by Nathan Osborne Writer-director Anna Kerrigan tells a moving and tender tale in Cowboys, a directorial debut which announces a strong new talent and offers some much-needed, positive trans representation to our screens. When recently separated parents clash on how to best raise their transgender son, Joe, father Troy runs off with him into the Monana wilderness, hoping it will give him the best chance … Continue reading Cowboys – BFI Flare 2021 Review
by Jordan King The creation of LGBTQIA+ cinema, particularly documentarian works, is an act of restoration and reclamation. The history of marginalised communities is so often found to have been erased or written in phobic terms by those on the outside of that lived experience that the very act of telling their lost and misrepresented stories is something revolutionary. With the UK premiere of documentary … Continue reading No Ordinary Man – BFI Flare 2021 Review
by Jordan King In 2014, a box was found in a Los Angeles storage unit. It was filled with hundreds of letters addressed to elusive American radio host Reno Martin. As it transpires, Martin was the confidante of choice for many gay men, drag queens, female illusionists, and femme mimics back in the 1950s and 1960s, a period in time where gay history is predominantly … Continue reading P.S. Burn This Letter Please – BFI Flare 2021 Review
by Nathan Osborne A bold and bracing effort, The Obituary of Tunde Johnson tackles race, homosexuality and a time loop in this timely but messy debut from Ali LeRoi. The titular Tunde Johnson is a tragic victim of police brutality, but immediately awakens after death to find himself trapped in a terrifying time loop that forces him to confront painful home truths. Serving as the … Continue reading The Obituary of Tunde Johnson – BFI Flare 2021 Review
by Jordan King Receiving its UK premiere at BFI Flare, Zaida Bergroth’s Tove is an affectionately written, classily directed film that chronicles a decade in the life of bisexual Moomins creator and Finnish national treasure Tove Jansson. Beginning as World War II nears its end at last, we first meet Jansson (Alma Pöysti) as a struggling artist in Helsinki. An alum of prestigious art schools … Continue reading Tove – BFI Film Festival 2021 Review
by Nathan Osborne Making its world premiere at BFI Flare, Peeter Rebane’s familiar but beautifully crafted feature debut is a soaring exploration of masculinity, homophobia and sexuality in secret. Set at the height of the Cold War and based on a true story, Firebird charts the love triangle between a troubled young private, a daring fighter pilot and a female comrade on a soviet Air … Continue reading Firebird – BFI Flare 2021 Review
Movies on Weekends 