Posted on 05/24/2013 10:47:47 AM PDT by nickcarraway
As Soderbergh's Liberace biopic hits our screens, why is it that homosexual love stories now work so much better than hetero?
I know where I'll be Sunday night. The reviews coming out of Cannes for Steven Soderbergh's Liberace biopic, Behind the Candelabra, which airs on HBO on Sunday night, have turned it into must-see TV.
We might have been able to guess that Soderbergh's take on the kitsch-addicted superstar would turn out to be "mesmeric, riskily incorrect, outrageously watchable and simply outrageous" (The Guardian). Or that Michael Douglas would be "shrewd, rude, wickedly funny" (Indiewire) in the central role. What is interesting is that the film, which was made for HBO because it was "too gay" for mainstream cinematic release, has turned out to be "both hilarious and heartrending" (The Playlist), an "intimate love story" (Thompson on Hollywood) and Soderbergh's "most emotional and touching work" to date (Hollywood Elsewhere). This is interesting but not surprising, for it only confirms my suspicion that the best love stories, these days – the most wrenching, plangent and affecting – are gay.
Put it this way: what was the last great straight love story you saw? There are many who swear by The Notebook (2004), although as Hollywood continues to drive the Nicholas Sparks bandwagon into the ground, even Rachel McAdams poked some sly fun in Woody Allen's Midnight in Paris, where she questioned the sacred Sparksian connection between romance and rain: "What's wonderful about getting wet?" What heresy! Off with her head!
(Excerpt) Read more at guardian.co.uk ...
Ditto for my wife and me. Then we kept waiting for the next great series...which never happened. Couldn't get into "Deadwood," and that only lasted a season or two anyway. The rest of the series like "Big Love" have been utter dreck.
To me there is too much sex of all kinds in Game of Thrones. But I know people who have watched it and for many of them Game of Thrones has become an addiction. Some of those addicts will be unpleasantly surprised Sunday night.
I've only seen the pilot episode and there were several graphic sexual (rear entry) encounters in that one as well (heterosexual but it was unclear if they were engaging in sodomy or not).
This gay romance story was so great, studio execs called it too gay for production and distribution, so the brilliant minds behind this perversion were forced to go to HBO.
They're all about gay cowboys eating pudding.
There was a very well known homosexual film critic named Robin Wood who died four years ago. After being a critic for many years, he announced there was only one reason for critiquing films...and that was to contribute to the social revolution which included Marxism, female lib, and gay (homosexual) lib. In short, for this jerk, the purpose of movies was not to entertain but to radicalize. I’m sure he wasn’t the only film critic who thought that way.
Madam Mao would agree.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.