Alexandra Donald

Melbourne Queer Film Festival Review: Blackbird (USA, 2014)

Attempting to intersect race, sexuality, religion and small town values, Patrik-Ian Polk’s Blackbird is a coming out and coming of age drama that’s an enjoyable watch, but ultimately proves too conventional to be truly special. Randy (Julian Walker), a devoutly Christian choirboy from small town Mississippi, is plagued by a host of personal problems –…

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Melbourne Queer Film Festival Review: Lyle (USA, 2015)

Rosemary’s Baby gets the micro budget lesbian remake it deserves in Lyle, an unsettling domestic horror that wins in its grand ambition and unfailing earnestness – despite being somewhat lacking in genuinely terrifying scares. Leah (Gaby Hoffmann) and her partner June (Ingrid Jungermann) move to New York with their adorable toddler Lyle (Eleanor Hopkins) –…

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Melbourne Queer Film Festival Review: All About E (Australia, 2015)

Like every genre of storytelling on the big and small screens, LGBT narratives are not without their cliches. Unfortunately, the strongest trope in queer media seems to misfortune – whether it’s bullying, unrequited love, parental disapproval or greater tragedies. But All About E seems determined to shatter every preconceived idea about both the stories of…

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TV Review: Masters of Sex – First Five Episodes (USA, 2013)

  Accompanied by the news this week that the show will live to see a season two, Thursday’s Masters of Sex brings us just one episode shy of the freshman season’s halfway mark. The show has fast established itself as the new kid on the cable drama block and here’s what we’ve seen so far….

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