At the start of the year, I often take an interest in the books coming out over the next 12 months. I usually end up buying a bunch, reading a selection, and finding myself no longer interested in the rest. But, for now, here are the ones that have caught my attention for one reason…
lesbian
Book Review: Sunburn by Chloe Michelle Howarth
In the early 1990s, in the Irish village of Crossmore, Lucy feels out place. She’s always felt this way and the conventional path of marriage and motherhood doesn’t appeal to her at all. Not even with handsome and doting Martin, her closest childhood friend who is in love with her. Lucy begins to make sense…
Killing Eve’s Tragic Love Story
Also featured on Medium. Contains spoilers for Killing Eve Season 4 finale. Killing Eve’s finale was a betrayal of what made the series so remarkable in the first place. Television producer Sally Woodward-Gentle, who optioned Luke Jennings’ Codename Villanelle in 2014, said: “The notion of a female assassin was not unique,” but Jennings’ take was “fresh, intelligent, and tonally…
What is the Real Message Behind ‘I Care A Lot’?
Contains Spoilers for I Care A Lot. J. Blakeson’s third feature film, I Care a Lot, follows the life and crimes of Marla Grayson (Rosamund Pike) — a sociopathic con artist who makes her living ripping off old people. It’s an intriguing focus for a film, but one that makes us ask “what’s the real message…
Review: Happiest Season
Christmas is a time for love, family, warmth… and this Letterboxd list of Christmas films featuring heterosexual couples wearing red and green. While the list plays for laughs, it highlights how manufactured straight Christmas films are and how inundated audiences have become with them. LGBT stories that take place over the holidays are few and far between,…
Review: The Haunting of Bly Manor
Mike Flanagan’s The Haunting of Hill House, based on Shirley Jackson’s novel of the same name, was an absolute masterclass in emotive storytelling, story adaptation, and filmmaking. This time, Flanagan continues to reinvent great stories of the past as the second installment of The Haunting explores Henry James’ “The Turn of the Screw”. The Haunting of Bly…
Review: Ratched
We were first introduced to the terrifying and tyrannical Nurse Mildred Ratched in Ken Kesey’s book One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest — but her character was brought to life by Louise Fletcher in Miloš Forman’s film adaptation, which earned her the Academy Award for Best Actress in 1976. Nurse Ratched manipulated her patients in…
Killing Eve: the Transformation of Eve Polastri
Also featured on Medium. Since the beginning, we’ve always wondered whether Killing Eve — the title — means that Villanelle (Jodie Comer) will eventually kill Eve (Sandra Oh) as part of their intoxicating game of cat and mouse. But what if the title isn’t literal and instead possesses a deeper meaning? At its core, Killing Eve is really about…
‘Portrait of a Lady on Fire’ Explores Lesbian Romance Using the Female Gaze
At the end of the 18th century, Marianne (Noémie Merlant) is teaching portraiture to a group of young women when one of them asks her about a painting they discovered at the back of the class — the titular ‘portrait of a lady on fire.’ We then jump to a flashback, which takes precedence for…
Film Review: Daughters of Darkness (1971)
“I’ve seen many a night fall away into an even more endless night.” Lesbian vampire films became a phenomenon in the 70s with Belgium film director Harry Kümel’s Daughters of Darkness (1971) as no exception. Known as Les Lévres Rouges (The Red Lips) in France, the beautifully crafted film is about two lovers who cross paths with the vampire…