|
|
|
Aimee
& Jaguar (1999, 126 min, Germany)
Director: Max Farberbock Studio: Zeitgeist
Starring: Maria Schrader, Juliane Kohler, Johana Wokalek,
Heike Makatsch
REVIEW:
“Aimee & Jaguar” is a
rare film. It leaves the audience weeping about the
dire consequences an intense love has wrought, but
exhilarated over the existence of such love. Aimee
tells the true story of Lilly (Kohler) and Felice
(Schrader), lovers in WWII Germany. Lilly is married
to a Nazi officer away at the front and has many affairs
while her husband is gone. Felice is the leading light
of her circle of lesbians, in love with Ilse (Wokalek),
but smitten with Lilly. Felice knows that the relationship
is impossible, but she doesn't care. She's headstrong
and she's met her soul mate. Felice is not only a
lesbian, but Jewish as well . . . prime target for
the Nazis to ship off to the camps. The story is told
through flashbacks when Lilly is an old woman being
brought to a retirement home where she happens to
meet another of their circle from the war.
More info on Aimee
& Jaguar
Amazing Dreams Short-Short Review:
Aimee
& Jaguar
Sad story, but very important to watch. A history
lesson that none of us should ever forget.
****
|
|
|
All
Over Me (1997, 90 min, US)
Director: Alex Sichel Studio: New Line
Starring:Alison Follard, Tara Subkoff, Wilson Cruz,
Cole Hauser, Leisha Haley
REVIEW:
This independently made film
wonderfully captures the growing pains of adolescence
and the joy, tentativeness, and excitement of a gawky
teenager’s emerging lesbian identity. Set in
New York's Hell's Kitchen area, the story focuses
on Claude (Alison Follard) and her best friend Ellen
(Tara Subkoff). Claude feels completely alone, suffering
not only from the typical neuroses of adolescence
but from her unrequited love for Ellen, who is enthusiastically
straight. Moody and uncommunicative, Claude eventually
finds solace with a wannabe riot girl and fellow baby
dyke, Lucy. This is a story about change, separation,
and self-discovery that is both knowing and sensitive..
More info on All
Over Me
Amazing Dreams Short-Short Review:
All
Over Me
We saw it and liked it OK.
**
|
|
|
April's
Shower (2003, 98 min, US)
Studio: Here!
Cast: Denise Miller, Joe Tabbanella, Maria Cina, Randall
Batinkoff, Trish Doolan
Director: Trish Doolan
Screenwriter: Trish Doolan
REVIEW:
April’s Shower is a very funny,
stylish romantic comedy of heterosexual marriages,
lesbian passions and true love. April (Maria Cina)
is getting married and has asked Alex (Trish Doolan),
a chef and her former roommate, to host her bridal
shower. But why is Alex sobbing a bit too wildly as
she chops the onions? And when the guests start to
arrive--the nosy make-up artist, Vicky; the flaming
queen, Jake; Martha-Stewart-lite, Rita; April’s
menopausal mother, Fran; and a host of other screwballs
and oddballs--it becomes obvious that April is not
the average bride-to-be. When April’s Latina
friend Sophie arrives while in the midst of a fight
with her lesbian artist lover Sasha, and the pizza
delivery man decides to stay and chat with Jake and
Alex’s brother, the party begins to unravel in
earnest. The wine and food are flowing and a host
of secrets, each more startling than the next, are
revealed. In Trish Doolan’s well-scripted, well-acted
Altman-esque tour de force, the laughs keep coming
as do the gasps. The fun and frolicsome April’s
Shower never ceases to surprise.
More
info on April's
Shower
|
|
Amour
de Femme A.K.A.: A Woman's Love (2001, 89 min, France)
Studio: Picture This! Home Video
Cast: Raffaela Anderson, Anthony Delon, Hélène
Fillières
Director: Sylvie Verheyde
REVIEW:
Jeanne, 35, is a successful osteopath
in Paris, offering healing to others through massage
and touch. Married, with a son of seven years, Jeanne
expertly and willingly goes through the motions of a
happy marriage, though her faraway manner belies this
suggestion of satisfaction. But something unsettled
brews from within. Attending a party with her husband,
she meets a professional dancer named Marie, with whom
she forms an immediate bond. Recalling times when she
herself used to dance, Jeanne resolves to take lessons
from Marie. Through dance, she begins to reacquaint
herself with her own body (even as she has cared for
the bodies of others), and with the expression of inner
passion, which has been lacking in her marriage. When
Marie reveals her sexual attraction to Jeanne, almost
immediately Jeanne realizes that she feels the same
way. Then, it’s only a brief matter of time before
she falls in love – shocking a close friend in
whom she confides, angering her husband as his suspicions
of an affair grow stronger, and overwhelming Jeanne
herself with waves of passion that lift her ever higher…
and carry her farther and farther away from the life
she has known. In a tour-de-force of direction, Sylvie
Verheyde tells the compelling story of two passionate
women weighing the undeniability of their love against
forces that would keep them apart. Presented with depth
and subtlety, the film glimmers with its director’s
considerable storytelling prowess, and especially with
the raw immediacy and passion of its leading performances.
Helene Fillieres, as Jeanne, is a formidable screen
presence: her stormy beauty simultaneously suggesting
the terror with which she at first cowers from love’s
promise, then lunges at it hungrily, epitomizing Jeanne’s
greatest question in life: who is this woman that I
am becoming? She is aptly paired with Raffaëla
Anderson (of the controversial French feature BAISE
MOI), whose Marie is the very picture of courageous
self-determination, whether romancing Jeanne in quiet
conversation, or wildly dancing with a commanding ferocity.
Though the film sidesteps easy solutions to the challenges
these women face, it is exhilarating for the force and
conviction with which it depicts love’s disregard
for convention and timidness, in a relentless flow toward
its own truth.
More info on Amour
de Femme
|
|
Antonia's
Line (1995, 93 min, The Netherlands)
Director: Marleen Gorris Studio: Fox Lorber
Starring: Willeke van Ammelrooy, Els Dottermans,Veere
Van Overloop
REVIEW:
A celebration of the love, unity, and
strength of women, this touching family chronicle/fable
from lesbian director Gorris centers on four generations
of women. The story, set in a small Dutch village, spans
decades—from the devastation of the post-war period
to the present—and follows the fiercely independent-minded
Antonia (Willeke van Ammelrooy), who returns to her
childhood farmhouse to till the soil and raise a family;
all without the aid of the misogynistic townsfolk, a
hypocritical church, and the often violence-prone men.
Antonia is aided by her lesbian daughter, a granddaughter,
and great-granddaughter and a group of social rejects
who flock to her. This Oscar-winning Best Foreign Film
is masterful storytelling that enthralls. (Dutch with
English subtitles).
More info on Antoinia's
Line
Amazing Dreams Short-Short Review:
Anotonia's
Line
Didn't see it, but heard it is very good.
? |
|
Bar
Girls (1995, 95 min, US)
Director: Marita Giovanni Studio: MGM
Starring: Nancy Allison Wolfe, Lisa Parker, Camile Griggs,
Paula Sorge, Justine Slater
REVIEW:
The mating rites and the accompanying
mind games of L.A. lesbians are uncovered in this knowing
romantic comedy. Lauran Hoffman's script (based on her
autobiographical play) centers most of the action at
the West Hollywood Girl Bar where “love” comes
easy and often for its denizens. Loretta (Nancy Allison
Wolfe), a writer and one of the bar's bed-hopping regulars,
meets and all-too-quickly falls for the self-assured
Rachel (Liza D'Agnostino), a bewitching aspiring actress.
Their union is threatened,
More info on Bar
Girls
Amazing Dreams Short-Short Review:
Bar
Girls
Good ol' Lesbian Movie.
***
|
|
Basic
Instinct (1992, 127 min, US)
Director: Paul Verhoeven Studio: Artisan
Starring: Michael Douglas, Sharon Stone, Jeanne Tripplehorn,
George Dzunda, Dorothy Malone
REVIEW:
When it opened at theatres, this thriller
was surrounded by controversy for it raised a red flag
for gays, lesbians, and feminists with its shockingly
“retro” stereotypes of man-hating lesbians
with a “basic instinct” for murder. The film
follows Michael Douglas as a burned-out cop who falls
in “lust” with the prime suspect in a series
of brutal ice pick murders, lasciviously portrayed by
Sharon Stone. “Basic Instinct” is seen by
some as the despicable leader of “the lesbian as
killer” genre, and others view it as a sexy tale
of a lesbian who enjoys the pleasure of other women
as well as sticking ice picks into men.
More info on Basic Instinct .
More info on Basic
Instinct
Amazing Dreams Short-Short Review:
Basic
Instinct
When buying tickets for this movie, a friend asked
for "Two for Basic Insults."
We liked it way better than that, although the Bi Woman,
Psycho Killer Theme persists..
**** |
|
Better
Than Chocolate (1999, 98 min, Canada)
Director: Anne Wheeler Studio: Trimark/Trimark
Starring: Wendy Crewson, Karyn Dwyer, Christina Cox,
Anne-Marie MacDonald, Peter Outerbridge, Marya Delver,
Kevin Mundy, Tony Nappo, Jay Brazeau
REVIEW:
Winner of Audience Awards in the Philadelphia,
London and Toronto Gay and Lesbian Film Festivals, this
enjoyable tale tells of lesbian love winning against
all the odds. When 19-year-old Maggie’s mother
calls and says she is moving in, Maggie, who quit law
school and has been sleeping on the couch at the lesbian
book store, must find a sublet apartment and make it
livable fast. To complicate matters, she has just met
Kim, an artistic road warrior who has rolled into town
and moved into both Maggie’s heart and ‘her
new home. But Maggie hasn’t come out to her mother
yet so it’s time to hide the sex toys and “straighten
up.” Add to the picture her lovesick best friend
Judy, a transsexual estranged from her family; her uptight
lesbian boss; and Maggie’s randy teen brother who
gets a few lessons on life, and you get an entertaining
romantic comedy of errors and the frailty of the human
heart.
More info on Better
Than Chocolate
Amazing Dreams Short-Short Review:
Better
Than Chocolate
GREAT HAPPY STORY that everyone should see!
***** |
|
Bound
(1996, 108 min, US)
Director: Andy Wachowski & Larry Wachowski Studio:
Artisan
Starring: Jennifer Tilly, Gina Gershon, Joe Pantoliano
REVIEW:
Gina Gershon and Jennifer Tilly star
as neighbors who become lovers first, then partners
in crime. The question in this film is who will betray
whom. “Bound” is an unexpected accomplishment,
stylishly shot and edge-of-your-seat tense. It is also
a landmark for its depiction of its lesbian heroines.
More info on Bound.
More info on Bound
Amazing Dreams Short-Short Review:
Bound
Liked it, although the Bad Lesbian Theme persists.
**** |
|
Bound
and Gagged—A Love Story (1993, 96 min, US)
Director: Daniel Appleby Studio: Image
Starring: Elizabeth Saltarrelli, Ginger Lynn Allen,
Chris Denton, Karen Allen, Chris Mulkey
REVIEW:
This frantic lesbian comedy is an
amazingly self-assured independent feature. Cliff, a
slacker loser, finds that his best friend Elizabeth,
a fun-loving but irrational bisexual, is hopelessly
in love with an abused woman (former porn queen Ginger
Lynn Allen). Things get out of control leaving the love-lorn
Elizabeth no option but to abduct her love and hit the
road, roaming the Midwest in a queer Thelma and Louise
fashion.
More info on Bound
and Gagged - A Love Story
Amazing Dreams Short-Short Review:
Bound
and Gagged—A Love Story
Better left unsaid.
* |
|
Boys
Don't Cry (1999, 116 min, US)
Director: Kimberly Peirce Studio: Fox
Starring: Hilary Swank, Chloë Sevigny, Peter Sarsgaard,
Brendan Sexton III,
Alison Folland, Alicia Goranson, Matt McGrath
REVIEW:
One of the best films of 1999, this fictionalized
drama focuses on the tragic real-life story of Brandon
Teena, a biological woman (Teena Brandon) who decided
quite early to live her life as a man—a decision
he paid for with his life. Hilary Swank, in an Oscar-Winning
performance, is riveting as Brandon, a sweet, but far-from-perfect
21-year-old drifter who just simply wanted to be a boy
and love women. The harrowing tale follows Brandon as
he befriends and moves in with a group of poor but fun-loving
people. He also falls in love with Lana (Chloe Sevigny
in an equally impressive performance), a tough-talking
gal who finally meets a man who respects her and treats
her right. But when Brandon is exposed as a woman, ignorance,
fear, and homophobia drive two of her male friends to
violently confront him.
More info on Boys
Don't Cry
Amazing Dreams Short-Short Review:
Boys
Don't Cry
Very, very sad and violent movie, but important
to watch..
**** |
Boys Don't Cry
|
Boys
on the Side (1995, 117 min, US)
Director: Herbert Ross Studio: Warner
Starring: Whoopi Goldberg, Mary-Louise Parker, Drew
Barrymore, James Remar,
Matthew McConaughey, Estelle Parsons, Billy Wirth
REVIEW:
Whoopi Goldberg plays a lesbian who takes
to the road with Drew Barrymore and Mary-Louise Parker
in this life-affirming “Thelma and Louise + One”
soap opera. Only problem with this free-wheeling comedy
is that everyone gets laid except for our sweet Whoopi!
More info on Boys on the Side.
More info on Boys
On The Side
Amazing Dreams Short-Short Review:
Boys
on the Side
Very good, but another sad movie.
**** |
Boys on the Side
|
But
I'm a Cheerleader (2000, 90 min, US)
Director: Jamie Babbit Studio: Universal
Starring: Natasha Lyonne, Mink Stole, Bud Cort, RuPaul
Charles, Cathy Moriarty, Clea DuVall
REVIEW:
Poor Megan (Lyonne) she may be a
pretty high schooler, model student, and cheerleader
who's dating the captain of the football team, but
her loving parents think otherwise. You see, she's
a vegetarian, she doesn't like kissing her boyfriend,
and one can't ignore those Melissa Etheridge records.
Afraid that their daughter will fall in with the dark
forces of same-sex love, she is quickly carted off
to “True Directions,” a scarily cheerful
five-step de-homofication rehab camp. There she finds
herself joined by a group of butch baby dykes, lipstick
lesbians, and several queeny gay boys. Sapphic sparks
fly when Megan locks eyes with Graham (DuVall), a
tomboy beauty with no intention of going straight.
More info on But
I'm A Cheerleader
Amazing Dreams Short-Short Review:
But
I'm a Cheerleader
Fun, fun, movie! We watch it every time it is on cable.
****
|
|
Celestial
Clockwork (1994, 86 min, France/Venezuela)
Director: Fina Torres Studio: Hallmark
Starring: Ariadna Gil, Arielle Dombasle, Evelyne Didi
REVIEW:
In dusty Caracas, the lovely Ana
suddenly comes to her senses at the altar and flees
her stunned husband-to-be. She jumps aboard the next
Paris-bound plane and takes up residence in a funky
crash pad with her old friend Alma. Ana sets out to
pursue her career as an operatic soloist, but along
the way runs afoul of the immigration authorities
and discovers her budding lesbianism, falling desperately
in love with an attractive high-tech psychoanalyst
who interviews all her patients remotely by video.
This film is a highly entertaining ride with Ana on
her picaresque journey to self-fulfillment. (Spanish
and French with English subtitles)
More info on Celestial
Clockwork (Mécanicas Célestes)
Amazing Dreams Short-Short Review:
Celestial
Clockwork
Didn't see it, but heard it is very good.
?
|
Celestial Clockwork
|
The
Celluloid Closet (1995, 102 min, US)
Director: Rob Epstein & Jeffrey Friedman Studio:
Columbia
Featuring: Lily Tomlin, Susan Sarandon, Whoopi Goldberg,
Shirley MacLaine, Tony Curtis,
Tom Hanks, Gore Vidal, Quentin Crisp
Inspired by the late Vito Russo's book on the depiction
of homosexuality in Hollywood cinema, this documentary
offers a candid mini-history of gays and lesbians onscreen.
“The Celluloid Closet” takes a chronological
approach to the subject, offering clips from the turn
of the century through the silents, to the effeminate
caricatures of the 1930s, the pitiful homosexual of
the 1950s and '60s, the violently deviant homosexual
of the '70s and '80s, and concluding with the squeaky
clean image of recent times. While encompassing in scope,
the film is simplistic; however, “The Celluloid
Closet” is more than recommended. For something
deeper, it is best to also read Russo's book.
More info on The Celluloid Closet)
More info on The
Celluloid Closet
Amazing Dreams Short-Short Review:
The
Celluloid Closet
Great documentary! Important for anyone
in the GLBT community to watch.
***** |
The Celluloid Closet
|
Chained
Girls (1965, 62 min, US)
Director: Joseph Mawra Studio: Something Weird
REVIEW:
This “lost” lesbian camp
documentary is a priceless cinematic gem. Attempting
to be objective about the “problem” of lesbianism,
the film takes us to their lairs (bars, apartments,
and Greenwich Village) to show us what these sexually
deviant women do. There are hilarious statistics thrown
in; explanations of the different types of lesbians
and acted out scenes of seduction, indoctrination, and
recruitment. Mothers hold hard to your daughters!
More info on The
Chained Girls
Amazing Dreams Short-Short Review:
Chained
Girls
Didn't see it, but sounds like campy fun..
? |
Chained Girls
|
Chasing
Amy (1997, 105 min, US)
Director: Kevin Smith Studio: Disney
Starring: Ben Affleck, Joey Lauren Adams, Jason Lee,
Dwight Ewell,
Jason Mewes, Kevin Smith, Matt Damon
REVIEW:
"Chasing Amy” makes the
proposition that a seemingly well-adjusted lesbian,
one who states repeatedly that she is a dyed-in-the-wool
dyke, needs only a penis to make her embrace heterosexuality.
Ben Affleck plays a comic book artist who meets a kindred
spirit (Joey Lauren Adams). After a few platonic dates,
he finally breaks down and confesses his love for her.
At first angry, she soon declares similar feelings and
they begin a relationship. That is, until he discovers
her sordid, straight past, which he can’t stop
obsessing over. He then dumps her, while she tearfully
pleas for forgiveness and understanding.
More info on Chasing Amy!
More info on
Chasing Amy
Amazing Dreams Short-Short Review:
Chasing
Amy
We liked this one, even though it is the Boy Meets Lesbian,
Boy TURNS Lesbian Into Straight? Bi? We were not sure.
While this movie is very funny, it has a surprising
emotional depth to it that is worth seeing.
**** |
Chasing Amy
|
The
Children's Hour (1961, 107 min, US)
Director: William Wyler Studio: Warner
Starring: Shirley MacLaine, Audrey Hepburn, James Garner,
Miriam Hopkins, Veronica Cartwright
REVIEW:
Audrey Hepburn and Shirley MacLaine
are teachers at an all-girls' boarding school. When
a vindictive little girl accuses the two of having an
affair, their lives are ruined after a self-righteous
community believes the unsubstantiated allegations.
However, the rumor also forces MacLaine to come to terms
with her closeted lesbian feelings.
More info on
The Children's Hour
Amazing Dreams Short-Short Review:
The
Children's Hour
Sad movie with the Depressed, Oppressed, Repressed Lesbian
Theme, but worth watching for the great actresses and
also for a bit of history in lesbian movies.
*** |
The Children's Hour
|
Chutney
Popcorn (1999, 90 min, US)
Director: Nisha Ganatra
Starring: Jill Hennessy, Nisha Ganatra, Madhur Jaffrey
REVIEW:
Director, co-writer and star Nisha
Ganatra explore the clash between the values of a traditional
Indian family and their rebel lesbian daughter in this
comedy. Reena (Ganatra) is a second generation Indian-American
who rides a motorcycle, designs and photographs henna-tattoos
and lives with Lisa (Jill Hennessy), her lovely, but
commitment-fearing blonde American lover. Her defiant
way of life and lack of proper decorum prove to be a
constant annoyance to her mother (Madhur Jaffrey) as
well as to Sarita, her happily married sister (also
married to an American). But when Sarita is unable to
conceive a child, Reena, mindful of having a chance
to do something her "perfect" sister can't
and to gain her mother's approval volunteers to bear
the child. An inventive, charming, heartwarming dyke/family
comedy.
More info on Chutney Popcorn.
More info on
Chutney Popcorn
Amazing Dreams Short-Short Review:
Chutney
Popcorn
Loved this one! Fun look at young lesbians, and gives
unique cultural insight into how families deal with
their lesbian children.
***** |
Chutney Popcorn
|
Claire
of the Moon (1992, 106 min, US)
Director: Nicole Conn Studio: Fox Lorber
Starring: Trisha Todd, Karen Trumbo, Faith McDevitt
REVIEW:
At an oceanside women writers' retreat
in Oregon, Dr. Noel Benedict (Karen Trumbo), a brooding
psychologist and lesbian author of “serious”
books, finds herself rooming with her opposite—Claire
(Trisha Wood), a willowy yet cynical straight blonde
woman who is determinedly messy and fun-loving. Their
budding relationship becomes a tense and inadvertently
amusing cat-and-mouse game as they alternately try to
overcome their insecurities, accept their true feelings,
and pounce on each other. “Claire of the Moon”
is a drama of simmering female sexual desire and equally
strong denial.
More info on Claire of the Moon.
More info on
Clair of the Moon
Amazing Dreams Short-Short Review:
Clair
of the Moon
Good ol' Lesbian Movie.
*** |
Claire of the Moon
|
|
|
|
|
|
