sasha_feather: Retro-style poster of women who aspire to lesbianism (you too can be a lesbian)
[personal profile] sasha_feather
Melissa McCarthy and Richard Grant are so great in this rather literary movie that can be summed up with the popular phrase, "Be gay, do crimes."

McCarthy plays queer author Lee Israel, an writer of biographies whose career is faltering. She has no money, her cat is sick, and her agent won't return her calls. Isreal is a unrepentant alcoholic, and at a bar she befrieds Jack Hock, an aging gay man who shares her acerbic sense of humor and love of pranks. They are an absolute delight to watch.

Israel discovers that she has a talent for forging letters from famous people such as Dorothy Parker and Noel Coward, and that she can sell these letters for hundreds of dollars each. Suddenly her bills are paid and she can afford to eat at restaurants. She eventually recruits Jack to help her.

This is a quiet movie focused on Israel's troubles and her humor and her friendship with Jack. It was so incredibly refreshing to see people on screen that looked like real people. There are multiple fat women, multiple older people, etc. Israel wears what look like second-hand lesbian styles. It's also incredibly rare to see a story like this that is about queer people but isn't about a romantic relationship or trauma. I can't even think of another one. This film is a gem. Based on a true story.

Content notes: heavy drinking, drugs, the cat eventually dies. Rated R mostly for language as far as i can tell.

Date: 2019-01-13 03:18 pm (UTC)
j00j: rainbow over east berlin plattenbau apartments (Default)
From: [personal profile] j00j
Dang, I hope it’s on Netflix or something soon!

Profile

sasha_feather: Retro-style poster of skier on pluto.   (Default)
sasha_feather

May 2025

S M T W T F S
    123
45678910
11121314151617
18192021 222324
25262728293031

Most Popular Tags

Page Summary

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags
Page generated Jul. 5th, 2025 10:18 am
Powered by Dreamwidth Studios