Updated my Favorite Director’s list. Five directors added including Greta Gerwig, Andrew Haigh, Marlon Riggs, Billy Wilder, and William Wyler. Click here or on the image below to see the full list.
The late, great documentary filmmaker Marlon Riggs.
Archive for the ‘Directors – John Greyson’ Category
Favorite Director’s Updated
March 27, 2024Reel Charlie Speaks – Episode 2: HIV AIDS Films
July 25, 2022
It took two months instead of one, but I am publishing the second Reel Charlie Speaks podcast. In Reel Charlie Speaks, I focus on a classic piece of work and discuss what it meant to me when I first discovered it and how it has stood the test of time. Today I reflect upon six HIV AIDS films from my list of the best HIV AIDS Films I’ve compiled over the years.
Read Reel Charlie film reviews on each of the titles discussed in this episode:
Adventures of Felix (currently not streaming in the U.S.)
Before I Forget (currently not streaming in the U.S.)
Blue (streaming on Kanopy)
How to Survive a Plague (streaming on Amazon Prime and SlingTV)
Parting Glances (streaming on Plex, Amazon Prime, and Philo)
Zero Patience (streaming on The Criterion Channel)
See the full list of Reel Charlie’s HIV AIDS films.
Philip Bahr marching in ACT-UP demo. Kennebunkport, Maine. September 1, 1991. Screen grab from the film How to Survive a Plague
Coming up:
August 2022: Coming Out
September 2022: Armistead Maupin’s Tales of the City
The Day New Queer Cinema Said: Let’s Do This (New York Times)
January 23, 2022
From the New York Times,
Thirty years after a panel at Sundance, some of the artists and journalists who helped ignite an L.G.B.T.Q. film movement take stock…
On Jan. 25, 1992, the Sundance Film Festival convened a panel on contemporary lesbian and gay cinema and “the significance of this movement,” according to the program…
What happened that day was a flash point in the genesis of New Queer Cinema, a call to arms of angry and unapologetic independent films that were made during the ’90s by, and arguably for, a community in crisis…
The legacy of that Saturday afternoon is being revisited this year as New Queer Cinema turns 30, and it’s going to be a rowdy look back. New Queer Cinema threw punches, and no wonder — the mostly white gay men who made the early wave of films were terrorized and exhausted by the first deadly decade of AIDS, and they’d had it with what they saw as the crushing conservative politics of the Reagan-Bush era…
“Sundance Class of ’92: The Year Indie Exploded,” a new collection on the Criterion Channel, includes several New Queer Cinema titles that screened at Sundance that year, including “The Living End” and “Swoon.” There are excerpts from the Barbed-Wire Kisses panel in a short documentary made as an introduction to the series.
Reel Charlie’s favorite films from the New Queer Cinema movement:
Edward II
The Incredibly True Adventure of 2 Girls in Love
Poison
The Watermelon Woman (my favorite)
Young Soul Rebels
Edward II
The Incredibly True Adventure of 2 Girls in Love
Poison
The Watermelon Woman (my favorite)
Young Soul Rebels
Read the complete article at The New York Times.
Thanks to my friend Neil for alerting me to this article.
Thanks to my friend Neil for alerting me to this article.
Reel Charlie’s 100 Favorite Films
November 16, 2020
A favorite films list is something I’ve been toying with since starting this blog. I started out with my original list of favorites. Over the past decade, I added and subtracted via Reel Charlie posts. Obviously, it was excruciatingly difficult to whittle this list down to 100 titles. I’ll publish an honorable mention list in a separate post of the films that almost made it. In the end, my criteria: select only feature films, no documentaries. That list will come later. And no stand-up comedy or performance. Also, for my own sanity, I limited the list only to films I instantly remember details – performances, lines, sets, costumes, make-up, etc. In other words, there are many films I remember loving, but can’t remember any details. My list below of 100 favorite films I remember vividly.
So in alphabetical order, here are Reel Charlie’s 100 Favorite Films. Many titles link to Reel Charlie reviews. Here we go.
9 to 5 – classic female-focused comedy. Tomlin, Fonda, & Parton. Enough said.
120 battements par minute [BPM (Beats Per Minute)] – French feature film about ACT UP (AIDS activism) Paris during the 90’s.
The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert – Oscar for Best Costume. Perfection comes in 3s.
Avant que j’oublie (Before I Forget)
– a 58 year-old French HIV+ former male prostitute who has refused to take the new HIV meds in 2000, a character never seen before in film.
Beautiful Thing – my favorite coming out film. Sweet, sensitive, innocent, and hilarious with a Mama Cass soundtrack.
Best in Show – Christopher Guest mockumentary dog show brilliance.
The Best Years of Our Lives – Hollywood digs deep with 3 men returning from WWII.
Big Business – Bette Midler and Lily Tomlin times 2.
Brother to Brother – NYC black, gay man learns about the Harlem Renaissance. Breakout film for Anthony Mackie.
La Bûche (The Yule Log) – French holiday film about a chaotic family with secrets.
But I’m a Cheerleader – conversion therapy skewered for the nightmare it is.
Carol – Todd Haynes adaptation of Patricia Highsmith’s The Price of Salt. 1950’s: two women in love and all its complications and romance.
Christmas in Connecticut – Barbara Stanwick and Dennis Morgan classic holiday Hollywood. A yearly viewing event.
Cloudburst – Brenda Fricker and Olympia Dukakis as an elder lesbian couple facing discrimination from their biological family.
Clue – the board game, the cast, the hysterical buffoonery of it all.
Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean – Robert Altman’s female tour de force centered around a James Dean fan club reunion.
Contact – Jodie Foster is “okay to go” in this Hollywood sci-fi classic.
Un conte de Noël (A Christmas Tale) – another French holiday film, this one with Catherine Deneuve as the matriarch – lots of cigarette smoking.
Crooklyn
– Spike Lee magic. This one is my childhood.
Day After Tomorrow – Hollywood takes on climate change.
Desperately Seeking Susan – Susan Seidelman’s wacky mistaken identity movie starring Rosanna Arquette and Madonna.
Dick – a good comedy can feed your soul. A good comedy about two teenage girls taking down Nixon is priceless.
Donnie Darko – mystical and ethereal yet grounded 100% in the early 80’s including a kick ass soundtrack.
Drôle de Félix (Adventures of Felix) – the first HIV+ character in cinema who is not dying, depressed, or left behind.
Dolor y gloria (Pain and Glory) – Almodovar’s biographical perfect film.
Edge of Seventeen (1998) – another joyous gay male coming out film taking place in the early 80’s. Authentic. Lea Delaria.
Edward II – Derek Jarman’s take on 14th century queer British Royalty. Annie Lennox sings.
Everything Everywhere All at Once – loved this crazy ride of a movie about kindness.
Eve’s Bayou – atmospheric and complex family drama from Kasi Lemmons.
Far from Heaven – Todd Haynes homage to Douglas Sirk’s melodramas. A masterpiece.
Le fate ignoranti (His Secret Life)– Ferzan Ozpetek’s melodrama about a dead man and the wife and male lover who adored him.
Fargo – Stunning Coen Brothers mystery creating one of cinema’s most best-loved character, Marge Gunderson played by Frances McDormand.
Funny Girl – Barbra Streisand musical genius.
The Garden – Derek Jarman’s experimental film combines Christian iconography, gay male relationships, and gay political activism.
Gaudi Afternoon – Susan Seidelman’s adaptation of Barbara Wilson’s Cassandra Reilly Mysteries.
God’s Own Country – Rural Yorkshire indie film exploring the burgeoning love story between two young men.
Gods and Monsters – Adapted from Christopher Bram’s novel, Frankenstein director James Whale’s final chapter starring Ian McKellen.
Gosford Park – Robert Altman’s classic upstairs downstairs whodunnit written by Downton Abbey’s Julian Fellowes. Glorious.
Ha-Buah (Bubble, The) – Israeli film about a forbidden love story between an Israeli man and a Palestinian man. Modern LBGLTQ take on Romeo and Juliet.
Hairspray – John Waters goes mainstream but retains his perverse take on suburban America. This is the original film.
Halloween – the original, the only, the scary.
The Heiress
– Hollywood creates movie magic with Olivia de Havilland and Montgomery Clift.
Howards End – Merchant Ivory strike gold once again with this perfect E.M. Forster adaptation.
Hunger – British artist and filmmaker Steve McQueen’s searing portrait of the 1981 Irish prison hunger strike.
I Do – pre marriage equality romantic film about a guy trying to figure out how not to get deported as he meets the love of his life.
Joyeux Noël (Merry Christmas) – based on the WWI truce between the Scots, French, and Americans.
Julia – semibiographical film on Lillian Hellman’s friendship with WWII war dissident Julia.
Klute – Jane Fonda’s Oscar winning performance as call girl, Bree Daniels.
Lakawanna Blues – S. Epatha Merkerson plays Nanny who runs an 1950’s upstate boarding house for the African American and Latinx community.
The Last Black Man in San Francisco – identity, black male friendship, race relations, belonging, and gentrification in modern-day San Francisco.
Legally Blonde – silly as a goose and so much feel-good fun this Reese Witherspoon classic.
Lilies – John Greyson’s adaption of a play about a play within a prison and confronting a bishop for past sins.
Little Voice – Jane Horrocks’ tour de force as the shy “Little Voice” who can sing like the masters.
Lola rennt (Run Lola Run) – German filmmaker Tom Tykwer’s 90’s techno masterpiece.
Lone Star – John Sayles Texas mystery which spans two generations and multiple communities.
Lovely & Amazing – Nicole Holofcener’s gritty film about mothers and daughters.
Making Love – right before AIDS hit, Hollywood dared to produce a story about a closeted gay man married to a woman trying to find his way.
Maurice – Merchant Ivory adapts E.M. Foster’s novel of Edwardian gay male love. Perfection.
Metrosexuality – Rikki Beadle Blair’s amazing patchwork of style, passion, family, love and inclusivity. Major feel-good event.
Milk – Hollywood makes a Harvey Milk biopic and succeeds!
Monsoon Wedding
– Mira Nair’s gorgeous tale of two weddings from different classes in Delhi.
Moonlight – Swept the Oscars and deservedly so. Quiet, introspective film about a young black gay man at 3 stages in his life.
Muriel’s Wedding – “you’re terrible, Muriel!” Must see Toni Collette Rachel Griffiths origin acting comedy genius. ABBA soundtrack galore.
My Beautiful Laundrette – Stephen Frears tale of a young white punk and smart Paki young man who fall in love in 1980’s Britain.
Nashville – Robert Altman’s essemble cast works their magic on the 1970’s mix of music and politics.
Pariah – Dee Rees created a fascinating look at a high school girl in the Bronx who is figuring out how to fit in with her family and her lesbian friends.
Parting Glances – 1980’s indie film about a gay male couple facing a separation while a friend is dying of AIDS.
Pillow Talk – what planet is this genre from? Who cares, it’s delicious Doris Day and Rock Hudson magic.
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie – Girls! Maggie Smith at her best and that’s saying something.
The Queen – Dogs! Helen Mirren at her best and that’s saying something.
Rafiki – Kenyan lesbian love story. Gorgeous.
The Remains of the Day – another Merchant Ivory masterpiece. Anthony Hopkins, Emma Thompson.
A Room with a View – Merchant Ivory costume drama gorgeousness.
Rope – Hitchcock adapts the Leopold and Loeb story for a creepy good time.
Rustin – Colman Domingo takes us on a journey into Bayard Rustin’s incredible life.
Safe – Todd Haynes’ environmental illness as AIDS analogy skewers the New Age movement, or does it?
Secrets and Lies – Mike Leigh’s incredible film melding class and race.
Serial Mom – John Waters strikes gold again with a perfect suburban mother as serial killer.
Shadow of a Doubt – Hitchcock’s scary story of a beloved uncle who may just be The Merry Widow Killer.
Shortbus – John Cameron Mitchell’s ode to post-9/11 NYC with a healthy dose of real sex.
Silkwood – based on a true story, Meryl Streep stars as Karen Silkwood with Kurt Russell and Cher.
A Star is Born (1954) – Judy Garland triumph.
A Star is Born (1976) – Barbra Streisand triumph.
The Station Agent – perfect indie film about 3 misfits. Patricia Clarkson magic.
The Sticky Fingers of Time
– amazing lesbian and bi women indie film about time travel.
Strangers on a Train – glorious Hitchcock genius with my man, Farley Granger.
Suddenly, Last Summer – adapting Tennessee Williams’ play becomes a screeching film about hidden truths and madness.
Sunshine State – John Sayles’ masterpiece ensemble film about small town Florida developers vs. the locals.
Tangerine – shot on an iPhone with two black trans leads.
Todo sobre mi madre (All About my Mother) – my favorite Almodovar film. Women supporting women traveling through life.
Victim – first time a film character ever came out as gay in a film. Historically important British film.
Victor Victoria – a woman pretending to be a man pretending to be a woman. Preposterous. Julie Andrews and Robert Preston strike gold.
Walk on Water – Israeli filmmaker Eytan Fox’s film about a Mossad agent befriending a sister and brother to track down their Nazi grandfather.
The Watermelon Woman – Cheryl Dunye’s brilliant debut film about a video store clerk researching a minor black female actress in film history.
Weekend – Andrew Haigh’s stunning indie about two young men who spend a weekend together wondering if it will become more.
What’s Up Doc? – Barbra Streisand. Ryan O’Neal. Madeline Kahn. Perfect screwball comedy.
White Christmas – the classic. Rosemary Clooney swoon.
The Wizard of Oz – the classic of all classics. Love, love, love.
You Can Count on Me – Kenneth Lonergan’s classic indie film pairing the luminous Laura Linney with Mark Ruffalo as brother and sister stumbling through life.
Zero Patience – a AIDS musical made at the height of the AIDS crisis by a gay male film director? Yes, please.
So, what do you think? What are your favorite films?
Updated: 2/2024
Reel Charlie’s Favorite Directors
January 20, 2019
From the beginnings of Reel Charlie, I have always kept a list of my favorite directors. Enjoy.
Pedro Almodovar (my favorite living director)
My personal favorites are All About My Mother, (Reel Charlie’s favorite), Bad Education, Talk to Her, Volver, Broken Embraces, Live Flesh, Law of Desire, The Skin That I Live In, Julieta, and his semi-autobiographical masterpiece, Pain and Glory.
Robert Altman
Gosford Park is genius (watch it more than once!), so is Nashville, Short Cuts, Prêt-à-Porter, The Player and Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean, a giant of American filmmaking.
Andrea Arnold
Andrea’s been an amazing breath of fresh air in the indie film world. Loved her first two films, Red Road, Fish Tank as well as her directing on Transparent and Big Little Lies.
Sean Baker
Sean started out with Tangerine, which he shot on an iPhone. He followed up with The Florida Project, and then Red Rocket.
Rikki Beadle-Blair
Rikki shot himself out of a cannon full of rainbow glitter. Seriously this man is the queer-positive, feel-good force in film making and theater. Oh how I love his work. Favorites include Metrosexuality (which I try to watch at least once a year), Fit, and Bashment.
Lisa Cholodenko
Long-time career for this wonderful director. Favorites include High Art, The Kids Are All Right, and Olive KItteridge.
Ava DuVernay
Selma gave her an international stage. She followed up going back to her roots with a documentary, 13th. Reel Charlie favorite When They See Us came out in 2019. Waiting to see Origin.
Cheryl Dunye
The Watermelon Woman is one of my favorite indie romantic comedies of all-time. Smart and full of sexy lesbian characters. Stranger Inside is more polished, darker with a major twist. Also loved Mommy is Coming, and The Owls.
Rob Epstein/Jeffrey Friedman
Documentary Oscar-winning (Common Threads: Voices from the Quilt about the AIDS Quilt) team who brought us The Times of Harvey Milk (about out politician Harvey Milk) (see also Milk), Paragraph 175 (interviews gay men who survived the Nazi concentration camps), and The Celluloid Closet (Vito Russo’s history of LGBTQ+ film).
Eytan Fox
Out gay Israeli filmmaker scorches the screen with some of my favorite films released in the past decade. Yossi & Jagger tells the story of two soldiers in love. Walk on Water is complicated and has the most truthful, moral characters I’ve seen on film in a long time. His latest film, The Bubble about gay love between an Israeli and a Palestinian is outstanding. Add Mary Lou, Cupcakes, and Yossi to this list.
Stephen Frears
My Beautiful Laundrette… is it really possible this film was made in the 1980’s? Perfect Daniel Day-Lewis and Saeed Jaffrey. Prick Up Your Ears, the life of British playwright Joe Orton. High Fidelity…I love this nerdy straight guy movie. Mrs. Henderson Presents… Judi Dench stars in this gem. Not to miss: Will Young as Bertie and of course The Queen where Helen Mirren finally gets her Oscar. What a career, what an actress, what a film. Another Frears masterpiece.
Greta Gerwig
Barbie broke the glass ceiling in Hollywood for what a female director can do. My favorite Gerwig films are Barbie (surprise) and 20th Century Woman. Special mention for Gerwig’s acting turn in Frances Ha directed by her life partner Noah Baumbach and written by the two of them.
John Greyson
Lilies is unbelievable, Uncut is too hard to explain in a sound bite, Zero Patience is a musical about AIDS? Yes! And Urinal makes me see dead people.
Greyson teaches now. I continue to be in awe of his talent. He was detained for seven weeks in Egypt in 2013.) In 2014, he created the series, Murder in Passing.
Christopher Guest
Best In Show and Waiting for Guffman make me laugh out loud every time. Guest has done four projects since Best in Show. Nothing makes me laugh more than these middle two films, although Mascots was lots of fun.
Andrew Haigh
In 2011, Andrew Haigh gave us the hauntingly beautiful Weekend, becoming an instant Reel Charlie favorite. Haigh followed up with the incredible television series, Looking and then blessed us with All of Us Strangers, which has turned into Reel Charlie’s favorite film for 2024.
Todd Haynes
My favorites Poison, Safe and Far From Heaven, and Carol are brilliant. Okay, Velvet Goldmine has grown on me and become a favorite as well. But seriously a double feature of Far From Heaven and Carol would be incredible. Two modern masterpieces and signature Haynes.
Alfred Hitchcock
Strangers on a Train & Rope are two reasons I love Hitchcock. If I had been born 40 years earlier, I would’ve been Farley Granger’s stalker. Other Hitchcock favorites include Marnie,Shadow of a Doubt (Hitch’s favorite), Vertigo, North by Northwest, I Confess… there are too many to list. Also, I Confess is Monty eye candy but not a 5. Add The Birds, Rear Window, and Rebecca to the 5 out of 5 list. My favorite director of all-time.
Nicole Holofcener
Holofcener’s quirky, realistic portrayals of modern life always give me food for thought, make me laugh and keep me in awe. Favorites include Lovely and Amazing, Please Give, Enough Said, and You Hurt My Feelings. Start with Lovely and Amazing, her masterpiece.
James Ivory
Maurice, The Remains of the Day, A Room With a View (I can recite most of Maggie Smith’s lines by heart) and Howard’s End are a quartet of perfect films I watch over and over again. RIP Ismail Merchant. Still the master of period pieces and literary adaptations. So thrilled I got to see him in person for a 4K screening of Maurice in 2017. Maurice is my favorite film of all-time.
Derek Jarman
The master of 80’s/early 90’s independent Queer cinema in the U.K., Jarman was a powerful storyteller and we lost him way too soon to AIDS. He helped launch Tilda Swinton and was so in your face about gay male love stories at a time when the world hated us . Favorites include Edward II, The Angelic Conversation, The Garden, and his final masterpiece, Blue.
Spike Lee
I’m naming more than two… Crooklyn is my childhood, Malcolm X is brilliant, Summer of Sam is chilling with Adrian Brody as a punk, He Got Game exposes hypocrisy, Bamboozled will make you think, and 25th Hour: I heart NY. But his recent film, Inside Man may be his greatest yet. Hitchcock would be proud. BlackKklansman once again gave us Spike at his finest.
Mike Leigh
Brenda Blethyn and Marianne Jean-Baptiste play the most unlikely mother and daughter ever in Secrets and Lies. It’s Mike Leigh so it’s dark, moody and amazing. Watch it won’t you sweetie? Other Mike Leigh favorites include All or Nothing (Timothy Spall magic), the delicate Vera Drake and the new masterpiece, Happy-Go-Lucky, as well as Another Year and Mr. Turner.
Mira Nair
Nair gives us films to celebrate life and dissect our failings. Favorites include the stunning Monsoon Wedding, The Namesake, and The Reluctant Fundamentalist.
Ferzan Ozpetek
Turkish filmmaker whose movies define sensual. Start with his trilogy, Steam: The Turkish Bath, Harem Suare, and His Secret Life. Also of note is his latest (that’s available in the U.S.), Facing Windows. The past ten years brought us Saturn in Opposition and the hysterical Loose Cannons which I own. I have yet to see the television adaption/update of His Secret Life, Ignorant Angels, as well as Nuovo Olimpo.
Ventura Pons
On the edge of my seat with this man’s films… Caresses and Beloved/Friend are my personal favorites. For more of the sweet side of Pons, check out Anita Takes a Chance. An amazing foreign filmmaker who has done many, many films since his English language, Food of Love. None has released in the U.S. Pons died in 2024.
Dee Rees
Pariah slayed me. From the short to the feature-length film. Mandatory. Seriously. Other favorites Bessie and Mudbound.
Marlon Riggs
Powerhouse documentary filmmaker who died way too young from AIDS. Criterion made his work accessible to a new generation of film viewers with the 2021 boxed set of Marlon Riggs films released on Blu-ray. They include Ethnic Notions (1987), Affirmations (1990) and Anthem (1991), Color Adjustment (1992), Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien (No Regret) (1993), and Reel Charlie favorites, Tongues Untied (1989), and Black is… Black Ain’t (1994).
John Sayles
Return of the Secaucus 7 and Lianna were two of the very first indie films I saw. Lonestar and Sunshine State are my personal favorites. Casa de los Babys is also a gem. No one does real life better.
The great American filmmaker. I did a series at the library on Sayles back in 2017 which began with Matewan.
Tom Tykwer
Best known for the German techno adventure Run Lola Run. Other films include Winter Sleepers, The Princess and the Warrior (outrageous!) and Heaven starring Cate Blanchett and Giovanni Ribisi. His collaborations with the Wachowskis on Sense8 and his collaboration creating Babylon Berlin remind me of why I love his work.
John Waters
This man is a genius and makes me laugh over and over again. His early films are brilliant but I do prefer Hairspray, Serial Mom and A Dirty Shame. I can’t wait for Liarmouth.
Billy Wilder
What a breadth of films Wilder created in his lifetime. Reel Charlie favorites include Ball of Fire (1941), Double Indemnity (1944), Some Like It Hot (1959), and The Apartment (1960),
William Wyler
Ending with one more classic 20th Century film director. Wyler’s career encompasses two of my favorite films of all-time from completely different eras: The Best Years of Our Lives (1946) and Funny Girl (1968). In-between he created Mrs. Miniver, The Little Foxes and another perfect Reel Charlie favorite, The Heiress.
Next update: Nichols, Murphy, McCarthy, Dolan, Lonergan, and Dick?
Who are your favorites? Leave a comment.
Updated: March 2024
Happy Birthday to Me (2017)
November 16, 2017No, I’m not 2017 years old. I just feel like it some days. I’m in the air on my birthday this year. I thought it might be fun to post something like this:
If you really love me, you’ll watch a film by at least one of these directors sometime in November:
Alfred Hitchcock
Andrea Arnold
Andrew Haigh
Barbara Streisand
Cheryl Dunye
Christopher Guest
Dee Rees
Derek Jarman
Douglas Sirk
Eytan Fox
Ferzan Ozpetek
Glenn Gaylord
Gurinder Chadha
Ilene Chaiken
Ingrid Jungermann
James Ivory
Jill Soloway
John Cameron Mitchell
John Greyson
John Sayles
John Waters
Kenneth Lonergan
Lisa Cholodenko
Lisa Gornick
Lynne Ramsay
Mike Leigh
Mira Nair
Nicole Holofcener
Pedro Almodovar
Peter Paige
Rikki Beadle Blair
Robert Altman
Spike Lee
Stephen Frears
Susan Seidelman
Todd Haynes
Tom McCarthy
Ventura Pons
Xavier Dolan
It’s good to have choices.
Uncle Barb & Reel Charlie’s 30 Best LGBT Films of All Time
April 1, 2016After kibitzing over the British Film Institute’s 30 Best LGBT Films Of All Time, Uncle Barb and I decided to come up with our own list. We found out we had fifteen in common, so we decided to create a master list featuring our individual selections as well as our common choices. Check out our lists below and let us know where we intersect and differ with your own list.
Click on any of the titles below to read Reel Charlie’s reviews:
Avant que j’oublie (Before I Forget)
Beautiful Thing
Blue
Brother to Brother
But I’m a Cheerleader
Carol
Cloudburst
Contracorriente (Undertow)
Edward II
Go Fish
Ha-Buah (The Bubble)
Le fate ingoranti (His Secret Life)
L’inconnu du lac (Stranger by the Lake)
La Mala Educación (Bad Education)
My Beautiful Laundrette
Pariah
Paris was a Woman
Parting Glances
Poison
Reaching for the Moon
Shortbus
The Sticky Fingers of Time
Tangerine
Tongues Untied
The Watermelon Woman
Weekend
Zero Patience
Zero Patience
June 16, 2015
In 1993, before there was any real hope for survival from HIV and AIDS, Canadian filmmaker John Greyson created the spectacular indie musical Zero Patience. A little bit dorky, a lot sexy, a little Rocky Horror, a lot indie. A year later the musical Rent would premiere and the world would be captivated by Jonathan Larson’s rock opera based on La bohème. Yes Rent overshadowed Zero Patience, no doubt about it. But there is absolutely room for both in the canon of artists creatively expressing their reaction to the AIDS crisis. And here’s why they need to stand side by side. Rent although marketed as cutting edge actually follows a tried and true Broadway musical formula. Rent reached millions of theater goers worldwide creating empathy and compassion for people living with HIV and AIDS. Zero Patience is an indie film disguised as a musical. It focuses more on the gay male community and doesn’t shy away from controversial elements such as nudity, sex between men, and even a number with literal talking assholes. I’d call Zero Patience historical camp if I had to label its genre. Writer director John Greyson took a huge risk creating a film about AIDS with laughter and music during a time when there was still no hope for anyone who was HIV+. The drugs which would make the disease chronic had yet to be released. In ’93, the AIDS community continued to be cloaked in darkness and death. Greyson’s film focuses on the English explorer, Sir Richard Francis Burton who drank from the fountain of youth and now does taxidermy at Toronto’s Museum of Natural History. Patient Zero – the Canadian gay flight attendant who supposedly spread AIDS to North America appears as a ghost to Burton. The two journey from ignorance to exploitation to passion to truth and finally goodbye. AIDS activist Michael Callen makes a cameo as Miss HIV – the virus under a microscope swimming in Zero’s bloodstream in full drag. Callen died from AIDS the year the film was released. It’s hard to describe how necessary this film was in 1993. We all needed a laugh, we needed a break from the horror. But the film didn’t shy away from making political statements and supporting ACT-UP’s struggle for justice. A brilliant piece of history from one of Canada’s gifted filmmakers. I’d recommend all of Greyson’s work but Lilies is perhaps the only other film along with Proteus available on DVD. A wonderful addition to Reel Charlie’s 30 Days of Gay. 5 out of 5 for the classic madcap AIDS musical Zero Patience.
World AIDS Day – HIV/AIDS films 2014
December 1, 2014December 1, 2014
(Updating Reel Charlie’s list of HIV/AIDS films from 2011)
My favorite films that focus on HIV and AIDS. Some are feature films, some documentaries, 2 are musicals:
The Adventures of Felix – celebratory French film about a young HIV+ man embracing life on the new medication in the mid-90’s.
And the Band Played On – based on journalist Randy Shilts’s book.
Angels in America – based on the award-winning play from Tony Kushner.
All About My Mother – one of the films using AIDS themes from a female perspective – an Almodovar classic.
Before I Forget – French film about an aging HIV+ male hustler.
Blue – Derek Jarman’s meditation on his AIDS diagnosis.
Common Threads: Stories from the Quilt – Academy Award winning documentary on the Quilt
Dallas Buyers Club – a straight-identified man starts one of the first buyers clubs in the U.S. bringing in experimental drugs from other countries.
Days – Italian film about a sero-discordant couple (one HIV+, one HIV-)
How to Survive a Plague – outstanding documentary on the history of ACT-UP.
Jeffrey – explores the tension around gay men and sex during the AIDS crisis.
Longtime Companion – Hollywood film about NYC gay men dealing with the worst of the AIDS crisis.
The Normal Heart – HBO adaptation from Ryan Murphy of Larry Kramer’s award-winning play.
Parting Glances – Steve Bucemi’s break-out performance as a punk rock HIV+ gay man in NYC
Paul Monette: The Brink of Summer’s End (not available on DVD) – amazing documentary on the final days of writer Paul Monette
Poison – Todd Haynes Queer Cinema classic. Very experimental. Included on the disk and in the review is the short Last Address, an 8 minute film focusing on NYC buildings by director Ira Sachs.
Postcards from America – based on artist David Wojnarowicz’s life and writing.
Rent – the film based on the hit Broadway musical
Sex in an Epidemic – documentary about the AIDS crisis in the United States
Sex Positive – documentary of the evolution of “safer sex”.
Test – beautiful indie film about a young dancer in San Francisco deciding whether to take the new HIV test in the early 1980’s.
Vito – biopic on Vito Russo who wrote the seminal work on queer film, The Celluloid Closet and left us way to early from AIDS.
We Were Here – intimate documentary focusing on several people who witnessed the early plague years in San Francisco.
Zero Patience – John Greyson’s musical about AIDS. still so out there and revolutionary
For any films not linked, read a brief description on my original favorite films list here.
Follow Reel Charlie’s Health category for future postings.
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