50th Anniversary: "Harold and Maude" is as necessary as ever.

by Brent Calderwood

It might be time to stop calling Harold and Maude a cult film. Yes, it’s true that when it came out fifty years ago (December 20, 1971), many critics and audiences greeted it with a mix of bewilderment, indifference, and even hostility—Variety, for example, claimed it had “all the fun and gaiety of a burning orphanage.” And yes, it's also true that Harold and Maude has been a staple of midnight art-house screenings almost since its release and has topped “best cult films” lists for as long as “cult film” has been a recognizable term.  

But 50 years on, Harold and Maude is so widely beloved by critics and new generations of film lovers that what was faintly hailed as an exquisite but slightly rarefied document of post-’60s counterculture is now firmly a part of our culture...

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Kit Clarke as Rupert Everett? Good casting!

We totally missed sharing this story that is now a bit old but it might be news to you! 

Rupert Everett will be played by Kit Clarke in a new film

Rupert Everett was one of our first heroes. The now 62 year-old actor is the first movie star in our lifetime that came out of the closet. It was such a ballsy move for a leading man in 1989, you can't even imagine if you weren't alive at the time. While it's still a brave move in some ways for today's actors, it's no longer at all unusual and large pockets of the media, Hollywood, and fan culture are supportive enough that we have dozens of famous  out actors in 2021! (The closet still exists in Hollywood, too, of course). Everett was the only one back in the day. (Sir Ian McKellen came out a year before Rupert but he was not yet a movie star and the stage has always been more accepting of gay talent.) Everett doesn't always get the credit for being a pioneer, partially because of his repeatedly sharp tongue and controversial statements (including his own coming out) as well as that "difficult" reputation. But we will forever love him for paving the way.

We forgot to share the news from a month back that the star is moving behind the camera for his latest which will be an autobiographical film called Lost and Found in Paris...

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Interview: Aly Muritiba on Brazil's queer Oscar submission "Private Desert"

by Nathaniel R

Sometimes the long lead up to a movie's release can alter a story. In the case of Aly Muritiba's Private Desert, most people who come to it will already be aware of its central premise though the movie treats that as a "reveal". Happily the film works either way. Crossing the border can also change how a movie feels. The initial protagonist, Daniel (Antonio Saboia) is viewed sympathetically but his offscreen history (police brutality) is likely to spark different reactions from country to country, depending on societal views on policing and masculinity.  In the minimalist but never simple story, a lonely cop spontaneously drives several hours to finally meet the woman he's been romancing online. She abruptly ghosts him after an implicit request for reciprocal nudes and we glean, quite a long time before he does, that he's fallen for a queer person. 

We had the pleasure of talking to the director Aly Muritiba about the film, the careful casting of his second lead, and Brazil's contentious history of Oscar selections...

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SPOILERS: The Endings of "Passing" and "Power of the Dog"

by Deborah Lipp

So, the title says “spoilers.” And it says “endings” which makes “spoilers” somewhat redundant. Stop reading now unless you’ve seen both of these movies.

Okay. Coast is clear...

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FYC: "Flee" for Best Picture

by Matt St Clair

Flee, now playing in limited release, is transcendent. The animated memoir could break records by competing in three Feature categories: Animated Feature, Documentary Feature, and, because it’s the Danish submission, Best International Feature. Both Collective and Honeyland recently made history recently by competing in the latter two categories simultaneously, but no film has found itself in contention for all three. Flee might accomplish this historic feat, but it should go even further by also being nominated for Best Picture.

A nomination would allow the glass ceiling for documentaries to finally break. In the ceremony’s soon-to-be 94-year history, no documentary has ever competed in the top category...

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