Queer Beacon

The Queen (2006) - LightShed 7

What an excellent movie!  I mentioned here earlier that Penelope Cruz should get the Oscar for her performance in Volver, but I will not be mad if Helen Mirren takes it home.

In The Queen, Helen Mirren is Her Majesty, and we get to watch her reaction and behavior in connection with Princess Diana's death.  Yummers!

She actually kinda looks like the real thing.

I remember the day of Diana's death well.  I bet a lot of people do to.  I was awaken in my law school dorm in D.C. by crazy students hitting on my door and yelling "Diana is dead! Diana is dead!"  I couldn't believe the hysteria.  And this was Washington, D.C.  Can you imagine what it was like in the U.K.?  If you can't imagine, you have got to see The Queen.  It's all there.

We had bits of gay content.  We see that Diana went to Gianni Versace's funeral and we see that she was close to Elton John.  Both big flaming gay homosexuals.  Also, at one point, Prince Philip is all mad about the media giving the royal family a hard time for not showing sorrow for Diana's death, and he complains that the list of guests for Diana's funeral was full of 'homosexuals.'  Philip is shown in a very bad light in The Queen, perhaps the worst light in the movie, so, his homophobic remark fits him well.

Run to the theaters!  You should not miss this one.

Quinceanera (2006) - LightShed 9

I liked Quinceanera a lot. 

In the movie, Emily Rios is a 14 year old who is about to enjoy the party that marks her passage into womanhood, a Quinceanera (think of a 'sweet fifteen' with lots of drama and intense Latin spice).  She finds out she is pregnant and her father, who runs a little church, throws her out of the house. 

Emily's nice, nonjudgmental, octogenarian uncle takes her in.  The uncle is played by Chalo Gonzalez. 

At Chalo's house, Emily joins Jesse Garcia, who plays her cousin -- he is living there because he was thrown out of his house for being gay.

Quinceanera portrays various generations of Mexican-Americans living the American dream, on a budget.  Immigration is not an issue here.

There was a lot of gay content, but not all positive.

The gay content was brought to us via hottie Jesse Garcia's character, by a yuppie gay couple who rented their back house to Chalo, and by a lesbian couple. 

As is the case for most movies with a heavy load of gay content, the discussion of the portrayal of us gays will ruin the plot a bit too much.  So, read on, or go see Quinceanera!

[SPOILER AHEAD]