Five Goth-Approved Pride Picks

“We sit in silence but we’re smiling
“Because for once we are not fighting”

~

I can’t discover everything myself.

Right now it’s Pride week, in Toronto, Canada, and all around the world. We’ve been celebrating it in our own way for years now. Grushenka likes the parades. Me, I’ll always be an audio/video geek; I make mixdiscs, playlists, and the occasional “top five” for our site.

When we finally reached the safe harbours of Toronto, just over a year ago, I was actually anxious to listen to the radio again. I wanted my old familiar CFNY (102.1). Then a friend recommended Indie 88.1. And when I’m feeling lazy I lean on the retro comforts of Maie Pauts’ BOOM show (97.3).

But more often than not, more than all else combined, I am drawn to Proud FM (103.9). To indulge in a very bad in-joke, it’s unlike anything I’ve heard. It’s the music of my childhood, songs that remind me of my younger sister, tons and tons of Canadian content, and things absolutely no one else is playing. (The suggestively written/delivered ad copy is also a fun distinction!)

In our neighbourhood, just north-east of Toronto, you’re as likely to get static as Proud FM. Sadly the signal doesn’t reach very far, but I keep on trying anyway. Richard Ryder’s afternoon show is worth it, the perfect spirit-lifter. (If you ever read this, dear sir, I am the one who keeps pestering you to identify half-heard songs. I’ll understand if you tell me to shut my face.)

As a youth, Erasure’s song “Hideaway” really spoke to me. For Gru, Bronski Beat’s “Smalltown Boy” did similarly. And just last week, Ryder played a new song that hit me all over again, Greg Holden’s “Boys in the Street“. Brilliant, absolutely brilliant. Someone finally found a way to evolve “Cat’s in the Cradle”.

Who can listen to such songs and not feel pride . . . in ourselves, in others, in celebration of our common humanity?

Now our lives have become so busy, our site has taken the brunt of neglect, and I haven’t had the chance to review enough for this week’s pride list. So I decided — wait for it, I’m bringing it around — that I couldn’t discover everything myself.

So here are my five selections, based on videos our resident goth has reviewed positively, spanning the years we’ve both been writing, LGBT-positive picks. She’ll be my Richard Ryder for movies this week.

Enjoy!

Bruno (2009)
by Grushenka Geusebach on 2012/12/16

* * * *

“…there are people in the U.S. who would rather put a metal chair through a person’s skull than allow two men to kiss. Bruno tells us we have an awfully long way to do in the fight for basic human rights for the LGBT community. Love Sasha Baron Cohen or hate him (I love him), you have to admit he’ll go to hell and back just to hack his way to some kind of truth.”

Lesbian Vampire Killers (2009)
by Grushenka Geusebach on 2010/05/26

* * *

“I imagine this was the shortest pitch for a film ever. “Three words: Lesbian. Vampire. Killers…” then a short pause, a few slow blinks …and the financing was secured . . . . There are definitely less interesting things out there to watch.”

The Sarah Silverman Program (2007)
by Grushenka Geusebach on 2013/04/14

* * * *

“Sarah’s breathtaking thoughtlessness, her ability to make every situation about her, is somehow improbably and completely adorable. She experiments with lesbianism, cough syrup, being a stage mom, rooming with a homeless guy and having sex with god. All with hilarious (and no doubt, polarizing) results.”

Tarnation (2003)
by Grushenka Geusebach on 2012/12/31

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“This documentary about the life of Jonathan Caouette is a rare and intimate look into the life of a troubled family. Caouette brings the viewer in close – really, really close with 88 minutes of Super 8 film footage, interviews, photographs that chronicle 19 years of the filmmaker’s life . . . . When I feel a little braver, I will watch it again.”

Withnail and I (1987)
by Grushenka Geusebach on 2012/12/19

* * * *

“I picked this film for our month-long celebration of LGBT film because I remembered – apparently incorrectly – that Withnail’s uncle Monty played by the great Richard Griffiths was a positive gay character. On second viewing, I’m not so sure. I suppose there are no really, truly positive characters in this dark, damp film.”

Honourable Mention:

Scott Pilgrim vs the World (2010)
by Grushenka Geusebach on 2010/11/21