L-FILMS, TV-SERIES reviews
Tampa Baes, USA lesbian reality show11/8/2021 Tampa Baes (USA, 2021-) I watched the reality lesbian show Tampa Baes, a group of lesbian friends and two couples from Tampa, Florida. Tampa Baes follows the proven reality show formula of following an already existing friend group. This means we’re dropped into relationships between girlfriends that have already existed for years and feuds that have a history almost just as long. But first, let me introduce the 'contestants': Cuppie Bragg (traveling nurse, also runs fitness training program), Jordan Whitley (traveling nurse), Olivia Mullins (high school drop out), Melanie Posner (muralist, painter), Mack McKenzie (has podcast called Mackin N' Florida), Shiva Pishdad (business analyst) and three long-terms couples Brianna Murphy (real estate investor) and Haley Grable, Marrisa Gialousis (nurse) and Summer Mithell (YouTuber with channel Her and I) and Ali Myers and Nelly Ramirez (make-up artist). The group of friends and girlfriends either hard work, party or relax by doing all sorts of sportive and outdoor activities. Through eight episodes we learn that a group of women are like a second family to each other. They spend free time together, they support each other emotionally (console, encourage and sometimes criticize), mentally (helping to overcome obstacles with advices), and financially when needed. And sometimes they also argue, yell at and clash with each other, especially when power and alliances are at stake. Thus we learn about their misunderstandings, misconceptions, and insecurities but also connectedness, understanding and self-confidence and even arrogance. But besides being a reality show about friendships and love it is also evidently a show about their original families and the relationship between mothers, fathers and daughters and what struggle, pain and rifts caused in some families (Summer's, Nelly's) when they learned about their daughter's sexual orientation and how many years it took them to be accepted and loved. The prevailing cause for the non-acceptance was religious. In most cases, family relations are now good, supportive, inclusive and loving and yet in one case, Haley's family has still not spoken to her. Even Jordan who has a loving family feared of not being accepted by her grandparents and it took her ten years to gather the courage to tell them because she didn't want to lose them due to her sexual orientation but in the end, everything went great with her grandparents. All those women are lucky they have such accepting and loving families although it took them a while to get there but all the others who don't are prone to solitude and loneliness, poverty and ignorance. Therefore when people think about how time has progressed towards a more inclusive, loving, and accepting society many families in the reality show proved that most families still struggle to love and accept their daughters and it takes many years to fully embrace them and their lifestyle. As I mentioned the dominant cause of non-acceptance is Christianity which is odd since as Haley beautifully puts it, Christianity preaches about love and good God but all she has gotten from her strict religious family was she was going to hell for being a lesbian. Mack is also struggling with her faith and homosexuality. That tells all and that is why I have been an atheist my whole life despite having a good knowledge of most religions and spiritual schools. You obviously can not keep telling yourself and the others something and then doing the opposite, it's mildly put hypocritical behavior if not delusional or even worse. It tells everything about Christianity as a misogynist and homophobic religion that does not accept the free will and love to women and even more to women who love other women. I like the fact that all are feminine women although I am not into make up and some of them wore too much make up to my taste and obviously I am not a sportive woman and all these women care a lot about sport, hanging out, drinking and occasionally having a drama around who has more power and influence over who's friend. Not my cap of tea. I would prefer a bit more intellectual and creative women. But what I like are that they are all in fact good, caring people who try their best in the area of love, friendship, family and work. I wish for Haley to find a better, understanding and emotionally supportive girlfriend because Brianna is the least likable, cold, domineering and aloof person who thinks she can buy everything with money and Nelly and Ali are the most likable couple with their kind, supportive and calm personalities and loving attitude towards each other and to the others.
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Some New And Some Returning TV Series With Our Beloved Lesbian Characters There have been TV series that surprised us this autumn with lesbian (main) characters. In September we watched BBC's Vigil about a UK nuclear submarine and the suspicious death of one of its crew members, Craig Burke (Martin Compston) which leads to the police investigation by DCI Amy Silva (Surane Jones) and Kirsten Longacre (Rose Leslie). DCI Amy Silva goes on to the submarine to question the crew while Longacre stays on the land to search about Burke's home and his antinuclear girlfriend Jade Antoniak (Lauren Layle). Since Vigil was made by the same World production company that made Line of Duty and Bodyguard it holds the same drama and anxiety while revealing bent marines and subplots within a well-organized chain of command. The friction between the police and the Navy isn’t restricted to the water, as Amy’s detective partner DS Kirsten Longacre (Rose Leslie) investigates the situation on land – where even more cover-ups can be found. Suranne Jones gives an interesting performance as Amy – used to be straight with a husband and a daughter but when they had an accident in which her husband got killed she burdened herself with guilt, got depressed, and buried herself in work where she met and fell in love with her coworker, detective Longacre. In between the investigation, we got to know the trajectory of Amy' and Kirsten's relationship which has been filled with love, anxiety, tenderness, and quarrels. Namely, we don't know if Amy is reluctant to move in with Kirsten and have a deeper relationship with her because of the accident or because she is internally homophobic. Kirsten sees Amy's reluctance as a sign that she doesn't love her and breaks up with her. But while being on a submarine all Amy could think of were her daughter and Kirsten thus at in the last episode Amy reconciles with Kirsten and we get a lesbian happy ending. Rose Leslie portrays a patient, loving, and understanding girlfriend really well. In October Apple TV continued with its feminist The Morning Show (TMS) and surprised us by giving us TMS co-host Bradley Jackson (Reese Witherspoon) falling in love with one of the UBA networks previously news anchors Laura Paterson (Julianna Margulies) who is a lesbian. Despite having sex with Laura Bradly still calls herself straight because it is her first time falling for a woman and because she doesn't like being labeled but Laura thinks that is because she is repressed by her conservative upbringing. Bradley gets frustrated by being called repressed and thus breaks Laura's vase which she later regrets and makes up with her by saying that she doesn't know who she is. Their relationship continues and surprises us by keeping us in suspense, meaning we don't know really where their relationship is going to anchor – will it deepen and become official or something else – until someone outs Bradley by posting her holding hands with Laura on their way to the hotel room and everyone tell they are dating. Bradley is being naturally shocked since she hasn't been prepared to tell the whole world she is dating a woman. Laura tries to calm her down and invite her over to her place but Bradley tells her she needs to talk to her brother and also Cory comes unexpectedly to her place. When the two talk about being outed Bradley tells him that she has met this wonderful woman that is her inspiration and that she wants to be her. Cory reassures her that Laura is indeed great and that she should be with her. And she is, especially when Laura tells Bradley that she is her woman and that the two should spend some time together at Laurs's ranch in Montana. I recall Marguiles being excellent in The Good Wife and now playing a lesbian character who was outed in 1997 and consequently lost a job due to her sexual orientation is really something. She plays her character with stoicism, stamina, and decency and she is great when she is outed with Bradley for the second time. She explains how Bradley is going to get over being outed by walking her through her own experiences and solutions and how is going to get over her brother. We also have NCIS Hawaii with the first female Special Agent in Charge, Jane Tennant (Vanessa Minnillo), and also two other show’s main characters, NCIS agent Lucy Tara (Yasmine Al-Bustami) and Defense Intelligence Agency agent Kate Whistler (Tori Anderson) who are lesbians and have had an intimate past. In the first episode we got a steamy kiss between the two, however it didn't go further but we learned that they had some sort of intimate relation in the past. It took us until episode six that we got a sweet gentle kiss between them that lead them start dating but Kate doesn't want other people, especially co-workers to know about their relationship. Lucy at first doubts Kate's intention to be a couple but after Kate's explanation that she is not embarrassed about Lucy but herself she agrees on keeping their relationship a secret for the time being. The Legacies season 4. I mean, how many times can you postpone your date? Josie Saltzman (Kaylee Bryant), a lesbian-bisexual vampire couldn't get a proper date with Finch (Courtney Bandeko) for the whole season 3 and this trend is continuing in season 4 with Josie's sister Lizzie (Jenny Boyd) interfering in her relationships whenever she can. I mean, when you attend school and live in the same dormitory and can't find time for your girlfriend then it is obvious you should move on. I was just thinking that it would be better to make Josie single again and give her a proper girlfriend when scriptwriters are ready to deal with a lesbian relationship when that was exactly what happened by Finch breaking up with Josie. But then changing her mind in the next episode when they suddenly start a proper dating and trying on having a relationship. They even spend nights together, having sex, kissing and sleeping in the same bad together. That is a progress. Another teen show Nancy Drew also doesn't know what to do with its lesbian character Bess Marvin (Maddison Jaizani). In first season Bess had a relationship with a female detective Lisbeth (Katie Findlay) but decided not to continue it because Bess lives a dangerous life by helping Nancy Drew solve life-threatening cases. In the second season, Bess had a platonic relationship with revenging a hundred-year-old ghost Odette Lamar (Anja Savčič) possessing George's body and in the third season, she is finally back on dating pursuing bodily and worldly pleasures by getting to know different women via a dating app. Finally, she chooses Addy who works as a STEM counselor in Nick's youth center for deprivileged kids. What is a bit odd is that Bess had a previous fallout with Addy on their first date where Addy didn't find Bess interesting and thus attractive enough. It is also the first time Bess speaks honestly about her dangerous life. Hopefully, this honest confession is going to enable Bess to have a bit more serious dating time or even a relationship beyond occasional kisses and possible sex. Although I dislike The L World Generation Q (not a single relationship appeals to me) I must say that I am pleasantly surprised that the creators decided on the reunion of Bette and Tina. This is brilliant since Tina and Bette have been always the anchor and the most compelling and attractive couple of The L Word show and to me even in The L World Q Generation. I never watched the show because of Shane, Alice, Tasha, Fin, Sophie, Dani, etc. but for Tina and Bette and maybe Helena Peabody. However, since that is how they ended season 2 we hope for season 3! Legends of Tomorrow continue to cheer us with the leading lesbian characters/couple of the series, Sarah Lance (Caity Lotz) and Ava Sharpe (Jes Macallan). In season 6 Sarah and Ava got married and an evil alien by the name of Bishop abducted and killed Sarah and then made her own clon by obtaining her DNA thus Sarah and Ava are both clones now. In season 7 they look even more in love than before. I like it when Sarah shows affection towards Ava by holding her, reassuring her, and holding her hand whenever she can, however, I can't understand that they have a honeymoon without a single kiss or sex scene. I find it odd when screenwriters and directors don't show affection between lesbian characters after initial kissing and sex scenes therefore it is even more important that lesbian characters after 6 seasons are affectionate and feel sexual attraction towards each other. After all, that is why they are with each other. Well, the only ones still showing sex scenes between them after getting married are Carina and Maya at Station 19 and they also talk and admit to each other and with the others how they love sex and how great it is. In this season, however, we got to know also their differences on having a child or not but they are reconciling their differences a bit. This proves my thesis that only couples who are similar can carry on their relationship and grow with each other. Previously I talked a lot about the importance of lesbians playing lesbian characters. Even Julianna Margulies is aware of that when asked in a Variety interview (October 13, 2021) if she had any reservations about playing lesbian by saying “Who’s to say I haven’t had my own gay experiences?” I may believe her words or not or it may be just a politically correct statement since she has been romantically linked with only men so far and even it is true her experiences may have been way in the past since she has been officially dating men since 1990 and of course before. The same is with cute actress Kaylee Bryant who came out queer in June 2021 but with no support of actual dating women so far. It seems that straight actresses like to play lesbian roles and the producers like straight celebrities play lesbians and thus perpetuating straightness among the audience. As I said, it is good that straight celebrities play lesbians and make us more visible and known, however, there are also lesbian well-known actresses as well. However, I would like to add another important aspect, that of the political beliefs of the actresses. For instance, I was rather surprised when learned that Rose Leslie actually comes from a conservative right-wing Scottish (Tory) family and she firmly supported her father's recent Tory candidacy whose political beliefs are against LGBTIQ-rights and same-sex marriage. Why not instead cast lesbian leftist British actresses like Saffron Burrows or Erin Doherty who are as beautiful and talented as they are famous (but it is also true that Vigil takes place in Scotland and that is probably why the director and producer chose Leslie)? Nevertheless9/18/2021 Nevertheless and The Road, The Tragedy of One (SK, 2021-) South Korean screenwriters and directors are including more and more lesbian characters into their 'new wave' of modern romance and drama. Their latest attempt is TV series Nevertheless with the characters Sol and Ji Wan and The Road, The Tragedy of One with characters Cha and Kwon. Nevertheless is a bit better than other series like Dracula and Mine since Sol and Ji Wan openly show and share affection in front of the others and between them. Their love story unfolds like any other story and it is a standard love story when both female characters come to terms from being really good friends to slowly but surely become a couple. Despite holding hands and occasionally hugging we still haven't seen any kiss. I don't know when the time is going to be right that lesbians can kiss and have sex onscreen in SK. However, perhaps Sol and Wan could be more relaxed towards displaying their affection because it is a different environment and surroundings from series like Dracula and Mine. The first was about the family relations, (a rather homophobic) mother and daughter who finally, sort out their relationship mother accepting her lesbian daughter and second it was about the most powerful business family in Korea where one of the character-lesbian could finally live her love life after 20 years of denying her feelings for her first love – both of the aforementioned had to deal with lots of social-historical straining ties, whereas Nevertheless is suited in the student environment, into the classroom and social-private life where everything revolves around the students' artwork and love life. Well, anyway the story of Sol and Ji Wan is a side and not the main story. The Road: The Tragedy of One got my attention twofold: first we have a lesbian affair between Cha Seo Young (Kim Hye-Eun) and Kwon Yeo-jin (Baek Ji-won), and second, the leading character Seo Eun Soo is played by one of my top S-Korean actress's Yun Se-Ah. Baek Soo Hyun (Ji Jin-hee) is a popular and respected anchorman for a broadcast station. He is known as a journalist with strong beliefs. When he states something on camera, viewers take his words as the truth. Yet, Baek Soo Hyun has another side. He is cold-hearted. When he wants something, he gets it no matter what. He is married to Seo Eun Soo (Yun Se-ah) and they have a child. Seo Eun Soo is the daughter of the chairman of the Jegang Group and married to Anchorman Baek Soo Hyun. Her father is powerful enough that he wields heavy influence in the political and economic worlds. Seo Eun Soo is herself a popular miniature artist. Both Baek and Seo have their own secrets that put a heavyweight on their marriage and relationship. And everything becomes complicated when Cha Seo Young's (Kim Hye-Eun) the child is abducted and killed while at first, we thought it was Baek and Seo's child who was abducted for a ransom. However, the child that was abducted and killed was Baek's child too since he cheated on Seo with Cha. Yun Se-ah's performance is not as strong and outstanding as in previous series because the script itself doesn't bring anything outstanding as Hyun's wife. However, what is new in her role is that she cheats on her husband and shows her jealous side which leads her to be a cold-hearted woman who partially contributed to the killing of the Cha's child. In this sense, she is not as morally chaste as in previous roles of the silent, obedient, strong wife who puts up with all sorts of moodiness, quirkiness and ambitions of her husbands, like in Stranger (2017-2020) or Sky Castle (2019). She has her own life and secrets as her husband. However, for us it is more interesting Cha Seo Young (Kim Hye-Eun) and Kwon Yeo-jin (Baek Ji-won) story. Young is a very ambitious announcer for a broadcast station who wants to replace a popular and respected Baek Soo Hyun as an anchorman. She has a prestigious job, exemplary educational background, respected husband but she also has an extramarital lesbian affair with her boss as the news editor, single Kwon Yeo-jin (Baek Ji-won). However, it seems that Cha mainly uses Kwon more like friends with benefits than anything else while Kwon knowingly does that. But the other way around is true as well. Both women are very ambitious who help their careers while having sex with each other but they are not prepared to help each other if it could harm any of the careers as is revealed at the end of the series when Cha asks Kwon for her help. In this series is finally hinted at two women clearly having sex with each other, more so than in any other series, but this is not shown yet as well. Maybe kisses and sex are going to be shown in 2022 – it would be about time! MINE6/28/2021 MINE (2021-) MINE is the latest South Korean drama series about three strong women in search of their love, revenge, and justice for mistreatment from men, their husbands respectively. The main theme of the show was what women can do for themselves to get power over their life back - women should be the creators of their own paths, not men. It was also about women solidarity and groundbreaking regarding LGBT representation by having one of the main lesbian characters although we still haven't gotten the lesbian kiss which is for me as a lesbian very important (they should do it in the near future though!) but at least we got a decent lesbian love story between two lesbians although their screentime was disproportionally short compared to all other storylines. Also, a lesbian character as shown in the most positive way, respectable, responsible, loving, loyal, and faithful. Whereas in Hello Dracula (SK, 2020) we got to know a lesbian who had a lot of screentime but her main story was based on a relationship between her and her a homophobic mother who gradually became more and more accepting, loving and supporting whereas lesbian love story was non-existent, respectively just ended thus focus was on the main character getting over her ex-girlfriend. The lesbian character was also portrayed as a responsible, loving, empathic, and helping others. It seems that SK is trying to convey the current message that being a lesbian is okay and that it is not a mental, emotional, social or moral deficit. MINE is still far from presenting an existent lesbian love story but establishing a positive path for the future stories nonetheless. Throughout 16 episodes of the first season we followed the stories of the family revolving around the family that owns Hyowon Group, a powerful real estate development firm led by Chairman Han (Jung Dong-hwan). But the story really concentrates on two of Han’s daughters-in-law, their involvement in the family business, and the women who want to take the extravagant lives they lead. In Cadenza, the sprawling main house of Hyowon Mansion, Jung Seo Hyun (Kim Seo-hyeong), the first daughter-in-law of Han, lives with her less-than-ambitious husband, oldest son Han Jin Ho (Park Hyuk-kwon). In the annex, Rubato, lives second daughter-in-law Seo Hi Soo (Lee Bo-young), a former actress, with her husband Han Ji Yong (Lee Hyun-Wook) and her young stepson Ha Joon (Jung Hyun-jun). Two women apply for jobs at the mansion, responding to an ad for a tutor for Ha-joon: Kim Yoo-yeon (Jung Yi-seo), an orphan with good intentions, and Kang Ja-kyung (Ja-Yeon Ok). Ja-kyung eventually gets the job, especially when Jin-ho eyeballs the young woman during her interview with Seo-hyeon. Yoo-yeon ends up with a job as a maid in the main house. As everyone gets prepared for a formal family dinner, we see Ja-kyung lingering over the sight of Hi Soo looking at dresses for the dinner. Yang Soon-hye (Park Won-Suk), the super-spoiled matriarch of the Han family, is wrapping up vocal lessons when she’s not berating all the housekeepers. During the dinner, where Chairman Han was going to give a precious blue diamond necklace to one of his daughters-in-law, he receives news that his bid for a massive construction project was made illegally. He has a heart attack, and while he’s in a coma in the hospital, there’s a power struggle to see who takes over. Jin-ho doesn’t want the job; he thinks Ji-yong can do it, but their sister Jin Hee (Kim Hye-hwa) thinks the job is rightfully hers. Seo-hyeon has to deal with the fact that the house manager, Butler Joo Min Su (Park Seong-yeon) has been secretly recording Soon-hye screaming at her staff and another butler Kim Seong Tae (Lee Joong-ok) tried to poision Ji-yong, Han's non-biological son. In the meantime. Yoo-yeon goes to make up the room of Seo-hyeon’s stepson Han Soo Hyuk (Cha Hak-Yeon), who is back from college to visit his grandfather in the hospital. When they meet, she not only falls for him but admits she dozed off on his bed. He offers to switch rooms for the night and many nights in the future which ends up them being in love. While of course, I am most interested in lesbian love story I certainly can't get past the fact how three women Seo-hyeon, Hi Soo and Ja-kyung worked together to eliminate the corrupted power-lust Ji-yong whose idea was that Ha-joon has two moms. Indeed, Ha-joon in the end gets with two moms (which is another alusion on the lesbian parenting) while Ji-yong is murdered hated by all family members. It doesn't matter if he is a Han's biological son or not as he blames his coldness and immorality for not being loved and respected by his father and his step-mom Yang Soon-hye because as we see there is no love in this family despite being enormously rich. For instance, Jung Seo-hyeon who is lesbian obviously doesn't love Han Jin-ho despite being married to him for twelve years. She married him because coming from a rich family being married to a man from another rich family is duty1, Han Ji-yong obviously didn't truly love his wife Seo Hee-soo if he lied to her that the mother of his son was dead while at the same he chose her as Ha-joon's tutor. Han Ji-yong obviously didn't love his former girlfriend Kang Ja-kyung claiming she was dead and twice even tried to kill her. He also didn't love He Soo because he tried to kill her too thinking she poisoned him, Jin-hee's husband frequently tried to divorce her and he has also had a secret love affair. Last but not least, Yang Soon-hye was never truly loved by her husband Han who secretly daily visited his bunker decorated with the photos of his true love. The moments we see love are when Jeong Seo-hyeon as a stepmother to Han Soo-hyeok accepts he's in love with the maid Yoo-yeon and accepts that he doesn't want to become the chairman of the Hyowon Group despite his grandfather will – but this connection happens as Jung is herself torn inside for her true love Suzy Choi and when she is finally ready to fight the prejudices and live her life – only when Jung realized that prejudices and barriers are imagined she could break them and nearby the end of the series she came out to her husband who accepted her and Hi Soo also found out that she was a lesbian and embraced her the way she is. Most of all we see love is overflown by Seo Hi Soo and Kang Ja-kyung for Ha-joon and Suzy who has been loving paitently Jung all the time. The ones who are truly loved from the beginning to the end are Ha-joon and Jung Seo-hyeon. As a European and an atheist I am surprised how South Korea is westernized and Christianized. I learned that SK Christians hold quite a strong influence and they strongly opposed to lesbian characters played by Kim Seo-hyung however, in the last episode mother Emma who was a confidante to all Han family members throughout the series apologized to Jung Seo-hyeon by saying she shouldn't hide her sexual orientation and being in the closet for her whole life because of the perception being homosexual is a sin. Mother Emma also left nunery vocation and became an ordinary citizen. This is really a big step in the right direction for the acceptance of the SK LGBTIQ community. The acting was of a notch better quality than most of the licensed K-dramas, there was undeniable great chemistry with all actresses and actors, costumography was excellent and the story itself was excellent as well – it certainly delivered the message it promised at the beginning. How influential MINE was in the southeast region was shown by the Survey for the week (13-20th June 2021) which put MINE in the top 5 on Netflix in Hong Kong, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand. Top 10 in the Philippines and Top 1 in Vietnam. And why? Because this show has proven that there are positive changes in the world even in conservative South Korea: He joon gets a happy ending with two loving moms and Jung Seo-hyeon2 is finally going to meet Suzy (even older straight and married South Koreans empathized with Jung). It is a win for strong women and lesbians. It would be great if there is going to be a second season where we get to know the Jung Seo-hyeon love story with Suzy, Seo Hi Soo and Kang Ja-kyung being remarried and how He Joon grows up and starts working for Hyowon Group. 1 Sure such attitude hasn't been something new or odd, it has been known for thousands of years throughout the world, in the past and the present. Even mildly good materially standing familes behave like that. For instance, father of my ex-girlfriend (they belong to the middle class, perhaps higher middle class while my parents are low middle class and I am poor) kept telling my ex-gf not to marry me and get financially or materially involved with such a poor person as I was. However, the most notorius response to an arranged marriages among upper class was an invention of the courtly/troubador love. Because there was no love to be found among aristocrats in that time they invented so called adulters love as a true love. 2 When one of the main actresses Kim Seo-hyeong playing a character Jung Seo Hyun was asked if she was aware that girls and women fancy her she replied 'yes'. I think that as a 47 year old celebrity who in +20 years in the industry has never been married and never even was involved in any dating news with a man was the best for this job. In one of the articles she is also mentioned among the group of acomplished SKorean actresses that claim they don't need to be married to be fulfilled. She also liked the Netflix twit about the episode 9 from June 5th which shows the long awaited but unplanned meeting of Jung Seo Hyug with her love life painter Suzy Choi. Ici tout commence6/16/2021 Ici tout commence (Here Everything Begins) (Telfrance & Mi2, FRA, 2020-) I have watched plenty of soap operas in the past two decades (from Home and Away to Neighbors, from Verboten Liebe and Hand aufs Herz to Guiding Light, All My Children and Bold and Beautiful). I recently came across the new French soap opera Ici tout commence which presents an unexpected love story between older women, Claire Guinot (Catherine Marchal 54) and Olivia Listrac (Virginie Caliari 44), both cuisine chefs and both past 40 years old. It is even more surprising since it is a love story between two (seemingly) straight women who discover an attraction for each other through their common interests and love for teaching, cooking, and food. Namely, Claire is a former director of the prestigious Auguste Armand gastronomy institute in the Camargue where she still teaches and Olivia has her own restaurant with a star in Avignone too. As it happened Olivia came to teach a course at the Institue every year for fifteen years in a row and Claire thought Olivia has been such a great teacher so far that she convinced the principal to hire her permanently. Through the mutual decision to make a vegan menu for the double-A course, Claire and Olivia share their passion for food and discover their attraction for each other. Of course, a bonus that added to all that was, Claire's offering her home to Olivia until she finds something permanent and suitable for herself. Claire's son Louis had some doubts regarding Olivia's moving in with them at first but when Claire and Olivia had one night a diner with Louis and his girlfriend, Elodie it became pretty obvious that Claire and Olivia get along really well as they might be attracted to each other as his girlfriend noticed as well. Louis discards Olodie's observation by saying that her mom isn't lesbian because she never dated a woman. To this Elodie's replied that only because his mother dated men doesn't mean she can't be attracted to a woman. Indeed, Claire at one point suddenly gets an urge to kiss Olivia which totally confuses her and makes her think it is better to distance herself from Olivia. Olivia is confused at Claire's behavior too and asks her if she did anything wrong and insists that Claire talk about 'her problem with her. Claire reassures her that she doesn't want her to move out and makes an excuse by saying she is tired. Claire confides about her feelings towards Olivia to her colleague who gives an explanation We get also a hint what stereotypes makes someone a lesbian when Olivia talks about people previously assuming she was lesbian because she is a successful, independent, single, and chef leading a team without men. However, all that doesn't mean anything because Claire and Olivia kiss (I wanted kiss to be more passionate though) and confess their attraction towards each other! Claire tells Olivia that for her all started the previous week but suspects that she has been attracted towards her for a long time since she has always thought of Olivia how amazing she been and for Olivia – she just needed a day to clear things for herself by admitting that she felt attraction towards Claire as well. It is refreshing and also daring that screenwriters presented a strong, independent, and successful older woman who was never in love with another woman before and thus may be making a point that female's sexuality is fluid? However, saying that female sexuality is fluid doesn't explain anything because the question remains why a woman over 50 years old previously dating only men suddenly feels same-sex attraction. It might be better going in the direction that a dangerous incident (Claire almost choked to death and Olivia saved her) from which Olivia came as her rescuer evoked sudden emotions and attraction previously unknown to Claire. Professionals who save people's lives report people falling in love with them all the time (from doctors, firefighters to policeman) but on the other hand, an explanation that she has probably been attracted to Olivia for a long time until that incident but it hasn't fully realized that is also plausible. So what makes an attraction towards someone? Common interests, admiration for each other, and proximity adds to happiness. As Claire says: 'I haven't been so happy with anyone for years as I have been with you as for the past week'. As the story unfolds each week I will give important updates to their beautiful love. We still have to see their many passionate kisses and sex scene of course! 17.6. 2021 I am a tiny bit disappointed: Claire was the one who declared the attraction towards Olivia and now it seems that Olivia is much more passionate about Claire. I expected more passion and physical intimacy from Claire but overall they are really cute discovering each other in intimate way. 20.6.2021 The story between Claire and Olivia has been unfolding in the right way. They told about their relationship to Louis albeit not because they were ready to declare it to the whole world yet but because Louis and especially his girlfriend Elodie already concluded they are a couple by themselves. Claire did right by being honest with Louis right away although Louis's reaction shows that people are far from being accepting of a lesbian (homosexual) relationship since Louis is mad at Claire by bringing people's prejudice and judgemental attitude towards him. 24.-25.6.2021 After Claire and Olivia finally talked to Louis about their relationship he didn't take it well and said he would move out if Claire didn't break up with Olivia. Claire told him that her intimate life concerns her and only her. 27.6.2021 Louis decided to live with Elodie as a protest of Claire dating Olivia while Claire chose Olivia and asked her to move in with her. Olivia accepted the invitation. 5.7.2021 Olivia moved in with Claire while Louis moved in with Eloidie. Olivia and Claire are happily in love. 10.7.2021 Louis tries to break up Claire's relationship with Olivia again but fails. This shows Claire is determined that relationship with Olivia works out and is certain of her love. We still haven't gotten a proper sex scene between Claire and Olivia though. 22.7.2021 No new updates because there are no-one. It seems that love story between Claire and Olivia is somehow finished. 1.10.2021 I didn't write for a while because until two weeks ago there was no news, however, finally, there have been some scenes between them on the show. It seems Claire and Olivia are doing fine but Louis has been still homophobic. He wanted to hurt his mother by giving an interview in which all his cooking credits were ascribed to his father which couldn't be true because in reality his father didn't like and care about him and was solely raised by his mother. He said those things because he is still jealous of Claire's relation with Olivia and because his mother firmly told him she won't break up with Olivia. Claire got a fantastic offer to create a menu for some Japanese restaurant and decided to go albeit reluctantly because of what happened between Olivia and Louis in the past but Olivia is really happy for Claire and encourages her to go. I really wish the director/screenwriters would show more romantic and sexual moments between the two. After all, they are in love and admire each other very much! My List of Best (F/M) Film Directors and Musicians which is arbitrary and regardless of sex and sexual orientation and outdated in certain areas WOMEN DIRECTORS Jane Campion: Angel At my Desk, The Piano, Top of the Lake (best f. director) Liliana Cavali: The Night Porter, The Berlin Affair, Ripleys Céline Sciamma: Water Lillies, Portrait of A Lady on Fire (best f. director) Mona Fastwold: A world to Come Patricia Rozema: When Night is Falling Lynne Ramsay: Morvern Callor, We Need to Talk about Kevin Dominique Baron: Tous Les Papas Ne Font Pas Pipi Debout Maggie Greenwald: Songcatcher Isabel Coixet: My Life Without Me Lisa Cholodenko: Laurel Canyon, High Art Julie Dash: Daughters of the Dust Agnes Varda: Cléo de 5 à 7, The Hundred and One Nights, The World of Jacques Demy, Two Year Later Claire Denis: Bright Sunshine In Leni Riefensthal: Olympia, Triumph of the Will Gillian Armstrong: My Brilliant Career Chloé Zhao: Nomadland Rachel Perkins: Total Control, Mystery road (series) Ana Kokkins: The Book of Revelation, The Hunting Patty Jenkins: Monster, Wonder Woman EUROPEAN & RUSSIAN DIRECTORS Andrej Tarkovsky: Stalker, Nostalghia, Solaris (best m. director) Ingmar Bergman: Persona, Cries and Whispers, Seventh Seal, Silence Nikita Mikhalkov: Burnt by the Sun, Urga Alexander Sokurov: Father and Sun, Russian Ark Lars von Trier: Idiots, Dogville, Breaking the Waves Rainer Werner Fassbinder: Bitter tears Petra von Kant, Lili Marleen, Lola, Querelle David Lean: Lawrence of Arabia, Doctor Zhivago Jean Luc Godard: Four Short Films, Alphaville, Breathless Jean-Jacques Beineix: Diva Mathieu Kassovitz: Hate (La Haine), The Crimson Rivers Max Färberböck: Aimee and Jaguar Aki Kaurismaki: The Man without Past, Leningrad Cowboys go to America, Take care of your scarf Tatiana, Shadows in Paradise, Calamari François Trauffaut: 400 Blows, Jules et Jim, Le Dernier métro Pier Paolo Passolini: Teorema, 120 dni Sodome, Amore e rabbia, Luchino Visconti: Death in Venice, White nights, The Innocent Andrey Zvyagintsev: The Return Béla Tarr: Satan Tango Werckmeister Harmonies, Damnation Alain Resnais: Nuit et brouillard, Hiroshima mon amour, Providence, Last Year in Marienbad, Coeurs Michelangelo Antonioni: Adventure, Story of a Love Affair, Il Grido, La Notte, The Eclipse, The Red Desert, Blow-Up, Zabriskie Point, The Passenger. Beyond the Clouds Werner Herzog: Heart of Glass, Enigma of Kasper Hauser, The Wild Blue Yonder, Jean-Luc Godard: Band of Outsiders, Breathless Wim Wenders: Tokyo-Ga, Wings of Desire, Lisbon Story, Max Ophuls: Letter From an Unknown Woman Alain Sarde: Intimate Strangers, Nathalie François Ozon: 5x2, Swiming Pool Luc Besson: The Big Blue, The Fifth Element, Atlantis, La Femme Nikita Ken Loach: Kes, Family Life Kristof Kieslowski: Three Colors, The Double life of Veronique ASIAN DIRECTORS Yasujiro Ozu: Tokyo Story, Equinox Flower (Higan-Bana), An Autumn Afternoon, I Was Born, But... , Passing Fancy, Story Of Floating Weeds, Late Spring, Early Summer Akira Kurosawa: Rashomon, Ran, Dreams, Seven Samurai, Stray Dog, Throne of Blood, Kagemusha, Sanshiro Sugata, Rhapsody in August Apichatpong Weerasethakul: Tropical malady, Blissfully Yours, The Adventure of Iron Pussy Wong Kar Wai: In the Mood for Love, 2046, Happy Together, Days of Being Wild, Zhang Yimou: Raise the Red Lantern, The Story of Qiu Ju Lou Ye: Suzhou River Kenji Mizoguchi: The Life of Oharu Mikio Naruse: Late Chrysanthemums (His stories are completely lacking in violence, action or glamour. What they do have is a marvellous storytelling ability) Haruki Kadokawa: Heaven and Earth (Spectacular drama of medieval battles, choreographed to make ingenious color patterns on the screen) (še downloadam) Kazuyoshi Okuyama: The Mystery of Rampo Zhang Yang: Sunflower AMERICAN DIRECTORS Stanley Kubrick: 2001: A Space Odyssey, A Clockwork Orange, Dr. Strangelove, Short Films John Waters: Polyester, Hairspray, Pink Flamingos, Crybaby, Ridley Scott: Thelma & Louise, Alien, Prometheus Tony Scott: Hunger Spike Jonze: Being John Malkovich Maya Deren: In the Mirror, Meshes of the Afternoon, Ritual David Lynch: Mulholland Drive, Wild At Heart, Blue Velvet, Eraserhead Ted Heynes: Safe, Badlands, Carol, Wachowski sisters: The Matrix Trilogy, Bound, Sense8 Stephen Daldry: The Hours Godfrey Reggio: Waquatsi trilogy Orson Welles: Citizane Kane, 1984, The Immortal Story, The Magnificent Ambersons,The Lady From Shanghai, Other good mysteries by Welles: Journey into Fear, The Stranger, Mr. Arkadin, Touch of Evil Martin Scorsese: Belle de Jour, Raging Bull, Godfather Francis Ford Coppola: The Conversation John Cassavetes: Faces, A woman under influence Robert Altman: The Player, Mr. Cabe and Mrs. Miller AUSTRALIAN DIRECTORS Peter Wier: Picnic at the Hanging Rock, The Year of Living Dangerously, Truman Show Tom Hopper: King's Speech I add also LIST OF BEST MUSIC which is arbitrary and regardless of sex and sexual orientation and outdated in certain areas ELECTRONIC melodic techno, trance, chill out and lounge Jarre Kraftwerk Röyksopp FSL Orbital Schiller ATB Traiteck Audiomolekul Vorakls N'To Ohm G & Bruno Abstraal Brecha Hotel Costes Nouvelle Vague and many others CLASSICS Satie Ravel Saint-Saëns Glass Mozart Bethoween Vivaldi Debussy Chopin Bach Stravinsky Sibelius Grieg Sostakovich Bartok Tchaikovsky OPERAS Saint-Saëns: Samson and Delilah Bizet: Carmen Orff: Carmina Burana Massenet: Sappho Berlioz: Les Troyens, La Damnation de Faust Rossini: The Barber of Seville, Othello Verdi: La Traviata, Don Carlos, Aïda, Otello Gounod: Faust Donizetti: Lucia di Lammermoor Beethoven: Fidelio Tchaikovsky: Eugene Onegin Glinka: Ruslan and Lyudmila Smetana: The Bartered Bride Offenbach: The Tales of Hoffmann Debussy: Pelléas and Mélisande Ravel: L'Heure espagnole Puccini: Madame Butterfly, La Bohème, La Tosca Granados: Goyescas Wagner: Tristan and Isolde, The Ring of the Nibelung, Siegfried, Parsifal, The Twilight of the Gods Mozart: Don Giovanni, The Marriage of Figaro, Magical Flute POP ABBA Kyle Minogue Air A-HA Depeche Mode Cocteau Twins St. Vincent Lykke Li and many others. Occupied & The Wilds – The best TV Shows With Lesbian Characters in 2020 Series that most surprised me with lesbian storylines this year are Norwegian Occupied (Lund, Nesbø, Skjoldbjærg, 2015– ) and The Wilds (Streicher, USA, 2020– ). Occupied is the most high-budget show Norway has ever produced – a near-future climate-crisis and geopolitical thriller. The world is gripped by a fuel crisis; war in the Middle East has halted oil production; the U.S. has become energy independent; and the fossil fuel–rich country of Norway has become the critical supplier of energy to the Europe. And yet, the ruling Green party, led by Norway’s charismatic prime minister, Jesper Berg (Henrik Mestad), has decided to halt all oil and gas production. Berg aims to avert a global climate catastrophe. By shutting down its oil pipelines Norway will supply energy to its European neighbours solely through cutting-edge thorium nuclear plants. Russia, Norway’s neighbour, immediately stages an intervention, kidnapping Berg and forcing him to accept a »partnership« which will keep the oil and gas flowing. This amounts to a soft occupation of Norway by Russian forces. Prime Minister Berg rails against Russian presence and yet he has little choice but to submit to his powerful neighbour, and to the EU, which supports Russia’s move. First, the country becomes gripped by nationalists, with »Free Norway« activists turning on ordinary Russians living within their borders. Then there are escalating acts of domestic terrorism and violence. And by season three, in which climate warriors turn to guerrilla cyber tactics and »Free Norway« activists commit grotesque acid attacks on accused Russian collaborators, Berg has been transformed from an idealist into a power-mad ruler who wants to deport all Russians living in Norway and punish their collaborators. However, the series is not only about the independent Norway as energy supplier with close ties to EU which has been always intricately connected to Russia but also about lack of diversity and inclusitivity of the Russian conservative politics through introduction of a power lesbian couple, Irina Sidorova (Ingeborga Dapkunaite), a Russian ambassador representing Russian government in Oslo in love with a pianist Lyubov Sorokina (Darya Ekamasova). However, Sidorova has been removed as ambassador to Norway by the Russian government, who claim it is due to her unpopularity with the Norwegian population. Sidorova disagrees with the official explanation and believes it is due to her lesbian relationship. On a whim, Lyubov tells the press she believes the Melkøya explosion was a Russian attack which angers Russian authority. Fearing for their safety, Sidorova fakes a Russian assassination attempt against herself to prevent deportation to Russia but Berg personally orders the deportation of Lyubov, hoping to force Sidorova to leave the country to be with her. A high Norwegian official and attorney, Hilde Djupvik (Selome Emnetu) helps overturn the mass deportation of Russians, allowing them to return to Norway, but Lyubov is detained at the airport in Moscow. Sidorova arranges for Lyubov to be smuggled out of Russia through Georgia; they cross the border without incident, but Lyubov undergoes an operation in Tbilisi where a small ampule of poison is implanted in her body. Sidorova is contacted by a Russian official, who tells her that the ampule is remote-controlled and that Lyubov will be killed if Sidorova is disloyal to Russia again. Sidorova and Lyubov are reunited and co-found an LGBT rights organization named Love Without Limits to campaign against homophobia. However, Sidorova secretly uses it as a front to spread Russian influence in Europe. Lyubov has an ultrasound, revealing the poison ampule; Sidorova tells her what it is, but refuses to explain why it was inserted. She is contacted by Russian authorities, who tell her the ampule will only be removed if she ensures Berg loses the election and install a candidate with affinity to Russia. Russian authorities tell Sidorova she must locate Hilde before the ampule will be removed from Lyubov. Sidorova tracks and contacts Hilde. Later, Lyubov gives birth, causing the ampule to burst. The baby is healthy, but Lyubov is sent to intensive care and dies due to the poison. I could complain how another lesbian character gets killed but in this case the plot symbolically tells the story of the oppression by the Russian government which doesn't allow LGBT couple to exist, less to get married, have families or to adopt. In The Wilds we got to know the empowerment retreat called »The Dawn of Eve« which is like a private version of The Big Brother competition with eight teenage girls stranded on the deserted island after the alleged plane crash. Namely, the empowerment retreat is a private research programme lead by psychology scientist Gretchen (Rachel Griffiths) who study young troubled women as her test subjects measuring their perseverance, stamina, mental (dis)stability and social emotional intelligence in a chaotic environment where they have to ensure their own survival through group work and cooperation. Through being stranded on the island we learn more and more about the teens and how their personalities distinguish one from another. Leah (Sarah Pidgeon), an art student got romantically involved with much older author of the book who breaks up with her when he finds out she was laying about being underage. Since then Leah couldn't move beyond the romance and kept living buried in the book with her former lover's footnotes and memories attached to it. Her parents concluded she had unhealthy obsession and couldn't make new social contacts. On the island Leah with her paranoid tendencies quickly becomes suspicious that things aren’t what they seem and that something isn't right. Quiet, artistic and caring Nora (Helena Howard), psychology freshman developed a romantic friendship with her fellow freshman who got killed on his initiation night into Kappa brotherhood. Nora has a twin sister Rachel (Reign Edwards), a sport diving athlete who put all her time, work and energy to become a part of the national Olympic team but gets dismissed because she is too tall and thus can't perform the top results due to her height. Since she was dismissed she also lost the chance to get enrolled into prestigious Standford university and became depressed. On the island we get to know the twin dynamic relationship with Nora's unhealthy obsession to care for Rachel who most of the time opposes her. Fatin (Sophia) is a top violoncello artist whose life revolves around practises, school and being a normal teenager wanting to have trendy clothes, good make up, attending parties and having sex, On island she is the most impractical of all caring mostly about her looks (make up) and clothes although she is willing to share what she got with the others. Basketball player Toni (Erana James) is an orphan, angry, unpredictable and lesbian whose best friend is Martha (Jenna Claus). On an insland her anger issues are challenging for the group work. Peaceful, vegetarian and an animal lover Martha who had an injury in the youth mostly looks out for Tony and considers her as a best friend too, On an island she breaks her vegetarian rule and kills a goat to provide the group with the meat. An evangelical pageant princess from Texas Shelby (Mia Haley), a good Christan girl who always strives to be positive although there is nothing to be positive about but with prejudices towards Toni being a lesbian. Later we find out it is because she is lesbian herself and lives in environment where homosexuality is considered sin, however she overcomes interenlizaed homophobia and eventually gets romantically involved with Toni. Self-aware and responsible Dot (Shannon Berry) doesn't have any illusion on how real life looks like if you are poor – for her life is »give« and »take« transaction. She knows how to handle of everything alone, especially if you only have an ill dad to take care for. On the island Dot is as confrontational as helpful for the group dynamic. There was also Jeannete (Chi Nguyen), Gretchen's infiltrate to spy on the girls, who was badly injured and died while coming on the island. For us the most interesting is a love story between Tony and Shelby. They are the opposites who attract each other like magnet – Tony with her feisty opinion and honesty breaks Shelby's Christian (shameful and guilty) armor and lets Shelby be finally herself by acting on her attraction towards women she always felt without any fear what their future relationship might bring, while Shelby calms down Toni's anger and leads a path towards positivity to trust her like she never trusted anyone before. The Wilds is an inclusive and diverse show having African American, native American, Caucasian, Muslim, catholic, agnostic and lesbian girls, however at its heart, The Wilds is really about the many different ways that young women are underestimated, abused, manipulated, commodified, and lied to in their youth. The Occupied and The Wilds play with imagination of the new possible realities and niether of the two dissapoint with its excellent stories, top notch acting, scenography, music and chemistry among the lead characters. Ammonite, Happiest Season and Prom12/15/2020 Ammonite, Happiest Season and Prom Film Ammonite (Lee, UK, 2020) is about Mary Anning (Kate Winslet), a self-taught paleontologist who was known for her groundbreaking fossil discoveries. Anning is gruff and solitary, a kind of human hermit crab, who lives with her ailing mother, Molly Anning (Gemma Jones). One day, an aspiring geologist named Roderick Murchison (James McArdle) turns up, offering to pay Mary if she'll let him accompany her on one of her fossil search. She reluctantly agrees, as she and her mother could use the money. But Mary gets more than she bargained for. Roderick abruptly takes off and pays Mary to look after his young wife, Charlotte (Saoirse Ronan), for several weeks. And while Mary finds her burdensome at first the two women quickly bond. A spark soon ignites, and the two begin to enjoy each other's company. Mary helps Charlotte to heal after miscarriage and Charlotte helps Mary with her work, which both fascinates and energizes her and that is how the two embark on a forbiden love affair. Charlotte returns to her husband and arranges a special room next to her where Mary could stay. However what Mary didn't know is that Charlotte planned for Mary to move in with her and her husband for good. Mary replies to Charlotte that she doesn't know who she is and what her field work means to her and that she should consult her first about her moving plans and then abruptly leaves thus indicating that their love affair may be over. I my opinion Ammonite is better then Portrait of A Lady on Fire (Sciamma, FRA, 2019) because it gives its main protagonists, Mary and Charlotte, freedom to explore and decide about their relationship. Both women decided for themselves whether they wish to be with each other or not whereas Portrait of A Lady on Fire was in its essence a forbidden love which could never be realized. Both Winslet and Ronan share undeniable chemistry, story unfolds believably and their sex scene is fine. I don't mind even if Winslet smiles only three times in the whole film and that the whole film is a bit grim. The only similarity with Portrait of A Lady on Fire is that it takes place on the windy shores and cliffs of Lyme Regis. My only objection is that this is a film about an actual people, Miss. Anning and Mrs. Murchison while there is not a single (direct or indirect) evidence of an actual passionate affair between the two of them. It is true that many women in 19th century shared a passionate friendship which could develop into erotic relationship but that was not the case with Anning and Murchison despite being an actual friends during their lives. Therefore I agree with Barbara Anning, Mary's descendent who objected to Lee's depiction of Anning as lesbian despite being a fine arty film. I give credit to Winslet and Ronan for an excellent acting that presented a very believable fictitious love story although it falls short at times. From drama we go to musical. Musical as a film genre is not my cup of tea but I was pleasantly surprised by Prom (Murphy, USA, 2020). Story is simple. Broadway stars Dee Dee Allen (Maryl Streep), a diva belter with two Tony awards, Barry Glickman (James Corden), a comedy and all kind of helper type; and Angie Dickinson (Nicole Kidman), who continues playing doll-adorable lead parts even though she should've theoretically aged out of them. Dee Dee and Barry just appeared in a new musical about the Roosevelts that closed after opening night, following weak advance sales and harsh reviews saying the play was more about their narcissism and ego then bringing a great performance and believable story to the audience. Alen and Glickman hurt by critics they decide on a new strategy that would show them not only as great actors but also as good human beings. They decide to help Emma (Jo Ellen Pellman), a lesbian teen from a small, conservative Indiana town to take her high school sweetheart Alyssa Greene (Ariana DeBose) to the prom. Namely, Emma has been denied the right to take Alysssa to the prom. A Sardi's bartender and recent Juilliard graduate named Trent Oliver (Andrew Rannells) also joins the Broadway trio to the way to the Indiana town which they try dusting it with their liberal magic. The four of them soon arrive in Indiana and hop in the middle of the school debate between school principle Hawkins (Keegan-Michael Key) backing Emma's decision to bring her girlfriend to the prom against homophobic PTA president (Kerry Washington) to cancel the event entirely with the support of conservative parents. And that is what is this about, learning about Emma being left by their parents due to her sexual orientation and thus living with her grandmother, having no friends with only the principle being on her side and 'chicken' girlfriend who keeps promising her she would came out when going to the prom with Emma and the Broadway 'quartet' helping her in any way they can with their liberal progressive mind-set and actions. In this sense they educate pupils about what Christian values are really about – about love, acceptance, inclusivity, empathy not prejudices, bigotry, hate, encourage Emma to go to the national television and let people know about her situation to organize an additional prom party where she finally gets to dance with her sweetheart Alyssa while Alyssa finally comes out to her conservative mother who accepts her no matter what. In addition to this we get a romantic spark between Dee Dee and principal Hawkins who gets disillusioned about her the same way as critics saying she found in Emma only a new energy source to boast her narcissism. Dee Dee gets to use all her charms and persuasive abilities in order to change Hawkins's mind to get another chance. And last but not least, Barry gets to meet and reunites with his mother after twenty years. Namely, Barry left his conservative parents after he came out as 16 years old knowing they would never accept him as gay. He also never got a chance to dance with his high school sweetheart on his prom. This is what fuels his motivation to help Emma in every way he can. This is a promising setup, and you can see how audiences might've adored the stage incarnations. The movie hits pleasure spots for devoted theatergoers, mixing self-deprecating observations about how fatuous and self-serving performers can get when they dabble in politics. The songs are mostly serviceable, but there are enough home runs (including Emma's soul-centering, meditative song "Just Breathe") to carry viewers over the rough spots. Corden succeeds mainly by holding his own in the same frame as powerhouse performers like Streep and Rannells. Streep has played this sort of part before so many times (with and without songs) that she could do it in her sleep, and there are moments where she's seems so tuned into her autopilot tendencies that you wouldn't be surprised if she nodded off. She really only comes to life and shows us new shadings when she's flirting with the school principal. Despite her occasional forays into singing roles, Kidman also falls into the just-OK category, and is much better during non-singing scenes where she's vamping and being minx-like. The Prom is mostly about these three celebrity actors although Pellman's onscreen debut is fine and DeBose is fine as well despite a bit of lack of chemistry between the two. Last but not least, Happiest Season (DuVall, USA, 2020) is the first lesbian Christmas romantic comedy about Abby (Kristen Stewart) and Harper (Mackenzie Davis), a lesbian couple from Pittsburgh. Harper spontaneously invites Abby home to spend the holidays with her family. Abby, who’s yet to meet her girlfriend’s parents, decides that she’s not just going to propose, she’s going to go full-on archaic, as she tells her skeptical gay friend John (Dan Levy), in asking Harper’s father for permission to marry Harper and prove her seriousness. So it’s to more than Abby’s dismay that she learns, just before they’re due to arrive on the doorstep of the Caldwell household, that Harper’s family does not actually know about her existence. In fact, they don’t even know that Harper’s a lesbian, and have been told that Abby’s an orphaned friend. And that is how story starts unfolding in all different awkward ways for five days about Abby fields prying questions, public ex-boyfriend and secret ex-girlfriend — all for the sake of her woefully abashed sweetheart. It is completely understandable why Kirsten Stewart said that only McKenzie Davis could play the part of her onscreen partner. Who wouldn't remember terrific Yorkie (McKenzie) in San Junipero's episode (of Black Mirror series) with her naivety and eagerness to experience her first love(r)! However, despite of that there is no proper chemistry between Stewart and McKenzie and neither of them truly shine alone or/and as couple. At times you would also expect that Abby would rather go with Harper's first high school girlfriend Riley (Aubrey Plaza) whom she dumped when they were discovered. then forgive Harper's numerous straight pretense to please her WASP parents. And even after a series of comic events and sisterhood competition truth comes out and Harper reveals she is a lesbian we can't really fully accept her misbehavior towards Abby. I mean, it seems Harper never had any intention to come out to her parents and she even pushed Abby back in the closet when she told Harper's parents that her friend Johan is her ex-boyfriend. I ask whether such behaviour can sustain a relationship? I guess so, since Abby accepts Harper's apology for the hurt she caused and takes her back. Despite everything said it is a fine film if you wish to have some cozy time. After all, it is the first lesbian Christmas film done by an out lesbian director and an out actress although it could be done better. Namely, who likes to watch and re-experience their painful memories of hiding their sexuality and/or her partner. In this sense Prom is a better film. The main character is courages, optimistic and lets the whole world knows about who she is and what she fights for and even if her girlfriend is not as couragious as she is she does what is right in the end. If there is one thing I noticed in the last few years in LGBT films is that more and more A-listed actresses are willing to play in films with lesbian leading roles. From Kate Blanchet and Rooney Mara in Carol to Kate Winslet and Sairose Ronan in Ammonite, however it seems that only younger generation of actresses who play lesbians identify themselves as lesbians and/or queer as well, like Jo Ellen Pellman and Ariana DeBose, both leading actresses in Prom. In regard to this I truly hope that soon a great film director is going to give an excellent script to A-list actresses, such as Taylor Schilling and Jodie Foster who both identify as lesbians to play in a brilliant happy lesbian love story. Therfore let me conclude. Whether you wish to watch a serious lesbian drama on the windy English shores, musical about an average high school girl who just want to attend prom with her girlfriend or a lesbian comedy taking place in the Caldwell household it is worth spending an hour or two of your time despite neither of them is excellent. Hello Dracula11/25/2020 Hello Dracula This year I discovered South Korean television series. The main preoccupation of the South Korean TV are romance, crime, fantasy and history. According to the numerous TV series I watched I find South Korean society patriarchal and conservative therefore I was pleasantly surprised when I watched drama Hello Dracula (2020) directed by Kim Da-ye. Despite the misleading title – the name is used metaphorically for dark secrets or problems that everyone carries and tries to avoid but as the main character An Na (Seohyun) describes »the best way Dracula disappears is to face Dracula as it is in order to move forward with your life«. In the case of this story Dracula is that An Na, a primary school teacher, is a lesbian and her mother Mi Young (Ji-Hyeon Lee) has been avoiding this topic ever since she found out about it. But when An Na's girlfriend of eight years Soo Jung (Chung-Ah Lee) suddenly breaks up with her An Na's world falls apart and she doesn't want to pretend any more. However, this two episodes drama is not only about metaphorical Dracula but also refers to the French philosopher Sartre and famous quote in his play No Exit »Hell is other people« – or as An Na says herself »hell of me is from my mom«. This refers to An Na's youth when she was caught kissing a girl in a primary school and the two were dragged into a church where they were condemned and told they would go to hell due to their sinful behavior. However, when An Na tried to tell her mother that she really likes girls and that she would probably always feel loving girls her mother told her it would pass with years and that everything comes down to finding the right boy. Yet An Na's love for women didn't pass, her attraction towards women as a grown up woman has been still the same as she was a young girl. Because her mother didn't wish to accept her daughter's sexual orientation An Na started thinking there was something wrong having feelings for women. An Na's stance thus coincides with yet another Sartre's observation »By the mere appearance of the Other,« says Sartre in Being and Nothingness, »I am put in the position of passing judgement on myself as on an object, for it is as an object that I appear to the Other«. And it is exactly because of An Na's mother pretending and ignorance of her sexual orientation that An Na became depressed and emotionally distant while trying to please more her mother then herself. However, everything escalates when An Na's girlfriend Sojung sends her things via mail while asking she does the same with her things. When An Na's mother see how devastated An Na is she decides to meet Sojung on her own telling her it is shameless sending some one's stuff via mail. When An Na realizes what her mother did she gets really mad at her and that is the point when they both eventually start talking about their Dracula. Mother finally tells An Na there is nothing wrong with loving women and that she loves and accepts her the way she is and An Na's admits she was emotionally distant to her mother but she is going to change that and start including her into her life. Hello Dracula's honest portrayal and change of a daughter-mother relationship reminds me of a French-Romanian philosopher Julia Kristeva's analysis in her essay Black Sun where she suggests that we need not only a new discourse on »maternity but also a discourse on the relation between mothers and daughters, a friendly relation and a discourse that does not prohibit the lesbian love between women through which female subjectivity is born.« (Oliver, 1993: http://www.cddc.vt.edu/feminism/Kristeva.html). Lesbian love means that love is not burdened by the functions of women set by patriarchal society but that women live according to their desires, needs and wishes, and still within the community and in harmony with it. Similarly, Belgian philosopher Luce Irigaray talks about the nature of individual relationships between women – especially the mother/daughter relationship. Thus she stresses the need for mothers to represent themselves differently to their daughters as from to their sons, and to emphasize their daughter’s subjectivity – taking their subjectivity seriously and allowing them the freedom to be an individual rather than some sort of clone of a previous generation of women, consciously emphasizing that the daughter and the mother are both subjects in their own right who can freely choose whom to love and marry, even if it is another woman. Despite Hello Dracula isn't about a portrayal of a lesbian couple per se it gets the closest I watched of K-series. Both, Seohyun and Ji-hyeon Lee's performances are brilliant as screenplay is excellent as well thus I am looking forward to the presentation of K-lesbian romance. It would be nice if we watched Seohyun again and saw her on screen kisses another woman in portrayal of an actual lesbian relationship. I am sure she would be terrific as well. Literature Donovan, K. S. (2003): »Luce Irigaray (1932?—)«. http://www.iep.utm.edu/irigaray/, article obtained 25.11.2020. Iragary, L. (1985). This Sex Which Is Not One. New York: Cornell University Press. Iragary, L. (1993). Sexes and Genealogies. New York: Columbia University Press. Oliver, K. (1998). »Kristeva and Feminism«. http://www.cddc.vt.edu/feminism/Kristeva.html, article obtained 25.11.2020. Kristeva, J. (1989). Black Sun: Depression and Melancholia. New York: Columbia University Press; Kristeva, J. (1987). In the Beginning Was Love: Psychoanalysis and Faith. New York: Columbia University Press. Sartre, J.P. (1986). No Exit And Three Other Plays. London: Vintage, Penguin Books. Sartre, J.P. (1956). Being and Nothingness: An Essay on Phenomenological Ontology. London Rutledge. Summerland & Moonlit Winter11/24/2020 Summerland & Moonlit Winter Summerland (UK, 2020) directed by Jessica Swale is eventually a happy love lesbian story although at first seems to be another cliche about lonely misunderstood bitter lesbian. However, as it turns out the story of the writer, feminist and lesbian Alice (Gemma Arterton) is actually about a story of a young lesbian love that survives through WWII and grows into an old age of a lesbian family with son Frank (Lucas Bond). Movie starts with Alice shooing children from the door of her cottage (“You know how you can help the aged? You can bugger off!”) so she can return to her typewriter. It is 1975 in Kent, England. From here, we go back in time to the 40s, where the younger Alice typing on the same typewriter. A loner who investigates and debunks myths and folklore, searching for the facts behind the fiction, Alice is viewed with suspicion. The village children think she’s a witch or a spy; even the adults don't trust her and perceive her as odd. When young evacuee Frank (Lucas Bond) unexpectedly comes to Alice’s, she has no time for him, insisting that he be re-homed. But inevitably a bond grows between the pair, with Alice slowly warming to the new arrival who seems to rekindle long suppressed feelings of affection and connection. Meanwhile, we go back further in time, to Alice’s meeting with Vera (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) in the 20s and the pang of their first love. “Would you think it was strange if a woman loved another woman?” Alice asks Frank, adding that “most people think it’s wicked”. But Frank is more interested in Alice’s belief that “stories have to come from somewhere” and together they start chasing castles in the sky, mirages that seem to provide a link between this world and the next. Beautifully shot by cinematographer Laurie Rose, who lends a magic-realist edge to down-to-earth details. In the central role, Arterton is terrific, relishing the opportunity to play a character who doesn’t care how others see her and last but not least, we get a lesbian love portrayed as a long-term happy peaceful relationship. Moonlit Winter (KR, Yunhui ege, 2019) is K-film by Dae Hyung Lim about two women Yoon-Hee (Kim Hee Ae) and Jun (Yûko Nakamura) who felt in love as teenagers but never forgot each other even twenty years after being apart. It is a beautifully shoot film with a love story told through epistolary method, i.e. through love letters. So called epistolary novels were popular in 18. century Europe and some of the most beautiful love stories (such as Laclos' Dangerous Liaisons, Rousseau's Julie; or, The New Heloise and Richardson's Clarissa; or The History of a Young Lady), were told in the form of letters. They usually present unrequited love and this film is no exception to the rule. Namely “Moonlit Winter” revolves around Yoon Hee, a mother who has spent many years of her life denying her sexuality and living unhappily married to her husband until she finally divorces him and unexpectedly gets a letter from her young love Yun. After being separated from Jun, Yoon-hee says that she’d thought the rest of her life was a “punishment” she had to endure. The film begins after Yoon Hee divorces her husband and begins living with only her daughter Sae-bom (Kim So-hye). One day Yoon-hee gets a letter from Otaru, Japan and her daughter opens it. After finding out about her mother’s sexuality, Sae-bom is neither disgusted nor frightened. Instead, she tries to elaborately plan a way for her mother and Jun to meet up, even going as far as to suggest to her mother that they go together on a vacation to Otaru, Japan, where Jun currently resides. As story unfolds we get to know that after the main character, Yoon Hee told her parents she was in love with a girl she had to see psychiatrist as homosexuality was perceived not normal by her parents and was forced to marry a man, however she never stopped loving and remembering her first and only love, Yun. The same was with Yun who after she broke up with Yoon Hee, moved to Otaru in Japan as her parents divorced and her father went to Japan. Yun on and off kept dreaming about Yoon Hee and every time she dreamed about her she wrote a letter but never send it until her aunt finds one of Yun's letter to Yoon Hee and sends it. After Sae-bom convinces mother to go on a trip to Otaru and sets up a meeting of her mother with Yun we get a glimpse of hope although we don't get to know what they are going to do about their relationship. And not only that, Yoon Hee quits her job and embarks on her whole new personal journey of self-liberation and setting up her life path by herself for herself and her daughter. Both Hee Ae and Nakamura acting is great as they carefully thread the portrayal of the ex-lesbian lovers who both hide their true identities known only to themselves although people around them notice signs of their sexual orientation when for instance they show no interest in men or marrying a man at all as in the Yun's case. With Moonlit Winter we come to know how people in South Korea perceive homosexuality as attitudes about the LGBTQ community slowly evolve and we learn that power of love transcends obstacles such as nationality, race, age and gender. However, when we compare the stories of Summerland and Moonlit Winter we see that nowadays South Koreans are regarding LGBTQ rights as Englishmen were in the middle of the previous century. They still have a long way to go to recognize equal rights of same sex couples, acknowledge their love as equal and make them comfortable by just being themselves. AuthorPhilosopher, publicist, editor, screenwriter with passion for LL-films and TV-shows. Archives
November 2021
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