And Now the Good (and GLBT) Movies Will Come Out to Play
Photo: Rooney Mara in “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”
By Warren Day
For at least a couple of decades, the movie year has divided itself into three basic seasons.
The first four months of the year – January, February, March, April – is the Dump Season. The major and critically-acclaimed films having been packed in toward the close of the previous year (to qualify for awards), now give way to the also rans. The new films that are left are largely the ones in which the studios have little faith, so they dump them into these winter months when theater attendance is at its lowest ebb.
Next we have the Blockbuster Season – May, June, July, August. This is when the studios pile on the heroic, comic-book, pre-sold sequels and R-rated comedies to ensure they will keep the theater seats and their coffers full. In this third of the year, studios will earn over 55% of their annual boxoffice. For counter-programming, there are usually one or two adult films released in August. This year, it was the wildly-successful, “The Help.” That film cost only $30 million (compared to other summer films with budgets around $175 million), yet “The Help” is likely to earn $150 million—domestically alone.
Finally, we have the Award Season, which stretches over the last four months of the year, from September through December. It kicks off with three, very high-profile film festivals where the studios test the critical and award-worthy waters, namely the Venice Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival, and the Toronto International Film Festival.
All three of these have just finished, and among the hundreds of movies on display were most of the key ones expected to pull in the honors from the critics and award groups (of which the Holy Grail is the Oscar® Awards). Only three films released in the first eight months are expected to have a chance to be nominated in the major Oscar categories: “The Tree of Life,” “Midnight in Paris” and “The Help.”
Colin Firth in “Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy”
Already among the critics, industry-insiders, and would-be opinion makers, there’s a growing consensus on what films stand a chance for the top ten lists, and who will be making acceptance speeches at the Kodak Theater in February.
Of those ten, four have GLBT-related content, so this is truly the season when the movies come out.
First up, October 7, is “The Ides of March” with George Clooney and Ryan Gosling. Here, I’m making the assumption that the studio wouldn’t be courting the gay press so much if there wasn’t a gay connection. The plot does revolve around a scandal that threatens an attractive presidential candidate (Clooney) and how an idealistic staffer (Gosling) struggles with the moral and political implications.
It was seen at all three film festivals I mentioned and received kudos for being a taut thriller that could easily take place in other areas of American life.
Ryan Gosling in “The Ides of March”
Then on November 9, we have “J. Edgar,” Clint Eastwood’s film about J. Edgar Hoover who headed the F.B.I or its predecessor for 48 years, welding great power over the secrets of this country, but in his lifetime squelched any rumors he was gay (and maybe a cross-dresser). Leonardo DiCaprio plays Hoover, and Armie Hammer, who played the Winklevoss twins in “The Social Network,” plays Clyde Tolson, his deputy and supposed lover. Eastwood has said this is “not a film about two gay guys,” but the original script was written by openly-gay Dustin Lance Black who won an Oscar for writing “Milk.”
On December 9, we have the movie theater version of John Le Carré’s great novel, “Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy,” starring some of the best actors working today: Gary Oldman, Colin Firth, Tom Hardy, John Hurt, and Benedict Cumberbatch. Among these male spies, there are two who’ve had a fervent affair that greatly affects the outcome of the story. Previously dramatized in 1979 as one of the most highly-acclaimed TV mini-series (with Alec Guinness), the filmmakers have seemingly been successful in making a 127-minute version of this complicated story. Premiering in early September at the Venice Film Festival and already showing in England, the reviews have been through the roof and the movie is being heralded as a sure thing for several Oscar nominations, including Best Picture and Best Actor.
Leonardo DiCaprio in “J. Edgar”
Finally on December 21, the English language version of Stieg Larsson’s worldwide best seller, “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo,” reaches theaters. Directed by David Fincher, one of the best directors working today, the advanced word is this may be even better than the well-liked Swedish film version. Daniel Craig plays Mikael Blomkvist, the investigative reporter, and Rooney Mara plays Lisbeth Salander, a bisexual who is also a brilliant computer hacker, and one of the most fascinating fictional characters to emerge in many a year. It may be the first mainstream film to feature a bisexual as its protagonist.
The other movies being touted for best of the year include: “The Descendants” with George Clooney (some are already predicting this will win Best Picture), “War Horse,” Steven Spielberg’s version of the book and play, “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Clear,” with Tom Hanks and Sandra Bullock, and “The Artist,” a silent film (with music and sound effects) that has charmed critics and already won some awards.
So far this hasn’t been a sterling year for movies (“Green Lantern” anyone?), but as usual the best have been saved for the Awards Season, and from the advanced reviews and buzz, we have some excellent ones coming in the final three months.
And it appears, at least as of now, that 40% of the best films of the year will have some GLBT content, a fact that will further convince the right-wing fundies that Hollywood is a liberal bastion of iniquity. To which I say, thank God it is!
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