David Ehrenstein
Tomatometer-approved critic
Movies reviews only
| Rating | T-Meter | Title | Year | Review |
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School Daze (1988) |
The problem isn’t with School Daze; the problem is with a white culture that cannot deal with the spectacle of blacks on-screen on their own terms. - Chicago Reader
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| Posted May 11, 2022
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Poison (1991) |
Haynes demonstrates an understanding of Genet’s centrality to gay culture while suggesting ways that Genet’s works can be used as a tool for exploring personal and political awareness. - The Advocate
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| Posted Apr 05, 2022
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The Electrical Life of Louis Wain (2021) |
"The Electrical Life of Louis Wain" isn't even half over by the time its margins start to grow soggy with sadness. - indieWire
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| Posted Sep 23, 2021
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Modesty Blaise (1966) |
The whole film -- redolent with pop-and op-art imagery -- suggests nothing less than an Arthur Freed musical on acid. - The Advocate
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| Posted Jul 27, 2021
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The Times of Bill Cunningham (2018) |
To put it another way, Bill Cunningham is a sort of secular Saint... - Los Angeles Blade
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| Posted Feb 14, 2020
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Vita & Virginia (2018) |
It's not a pretty picture, but it's a true one, ad same-sex couples who've "been there" are sure to be thankful for Vita and Virgina as much as the Bloomsbury adepts who'll be certain to flock to it. - Los Angeles Blade
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| Posted Feb 10, 2020
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Judy (2019) |
Zellweger's womanlike skill is strikingly admirable but the passion of Judy Garland just didn't zing the strings of my heart. - Los Angeles Blade
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| Posted Feb 10, 2020
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Where's My Roy Cohn? (2019) |
Outside of Adolf Eichmann's trial, I daresay nothing this individually monstrous has been seen on screen before. - Los Angeles Blade
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| Posted Feb 10, 2020
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Dark Waters (2019) |
Hynes delivers the bad news with added assurance that consciousness and comprehension are the best disinfectants of them all. - Los Angeles Blade
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| Posted Feb 10, 2020
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The Other Side of the Wind (2018) |
That this hapless, incoherent mess brings down the curtain on a fabled filmmaker's career when it was expected to cap it is lamentable, but not entirely unpredictable. - Los Angeles Blade
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| Posted Nov 30, 2018
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Can You Ever Forgive Me? (2018) |
Melissa McCarthy's turn at the "serious" bat in "Can You Ever Forgive Me?" is something quite special. - Los Angeles Blade
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| Posted Oct 27, 2018
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Just Charlie (2017) |
One of most moving and insightful films about the trans experience ever made. - Los Angeles Blade
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| Posted Feb 05, 2018
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Phantom Thread (2017) |
That Daniel Day-Lewis, whose career was launched when he played a cheeky gay punk with a Pakistani boyfriend in "My Beautiful Laundrette," has elected to end his career with this closet caper is more than a tad depressing. - Gay City News
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| Posted Dec 27, 2017
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Call Me by Your Name (2017) |
As a gay love story, told without judgment and without apology, it's something that would have seemed unthinkable not so very long ago - and that feels like progress. - Los Angeles Blade
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| Posted Dec 19, 2017
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Handsome Devil (2016) |
... "Handsome Devil" is a lively gay romance, even though it isn't all that romantic. - Los Angeles Blade
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| Posted Oct 24, 2017
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Loev (2015) |
... there's also no doubt that Sudhanshu Saria will have a great career if he can continue to make films as tender, insightful and surprising as this one. - Los Angeles Blade
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| Posted Oct 24, 2017
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4 Days in France (2016) |
... for those who warm to [director Jrȏme] Reybaud's cinematic rhythm will find "Four Days in France" to be one of the best gay films in years. - Los Angeles Blade
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| Posted Oct 24, 2017
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Ivans Xtc (2002) |
Shot on High Definition video, this exceptionally well-made but exceedingly bleak peek at tinseltown would be unbearable were it not for the sympathetic performance of Danny Huston... - New Times
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| Posted Oct 03, 2017
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Second Skin (1999) |
Though very well-acted, it's not the film it could have been. - New Times
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| Posted Oct 03, 2017
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Km. 0 (2000) |
It's this same disinclination to judge that allows Km. 0 to move from raucous comedy to bittersweet romance... - New Times
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| Posted Oct 03, 2017
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Nico and Dani (2000) |
... the film goes a long way toward dispelling myths of innocence and purity, while showing that teen-agers can sometimes be wise enough to figure out some of life's most important lessons for themselves. - New Times
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| Posted Oct 03, 2017
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Light It Up (1999) |
... it's this sense of the "real" that not only keeps Light It Up lively but that marks it -- for all its visual flair -- as happily out of step with a zeitgeist enamored of naught but money and notoriety as the wildly overhyped millennium turns. - New Times
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| Posted Oct 03, 2017
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How Stella Got Her Groove Back (1998) |
The timing couldn't be better for How Stella Got Her Groove Back. - New Times
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| Posted Oct 03, 2017
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Head On (1998) |
... the movie demonstrates just how hard coming out can be, especially for those more at war with themselves than with the culture around them. - New Times
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| Posted Oct 03, 2017
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Urbania (2000) |
Shear never shirks from the horrors of gay city life--but he doesn't ignore the tenderness either. - New Times
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| Posted Oct 03, 2017
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Edge of Seventeen (1998) |
... it's a calm, clear-eyed portrait of a particular kid trying to figure out -- like teenagers of all kinds the world over -- who he is and where he fits in. - New Times
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| Posted Oct 03, 2017
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Better Than Chocolate (1999) |
... for those looking for more, they'll have to tell the filmmaking chefs to put something other than Chocolate on the menu. - New Times
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| Posted Oct 03, 2017
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Gods and Monsters (1998) |
In short, it's a moment, and a film, about compassion. - New Times
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| Posted Oct 03, 2017
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Party Monster (2003) |
... shows that there's a lot more to this sordid story than first meets the jaundiced eye. - New Times
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| Posted Oct 03, 2017
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But I'm a Cheerleader (1999) |
Director Jamie Babbit and screenwriter Brian Wayne Peterson haven't attacked their target as effectively as they might, but as mild as it may be, Cheerleader underscores the fact that gender roles are ideological in nature. - New Times
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| Posted Oct 03, 2017
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The Broken Hearts Club (2000) |
In short, audiences may be buying a ticket to see Dean Cain kiss another guy, but there's a lot more to The Broken Hearts Club than that lovely sight. - New Times
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| Posted Oct 03, 2017
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The Times of Harvey Milk (1984) |
A lot has happened in the 25 years between Rob Epstein's Oscar-winning 1984 documentary and Gus Van Sant's biopic, but the subject of the nation's signal gay rights leader is as relevant as ever. - L.A. Weekly
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| Posted Feb 12, 2009
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Factory Girl (2006) |
Sienna Miller captures much of Edie's physical manner and some of her voice (though she's nowhere near deep enough), but there's nothing she can do with material that requires her to mope and pout for the bulk of her screen time. - L.A. Weekly
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| Posted Dec 28, 2006
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Ignorant Fairies (2001) |
Ozpetek joins the ranks of those gay filmmakers who have used the emigre experience to explore same-sex culture in ways that elude the more nationally settled. - New Times
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| Posted Feb 14, 2003
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Apollo 13 (1995) |
The sight of the spaceship on the launching pad is duly impressive in IMAX dimensions, as are shots of the astronauts floating in their cabins. - New Times
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| Posted Sep 19, 2002
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Quitting (2001) |
This is darkest drama reminiscent of Antonin Artaud's literary experiments in psychoanalysis. - New Times
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| Posted Sep 12, 2002
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All About Lily Chou-Chou (2001) |
While this has the making of melodrama, the filmmaker cuts against this natural grain, producing a work that's more interested in asking questions than in answering them. - New Times
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| Posted Aug 15, 2002
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The Cockettes (2002) |
In addition to lively interviews with surviving Cockettes features a dizzying array of vintage footage of the troupe in action. - New Times
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| Posted Jul 25, 2002
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Margaret Cho - Notorious C.H.O. (2002) |
Cho continues her exploration of the outer limits of raunch with considerable brio. - New Times
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| Posted Jun 27, 2002
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Circuit (2001) |
What's most memorable about Circuit is that it's shot on digital video, whose tiny camera enables Shafer to navigate spaces both large ... and small ... with considerable aplomb. - New Times
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| Posted May 30, 2002
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The Komediant (2002) |
While centered on the life experiences of a particular theatrical family, this marvelous documentary touches -- ever so gracefully -- on the entire history of the Yiddish theater, both in America and Israel. - New Times
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| Posted May 23, 2002
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Pépé le moko (1937) |
A vehicle for Jean Gabin whose quicksilver charm hasn't aged in over 60 years. - New Times
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| Posted Apr 18, 2002
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Esther Kahn (2000) |
Beautifully produced. - New Times
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| Posted Apr 11, 2002
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Time Out (2001) |
It's a subtle mood piece in which a man's collapse is examined so rigorously that one almost hopes for a murder to come along and break the tension. - New Times
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| Posted Apr 11, 2002
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American Chai (2001) |
Though the climactic revelation and resolution is expected, the film is full of fresh and unexpected observations about the cross-culturally complex lives of second-generation Indians living in the U.S. - New Times
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| Posted Apr 04, 2002
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Sorority Boys (2002) |
Not only unfunny, but downright repellent. - New Times
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| Posted Mar 28, 2002
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Drift (2001) |
Shot on digital video, with a sharp eye for Los Angeles locales, this is a well-shaped piece of work -- despite its overly earnest characters' penchant for psychobabble. - New Times
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| Posted Mar 21, 2002
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Female Trouble (1975) |
How do you follow-up Pink Flamingos? Not with a work that tries to outdo that classic gross-out comedy, but rather by moving in another direction entirely that's just as subversive, if not more so. - New Times
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| Posted Mar 14, 2002
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Chop Suey (2001) |
With footage of Faye in performance, and interviews with her friends and associates, Weber uses Faye as base from which to branch out in bizarre directions. - New Times
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| Posted Mar 07, 2002
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Trembling Before G-d (2001) |
... deeply moving and exceptionally gracious piece of documentary filmmaking. - New Times
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| Posted Feb 28, 2002
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