Torch Song Trilogy Hits Countless High Notes

The 1990s saw an unprecedented resurgence for American Queer cinema in both indie and mainstream circles thanks to the New Queer Cinema movement of the 1990s and high-profile major studio releases with LGBTQA+ lead characters like Philadelphia and The Birdcage. In retrospect, a number of queer films released in the latter half of the 1980s used more forward-thinking storytelling and polished filmmaking to serve as harbingers of the increased profile LGBTQA+ American cinema would have in the following decade. One key example of these harbingers was Torch Song Trilogy, a film adaptation of a trio of Harvey Fierstein plays directed by Paul Bogart and starring Fierstein himself in the role of Arnold Beckoff.

The Graduate Review (Classic Write-Up)

A Graduate Of Great Directing

Who doesn't worry about the future? It's such a chaotic element, as unpredictable as a hurricane, it's only natural to be worried about the possibilities that the future could bring. Now that he's graduated from college, Ben Braddock (Dustin Hoffman), is consumed by worrying about what he'll do with his life now. From the first frames of the film, this sort of internal conflict is apparent through the recurring use of close-up shots of Ben's face that emphasize his inner turmoil as well as the similarly prominent use of Art & Garfunkel's The Sound Of Silence.