Cruising Cinema: Tangerine, Emily in Paris, and a special Xmas gift from GagaOOLala
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Hey sis, it's Christmas! And boy do I have a great gift for you.
Cruising Cinema has partnered with Asia's premier LGBTQ+ streaming service GagaOOLala to offer a 7-day complimentary pass for all of their VIP content.
That includes unlimited access to hundreds of queer films, docs and TV shows such as Tide of Love, My Golden Blood and more.
Looking for something new while you wait for the next episode of Heated Rivalry? GagaOOLala has you covered there too with 'Heated Rivals to Lovers', a playlist made up of your new favourite obsessions like Revenged Love and Therapy Game.
We're talking BL (Boy Love), GL (Girl Love), and everything in between. Everybody say love!
All you have to do to receive your 7-day complimentary VIP pass is subscribe to Cruising Cinema here and send an email titled "GagaOOLala" to cruisingcinema7@gmail.com. I'll reply with the special code that you can redeem here. I have 25 codes to give away so it's first come, first served.
(PS. If you're a UK resident having issues with the site, make sure you temporarily disable parental controls settings with your Internet Service Providers).
If you like what you see, GagaOOLala will also be offering 50% off their annual plan as part of their year-end flash sale.
Whether you want to snap up this gift or just support queer journalism, subscribe to Cruising Cinema here. Extra benefits come with the paid tier below.
And if you're paying already? Thank you. You're a diva. You're an icon. You are the moment.
Queer and Now
Everything new in the world of queer TV and film
— Emily in Paris Rome is back for a fifth season where Emily butchers a whole new language now that she's moved to Italy with a Greek god of a man. Said man is hot, as are all the men in Emily's life, but the real star of the show is Sylvie. At one point, she gets fed up of two men fighting over her so she simply commandeers a nearby boat and sails off with nothing more than a cheeky grin and sun-kissed skin.
Questions like "How can I grow up to Sylvie?" and "When will Emily's damn passport expire?" haunt me even after I ploughed through all ten episodes.
— Queen of Coal stars Lux Pascal in a true story inspired by Carla Antonella Rodríguez, the first trans woman miner in Río Turbio, Argentina. Watching this film will reap many awards. There's the story itself, which champions trans courage and resilience. There's the fact that supporting this film will enrage transphobes no end. And most importantly of all, you'll have lots to talk about when you finally meet Lux's brother, Pedro Pascal, at our wedding.
You're all invited, of course, so go watch Queen of Coal on Netflix before the official invites are sent out.
— In the latest episode of Stranger Things, Will Byers fought Vecna using gay trauma to tap into his true potential. Yes, you too can be a psychic powerhouse. All you've got to do is get terrorised by a Demogorgon or spend more than 5 seconds on Grindr to build up the trauma you need and really let loose. Speaking of trauma, the next three episodes land on Christmas Day, which could cause tension if your homophobic Nan's in charge of the TV remote.
— The Mighty Nein ends on Christmas Eve, which is really the opposite of a gift, when you think about it. But still, this animated spinoff to The Legend of Vox Machina is queer as hell, and the finale is giving in all the right ways. Should you watch it and then rewatch it again? It's giving "Ja!", not "nein."
Celluloid Closet
Must-see queer classics no one should be without
Christmas is gay as hell. After all, you're inviting a complete stranger into your room at night, and it doesn't get much gayer than that. But when it comes to gay Christmas classics, there aren't as many as you might think.
Carol (2015), Happiest Season (2020), How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000)... even Netflix's ballroom romance 10Dance (2025) is gay with a capital wrist flick. But one classic that's not mentioned enough for my liking is Sean Baker's Tangerine (2015).
Before Baker watched stripper classes for his Oscar-winning Anora, he stripped things back in this Christmas indie shot on three iPhone 5s. Which begs the question, why aren't you making films this good with your shitty smartphone?
Tangerine follows a trans sex worker with the genius name of Sin-Dee Rella (Kitana Kiki Rodriguez) who finds out that her boyfriend/pimp Chester (James Ransome) has been cheating on her while she was in prison. Obviously, no one cheats on Sin-Dee and gets away with it, so she and her bestie Alexandra (Mya Taylor) set off to teach Chester a lesson.
Set in LA on Christmas Eve, Tangerine is laced with incredible rapid-fire bantz between the pair — and possibly coke too because I did not want this film to end.
It's so rare to see trans characters front and centre like this. They're not victims. They're not stereotypes. They're women out to get what's theirs, which involves everything from brothels and meth to kidnapping and Christmas cheer.
Tangerine peeled back the limits of trans storytelling and indie filmmaking alike, all while setting a precedent to cast trans actors in trans roles. And maybe, just maybe, that was the greatest Christmas gift of all.
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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? (Previous example here)
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.
Out Takes
Queer hidden gems you need to see
It's a story as old as time. Boy meets boy. Boy plans to marry boy, working together on the Durian orchard they saved up all their life to buy. Boy dies and then other boy is forced to watch as dead boy's family use draconian inheritance laws to steal his orchard out from under him. We've all been there, right?
