Cruising Cinema: 10Dance, Knives Out, and Heated Rivalry
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As an investigative journalist of deep integrity, I've watched the latest episode of Heated Rivalry and I can confirm that there are indeed more butts in the show this week.
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Queer and Now
Everything new in the world of queer TV and film
— In Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery, Benoit Blanc is back to be gay, solve crime, in his third outing onscreen. But this time around, Daniel Craig's suave detective is applying his devilish charm to murder in the Catholic Church. Sin? In a church? It makes no damn sense. Compels me though.
Rian Johnson's latest instalment has already been out in cinemas — DON'T LET CINEMAS DIE! — but it's arriving globally on Netflix from December 12th in case that's easier for you.
— So there's this film that's forever rewired my entire brain chemistry? 10Dance might be a BL (Boy Love) story, but honey, these boys are men.
Shinya Sugiki and Shinya Suzuki share, dare I say it, a heated rivalry on the dance floor where they compete to become the best ballroom dancers. Apparently, that involves being extremely sexy. Everyone say, "Thank you, Ryoma Takeuchi and Keita Machida." Brace yourself (and your loins) for all the lust and yearning when 10Dance lands on Netflix globally from December 18th.
— Winner of the Un Certain Regard Award at Cannes, not to mention best film title of the year, Diego Céspedes’ debut feature is a haunting allegory that reimagines the AIDS era as a queer western. It's poetic and vibrant and incredibly queer. Check The Mysterious Gaze of the Flamingo out from December 12 at Roxy Cinema New York, with further cities to be announced (plus you can rent it online via Letterboxd in various regions here).
— Oh hello uglies! May I recommend The Boulet Brothers' Holiday of Horrors this festive season?
Nothing screams Christmas like two ghoulish drag queens who call themselves brothers, but are actually lovers. From the twisted minds behind Dragula — my favourite drag-based reality competitions series — comes a scripted horror anthology of four spooky holiday stories. Seek these festive chills and thrills out on Shudder and AMC+ from December 16th.
— Marcelo Caetano's Baby follows an 18 year old adrift on the streets of São Paulo where he encounters an older sex worker named Ronaldo (Ricardo Teodoro). Wellington (João Pedro Mariano), aka Baby, begins a working relationship with him that leads down some unexpected paths. Gay indie fans who love a bit of drama should check this one out in UK cinemas from December 12th and VOD platforms from December 22nd (including BFI Player, Curzon Home Cinema and Peccadillo).
Celluloid Closet
Must-see queer classics no one should be without
I don't know if I've mentioned it before, but I've been watching this little gay hockey show called Heated Rivalry that no one seems to be talking about.
And while I was watching this teeny tiny show that definitely hasn't turned a whole generation gay, I couldn't stop staring at thinking about François Arnaud. The bisexual Canadian actor takes centre stage as a closeted hockey player in episode three, cementing himself as a husband-in-the-making for me and everyone else watching.
But this isn't the first time Arnaud has wowed the gays onscreen. His feature film debut just so happens to also be the first film ever directed by Xavier Dolan, once dubbed the "enfant terrible" of cinema by those who resented a twink rising to power so young.
Dolan wrote I Killed My Mother (J'ai tué ma mère) when he was just 16 years old before he directed, produced and starred in the film shortly after. This raw coming of age story won three awards from the Director's Fortnight program at the Cannes Film Festival in 2009, immediately establishing Dolan as a power bottom/vers/top/side (or however he chooses to label himself) on his way to the top.
Loosely autobiographical, I Killed My Mother stars Dolan as a young man named Hubert Minel who has a complicated relationship with, yep, you guessed it, his mother. Anne Dorval does extraordinary work here in that role, as does Dolan, but the one scene impressionable gays will never forget is, of course, the paint scene.
And this is where Arnaud comes in. As Hubert's boyfriend, Antonin Rimbaud, the Heated Rivalry star played a key role throughout, including what would become one of this era's defining gay sex scenes.
For me, it was one of the first times I'd seen gay sex look so joyous and free onscreen. The love they share is messy and even euphoric thanks to that pulsating edit and Dolan's signature poppy soundtrack. Check it out now — and the film as a whole — to chart Arnaud's evolution from twink to beefcake. That's cinema, baby.
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Queer Awakenings
Long before I knew I was gay, stories about outsiders and people who don't belong really spoke to me as a kid. And I know I'm not alone in that. So I'm asking you, the beautiful, talented subscribers reading this right now; which queer stories inspired you growing up?
Podcaster Neil Vagg, the editor and co-host of Get Your Comic Con, shared his 90s queer awakening about The Faculty last week.
Now it's your turn.
Please send in your own stories, those early examples of shows and films that shaped who you are today, and I'll share them right here in the free edition of this newsletter (Don't worry, your accounts can be anonymous).
Send them to this email address: cruisingcinema7@gmail.com.
Mother of the Week
Where Mothers Come To Mother
So I thought about celebrating the winner of Dragula: Titans season two this week. However, Cynthia Doll did not make the final four, and that does not sit right in my soul.
So instead, I figured now might be the perfect time to spotlight a little-known show about hockey named Heated Rivalry. Stop me if you've heard of it.
The series is full of young musclebound queens whose booties barely fit in the closet they refuse to come out of, but there is only one Mother, and her name is Elena (Nadine Bhabha).
