Friday, September 13, 2024, our Make It a Double series returns with “Queer Complexities,” a double feature of All of Us Strangers (2023) and Passages (2023).  

Last year, the world of arthouse cinema had a sleeper hit with six BAFTA Award winner All of Us Strangers starring the brilliant Andrew Scott (from TV’s Fleabag as well as the current Netflix series Ripley) and Academy Award Nominee Paul Mescal (Aftersun). The film focuses on past family relationships and how they affect us in the present, as well as the what-could-have-beens and might-have-beens. Its’ emotional strength lies in the profound grief and the connectivity within the main queer character’s personal journey and does so in a very human way.   

In the same way, but in a different situation, Passages deals with Tomas (Franz Rogowski), an upcoming filmmaker in Paris whose relationship with his English husband Martin (Ben Whishaw) is in deep turmoil after he begins to have an affair with a woman with disastrous results. Note of interest: Passages was to receive an NC-17 rating from the MPAA, but the film’s distributor, Mubi, refused to comply, and decided to release it in the U.S. without a rating. Complex queer characters do make fascinating subjects and both unique films from Andrew Haigh (Weekend, Looking: The Movie) and Ira Sachs (Love Is Strange), respectively, do not disappoint.   

This double feature was programmed by Matthew Flores, a FACETS Customer Service Representative, and is co-presented with Queer Expressions, a celebration of vibrant global LGBTQ cinema.