Why are so many lesbian films set in the past?

by Anna

Ammonite (2020)

With Ammonite's trailer now familiar and the film and Kate Winslet continuing on the festival and press rounds, there's been buzz aplenty for Francis Lee’s follow-up to the excellent God’s Own Country. That said, there are some who have a quibble or two. Jill Gutowitz expressed mild annoyance, asking:

Does every lesbian movie have to be two severely depressed women wearing bonnets and glancing at each other in british accents?”

(She followed up by saying she’ll be seeing Ammonite.) It is a good question. And why are so many recent WLW-themed works period pieces?

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Remembering "Ed Wood" on its 25th

Ed Wood opened nationwide on this very day, 25 years ago. 

by Anna

There’s an admirable irony in that a biopic on the worst director of all time ended up being one of the best-reviewed movies of 1994. The added fact that it ended up being largely ignored by mainstream audiences at the time seems almost fitting. As the second of Burton and Depp’s repeat collaborations, it further set the precedent for all their future collaborations exploring the odd man (in every sense of the term) amid everyday life. But instead of the Frankenstein pastiche that defined their previous film, this one is about someone who has endless stories to tell… even though he doesn’t have the talent to tell them.

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25th Anniversary: Quiz Show (1994)

Best Picture nominee Quiz Show (1994) was released 25 years ago. Here's Anna with a look back...

The year is 1958 (it should be 1956; Redford condensed the three-year scandal into one). Households across America tune in to watch Twenty-One. Everyone is fascinated by the wisdom from reigning champion Herb Stempel (John Turturro). Well, almost everyone; producers Dan Enright (David Paymer) and Albert Freedman (Hank Azaria) as well as the show’s sponsor think it’s high time for some new talent on the show. Enter Columbia University instructor Charles Van Doren (Ralph Fiennes), who had auditioned for their other show Tic-Tac-Dough. And this is when Enright tells Herb to take the fall, which he reluctantly does. But how long until keeping the truth becomes too much for Charles?

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25th Anniversary: Danny Boyle's "Shallow Grave"

by Anna

Twenty-five years, a new British filmmaker made a dark splash at Cannes. Danny Boyle’s directorial debut Shallow Grave, which would become a significant sleeper success in 1995, opens with flatmates David (Christopher Eccleston), Juliet (Kerry Fox) and Alex (Ewan McGregor) looking for a new boarder (and subsequently trolling the prospective candidates). They settle on Hugo (Keith Allen) but he dies from a drug overdose within hours of moving in. Then the trio  find a suitcase full of money under Hugo’s bed, and that’s where the plot (and the meaning behind the film’s title) really kicks off.

Roughly a decade of award-winning films from the likes of Stephen Frears and David Attenborough, Boyle came and turned British cinema as a whole on its ear...

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1972: The founding fathers musical "1776"

We're looking back at the 1972 film year before the Smackdown.

by Anna

Peter H Hunt's 1776, based on the stage musical of the same name, chronicles the many woes that went into the Declaration of Independence’s creation. At the forefront of its writing are the “obnoxious and disliked” John Adams (William Daniels), the dry-witted Benjamin Franklin (Howard Da Silva), and the homesick Thomas Jefferson (Ken Howard). Amid the clash of words and egos of the other delegates of Congress, will they succeed?

Recruiting many of the names involved with the original Broadway production (Producer Jack L. Warner’s attempt to atone for casting Audrey Hepburn over Julie Andrews for My Fair Lady), 1776 had the misfortune of being released the same year as another period piece musical. 

Would 1776 have won more acclaim had it been released a different year?

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