They Call Him Young Mungo

This news has nothing to do with the great God's Own Country except it reminded me of that film, and since we like to look at Josh O'Connor and Alec Secareanu we're using an image from it. Anyway, onto the news --A24 is going to make a TV series from a book called Young Mungo written by Douglas Stuart, which is described thus:

"The series, about the dangerous first love of two working class men in Glasgow... the story follows Protestant Mungo and Catholic James who live in a hyper-masculine world. They are caught between two of Glasgow’s housing estates where young working-class men divide themselves along sectarian lines, and fight territorial battles for the sake of reputation. They should be sworn enemies if they’re to be seen as men at all, and yet they become best friends as they find a sanctuary in the doocot that James has built for his prize racing pigeons.

As they begin to fall in love, they dream of escaping the grey city, and Mungo must work hard to hide his true self from all those around him, especially from his elder brother Hamish, a local gang leader with a brutal reputation to uphold. But the threat of discovery is constant and the punishment unspeakable. When Mungo’s mother sends him on a fishing trip to a loch in Western Scotland, with two strange men behind whose drunken banter lie murky pasts, he needs to summon all his inner strength and courage to get back to a place of safety, a place where he and James might still have a future."

I think you'll understand why that made me think about God's Own Country. Anyway have any of you read the book? Per usual I have not, but it sounds like I might want to order a copy... which will probably then sit on my shelf and gather dust until the series happens. Just how I roll, baby. Anyway it sounds like the sort of thing we all will enjoy and hopefully this movies forward with some speed. Stay tuned!

Everything You Ever Need To Know About Life...

... you can learn from:

God's Own Country (2017)

Gheorghe: My country is dead. 

You can't throw a rock in most towns 

without hitting an old lady crying

for her children who have gone.

I am sure one of you will know what I am talking about and can correct me as to the specifics, but I want to write this out without googling those exact specifics because the way our memories twist things are usually more interesting than the flat realities of them. So anyway way back in the day during its first few seasons I used to watch American's Next Top Model, and there was this one model contestant one year who was from some very poor Eastern European country and as she listened to the spoiled princesses around her whine about nonsense she cut them off and in her thick Dracula-tinged accent said, and I quote (or perhaps paraphrase), "In other people's country there is war." 

Is that actually what that girl said? I don't know. But that is what has become a catchphrase in my household all the same -- my boyfriend and I use it to amusingly stop the other's bullshit in its tracks. And to bring this back to the start that phrase, "In other people's country there is war," is what popped into my head as I read that quote above from Gheorghe in God's Own Country just now. Same vibe!

Anyway! There are two reasons I am bringing up Francis Lee's film God's Own Country today -- one is that today is the birthday of the actor Alec Secareanu who so memorably played Gheorghe in that film, winning our hearts for a lifetime. He's turning 36! We adore him. Put him in everything, world! (Me included.)

The second reason I am bringing up God's Own Country is Francis Lee's second movie is out online this very day! Ammonite, a lesbian romance starring Kate Winslet and Saoirse Ronan, is now online -- you can rent it in many places, including right over here on Amazon. I have every intention of having a full Ammonite review up before today is over so stay tuned for that, but for now let me just say I adore the film way more than the general consensus that seems to be forming, and also birthday boy Alec Secareanu is actually in it! He plays a doctor, and he looks REAL GOOD you guys. 

Don't Go in the Attic, Alec!

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A couple days ago I spoke of having thirteen billion reviews of very good horror movies nipping at my heels to write -- well I managed to get one of 'em out today, huzzah for moi, and if you click on over to AwardsWatch you can read my thoughts on Amulet, starring God's Own Country actor Alec Secareanu and the one and only Imelda Staunton. I previously posted Amulet's trailer right here -- the film's hitting VOD this weekend, and you can see where and how you'd watch it at this link. The "why" you'd watch it is in my review though. Although that photo above of Alec is a lotta reason in itself, innit? He's such a dreamboat. Give us a God's Own Country sequel, Francis Lee! But just like him and Josh O'Connor sitting around bottomless for two hours, I don't want anything bad or actually dramatic to ruin that movie's happy ending.

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The Other Half of This Golden Amulet...

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Any other Maria Bamford fans in the house? Every time I hear the word "amulet" her joke, abbreviated in this post's title, is all I can hear, but maybe that's about to change thanks to the forthcoming horror film titled Amulet. Written and directed by the actress turned first-time-director Romola Garai (probably best known as the middle-chapter Briony in Atonement, aka the one sandwiched between Saoirse Ronan and Vanessa Redgrave) Amulet got terrific buzzy notices out of Sundance, and is hitting theaters (whatever that means) and VOD in just a few weeks, on July 24th. More importantly, most importantly, the film stars God's Own Country's man of the red jumper Alec Secareanu...

... (!!!) as a voluptuously bearded ex-soldier turned homeless person who is taken in by a young woman (played by Carla Juri from the movie Wetlands, which I have never seen it but a friend of mine is a massive fan) and her dying mother (played by the great, always great, Imelda Staunton). We worship the Staunton round these parts! Anyway dreamy homeless Alec is taken in by these two mysterious sickly ladies into their big scary house and All, as the saying goes, Ain't What She Seems. Here's the trailer:

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Josh O'Connor Six Times

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Don't those trousers above look so velvety? I just want to run my hands across them and not even (just) for the usual reasons. This is the second photo-shoot from Zoo Magazine I'm featuring today (see also here) -- I found this one here first since it's newer, which led me to the other one, yadda yadda what am I even rambling about. Anyway this one's maybe not as thrilling as his recent sporty shirtless Esquire shoot but it'll do.

I've been considering watching the new season of The Crown even though I haven't watched any of the previous just for Josh here (who has our forever love thanks to God's Own Country) and Olivia Colman as well -- what do y'all think? Should I? Is it worth it? And by "is it worth it" what I mean is is "does Alec Secareanu show up as a Romanian Prince in a red sweater who goes at it with Prince Charles during a pheasant hunt" or something similar? Hit the jump for the rest of the shoot... 

Today's Fanboy Delusion

Today I'd rather be...

... adventuring with Josh O'Connor.

(pics via) I was kinda sad when Josh's name wasn't included among the names from God's Own Country that got added to director Francis Lee's lesbian romance Ammonite with Kate Winslet & Saoirse Ronan -- an on-screen GOC reunion woulda been lovely, and I know him and Alec Secareanu had been spotted together recently. Alas...

... it would seem that Josh is just too darn busy, what with playing Prince Charles on the third season of The Crown with Olivia Colman (have you seen the pictures? OH MY GOD LOOK!) and a couple of other movies, including that re-do of Emma we told you about. Oh well. As long as he puts out photo-shoots like this he won't be far from the tops of our brains. Hit the jump for the rest...

Pic of the Day

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One of the films we're most excited about down the line (not sure when it's out) is the new one from God's Own Country director Francis Lee called Ammonite -- I mean, it's an 18th century lesbian romance starring Kate Winslet and Saoirse Ronan, so duh. We've been yammering about it since day one -- see our original post here. Anyway now we have a photo seen above, and a plot synopsis to boot, all via Empire. 

"In 1800s England, acclaimed but unrecognised fossil hunter Mary Anning (Kate Winslet) works alone on the rugged Southern coastline. With the days of her famed discoveries behind her, she now searches for common fossils to sell to tourists to support herself and her ailing mother. When a wealthy visitor entrusts Mary with the care of his wife Charlotte (Saoirse Ronan), she cannot afford to turn his offer down. Proud and relentlessly passionate about her work, Mary initially clashes with her unwelcome guest, but despite the distance between their social class and personalities, an intense bond begins to develop, compelling the two women to determine the true nature of their relationship."

They add a few more members of the cast and if we weren't already wetting our pants with excitement -- and we were -- we'd really be wetting them now -- we are -- because those names include the great Fiona Shaw and James McArdle (who's made a career out of making out with dudes we want to make out with) and Gemma Jones and Alec Secareanu. Those last two are of course both from God's Own Country, having played Josh O'Connor's grandmother and sweater-wearing mud-schtupping Romanian fuck-bud, respectively. Happy to see them back in the fold!

Everything You Ever Need To Know About Life...

... you can learn from:

God's Own Country (2017)

Gheorghe: My country is dead. You can't throw
a rock in most towns without hitting an old lady
crying for her children who have gone.

I don't think that the character of Gheorghe only exists in order to make the character of Johnny (Josh O'Connor) realize what a whiny little bitch he's being about his own emotional miseries -- I think Gheorghe is much more complicated than just being a stock "person of color showing whitey the light" -- but I do appreciate those moments where he does shut Johnny up with something like the above quote. We all need to shut up our whining some of the time. Especially if there's somebody as drop-dead gorg as Alec Secareanu in a red sweater (and nothing else) sitting across from us. Live in the moment, dude! Speaking of, a happy 34 to Secareanu today...

Kiss Me Gheorghe

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One of last year's banner queer movies, Francis Lee's farm-romance God's Own Country starring Josh O'Connor and Alec Secareanu, is available to stream via Netflix (here in the US anyway) today! If you haven't seen the film yet (I know it didn't play everywhere across this strange land of ours) now's your chance. And then go read my review of the movie, which I quite liked... obviously, since here I am once again recommending it.

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Alec From the Outside

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Alec Secareanu, the Romanian dreamboat from last year's homosexual success God's Own Country, has just lined up a nifty sounding new gig - he's going to star in a horror movie called Outside that will be the directorial debut from Atonement actress Romola Garai. The film will also star Blade Runner: 2049's Carla Juri and oh some lady named Imelda Staunton. The jist via DH:

"The story follows a young male refugee traumatised by war who is brought to a dilapidated house in order to care for a woman and her dying mother. Falling in love with the younger woman he begins to suspect she is enslaved to a demon and resolves to fight it and rescue her… but all is not what it seems."

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God's Own Country Comes Home

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Alec Secareanu and Josh O'Connor looking predictably adorable on the set of GOD'S OWN COUNTRY (and hey look it's THE SWEATER) pic.twitter.com/rtacNHv7JX

— Jason Adams (@JAMNPP) January 11, 2018

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I didn't realize that the great God's Own Country (read my review right here) was hitting home video (let's use an archaic word today) so soon - it is out on January 30th, pre-order your copy right on here. So if you missed it when it played here in the US - and you probably did because I don't think it made it all that far outside of the big cities, right? Its widest release (via) was just 13 theaters. That's baloney! Anyway now's your chance, and the movie is well worth catching!

When I tweeted out that behind-the-scenes picture up top last night a little bit of a scavenger hunt happened via Twitter to find out what happened to the as-far-as-I-am-concerned already iconic red sweater (or as the Brits call it, the red jumper) that Gheorghe (Alec Secareanu) wears repeatedly through the film - see our previous post about the sweater and its relationship to Call Me By Your Name and Brokeback Mountain right here - and we actually found out!
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We needed a couple of the same jumper for filming and all are being looked after.I've got one and @strawhousefilms has one.I try and keep a special piece from every project if I can. #thejumperissafe

— Siân Jenkins (@SianJJenkins) January 12, 2018

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(Thanks to the ever-incisive Rebecca Pahle for going straight ahead and asking the film's costumer and working this one out!) So that's good to know! That thing belongs in a museum one day. And now I am picturing what an LGBT Movie Museum would contain. One of Scudder's caps! Daniel Day-Lewis' Plaid Vest! Trevante's Grill!

What would you put in this museum?

Answer that in the comments, and just because I gathered up a few more pictures of Josh O'Connor and Alec Secareanu that I need something to do with hit the jump and I'll post them there...

Give Me Your Clothes & I'll Give You Mine

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Once you see the gay romance God's Own Country - which is out this weekend in NYC & LA and which you should very much see; here's my review from earlier today - you'll look at that attractive red sweater that GOC star Alec Secareanu is seen wearing there as more than just a lovely piece of knitwear draped over a lovely piece of man. The movie imbues it with a talismanic power - it comes to symbolize the intimacy between the two men. (There's a scene where it's the only piece of clothing that can be seen on-screen even though both actors are there, if you catch my wink wink. You won't miss it, believe me.)

Anyway there's also a similar trick played with an item of clothing in Call Me By Your Name - there's a blue shirt that Armie Hammer's Oliver gifts to Timothee Chalamet's Elio that bridges the gap between the two men when they're separated, and which, on all four times that I have watched CMBYN, has immediately (and I think on purpose) given me flashbacks to the now iconic final scene of Brokeback Mountain, with the layered shirts of Ennis & Jack forever hung beside the closet.

I suppose that there is something about this that is specific to queer relationships, this swapping of clothing - this slipping into your beloved's skin in this precise symbolic way - and I love the way these stories are echoing each other here. When I first reviewed CMBYN I told that story about the first guy I hooked up with and made mention of how he stole shirts from me, so clearly I relate.

Anyway it feels like we're developing our own cinematic language, one with its own history and weight, after not having had our stories told on-screen for so long. God's Own Country and Call Me By Your Name, while emotionally taxing at times, bear little of the imposed-from-the-outside tragedy that Brokeback did, but they both owe that film a cultural debt all the same. We can now get our love stories told our own ways, layered over one another like those shirts of Jack & Ennis. It just feels right somehow. It, dare I say, fits.
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The Gods Are Alright

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Two men walk through a literal hellscape - the grass is on fire around them. The sky is bleak, slate gray as a slab of concrete turned up and hoisted in place of the stars. Muck coats everything beneath the knees. One man turns to the other man and he says, all of a sudden, "I think this place is beautiful."

And suddenly it is beautiful. Like that. Yellow tablecloths and flowers appear, the sun peeks around the bare tree branches. What was sullen and ashy-flavored finds its heartbeat, a thrum - mud becomes earth, warm with possibility and life.

It's impossible, what love can do to us - an invisible shift in the architecture of everything, like somebody found a switch and turned all the atoms on at once. We might short-circuit for a minute, not sure what to do with all of that energy - it's the finding of new muscles inside of ourselves, and we wobble like newborn lambs looking for footing at first.

God's Own Country - a masterpiece of tactility, rough hands rubbing soft underbellies - captures all of this. Johnny (Josh O'Connor) is just a closed-off cow-runner chasing himself off a cliff before Gheorghe (Alec Secareanu), a miracle man out of no less than Transylvania itself, appears - who knows where they come from, flung out of space. When they're there, sudden human flesh in your hands, you lose sight of the before and the after - now, ripe and flush-faced, available for touching, that is our everything. That is enough, for now.

And so magic blooms in unexpected places, on a granite hilltop against an overcast sky, seeding the scattered patches of dirt. It isn't easy living, but is can be easier. And goodness, kindness, spreads like a spring breeze up from the valleys, warming even the most insistent hardscrabble spells. Watch what grows when you dig your fingertips into the soil and give it a real good old-fashioned go. You will surprise even yourself.

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Making Fast Time for the Gods

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GODS OWN COUNTRY actors Alec Secareanu and Josh O'Connor talking the movie @ifccenter #godsowncountry #film #joshoconnor #alecsecareanu

A post shared by Jason Adams (@jasonaadams) on Oct 25, 2017 at 6:20pm PDT

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As I mentioned this morning my schedule's a bit of a nightmare today so I might not get a chance to write up my thoughts on God's Own Country properly until tomorrow. I did tweet a quick thought last night though after my screening so I will share that:

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GODS OWN COUNTRY is super, just super
What a blessed magical gay time we’re in, cinematically speaking anyway
(Also GEMMA JONES!!!) pic.twitter.com/4foU5HbZbp

— Jason X Adams (@JAMNPP) October 26, 2017

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For real. But more to come soon, I promise. Anyway I figure I will also share this brief snippet of conversation from the film's stars Josh O'Connor and Alec Secareanu during the Q&A too, because aww shucks they're adorable.

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Gays of the Gods

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We've been hearing highly excellent word on the Gay British import God's Own Country ever since it premiered at Sundance way back in February - we posted the trailer right here - and so to say we've worked ourselves into an erotic frenzy looking forward to its release today here in New York is a wee bit of an understatement. We're fit to pop! The film opened today at the IFC Center and at the screening I'm off to right this second writer-director Francis Lee and his lead actors Josh O'Connor and Alec Secareanu will all be in attendance for a Q&A, so keep an eye on our Instagram where we'll presumably be sharing some of all that.
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Crown Francis Lee King of the T-Shirts pic.twitter.com/1kmJYPGkXP

— Jason X Adams (@JAMNPP) October 22, 2017

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You can see all its release dates across the country right here.
How great has this year been for LGBT movies, you guys?

It's one for the record books!

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Larger Than Bartsch

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The 2007 edition of NewFest, New York's premiere LGBT film festival, opened up last night with the premiere of the documentary Susanne Bartsch: On Top, about the legendary party artist and club queen -- if you want to know just how un-hip I am (as if you don't know that already, in spades) just hear this: until I started watching the doc I had no idea who Bartsch was. Now here after watching the doc I feel ashamed of that fact - not for reasons of hipness, but for reasons of cultural legacy and gay history. Okay I suppose hipness too, but not entirely. 

The heyday of the whole "club kid" scene slightly pre-dates my time in NYC - I didn't move here until the year 2000. I remember seeing them on shows like Donahue in my teen years and gawking in dumbstruck awe, but once I moved here (which was in a post Michael Alig Murder World) that whole scene had gone back underground. 

Susanne Bartsch was, and is, still going though, and the doc makes a terrific case for her icon status - she's beautifully strange and tough as nails; she's like a limb of the New York City body now. Integral. We'd bleed out without her. It's not just the party scene - the doc shows how she channeled her anger and agony from the AIDS Crisis, watching her friends drop dead all around her, into real activism, throwing the first major benefit for AIDS research in 1989 and getting all the big names on board.

The film takes great delight in capturing this over-the-top woman in the most normal of situations - making a chicken in a pot! Literally cleaning out her gutters! - and the frisson works, even though it's an obvious choice, just because of what a big personality she is. It's also gorgeously lensed by Michael Beach Nichols, whose name I made a note of catching - he shoots the city and its night-life in rich blacks bursting with spontaneous neon. Keep an eye out for this if this sounds up your alley at all; here's the trailer:
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NewFest continues over the weekend -- check out their whole line-up here. And see our previous posts on the highlights of this year's fest right here. I'll be reviewing a couple more of these titles as it goes, so stay tuned. Tonight's big film is Trudie Styler's film Freak Show with Bette Midler tonight - see our post on that right here. And tomorrow night they're showing God's Own Country...

... which we've been clamoring for months for, and whose stars Josh O'Connor and Alec Secareanu were just photographed really lovingly for Out magazine. GOC actually opens up in theaters next week here in NYC. Hello there, Alec!