Michael O'Connor and the costumes of “Ammonite”

by Cláudio Alves

As L. P. Hartley famously wrote, "The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there." When looking back at times gone by, filmmakers often find themselves as the intermediates between the audience and that strange land. Most try, in some regard, to be interpreters, translating foreign tongues to recognizable idioms, adapting what came before to contemporary sensibilities.

Others, like Michael O'Connor are more pedagogue than translator. In his work the oddities of the past are shown naked, and it's the audience that learns how to comprehend a new language. The British costume designer has made a name for himself with great feats of period couture. While purposefully austere, the Victorian wardrobe of Francis Lee's Ammonite is one of O'Connor's best creations yet…

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BIFA Nominations: "Saint Maud" leads the horror friendly pack

by Nathaniel R

The British Independent Film Awards have announced their nominations for the year. 27 films received at least one nomination but the bulk of the nominations went to Saint Maud (17), His House (16), and Rocks (15). UPDATE: Rocks and His House later emerged as the big winners. Higher profile Oscar hopefuls like The Father (6) and Ammonite (2) didn't do as well though The Father eventually won 3 of its 6 categories. Due to the category divisions BIFA has a lot of people that are double or triple nominated this year (they have the regular categories plus "debut" style categories). The BIFAs have a unique process in that the nominations are juried and then winners are decided in two separate ways. All BIFA vote by secret ballot to decide the winners of the nine craft categories plus Best Film, Best International Film, Discovery Award, and Short Film. But everything else is decided by discussion of individual juries separate from the juries who picked the nomination! Confusing right?! 

THIS POST HAS BEEN UPDATED WITH THE WINNERS 02/19/21

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The Furniture: Ammonite's Many, Many Fossils

"The Furniture," by Daniel Walber. (Click on the images for magnified detail)

Fossils! They’re cool.

In Ammonite, they’re also a metaphor - a simple one, I’d argue. To be frank, I found the 19th century seaside lesbian paleontology drama to be a bit dull, throwing quite a bit of symbolism up on the screen without ever making a real case that this director needed to make this film about these women.

But I did quite enjoy the sheer number of visual cues, some of which do work quite well. Victorian women, the film suggests, were like fossils. Society confined them to small, dim spaces where they slowly ossified...

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New Fest Lineup!

by Nathaniel R

 Paul Bettany is "Uncle Frank" in a road trip film from Alan Ball
New York City's leading queer film festival is now in its 32nd year. And this year you don't even need to be in NYC to attend since they've gone virtual...

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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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