by Mattie Lucas
Cinema from a Decidedly Queer Perspective
You’re Cordially Invited | 2025
It says something about the current state of theatrical distribution that a comedy starring Will Ferrell and Reese Witherspoon, directed by the filmmaker who brought us such hits as Neighbors and Forgetting Sarah Marshall, gets unceremoniously dumped on Prime Video without even a token theatrical release. And it's a shame, too, because You’re Cordially Invited is surprisingly good.
Emilia Peréz/Will & Harper | 2024
It isn’t easy being transgender. For those of us who live in America, it’s about to get even harder. With the recent election of Donald Trump and the rush by Democrats to blame trans people for their loss (despite running away from our issues at every turn), the future can seem somewhat bleak. It is of some comfort, then, that our stories are still being told. But as shown by two recent Netflix releases, we’re both making strides, and taking steps back.
In 1931, F.W. Murnau made his final film, Tabu: A Story of the South Seas, on the island of Bora Bora. It was partly inspired by Robert Flaherty's 1926 documentary, Moana (no relation to the Disney film). Tabu would ultimately be Murnau's final film, he died in a car crash before the film was released. Both Tabu and Moana were examples of ethnographic films that sought to bring exotic locales to life for audiences of the silent era. I found myself thinking about both of these films as I watched Miguel Gomes' latest film, Grand Tour.