story of two disparate men with AIDS—one straight and homophobic, the other a gay, drug-addled, sweet-spirited drag queen—each battling for their lives in the 1980s.

Runner-up: Kill Your Darlings—Out writer director John Krokidas made an impressive debut with this look at poet Allen Ginsberg ( memorably portrayed by Daniel Radcliffe ) at the outset of his coming of age as a college student in the mid-1940s and his relationship with mentor Lucien Carr ( Dane DeHaan ), who murdered his lover in what was then an acceptable defense called an "honor killing."

Women in love: Reaching for the Moon—The torrid, true life affair between poet Elizabeth Bishop and her Brazilian architect lover is gorgeously retold in this sumptuous romantic drama set in the 1950s.

Runner-up: Cloudburst—Olympia Dukakis and Brenda Fricker play a long-term lesbian couple who head to Canada to legalize their union to prevent Fricker's daughter from taking their home away in this bittersweet road film.

Queer teenage angst: Animals—A gay cross between Donnie Darko and Elephant, this Spanish film is a strangely fascinating coming of age story of a teen whose best friend is his English accented teddy bear.

Runner-up: Geography Club—Based on gay writer Brent Hartinger's bestselling novel, this is a familiar yet welcome story of a group of high school misfits who form a club for queer teens but have to keep its identity secret.

Queer ( fabulous ) history: Behind the Candelabra—Michael Douglas and Matt Damon went all out in this over-the-top biopic of the ultimate Vegas entertainer, pianist Liberace, and his much younger lover Scott Thorson. It's kitsch heaven with surprising moments of depth.

Runner-up: Portrait of Jason—Director Shirley Clarke's 1967 classic of a real life gay raconteur, the African American queen of the title, who delivers a non-stop monologue that is insightful and sensationally entertaining from the get go.

Blurring the lines: Laurence Anyways—Queer French-Canadian auteur Xavier Dolan's three-hour magnum opus follows the male-to-female transition of the title character in the 1980s and his fractious relationship with his sympathetic but conflicted girlfriend ( a luminous Suzanne Clement ).

Heartbreaking: Valentine Road—Marta Cunningham's documentary about the murder of 15-year-old Lawrence King, a gay teen with trans tendencies, by his classmate is explored in this eye-opening film that played festivals and is currently showing on HBO. Unforgettable.

Runner-up: Philomena—Judi Dench is sensational in this based on a true story of a simple Irish woman looking for the child she was forced to give up 50 years before. The film, which co-stars Steve Coogan ( who also co-wrote the script and produced ) features a moving gay twist that comes as the film heads into the final section. Get out your hankie.

Let's go sexin': Concussion—Lesbian writer-director Stacie Passon's sexy update of Belle du Jour has an affluent, lesbian suburban housewife who becomes an escort by day. It features a tremendous leading performance by Robin Weigert.

Other notable queer-themed films of 2013: Beyond the Hills, In the Name Of, North Sea Texas, Free Fall, and The Last Match and, my personal fave, Hawaii


This article shared 4385 times since Wed Dec 25, 2013
facebook twitter pin it google +1 reddit email

Out and Aging
Presented By

  ARTICLES YOU MIGHT LIKE

Gay News

JP Karliak morphs into non-binary character for Disney+'s X-Men '97 2024-03-22
- series X-Men '97, a revival of the popular X-men: The Animated Series that's both continuing the ongoing mutant storyline and breaking new ground along the way. The character of Morph now looks more like the comic ...


Gay News

WORLD Uganda items, HIV report, Mandela, Liechtenstein, foreign minister weds 2024-03-21
- It turned out that U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Senior LGBTQI+ Coordinator Jay Gilliam traveled to Uganda on Feb. 19-27, per The Washington Blade. He visited the capital of Kampala and the nearby city of ...


Gay News

SHOWBIZ Queer musicians, Marvel situation, Elliot Page, Nicole Kidman 2024-03-21
- Queer musician Joy Oladokun released the single "I Wished on the Moon," from Jack Antonoff's official soundtrack for the new Apple TV+ series The New Look, per a press release. The soundtrack, ...


Gay News

SHOWBIZ Lady Gaga, 'P-Valley,' Wendy Williams, Luke Evans, 'Queer Eye,' 'Transition' 2024-03-15
- Lady Gaga came to the defense of Dylan Mulvaney after a post with the trans influencer/activist for International Women's Day received hateful responses, People Magazine noted. On Instagram, Gaga stated, "It's appalling to me that a ...


Gay News

SHOWBIZ Jinkx Monsoon, Xavier Dolan, 'Frida,' Lena Waithe, out singer 2024-03-08
- Two-time RuPaul's Drag Race winner Jinkx Monsoon is headed back to the New York stage, joining off-Broadway's Little Shop of Horrors as Audrey beginning April 2, according to Playbill. The casting makes Monsoon the first drag ...


Gay News

SHOWBIZ Queer actors, icons duet, Hunter Schafer, Oscars, Elizabeth Taylor 2024-03-01
- Queer actor Kal Penn is set to star in Trust Me, I'm a Doctor—a film that chronicles the final days of actress/model Anna Nicole Smith, whose overdose death in 2007 at age 39 sparked a tabloid ...


Gay News

Dorian Film Awards: 'All of Us Strangers' takes top prizes 2024-02-27
- February 26, 2024 - Los Angeles, Ca. - For its 15th Dorian Film Awards, GALECA: The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics fully embraced All of Us Strangers, writer-director Andrew Haigh's fantastical and tear-inducing tale of two ...


Gay News

SAG Awards honor Streisand, few LGBTQ+ actors 2024-02-25
- Queer entertainers made their mark—although not a major one—at the 2024 Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Awards, held Feb. 24 in Los Angeles. The event was live-streamed on Netflix for the first time. Indigenous and Two-Spirit actor ...


Gay News

WORLD Caribbean ruling, Pussy Riot, Russian raid, Canadian warning, anti-trans bar 2024-02-23
- The top court in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines dismissed a challenge to colonial-era anti-gay laws, Reuters reported. Javin Johnson and Sean Macleish—two gay men who had pushed to decriminalize ...


Gay News

SHOWBIZ Kristen Stewart, Rock Hudson, Talia Keys, 'True Detective,' Marvel comic 2024-02-23
- At the Berlin Film Festival, Kristen Stewart defended her photo shoot for a Rolling Stone magazine cover that went viral and divided audiences on social-media platforms, per The Hollywood Reporter. "The existence of a female body ...


Gay News

Second Glance Productions hosts LGBTQupid Soiree 2024-02-16
- In celebration of Valentine's Day, Chicago based film and media production company Second Glance hosted The LBGTQupid Soiree. The event, which was focused on spinning attitudes on this particular day, was presented at The iO ...


Gay News

SHOWBIZ Elton John, Hannah Gadsby, video game, Jennifer Lopez, queer thriller 2024-02-16
Video below - Sir Elton John has sold his Atlanta home and is now auctioning off more than 900 of his personal items that were kept in the 13,500-square-foot condo, The Daily Mail noted. The massive collection includes rare ...


Gay News

GALECA announces nominees for the Dorian Film Awards 2024-02-07
--From a press release - Feb. 5, 2024 - GALECA: The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics, consisting of over 500 entertainment critics, journalists and media icons, today announced the group's democratically chosen nominees for its 15th Dorian Film Awards. All of ...


Gay News

SHOWBIZ JoJo Siwa, Tom Holland, Bowen Yang, Pet Shop Boys, Mariah Carey 2024-02-02
- In the wake of Nigel Lythgoe exiting So You Think You Can Dance, queer personality JoJo Siwa is returning to the series, per Deadline. Siwa, who was a judge on season 17 of the Fox show, will replace Lythgoe, who left ...


Gay News

Leather Archives & Museum announces 2024 Fetish Film Forum 2024-01-27
--From a press release - CHICAGO, Illinois—After a wildly successful inaugural year, including a 10-film series at the Leather Archives & Museum and a 5-film series at FACETS, the Leather Archives & Museum is thrilled to announce the continuation of Fetish ...


 


Copyright © 2024 Windy City Media Group. All rights reserved.
Reprint by permission only. PDFs for back issues are downloadable from
our online archives.

Return postage must accompany all manuscripts, drawings, and
photographs submitted if they are to be returned, and no
responsibility may be assumed for unsolicited materials.

All rights to letters, art and photos sent to Nightspots
(Chicago GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times (a Chicago
Gay and Lesbian News and Feature Publication) will be treated
as unconditionally assigned for publication purposes and as such,
subject to editing and comment. The opinions expressed by the
columnists, cartoonists, letter writers, and commentators are
their own and do not necessarily reflect the position of Nightspots
(Chicago GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times (a Chicago Gay,
Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender News and Feature Publication).

The appearance of a name, image or photo of a person or group in
Nightspots (Chicago GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times
(a Chicago Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender News and Feature
Publication) does not indicate the sexual orientation of such
individuals or groups. While we encourage readers to support the
advertisers who make this newspaper possible, Nightspots (Chicago
GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times (a Chicago Gay, Lesbian
News and Feature Publication) cannot accept responsibility for
any advertising claims or promotions.

 
 

TRENDINGBREAKINGPHOTOS







Sponsor


 



Donate


About WCMG      Contact Us      Online Front  Page      Windy City  Times      Nightspots
Identity      BLACKlines      En La Vida      Archives      Advanced Search     
Windy City Queercast      Queercast Archives     
Press  Releases      Join WCMG  Email List      Email Blast      Blogs     
Upcoming Events      Todays Events      Ongoing Events      Bar Guide      Community Groups      In Memoriam     
Privacy Policy     

Windy City Media Group publishes Windy City Times,
The Bi-Weekly Voice of the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Trans Community.
5315 N. Clark St. #192, Chicago, IL 60640-2113 • PH (773) 871-7610 • FAX (773) 871-7609.