San Francisco’s Frameline —the world’s largest LGBTQ film festival—opens today and runs through Sunday, June 26, 2022. Last week, I previewed the fest, and, today, here are my recommendations:
Besties: This stellar French coming-of-age film is a showcase for star Lina Al Arabi’s magnetism and writer-director Marion Desseigne-Ravel’s storytelling.
Loving Highsmith::This biodoc of the iconic novelist Patricia Highmith (Strangers on a Train, Carol) is filled with intimacies revealed.
The Sixth Reel: This endearing madcap comedy is set in the insular world of classic movie geeks – with a touch of drag.
Unidentified Objects: This Odd-Couple-On-A-Roadtrip dramedy takes us on a singular journey – from the offbeat through the surreal to the redemptive.
I love the tagline to this year’s Frameline: The Coast Is Queer. If you can’t make it to the theaters, The Sixth Reel and Unidentified Objects are streaming in Frameline’s Digital Streaming Room. Buy tickets at Frameline.
Patricia Highsmith in LOVING HIGHSMITH. Courtesy of Frameline.
Photo caption: Lina Al Arabi and Esther Esther Bernet-Rollande in BESTIES. Courtesy of Frameline.
The absorbing coming of age drama Besties is set among Algerian teen girls in a hardscrabble immigrant urban French neighborhood. They’re growing up on the streets with minimal supervision by their hard-working single moms, and even their modest aspiration of a day trip to the beach seems beyond their grasp.
Yet, despite her downtrodden circumstances, the spirited Nedjima (Lina Al Arabi) is especially comfortable in her own skin. Supremely confident, she leads her girl squad, athletically matches up with the boys, and can talk trash like an NBA player.
Lina Al Arabi in BESTIES. Courtesy of Frameline.
Nedjima is fascinated by Zina (Esther Bernet-Rollande), a new girl in the hood, with relatives in a rival crew. Although Nedjima and Zina are on different sides (as in Sharks/Jets, Montagues/Capulets), there are attracted to each other and begin a secret romance.
Suddenly, Nedjima’s own identity is rocked – she never imagined that she could be a lesbian. This may be France, but even the kids in this insular immigrant community are homophobic. Suddenly she’s lost her community status and her support group. She reveals to Zina what teens often feel and never say, “I’m afraid of everything.” How is Nedjima going to recover her own agency and navigate being lesbian in her family and neighborhood?
Esther Bernet-Rollande (center) in BESTIES. Courtesy of Frameline.
Besties’ two leads, Al Arabi and Bernet-Rollande are very charismatic. Al Arabi’s performance could be star-making. Her Nedjima registers strength and vulnerability, wilfulness and confusion, and the audience is on her side all the way.
Besties is the first feature for writer-director Marion Desseigne-Ravel, and it’s an impressive debut. The milieu seems absolutely authentic. Besties is briskly paced, and Desseigne-Ravel tells her story economically and powerfully, without a single false moment. The final shot captures the briefest of glances, the perfect culmination of Nedjima’s story.
Besties is a showcase for Al Arabi’s magnetism and Desseigne-Ravel’s storytelling. Bestiesscreens at Frameline on June 19.
