By Michael Lyons The Blue Hour is a hard film to sort into a genre. There’s a level of romance, but it’s certainly not a romantic movie. Maybe a very slow thriller, or a mostly pleasant horror? Actually, the closest thing to a genre that this feature from Thailand falls into is a Murakami...
“I recently read The Young in One Another’s Arms for the first time, a Little Sister’s Classic published by Arsenal Pulp Press. The nice thing about this edition is that it includes not only an introduction but contemporaneous reviews. You can see how the reviewers ‘deal with’...
BY MICHAEL LYONS Think about a movie that is non-stop action: explosions, guns blazing, with a trademark wisecracking, beefcake, invariably white hetero leading man—I guess what I’m saying is, think of Age of Ultron. Then think of a film that is the exact opposite of that, one that is so...
Of all the incredible films in Transplanetarium, the shorts series focusing on trans stories and creators, Iris Moore’s The Dancer and the Crow stands out because it’s the only animated film in the series, one of very few in the entire festival. Film review contributor Michael Lyons got in touch...
BY MICHAEL LYONS This documentary should be shown in every school as a prerequisite for becoming an adult. This statement may be showing my hand early in a review, but it’s not hyperbole. From the moment the film starts, depicting recent protests against regressive policies that limit women’s...
Rhiannon Catherwood When I was ten years old, I ran away by accident. Every day at recess, I sought out the same secluded alcove in the outer wall of the school. I would sit, take out a spiral notebook, and write, relying on a plastic digital watch to let me know when my thirty minutes were up. The...
By Michael Lyons On their Kickstarter campaign page the producers of Naz & Maalik claim that the feature is not a political film, but it would be difficult for any piece addressing its subject matter to stay away from politics. Two gay Muslim teens, small-time, good-natured grifters, are...
by Michael Lyons Have you accepted roller derby into your life? The transformative powers of this sport are best known within queer circles, but if you want an excuse to love a tough woman with a heart of gold, on wheels, then In the Turn is the documentary for you. Unlike most documentaries that...
by Michael Lyons Two young guys hook up and decide to go on a road trip together, eventually bringing a third into their strange little relationship. In a film like this, you go in with the expectations that it’s either going to be really artistic and beautiful, with a lot of gorgeous, sweeping...
