Juan Barquin
Tomatometer-approved critic
Juan Barquin is a queer writer whose work has appeared in Miami New Times, Miami Herald, and Hyperallergic, among other publications. They are the co-creator of the queer film series Flaming Classics, co-editor of Dim the House Lights, and co-host of the For A Good Time podcast.
Movies reviews only
| Rating | T-Meter | Title | Year | Review |
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The Stroll (2023) |
Drucker & Lovell haven’t just succinctly told a dense history of one street in New York, its inhabitants, and the way they impacted so much of what exists beyond them, but crafted a truly essential piece of trans cinema - INTO
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| Posted Jan 26, 2023
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Peter von Kant (2022) |
Moments that shine through, but feels too much like an intellectual experiment. - Little White Lies
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| Posted Dec 28, 2022
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The Whale (2022) |
It is a work that positions itself as about meaning and connection, of finding the beauty in the minutiae of life (like an essay written by a child that offers comfort), but it has no interest in the humans it features. - Reverse Shot
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| Posted Dec 08, 2022
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INU-OH (2021) |
Masaaki Yuasa’s latest anime feature embodies a revolutionary spirit in its tale of outcasts breaking ground in medieval Japan. - Hyperallergic
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| Posted Nov 14, 2022
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Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy (2021) |
Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy splits itself into three short stories, each one a tight exploration of a unique relationship. - them.
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| Posted Nov 02, 2022
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Summer of 85 (2020) |
French director François Ozon has been delivering nothing but gems for decades now... - them.
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| Posted Nov 02, 2022
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North by Current (2021) |
Maybe the most unique and personal queer film of the year is Angelo Madsen Minax’s North by Current, which lands somewhere between being an experimental essay and a documentary about a family navigating grief. - them.
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| Posted Nov 02, 2022
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Titane (2021) |
A beautiful piece of queer cinema... - them.
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| Posted Nov 02, 2022
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Benedetta (2021) |
The trio of actresses at the film's core (Virginie Efira, Charlotte Rampling, and Daphne Patakia) all deliver riveting performances, attuned to the sacrifice that comes with being a woman in the Catholic church. - them.
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| Posted Nov 02, 2022
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Days (2021) |
Tsai Ming-Liang’s latest feature is a quiet treasure. By completely eschewing subtitles for any of the conversations between its characters, Days requires the viewer to pay attention to the nuances of body language. - them.
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| Posted Nov 02, 2022
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No Ordinary Man (2020) |
Where other documentaries glance across the surface of what representation means for trans audiences and how its history has impacted the present, No Ordinary Man takes a narrower and more in-depth approach. - them.
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| Posted Nov 02, 2022
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The Power of the Dog (2021) |
What’s so invigorating about this dynamic is that it avoids the easy theory that the homophobe is just gay himself. Instead, The Power of the Dog casually observes that anyone can be both a monster and a victim. - them.
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| Posted Nov 02, 2022
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Decision to Leave (2022) |
[Seo-rae and Hae-jun's] collision, their romance, and the tragedy that surrounds them no matter how much they try to escape it, makes for the kind of enrapturing storytelling worth obsessing over. - Reverse Shot
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| Posted Oct 28, 2022
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Nightbreed (1990) |
There’s something beautiful to be found in the way Nightbreed plays out, however messy it might look from a distance. - them.
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| Posted Oct 27, 2022
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Cat People (1942) |
It’s a film that prioritizes what exists in the shadows, both visually and metaphorically, with queerness that is never explicitly stated but flat-out obvious to any viewer who understands what it’s like to resist (and then give into) your true desires. - them.
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| Posted Oct 26, 2022
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Bros (2022) |
Bros is a film that is content to be up its own ass and a leading man (and co-creator) who will continue to spend every waking hour reminding us how important he and his film are. - INTO
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| Posted Oct 06, 2022
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Weird: The Al Yankovic Story (2022) |
Yankovic’s attention to detail and embrace of the absurd is precisely what makes the film so intoxicatingly charming. - Polygon
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| Posted Sep 12, 2022
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Three Thousand Years of Longing (2022) |
Miller’s film may dodge some of the thornier subjects it evokes, but his storytelling abilities make it easy for us to give ourselves over to his escapist fantasy. - Reverse Shot
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| Posted Sep 01, 2022
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We Met in Virtual Reality (2022) |
Huntings gaze is one of respectful voyeur; each intimate confession about virtual reality allowing people to be their true selves and find connection comes across as heartwarming rather than exploitative. - The Film Stage
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| Posted Feb 08, 2022
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Framing Agnes (2022) |
While the texts themselves are essential and deserve to be heard, Framing Agnes instead allows the actors playing the dead to speak over them. - INTO
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| Posted Jan 28, 2022
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Dual (2022) |
[Karen] Gillan, as both her character and her clone, is at her best in Dual. - The Spool
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| Posted Jan 26, 2022
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Belle (2021) |
As much gorgeous animation is thrown at the viewer, the true draw of Belle is how it explores the possibilities for human intimacy on the Internet, despite its ungraspable scale. - Reverse Shot
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| Posted Jan 21, 2022
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The Matrix Resurrections (2021) |
With The Matrix Resurrections, writer/director Lana Wachowski critically examines how our understanding of gender and identity has changed since the original trilogy. - Hyperallergic
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| Posted Jan 04, 2022
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Mayor Pete (2021) |
Director Jesse Moss tries hard to offer a portrait of Pete Buttigieg that's more intimate and earnest than the persona he projected during his abortive 2020 presidential campaign, but it's impossible to show something that doesn't exist. - Hyperallergic
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| Posted Jan 04, 2022
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West Side Story (2021) |
Whatever flaws still exist within West Side Story are easy to overlook in a production that has been so thoughtfully reconceived, and which, even at its most dour, so entrancingly applies color and light in every frame. - Reverse Shot
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| Posted Dec 10, 2021
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Tully (2018) |
The film explores what women put themselves through to seem like they're doing OK, often ignoring everything from mental illness to their own desires... - INTO
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| Posted Sep 17, 2021
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Assassination Nation (2018) |
Considering the state of the nation, maybe a loud and unsubtle feature that feels like a direct descendant of Brian De Palma (both in form and in sociopolitical commentary) is exactly what we need right now. - INTO
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| Posted Sep 17, 2021
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The Miseducation of Cameron Post (2018) |
There are hardships and mountains of shame and internalized loathing to deal with, but that doesn't mean there can't be humor, beauty, intimacy, and even a sing-along to 4 Non Blondes as one tries to get through the day. - INTO
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| Posted Sep 17, 2021
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The Wild Boys (2017) |
There's no clean way to describe this truly wild teenage journey disguised as an uncomfortable erotic fever dream full of phallic imagery, but it's the kind of fantasia worth diving deep into. - INTO
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| Posted Sep 17, 2021
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How to Talk to Girls at Parties (2017) |
How to Talk to Girls at Parties navigates finding one's true community, literally allowing an alien to try and find a home in a punk human world, and there's familiarity... - INTO
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| Posted Sep 17, 2021
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Liz and the Blue Bird (2018) |
Yamada equates the love between these two young women to a concert, impossible to perform unless there's communication and the two musicians fall perfectly in step with each other. - INTO
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| Posted Sep 17, 2021
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Cam (2018) |
It's not a stretch to say that this unique and colorful techno-horror work of art is a perfect example of how queerness exists within genre cinema, both explicitly and subtly. - INTO
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| Posted Sep 17, 2021
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Zola (2020) |
Rooms feel as claustrophobic as they are expansive, with mirrors being the only consistent feature. Even when one tries to look away, the situation they're in is reflected back at them. - INTO
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| Posted Sep 17, 2021
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Joe Bell (2020) |
Every time the film even considers criticizing Bell for what he's doing, it backpedals immediately for fear of noting the truth. - INTO
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| Posted Sep 17, 2021
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Annette (2021) |
Paired with Carax, a filmmaker who knows how to engage with both artifice and sincerity at once, Sparks has given birth to something truly marvelous. - Reverse Shot
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| Posted Aug 06, 2021
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Old (2021) |
Literalizes the adage about how life passes you by in a flash, to horrifying effect. - Hyperallergic
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| Posted Aug 03, 2021
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No Sudden Move (2021) |
Critiques capitalism and institutional racism as effortlessly as it piles on the twists. - Hyperallergic
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| Posted Aug 03, 2021
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In The Earth (2021) |
Bloodily observes how fervent belief makes fools of us all. - Hyperallergic
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| Posted Aug 03, 2021
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Oslo (2021) |
The movie is unable to translate a subject so inherently theatrical into anything visually appealing beyond questionably color-graded conversations in largely empty rooms. - Hyperallergic
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| Posted Aug 03, 2021
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The Green Knight (2021) |
The Green Knight is supposed to be a tale about what it means to be human; Lowery's film is entirely void of that humanity. - The Film Stage
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| Posted Jul 30, 2021
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In the Heights (2021) |
In the Heights is proof that the movie musical isn't dead-it simply needed a little flavor. - The Film Stage
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| Posted May 21, 2021
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Cryptozoo (2021) |
When something like Dash Shaw and Jane Samborski's Cryptozoo comes along, it's easy to recognize as one of the most gorgeous works of American animation in ages. - The Film Stage
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| Posted Feb 08, 2021
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A Glitch in the Matrix (2020) |
Ascher offers his most compelling set of theories and thought experiments to date; an often unsettling and frequently fascinating exploration into simulation theory and those who believe in it. - Screen Slate
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| Posted Feb 08, 2021
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All Light, Everywhere (2021) |
All Light, Everywhere is as bleak as it sounds, but the disquieting presentation of its damning footage is exactly what makes it so compelling. - Screen Slate
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| Posted Feb 08, 2021
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Playing With Sharks (2021) |
Playing With Sharks works so well because it allows its subject to engage with her greatest regrets as much as her greatest achievements. - The Film Stage
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| Posted Feb 08, 2021
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Monster Hunter (2020) |
There is no greater pleasure in this world than watching Paul W.S. Anderson and Milla Jovovich team up to deliver a spectacle of action. - Miami New Times
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| Posted Dec 22, 2020
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No Ordinary Man (2020) |
What's most interesting about the doc is how it navigates transmasculine history and weaves the stories of others into Tipton's story. - Miami New Times
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| Posted Dec 22, 2020
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Preparations to be Together for an Unknown Period of Time (2021) |
As if some kind of pared-down amalgamation between Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo and a Douglas Sirk melodrama, the film investigates the collision of obsession and perception. - Miami New Times
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| Posted Dec 22, 2020
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Woman of the Photographs (2020) |
From eroticism and body horror to subtle drama and offbeat humor, Kushida's work here is something of a direct descendent to David Cronenberg. - Miami New Times
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| Posted Dec 22, 2020
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Roald Dahl's The Witches (2020) |
The film doesn't manage to capture any of the childish wonders that come with one of the author's most playfully scary works. - Miami New Times
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| Posted Dec 22, 2020
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