A Queer Review of the Austin Film Festival (2023)
Highlighting the many ways in which AFF 2023 illustrated that the queer experience is not a monolithic one.

A successful magician is approached to do a TV special, which he has not done before. He and the beautiful producer of the show fall in love with each other, much to the disappointment of her possessive guardian (who is the person she works for). He sets out to wreck their happiness.
Highlighting the many ways in which AFF 2023 illustrated that the queer experience is not a monolithic one.
An impressive narrative structure, a perfect use of the continuous shot technique, and great interpretations make "Boiling Point" one of the best films of 2021.
The height of subversive horror cinema is Jennifer’s Body. No, I will never budge on that. Yes, Cabin in The Woods is funny, Scream is very well made, and the Scary Movie franchise is …. there. But nothing is quite as satisfying as watching the teenage succubus that is Jennifer Check rip apart boys. In the post #metoo era where the industry is far from changed, watching revenge flicks like these is probably one of the most cathartic experiences due to the slow-moving progress being made.
The Roses is a wickedly sharp marital warfare comedy that transforms domestic dysfunction into high art. Olivia Colman and Benedict Cumberbatch deliver powerhouse performances as a couple whose fairy-tale romance implodes when his architectural career collapses just as her culinary empire takes off. What makes Jay Roach's remake so devastatingly effective is its refusal to pick sides—both spouses are equally sympathetic and monstrous, wielding Tony McNamara's razor-sharp dialogue like weapons forged from shared intimacies. It's a film that dares you to laugh at relationship wreckage while forcing you to confront the uncomfortable truth that the line between passionate love and mutual destruction is terrifyingly thin.
The makings of a great midseason filler episode that would connect in many different directions. This is a police drama filler with a guest director.
The Djinn is about childhood traumas and lifestyle changes. It tells the story of Dylan (Ezra Dewey), a mute boy who blames himself for his mom’s death. He also condemns himself for being speech-impaired, and he thinks that if he did not have that condition, everything could had been different.