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Frameline 2011: Opening Night
Yesterday marked my 10th annual trek to San Francisco for the LGBT film festival. It started off strong and I'm looking forward to a fabulous week of movies!
Note: plot summaries and promotional images shamelessly lifted from Frameline. Check out the festival website for more info, including links to the official movie websites (maybe something will be playing in a festival near you this year!).
Gun Hill Road
An official selection of this year’s Sundance Film Festival, Gun Hill Road is a tense and complex family drama about a teen embracing her gender identity and a father who must put aside his notions of manhood and reinvestigate his own ideas of what having a “normal” child means.
Three pitch-perfect leads anchor an incredible cast. The always sexy Esai Morales (Caprica, NYPD Blue, Bad Boys) simmers as Enrique, Judy Reyes (Scrubs, OZ) plays Angela with grounded vulnerability, and newcomer Harmony Santana is a true breakout star, shining as Vanessa.
Beautifully shot and superbly acted! Everyone said we'd fall in love with Harmony (the teen star) and it's totally true! The film was sad, but not depressing. This may sound like faint praise, but the more I think about it, the more I realize how groundbreaking this film is. I can see why the festival staff picked this movie to kick off this year's transgender theme.
The Colonel's Outing
Elderly Tristan Arthur Jones is dozing away at his retirement home when the brash Colonel Leadley wakes him up. The matron tells the Colonel that they're no room at this inn, but Jones eagerly volunteers to share. This touching short tale of romance in the twilight years offers plenty of poignancy and more than a few surprises.
Nursing home slash! Absolutely charming!
Je Les Aime Encore (I Still Love Them)
Michel's whole life has revolved around one thing: love. Seventy-nine years of romance later, he is trying to cope with his most recent breakup. This small incursion into a transgender person's heart touches upon universal themes of identity, sex, love, and growing old.
A lovely short documentary about a feisty Quebecois. Ah! The stories! My favorite image from the film is Michel in a power wheelchair with the (cute, young) filmmaker in his lap, steering as they laugh their way down the street.
The Sleeping Beauty of East Finchley
Middle-aged Joan is sleepwalking through a dreary life, tending to her ailing mother and working a boring office job. Her only pleasure is in the songs she sings in the solitude of her room. Enter Patricia, her mum’s visiting nurse, who persuades Joan to join a women’s choir and share her voice with the rest of the world. Complications ensue when Joan, troubled by her Catholic faith and fears of public exposure drops out of the choir just as it heads to the big LGBT music festival.
So slashy and romantic! This was really well done. The super sexy Irish accents and lovely choral singing were icing on the cake! :)
Note: plot summaries and promotional images shamelessly lifted from Frameline. Check out the festival website for more info, including links to the official movie websites (maybe something will be playing in a festival near you this year!).
Gun Hill Road
An official selection of this year’s Sundance Film Festival, Gun Hill Road is a tense and complex family drama about a teen embracing her gender identity and a father who must put aside his notions of manhood and reinvestigate his own ideas of what having a “normal” child means.
Three pitch-perfect leads anchor an incredible cast. The always sexy Esai Morales (Caprica, NYPD Blue, Bad Boys) simmers as Enrique, Judy Reyes (Scrubs, OZ) plays Angela with grounded vulnerability, and newcomer Harmony Santana is a true breakout star, shining as Vanessa.
Beautifully shot and superbly acted! Everyone said we'd fall in love with Harmony (the teen star) and it's totally true! The film was sad, but not depressing. This may sound like faint praise, but the more I think about it, the more I realize how groundbreaking this film is. I can see why the festival staff picked this movie to kick off this year's transgender theme.
The Colonel's Outing
Elderly Tristan Arthur Jones is dozing away at his retirement home when the brash Colonel Leadley wakes him up. The matron tells the Colonel that they're no room at this inn, but Jones eagerly volunteers to share. This touching short tale of romance in the twilight years offers plenty of poignancy and more than a few surprises.
Nursing home slash! Absolutely charming!
Je Les Aime Encore (I Still Love Them)
Michel's whole life has revolved around one thing: love. Seventy-nine years of romance later, he is trying to cope with his most recent breakup. This small incursion into a transgender person's heart touches upon universal themes of identity, sex, love, and growing old.
A lovely short documentary about a feisty Quebecois. Ah! The stories! My favorite image from the film is Michel in a power wheelchair with the (cute, young) filmmaker in his lap, steering as they laugh their way down the street.
The Sleeping Beauty of East Finchley
Middle-aged Joan is sleepwalking through a dreary life, tending to her ailing mother and working a boring office job. Her only pleasure is in the songs she sings in the solitude of her room. Enter Patricia, her mum’s visiting nurse, who persuades Joan to join a women’s choir and share her voice with the rest of the world. Complications ensue when Joan, troubled by her Catholic faith and fears of public exposure drops out of the choir just as it heads to the big LGBT music festival.
So slashy and romantic! This was really well done. The super sexy Irish accents and lovely choral singing were icing on the cake! :)