Queer Friendship is Complicated in "Lakeview" (2024)
Tara Thorne’s film is equal parts emotional and comedic, illustrating the beauty and the pain of long term relationships.

In 1963, Don Justo Gallego Martinez laid the foundation stone of a cathedral. A peasant, with no architectural training, no construction experience and no tools, he turned his back on the fields and started building. He had no blueprints and no planning permission. He had not even seen many cathedrals. All he had was the unshakeable conviction that God wanted him to build a cathedral. 50 years later, he is still building. Filmed over 5 years, this short documentary was funded by Britdoc. It was shown on TV channels and at film festivals around the world and showcased by Channel 4 as one of "16 documentaries to watch before you make one."
Tara Thorne’s film is equal parts emotional and comedic, illustrating the beauty and the pain of long term relationships.
When it comes down to it, The English explores what happens when power is unchecked and how those who seem powerless, have more strength than most through their convictions for justice.
When you think of the horror genre, the LGBTQ+ community is probably one of the last things you think of. However, horror is much more queer-coded than you may think.
For anyone who is not a cis white woman, a justice-fueled murderous rampage is not framed as liberation. Instead, they contribute to harsh stereotypes that vilify minority women with dangerous consequences.
It only seems to prove that when the company had their backs against the wall and needed an all pleasing, generic movie that had to make up for The Last Jedi, they chose to sacrifice almost everything that made their main protagonist interesting and that made her stand out as the strong female character that a generation of young movie goers was supposed to look up to. Instead, we were left with a Rey that was so much less than she could have been. And I guess that’s the real story of Rey and The Rise of Skywalker; they could have been so much more, but they were just more of the same.
This is ambitious horror filmmaking, and in a lot of ways, I fully admire its ambitions. For me, the film’s sloppiness defines its overall quality.