By
 |
This week I was very lucky to make use of my Adelaide Fringe Membership and put my hat in the ring to win some tickets to the BIT screening and Queer Film Festival screening at the Capri as part of the Feast Festival. The first half of the night was the queer shorts - my personal goal was to not cry. Read on to hear my rapid fire thoughts on the shorts below:
MY BROTHER IS A MERMAID - A unique insight into the growing-up story of a trans-feminine teenager in the UK from their seven-year-old brother's perspective. Set in a desolate coastal town, it reminds us of what it feels like to grow up out of the 'norm'. The film fuses fairytale, mythical storytelling techniques with an innocent narrator, making something magical.
BREAK IN - Yes.. a comedy! An AMAZING short full of fun, relatable social relationships and great acting. The feature character writes an erotic fiction story about a work colleague and accidentally sends it directly to them. A break in occurs. Even if you're not a short film fan, this one is worth the watch. Extra kudos for it being a queen film that isn't just a trauma story.
ACUITZERAMO - Emotional. Interesting. Cultural. When I think gay culture, I think club kid/ballroom culture created out of the late 80s and not how gay people from rural Mexico could create a happy life for themselves together with deep roots in North America. A man loses his partner of 15 years and he copes with the loss of his partner as their grown adult child comes to mourn his own father's passing and his secrets.
KAPEAMAHU - Beautiful. Narrated in an ancient Hawaiian dialect, this film brings back a powerful legend and conveys how time, colonization and modernisation affect our connection to the spirit of our land and the stories people once held in esteem. A great representation of how genders other than female or male have existed for thousands of years.
POMPEII - Probably the weakest film out of the collection tonight. Using the storytelling technique of rewatching Instagram stories of a big night out on the town, this concept is better than the execution. The tone works, but it feels like you're watching the social media of someone who is yet to go to therapy. If the intention was to feel cringe, sadness and second-hand anxiety, then they did succeed.
WINGS - The film that ruined my goal of not crying while watching these films. Being raised on old-school UK films and tv shows, this short film perfectly captured the aesthetic of films that have paid homage to wartime era stories in the past (think gorgeous costumes, perfect sets and the ability to convey a world of resilient, hard-working people with an air of loss, sadness and despair, without directly incorporating the shots into scenes). Starring BAFTA award-winning actresses Miriam Margolyes, and fifties film legend, Virginia Mckenna, this film tells the story of two women who fall for each other, raising one of the woman's children as her husband is away at the war.
This story was a stand out to me and my sister out of all the films of the night, except in my research in writing this, I saw that the IMDB page only rated it a 6.8 out of ten. Upon further investigation, a large portion of these votes has rated it a flat out 1 (the worst score). I'm not one to jump to conclusions - but hey, I'm gonna say it. This just goes to show that homophobia and the active attack on queer stories is happening right now to some of the most beautiful films created with lgbtqia+ couples as the centre. Bullshit really.
Now... to BIT!
 |
| Diana Hopper as 'Duke' in BIT |
I am totally a part of the tween-vampire appreciation resurgence (there's been a lot of Twilight watched in this household this year) so the premise for BIT is a strong one. A country girl leaves her one friend and country hometown in the dust as she visits her brother in LA. On her first-ever night out, she runs into a group of queer feminist vampires and chaos ensues.
The film's main character, Laurel, has some major cringy 'pick me', 'I'm not like other girls' vibes as evident with her oh-so-quirky making a necklace out of a shoelace.
The movie makes one of the most basic mistakes in film - show, don't tell. When the hot leader of the vampire gang, Duke, is convincing Laurel to join the group, she delves into all the injustices that women face in the world and why she should join them in making men pay. Whether I agree with that sentiment or not, nowhere up until this point have these injustices been shown - unless you count the scenes where Duke seduces men to their death. It would have been nice to see more realistic instances of this rationale.
Hands down the best part of the film is the montage of when Vlad was at his height of power and partying in the 70s, 80s and 90s. It's really sucky when the best part of what is supposed to be a girl-power film is the one sequence of the main villain guy strutting his stuff. This section of film is so incredible it almost feels like a completely different film altogether - and it should be, I would watch the shit out of a 70s teenage runaway turned NYC party-girl lesbian turned vampire king's drug taking disco diva nympho.
Although the movie missed the mark in many areas, the way the storyline eventually panned out was creative, fun and unique, although feeling rushed. I almost feel like this story would have worked better as a 6 episode Netflix series; giving us the ability to connect with the characters a touch more and play with the ending storyline with more action. A special mention needs to be made to the main vampire gangs acting, especially Diana Hopper as Duke who was quite fantastic.
When I got home and searched up the movie, I found that the main character was a trans-woman. Within the movie, they make mention of her past issues but there was a lack of clarity on the past issues which made me miss this part of the character's identity.
This isn't a bad movie, but as Dennis Harvey put it, it's a "polished low-budget indie for those teens hip enough to be in their school’s Gay-Straight Alliance", which if you were in school during the 2010s Tumblr era - you know exactly who those kids were.