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      A Queer-Film Historian Discusses Movies That Provoke

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      Elizabeth Purchell, who has programmed a series on the documentaries of Rosa von Praunheim, sees Pride Month as a chance to discover, and uncover, the past.Elizabeth Purchell isn’t afraid of “Transexual Menace,” even though she is a transgender woman and the film sounds like the kind of hateful propaganda you’d find for sale at a convention of conspiracy nuts.But “Transexual Menace” is a cornerstone of documentary filmmaking about transgender people — a 1996 time capsule made by the maverick and prolific queer German director Rosa von Praunheim. And Purchell, 32, is a historian of queer film who has a soft spot for movies that provoke, arouse, tickle and otherwise stir the queer cinema pot.“It’s great that we have queer rom-coms, but I want to be challenged,” said Purchell during a phone interview from her home in Austin, Texas. “I don’t want to see the 200th coming out film.”“Transexual Menace” is one of six documentaries in “Revolt of the Perverts,” a new von Praunheim retrospective that Purchell put together for Brooklyn’s Spectacle Theater, where the series continues through June 27. Purchell will be in town at the end of the month to introduce some of the films in person.The series is one of the latest queer movie endeavors from Purchell. Her work as an archivist, historian and curator includes a podcast, Instagram account and experimental documentary about gay adult cinema history — all named Ask Any Buddy. She also recently recorded audio commentaries on new restorations of films by the gay adult film directors Fred Halsted and Arthur J. Bressan Jr.On Being Transgender in AmericaGenerational Shift: The number of young people who identify as transgender in the United States has nearly doubled in recent years, according to a new report.Phalloplasty: The surgery, used to construct a penis, has grown more popular among transgender men. But with a steep rate of complications, it remains a controversial procedure.Elite Sports: The case of the transgender swimmer Lia Thomas has stirred a debate about the nature of athleticism in women’s sports.Corporate World: What is it like to transition while working for Wall Street? A Goldman Sachs’ employee shares her experience.For custodians of queer film history, Purchell is a standard-bearer.“Elizabeth is doing amazing curatorial work in identifying significant and lesser-known things that deserve to be elevated,” said Jenni Olson, a queer film historian and archivist. “Sometimes I’m not sure how she finds things.”Purchell, who came out as a transgender woman just last November, recently talked about the state of queer cinema and what under-the-radar movie she’d recommend watching for Pride. The interview has been edited and condensed.What’s your goal as a queer-film historian?To get people excited about history and look beyond the surface of queer cinema. I think people want to see more queer films, not just the same five movies over and over. They want to see performances, actors and personalities they’ve maybe never seen before, like Holly Woodlawn and Taylor Mead.In what shape is queer cinema now?It’s remarkable that queer cinema has grown into this gigantic ecosystem of filmmaking. But I want more. I want trans filmmakers to make the films they want to make. I want to see filmmakers push boundaries. Queer cinema should be more than just X film but make it gay — thriller but make it gay or horror film but make it gay. I want to see what’s next.Anna Cobb in “We’re All Going to the World’s Fair.”UtopiaIs there a queer film out now that does that?“We’re All Going to the World’s Fair.” It’s about trans issues, but other people might not pick up on that. It’s undoubtedly a queer film that isn’t textually queer. I find that exciting.How did you first become interested in gay pornography?A few years ago, my partner and I went to a screening of “Bijou,” and Wakefield Poole, the director, was there to introduce it. It opened my eyes to this entire world I didn’t know about. I thought, if this one film exists, what else is out there? So I watched “Thundercrack!” and “L.A. Plays Itself” and it made me want to see more.What did you learn about the connection between pornography and mainstream gay cinema?I don’t think people realize there’s this hidden history of queer filmmaking contained in adult films. People tend to think queer cinema began with New Queer Cinema, but adult films laid the groundwork. The films were made for very little money, but the theaters they played at were safe social spaces for people to watch movies, cruise and meet other people.The other thing that struck me was how connected these films and filmmakers were to mainstream gay culture. If you look at old issues of The Advocate from the ’70s, you see stills from gay porn and reviews of the films. The genre was a crucial vehicle for gay ideas and imagery to make their way across the country.You came out as transgender pretty recently. How has that experience been?People have been very kind to me personally. Growing up in Tampa in the ’90s, there was no way for me to know what trans people were or what it was like to be trans or who could be trans. I settled on I’m a gay man and did that for about a decade. I was working on the Fred Halsted Blu-ray, and I slowly started to realize I was trans. “Sextool” is a Halsted film with a trans woman in it. She’s not in the sex scenes, but her presence got me researching all these trans people and trans history. It just suddenly began to click.Gerald Grant and Claire Wilbur in the Radley Metzger film “Score.”Audubon FilmsIs there an under-the-radar movie you’d recommend people watch during Pride?Radley Metzger’s “Score.” It’s an adaptation of the play by the great Jerry Douglas, a pioneering gay playwright, filmmaker and incredibly important historian. Jerry passed away last year. It’s one of my favorite movies. It’s about this swinging couple who have this game to see who can make it first with someone of the same sex from another couple. It’s a wonderful example of how sex and cinema can combine to create something honest.What is it like to be a transgender person working in queer cinema in Texas these days?You think of Austin as this big liberal bastion, but you’re still in Texas. You drive a mile outside the city and you see the pro-life billboards. I run a queer film series through the Austin Film Society. What I’ve been trying to do is build a community and give people a safe space to explore film. Our screening of “Cruising” sold out. People were in full gear.Full gear?There was a furry bear wearing nothing but a leather jock. It was really wonderful. More

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      In a First for Broadway, a Theater Will Be Renamed for Lena Horne

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      Horne, a renowned singer and activist, will be the first Black woman to have a theater named after her once the Brooks Atkinson is renamed.One of Broadway’s biggest landlords said Thursday that it would rename a theater after the performer and activist Lena Horne, who would then become the first Black woman to win such recognition.The Nederlander Organization, which operates nine of the 41 Broadway theaters, said it would rename the Brooks Atkinson Theater in Horne’s honor. The Atkinson is a 1,031-seat venue on West 47th Street; it was built in 1926 and is currently home to the hit musical “Six.”The change brings the Nederlander Organization into compliance with an agreement reached last year between Broadway leaders and the advocacy organization Black Theater United, under which all three major Broadway landlords pledged that at least one of their theaters would be named for a Black artist. Jujamcyn Theaters already had a theater named for the playwright August Wilson, and the Shubert Organization announced in March that it would rename the Cort Theater after the actor James Earl Jones.Horne, who died in 2010, was an actor and singer who performed in nightclubs, in Hollywood, on television and onstage. She was also a longtime civil rights activist, outspoken on behalf of Black soldiers, and a frequent participant in protests and marches. She supported anti-lynching legislation, and fought against racism in the entertainment industry.She appeared in five Broadway shows, including the long-running “Lena Horne: The Lady and Her Music,” which in the early 1980s had a 346-performance run at the Nederlander Theater, followed by a tour. In 1958 she became the first African American woman to be nominated for a Tony Award for best actress in a musical, for her work in “Jamaica”; in 1981 she was granted a special Tony Award for “The Lady and Her Music.”James L. Nederlander, the president of the Nederlander Organization, said he remembered as a young man watching Horne perform — she would often make gentle fun of his father, who produced her Broadway show, from the stage — and coming to think of her as a friend. “She’s such a legend, and her time is overdue,” he said. “This felt really right.”Horne’s granddaughter, Jenny Lumet, a television showrunner and producer, said the family is delighted with the plan. “I’m really proud that people might find a spark of creativity in a space that has her name on it — that’s all you can ask for,” she said in an interview. “And it means something that there will be a theater, in the mecca of theater, named after a Black female artist. I couldn’t be prouder.”The theater has since 1960 been named for Brooks Atkinson, an influential longtime theater critic for The New York Times. The Nederlanders said the name change should take place this fall, but that the exact date will depend on when the new marquee signage is ready. More

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      Ariana DeBose on Hosting the Tonys: ‘Whatever We Do Is Going to Be Fun’

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      The Broadway ensemble member turned Oscar winner vows that the ceremony will celebrate the often unsung actors who have stepped in so often during the pandemic.A decade ago, Ariana DeBose made her Broadway debut as an understudy in the musical adaptation of “Bring It On.”This weekend she’s hosting the Tony Awards.DeBose’s rise to prominence, due in large part to her Oscar-winning performance in Steven Spielberg’s movie remake of “West Side Story,” has been hard-won. She was an understudy, an ensemble member, and struggled before breaking through; in 2018 she was nominated for a Tony Award as one of three actresses playing Donna Summer in “Summer,” and since then she has had multiple film and television projects, including “The Prom” and “Schmigadoon!”This year she became the first Afro Latina and first openly queer woman of color to win an Academy Award. Next, she will be featured in the action film “Argylle,” the superhero film “Kraven the Hunter” and the space thriller “I.S.S.”DeBose, 31, is now rehearsing the three-hour broadcast portion of the Tony Awards ceremony, which starts on Sunday night at 8 p.m. Eastern on CBS. (An earlier hour, starting at 7 p.m., will be streamed on Paramount+.)In an interview this week, DeBose talked about her determination to honor Broadway’s unsung heroes and her desire to return to the stage. These are edited excerpts from the conversation.The 2022 Tony AwardsThis year’s awards, the first to recognize shows that opened after a long Broadway shutdown during the pandemic, will be given out on June 12.Ruth Negga: The actress, who is nominated for her role as Lady Macbeth in Sam Gold’s staging of the play, infuses the character with intensity, urgency and vitality.Hugh Jackman: The actor may potentially win his third Tony Award for his role in “The Music Man.” He shared some thoughts on his life between film and theater.A New Star: Myles Frost is drawing ovations nightly on Broadway with his performance in “MJ,” a musical about Michael Jackson’s creative process.Choreography: Musicals like “MJ” and “Paradise Square” take on dances of the past but miss some opportunities to elevate the dancing; “For Colored Girls” effectively weaves language and motion.What are your goals for Sunday night?This is the first time we’re back at Radio City. The community is still coming out of what has been an extremely challenging time. I do look at this as an opportunity to try and provide a real moment of celebration, because I think it’s a gosh-darn feat and a triumph to have been able to make work at all and get to this moment in time.You’re new to this. Are you nervous?I would like to throw up, if I’m honest. But I love a challenge. And I just feel like whatever we do is going to be fun.You’ve talked a lot about your identity. Tell me what you hope that prompts for people watching you?If I do my job right, it will be a reminder to young people out there watching that there is a place for us. And, to be perfectly frank, Broadway was the place that gave me freedom to explore my identity, freedom to explore my artistry. It was the place of love and acceptance that helped create the woman that you see now.There’s been a lot of discussion this season about the role of understudies and standbys, who kept many shows going when other performers tested positive for the coronavirus. Can you talk about what your intention is for Sunday on that front?In three of my six Broadway shows, I was an understudy. And I began in this industry in the ensemble. There’s no way in the world that a host like me is going to let this moment go by without acknowledging swings and understudies, but also the myriad groups of people that put in the work to keep this industry going, and that includes stage managers, dance captains, associates, hair and makeup departments, musicians. There’s not a version of the world where I don’t have something up my sleeve. I’m not going to tell you what it is, but what I am going to tell you is if it doesn’t happen, you can hold me accountable.One of the other important developments this season was the death of Stephen Sondheim. Should we expect to see that acknowledged?Well, we wouldn’t have the American theater as we know it without him. So while I will not tell you what we are doing, there will be a beautiful moment for the man that is Stephen Sondheim.Tony Awards: The Best New Musical NomineesCard 1 of 7The 2022 nominees. More

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      ‘I’m Charlie Walker’ Review: More Wink Than Wallop

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      The actor Mike Colter imbues Charlie with cool savvy in this movie about a Black trucker in the ’70s who goes up against the white establishment.In January 1971, two tankers collided in the waters beneath the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, leaking 800,000 gallons of oil. The disaster is remembered for having spurred an environmental movement.Less known is how a Black trucker named Charlie Walker played a pivotal role in the cleanup campaign during a time when the white trucking unions and their political allies were freezing out Black workers in the Bay Area. The director and writer Patrick Gilles sets out to right the narrative with the movie “I’m Charlie Walker,” plying the overly broad gestures of ’70s blaxploitation films to mixed effect.The actor Mike Colter (“Luke Cage”) does his part, imbuing Charlie with cool savvy, though his style is more wink than wallop. As the Black owner of a trucking company, he has to be shrewd to contend with the unrefined racism of white truckers and the self-anointed superiority of oil executives.When a foreman grudgingly gives Walker a stretch of beach in Marin County with a nearly inaccessible road to clear, he catches a break. Currents redirect the crude oil away from the tourist spots where white truckers are waiting. Soon Charlie is marshaling hippie volunteers and hiring truckers keen for a paycheck — both Black and white — for the massive cleanup operation. (Along the way, Bay Area notables Boots Riley and Willie Brown, the former San Francisco mayor, make cameos.)Dylan Baker plays the unctuous executive who is sure he can control Walker and the narrative. But it’s Charlie’s wife, Ann (Safiya Fredericks), who provides the movie’s voice-over. Her account has a mythmaking undercurrent but is also the film’s deft way of celebrating Black love and family. Charlie Walker might not be John Shaft, but Ann — and the filmmaker — want you to know that he’s still a bad mother (shut your mouth).I’m Charlie WalkerNot rated. Running time: 1 hour 18 minutes. In theaters and available to rent or buy on Apple TV, Vudu and other streaming platforms and pay TV operators. More

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      ‘The Walk’ Review: Two Families So Far Apart

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      This sentimental drama about an upstanding cop caught up in the 1974 school desegregation conflict in Boston recycles tired white-savior clichés.Set in South Boston in 1974, in the riotous aftermath of court-ordered school desegregation, Daniel Adams’s “The Walk” shows its hand early on. We first meet Billy (Justin Chatwin), a working-class Irish cop, as he lets a Black shoplifter off the hook and even pays for the man’s stolen baby formula. The perp responds incredulously with a comment that emerges as the film’s thematic refrain: “Damn, I guess there are some good white pigs left.”It’s a dubious choice, centering a film about anti-Black racism on a “noble” Caucasian policeman — no matter that Billy responds to the thief’s comment by gratuitously slamming him against the wall and threatening to arrest him.As the film opens, the Federal District Court has just mandated busing as a means of integrating Boston’s public schools. Much to the chagrin of his prejudiced neighbors, Billy is assigned to escort Black high school students as they are bused to the all-white school attended by his (increasingly, noxiously bigoted) daughter.Among the Black kids is the bright, brave Wendy (Lovie Simone), the daughter of an emergency medical worker (Terrence Howard). The film occasionally switches perspectives from Billy and his family to Wendy and her father, though their arcs all tie up in a melodramatic display of Billy’s heroism that reaffirms tired white-savior clichés.The topic is, of course, timely. (When is racism not?) Yet “The Walk” feels dated. Every exchange among Adams’s schema of archetypes — the radical, quick-tempered Black man and the peace-loving Black woman; the impoverished, racist white people and the do-gooding liberals — lands like a platitudinous lecture about “fighting hate,” with the stilted performances (featuring too-forced Bah-stin accents) adding to the after-school-special vibe.The WalkRated R for racist epithets and violence. Running time: 1 hour 45 minutes. In theaters. More

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      ‘The Janes’ Review: Taking Matters Into Their Own Hands

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      This HBO documentary spotlights the women activists who banded together to form Jane, a clandestine group providing safe abortions in the years before Roe v. Wade.“The Janes” is a straightforward, talking-heads documentary from HBO that provides a brief history of the Jane Collective, a clandestine abortion group working out of Chicago in the late 1960s and early ’70s.Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court decision that protected a women’s right to an abortion, had not yet been handed down, meaning the procedure was illegal in most states, forcing women with unwanted pregnancies to turn to exploitative abortion providers (like the Mafia) or resort to dangerous methods to self-induce an abortion.This situation — and the can-do spirit of the times, cultivated by the civil rights and women’s liberation movements — sparked the members of Jane into action.The documentary, directed by Tia Lessin and Emma Pildes, relies primarily on testimonies from the Jane Collective’s women volunteers, tracing their efforts from the beginning — when the group was merely a referral service — to their final days contending with law enforcement.Ultimately, the Jane Collective provided close to 11,000 abortions by the time Roe v. Wade came into effect, at which point the group ceased its activities. (Though the renewed push for restrictive abortion laws today, and reports of the present Supreme Court’s ruling on a case that could overturn Roe, casts a sense of bleak uncertainty over the film’s otherwise triumphant conclusion.)Cookie-cutter though it is, “The Janes” does have something going for it: its interview subjects, the former Janes, who all speak about their beliefs and shared past with striking clarity. They remind us that their work — their commitment to ensuring the safety and well-being of other women — was not really all that radical, but a measured, intelligent response to the inadequacies of a system that refused to fend for its own.The JanesNot rated. Running time: 1 hour 41 minutes. Watch on HBO platforms. More

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      ‘Ninja Badass’ Review: Kill Bad Guys, Save Hot Babes, Look Silly

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      Ryan Harris, an auteur of the gross, includes sight gags like puppies in blenders in this tedious action comedy.“Ninja Badass,” a crude, abrasive action-comedy about an Indiana hillbilly training to become a superpowered martial artist, is the product of one peculiar mind. Ryan Harrison is the writer, director, co-producer, editor and star of “Ninja Badass”; he even created its cheap but plentiful visual effects.Self-financed, and more than a decade in the making, the film is clearly a labor of love, realized in the raucous guerrilla-cinema tradition of Robert Rodriguez’s classic indie shoot-em-up debut “El Mariachi.” But without collaborators to push back against his instincts or question his ideas — the only other credited producer is his mother — Harrison’s vision reigns unchecked, to ends both excessive and self-indulgent. The result is a 103-minute vanity project I found utterly exhausting.Harrison plays Rex, a coarse, ill-mannered layabout with a bleach-blond bouffant hairdo. Attacked during a visit to a pet store by Big Twitty (Darrell Francis), the lunatic leader of the cultlike group Ninja VIP Super Club, Rex resolves to learn the ninja arts and seek violent retribution. Shot in the manic, off-the-cuff style of “Crank,” the action that follows is lurid and over the top, with lots of graphic lacerations relished for their comic shock value. Harrison favors a few gory sight gags, like an arm being ripped out of its socket or a puppy being shoved into a blender, and repeats them frequently, to what would be diminishing results if the jokes were funny to begin with. You get the feeling the film is daring you to wince or take offense, but for the most part, its tasteless provocations are simply tedious.Ninja BadassNot rated. Running time: 1 hour 43 minutes. In theaters and on virtual cinemas. More

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      ‘1982’ Review: When War Canceled School

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      This film from the director Oualid Mouaness is inspired by his memories of being a child during the Israeli invasion of Lebanon that year.“1982,” the first feature from Oualid Mouaness, is inspired by the director’s memories of having his classroom life suddenly interrupted by the Israeli invasion of Lebanon that year. The film takes place at a school in East Beirut over a single day that begins quietly enough, although the first sound we hear is of rumbling planes. A fifth-grader, Wissam (Mohamad Dalli), slips an anonymous love note into the locker of Joanna (Gia Madi), a girl he likes from West Beirut, the mainly Muslim half of the city.As the fighting grows closer, culminating in an evacuation while Israeli and Syrian planes clash overhead, the characters show differing levels of awareness. Wissam’s best friend, Majid (Ghassan Maalouf), knows enough to warn a teacher that windows should stay open to reduce the risk of shattered glass — but is also enthused when told that school the next day will be canceled. For the children, the drama over the letter’s provenance is important. The adults, particularly two teachers (Nadine Labaki and Rodrigue Sleiman) whose romance has been strained by political arguments, engage in their own forms of denial. They’re skeptical that violence will reach East Beirut or that it’s time for students to stop their exams and leave.Working with a shrewdly limited setting, Mouaness skillfully gives the film a near-real-time feel, conveying a sense that the war is approaching through small-scale details like radio broadcasts, Wissam’s observation that pigeons have flown unusually close to the school and the volume and frequency of aerial noise. The filmmaker also mostly dodges the potential preciousness that comes with telling a story from a child’s perspective, even if a handful of animated sequences are a bit too cute.1982Not rated. In Arabic and English, with subtitles. Running time: 1 hour 40 minutes. In theaters. More