jawdropping performance from franco

"YOUR BODY ACHIEVES IT IF YOUR MIND BELIEVES IT"

I could say that it's a joy films can be this queer, this messy, this gross and unapologetically not for everyone now. That grittiness does not mean a lack of jubilation. A celebration of everything that is dyke love.

I could also just say, average lesbian relationship experience.

Never seen a film so plainly acknowledging the Sisyphean task post-op trans women are burdened with – that’s some refreshing representation!

Both stranger and simpler than I thought. It’s so desperately sad, but where every tear and every ache is something of a lifeline. Andrew Scott broke my heart and I’m starting to think Paul Mescal’s niche is a very specific kind of lonely, kind, awfully vulnerable boy - who sounds like one we know, but, really, do we know any of them? Just loved the starriness of it all loads.

The best part of screening Phantom of the Paradise was the number of people who came to me after to say “how did I miss this before!”

Most likely my favourite Brian De Palma film, Phantom has so much to enjoy – its various slapstick elements, musical numbers, body horror adjacency, wild set/costume design, and striking cinematography all come together in a perfectly potent cult cocktail, which deserves time to be savoured.