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Kiss Me Trailer

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In what promises to likely be one of the bestselling lesbian dvds of the year, Swedish writer/director Alexandra-Therese Keining’s Kiss Me is Sweden’s first lesbian film to appear since Show Me Love in 1998. It centers on a love story between stepsisters Mia (Ruth Vega Fernandez) and Frida (Liv Mjönes), who meet for the first time at a wedding party for their respective parents. The spark is instantaneous, but an additional obstacle is Mia’s upcoming marriage to her fiancé Tim (Joakim Nätterqvist) and Frida’s relationship with live in girlfriend Elin (Josefine Tengblad).

The two women fall in love, and both angst and joy ensue on the way to a happy ending. The strongest characters and dialog belong to parents Elizabeth (Lena Endre) and Lasse (Krister Henriksson), who conflict over dealing with the sexual orientations of their daughters. Much of the movie centers on the themes of guilt and decision making about cheating on current partners, although the love between the two main characters wins in the end.

Unfortunately, the film felt rather cliché and flat, and the sudden melodrama to wrap up the story did not fit with the tone of the rest of the production. There are also some very noticeable framing, lighting and camera movement choices that did not work, calling too much attention to technique.

Still, many viewers enjoy Kiss Me for its simplicity, a basic girl meets girl romantic drama (of which there are far too few!). The soundtrack is also available for download. (AB)

Born in Flames Trailer

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I’d seen the cover of Born in Flames for years, first on an old VHS tape purchased on eBay, and a few years ago online when the DVD was released. The film is always billed as a feminist science fiction movie. Reinforcing this, the woman on the cover wears a headset that I thought to be on a spaceship. Without more information, the assumptions I made led me to repeatedly shove it aside for later viewing, assuming the worst about a low budget sci-fi movie. Instead, this incredibly original, exciting film captivated me and changed my understanding of what constitutes science fiction.

Although the science fiction classification certainly fits Born in Flames, in no way does it fit the stereotype of the genre. Rob Nelson calls it a work of “futurist fiction.” This phrase seems better suited to the film, which looks into the future at a time when New York is celebrating the tenth anniversary of a peaceful Social-Democratic War of Liberation.

The movie is shot in a documentary style, with extensive use of a handheld camera, many scenes shot in the streets of New York, and newsreel footage of actual events. It “feels” like a real historical documentary or a period piece, not some time in the future. Director Lizzie Borden revealed that there was no script, and the actors were not professionals, which further explains the realism of the characters, politics and dialog.

Feminists who lived through the 1970s and/or 1980s will certainly find the political arguments familiar, especially the differences defined by race, class, gender, and sexual orientation. The character of Zella was even played by well-known African-American feminist activist Flo Kennedy, who left the National Organization for Women (NOW) for more radical pursuits. The Socialist party newspaper editors in the film mirror the “wait-your-turn” attitudes Kennedy confronted at NOW before it took on issues outside of those of middle-class, white, straight women. When she joined the Black Panthers, Kennedy found herself facing that same attitude about women’s rights in an organization that subjugated those concerns to the issue of race. (Of note, Oscar winning director Kathryn Bigelow plays one of the editors.)

But for all of its realism, Born in Flames is still quite futuristic, not only because it is a fictional world after a revolution, but because it depicts a radical world in which the martyrdom of the Women’s Army leader breaks down the walls between women. Borden did it by gathering black women and white women and listening to their “genuine voices,” creating a story based on their ideas and improvisations. It is as relevant today as it was in 1983. The issues may have changed, but they have not by any means gone away. Examples of progressive groups that bury the interests of racial and ethnic groups, women, the working class, the LGBT community, etc. are still common.

Nelson calls it “a film for the ages” and makes a good point that most of the new gay and lesbian films each year won’t be nearly as relevant 25 years later. Today it is still exciting, with a distinct point of view missing in the more common mainstream-like work from most lesbian filmmakers. (AB)

Gentlemen Prefer Blondes Trailer

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Although it may be a challenge to come up with names of mainstream female buddy movies, they do exist. Films like Thelma and Louise, Fried Green Tomatoes, A League of Their Own, The Color Purple, Julia, and 9 to 5 have female friendships at their core. Women in these films support one another, and even though they may be romantically involved with men, they do not subjugate their relationships with women to those with men. Nor do they become catty or go after the other woman’s man.

Most of these films appeared in the 1990s and later. At its heart, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes also fits here, a renegade from 1953. It was a successful musical featuring bombshells Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell, no doubt with an adoring male audience, but it also put the wonderful friendship between the two main characters front and center. Even when each member of the duo is married to a man, they do it together in a double wedding.

Arbuthnot and Seneca (1990, pg. 113) discuss the pleasures of watching this film for feminist viewers. Other early films featured strong female characters and serious actresses like Katharine Hepburn, Greta Garbo or Marlene Dietrich, but they were often loners or male identified. In contrast, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes includes a focus on women who are connected to one another. Their friendship is something with which female viewers can identify, and even though the plot centers on finding a man, it does not overwhelm the main text of the story. What this means is that the outline of the film clearly identifies Dorothy (Russell) and Lorelei (Monroe) as heterosexual, but it does not consume the characters so much that straight feminists, bisexual women, or lesbians would find it just another film to write off as one that does not appeal to them.

Clearly Lorelei and Dorothy are sexy, wearing tight fitting costumes that amplify hourglass figures, but their attitudes are very female positive, rather than simply objects of desire. They don’t shrink at the male gaze or the female gaze; they return it. This sex appeal makes them both very powerful over the weaker men in the film, allowing them to easily manipulate millionaires, diamond mine owners, or even the entire Olympic team. Almost any female viewer could find some joy in their alliance on this issue! These are women who are very in control of their sexuality, rather than being intimidated or controlled by the male gaze.

But is this more than a female buddy movie? Can we find elements implying that Lorelei and Dorothy are more than friends? Alexander Doty (2000) thinks so, but this is one case in which a queer analysis of a film stretches the imagination. His paper examines scenes, themes, costumes, gestures, musical numbers, etc. and makes a case for reading the characters as bisexual. In particular, the characterization of Dorothy as the brunette, taller, almost butch character in contrast to the very quiet, femme Lorelei rings some bells of recognition.

But the minutiae examined did little to change my perception of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes as a bisexual film. Sometimes a friend is just a friend. Sometimes a friend is more important than a lover, and Doty did not convince me that these two women were lovers. Nor did he convince that audiences were given enough coded queues to think that the women may be in an erotic entanglement.

Why did he not make the case? Perhaps this is because the arguments rely on a definition of bisexuality in which the characters are women identified, but have sex with men. There are many films in which women marry men and also have relationships with women. What they have in common, though, is usually at least one character who is more female identified than the other, or one character who reads as either a lesbian or very open in her sexuality. Lorelei and Dorothy may be open to alternatives, but we don’t have enough clues to readily see this. As two women from “the wrong side of the tracks,” their class struggle also was part of creating a tremendous bond.

Perhaps my reluctance to believe may be because actresses Jane Russell and Marilyn Monroe are such historical icons and sex symbols. When I see them I think sex, heterosexual sex. This does not diminish the pleasure of watching those hourglass figures some sixty years later. It makes the appreciation of the friendship of these very sexually powerful women even greater. (AB)

Albert Nobbs Trailer

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There are very few films in wide release that we can categorize as tragedy. Albert Nobbs, an independent film that features Hollywood powerhouse actress Glenn Close, is truly a sad and tragic tale. It also deals with issues of gender identification and sexual orientation, following the stories of two women who live their lives passing as men.

Close plays the title character Albert Nobbs, a woman who works as a hotel butler, living as a man in order to make a living in 19th Century Dublin. Her face is a mask, not betraying any emotion. It is as if she wants to purposefully fade into the woodwork, living in fear that her secret will be revealed. It doesn’t appear that she particularly wants to be a man. She has just done this all of her adult life to survive a very cruel world for poor women.

Close plays Albert brilliantly (and received an Oscar nomination for best actress). Her eyes and face always portray wariness, never stepping out of the character that Albert has created for herself. It is like she is imprisoned by her own life, incredibly alone, with few connections to others.

Then life begins to look like it has some different possibilities. Hubert (Janet McTeer, The Songcatcher) comes by to do some painting in the hotel, and Albert is astonished to find that Hubert is also a woman passing as a man. The two of them couldn’t be more different. Hubert is noticeably happy with life, even flirtatious with women in public, with a wife at home. McTeer was also nominated for an Oscar for supporting actress and creates a wonderful contrast to the small, quiet little Albert. Hubert is a big working class bloke with a much greater presence in the world.

When Albert meets someone like herself, someone she can confide in, we see her come alive, with a sparkle in her eyes. No longer does she look down, and she actually begins to speak to other people. Hubert tells her that, “You don’t have to be anything but what you are.” Albert evens starts thinking about taking a wife of her own, opening a small shop with the money that she has carefully scraped together over the years.

But as the rest of the tragedy plays out, we see that it is not that simple. Hubert is in love with his wife Kathleen, whereas Albert clearly has no idea about what love or even sex entails. He sees marriage as a business arrangement and doesn’t understand why a young maid at the hotel might not be interested in marrying him. Albert is astonished when she confronts him with the fact that she would never consider marrying someone who had not even kissed her.

There have been many historical cases of women who passed as men to avoid the economic realities of the day – marry, become a prostitute, or starve. The story of Albert Nobbs was written by George Moore back in 1918, and it is not primarily a film about transgender or lesbian issues. In the character of Hubert, we do see a woman who has happily embraced a lesbian lifestyle, but in Albert’s story, the focus is on the brutal facts in a world without safety nets for the poor and working class, especially women. Although Albert has survived thus far, she doesn’t have the kind of life any of us would wish – and further tragedy awaits. (AB)

I’ve Heard the Mermaids Singing Trailer

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I distinctly remember the first time I saw Desert Hearts: in 1986 a friend and I got lost on our way to the Denver movie house where it was playing. Having to buy tickets for a later viewing, we happily wandered the theater’s Victorian neighborhood. It was a magical spring night, Desert Hearts went on to be a classic lesbian film, and my friend went on to become the first woman I slept with.

On the other hand, I only vaguely recall circumstances around I’ve Heard the Mermaids Singing. When in the late 80’s did I first see this Canadian film? Was it shown on campus or at our now-defunct Art Cinema? Did I go with a friend or by myself? Although I can’t recall these specifics, I’ve Heard the Mermaids Singing (1987) shaped me in ways Desert Hearts never did.

Directed by Patricia Rozema (When Night is Falling, Grey Gardens), I’ve Heard the Mermaids Singing centers on Polly (Sheila McCarthy), an odd 31-year-old, self-proclaimed “spinster” and “person Friday” who holds a stream of temporary administrative jobs in Toronto. She’s hired on long-term by Gabrielle (Paule Baillargeon), the shallow, self-centered owner of a contemporary art gallery. Polly develops a severe intellectual crush on Gabrielle, who she calls “The Curator.” While I had remembered their early scenes together as funny—Gabrielle proof-reading Polly’s poor typing and the infamous Japanese restaurant—this time around, Gabrielle’s self-absorption seemed simply cruel while Polly’s inelegance was painful to watch.

I was, however, still quite amused by the film’s purposefully pretentious art critiques. And—sadly—I could still relate to Polly’s unrequited attraction to Gabrielle and yes, it is still empowering to see a lesbian relationship, even a dysfunctional one, on screen.

For me, though, the crux of Mermaids is Polly’s transformation. The first set of transformations are temporary: her regular lapses into rich fantasies filled with soaring music and personal heroics. While these fantasies are entertaining and were probably fun to film, Polly’s true transformation comes when she is behind her camera. There, Polly is confident and inspired. Using her kitchen as a dark room, she fills her modest apartment with the results of her creativity, plastering its walls with black-and-white prints.

As a young woman in my late twenties, I was moved by clumsy, self-conscious Polly, a protagonist who none-the-less who believed strongly enough in her art to put it first in her life. I left the movie theater knowing I wanted to do the same.

I won’t give away further plot details of the film, other than to say that obstacles and intrigue arise. The dialogue is playful, the pain is real, and Rozema’s quirks, colors, and camera angles further enhance the film.

One last admission: Back in 1988, I had a mad crush on Mary (Ann-Marie MacDonald), Gabrielle’s girlfriend, who appears mid-way in the film with her dark eyes and black leather jacket. Watching Mermaids twenty-three years later, I was taken aback by the character’s over-moussed hair and overly-studded leather jacket. Instead of looking sexy, she looked, well, horribly ‘80s.

Yet, in the way that the world cycles round and re-connects us, at the same time I began reviewing this film, I was listening to a book on tape called The Way the Crow Flies. Much of the story is told from the perspective of a tom-boyish elementary school girl. The book’s author, I discovered, was none other than this same Ann-Marie MacDonald, who also wrote the celebrated novel Fall On Your Knees. I googled her photograph on-line. She’s hotter than ever. And a damn good writer.

Creative synchronicity abounds.

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Once a prolific social satirist (last century, her parody The Butches of Madison County won a 1995 Lambda Literary award), Ellen Orleans now writes fiction, non-fiction, and half-fiction. Her story “Outreach” won the 2007 Gertrude Press chapbook competition, while her fable “Comfort” appears in Primal Picnics (Jennifer Heath, ed., Whole World Press, 2010). Ellen’s writing and video projects have been published in wig-leaf, Trickhouse, Palimpsest, Dante’s Heart, sub-scribe, The Washington Post, and GirlJock Magazine, among others. She’s currently writing Prayer for Dew, prose pieces about growing up Jewish in New Jersey, and Pedestal, narratives and ruminations on her parents’ marriage and mother’s death. In addition to writing, Ellen runs Boulder’s Yellow Pine Reading Series, builds box art, looks for birds, and stumps for zero waste.

Linda Linda Linda Trailer

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Linda Linda Linda (2005, Japan) relates the endearing and humorous story of a group of four high school girls who put their hearts into performing as a rock band at their high school’s festival.

With talented actresses, an original script, and a simple storyline, director Nobuhiro Yamashita creates an innocent, tender, and feminist [anti-sexist] reality in which social prejudices, high school cliques, and vanity are nonexistent. It could be considered a “girl power” film or subtly a “gender-bender” one. It is what life, or at least high school, would look like if girls could be girls.

Driven by friendship and dedication, and undeterred by their imperfect music skills, the four unpretentious girls are determined to perform. Practicing incessantly and under time pressure, each band member has charm in her own humble way. Son (Bae Doona) in particular, the school’s foreign exchange student from Korea and lanky-legged wide-eyed vocalist, overcomes her initial foreign language and singing insecurities to add color to the otherwise quiet and mundane suburban high school. Somewhat androgynous in their uniforms, messy hair, scuffed knees and no make-up, the band nuances the passive and/or kawaii cute Japanese school girl stereotype and put their energy and emotions not into securing a boyfriend or beating teenage awkwardness but rather into making an all-girl rock band work as a team.

The film is also memorable for its music—the catchy rock songs the girls rehearse are from the now classic 80’s Japanese band “The Blue Hearts.”

Overall, this is a “feel good” film. After you view it you’ll probably have a smile on your face and the songs in your head. And, if you’re like me, you’ll be wishing your high school had been like this one!

“Feminism is anti-sexism. [. . . ] We have created no schools founded on feminist [anti-sexist] principles for girls and boys, for women and men. By failing to create a mass-based educational movement to teach everyone about feminism [anti-sexism] we allow mainstream patriarchal mass media to remain the primary place where folks learn about feminism, and most of what they learn is negative.” — bell hooks, Feminism is for Everybody

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Megan S. is a native of Detroit, Michigan and currently teaches Spanish language and culture in New Zealand. A flâneuese at heart, she loves living in cities around the world and conducts research about urban culture. She is currently working on a book titled Public Everyday Space. Her interest in gender and film, and the main reason for contributing to this website, derive from both the lack of gender equality in her past and present, and the power of the public image to transform our immediate future. She believes gender inequality is intimately connected to all facets of discrimination (racial, economic, ethnic…etc.) and that talking publicly about these commonalities, along with the forces that separate them, is key to improving any situation. Visit her blog at megansaltzman.blogspot.com.

Young Blades Trailer

One of the latest in a long line of takeoffs on the classic Three Musketeers story, this PAX television program follows four aspiring Musketeers in 17th century France. They defend their homeland and young King Louis (Robert Sheehan) against threats both inside and outside the country.

In the first scene of the series, we meet Jacqueline (Karen Cliche), a young woman with amazing swordplay skills and a dream of avoiding a dull marriage. To avenge the death of her father and to escape arrest, Jacqueline passes as Jacques and joins the Musketeers. Although her secret is in jeopardy many a time, only one of her fellow swordsmen knows that she is a woman, and she devotes her life to ‘fighting injustice wherever I find it.’

She is just one of the guys, usually sporting a fake goatee, and by episode five, Jacques has to deal with a woman who has fallen in love with him. Jacqueline was established as heterosexual in a previous episode, but it’s fun to watch her sweat the other woman’s affections.

The series is not a must see, but there are some nice sword fights, and Jacques is central to several episodes, including one in which he wins an invincible sword. As an interesting aside, singer Sheena Easton plays Queen Anne. (AB)

Young Americans Trailer

A spinoff of teen show Dawson’s Creek, Young Americans aired for an eight episode summer season. It centers on the lives of students at the private Rawley Academy in New England. Will (Rodney Scott) is a local there on a scholarship, and he struggles with no longer fitting in with his old friends or his new schoolmates. His rich roommate Scout (Mark Famiglietti) falls in love with Bella (Kate Bosworth), a local girl who is forbidden to him.

What makes the show interesting for us is the presence of Jake (Katherine Moennig, The L Word), a girl who passes as a boy and lives in a single room in the male dormitories. She binds her chest and rides a motorcycle that is the envy of the other guys.

Inevitably, one of the girls falls for Jake and kisses him. But Jake is heterosexual, and she only has eyes for Hamilton (Ian Somerhalder, Celebrity), the Dean’s son. He begins to think that he is gay, until after a passionate kiss in the men’s room, Jake finally lets him in on the secret. Turns out that Jake/Jacqueline has only done this to mess with her mother, who doesn’t understand her.

Jake and Hamilton are assumed to be a gay couple by those around them. Meanwhile, the rest of the students’ soap opera lives continue. (AB)

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Women in Hong Kong talk openly in interviews about sex, sexuality and relationships. The participants cover a wide range of women of all ages, and one section focuses on talking with lesbians.

Fun to watch and really interesting to hear people speak so frankly about masturbation, relationships, prostitutes, orgasms and just about everything else related to sex. (AB)