Willow Catelyn Maclay

a still from Blood Tea and Red String. It's stop motion and a young doll woman is hung on a tree

BLOOD TEA AND RED STRING (Christiane Cegavske, 2006)

I love stop-motion. It's entirely artificial, but because it's so hand-made, down to every last detail, it is an entirely pure expression of artistic creativity & effort. The girl in this is also artificial, but then, she isn't.

Thank you so much for checking it out!

The phone call between Sonny and Leon is so disarmingly beautiful that the context of what I know to be true about this story, and the legacy of Dog Day Afternoon within my community, momentarily fades away. Pacino has two performances in the 70s that are as strong as performances can be, and this is one of them. The other is Michael Corleone in the first two Godfather films. That performance is an internal one, with evil festering in his blossoming inhumanity, flickering out in a handful of wonderfully expressive moments of what he has chosen to become (his murder of Sterling Hayden’s character in The Godfather & Fredo’s final scene in The Godfather Part Two). Dog Day Afternoon is almost a composite opposite of what he accomplished as Michael. Everything is leaking out of him, and when they put the camera on him in that phone call he can’t hide from anyone—let alone Leon. Those big soulful, searching eyes, taking on water, looking for a way out. He’s mesmerizing in the visibility of his love for Leon that’s spilling all over the place—almost embarrassingly so. Sarandon isn’t a very good trans woman, and he doesn’t feel like the gay men of the era either. His queer creature doesn’t make any sense at all until Pacino is on the phone with her, and the cuckoo qualities of their relationship and this story cohere in a strangely magical moment. It’s fair to say that when modern queer audiences gravitate to the true story of John Wojtowicz they aren’t reacting to the man that actually robbed the bank (he was a chaser who consistently misgendered Liz. They didn’t live happily ever after.), but to Pacino’s performance, and the bare minimum facts of the reasons for the robbery.

a still of Al Pacino on the phone from DOG DAY AFTERNOON

I wrote about DOG DAY AFTERNOON and its complicated legacy among trans viewers for my reader's choice series. My co-writer Caden Mark Gardner will be discussing many of these same topics tonight on TCM before this film is shown. Please tune in!

www.patreon.com/posts/144308...

IFC Center - Looking for an Angel NYC Premiere of the 4K Restoration! Tuesday, November 25 at 7:00: Introduction by Elizabeth Purchell and KJ Shepherd Mostly seen on the gay pink circuit and recently restored by its director to its ri...

Look: @schlockvalue.bsky.social and I always want to reward the trueheads who stay in town this week.

Come to @ifccenter.bsky.social Tuesday night at 7 and watch a Japanese gay pink film.

You won't be disappointed. Get out the early sunset rut and check it out. We'd love to see you there. Thanks.

It rules

mmhmm. I got into how there isn't a mainstream trans movie made by a cis people that doesn't have a divisive response from a trans audience.

Amoreena fucking rips

Caden on TCM

It's Caden day on TCM!

aww thank you. Hope you love the book!

Caden is going to be on TCM in about 10 minutes. Let's go Caden! He's showing DOG DAY AFTERNOON first.

thank you! Glad you enjoyed the conversation!

oof Last Night in Soho was dire

Excellent! Enjoy <3

Scott Pilgrim was leaning into that and criticizing it. Haven't seen it in ages, but I feel like it could hold up for that reason

Thank you so much

I need to see this

Jackie Chan gets the hiccups. We can't even imagine such sights

I am not going to get into the weeds of that Best Comedies of all time list and I will just say that The Palm Beach Story and Police Story make me laugh very hard and they were not on the list.

I can only imagine how awful it is this week. Unleash it all on Saturday when we watch a certain movie lmao

I am praying for you this week my friend

This is tonight 🫣

A review of Dog Day Afternoon (1975) The phone call between Sonny and Leon is so disarmingly beautiful that the context of what I know to be true about this story, and the legacy of Dog Day Afternoon within my community, momentarily fade...

A sample of this essay can also be read over here

letterboxd.com/catelyn/film...

Me too. What Pacino does in that scene never ceases to amaze me. Phone acting is so hard to pull off, and he's unbelievable in that moment

The phone call between Sonny and Leon is so disarmingly beautiful that the context of what I know to be true about this story, and the legacy of Dog Day Afternoon within my community, momentarily fades away. Pacino has two performances in the 70s that are as strong as performances can be, and this is one of them. The other is Michael Corleone in the first two Godfather films. That performance is an internal one, with evil festering in his blossoming inhumanity, flickering out in a handful of wonderfully expressive moments of what he has chosen to become (his murder of Sterling Hayden’s character in The Godfather & Fredo’s final scene in The Godfather Part Two). Dog Day Afternoon is almost a composite opposite of what he accomplished as Michael. Everything is leaking out of him, and when they put the camera on him in that phone call he can’t hide from anyone—let alone Leon. Those big soulful, searching eyes, taking on water, looking for a way out. He’s mesmerizing in the visibility of his love for Leon that’s spilling all over the place—almost embarrassingly so. Sarandon isn’t a very good trans woman, and he doesn’t feel like the gay men of the era either. His queer creature doesn’t make any sense at all until Pacino is on the phone with her, and the cuckoo qualities of their relationship and this story cohere in a strangely magical moment. It’s fair to say that when modern queer audiences gravitate to the true story of John Wojtowicz they aren’t reacting to the man that actually robbed the bank (he was a chaser who consistently misgendered Liz. They didn’t live happily ever after.), but to Pacino’s performance, and the bare minimum facts of the reasons for the robbery.

a still of Al Pacino on the phone from DOG DAY AFTERNOON

I wrote about DOG DAY AFTERNOON and its complicated legacy among trans viewers for my reader's choice series. My co-writer Caden Mark Gardner will be discussing many of these same topics tonight on TCM before this film is shown. Please tune in!

www.patreon.com/posts/144308...

So great to see Bill Ackerman back in action. The podcast initially ended in 2022, but I see that he started up again this month with Erica Schultz, followed by Willow. I recommend every single episode; a really great lineup of film writers, programmers, podcasters, and others.

Episode 70: Willow Catelyn Maclay Bill talks to author and podcaster Erica Shultz about her endeavors in film culture, from creating shows like Unsung Horrors to writing and publishing her book THE SWEETEST TABOO and contributing spec...

I was thrilled to be invited onto the SUPPORTING CHARACTERS podcast to talk about numerous topics including Trans film images, Corpses, Fools and Monsters and our appearance on TCM. Tune in tonight for @cadenmgardner.bsky.social 's program!

www.nowplayingnetwork.net/supportingch...

Caden will be co-hosting TCM tonight for an evening of movies. His interview covers DOG DAY AFTERNOON and MA VIE EN ROSE. Later in the night there will be showings of THE CHRISTINE JORGENSEN STORY, PARIS IS BURNING and the TCM debut of DRESSED IN BLUE.

Episode 70: Willow Catelyn Maclay Bill talks to author and podcaster Erica Shultz about her endeavors in film culture, from creating shows like Unsung Horrors to writing and publishing her book THE SWEETEST TABOO and contributing spec...

I was thrilled to be invited onto the SUPPORTING CHARACTERS podcast to talk about numerous topics including Trans film images, Corpses, Fools and Monsters and our appearance on TCM. Tune in tonight for @cadenmgardner.bsky.social 's program!

www.nowplayingnetwork.net/supportingch...

Udo Kier was fucking awesome.

Live the sort of life that has everyone saying "that guy was weird and awesome" when you pass away.