Touko Laaksonen was an army officer and diligent brother who had a talent for drawing muscular men in various revealing outfits. Known as Tom of Finland, he was once arrested for his drawings before finding popularity and fame in the United States.
Tag Archives: Arthouse
Happy Hunting (2017) [Horrible Imaginings Film Festival 2017]
A man living with addiction and alcoholism receives a call that sends him on a road trip toward Mexico. Near the border, he stops in a little town where he has to get clean while waiting for a call and ends up stumbling into a very special hunting festival.
Othello (1952, 1955): Criterion Collection [Blu-Ray]
Orson Welles had an obviously nightmarish vision in mind when approaching Shakespeare’s “Othello.” The story itself is a maddening depiction of betrayal, deception, manipulation, and death, and Welles emphasizes that back drop in every shot. Despite being a troubled production, “Othello” looks beautiful and depicts the world around Othello as a confused and jarring mess where nothing is ever what it seems; that’s emphasized by the dizzying editing and close ups. Othello is a man driven by his passion who finds that the one person he trusts has likely betrayed him. This makes him abusive and inevitably murderous, and Welles offers no quarter when it comes to the titular character.
The Limehouse Golem (2016)
Before The Ripper, another serial killer terrorized London, so much so that people believed the killer could not be human but a being called a golem. As the police looks for the killer, a woman finds herself embroiled with the situation.
Sex and Fantasies in High Demand: The Girlfriend Experience
It’s no surprise that, rather than a most established performer and actress like Scarlett Johannson or Christina Hendricks, director Steven Soderbergh sought out Sasha Grey for the lead role in “The Girlfriend Experience.” Grey had spent years making millions off building the fantasies of her male (and female) audience with dozens of notable porn movies, as well as building a humongous line of sex toys that promote fantasy fulfillment for an audience that want every piece of her. Much like Grey, “The Girlfriend Experience” is about the fantasy and the reality that we may not realize isn’t always enticing.
After Love (2017)
A couple divorcing after 15 years together is navigating life and its changes while still living together and trying to find a way to make things work as best they can.
Written by Fanny Burdino, Joachim Lafosse, and Mazarine Pingeot, with collaboration by Thomas van Zuyken, After Love is directed by Joachim Lafosse who navigates through this divorce story with an unflinching look at how a couple that is no longer functioning as such try and make things work through their separation, divorce, and division of assets. The film created here is an honest look into the lives of two people who are a bit lost and definitely trying to have a better life. The way this is developed makes it into a realistic look into a divided family unit, a franc view of what it’s like to divorce with two kids in the situation, what it’s like to divorce with assets, and what it’s like to not want to give up on your principles while doing this.
Bad Genius (Chalard Games Goeng) (2017) [Fantasia International Film Festival 2017]
A straight A+ student, Lynn sells the right to cheat of off her for money which her family desperately needs so she can maintain going to private school where she has a better chance at a better education. As the stakes go up, she gets involved in a plan to cheat on an international university entry classification test. From there on, things become stressful and nerve-wracking for her group of friends and herself.