THE LGBTQ+ YOUTUBERS YOU NEED TO WATCH

Anushka Searle on 28 February 2021

Joel Rochester
Image credit: Goodreads

Channel: FictionalFates

Bio: Joel identifies as a “bisexual Black British boy”. He is currently in his third year at university, studying English Literature and Creative Writing. He began his bookstagram and blog back in 2015 and this encouraged him to start his booktube account last year, which is already at 50.2k subscribers. Joel was particularly encouraged to start his channel because of BLM, as he felt “more empowered to use… [his] voice in spreading diverse reading and representation and showing that black lives matter”. Indeed, he also amplified his voice through the format of literature, as, in 2020 Joel wrote a short story, ‘The Boy & The Dragon, and is in the process of writing his first novel.

“Reading was probably my escape from reality, like a comfortable and safe space from a harsher world that didn’t like a queer British boy, a queer Black boy”

– Joel Rochester

Video Recommendation: ‘how I organise myself as a reader + student’ / ‘let’s talk about black books, baby‘

Rose Ellen Dix & Rosie Spaughton
Image credit: divamag

Channel: Rose and Rosie

Bio: Rose and Rosie are a married comedy duo; they have been married for 5 years and you can watch their beautiful wedding video their channel. They both had individual YouTube channels in 2011, before making their first combined channel, “Let’s Play Games”, which was a gaming channel. They then made their channel Rose & Rosie where they do comedy skits and along with more personal videos, including Rose’s experience of having OCD and Rosie’s experience of being a bisexual woman in their “BISEXY SERIES” (Rose and Rosie Vlogs). They have recently started their podcast “Rose and Rosie: Parental Guidance” which discusses their experience of trying for a baby through IUI.

Video recommendation: ‘Rating Gay Ships on Netflix/Discussing My Trauma | EMDR therapy | PTSD and OCD (uncut)‘

Melanie Murphy
Image Credit: YouTube

Channel: Melanie Murphy

Bio: Melanie is an Irish YouTuber, author, a mother. Her content centres around empowering others by representing her true self.  Melanie shares her bodily insecurities and mental health struggles. Along with this, she discusses and tackles “taboo” subjects such as: abortion rights, sex, sobriety and biphobia. Notably, her “PMS PARTIES” series portrays the often-overlooked subject of PMS, visually representing the struggles that people with periods face. Melanie also creates shorts, including FEMME, a spoken word film about her sexuality, and CHOICE, a film to tackle abortion rights in Ireland. She uses her creative format to speak-up for the LGBTQ+ community and actively tries to educate her viewers, including LGBTQ+ sex and relationships education which is very limited in the UK curriculums.

“I can’t silence all the voices swimming in my brain that question the validity and extent of my bisexuality”

Melanie Murphy

Video recommendation: ‘Why We Still Need Pride/FEMME‘

Header image credit: Metro Weekly

‘News of the World’ review: Woody gets a live-action treatment

Jack Denison on 23 February 2021

News of the World tells the story of Captain Kidd (Tom Hanks) in middle America, post-civil war, who plods between small towns delivering the news and stories of the country. His equilibrium is thrown off balance when he meets Johanna  (Helena Zengel), a young girl who had been captured by the Kiowa tribe. The film follows his endeavours to take her back to her family.  

Director, Paul Greengrass, who previously collaborated with Hanks on Captain Phillips, dominates with an impressive set and costume design, making audiences feel like they’re witnessing an American Gothic painting brought to life and stretched over two hours. By night, we are presented with some fantastic stills of midnight ghost towns, moon-lit shudders, amber windows and oil lamps, sparking a dark and brooding atmosphere. By day, we are immersed into the verisimilitude of a comical Wild Wild West town; the perpetually muddy main strips, bustling saloons, neighing stables, bells chiming, people whistling, the clatter of villagers starting their day – a buzzing hive smothered by the epic American landscape.  

Dariusz Wolski’s cinematography and his use of wide-angle frames is accentuated by some gorgeous images of the twilight hours and its rising purple tones casting shadows over the hills, creating a beautifully placid fragrance in the air.  

Hanks and Zengel wear their roles well, particularly Hanks, who is renowned for his  humbleness and good nature, makes for a perfect fit as a paternal character. The film’s first old-school, fun cowboy shootout with some rugged bandits and a creatively horrific  alternative to gunpowder pushes our familiarity with Mr Beloved Worldwide as a heroic  gunslinger but does not disappoint.

Credit: Universal Pictures

Greengrass plays it very safe in News of the World, which makes it hard to flesh out any  valid flaws. However, some complacencies present themselves, such as within its  dialogue. When a shady, menacing crew try to take Johanna off Captain Kidd’s hands for  a price, which results in an altercation, one of the members threatens him saying “I’ll be  seeing you Captain…I’m coming for you as soon as I’m done with these blues”. Not only  is this on-the-nose, but it also frustratingly spoils the possible element of surprise later on  in the narrative with his return, as we already know from this confrontation that he  presents himself as a potential antagonistic conflict, resulting in what is some pretty  complacent writing.  

Captain Kidd’s quest in bringing the news of the country to these isolated, bubbled village  communities resembles a lighthouse beacon illuminating the scary unknown abyss of the  expansive lands of America for its disconnected sleepy towns in an age of tremendous  darkness before a world of technology, science (labelling the misunderstood as ‘cursed’),  mass-communication (other than ‘word is’) and humanitarian justice. This metaphorical  plague is manifested in and personified by our two protagonists, who are both isolated  and wrestling with an existential ambiguity over where they belong and where they ought  to go.  

News of the World doesn’t conquer any new grounds or put itself up to any real risk but instead communicates a very necessary sentiment. The timeless power of stories is what triumphs here. His stories are the only light that echoes through a country muffled by darkness, a country riddled by desperate turbulence, confusion and anger, in need of severe enlightenment and escapism, whilst on the brink of a new era. For these reasons,  News of the World couldn’t have come out at a better time. 

Header image credit: The New York Times

A Glimpse into the Guardian’s Online Book Club

Anushka Searle on 22 February 2021

Many of us have discovered or rediscovered a love for reading over the multiple lockdowns. We’ve escaped to the fantasy worlds of Brit Bennett, Maggie O’Farrell and Sarah J. Maas. We’ve been intrigued by the life of Barack Obama and we’ve learnt new skills from the dusty cookbooks that were long forgotten. But although reading can be wonderful it can be a very isolating experience unless you have someone to share it with…enter book clubs. Many online book clubs have emerged over the past year, so it was unsurprising that The Guardian would join the trend

The Guardian’s online book club is run by their chief books writer, Lisa Allardice. During the book club events, Lisa talks with leading writers, discussing the writing process, current affairs, isolation and, of course, the chosen novel. Book club attendees also have the opportunity to send in questions prior to, and during, the event. The book clubs are run on Thursdays 7-8pm BST, are broadcasted globally, and the cost of a ticket is £5 plus a small booking fee, or you can purchase the book with the ticket for around £14. Though the price may be slightly discouraging for an online event, it is significantly cheaper in comparison to what you might pay to hear an author talk at an in-person event. I certainly enjoyed hearing Margaret Atwood talk whilst sat at home with a risotto and a glass of wine, instead of queueing for hours outside a bookshop in the snow.

Credit: Waterstones

The book club I attended was centred around Margaret Atwood’s 2003 novel Oryx and Crake. Though the novel could be considered science fiction, Atwood labels it as ‘speculative fiction’ as the novel does speculate the potential of human evolution, and it does not deal with things that are beyond human capabilities. Although The Handmaid’s Tale is often deemed Atwood’s most prophetic book, Oryx and Crake foretold the biggest disaster of the 21st century, the global pandemic. As Atwood discussed in the book club, plagues are a “very old human story”, and they are even more “definitive in human history […] than war”. Atwood informs her readers to pay attention to Oryx and Crake because it shows “the big picture”, detailing to the reader just how far into chaos the pandemic, and our current habits, could lead us. Certainly, the novel forces the reader to take a long look at the human race.

On the more positive side, Oryx and Crake sees advancement in sustainability. As, in the book the ‘humans’ have evolved to no longer need clothing, meaning that “they do not need cloth”, and they are “not only vegan, [but] they can eat leaves and grass”, thus we no longer need to grow masses of crops or “raise herds of animals”. Indeed, the ‘humans’ have evolved to no longer be “sexually competitive”, lowering aggression and as Atwood notes there would be “no more wife murders”, essentially eradicating domestic violence. Furthermore, one of the most spectacular human advancements is the ability to purr! As Atwood explains, purring is an incredible ability to have as “cats purr to self-heal”. This is scientifically factual as a cat’s purr “has a frequency of between 25 and 150 hertz, which happens to be the frequency at which muscles and bones best grow and repair themselves”.

It is safe to say that Atwood is a hive of knowledge, and although I have not read Oryx and Crake, I still learnt so much from hearing her speak. The Guardian’s online book club is a great way for book lovers to hear from their favourite writers and have the opportunity to ask them questions. The upcoming book club is in conversation with Maggie O’Farrell (22nd April), the author of the Women’s prize-winning novel Hamnet. Hamnet is set in plague-ridden Jacobean England, once again projecting a vision of our current world, and is said to be a heart-wrenching read. Why not give it a read and join me and many others for the next Guardian book club?

Header Image Credit: The Guardian Patrons

Studio Fiasco, Netflix Eclipse & Death to Popcorn – Interview with BAFTA Nominee, Mark Herman

Jack Denison on 22 January 2021

When the opportunity presented itself to interview British filmmaker, Mark Herman, it was too bountiful of an opportunity to not seize, considering he’s a successful BAFTA nominee and director/screenwriter behind British gems such as Brassed Off and Little Voice, but also the highly received The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas.

With British cinema seeing new heights each year and playing an active role in the production of Hollywood blockbusters, I thought I’d ask Herman for his insights on the inner workings of the industry. He confessed that he feels “currently very embittered by it” and that “the only thing I know about for sure, personally, are some of the frustrations caused by the workings of the industry”.

His last film, The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, a powerful story centred on the relationship of a Nazi Officer’s son and his relationship with a Jewish boy in a concentration camp, was released twelve years ago. Herman remembers that the year after its release in 2008, “I seemed to get sent nothing but projects about The Holocaust, when in fact that would be the last thing I would want to be doing next”. He disapproves of Studios’ behaviour, saying “There is a lack of such financier bravery these days, nobody will stick their neck out and take a risk”. He voices how the industry has been on a creative downhill tumble for decades, saying that twenty years ago the “hoops and hurdles a director would have to go through and over were so much fewer. There was a trust in directors’ track records that is not so obvious today.” He punctuates his disenchantment saying “Nowadays it feels like everything has to be safe: either adaptation of successful novels, or sequels in big hit franchises”. Clearly, the industry has had its philosophies re-calibrated, particularly after the collaboration and selling-of-its-soul to Hollywood. Now, all that’s on the menu are micro-budget arthouse flicks that don’t get the circulation they deserve, or colossal budgeted, formulaic studio blockbusters that you can’t escape from.

As a spectator, he articulates how the industry has become numb and is in need of a wake-up call, saying “instead of having films that split opinion, that some people might hate but some just adore, what gets churned out are films that neither really offend nor really delight anybody.” Its systematic, cancerous values have cursed and swindled filmmakers with a ‘survival of the fittest’ mentality. It has cranked up the dog-eat-dog intensity and has fundamentally strangled the life out of the creativity and arts the industry was founded on, that has now been morphed into a relentless business machine with the maximisation of money in its crosshairs and nothing else. Herman solidifies the toxically dysfunctional behaviour of the industry saying “The tail wags the dog in a way”. Cinema finds itself in a bleak dystopian world, having suffocated and neglected the other equally superior services of film; to make us feel, dream and escape our reality.

The industry is juggling several gruelling existential crises and it would be fair to say it’s being put through the wringer. With the recent news of juggernaut cinema chain, Cineworld, suddenly going into a long haul hibernation to save itself from bankruptcy and then mammoth Hollywood
conglomerate, Warner Bros, deciding to release its entire slate of films for 2021 online, it seems that the exhibition sector is lost in no mans land. Both of these strong footed companies haven’t just been outmuscled directly by Coronavirus, but also indirectly by celebrity assassin, Netflix (last victim, Blockbuster). The streaming service’s popularity has taken spectatorship by storm, revolutionising the game, also being catalysed by the orders of sedentarism from the pandemic. Herman argues that younger generations “have got very used to gobbling up ‘movies’ on smaller and smaller screens, and after this year of many people not even experiencing a trip to the movies, folk do get used to alternatives.” With the ball now being in the cinema’s court to win audiences back over, they “will need to make ‘going to the movies’ a little bit more special than it has been in the last decades. Popcorn is no longer enough (..thank God)”. Or will this be the final nail in the coffin?

This fruitful interview aroused many concerns regarding the fate of cinema and what’s in store for it next. Are we on the brink of an ice age, or gearing up for a renaissance? Whatever may be at the root of the disappointments from the industry; the churning out of lethargic, humdrum blockbusters or the ebbing away of the cinema-trip culture, we need to remind ourselves that the industry is founded on supply and demand. Thus, to save the industry, as audiences, we must act; the blood is on our hands.

Header image credit: Aesthetica Short Film Festival

‘The Midnight Sky’ review: George Clooney fails to save humanity from lockdown boredom

Jack Denison on 21 January 2021

Netflix’s latest big-budget project, The Midnight Sky, is a sci-fi drama directed by and starring George Clooney. The film focuses on Augustine (Clooney), a modern-day mad scientist isolated with a young, mute girl at a research facility in the Artic, who must warn the crew of a spaceship about a recent global catastrophe.

The apocalypse that acts as the hotplate under the character’s motivations, is executed with delicacy. Instead of an all guns blazing, disaster cinematic spectacle, where the skies might as well be falling on the audience too, as seen in 2012 and The Day After Tomorrow, it’s charged by a subtle, lurking, eerie menace. It’s holstered in the unknown, its wrath left to the imagination of the audience, like a silent blanket slowly being drawn over the world. This allows Clooney to hit some chords pretty well, asking; if the world were to stop spinning and fall silent, entombed by darkness, how far would you go to make contact with your family?

The film flexes some stunning cinematography infused with strong post-production colour work, creating some vibrant stills of the world’s last twilight from the Artic, making us feel like we’re watching a planetarium show. Clooney’s acting reflects the deafening stillness of his environment skilfully and his narrative’s midpoint will certainly leave you with clammy hands.

Credit: Variety

However, this is the furthest the film goes in earning merit and is fully eclipsed by its strong flaws, particularly in its script. With dystopian space films being rife in today’s cinema catalogue, the ‘isolated astronaut/scientist’ trope has also been tackled several times and Midnight Sky falls last in the race by a long way. 

Typically, films, especially one of this calibre, need a threat or a force that not only drives the characters through their narrative but also keeps the audience engaged. This nexus to any project that wants a shot at being successful is ignored for ninety-five percent of the film. The finale’s twist, albeit rather bittersweet and tragically endearing, finally sprinkling motivation and meaning on the characters and the film, does not excuse the two hours of boredom and confusion. The film up to this point never finds its feet, never telling us what journey it’s going to take us on, what it’s about and sadly, why we should keep watching. The film in a way explores two narratives, an insight into Augustine’s lonely existence and also the tension and diplomacy of the crew of astronauts. By structuring the script like this, it exasperates the restless need to find out what the point of the film is. Consequently, we have two separate midpoints that don’t have any real significance, especially not one concerning the development of the overall, overarching narrative.

Screenwriter, Mark Smith (The Revenant), tries to capitalise on Augustine’s dynamic with the enigmatic young girl, Iris (Caoilinn Springall) in order to fabricate the film’s force and drive. Cross-generational pairs can perform very well in films, often pursuing the route of an entertaining dichotomy that symbiotically helps construct each other’s character and narrative arch. Here, their relationship doesn’t even come close to this very basic canon, but instead goes the other way and is quite frustrating and tedious, considering how Iris might as well have just as much screen time as Clooney, but doesn’t say a single word. Rather, this notion would’ve computed better if it had taken a step back as a sub-plot device, or if Iris’ character was embraced more.

The Midnight Sky’s disappointing reception was not helped by the drought of new content audiences are receiving, or with the entire country being in lockdown fighting our very own global crisis for that matter. Sadly, circumstantial or not, Clooney’s big white, bushy beard brought more Christmas entertainment to the season than the film itself.

Header image credit: NBC News

Mank Review: David Fincher’s Love Letter to Old Hollywood

Jack Denison on 6 January 2021

Mank marks the collaboration between heavy-weight Director David Fincher (Fight Club, Seven, The Social Network) and Netflix. It throws us into the action of Hollywood in the 1930’s from the perspective of the raging alcoholic screenwriter, Herman J. Mankiewicz, as he writes Citizen Kane, one of the highest acclaimed films of all time. The film is rife with social commentary on the industry at the time, communicating the world’s political ambiguity with World War Two lurking just around the corner.

Fincher goes slightly off-piste in Mank, a black and white love-letter to 1930s Hollywood, much like La La Land was to 1950s Musicals. His romanticisation of the era roars. The punching of the type-writer for scene headings, strong orchestral scores, fuzzy gramophone-like dialogue quality, characters’ faces split up with light strips from drawn blinds and idling cigarettes delicately left balancing on the rim of an ashtray and still smoking. His brilliant direction brings these text-book pictures to life. We’re teleported back into the bustling streets of Hollywood with classic cars, retro poster ads, bellboys with funny hats, three piece suits and tie clips and filterless cigarettes. We are also given an insight into turmoil left behind by the Great Depression, the anticipation of the Golden Era and speculation about what this ‘Hitler’ guy is up to in Germany. Even though Mank is set some ninety years ago, the parallels in-between its financial crisis to ours today were too big to go unnoticed. 

The casting pays off, with the great Gary Oldman taking the reigns as the screenwriting protagonist and Amanda Seyfried filling the shoes of a femme fatale-like actress. Despite this, the script hampers his potential and doesn’t give him the space of delivering a game-changer we know he’s capable of. How much wiggle room can an actor have to impress if he’s cemented in a bed for half the film? With this being said, there is credit to be rewarded in the casting department, particularly for not giving in to pressures for mega marketable names unlike the Coen Brother’s Hail Caesar!, starring George Clooney, Scarlett Johnson and Jonah Hill. Going down this path would’ve tainted the artistic integrity and tone which Fincher boasts.

Not long into Mank, once the novelty of its beautiful lighting and striking costumes begins to settle, its serious flaws begin to materialise. Alarm bells start to ring early on, booming ‘style over substance’ and this is incredibly hard to shake off. The film’s runtime of nearly 2 1/2 hours proves to make it a downright tedious experience, boldly toying with audience’s patience levels. Equally, the film is peppered with meaning and conflict that just doesn’t appeal to the common man. The daily endeavours of Herman J. Mankiewicz and his navigation to making one of the best pieces of cinema is actually, quite a dull piece of cinema. Mank prioritises its indulgent commitment to the vintage aesthetic and consequently, neglects the most primitive service of cinema; to entertain.

This trap also has a knock on effect with the flow of the narrative, through the excessive usage of the slow, fade-to-black. Although this editing technique is also a motif from the Noir-era, it’s exhausted and as a result makes the entire film feel very segmented, like a collection of isolated scenes that don’t carry over smoothly on to the next. Middle man, John Houseman (played by Sam Troughton), pays a visit to Herman Mankiewicz, criticising his patient development on Citizen Kane, saying he’s “hardly out of the first act”. What’s amusing with this line is how the concept of plot structure is non-existent in the overarching film, resulting in a narrative that waffles through its generous run-time. Although validation can be given to the importance of flashbacks, it isn’t executed very well or clearly, resulting in a slightly messy narrative.

Mank offers something new in an age of humdrum films built on generic conventions and passive audiences. It packs a theoretically interesting premise, that delivers for a two-minute trailer, but over 135 minutes, it’s empty and falls flat on its face. Fincher won our trust in making biopics with an exciting, slick and intense execution in The Social Network. You’d be forgiven to assume that he copied and pasted his algorithmic approach here with Mank, but alas, as we all know, lightning doesn’t strike twice. Fincher has lost his charm in this project, but what has stayed is his slick dialogue, clever subtext and ‘cigarette burns’ (queue, Tyler Durden monologue). But ask yourself this – if a house can’t be built on sand, can a film stand on aesthetics and dialogue?

Header image credit: The Times

Review: Dash and Lily

Anushka Searle on 4 December 2020

Dash & Lily is an American Christmas-based rom-com Netflix show based in New York City. The show is based on the young adult book series by Rachel Cohen and David Levithan, with the first book being Dash & Lily’s Book of Dares. Unsurprisingly, the story surrounds the protagonists Dash (Austin Abrams) and Lily (Midori Francis). Lily, encouraged by her brother, creates a book of dares that she hides in a bookshop next to her favourite book, in the hope that it will be discovered by her perfect match. Of course, Dash discovers the book and so the show follows the protagonists as they travel around New York while trading dares, dreams and desires.

If you are a fan of a good cheesy Christmas movie, then you will absolutely love these 8 episodes of pure Christmas fun. Dash & Lily gives you those soppy feel-good feelings that make your heart heavy – think a combination of The Holiday, Love Actually and A Christmas Prince. Whether it’s a crush, a partner, or a long-lost love, this series will immediately make you dream of that special someone. This series brings forth those warm, fuzzy feelings of love, and isn’t that what we all want to feel this year… love.

Of course, like most cheesy Christmas films, or rom-coms in general, some things are a tad far-fetched and unrealistic. It is unlikely that 17-year olds (where the drinking age is 21) would be able to get in a club hassle-free and with no ID checks. It also seems very far-fetched that these teenagers, Lily in particular, would have so many connections in New York to help them plan all their great dares. However, if the story were to follow a more realistic route than we would have a very boring story, where the notebook would never have been found and our protagonists would barely leave the house, spending most of their days sleeping until 2pm. So, bring on the unrealistic relationships for us all to idealise this Christmas!

Even if you don’t usually enjoy Christmas, this show will still be enjoyable, as it is not all Christmas joy and tackles the seasonal blues too and Dash himself doesn’t even like Christmas! Let’s be honest, after such a rough year I think some cheesy comfort watches are in order, we all need a little escapism. So, make yourself a deluxe hot chocolate, pop on Dash & Lily, and enjoy this love letter to New York.

Oh, and if that wasn’t enough the Jonas Brothers also make a cameo appearance!