Gal Pals Watch

Episode 85: Foxfire

Hey queer cuties! This week Alicia and Sarah are digging into one of the greatest queer movies of all time that is not (but kinda is) explicitly queer: 1996's Foxfire. This movie launched Angelina Jolie's (tragically not gay enough) career! And also has so many great people in it including the Jennys: Jenny Lewis and Jenny Shimizu! The latter of which we all remember as being one of Angelina Jolie's queer flames, because they met on this movie! And that's just one of the many layers on this girl-gang cake. Join us as we discuss all the ways in which we love this movie, both despite and because of how very 90s queer it is.

 

Further reading:

Excellent 2023 Autostraddle interview with director Annette Haywood-Carter by Drew Burnett Gregory

Foxfire Wikipedia page

Willamette Week 25th anniversary article by Chance Solem-Pfeifer

2018 Autostraddle review by Sarah Fonseca"Hollywood Had Not Caught Up": On Foxfire with Annette Haywood Carter Screen Slate Article by Mackenzie LukenbillThe Outskirts: Foxfire article from Screen Slate by Cristina Cacioppo

Episode 84: Anne+ - The Film

This month, we're headed to Amsterdam! In this sequel to a popular Dutch webseries of the same name, we follow Anne, a 20-something Dutch writer queer just trying to ~figure out her life~ as she cycles and walks the streets of a v picturesque city. We quite enjoyed this one and hope you do too!

 

Further reading:

Autostraddle review by Heather Hogan

Anne+ website

But Why Tho review by Jason Flatt

Valerie Bisscheroux website

Episode 83: D.E.B.S

Hiya gays! This month we are digging into the cult classic 2004 cinematic masterpiece (arguable), D.E.B.S! This was a formative film for Alicia, and Sarah had never seen it before, but boy is it of its time. Tune in to hear Alica and Sarah relive the disturbing moment that was the aughts and its glorification of uber-thin bodies; discuss the unknown line between camp and the male gaze; laugh about being a gay slut; and reveal the connection between this movie and Kid Rock (neither aged well). Hope you love it!

 

Further reading:

D.E.B.S Wikipedia page

Roger Ebert review (lol)Washington Post Review2003 D.E.B.S. Short Film

Episode 82: Skate Kitchen

 

Hi sweet queeros! This month Alicia and Sarah are talking about a movie near and dear to Sarah's heart (and now Alicia's too): 2018's vibe-fest Skate Kitchen. This film is based on a real life girls skate crew in New York City and the way they ~vibe~ with each other and their sport. Also some stuff happens with like, coming of age and parental relationships and friendships and almost-romance-but-not-really. It's really good! And it has a spinoff show on HBO called Betty, which Sarah keeps bringing up. Enjoy!

 

Further reading:

Skate Kitchen Wikipedia page

NYT review (even though we don't fucks with the NYT for a lot of things)

Guardian review (lol)Independent Review (also lol)

Skate Kitchen instagram

Episode 81: Mars One

Hi queeros! Welcome back to the pod! This month we are discussing the 2022 Brazilian film Mars One, which can be streamed on Netflix. It follows a Black family in the early days after Bolsonaro's election, which is the background noise to their daily lives. The parents work in the service industry, the tween brother is a soccer prodigy but is actually interested in joining the now-defunct Mars One mission to colonize Mars, and the daughter is in law school and also hecka queer and wants to move in with her girlfriend. Tune in to hear how much both Alicia and Sarah enjoyed this understated but very absorbing movie, which they recommend watching! Enjoy bbs!

 

Further reading:

Mars One Wikipedia page

IndieWire review by Jude Dry

Episode 80: Elisa & Marcela

 

Happy new year, lovely queers! To kick off the 2023 movie-watching season, this month Alicia and Sarah go back in time to turn-of-the-20th-century Spain, where these two teenage schoolgirls get really into towel play (i.e. they fall in love at school), and spend the rest of their lives either together or trying to be together. Elisa and Marcela's story is based on a true one which is pretty fascinating; they are known as the first same-sex marriage in Spain, 100 years before it became legal there. They achieved this by cross-dressing and lying to a priest, which is pretty punk rock for 1900s Catholic Europe, and very queer. This movie is kind of a downer, but we think it's worth watching anyway. Enjoy!

 

Further reading:

Making Queer History page on the real Elisa and Marcela

Elisa y Marcela Wikipedia page

Variety review by Jay Weissberg

Episode 79: Under the Christmas Tree

Happy holigays everyone! This year for our December episode we are talking about the very Lifetime Lifetime movie Under the Christmas Tree, which is the first Lifetime lesbian Christmas romcom (say it five times fast!). It stars queer lady darling Elise Bauman and Ricki Lake it takes place in Sarah’s home state of Maine, which is kind of exciting and makes it so that we can clear up some misconceptions about, for example, how far Augusta is from Camden (spoiler: not far!!). This movie is really low-stakes and ridiculous and that is what’s so fun about it. No thoughts, all vibes. Enjoy bbs!

Episode 78: Erin's Guide to Kissing GirlsHiiii lovely queers! Welcome to a very special episode of Gal Pals Watch: a live recording at the Seattle Queer Film Festival! We are talking about one of their 2022 youth features, the Canadian film Erin’s Guide to Kissing Girls. Listen to Alicia and Sarah discuss positive and nuanced youth representation, how much Erin’s clothes are fashun, and then the writer and director Julianna Notten joins us for a conversation about making the movie and some behind-the-scenes stories! It’s a great time and we hope you enjoy :)Further Reading/Watching:Erin's Guide to Kissing Girls (short film)IMDB Page

Episode 77: My Name is Pauli Murray

 

Hi queeros! Welcome to an episode about a movie we love! It's a documentary about Pauli Murray, who was a truly amazing nonbinary lawyer, civil rights activist, priest, and all-around human being. You should watch this movie and learn even more reasons we owe Pauli every progressive legal precedent we hope we can keep!

 

Further reading:

Pauli Murray Wikipedia page

Pauli Murray Center for History and Social Justice

Episode 76: Crush

 

Hey queeros! Welcome back to our little lesbian-ish show, where this week Alicia and Sarah dig into a movie without much substance but a lot of charm -- Crush! This 2022 film is on Hulu and stars Rowan Blanchard and Auli'i Cravalho (who played Moana), and also Megan Mullally which is fun too. It's a ridiculous teen movie about art and romance and high school and sports and obvious mysteries, but you know what, the queers need that kind of fluff too. So join us as we discuss this silly little movie that ultimately was pretty fun. Ok thanks, love you bye!

 

Further reading:

Indiewire review by Jude Dry 

Variety review by Tomris Laffly

Crush Wikipedia page