Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Hungry eyes

Lesbians have a love/hate relationship with lesbian movies. We love to watch them, but we hate how bad they often are. As any nascent lesbian going through her I-must-consume-every-lesbian-movie-ever-made phase can tell you, not all lesbian movies are created equal. In fact, don’t tell the religious right this, but instead of using their so-called “ex-gay” therapies, they’d have much better results by forcing us to watch “Bar Girls” and “Claire of the Moon” on a continuous loop. They’re almost bad enough to turn even the gayest gal straight. Almost.

So this weekend, I thought I’d have a lezzer movie binge and watch one I’d never seen before. Somehow, despite my best intentions, I’d never had a chance to catch “Nina’s Heavenly Delights.” This is kind of crazy considering 1) the cast is crazy gorgeous and 2) it’s about food. Hello, gorgeous people and food consumer a good 85 percent of my waking thoughts. And it was also nice to see Shelley Conn and Laura Fraser in earlier roles, since I’ve seen both subsequently in other projects (“Mistresses” and “Lip Service,” most recently).

Was it a great film? No. Choppy plotting, uneven characterizations, contrived situations. Also, I could have done without ghost dad. I felt at any minute Whoopi Goldberg might show up and say, “Nina, you in danger, girl.” But it was cute in its own way and had so much pretty to look at in the form of Shelley and Laura that I can forgive it some of its sins. But, yeah, it’s not going on my iPhone next to “Imagine Me and You,” or anything.

What it did give us was one truly sexy moment between Shelley’s Nina and Laura’s Lisa. And I’m not talking about any of the kisses, though they were nice. They really were. But, what I thought worked best in the film was its hunger. And not just for chicken xacuti. I mean the other kind of hunger. Laura in particular does a lovely job of conveying her hunger, with her big eyes and eager face. It’s also a testament to her acting abilities that I find her entirely winsome in this film whereas I find Cat on “Lip Service” a tad irritating. But right, back to the scene.

Right, now if the whole movie had been like those 19 seconds, well, that would have been truly heavenly.

21 comments:

  1. Mmm, this could've been a great film if it had settled on the present instead of having the ghost etc and generally being a little bit light and airy. Then again, that was obviously the starting point for the plot!

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  2. I urge you to do a top 5/10/50 of the best lesbian films ever. Pretty please? Some of my favorites are: Fried Green Tomatoes (oh, the subtext!), The Truth About Jane (I would recommend to any teen) and Fucking Amal.

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  3. Anonymous6:57 AM

    I can't be the only one who read “Nina, you in danger, girl" and laughed hysterically can I?

    Hilarious.

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  4. I'm with you. I thought the film was rather uneven, but there was something about it, and that something was Laura Fraser. She was all kinds of delectable, and like you, I found her much more appealing in this movie than in Lip Service.

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  5. Carmen SanDiego8:48 AM

    I support Leticia's idea of a top 5 best lesbian movies, or some sort of Lesbian movie review. My top 5 would be (in no particular order):

    - Fried Green Tomatoes
    - Bound
    - Imagine me and you
    - Saving Face
    - But I'm a cheerleader

    Disclaimer: I havent seen Desert Hearts

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  6. Jamie9:35 AM

    My contribution to the best lesbian films list...
    1. Imagine Me & You
    2. When Night Is Falling
    3. Bound
    4. Amour de Femme
    5. Better Than Chocolate

    But I must admit, I've not seen a lot of the newer movies.

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  7. Ok, I think we all know "High Art" had the best acting and plot, even though it was still weak in development but what can an indie lesbian film really do? "Nina's.." was really cute, I remember that lesbian film phase of hiding out in my room all summer, and only liking a few of the hundreds of just horrible lesbian films. But "High Art" really stands out... and I think transcends the LGBT genre.

    Amanda

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  8. Ang71510:56 AM

    Never saw the movie but those 19 seconds just caused my heart rate and breathing to change. Good catch, Ms. Snarker.

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  9. I thought Better Than Chocolate was abysmal myself, but I really liked Nina's Heavenly Delights. It's certainly flawed and I hated the ghost dad bit on the first couple of viewings, but there's a lot to like too. (The secret Scottish dancing subplot is not one of those things.) I think the scene where Nina talks to Bobbi at the video shop is standout.

    B: Why can't you just say it?
    N: Because if I say it then it's real, there's no going back.

    Her mum rocks too.

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  10. I second (third? fourth?) the call for a top ten movie list!! And I suggest adding Fire directed by Deepa Metha and The Incredibly True Adventure of Two Girls In Love, although I haven't seen that since I was a teenager... so maybe its sillier than I remember? oh, oh and Aimee and Jaguar!

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  11. The song is STILL stuck in my head...
    We definitely need a top 10 list of movies. Most of them I have seen on you tube montages, with soundtracks by Sia Furler.

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  12. off topic :)
    u must love THEM sweds :))) http://stylebykling.nowmanifest.com/2011/07/04/stockholm-aw-11/

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  13. This is my favorite lezzer movie!! After having seen Lip Service and Mistresses I was way too excited to have found this :)

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  14. Florence4:42 PM

    I agree, this scene when they taste the sauce is the best thing about the movie. That and the fact it made me hungry (for food^^) when I watched it.
    I cannot believe everyone always talks about Laura Fraser in this movie, I mean I only had eyes for Shelley Conn. She has the perfect face, the perfect skin, the perfect hair. She is GORGEOUS.

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  15. Carmen SanDiego5:17 PM

    just wanted to add that, 8 hours after first reading this post, i still have that fucking song in my head. earworm indeed.
    With these hungry eyes / One look at you and I can't disguise / I've got hungry eyes / I feel the magic between you and I

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  16. Nina's Heavenly Delights: diabolically BAAAAD! Cringeworthy.

    And I wanted so much to like it, as Pratiba Parma's a sister.

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  17. Anonymous7:05 PM

    Elena Undone is quite good- AND, it has the cinematic record for longest kiss. It was ONE amazing kiss. It's two lead women were WONDERFUL to look at, and a pretty good story.

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  18. Anonymous10:06 PM

    This is one of those movies that grew on me - I really like its 'quirks' now.

    Ahh, except for the Ghost-dad; I think he could be safely exorcised and the movie would still convey the father-daughter angst.

    Maybe it's because it gives me a bit of the 'East is East' vibe I relate well to...

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  19. quovadimus7:01 PM

    iampecola: you're not the only one! :)

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  20. Anonymous2:55 AM

    Best of 5 suggestion:
    I can't think straight
    Nina's heavenly delights
    Imagine me and you
    ?
    ?

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  21. Anonymous4:29 AM

    So, first of all: I´m not gay or bisexual. I am married and happy with my husband. But the reason, why I watch girl/girl films are of course the hot scenes between two women. The kissing scenes are just asthetic and sensual. When the women are beautiful such as the couples Tala/Leyla , Rachel/Luce and Nina/Lisa. Imagine me and you could have been a bit more among Lena and Piper, but it was okay. Elena undone was to much of that and Peyton is way to pert. And the stories are just subordinated to me. Just as, guess it was Nina in Nina's heavenly Delights, said: The chemistry is important. And so it is in my favourite movies : ICTS, IMAY, NHD

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