Episódios
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We are rounding out our second season with one of the most acclaimed movies of the last decade, Barry Jenkins' Moonlight (2016). Moonlight is a touching and poetic coming-of-age story showing the life of Chiron, a black man in Liberty City, Miami, in three chapters- his childhood, his adolescence, and his adulthood. It explores how Chiron struggles not only with poverty and race at the height of the crack epidemic, but also his struggles with his sexuality. At the center of Chiron's struggles are his relationships with his mother and his close friend, Kevin. Moonlight stands out as a beautifully edited and directed film, but sticks in our cultural consciousness for its success at the Academy Awards, taking home the prize for Best Picture. Is there a performance in this movie that isn't perfectly calibrated? Is the imagery too heavy-handed? Can you wipe your hands on sand? This and more with Jake and Kevin on our new episode!
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Turn on the AC and pour yourself a cold drink because things are about to get hot and muggy on the podcast. This week we're talking about Joyland (2022), a Pakistani film about a family living in Lahore. In the movie, Haider (Ali Junejo) escapes the demands of his family through an affair with Biba (Alina Khan), a transgender woman/his boss at an erotic dance revue. Haider stumbles into his job as a dancer, just as he stumbles through the rest of his life. But has he found his calling as a background dancer? No. Can he at least get the choreo down? No. Directed by Siam Sadiq, the movie won the Jury Prize and Queer Palm at the Cannes Film Festival before being shortlisted for Best International Feature Film at 95th Academy Awards. Does it live up to the hype? Join us to find out.
And we're continuing our miniseries on the Criterion Channel's LGBTQ+ shorts collection. After a quick glance at the painfully earnest Blood Below the Skin (dir. Jennifer Reeder, 2016), we take a deep dive into Marin Håskjold's What Is A Woman? (2020), a thought experiment about a transgender woman who becomes a lightening rod for a couple of Norwegian Kårens when she enters a women's locker room. Høres morsomt ut!
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Pull out your hat pins and loosen up because it's time for another installment of Cinema Very Gay! Desert Hearts (or, "Not Another Lesbian On This Ranch") is a seminal piece of lesbian cinema, and for many good reasons. The film was directed by Donna Deitch in 1986 and stars Helen Shaver as Vivian, a stuffy literature professor at Columbia who is in the process of divorcing her unseen husband. To expedite the process, she establishes residency in Reno by staying on a "ranch" run by Frances (Audra Lindley). As in any good lesbian period piece, a woman can't run into the wilderness without finding romantic entanglements, as Helen is unexpectedly seduced by the confident and carefree Cay, played by Patricia Charbonneau. Though there are some familiar beats to the script, the movie is touchingly directed and does an incredible job at showing the complexities of Helen and Cay's romance, as well as its impacts on those around them. Why does Frances care so much that Cay might find love? Is this the dustiest lesbian movie ever made? Is Kevin actually in love with Patricia Charbonneau? This and more on this week's episode!
And then an entry in our miniseries on Criterion's LGBTQ+ shorts collection, but we aren't over the moon about this one. Jake and Kevin watched the short film Call Your Father (dir. Jordan Firstman, 2016), which follows a disastrous first date between men from different generations. There's not much reason for the date to have continued as long as it did, but there is a bit of sit-com humor to appreciate.
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It's San Francisco, how hard can it be to meet cool people? Well, if the only people you run into is the cast of the HBO series and movie, Looking, you might have some work to do! This week we tackle the controversial and short-lived HBO series and subsequent moviefilm, Looking, created by writer-director Andrew Haigh. The series followed a group of gay men in San Francisco and their travails in life and love- Patrick (Jonathan Groff), our anxious protagonist with deeeeeeeep mommy issues; Augustin (Frankie J. Alvarez), the tortured "artist" looking for meaning in his work and finding drugs along the way; and Dom (Murray Bartlett), a peri peri chicken lover having a mid-life crisis. Over the course of the series, which only ran for 18 episodes from 2014-2015, we follow this crew and a great cast of supporting actors, including but not limited to Lauren Weedman, Scott Bakula, and sexpot Raul Castillo, as they look for meaning in their lives, with plenty of cringe, Grindr dates, and drunken dancing along the way. The series unfortunately had a short run, but was brought back for one final installment in 2016 with Looking: The Movie. Join Jake and Kevin this week as we talk about the highs of lows of the series and how successful the movie holds up as a final episode. Why did they not cast any gay or queer Asian characters in a show set in San Francisco? Why are the three protagonists so insufferable in the first season? Did Richie and Patrick really get back together in the movie? This and more on this week's episode!
PLUS: We dive back to our regularly-scheduled mini-series programming this week! The Criterion Channel (who does not yet sponsor this podcast but we're open to the idea) has a fantastic selection of queer filmmaking, bolstered recently by a collection of queer short films. For the next few episodes, we'll be watching some of these shorts, beginning with the film The Red Tree, directed by Paul Rowley in 2018. This pseudo-documentary short follows a fictional gay man who travels back to the island where Mussolini interred hundreds of gay man in his rise to power in the 1930s.
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Oh you thought that Hudson content was in the past huh? We're sneaking back into your feeds with a short episode on the "biographical" passion project from Mark Rappaport, Rock Hudson's Home Movies from 1992. Taking an ironic look back on Hudson's filmography, Rappaport has amassed a clip reel highlighting all of the ways in which Hudson was supposedly subverting his own macho-man image with queer tropes and dialogue over the course of decades. Do you think Rappaport really believed in this conspiracy, or is this a comical way to review an actor's career? Either way, it's a fun way to wrap our series on Rock Hudson's movies, so go watch Rock Hudson's Home Movies and enjoy the bonus episode!
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Welcome to the final episode of our journey through the annals of Rock Hudson's filmography as we bid a fond farewell to the 6'5" actor and his legacy. To this day, Hudson is most often remembered first for the notoriety of his death in October 1985 due to complications from AIDS. For a man who was famous for keeping his personal life as private as possible, the revelations of his diagnosis and rapid decline at the age of 59 came as quite a shock, not just to Hollywood, but to the whole American public. In this week's episode, Kevin and Jake take some time to talk about the circumstances and significance of his death, but also take a look at what became of his filmography after a renaissance with his Doris Day collabs. Hudson certainly did not shy away from dabbling in new genres in the late 60s through the end of his life! He tried his hands at a blockbuster disaster (Avalanche), submarine thriller (Ice Station Zebra), and even Blake Edwards comedy/musical (Darling Lilli). This week we talk about some of the most interesting films of the last stage of Hudson's career and discover the newfound appreciation we have for this underrated actor! How much did ending his Universal Studios contract help Hudson expand his filmography? Did New Hollywood help or hurt his acting career? Why do the 70s look so damn good on him? This and more on this week's episode of Cinema Very Gay!
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When moms everywhere think of Rock Hudson, they tend to think of this phase of his career- his sex farce romantic comedies, primarily with the ineffably funny Doris Day. Hudson's career hit some box office and critical slumps when Universal made him put on his big boy dramatic lead pants, but by leaning into his comedic instincts and (trend alert) pairing Hudson with the right female counterpart, his career was renewed in the early 60s thanks to a string of box office hits, beginning with one of Hudson's biggest hits, Pillow Talk (dir. Michael Gordon, 1959). Hudson plays a playboy songwriter stringing along a sequence of women and Day plays his neighbor, an interior decorator who shares a party line with him (we had to look that up too). What follows is a farce of hidden identity, sex, and plenty of gay jokes. While it's easy to look back on these films as subversive for casting a gay actor in these Lothario roles in movies that lay on the gay subtext, that really may not have been their intent! Join Jake and Kevin this week as we gaze respectfully at Hudson in Pillow Talk and five other rom-coms of this phase of his career: Come September (1961), Lover Come Back (1961), Send Me No Flowers (1964), Strange Bedfellows (1965), and A Very Special Favor (1965). How did these movies find so much critical success? Have studios always recreated successful stories to crank out box office hits with little to no substance or cultural staying power? How many layers of deception are too many for one comedy? This and more on this week's Cinema Very Gay!
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After and during his rise to stardom with the help of Douglas Sirk, Hudson was also being tried out as Universal's hottest new leading man. While Rock was given opportunities to play the swoon-worthy romantic lead with Sirk, a handful of other directors were making him the headlining "every-man" of their films, with very mixed success. This week, we cover the top (there's really just one) and the bottoms of this period of his career spanning 7 films from 1952-1961: The Lawless Breed (Raoul Walsh, 1952), Giant (George Stevens, 1956), A Farewell to Arms (Charles Vidor, 1957), Something of Value (Richard Brooks, 1957), Twilight for the Gods (Joseph Pevney, 1958), The Earth is Mine (Henry King, 1959), and The Last Sunset (Robert Aldrich, 1961). While most of these movies are scraping the bottom of the classic Hollywood barrel, Giant stands out as a true triumph of film-making and an example of Hudson's star power being used correctly. Why did Universal put Hudson in so many movies? How might his whirlwind marriage with a producer's secretary have impacted his image? Did Hudson almost certainly sleep with Sal Mineo? This and more on this week's Cinema Very Gay!
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We're trying something new on Cinema Very Gay and taking a career retrospective for the next few weeks on Rock Hudson! He is known perhaps best for being a hunky, mildly-talented, openly-closeted movie star of the 50s and 60s, and for his high profile death due to complications from AIDS in 1985, but there really was much more to Hudson and his famed career than many first assume. Over the next four episodes, join Jake and Kevin as we look back on four key periods in Hudson's film career and talk about how the façade of Hudson's on-screen presence was in contrast to his real-life dalliances.
To begin, we start with the phase of Hudson's career that flung him into stardom and made him a household name, his collaborations with director Douglas Sirk. Sirk today is synonymous with 50s melodrama, those saccharine, romantic "women's pictures" that we know and love today. Though not as critically-acclaimed in his time as he is today, Sirk's films still were hits at the box office, and his decision to bring Hudson out of the background and into his turn as a leading man. Thanks to Sirk, every man wanted to be Rock Hudson, and every woman wanted to be with him...and as it turns out, lots of men did too! Join Jake and Kevin this week as we take a look back at the 8 films of the Sirk-Hudson collaboration: Has Anyone Seen My Gal? (1952); Taza, Son of Cochise (1954); Magnificent Obsession (1954); Captain Lightfoot (1955); All That Heaven Allows (1955); Written on the Wind (1956); Battle Hymn (1957); and Tarnished Angels (1957). They might not all be hits, but we're pretty obsessed with a few of them, and hope you find some new favorites in this first part of the series!
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Join us on Cinema Very Gay as we journey back in time, a beautiful time before Tim Burton discovered CGI. In 1994 Burton directed the biopic Ed Wood, chronicling the career of notorious B-movie writer and director, widely claimed to be one of the worst directors of all time. Wood was more than just an eager and enthusiastic film-maker though, it was also an open secret that he was a cross-dresser, going so far as to show up to his own production sets in women's clothes (especially angora sweaters). Ed Wood (film) stars Johnny Depp as the titular director alongside Oscar-winner Martin Landau as Bela Lugosi, with whom Wood had formed an unlikely friendship. As a companion to Ed Wood, we also look back at one of Wood's exploitation films featured in Burton's movie, Glen or Glenda (1954). In this confusing production, Wood was aiming to earn some empathy for "transvestites" and cross-dressers by following a police inspector uncovering the truth about a man's suicide. The film even starred Wood himself both in and out of drag, a bold move given the shoddy production and shaky terminology used in the script. How did Burton manage to capture the queerness of Ed Wood without turning him into a spectacle? Is Martin Landau's Lugosi one of the best screen performances ever? How many problematic actors can fit in one cast? This and more on this week's Cinema Very Gay!
Then, we have finally reached the end of our mini-series of queer coding in Disney villains, rounding our list out with the pompous, maniacal Governor Ratcliffe from Pocahontas (1995). We have to admit, this was not a strong note to end the series on, either with the film (woefully misguided) or the villain (unnecessary). But at least we have a chance to take stock of the miniseries with some power rankings of the villains, play some Disney villain trivia, and pontificate on what the Grindr profile for Ratcliffe might be like.
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Jack Twist? Jack NASTY! That's right, get ready to get into one of the most highly-esteemed gay films of our generation, Ang Lee's Brokeback Mountain from 2005. In case you've somehow managed to miss this one in the last 18 years, this film follows the years-long illicit affair between two shepherds, Ennis (Heath Ledger) and Jack (Jake Gyllenhaal). What starts as a romantic fling while working together one summer soon becomes an emotional attachment that they just can't quit, even while building separate lives hundreds of miles apart. This movie continues to impress your hosts, from gorgeous cinematography, an impeccable supporting cast (including Oscar nominee Michelle Williams), and a touching screenplay that we think leaves just enough room for some ambiguity. This film also holds a reputation as being one of the biggest Oscar snubs of recent film history, losing Best Picture to Paul Haggis' Crash, a loss that continues to boggle minds. What would have kept audiences from connecting with these characters strong enough for that win? Does Ang Lee know how gay sex happens? Will Kevin stop bringing up Memoirs of a Geisha? This and more in this week's Cinema Very Gay!
Speaking of more, the sun is soon setting on our queer-coded Disney villain mini-series, but we couldn't end without discussing the usurper king, Scar, voiced by Jeremy Irons in Disney's Lion King (1994). This sniveling and scheming lion all but tells the audience that he's more into lions than lionesses! Scar gives us some familiar coded tropes (the smaller stature, the sibilant sneer), but we still can't help but have fun with his dryness. Be prepared! It's a good episode.
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Ring in 2023 with a brand-spanking new episode of Cinema Very Gay! This week, Kevin and Jake watched one of the most talked about queer films of the year, Bros, directed by Nicholas Stoller and written by Stoller and Billy Eichner. This movie made movie history being the first gay romantic comedy to be released by a major studio (Universal), but had a stroke of backlash thanks to some overzealous publicity from star Billy Eichner. As Gawker put it, “Billy Eichner is the first gay man ever — or at least that’s what the ‘Bros’ marketing campaign would have you believe.” We had mixed feelings on how Bros measured up to the bar it set for itself, but can't deny some of the rom-com schmaltz that makes Judd Apatow productions so charming. Did Bros go deep enough into the intricacies of gay relationships, or did it open too many doors? Did Billy Eichner and Luke Macfarlane hold up as a leading duo? Was Lincoln our first gay president? This and more on our last episode of the year!
The magic carpet ride continues with our latest miniseries installment on queer-coded Disney villains with Jafar, the royal vizier of Agrabah in 1992's Aladdin. Jafar had an unctuous, devilish sneer that made him a deliciously memorable addition to the Disney villain canon. He might have tried to marry Jasmine, but we have a sssssneaking sssssuspicion he had some sssssecrets!
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We're making your Yuletide Very Gay this year with a look at two gay holiday movies, Happiest Season (2020) and Single All the Way (2021). That's right, the gay community has finally been included in the genre of "Hallmark Christmas movies" in recent years (because don't we deserve fluffy feel-good holiday stories too?). With minimal conflict and an easy-to-swallow will they/won't they plot, these movies are great for curling up on the couch and letting the warm holiday wishes wash over you.
Happiest Season is directed by Clea DuVall and stars Kristen Stewart and Mackenzie Davis as Abby and Harper, a couple heading to (you guessed it) a small town in New England for Christmas. Abby is ready to propose to Harper, but suddenly finds herself retreating into the closet to save face with Harper's conservative family. There is a solid supporting cast propping up the story, especially from Aubrey Plaza as Riley, a former girlfriend of Harper's who Abby finds new friendship with. Meanwhile, you have already forgotten the title of this movie.
Single All the Way is directed by Michael Mayer and stars Michael Urie and Philemon Chambers as Peter and Nick, two best friends heading back to (you guessed it) a small town in New England for Christmas. This time, Peter and Nick have to learn to find love in each other's friendship with the help of several meddling family members and a Christmas pageant directed by wacky Aunt Sandy (Jennifer Coolidge).
To round out the week, we start tackling the "renaissance" of Disney films that began in the late 80s as we revisit The Little Mermaid and the iconic drag queen sea witch, Ursula. Voiced by Pat Carroll and drawing heavy influence from notorious filth queen Divine, there's definitely no hiding the coding that is happening with this Disney villain, but we can't help but fall back in love with her campy attitude and top-notch villain song. Don't forget the importance of body language, and tune in with Jake and Kevin!
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We're back after a brief hiatus with a doozie of a movie to talk about! Zero Patience is an original musical dramedy directed and written by John Greyson and released in 1993. This film follows, seriously, an immortal British explorer-sexologist-turned-museum-taxidermist Sir Richard "Dick" Burton (actor John Robinson) and the earth-walking spirit of Zero, the gay man accused of originating the HIV-AIDS epidemic in North America (actor Normand Fauteux). With the help of Zero, Dick uncovers the truth behind the AIDS epidemic. Already a shocking premise, this movie exemplifies the daringness of the New Queer Cinema era, and it doubles down by including some hilarious and outlandish musical numbers, including a barbershop quartet on sauna etiquette and a duet between buttholes. Underneath it all, the movie has a solid emotional message at its core as it humanizes "Patient Zero" of the AIDS epidemic and left Jake and Kevin with lots to uncover! How has this not been made into an off-Broadway production yet? Does this film have more staying power than Philadelphia, released the same year? Is Randy Shilts being unfairly spoofed? This and more on this week's Cinema Very Gay!
The next dastardly queer-coded Disney villain we visit is none other than Professor Ratigan (but don't call him a rat) from the movie The Great Mouse Detective from 1986. Voiced by the noted bisexual master of horror, Vincent Price, Ratigan brings a new level of danger to the queer villain role as he is matched against the protagonist, Basil of Baker Street. He has the usual flamboyance we have come to expect from a Disney villain, but brings on the murderousness even more than we have seen! Talk about a jealous ex-boyfriend.
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Do you know what they do to soft, bald, overweight Republicans in prison, Ernest? They don't let them listen to Cinema Very Gay, that's what. Grab your shovels and your shotguns, the time has finally come for us to cover one of our favorite gay camp classics, Robert Zemeckis' Death Becomes Her, starring the indelible Meryl Streep, Goldie Hawn, Isabella Rossellini, and Bruce Willis. Madeline Ashton (Streep) and Helen Sharp (Hawn) are bitter social rivals with their eyes on the heart of Dr. Ernest Menville (Willis), but also on their fading looks. A modern witch (Rossellini) offers a magical remedy to help, but is the cure worse than the disease? This movie has solidified its status as a cornerstone of queer cult camp and for excellent reason- it's endlessly quotable, hilariously over-acted, and pits two Oscar winners against each other in a battle of bitchiness. It might be easy to write this movie off as a feminist's nightmare, but that surface-level read might miss some of the nuance that makes this movie so fun to revisit. The morgue? She'll be furious!
Our journey through queer-coded Disney villain history continues as well with the gentle and greedy Prince John from Disney's Robin Hood (1973). Voiced hilariously by the esteemed dramatic actor Peter Ustinov, Prince John is a whiny brat of a Prince, a total mama's boy, and casually abusive to his sidekick Sir Hiss. Even though the movie doesn't have the staying power that other animated classics can boast, this languishing lion certainly makes a solid entry in this mini-series. Oo De Lally with Jake and Kevin on this week's episode and give us a follow on Twitter and Instagram @CinemaVeryGay !
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Ooky Spooky season continues with a bisexual horror cult classic- Jennifer's Body, directed by Karyn Kusama in 2009. There's a lot in this movie for Kevin and Jake to sink our teeth into (again, literally) from a Diablo Cody screenplay to an impeccable and underappreciated performance from Megan Fox to Adam Brody doing a Lifehouse impression. The marketing of this movie may have left a lot to be desired, but the queer under-/over-tones of the movie have solidified its status in the queer horror canon today. Does the Diablo Cody of it all pull you out of the story too much? Is Chip the poster child of doofy high school boyfriends? Does this movie go both ways? Jake and Kevin "answer" this and more on this week's episode!
Then, we continue our journey through the queer icons of Disney villainy with the chain-smoking fur-lover Cruella De Vil from 1961's 101 Dalmatians. One of the most heinous villains we grew up with, Cruella embodies pure malcontent as well as draggy dryness. Plus, what a theme song! If she doesn't scare you, no evil thing will!
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Spooktober continues with the infamously gay horror sequel, A Nightmare on Elm Street II: Freddy's Revenge. The movie was directed by (likely homophobe) Jack Sholder and written by (definite homophobe) David Chaskin in 1985. Robert Englund reprised his role as the man of your dreams himself, Freddy Krueger, only this time he wasn't terrorizing kids in their dreams, but was trying to take over the mind and body of one, Jesse, played by Mark Patton. This film oozes homoeroticism and has some not-so-subtle gay undertones, but production did not set out to make it that way! How did a film meant to be homophobic turn out so homoerotic? How did Mark Patton embrace the "final girl" horror film trope? Where did all the scary dream sequences go? Don't fall asleep before listening to Jake and Kevin ponder these and more on this week's episode!
With this week's Disney villain, it's definitely the pirate's life for me, HONEY. 1953 introduced us to the swishy swashbuckler Captain Hook, famed arch enemy of Peter Pan. While he isn't as overtly flamboyant as some other villains later, he sets the stage for the sissy to take center stage of Disney villainy. He even has a cute gay sidekick, Mr. Smee! Never say neverland!
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Ladies and Gentlemen, Catherine Deneuve for Dracula! This week on the pod, Jake and Kevin are talking about 1983's The Hunger, the first film directed by Tony Scott. Catherine plays Miriam, a centuries-old vampire (more or less) accompanied by her thrall and lover, David Bowie's John. As the film progresses, John figuratively and literally fades from Miriam's love while hot young thing Sarah, Susan Sarandon, begins to take his place at Miriam's side. Is Roger Ebert wrong when in saying the only scene worth our time is a steamy encounter between Catherine and Susan? Do our different interpretations of Catherine's powers hold up? Is David Bowie's ass that flat? Join us as we sort of answer these questions! And OH GURRL the miniseries on Disney villains is back back back again! We dish the scalding hot tea on queen mother herself, Maleficent from Disney's Sleeping Beauty. This diva didn't get invited to a PARTY so she CURSES the king's only daughter for REVENGE. We say, that's fierce, witch.
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Hello and welcome back to Cinema Very Gay, Season 2! Jake and Kevin are back with some spicy takes about one of this summer's biggest queer hits, Fire Island (dir. Andrew Ahn 2022). Writer Joel Kim Booster has broken new cinematic rom-com ground by being the first to make a modern adaptation of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice...but this time, IT'S GAY. We follow the follies and faux-pas of Noah, played by Joel Kim Booster himself, and his queer Bennett counterparts. While trying to find a suitable partner for his friend Howie, played by Bowen Yang, Noah meets his own Mr. Darcy, the haughty and mysterious Will. With so much riding on the successful crafting of the adaptation, there is much to yearn for in the subject matter Fire Island tries to tackle. There are still plenty of laughs to be found and lots of great performances to latch onto, including Conrad Ricamora and Margaret Cho. Does Fire Island (film) actually hate Fire Island (place)? Does Noah have any redeeming qualities? Will Jake or Kevin ever get invited to a beachfront Fire Island party? This and more on our first episode of Season 2! You set, girl!
We're also back with a brand spanking new miniseries that we're certain no other podcasters or film reviewers have thought to talk about before- queer-coding in Disney villains! Growing up in the Disney renaissance gave us fond memories of campy, sarcastic, and fabulous DIVAS of Disney villainy, so we're taking a prance down memory lane to catch up with the villains our young gay selves fell in love with. Why not start at the very beginning? The very first animated Disney classic, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1939), certainly goes down as a landmark achievement in filmmaking, but the Evil Queen SLAYS the HOUSE down mawmaw yes work as a campy iconic first villain. Who's the fairest of them all? CINEMA VERY GAY, HONEY. -
For the final episode of our first season, we are spending some time with a pioneer of the New Queer Cinema movement, director Gregg Araki. His 1992 film, The Living End, follows two men, Luke and Jon, who both learn that they are HIV positive and join each other on a chaotic and often violent road trip. Their motto: "Fuck everything." The Living End has a solid grasp on the frustrations of gay men on the fringes of society during the AIDS crisis, while not losing the two men's sexuality and humor. Araki blew audiences away at Sundance Film Festival in 1992 when it premiered, impressively filming this movie with a budget of under $20,000! We can think of no better (Living) End to our season than this film!
We have often asked ourselves on this podcast what makes a good gay movie? To wrap up this episode, Jake and Kevin take a fond look back on the good, the bad, and the offensive of the films we have watched so far! Thanks to all our listeners for tuning in this season, we will see you in a few months!
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