Gal Pals Watch

Gal Pals Watch Mars One

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

Gal Pals Watch Elisa y Marcela

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

Gal Pals Watch Under the Christmas Tree

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!

Gal Pals Watch Erin’s Guide to Kissing Girls & chat with director, Julianna Notten! - LIVE at the SQFF!

Episode 78: Erin's Guide to Kissing Girls

Hiiii 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

Gal Pals Watch My Name is Pauli Murray

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

Gal Pals Watch Crush

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

Gal Pals Watch The Nowhere Inn

Episode 75: Nowhere Inn

 

Hey hi hello! Remember a while back when the gay girl internet got really excited for a second about Dakota Johnson playing a version of Kristin Stewart in a movie with and by Annie Clark/St. Vincent and Carrie Brownstein? This is that movie, and it's on Hulu! It is... weird! Join Alicia and Sarah as they try to work through their confusion and their feelings, which are mainly neutral, spoiler alert. Also, happy Pride to all who celebrate!

 

Further Reading:

Nowhere Inn review in The Guardian by Phuong Le

Pitchfork review by Eric Torres

Nowhere Inn Wikipedia page

Gal Pals Watch Baka Bukas

Episode 74: Baka Bukas

Good day, fair queers! Today on the pod we're discussing a film out of the Phillipines, 2016's Baka Bukas! This is billed as a romantic drama, and that's pretty accurate. It follows two early-20s friends working in the entertainment industry in different roles, one of whom is out as lesbian to everyone but this friend. Who then becomes the love interest. As you do. There's a lot of stereotypes in here, including a vapid GBF and some fashun, but Alicia and Sarah think it's a solidly okay film, and have some stuff to say about it. So tune in and hear about one of the only mainstream gay movies to come out of the Phillippines and let us know your thoughts!

 

Further reading:

Baka Bukas Wikipedia page

Review from Beauty Within
SAMANTHA LEE BRINGS QUEER REPRESENTATION TO FILIPINO FILM by Sara Tardiff in Nylon

Gal Pals Watch The Fallout

Episode 73: The Fallout

Hello queeros, this month Alicia and Sarah are delving into a movie that will hit you in the absolute feels, fyi. The movie is The Fallout, starring the dancing Sia girl (sorry, that was reductive) Maddie Ziegler and the most amazing Jenna Ortega, and a lot of other really great people, about how a few teens cope after a school shooting. This one is heavy y'all, but the movie itself is more character-study-as-microcosm-of-this-truly-horrible-world-we-live-in-for-real than trauma porn, which is something we both appreciate about it. It's actually really good except for the fact that it's too real. Anyway you can hear us talk about it and even cry if you wanna!! Love you and take care of yourselves!

 

Further reading:

The Fallout Wikipedia page

Review on Slate.com by Ilana Kaplan

Gal Pals Watch So My Grandma’s a Lesbian!

Episode 72: So My Grandma's a Lesbian!

 

Hi loves! This month, after a brief hiatus due to cHaOs, we are back and discussing a movie that requires very little brainpower to sit through! Titled So My Grandma's a Lesbian exclamation point, this Spanish movie follows some sweet older women who love each other in a very healthy way, in contrast to the shitshow of their surroundings, which include many people who are younger than them and yet much more Homophobic TM and/or wayyy to concerned about their conservative in-laws, in the case of Eva, the granddaughter. Anyway! This movie isn't exactly good, but Alicia and Sarah agree it is not the worst and the landscape is very beautiful and we want to go to Canary Islands ASAP. Tune in to hear us talk about it! 

 

Further reading:

NME Review by Ella Kemp

Roger's Movie Nation review by Roger Moore