QUEENDOM, remarkable portrait of a fearless activist and queer performer

Russian queer performance artist Gena Marvin’s incredible courage – and costumes – are on vivid display in Agniia Galdanova’s absorbing documentary. By WENDY IDE, The Observer, December 3, 2023

Protest takes many forms. When Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, some brave souls took to the streets of Moscow to voice their horror at the war, and were met with batons and police brutality. Radical queer performance artist Gena Marvin took a different approach. Wearing platform boots, body paint and wrapped in barbed wire, she walked the streets of Moscow in a stark, silent statement against the war. To call Gena a drag artist fails to capture just how subversive and courageous her public “performances” are. Her otherworldly costumes, created from junk and tape, show the influence of Leigh Bowery; her fearlessness evokes the punk provocation of Pussy Riot. But ultimately, as Agniia Galdanova’s remarkable observational documentary shows, Gena is her own extraordinary creation.

GENA MARVIN defiantly marches on the streets of Moscow dressed in 3-colour
scotch tape In protest against alexey navalny's arrest

Nomadland_film

Nomadland wins top prize at masked and distanced Venice film festival

VENICE (Reuters) - Nomadland, a U.S. movie about a community of van dwellers traversing the vast American West, won the Golden Lion award for best film at the Venice film festival on Saturday.

The film, by U.S.-based Chinese director Chloe Zhao, stars Frances McDormand as a widow in her 60s in a depressed Nevada mining town who turns her van into a mobile home and sets out on the road, taking on seasonal jobs along the way.

“Thank you so much for letting us come to your festival in this weird, weird, weird world and way,” McDormand said in a video message with Zhao.

The jury led by Australian actress Cate Blanchett gave two runner-up Silver Lion awards, one to Mexican director Michel Franco’s thriller “New Order” and the other to Japanese historic drama “Wife of a Spy”, by Kiyoshi Kurosawa.

"This is why I fell in love with making movies and telling stories. Because it gives us a chance to laugh and cry together. And it gives us a chance to learn from each other and to have more compassion for each other." Chloé Zhao (New York University Tisch School of the Arts) spoke about compassion in her acceptance speech for Best Director at the Golden Globes last night.

Man in an Orange Shirt_mini series

Two tales of love highlighting the very different challenges that face the couples, with Michael and Thomas just after World War II, and Adam and Steve in the present day. The drama follows two gay love stories set 60 years apart — linked by family, and by a painting that holds a secret that echoes down the generations. The 2-hour-long film (divided into two episodes) explores a forbidden relationship made impossible by illegality and societal pressure, and contrasts it with present-day romance as a minefield of internalized issues and temptations.

This BBC miniseries is one of the most beautiful, elegant pieces of fiction I have ever seen on screen. Novelist Patrick Gale's double love story will remain with viewers for ever.

The superb cast includes Vanessa Redgrave, Oliver Jackson-Cohen, James McArdle, Joanna Vanderham, Laura Carmichael, Julian Morris, David Gyasi, Julian Sands, and Frances De La Tour.

Th Boys in the Band's 50th Anniversary

The Boys in the Band, one of the first plays to portray gay life, opened off-Broadway in 1968 and became a film in 1970, directed by William Friedkin. As the LGBTQ rights movement grew, the work received criticism for depicting gay and bisexual men as self-loathing, but it was groundbreaking for its time.

Written by Mart Crowley, Boys first premiered off-Broadway in 1968, and a film version featuring its cast was released in 1970. The 2018 revival, marking its 50th anniversary, was staged at the Booth Theatre in New York City for a 15-week run that broke sales records. 

The Broadway play — a revival of the 1968 gay classic about a queer dinner party that goes off the rails — was produced with an all-star cast of out actors. The production won a Tony for Best Revival of a Play, and is being adapted into a film by Netflix and produced by Ryan Murphy.

While some of the content of Boys felt dated to some viewers — particularly the portrayal of the intense self-hatred of queer men in that era — other themes of stigma resonated with modern-day audiences. The groundbreaking play has undoubtedly retained its power.

Crowley was a well-known Hollywood raconteur and friend to many stars, including Natalie Wood, who encouraged him to write The Boys in the Band. He wrote several other plays, including a sequel, The Men From the Boys, and worked on the television series Hart to Hart.

"The Broadway cast of Boys was so important to me, and as equally groundbreaking as Mart Crowley's seminal work," Murphy wrote in the caption of the Instagram post. "Everyone in the cast was out and proud...and feeling so blessed to mark the 50th anniversary of Mart's landmark play." (Source: The Advocate)

Mart Crowley at left with the cast of the 1970 film of The Boys in the Band

The original film The Boys in the Band can be watched online at nuevatematica.men 

Dunkirk_film

Dunkirk serves up emotionally satisfying spectacle, delivered by a writer-director in full command of his craft and brought to life by a gifted ensemble cast that honors the fact-based story. The film of the year and one of the greatest war films ever made. Christopher Nolan's war epic is a must-see! 

Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk_film

Director Ang Lee (Brokeback Mountain) delivers a masterpiece of a film about the dark side of the American dream.

Related film review: Ingredientes contrapuestos para dar forma a la gran tragedia americana, by Juan José Roldán

The Beatles: Eight Days A Week -fab four, fab film!

Culled from more than 100 hours of rare news footage, fan material and the Beatles’ own personal archive, this documentary by Ron Howard about the early years of the band works on two levels. Firstly, it’s a meticulously researched account of an unprecedented global phenomenon. But perhaps more importantly, it places us right there, in the audience of tearful teenagers, for some of the gigs that changed music history. It conveys the thrill of discovery and kinship that electrified a generation. It turns us into giddy fans. A triumph of deft editing and extraordinary access, this is likely to be the most important music documentary of the year. The best music film I've seen since Buena Vista Social Club. Unmissable! You will feel as if you had been there!

Mustang_a must-see film

The Martian

I’m stranded on Mars.

I have no way to communicate with Earth.

I’m in a Habitat designed to last 31 days.

If the Oxygenator breaks down, I’ll suffocate. If the Water Reclaimer breaks down, I’ll die of thirst. If the Hab breaches, I’ll just kind of explode. If none of those things happen, I’ll eventually run out of food and starve to death.

So yeah. I’m screwed.

The Martian is one of the best thrillers I've read in a long time. The technology is beautifully researched and based on what is currently envisioned for a manned flight to Mars. It feels so real it could almost be non fiction, and yet it has the narrative drive and power of a rocket launch. This is Apollo 13 times ten. It's Robinson Crusoe on Mars, 21st century style. I simply couldn't put down this book. Engineers and scientifically-minded readers will love this suspenseful story of technological survival. Read the text before the film version is released later in the year.

Most of Ridley Scott’s film The Martian takes place on Mars, but don’t expect to see any xenomorphs during this space adventure. “Just geology,” the Alien director said to PEOPLE of his new film, which focuses on an astronaut named Mark Watney (played by Matt Damon), who gets stranded on the Red Planet following a mishap. “The last thing Mark’s thinking about is life on Mars. He’s thinking about how to save his life on Mars.”

Based on the book by Andy Weir (mentioned above), Scott’s The Martian features an all-star cast that includes Jessica Chastain, Kate Mara, Kristen Wiig, Sebastian Stan, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Jeff Daniels, Sean Bean and Donald Glover. But it’s Damon who stands at the front, playing a man with only a finite amount of time to figure out how to survive after a storm leaves him behind on Mars and presumed dead by his crew.“He finds he has a problem, and instead of him collapsing into terror—because he’s got 28 days to live – and that’s if everything goes well for him – he knuckles down and actually starts to work it out,” Scott said.

The Martian is the second movie in a year to feature Damon lost in space, following Interstellar. Both of those movies share another connection, too: Chastain, who stayed earthbound in Christopher Nolan’s space drama but plays an astronaut in The Martian.“I need to do another film with Matt, because we have very little scenes together in this film, and he is a pleasure to work with,” Chastain said. “I have been a fan of his work for so long – everything from Good Will Hunting to The Informant. He is just brilliant, and I think his performance in The Martian is going to blow people away, to see him as they have never seen him. It is exciting for me to watch.” (Entertainment Weekly)

"Ocho apellidos vascos" becomes most-seen Spanish movie ever

In the end, not even the Amazing Spider-Man could beat the Basques. The release of the second part of the rebooted Marvel superhero franchise last Thursday had been expected to spell the end of the reign of the all-conquering Ocho apellidos vascos at the top of the national box office chart, but it wasn’t to be. Director Emilio Martínez-Lázaro’s Basque Country-set romantic comedy remains at the top of Spain’s film charts for the sixth week, where it continues breaking records, taking in almost triple the gross of The Amazing Spider-Man 2. It retains its place in the global box office top 15, which it has never left these past weeks despite having only been released in Spain, and this weekend it also became the most-watched Spanish film of all time in the nation’s theaters.

According to provisional figures released by box office measurement service Rentrak Spain (results from some theaters are still to be added), by Sunday Ocho apellidos vascos (starring Dani Rovira, Karra Elejalde, Carmen Machi and Clara Lago) had been seen by 6,525,919 people and had taken more than €38,154,471, leaving behind Alejandro Amenábar’s The Others (2001), which had previously topped the list with 6,410,561 tickets sold and earnings of €27,254,163.

Further behind are Juan Antonio Bayona’s tsunami-drama The Impossible (2012), with 6,124,698 viewers and earnings of €42,386,171;For a Few Dollars More (1966), with 5,520,971 tickets sold; comedian Santiago Segura’s Torrente 2, misión en Marbella (2001), with 5,321,969; La gran aventura de Mortadelo y Filemón (2003), with 4,985,983; Bayona’s The Orphanage (2007), with 4,420,636; and the 1970 Alfredo Landa comedy No desearás al vecino del quinto, which sold 4,371,624 tickets.

Those figures are for Spanish films at the domestic box office. In terms of the global market for Spanish movies, The Others reigns supreme as the highest-grossing Spanish movie in history, with worldwide earnings of almost €210 million, followed by The Impossible with €180 million, animation Planet 51 (€105 million), Pedro Almodóvar’s Volver (€85 million) and Guillermo del Toro’s Pan’s Labyrinth (€83 million).

Ocho apellidos vascos, which is about an Andalusian young man trying to pass himself off as a Basque for a girl, has yet to be released abroad, and judging by films dealing with similar themes, such as France’s Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis, it is unlikely to have the same impact outside of Spain.

B2 Composition 5: A Film Review

True Romance, released in 1993, is a romantic thriller written by Quentin Tarantino and directed by Tony Scott. It tells the story of a young couple who fall in love but have to leave Detroit quickly when they find themselves in possession of a large quantity of drugs. They are pursued by violent gangsters all the way to Hollywood. After a spectacular shoot-out between the gangsters and cops, the young couple escape to Mexico and live happily ever after.

Christian Slater and Patricia Arquette are perfect in the main roles. In the all-star supporting cast, Brad Pitt, James Gandolfini, Dennis Hopper and Samuel L Jackson all give memorable performances.

Tarantino's script is stylish and witty and the excellent soundtrack includes songs by Elvis Presley. The action is fast-paced, but sometimes very violent, and will not appeal to all tastes. Still, a must-see film, and not just for Tarantino fans!  
(150 words)

Another format option is this: write an email to a friend about a recent film you've seen and that you recommend seeing. Use vocabulary from pages 130-31 in Straightforward. Write the required 150-160 words, double-spaced. Here is a composition model:

Tomás Pérez García
English 306
Composition 5
21st January 2013

Hi John,
You already know what a film buff I am, so let me tell you about The Hours, a stunning film I’ve seen recently, starring Nicole Kidman, Meryl Streep and Ed Harris. The film, which is based on a novel, is about British writer Virginia Woolf’s literary career and her influence on successive generations of readers. I found the story a bit confusing at first. The Australian actress is absolutely fantastic in the part of Virginia Woolf; she puts on quite a beautiful British accent. The window scene between Streep and Harris —when he jumps off the window ledge— is quite touching. (I remember first seeing this American actor in the unforgettable The Truman Show, did you see that one? What a brilliant script that was! The sets in that film were superb, too.) This one is a must-see film!It is definitely worth seeing.
Email me back and tell me if you have seen any good films that I shouldn’t miss.
Cheers,
Tom
(160 words)

Elogio de lo pequeño

(Or What Makes European Cinema Different From Hollywood Films)

ÁNGEL FERNÁNDEZ-SANTOS

El otro día, un lector amistoso y con curiosidad por el funcionamiento de las tripas ocultas del cine, me preguntó si sabía por qué las películas de Hollywood parecen fotografiadas en celuloide mucho más limpio y brillante que el de las europeas. No encuentro otro medio de decirle lo que presumo que invitarle a que cuente, cuando una película termina, los nombres que abarcan los títulos de crédito, la extensión de la nómina del equipo de filmación. Descubrirá que en un filme californiano esta nómina es mucho mayor que en cualquier otro, proceda de donde proceda. En un rodaje de Hollywood, si hace falta iluminar medio kilómetro de una calle, para que toda ella aparezca con rebuscamiento de tiralíneas en la pantalla y sea cada esquina perceptible de forma tan pulida como un imagen de revista de glamour impresa en papel cuché, pues se hace, por irreal o relamida que sea una imagen que busca ante todo la explicitud, lo que en cine es una ambición casi siempre encubridora de mediocridad, pues además de desterrar el misterio, la bruma, los fondos granulados y eludir el juego con el tenebrismo, encarece mucho la imagen. En Hollywood ya no se hacen películas baratas, por barata que sea su enjundia. Se hacen, como chorizos, pequeñeces a lo grande y a lo caro, y así se entra en una espiral de ricos amaneramientos visuales paradójicamente empobrecedores, pues esa lujosa fotografía tan espectacular y refitolera es casi siempre artísticamente inútil e insignificante. Entra con facilidad en las oquedades del estómago televisivo, se vende bien, como todo lo hortera, y de eso se trata: envoltura de solomillo para una hamburguesa de plástico sin sustancia; aspecto lujurioso para una sosería que haga parecer apetitoso a lo intragable. Es una de las reglas de oro del cine considerado como mentira. Y, en este sentido, Hollywood es un enorme Patio de Monipodio donde la moneda de cambio es la imagen cosmética, la arruga y la roña endomingadas, la verdad sepultada bajo una capa de imágenes huecas.

¿Por qué Woody Allen termina su Celebrity pidiendo socorro en un espolique que nada tiene aparentemente que ver con la película? Digo aparentemente, porque en la trastienda del filme sí tiene sentido, y mucho, la llamada de auxilio. Celebrity encontró serias dificultades para terminarse. Los tentáculos de Hollywood comienzan a imponer su juego a las pequeñas producciones, con objeto de ahogarlas, cuando creen ver en ellas un rival peligroso en su dominio colonial de los mercados audiovisuales exteriores, y exigen a la producción casera que se atenga a los pactos gremiales y alarguen hasta el delirio los títulos de crédito, con el consiguiente encarecimiento del rodaje. No quieren películas pequeñas, a no ser que se disfracen de grandes. Si se observa cualquier película de Allen, salta de la pantalla que su imagen desmiente el sistema estándar hollywoodense. Parece una película europea, en la que la cámara se desentiende de la primacía del envoltorio y de las superficies inútiles, tramposas y encarecedoras. En el recién acabado festival de Berlín vimos media docena de películas con gran inteligencia fotográfica. Una es la norteamericana, fuera de norma, A Thin Red Line (Una delgada línea roja); el resto fueron la bellísima luminosidad de Ça commence aujourd'hui (Hoy comienza todo), del francés Tavernier; la penetrante oscuridad de la alemana Nachtgestalten (Encuentros nocturnos); la fastuosa indagación en la risa negra de Mifune, filme danés hecho a la manera de Lars von Trier, cuya premeditada tosquedad en Los idiotas es, en realidad, un prodigio de finura fotográfica; la mínima película vietnamita Tres estaciones, que más que fotografiada parece bordada; y la precisión casi documental de la española Solas, cuya pegada tiene una inmediatez que entusiasmó al público berlinés, tal vez el que mejor y con más sutileza sabe ver cine de toda Europa.

Todas ellas son películas pobres, incluso muy pobres. Por ejemplo, Solas ha costado algo más de 100 millones de pesetas/600.000 euros, aproximadamente lo que cuestan dos días de rodaje en celuloide de papel cuché de cualquier hollymemez de Bruce Willis y compañía. Pero esta pequeñez española dio un baño de verdad fotográfica a algunas opulentas intrusas del escaparate berlinés, que el público de esta ciudad ignoró, cuando no abucheó. Porque lo que está haciendo esa reluciente fotografía encarecedora es desterrar del cine la vieja mirada amiga, veraz, borrosa unas veces, imprecisa otras, pero humana siempre, por una mirada infalible de robot de laboratorio, nacida muerta.
El País, 1 de marzo de 1999

Crash_film

Crash is a 2004 American drama film co-written, produced, and directed by Paul Haggis. The film is about racial and social tensions in Los Angeles. A self-described "passion piece" for Haggis, Crash was inspired by a real-life incident in which his Porsche was carjacked outside a video store on Wilshire Boulevard in 1991. It won three Oscars for Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay and Best Editing of 2005 at the 78th Academy Awards.
Several characters' stories interweave during two days in Los Angeles; a LAPD detective estranged from his mother, his criminal younger brother and gang associate, the white District Attorney and his irritated and pampered wife, a racist cop who disgusts his more idealistic younger partner, a Hollywood director and his wife who must deal with the said cop, a Persian-immigrant father who is wary of others and a Hispanic locksmith and his young daughter.

PLOT_ Set in Los Angeles, the film opens following a car accident involving detective, Graham Waters (Don Cheadle), Ria (Jennifer Esposito), his partner, and Kim Lee. As Ria and Kim Lee exchange racial insults, Waters gets out of the car and investigates the crime scene which had indirectly caused the accident after identifying himself as a detective to the officer in charge. Waters sees the victim's shoe lying on the ground and then stares at something off screen which horrifies him. Two days prior, a Persian man, Farhad (Shaun Toub), and his daughter Dorri (Bahar Soomekh) are buying a gun, but the shop's owner refuses to sell to them due to their race. Ultimately, an infuriated Farhad is escorted outside. Dorri completes the purchase and chooses an unspecified type of ammunition, while enduring verbal sexist harassment from the shop owner.

In another part of town, Rick Cabot (Brendan Fraser), the local district attorney, and his wife, Jean (Sandra Bullock) are carjacked by Anthony (Chris "Ludacris" Bridges) and Peter (Larenz Tate). Detectives Waters and Ria arrive on the scene of a shooting between two drivers outside of a store. The surviving shooter is a white male identified as an undercover police officer. The detectives learn that the dead shooter, a black male was also a police officer. Afterwards, at the Cabot house, Daniel Ruiz, a Hispanic locksmith (Michael Peña) is changing the locks. He overhears Jean, who is frustrated having felt nervous about the two black men but refrained from saying anything to avoid appearing racist. She instructs Rick to hire another locksmith in the morning, believing Daniel to be a gang member.

LAPD Officer John Ryan (Matt Dillon) and his partner, Tom Hansen (Ryan Phillippe) begin their evening patrol. They pull over a Navigator similar to the one carjacked earlier, despite discrepancies in the descriptions...

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org

Babel_film

Babel is a 2006 international drama film directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu and written by Guillermo Arriaga, starring an ensemble cast. The multi-narrative drama completes Iñárritu's Death Trilogy, following Amores perros and 21 Gramos.

The film portrays four interlocking stories taking place in Morocco, Japan, Mexico and the United States, all connected by a single gun all converge at the end and reveal a complex and tragic story of the lives of humanity around the world and how we truly aren't all that different. Global cinema at its best. A must-see film for students of English. Gripping!

Meryl Streep's Iron Lady

Meryl Streep gives a stunning physical and vocal performance acting as Margaret Thatcher in The Iron Lady. A must-see film now showing in town. Watch it and hear it in the original version!

The Debt_film

"Every secret comes with a price!" The Debt, a new espionage thriller about a hunt for Nazi war criminals, was released on August 31st, 2011 and stars Sam Worthington, Helen Mirren, Ciarán Hinds, Marton Csokas, Tom Wilkinson, Jessica Chastain, Jesper Christensen. The film is directed by John Madden.
The espionage thriller begins in 1997, as shocking news reaches retired Mossad secret agents Rachel (Helen Mirren) and Stefan (Tom Wilkinson) about their former colleague David (Ciarán Hinds). All three have been venerated for decades by their country because of the mission that they undertook back in 1966, when the trio (portrayed, respectively, by Jessica Chastain, Marton Csokas, and Sam Worthington) tracked down Nazi war criminal Vogel (Jesper Christensen) in East Berlin. At great risk, and at considerable personal cost, the team's mission was accomplished - or was it? The suspense builds in and across two different time periods, with startling action and surprising revelations. A must-see film!

Amenábar's ÁGORA

Set in 4th-century Roman Egypt, Rachel Weisz plays astrologer-philosopher Hypatia of Alexandria, an atheist scientist who fights to save the collected wisdom of the ancient world. Her slave Davus (played by Max Minghella) is torn between his love for his mistress and the possibility of gaining his freedom by joining the rising tide of Christianity. Ágora is a historical epic story about the clash between scientific knowledge and superstition, free thinking and religious fanaticism. Spectacular and highly entertaining, this is Alejandro Amenábar at his best. 

100% Tarantino

A band of US soldiers facing death by firing squad for their misdeeds are given a chance to save themselves - by heading into the perilous no-man's lands of Nazi-occupied France on a suicide mission for the Allies... Inglorious Basterds is Quentin Tarantino at his best! Spoken in English, German, French (and a little Italian, enough to make you crack up in your seat), make sure to watch it in the original version, as regional accents do play an important role in the storyline. If you weren't a Tarantino fan before, your are surely bound to become one after this hair-raising thriller! A truly cathartic anti-Nazi experience. Watched it only last night and I am still palpitating with excitement :) A must-see film!

Saving You from Bad Cinema Choices

movies.ie is a very interesting Irish site for film lovers!

The Visitor_film

The Visitor is a heartfelt, humanistic drama that deftly explores identity, immigration, and other major post-9/11 issues.

Synopsis: In a world of six billion people, it only takes one to change your life. In actor and filmmaker Tom McCarthy’s follow-up to his award winning directorial debut The Station Agent, Richard Jenkins... In a world of six billion people, it only takes one to change your life. In actor and filmmaker Tom McCarthy’s follow-up to his award winning directorial debut The Station Agent, Richard Jenkins (Six Feet Under) stars as a disillusioned Connecticut economics professor whose life is transformed by a chance encounter in New York City.

Sixty-two-year-old Walter Vale (Jenkins) is sleepwalking through his life. Having lost his passion for teaching and writing, he fills the void by unsuccessfully trying to learn to play classical piano. When his college sends him to Manhattan to attend a conference, Walter is surprised to find a young couple has taken up residence in his apartment. Victims of a real estate scam, Tarek (Haaz Sleiman), a Syrian man, and Zainab (Danai Gurira), his Senegalese girlfriend, have nowhere else to go. In the first of a series of tests of the heart, Walter reluctantly allows the couple to stay with him.

Touched by his kindness, Tarek, a talented musician, insists on teaching the aging academic to play the African drum. The instrument’s exuberant rhythms revitalize Walter’s faltering spirit and open his eyes to a vibrant world of local jazz clubs and Central Park drum circles. As the friendship between the two men deepens, the differences in culture, age and temperament fall away.

After being stopped by police in the subway, Tarek is arrested as an undocumented citizen and held for deportation. As his situation turns desperate, Walter finds himself compelled to help his new friend with a passion he thought he had long ago lost. When Tarek’s beautiful mother Mouna (Hiam Abbass) arrives unexpectedly in search of her son, the professor’s personal commitment develops into an unlikely romance.

And it’s through these new found connections with these virtual strangers that Walter is awakened to a new world and a new life.