Review of Fabulous! The Story of Queer Cinema (2006) by Fran C — 12 Feb 2008
A moderately lightweight documentary about the history of queer cinema in the US and its role in contemporary society.
Generally the interviews here are well conducted, with good subjects in this field - Gus Van Sant, Don Roos etc - and all serves well to give a general *overview* of queer cinema, pointing out the important events and films.
Unfortunately it only really scratches the surface, and ends up trying to cover far too much in its short running time (81 min).
The whole sub-category of trans-cinema is almost completely marginalised, and though this film calls itself a 'History of Queer Cinema', nothing outside of the US is taken account of! Considering that two of the most important 'queer' films, 'My Beautiful Laundrette' and (to a slightly more mainstream degree) 'The Crying Game' come from the UK, it's a shame to see this stuff ignored.
I'm also sick of people harping on about straight actors playing queer characters - for Christ's sake, a director will pick the best actor for a role, their sexuality shouldn't matter! Get over yourselves.
Erm... rant aside, this is an enjoyable, though far from perfect, TV-style doco.
This review of Fabulous! The Story of Queer Cinema (2006) was written by Fran C on 12 Feb 2008.
Fabulous! The Story of Queer Cinema has generally received positive reviews.
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