Director: Robin Campillo
Running Time: 143 mins
Certificate: 15
Release Date: April 6th 2018 (UK)
120 BPM has been eliciting praise ever since it debuted at Cannes last year, including winning the Grand Prix and Queer Palm at the festival. It’s gone on to win multiple other awards, including Best Film at the Cesar Awards (France’s equivalent of the Oscars). It was also France’s entry for Best Foreign Language Film at the Academy Awards, although sadly it missed out on a nomination.
Written and directed by Robin Campillo (who also made the very good Eastern Boys), 120 BPM is a fictionalised take on the true story of the AIDS activist organisation, ACT UP Paris. Campillo and co-screenwriter Philippe Mangeot were involved with ACT UP themselves, helping to give the movie an authenticity and power it may otherwise have lacked. Thankfully though, despite being close to the story Campillo is objective enough to be able to acknowledge the flaws and problems within the organisation, while also having a clear-eyed view of why these things happened. This allows it to be a powerful and empathetic testament to both ACT UP and those who were/are affected by AIDS, without becoming hagiography. [Read more…]
Boys On Film has reached legal age with is latest instalment! The award-winning gay short film compilation reaches its coming-of-age with Boys On Film 18: Heroes. The release features ten uplifting and powerful tales recounting the lives of everyday gay, bi or transgender heroes, fighting for the right to be be themselves. The shorts include the docudrama The Colour Of His Hair starring God’s Own Country’s Josh O’Connor (God’s Own Country), the Egyptian animation Half A Life, and Iris Prize 2017 winner, Mother Knows Best.
The trailer and poster for the documentary McKellen: Playing The Part have been released, which takes a close look at the life of the wonderful Ian McKellen. The film will premiere in the UK (and Scandinavia) on Sunday 27 May at 3pm at cinemas across the country, with the screening followed by a live Q&A with Ian McKellen, hosted by Graham Norton at London’s BFI Southbank. In Playing the Part, audiences will have the opportunity to celebrate one of Britain’s true acting icons on his birthday weekend.
Synopsis: ‘Star Kevin Hart and producer Will Packer, who partnered for the hit Ride Along and Think Like a Man series, bring their signature style to Night School. The comedy from director Malcolm D. Lee (Girls Trip) follows a group of misfits who are forced to attend adult classes in the longshot chance they’ll pass the GED exam.
Queer filmmaker John Cameron Mitchell made a big splash with his first film as a director, Hedwig & The Angry Inch, which was adapted from his own queer rock musical. He followed that with the sexually explicit Shortbus and the Nicole Kidman starrer Rabbit Hole. That was eight years ago though, and he’s only just returning with an adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s short story and graphic novel, How to Talk to Girls at Parties.
It’s one of the all-time gay classic and perhaps the first international gay-themed mainstream hit – 1978’s La Cage Aux Folles. The movie is being released on Criterion Collection Blu-ray in the UK on April 2nd 2018 and we’ve got three copies to give away.