favourite movies

paris is burning (1990)

• beautiful movie.
• i live in a place where drag culture is very young. it feels like it only started as more of a 'gay cultural import' removed from its original context. and is only now still developing a more local nature. so it is important to me to see its roots depicted so lovingly.

rocky horror picture show (1975)

• there needs to be some sort of revival of the queer villain trope. for all of its problematic nature it is so much more fun to me than more contemporary tormented queer archetypes.
• wish the writer did not hold transmisogynistic beliefs still though. that does kind of sour it a bit. but rocky horror has certainly taken on a life of its own & i think the cult status is one of the most appealing things about it to me.

whiplash (2014)

• very tightly-wound movie. maintains good momentum throughout. not really a faithful portrayal of music-making. but it sure makes for great cinema.
• one of the first movies i remember seeing when i was younger and thinking: wow this is a really good movie. more of this please. an electrifying experience in under two hours. it does not need to justify its length.

daisies (1966)

• very cool visual and sound design that i have not seen much else of. so it really stands out to me.
• i need to rewatch it soon to fully assemble my thoughts on the thesis of the film. but it is a bit funny to me that the most popular review of it on letterboxd is about interpreting the two main characters as lenin and stalin. you are being a bit silly i think.

häxan (1922)

• fresh out of a special custom soundtrack screening of this & it left a very strong impression on me.
• strikes me as very ahead of its time. especially in its closing statement. i wonder what this film would have looked like had it been released after the 1950s. would it have been released at all.

kažkas atsitiko (1986)

• it's more of a supercut of music videos than anything else. but i like the aesthetic and vibe of it.
• rock music in general has an interesting place in the lithuanian consciousness. often portrayed as a resistance to the

sunset boulevard (1950)

• MOTHER. way funnier than i thought it was gonna be. gloria swanson is amazing in her role.

rope (1948)

• i just enjoy movies that behave like plays i think. it is also quite gay.

network (1976)

• aged extremely well. literally relevant to this day with some reframing. its political message is so damning to our current media landscape.
• the technical aspects are incredible as well. just an all around great film.

the producers (1967)

• homophobic. but in a way that's really funny to me. like it truly did not need to be like that. but it is & i can laugh at it. truly a testament to how comedy is the most likely to age fast & poorly due to its often transgressive nature.

blue puppy (1976)

• another animated thing with a cool style. though this one is a short.
• unexpectedly queer-positive message in retrospect. for a soviet short. wonder how it got past the censors. though i suppose the blue-to-gay association was not yet there at the time of making.

bubble bath (1979)

• extremely unique aesthetic. more animated movies should be like this.
• the constantly shifting styles & character models portray the neuroticism of the film perfectly.

give me pity! (2022)

• you get everything you want and it turns out that sucks! i love to see it.
• also feels to me like a very play-like movie.

female trouble (1974)

• best of john waters. best of divine.
• the world of a heterosexual is a sick and boring life.

the lobster (2015)

• i like how purposefully stilted it is. brown prose in cinema form.

marble ass (1995)

• post-soviet john waters realness. surprisingly queer positive for the time & place that it was made. it was originally going to be a documentary. but this idea was scrapped in favour of a more fictional movie after the director & cameraman almost got shot during a clandestine filming of one scene.
• the way it handles traditional masculinity is very interesting to me. the film demonstrates very clearly why the characters adhering to it act so destructively & why everyone is worse off for it. it points out the conditions that create the pain of its masculine characters & is in a way even shows sympathy to them without absolving them of responsibility for how much of their misery is self-imposed.
• it is on youtube. go watch it.

pink flamingos (1972)

• her political beliefs ♥

shrek (2001)

• movie that meant so much to me as a fat kid. formative childhood experience of watching this so many times.
• still good and funny to this day. i was not raised on disney movies so i do not really care for shrek as a parody of them. but i suppose i can thank disney movies for existing so that i could see shrek.

shrek 2 (2004)

• perfect sequel that follows up on everything the first movie put forward.
• it is open to a very satisfying queer reading. which i enjoy.

to wong foo, thanks for everything! julie newmar (1995)

• yes it is three cis dudes playing drag queens and rupaul is there. it would have been lovely to see trans actresses and/or drag queens in the lead roles. but it is i think a loving depiction nonetheless.