The Cinesexuals

Kenneth Anger, a monumental figure in American avant-garde cinema and moving image art, died on 11 May at an assisted-living facility in Yucca Valley, California. He was 96 years old. His death was confirmed by Monika Sprüth and Philomene Magers, the gallerists who have represented Anger since 2009.Anger was best known for his transgressive, boundary-pushing cinematic works, including such films as Fireworks (1947) and Scorpio Rising (1963), which went against the formal and social constraints of their day and, in the process, helped map new terrain for American underground film and ultimately pop culture at large.

If Close is “melodramatic” because it dares to explore—and express—male grief in a direct, if aesthetically attuned, manner, how much does that say about what we expect as viewers? When it comes to depictions of suffering, what is it about sentimentality that pains us so? And how or why is it that this becomes even more painful between boys or men?

As a gay viewer whose experience of watching movies changed drastically after coming out, I have found that my motivating force has remained the same pre and post-coming out: to bear witness. To myself, to the community, to the possibilities of life.

It is always a pleasure when a film we mentioned in one of our Best of Fest round ups is submitted to Directors Notes. When I first saw Sean Lìonadh’s Too Rough at this year’s Glasgow Shorts Film Festival, I was taken aback by both its evocation of a tough, lived-in atmosphere of dread as well as its capacity for empathy, creating a nuanced portrait of coming-out in a difficult world. Telling the story of the young Nick (Ruaridh Mollica) hiding his boyfriend Charlie (Joshua Griffin) from his alcoholic parents, it is a deeply sensitive tale that is at once claustrophobic and touching, showing a fine command of tone from the poet/director. It’s a depiction that has clearly struck a chord with audiences and awards juries alike – from BAFTA Scotland (where it won Best Live Action Short) to the British Independent Film Awards as one of the five 2022 nominees for Best British Short Film – and so, of course, we jumped at the opportunity to talk to Lìonadh about basing his film on a true story, finding contrast through performance and being inspired by the hyper-realistic tone of Andrea Arnold.