Kicking off with the buzzworthy La Bola Negra (a winner at this year's Cannes Film Festival with Oscar in its sights), this year's Reeling Film Festival sent a clear message: We're gonna gag you!

A huge step up from last year's opener (the quieter, lesser-known Plainclothes), the LGBTQ+ film festival landed one of the most talked about titles of the upcoming fall movie season, and with it, a program of more than 40 feature films and over 50 short films from across the globe, spanning a wide range of genre, prestige, and budget. The array of titles include some impressive talent (Rachel Dratch! Morgan Spector! Glenn freakin' Close!) as well as some titillating action. Here's a rundown of all the fierce flicks I managed to see throughout the fest!

Body Blow

I love a good homage to ’80s erotic thrillers, and with a pulsing synth score and vibrant use of rain-soaked reds and blues, this Australian export certainly delivered the goods! In this crime drama, muscled constable Aiden (Tim Pocock), haunted by his devious past, tries finding redemption working as an undercover cop in Sydney's gay district. He crosses paths with a seductive twunk (Tom Rodgers) who bartends at a club owned by a drag queen mobster (Paul Capsis, serving a lethal combination of camp and menace), and well...things get complicated. It doesn't help that Aiden is in the midst of trying to control his self-diagnosed sex addiction, which he attempts with the help of an intricate device that needs to be seen to be believed! The high-stakes action mixes well with the lusty visuals, though the campy dialogue at times kills the built-up tension. 

Test

A queer drama about Eddie Owens (played by writer/actor Brock Yurich), an aspiring bodybuilder from Ohio who wants to obtain a pro card that he believes will help make his dreams come true. To help fund his training, he turns to late-night online sex work, unbeknownst to his deeply religious mother. He catches the eye of a studly trainer, who takes him under his wing and shows him what it'll take to become a champion. Naturally, their chemistry turns into something else, threatening to turn Eddie's world upside down. One part The Wrestler mixed with a little bit of Brokeback Mountain, Test features a rock solid cast that capably handles those cliched dramatic beats of other "smalltown boy with a dream" dramas with gravity and nuance. 

Son of Sara

Look, I know when it comes to supernatural films, you have to lower your skepticism just a teensy bit, but I found the idea of a very pregnant lesbian trusting the ex-lover who abandoned her after a fateful one-night stand enough to travel to the middle of nowhere and have dinner with him and his odd duck of a mother to be highly improbable! But so goes the plot of this queer horror flick, which felt like a cross between Rosemary's Baby and The Kids are Alright. I admit that some of the gorier moments—such as Sara's cravings for uncooked meat and her nightmarish visions on the john—were gruesomely fun. But like an impatient mother-to-be, I was ready for the whole experience to be over with!

Loves Company

Judging from the trailer, this comedy appears to parody Stephen King's Misery, as washed-up sitcom star/former game show panelist Blake de Troy (a mincing Jack Plotnick, channeling the late Paul Lynde) finds himself in the care of a disturbed woman who happens to be his biggest fan (Rachel Dratch, in a rare leading role). But there's a little bit more to this story, which includes themes of grief, addiction, co-dependency, and celebrity. By film's end, the character tropes you expected to play out ultimately switch between the two leads, which adds to the strong performances by two comedy vets. Surprisingly though, the humor wasn't there for me, but what was lacking in laughs made up with plenty of charm!

Very Deep Inside

As soon as I saw the warning of "THIS FILM CONTAINS EXPLICIT CONTENT,” I added this to my watch list! The story involves two lovers on a birthday getaway trip to Mexico City. One is about to turn 33 and is ready to settle down, while the other wants to open their relationship up to new experiences. Amid exploring the boundaries of desire and discomfort, the two spend a day out on their own, "meeting" new people and examining the complex relationship between love and trust. And, oh yeah, there's plenty of unsimulated sex! Outside of the hot, lusty action though, lies a tender story that tackles the anxieties and concerns surrounding the intricacies of open relationships.

A Free Man

The uncovering of queer history can be a bittersweet experience—both validating the fact that we have always existed, yet not always been accepted, and therefore largely forgotten. This documentary profiles Agustin Gomez Arcos, a Spanish novelist and playwright whose radical works were so sexually transgressive during the Franco dictatorship, he was exiled to France, where his anti-Francoist writings were celebrated. Yet even after the fall of Francoism, Arcos never achieved the recognition he deserved as one of Spain’s most important literary figures. With archival interviews and recitations of his works, A Free Man spotlights an influential queer artist whose spirit continues to resonate around the world. 

Mineshaft: The Cruising Murders

Perhaps no film has been more detrimental to the gay community than William Friedkin's Cruising. Released in 1980, this crime thriller stars Al Pacino as an undercover cop investigating the brutal murders of gay men associated with the leather bar scene. The film itself was inspired by the real-life murder of Variety reporter Addison Verrill (coincidentally committed by an extra featured in Friendkin's The Exorcist), and production proved difficult due to protests from gay rights activists. Panned by critics and a moderate success at the box office, Cruising had largely been denounced but has since gone on to develop a cult following for its depiction of gay culture before the outbreak of AIDS. I found this documentary fascinating, as it not only provided context for the infamous film’s making, but also reason for its continued inclusion when discussing LGBTQ+ cinema. 

And speaking of, the festival concluded with an anniversary screening of the documentary The Celluloid Closet, which explored LGBTQ depictions in Hollywood films of the twentieth century. I'd mentioned seeing this documentary several years ago in my review of last year's festival, and 30 years after its release, it's refreshing to see just how far the film industry has come from presenting queer-oriented characters as cruel stereotypes to more positive depictions of complicated and nuanced human beings. And thanks to the Reeling Film Festival, we'll continue to see such rich representations for years to come!