The Queer Factor

Weekly Recap 3/4/24

Hey y’all! Buckle up for a short film-a-palooza!

THE QUEEREST THING I WATCHED THIS WEEK

Drag Race, once again.

FILM

OSCAR WATCH 2024

• Best Animated Short Film Nominees

  • Our Uniform (available on YouTube)

    • This wasn’t so much a narrative so much as an examination of an aspect of Irani culture. The animation is all done using fabric, which is very cool. 7/10. Queer Factor: 0/7.

  • Letter to a Pig

    • I didn’t really understand this one. On one hand, it is an exploration of one man’s escape from persecution during the Holocaust. On the other, it goes to a strange place with children hunting the pig that saved him? I didn’t get it. 3/10. Queer Factor: 0/7.

  • Pachyderme

    • This was a super disturbing short about a girl who is sexually abused by her grandfather. 5/10. Queer Factor: 0/7.

  • Ninety-Five Senses

    • This short explores the five senses from the point of view of a man on death row. 5/10. Queer Factor: 0/7.

  • War is Over!

    • Man, I hated this. It details the end of World War II from the point of view of two soldiers on opposing sides who communicate via pigeon to play chess and then almost kill each other during a skirmish. It is saccharine, overly simplistic, and maddeningly frustrating. War is bad? Shocking. This only made it this far on the Ono Lennon name. 1/10. Queer Factor: 0/7.

• Best Live Action Short Nominees

  • The After (Netflix)

    • David Oyelowo produces and stars in this short about a man who loses his wife and daughter in a random act of violence and how he finds the beginning of his healing process. It is sad, but good. 7/10. Queer Factor: 0/7.

  • Red, White and Blue

    • This is a very stark look at what women in certain states have to go through in order to get an abortion. I don’t want to say too much, but it’s very good. 9/10. Queer Factor: 0/7.

  • Knight of Fortune (available on YouTube)

    • This Swedish film was a surprisingly funny look at grief and how different people process it. 8/10. Queer Factor: 0/7.

• Society of the Snow (Netflix)

This is the entry from Spain for the Best International Film category and it is fantastic. It is a harrowing true story of a Uruguayan plane that went down in the Andes in 1972. It is visceral and difficult to watch, and at times resembles a horror film, but it works in a spectacular way. I was riveted the whole time. 9/10. Queer Factor: 0/7.

• Wild Summon

This was one of the short listed films for Best Animated Feature and it should have been there in place of War is Over!. All of the nature in the film is live action, but there are humanoid swimmers representing salmon as the film tracks a salmon from birth to death. It was weird, visually, but fascinating. 6/10. Queer Factor: 0/7.

• I’m Hip

Not sure how this made the short list either, but it was a super short animated film where a jazzy cat rhymes and scats his way through the city constantly proclaiming how hip he is. It was entertaining, if nothing else. 6/10. Queer Factor: 0/7.

REWATCH

• Dune (2021) (available on MAX)

You’ll be able to hear my full thoughts on an upcoming episode of Agree to Disagree, but suffice to say, this film is not for me, mainly due to Timotheé Chalamet. 5/10. Queer Factor: 0/7.

IN THEATERS

• Dune: Part Two

Again, more on Agree to Disagree, but I liked this even less than the first one. Again, hated Chalamet in this, and there were a number of plot and character development things that fell far short for me. 3/10. Queer Factor: 0/7.

TELEVISION

STARTED SEASONS

• The Regime (HBO on MAX), Season 1, Episode 1

CONTINUING SEASONS

• Death & Other Details (Hulu), Season 1, Episode 8

• BeastMaster (available on Tubi), Season 2, Episodes 17-21

• RuPaul’s Drag Race: The Pit Stop, Season 16, Episode 8

• RuPaul’s Drag Race, Season 16, Episode 9

• RuPaul’s Drag Race: Untucked, Season 16, Episode 9

CONCLUDED SEASONS

• Spider-Man (1994) (available on Disney+), Season 5, Episodes 4-13

Man, the 90s got a lot right when it comes to cartoons. This Spider-man adaptation is solidly excellent from start to finish. The final season gets a little complicated in the storylines it depicts and maybe didn’t get enough time for each of them to really develop. But generally speaking, this is a fantastic way to take in so many Spider-man characters and see great storylines that we’re unlikely to get in the MCU. 9/10. Queer Factor: 0/7.

• Carnival Row (Amazon Prime), Season 2, Episodes 3-10

I loved this show. It’s set in a version of Victorian England where the world includes a variety of types of fae, including pixies, fauns, centaurs, and more. Orlando Bloom and Cara Delevingne lead the cast as they struggle for a voice and equal rights in a world that sees them as less than human. It’s dark, and bloody, and rich with lore, and I wish that it had kept going. If this was a book series I’d be picking it up right away. 9/10. Queer Factor: 3/7.

• The Floor (FOX on Hulu), Season 1, Episodes 9-10

I don’t usually review game shows on here, but this was an elimination based trivia-adjacent show that had a definitive beginning and ending. It was fun, and I’ll definitely watch more seasons if it gets them. 7/10. Queer Factor: 2/7.

Well, that’s it for this week! Grand total: 30 episodes, 13 films

Thanks for reading! Until next time, stay queer out there!