Tag: film gifs

Francis Lee: “God’s Own Country”

“God’s Own Country”, Directed by Frances Lee, 2017, Computer Graphics, Gay Film Gifs

“God’s Own Country” is a 2017 British drama film written and directed by Francis Lee in his feature directorial debut. The film stars Josh O’Conner and Alec Secăreanu.. The plot follows a young sheep farmer in Yorkshire, England, whose life is transformed by a Romanian migrant worker. The film was the only UK-based production to feature in the world drama category at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival, where it won the world cinema directing award. It was released in the United Kingdom on the 1st of September 2017.

“God’s Own Country” was banned in some Arab countries due to explicit sex scenes between the two main actors. Romania was the only country in Easter European where the film was screened. The film won the Harvey Award at the 2017 Berlin International Film Festival, presented by the Teddy Awads program for LGBT-related films.

Note: The film is a quiet, moving exploration of loneliness and the beginning of intamacy between the two male characters. It is a quality story almost on par in its effect with the breakthrough feature length film “Brokeback Mountain”. It is available on disc from Netflix, and is online at Amazon Prime Video and Tubi.

Mickey Mouse Christmas

Walt Disney’s 1932 “Mickey’s Good Deed”

Early in his career, Mickey Mouse starred in the 1932 Christmas themed “Mickey’s Good Deed”, an animated black and white short film that was released during the Depression years. This film has resurfaced throughout the years and was re-issued to theaters in 1974. Released just prior to Christmas on the seventeenth of December in 1932, “Mickey’s Good Deed” was directed by Burt Gillett who had overseen many of Disney’s short subjects, including the 1933 “Three Little Pigs”. 

The voice of Mickey Mouse was provided by Walt Disney himself, a role he performed until 1947. The voice of Plute in this film was done by Pinto Colvig, known for being the original voice of Goofy. Although originally in black and white, it was eventually colorized for future showings. Released in home video compilations, it was also retitled for some releases as “Mickey Plays Santa” and “Mickey’s Lucky Break”. 

In addition to the warmth and humor in “Mickey’s Good Deed”, there are also scenes involving orphaned kittens in a dilapidated house and a scene in which Mickey is forced to sell Pluto to a family of pigs so he can care for the kittens. Of course there is a happy ending as Pluto runs from the pigs’ house carrying their turkey dinner, and later emerges through the snow to his Mickey. As they eat their turkey dinner, Mickey declares “Merry Christmas” to Pluto.

Fritz Lang, “Metropolis”: Film History Series

Fritz Lang, “Metropolis” 1927

“Metropolis” is the classic silent-movie industrial dystopia from 1927. It portrays a futuristic city comprising a two-tier society of haves and have-nots who are kept unaware of each other’s existence. It had a budget of five million Reichsmarks, making it the most expensive film produced in 1927.

Numerous attempts have been made to restore the film since the 1970s. A new reconstruction of “Metropolis” was shown at the Berlin Film Festival in 2001, and the film was inscribed on  UNESCO’s Memory of the World Register in the same year, the first film thus distinguished. In 2008 a damaged print of Lang’s original cut of the film was found in a museum in Argentina. After a long restoration process, the film was 95% restored and shown on large screens in Frankfurt and Berlin simultaneously on 12 February 2010.