Lord. Have. Mercy.

[Edit: My original attempt at a review for this movie sucked. This is attempt 2.]

The Movie: Gia, directed by Michael Cristofer
Recommendation: Von Gauzen, H
Reason: Von Gauzen got this for me for Christmas a couple of years ago, and H passed me another copy with the rest of her reccomendations. Both pretty much said "Here, have some Angelina Jolie." Am I that transparent?

My sapphic hero! I have gone to my happy place, in fact, I'm certain that for a few minutes I stopped breathing during this movie. Promising, I know. It's not a spectacular piece of work, but I sort of stopped caring. Angelina Jolie is easily one of my favorite actresses, and her work on Gia was utterly spectacular. Elizabeth Mitchell is also awesome (Hi again, Lost!).

Queer cinema rules remain in place (horrible death ahoy!), except for the one that says bisexuals don't exist (right on, Linda!). I guess this would be the place in which I'm supposed to flip out about the exploitation of lesbianism in popular cinema. That it's hot for two attractive women to kiss, but it's not quite so cool for two guys to kiss. That's the extent of my flip out. Yes, twenty minutes into the movie we're treated to an exploitative demonstration of "the lesbians" in action. I refuse to object to two attractive people making out, whether other people are titillated or not. That's other people's problem.

After Oldboy, I was pretty desensitized to the gross stuff, but hey, nothing deglamorizes drug addiction like watching someone shoot up into a hideously infected boil on their hand, followed by pus leaking out. And then later they die of AIDS. I guess that's sort of a service to the community. Gia was one of the first famous people to die of AIDS, or so her wiki page says. Can't help but notice that this was after the fashion industry drained her of her life, beauty and vitality. Also can't help but notice that she died pretty much alone. How nice of them.

-39/365 down, 326/365 to go

If you want to win an Oscar, get ugly

(Please forgive me if this and all other reviews done today are rambling and weird. I'm sick.)

The Movie: Transamerica, directed by Duncan Tucker
Recommendation: Me
Reason: Queer film is a strange beast, and Huffman got a nomination for this.

Queer film is weird. Try to think of a single movie featuring a transgendered, transvestite, gay, lesbian or bisexual character in the last...oh...forever that didn't feature that character coming to a tragic end, or exploit the queerness of the characters for tittilation or comedy value. Brokeback Mountain, Boys Don't Cry, etcetera, etcetera. Transamerica isn't as transgressive as many of the other mainstream films in the catalogue, but something about a genetic-woman playing a transwoman still doesn't sit right with me. It's a small nitpick, since Felicity Huffman handles her character with a modicum of taste and a heap of respect for her journey. I can't speak to how 'real' Bree's lifestyle, affectations and eventual transformation are, but Huffman's performance at least made it seem close.

This film did get an Oscar nod for Huffman's turn, but I have to admit to being at least as interested in Kevin Zeger's layered work as Bree's son, Toby. His part was quite complex, the sort of thing most young male actors wouldn't undertake both for its complexity and for the amount of comfort with distinctly not-straight situations he needed to have for the part. I'm a fan of him as a supporting actor, and I will be watching for him in the future. His performance here was vulnerable and almost painful at times, but he developed a real sense of character.

The movie was alright. Nothing too spectacular, nothing horribly awful. The costuming was well done, managing to convey a lot about the characters. I suppose the real keyword for the movie would be 'subtle'. So yes. Not great, not awful.

-32/365 down, 333/365 to go