Someone get me in touch with those milk carton people–gay cinema has gone missing!
Echoing gay film festivals this summer, new gay cinema has seemingly taken a rest for the first time in a decade or so. Barring obscure and/or melancholy foreign efforts (Lan Yu Dahmer Hush), cinemas have been notably absent of queer-themed movies in 2002. Even the more accessible and entertaining queer-themed fare, say, Y Tu Mama Tambien and Love in The Time of Money, were peripherally queer. As a result, this year’s list of my favorite/most memorable films is straighter than Anita Bryant and Pat Boone carving a pumpkin in an Arkansas shed.
Well, maybe not THAT straight.
That said, 2002 was at least a huge year for box office with Spider Man, MIB II, Star Wars Episode II, and at least a couple of J-Lo films at bat. Of course, the last weeks of December are proving the most critic-adored and Oscar-snatching film-wise, with some heavy-hitting contenders at bat (sadly, I couldn’t see Adaptation before deadline). And now, on with the Top 10 films and runner-ups for 2002!
10) Hell House
9) Gangs of New York
8) Family Fundamentals
7) Kissing Jessica Stein
6) Lord of the Rings: The Twin Towers
5) A tie between The Hours and Far From Heaven
4 ) The Grey Zone
3) Signs
2) Chicago
1) 24 Hour Party People
Honorable Mentions: The Cockettes, One Hour Photo, Auto Focus, Audition, When Boys Fly, Panic Room, The Bourne Identity, Blade 2, Insomnia