The London BFI Flare Film Festival 2024 has called it a wrap, and this year’s selection was very unique, and very inclusive, and was a huge success.
Here are reviews of a few of the films:
SILVER HAZE
It’s a blurry haze when nurse Franky (Ricky Knight) meets and falls in love with her patient Florence (Esme Creed-Miles) and ends up living in her house in ‘Silver Haze.’
Franky, scarred from a fire (a fire that mirrors Knight’s real life) lives with her couch ridden mother and the rest of her family, except for a father who abandoned them years ago. One day a young female patient comes in who has just attempted suicide and Franky feels and her have an instant spark. Their relationship moves too fast, they’re in love so Franky moves in with her to escape her homophobic bother. But Florence suddenly (perhaps too suddenly) moves out and leaves Franky to live with her mother and her challenged brother. Florence’s mother is suddenly diagnosed with cancer and, implausibly, it’s up to Franky to care for her, and her brother, while at the same time accepting the fact that her father has a new family.
Hope gives a determined performance but it’s the direction and script that let us down (by Sacha Polak) as the film, while in some parts is nitty gritty and real, overall is not realistic, and ends with a predictable ending.
UNICORN
A unicorn is a person who is highly valued, someone who is different from the rest, and is unique. Aysha is just that person.
Jason Patel is the unicorn in ‘Unicorns’, a Queer, Muslim, South Asian drag queen performer, and one night in a club Luke, a white straight single father (played fantastically by Ben Hardy) sees her on stage and is instantly mesmerised/smitten, and hence begins their relationship.
It’s up and down as Luke juggles his responsibilities while at the same time venturing into unknown sexual territory, and risky. Meanwhile Aysha is determined to live her best life until an accident happens that sees her retreat to her family home and puts her and Luke’s relationship in jeopardy.
‘Unicorn,’ directed by Sally El Hosaini and James Krishna Floyd, and written by Floyd, is an eye opening look at the world of gay Asian drag queens who are not at all very visible in cinema.
CLOE TO YOU
A film about a trans man returning back home to his family after five years away, and after his operation, will knock your socks off.
‘Close To You’ is a heartfelt tension filled drama about Sam (Elliot Page) who goes back home to rural Canada for his fathers big birthday party only to encounter confusion and hostility. You see Sam had moved to Toronto to go through gender re-assignment surgery and is literally going back home a different person. Not sure what sort of reception he is about to get, he runs into an old friend, and flame, on the train ride back home. This gives Sam a little familiarity and comfort but it won’t last as he receives an awkward and uncomfortable welcome from his family, especially his mother who doesn’t know quite what to say or how to act.
Other family members are not very welcoming, leading to awkward and at times volatile conversations, and arguments, with the house filled with thick tension, making Sam very vulnerable while staunchly defending himself against one male family member who just doesn’t get it. Will Sam overcome this even though this means combatting and defending his huge decision to become a man?
‘Close to You’ is absolutely brilliant. The acting is first rate, and Page has never been better. His Sam is vulnerable yet strong, different yet the same, and Page blows us away. Based on a story by Dominic Savage and Elliot Page, ‘Close to You’ is entirely unscripted, and the actors were given some freedom in their acting, which makes the story and the performances more real and natural. You will have you heart in your throat during the intense family scenes at the dinner table, where the family never actually get to the point where they eat the food. ‘Close to You’ is a game changer for the trans community where we don’t get to see them represented in film much.
WE FORGOT TO BREAK UP
A rock groug with a transgender lead singer and the relationships they all develop with each other is the premise of the film ‘We Forgot to break up.’
Fleetwood Mac, if you recall, was known for inter group relationships (Stevie Nicks Lindsey Buckingham, Christine McVie with John McVie) so in ‘We Forgot to Break up’ we have transgender lead singer Evan (Lane Webber) who is in a relationship with Isis (June LaPorte), but enter new band member Lugh (Daniel Gravelle – a Timothee Chalamet lookalike) – and Evan falls hard for him. Meanwhile beautiful couple Angus (Jordan Dawson) and Coco (Hallea Jones) are glued to the hip, have really hot sex yet a life event throws them off their course. Meanwhile the band, called The New Normals (appropriate title for the makeup of this band and the times we are in), are getting famous and more famous, travelling a long way from their days of practicing in Evan’s garage.
And with most rise to stardom films, the road is rocky, bumpy and volatile, and it’s a long and hard drop if is all falls apart. A great cast, originality, and a great soundtrack make this a film one we won’t soon forget.
Crossing
A retired teacher in Georgia goes in search of her niece Tekla in the hopes of reuniting with her in Turkey.
Mzia Arabuli is simply wonderful as Lia whose sister, Tekla’s mother, has died and it’s up to Lia to deliver the bad news. Tekla left Georgia because she was trans and wasn’t very well accepted by both her mother and aunt.
Lia hooks up local boy Achi (a very good Lucas Kankava) and together they go in search of Tekla in a crowded and cat filled Istanbul. We are also given a parallel story of Evrim (Denis Dumanl) a trans activist lawyer who works for a local gay charity who befriends two little adorable rambunctious children who seem to have no parents. Lia and Ervin’s worlds eventually collide in the search to find Tekla. ‘Crossing’ which refers to the crossing of the Black Sea from Georgia to Turkey, is an amazing and bittersweet film which also highlights the LGBT experience in Instanbul.