kaos at the 27th London Lesbian & Gay Film Festival

R/Evolve

"Lucas and Lincoln are a hot QPOC couple in love, with a nice home, good jobs and once Referendum 74 passes, they will even be able to get married. Lucas, thrilled at the prospect, proposes in anticipation. However, photographer Lincoln feels uneasy about their domestic bliss and then, one day, he picks up a cute hitchhiker sporting a pink triangle patch on hir bag and everything changes. Raccoon is all glitter hotpants, free spirit and direct action – Pacific Northwest style, opening up a world of possibilities to the frustrated Lincoln and together they challenge what they see as the capitalist agenda behind the marriage equality bill."

There's a lot to like about Billie Rain's film, not least the fact that it wears its heart on its sleeve, and I was pleased to see a film looking at the homogenisation of queer culture... Clearly a labour of love, it's a low budget effort that sometimes has the look and feel of a daytime soap (as American indies often do). But that doesn't matter, this isn't a movie where style triumphs over content. The cast is charming - Lil’Snoopy Fujikawa is a delight as Racoon, and Maximillian Davis is perfect as nice guy Lincoln. Poor Lowell Deo makes the best of uptight asshole Lucas.

There's a few problems here, though. Lucas is just too much of a jerk for us to have an empathy with, and the cod news broadcasts are clunky and unwelcome. The somewhat incoherent resolution felt rather contrived and ill thought out (you're going to get your man back by provoking him even further? Really?), lending proceedings a somewhat amateurish feel.

It's hard to find too much fault here, however, especially when Billie Rain appeared afterwards for the Q&A, radiating good vibes, hir big infectious laugh filling the theatre.

Tonight I'm seeing How To Survive A Plague.
Check back for my review tomorrow!

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