Journeying photographers criss-cross the country. The apparatus in their hands creates a reality that never existed: group pictures of those who never faced a camera together, soldier and civilian, clean shaven and moustached. A mother of three is far from satisfied with her photo, this is not how she imagines herself at all. Time for the retoucher to get to work. Pál Zolnay made this affectionately ironic short as a study for his feature film Photography (Fotográfia).
Although Christmas is a time of year for love and cheer for all, holiday cinema has not always represented diverse communities. Being a holiday with Christian origins, much of its media consists of straight white families or straight white romances. Luckily, modern years have been bringing with them plenty of POC and LGBTQ+ representation that the holidays so desperately need.
Madres takes place in the 70’s following a Hispanic married couple who move to a migrant farming community. Diana, who is pregnant, starts to become suspicious of their new environment after she and the women around her develop strange symptoms. Could it be a curse, a sickness, or something else?
If a movie about a strange and crazy day is commercially successful, why not recycle it and double the kookiness quotient? That seems to be the logic behind this followup to Freaky Friday.
Paris is Burning elevated drag and ballroom into the public consciousness and permanently impacted LGBT culture. However, the performers featured in the documentary didn't reap the rewards of their visibility.
Even now, the well-established Snyder has yet to learn this as he continues to allow misguided decisions to convince him that his projects hold the same kind of intelligent and emotional weight. Army of the Dead is a tonal mess, one that never decides what it’s trying to be, and, for all we know, doesn’t want to decide.
