Editor’s note: The views and opinions expressed in this review are solely those of Marlon Wallace and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of WBOC.
10. TURNING RED by Domee Shi (Disney +) – Pixar continues expanding its representation by centering on a tween Asian girl, this one living in Toronto in a pre-smart phone era where she and her circle of friends are lusting after boys in a boy band. She has to find a way to raise money for a concert, while circumventing her mother who is overly protective. Chinese iconography and culture come into play in the fantasy elements later, which are a metaphor either for womanhood or finding one’s passion. At the end of the day, it’s a cute animated tale about a girl who turns into a red panda.
9. BADHAAI DO by Harshavardhan Kulkarni (Netflix) – Many Americans got a taste of Indian cinema with RRR (2022), but low-key filmmakers adjacent to Bollywood, have been producing LGBTQ films that are captivating, beautiful and subversive. In addition to Sachin Kundalkar’s Cobalt Blue (2022), there’s also this romantic comedy, which focuses on a cop and a teacher who engage in a lavender marriage in order to avoid their family’s homophobia and also to get around the country’s laws against gay adoption.
8. THREE MONTHS by Jared Frieder (Paramount +) – This film feels like a Generation X flick. It feels like it’s for those who are aware of Pedro Zamora, one of the first openly gay men with AIDS to be portrayed in popular media. He was the Cuban-American who starred in MTV’s The Real World: San Francisco (1994). His legacy lives on in this film that follows a Jewish teen named Caleb living in Hollywood, Florida, in 2011. Caleb’s romantic and sexual life are put into question when he has to take a HIV test, as well as a follow-up. The story takes place in the space between Caleb’s first test and his follow-up, as he builds a relationship with an Indian boy he meets at a support group.
7. FIRE ISLAND by Andrew Ahn (Hulu) – It’s a remake of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice but with Asian gay men in the leads. Joel Kim Booster writes and stars in a week-long adventure in the New York vacation spot. Bowen Yang from Saturday Night Live joins as hopeless romantic awash in a sea of privilege and promiscuity.
6. SEE YOU THEN by Mari Walker (VOD) – A take on Before Sunrise but between two women who reunite after breaking up years ago. One of the women is actually transgender and hasn’t seen her partner since her transition. The film explores how the aftermath of such a situation might play out. Very well written and acted.
5. A SHOT THROUGH THE WALL by Aimee Long (Tubi) – When an Asian police officer in New York City shoots and kills an unarmed Black man, the police officer realizes all the legal ramifications that proceed, which reveal hidden issues of racism.
4. GREAT FREEDOM by Sebastian Meise (Amazon Prime) – This is the official submission from Austria to the 94th Academy Awards. It made the shortlist of 15 titles, but it didn’t get nominated. It was curated by the streaming service, Mubi. It stars Franz Rogowski who is a highly regarded actor from Germany under the age of 40. Here, Rogowski stars as Hans Hoffman, a German who is imprisoned under Paragragh 175, a homophobic German law. His recidivism is charted from the end of World War II in 1945 to the beginning of the sexual revolution in 1968, as we discover his relationship with a cellmate change over the decades.
3. TOP GUN: MAVERICK by Joseph Kosinski (In theaters) – Tom Cruise’s biggest film is even better than the 1986 original. It’s rare for a sequel to be better than the original but this one does it. It lives up to all the hype. Cruise proves he’s still the best when it comes to crafting engaging and enveloping action scenes. He puts you right in the cockpit at the fastest speeds, as he leads a group of young, diverse people into an impossible mission. All the while, Cruise’s titular character has to wrestle with the guilt of his friend’s death whose son is now one of his pupils.
2. EMERGENCY by Carey Williams (Amazon Prime) – One of the funniest films about Black Lives Matter. Two, African American, college students attempt to attend a string of fraternity parties. Their frivolity is interrupted when a drunk white girl is found in their home. They try to figure out how to help her without arousing the suspicions of anyone, particularly the police. It’s Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle (2004) meets Blindspotting (2018) meets Weekend at Bernie’s (1989).
1. B-BOY BLUES by Jussie Smollett (BET +) – The first in the series of books aimed at Black gay men by James Earl Hardy is adapted into a feature here. It’s not set in the 90’s like the books. It’s instead set in present-day New York where a college-educated journalist meets a homeboy bike messenger. Class, masculinity, family and abuse within the Black gay community are all in the mix in this romantic drama that brings us a more insightful look than Moonlight (2016).
