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October in Lesbian Films
Nov. 10th, 2023 01:11 pmI used to be a huge cinéphile and watched films almost every day. For some reason I haven't watched that many in recent years. Luckily, I found a tiktok focusing on lesbian film content and that inspired me to finally watch more lesbian films.
Here's some reviews of lesbian films I've watched last month:
Knife + Heart
Yann Gonzales,2018, French
This is more of a queer film than strictly a lesbian film. It's a very visually beautiful horror thriller set in 1979 and follows a group of gay softcore porn production team. A mysterious murderer is on the loose who kills their actors. The main character is wonderfully played by Vanessa Paradis, an alcoholic lesbian porn director/producer who is going through a breakup.The murderer can be interpreted as many things that have challenging the queer community such as aids-crisis and homophobia. I love how the film focuses on the queer community, it's portrayed as a marginalized community with messy and funny characters who form important bonds with each other. This is probably one of the best queer films I've seen.
Benedetta
Paul Verhoeven, 2021, French
I didn't have high expectations for this one. I knew it was going to be fully male gazey but I coudn't resist the idea of sexy lesbian nuns in medieval France so I decided to give this film a try. I was maybe hoping that I would secretly like it but unfortunately that wasn't the case. Let's start off with the fact that there was no chemistry between the two leads. That's one of the reasons why the sex scenes looked like straight out of porn. I don't mean that in a way that lesbian sex portrayed in films is always porn-like but in this case it was because it lacked eroticism. It's a shame because the film is otherwise good (and clearly has a high budget) so it's such a waste that the two leads have no connection. Shame and forbidden love could have so much tension and eroticism but that part of their relationship was portrayed more like a porn film than an arthouse film. As for the main character Benedetta I found her interesting. She is a complex and a strong character who believes herself to be a saint. I love the portrayal of insane women on media so at least that part was satisfying to me. What was a suprise to me that this was actually based or inspired by a real lesbian nun in medieval France.
Girl's Encounter
Yuka Eda, 2018, Japanese
Bullied girl meets a beautiful mysterious girl and they instantly form a friendship. This is a delicate and beautiful, slow-paced films that tackles adolescent angst, girl crushes and womanhood. There is repeating motif of a woman compared to a caterpillar. Beautiful, exploited, and short-lived. This film was like a novella, it kept secrets about the love interest until the very end. I noticed that there is a common trope in queer films for the couple to escape from their current life situation and start a new life together. This film also portrays that fantasy.
The Five Devils
Lea Mysius, 2022, French
An ex-lesbian lover comes to town and the past starts to haunt a family. This film has some magical realism to it which I really enjoyed. The past and current are intertwined in an interesting way. This film also portrayed repressed feelings well, and one of the most memorable scenes in the film is when the two ex-lovers drunkenly sing karaoke in local bar (in the picture). This film has us against the world - type of romance;, in one life the world took over our love but in the second life we are reunited again.
Bottoms
Emma Seligman, 2023, American
An hommage to the american high school comedy genre with a feminist and lesbian twist.
Fun film 5/5 will watch again.
+ I watched tons of short films on GagaOOlala, similar to Girl's Encounter, they mostly surround around bittersweet teen girl romance. My favorite ones mentioning are Lucky Fish, which features two Asian-American teens who meet at a restaurant and a Thai GL Serpent's Song which surrounds around faith, grief and forbidden love in a monastery.
Here's some reviews of lesbian films I've watched last month:
Knife + Heart
Yann Gonzales,2018, French
This is more of a queer film than strictly a lesbian film. It's a very visually beautiful horror thriller set in 1979 and follows a group of gay softcore porn production team. A mysterious murderer is on the loose who kills their actors. The main character is wonderfully played by Vanessa Paradis, an alcoholic lesbian porn director/producer who is going through a breakup.The murderer can be interpreted as many things that have challenging the queer community such as aids-crisis and homophobia. I love how the film focuses on the queer community, it's portrayed as a marginalized community with messy and funny characters who form important bonds with each other. This is probably one of the best queer films I've seen.
Benedetta
Paul Verhoeven, 2021, French
I didn't have high expectations for this one. I knew it was going to be fully male gazey but I coudn't resist the idea of sexy lesbian nuns in medieval France so I decided to give this film a try. I was maybe hoping that I would secretly like it but unfortunately that wasn't the case. Let's start off with the fact that there was no chemistry between the two leads. That's one of the reasons why the sex scenes looked like straight out of porn. I don't mean that in a way that lesbian sex portrayed in films is always porn-like but in this case it was because it lacked eroticism. It's a shame because the film is otherwise good (and clearly has a high budget) so it's such a waste that the two leads have no connection. Shame and forbidden love could have so much tension and eroticism but that part of their relationship was portrayed more like a porn film than an arthouse film. As for the main character Benedetta I found her interesting. She is a complex and a strong character who believes herself to be a saint. I love the portrayal of insane women on media so at least that part was satisfying to me. What was a suprise to me that this was actually based or inspired by a real lesbian nun in medieval France.
Girl's Encounter
Yuka Eda, 2018, Japanese
Bullied girl meets a beautiful mysterious girl and they instantly form a friendship. This is a delicate and beautiful, slow-paced films that tackles adolescent angst, girl crushes and womanhood. There is repeating motif of a woman compared to a caterpillar. Beautiful, exploited, and short-lived. This film was like a novella, it kept secrets about the love interest until the very end. I noticed that there is a common trope in queer films for the couple to escape from their current life situation and start a new life together. This film also portrays that fantasy.
The Five Devils
Lea Mysius, 2022, French
An ex-lesbian lover comes to town and the past starts to haunt a family. This film has some magical realism to it which I really enjoyed. The past and current are intertwined in an interesting way. This film also portrayed repressed feelings well, and one of the most memorable scenes in the film is when the two ex-lovers drunkenly sing karaoke in local bar (in the picture). This film has us against the world - type of romance;, in one life the world took over our love but in the second life we are reunited again.
Bottoms
Emma Seligman, 2023, American
An hommage to the american high school comedy genre with a feminist and lesbian twist.
Fun film 5/5 will watch again.
+ I watched tons of short films on GagaOOlala, similar to Girl's Encounter, they mostly surround around bittersweet teen girl romance. My favorite ones mentioning are Lucky Fish, which features two Asian-American teens who meet at a restaurant and a Thai GL Serpent's Song which surrounds around faith, grief and forbidden love in a monastery.
