Homophobia Creates an Inescapable Cage For The Main Characters of The Wound

Like many films exploring the perspectives of queer individuals in societies that refuse to accept who they are, The Wound is a movie all about identity. Directed by John Trengrove and shot in South Africa, The Wound is the story of Xolani (Nakhane), who is hired to serve as the guide for Kwanda (Niza Jay Ncoyini) during a sacred initiation ceremony meant to turn boys into men. The adults in these ceremonies have a very clear idea of what a proper grown man should be and these rituals help mold their children into fitting that idea, one that does not have any place for the presence of homosexuality. At first, Xolani goes through the motions of his now regular annual job of being a mentor figure for a new kid, but he soon learns that Kwanda, like himself, is gay. This, along with Xolani's secret relationship with fellow mentor Vija (Bongile Mantsai).

Paris Is Burning Intertwines Movement With Intimate Interviews To An Astonishingly Powerful Effect

You ever watch a movie and know in your heart of hearts that you're watching something special? That's how I felt while experiencing Paris Is Burning for the first time. I was well aware of this 1991 documentary from director Jennie Livingston being a highly acclaimed motion picture and also being considered one of the all-time great pieces of queer cinema, but prior to watching it for the first time, I was otherwise totally in the dark on what exactly kind of plot or subject matter it covered. That turned out to be an ideal way to enter Paris Is Burning, whose many virtues unfolded before with a glorious sense of newness, it was like managing to open a wonderful gift on Christmas morning without managing to be spoiled on what it is.

A Very English Scandal Is An Overly Hurried But Well-Acted TV Series

A Very English Scandal is...good, but it's one of those pop culture properties I found myself wishing I liked more. It's got a whole bunch of stuff I absolutely love in it, namely actors Ben Whishaw & Hugh Grant, unbelievable true stories and stories about LGBTQA+ individuals, but the resulting end product is more agreeable than unforgettable. Before delving into why exactly that's the case, allow me to first clarify what exactly the scandal of A Very English Scandal is. Back in the early 1960's, Jeremy Thorpe (Hugh Grant) was a high-profile member of the British Parliament when he carried out an extended sexual and romantic relationship with Norman Scott (Ben Whishaw), one that came to a heated end before the 60's themselves wrapped up.

Extravagance And Subtlety Go Hand-In-Hand In Love, Simon

Just as many movies about teenagers in the 1980's looked to John Hughes as their creative guiding light, 2010's movies about teenagers turn to John Green for inspiration. Not every single movie about teenagers is like this (The Edge of Seventeen, for instance, isn't really all that reminiscent of Green's works), but it's hard not to see how the author of books like The Fault In Our Stars has influenced modern-day media about the struggles of teenagers, especially in terms of how dialogue spoken by teenage characters is written. I wouldn't want every movie about teenagers to feel like it emerged from the shadow of John Green, but The Fault In Our Stars was an extremely well-done motion picture, so I say there are worse films that movies like Love, Simon could be emulating.

In Laman's Terms: The Queer of The Dawn of Cinema

An image from the pivotal 1919 feature Different From The Others

In Laman's Terms is a weekly editorial column where Douglas Laman rambles on about certain topics or ideas that have been on his mind lately. Sometimes he's got serious subjects to discuss, other times he's just got some silly stuff to shoot the breeze about. Either way, you know he's gonna talk about something In Laman's Terms!

"Somebody, your father or mine, should have told us that not many people have ever died of love. But multitudes have perished, and are perishing every hour--and in the oddest places!--for the lack of it." - James Baldwin

Have you seen the new trailer for Love, Simon? If not, check it out below cuz it's all kinds of sweet and heartwarming, really makes me hope the movie itself is awesome!

For The Bible Tells Me So Explores Embracing Your Identity In Oppressive Environments

A lot has changed for the LGBTQA community in the decade since the documentary For The Bible Tells Me So. For the first time in histroy, we had a sitting U.S. President (Barack Obama) openly endorse same-sex marriage and of course we had gay marriage legalized all across the United States. Of course, for every victory, there are plenty of struggles to be faced, including a ramp-up in high-profile political action against the Transgender community in the form of idiotic Bathroom Bills, Religious Freedom bills meant to discriminate against the LGBTQA community and we're still fighting to get laws passed that will ensure businesses can't discriminate against hiring or firing people based on their sexual orientation or gender.

The 2008 Stage Version Of Rent Shows Why This Gut-Wrenching Musical Has Endured For So Long

It's interesting to me how a large amount of art can be dubbed both timely to the specific period it premiered in and timeless in the types of emotions and characters it grapples with. Rent, a Broadway musical penned by Jonathan Larson, is very much one such production, with its story chronicling the experiences of eight adults in their early twenties grappling with financial insecurity and the AIDS crisis being very much something that resonated powerfully with audiences in the mid-1990's. For decades at that point, the AIDS crisis had ravaged the LGBTQA community and instead of creating more empathy for members of this community, individuals like former President Ronald Reagan only made those suffering from AIDS and the LGBTQA community itself even more of a pariah in American society than it already was. 

A Profound Loss Guides The Remarkably Astonishing Film A Single Man

Loss is a universal emotion. There isn't a soul on this Earth who hasn't dealt with losing someone they cared for. Whether that someone was a parent, a lover, a pet, a friend, the sharp emotional pains stemming from their sudden absence in your life is something we all endure. And because so many go through the process of grief after losing someone near and dear to them, there are limitless ways to cope with a tragic loss. Some withdraw from the world, some mask their pain with an endless facade of smiles and chipperness. For George (Colin Firth), he's simply tried to go on with his life in as normal as fashion as possible after the sudden death of Jim (Matthew Goode) a man he's spent over a decade with.

Disney And Marvel Announce Protest Against LGBTQA-Discriminatory Bill In Georgia

Over in the state of Georgia, there is a "religious liberty bill" that will allow businesses to discriminate against same-sex couples. How far has this bill gotten? Well, the only thing preventing it from being enacted currently is the approval of Governor Nathan Deal. Numerous figures have already showed resistance to such a law coming to fruition, for obvious reasons, including the NFL (who are noting that such a law being passed could put Georgia out of the running for being a state to host the Super Bowl) and now, another big company has thrown their support behind dismissing the bill.

The Duke Of Burgundy Review

Before the introduction of sound (first via an in-house band and then by pre-recorded music), film was a purely visual medium, and its reliance on imagery continues today, with numerous filmmakers (namely the likes of Terrence Malick) primarily use the art of visuals to advance their plots instead of relying on dialogue. Words are spoken in The Duke Of Burgundy, it isn't quite a silent film, but there are entire sequences where the art of speaking is tossed aside for purely visual storytelling.

Hotel Transylvania 2 Review

There are a few parts of Hotel Transylvania 2 to admire, but the structure of its plot is most certainly not one of those positive aspects of the feature. At first, the primary flaw to be found in how it dishes out is story is the rapid pace at which it goes through various plot developments (the marriage between vampire Mavis and human Johnny, then the reveal of Mavis being pregnant, giving birth and then flashing forward to when the offspring is a few years old) that honestly could have filled out further Hotel Transylvania chapters in their own right.