By Romeo San Vicente
Photos: KathClick, Jon Keng, Lowell Meyer, IMDB, PR
Margaret Cho returns in Yen Tan’s ‘All That We Love’
Gay filmmaker Yen Tan’s indie dramas “Pit Stop” and “1985” have earned him a reputation for intimate, character-driven movies that aren’t afraid of being earnest. His latest, “All That We Love,” premiering this month at the Tribeca Film Festival, looks to continue that tradition as Margaret Cho takes the lead as a grieving woman facing an empty nest and a desire to deepen connections with her family and friends. Co-written by Clay Liford with Tan, the film costars “Modern Family” vet Jesse Tyler Ferguson, rising stand-up comic Atsuko Okatsuka, Kenneth Choi (“9-1-1”) and Alice Lee (“Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist”). Since “All of Us Strangers” inspired audiences to leave theaters sobbing, it may be that heartfelt is the next wave mood of queer filmmaking. Look for this one to make the festival rounds before hitting an arthouse or streamer later this year.
Andrew Scott joins the new ‘Knives Out’ sequel
“Ripley” star Andrew Scott is the latest buzzed-about actor to join the list of potential suspects in Netflix’s “Wake Up Dead Man: A ‘Knives Out’ Mystery” from filmmaker Rian Johnson, alongside “Priscilla” star Cailee Spaeny and Josh O’Connor (the bisexual churros-loving tennis dude of “Challengers”). Scott is also hot off the heels of the queer heartbreaker “All of Us Strangers” and he’ll be joined by Kerry Washington, Jeremy Renner, Mila Kunis, Daryl McCormack (“Good Luck to You, Leo Grande”) and, of course, Daniel Craig, reprising his role as queer sleuth Benoit Blanc. It goes into production in the coming weeks, for an unspecified 2025 release. Now, since we like to make public requests, we’d really enjoy a return cameo from Craig’s “Glass Onion” romantic partner, Hugh Grant, if that’s possible. And why shouldn’t it be?
Nick Kroll and Andrew Rannells star in ‘I Don’t Understand You’
There is nothing quite as entertaining or satisfying as watching gays behave badly while smugly thinking, “I’d never be like that.” But in “I Don’t Understand You,” the gay/straight actor alliance of Andrew Rannells and Nick Kroll (from “Girls” and “Kroll Show” respectively, but also the animated series “Big Mouth” as a team) star as a married couple on a disastrous anniversary vacation in Italy, during which bad decisions and fish-out-of-water entitlement might be what saves them. The story, loosely based on writer-director team David Joseph Craig and Brian William Crano’s life together, also involves the men wanting to adopt baby from an ambivalent woman (Amanda Seyfried). The film took its bow at South By Southwest and is currently making the festival rounds, with early reviews praising the dark-yet-heartfelt comedy of errors and the great comic chemistry of its leads. Look for it to show up somewhere near you later this year.
‘Harry Potter’ star Harry Melling submits to Alexender Skarsgård
If the last time you saw Harry Melling was when he grew up in the “Harry Potter” film series as Dudley Dursley, you’re in for a bit of a shock. The now-adult Melling has been taking on daring roles lately, particularly in 2022’s oddball indie musical “Please Baby Please” which took his character into a decidedly queer sexual awakening. Now, in “Pillion,” the upcoming feature debut from filmmaker Harry Lighton (and co-written by British novelist Adam Mars Jones), Melling will star opposite Alexander Skarsgård as a meek, shy man who has a different sort of queer sexual awakening when he falls for a handsome and dominant leader of a motorcycle gang. Yes, that kind of dominant. As in he becomes a full-time BDSM submissive. Now, it’s rare to see that particular queer subculture depicted authentically on screen — see the British indie “The Duke of Burgundy” for a thrilling lesbian variation on the subject — but we live in hope that this time around a contemporary film gets it right, with all of its inherent complexity, for all the Doms and subs in the audience. Shooting now, so wait for it. Beg for it, even.
Romeo San Vicente is pro-kink at Pride.