It’s sad that, in 2023, we are still finding places around the world (even throughout the U.S.) where LGBTQ folks are being ostracized and forced to hide their sexuality for fear of public reprisals. That’s where the power of a film like “Blue Jean” comes into play, showing how this is a story that has been going on for decades, pointing out that even though we’ve made huge strides as a society, there is still so, so much more we need to do. 

Continue reading ‘Blue Jean’ Trailer: Rosy McEwen Stars In Georgia Oakley’s Powerful Directorial Debut at The Playlist.

It’s the late ’80s in “Blue Jean,” the debut film from British director Georgia Oakley. The decade is remembered for, amongst other things, its promotion of wealth and excess, a process helped by the king and queen of neo-liberalism: Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher. The latter has just helped to usher in Section 28, a draconian series of laws banning the “promotion of homosexuality” (the law wasn’t revoked until 2003).

Continue reading ‘Blue Jean’ Trailer: Georgie Oakley’s Astonishing Queer Drama To Hit UK Theaters In February at The Playlist.

Yes, we’re still here with Best-of 2022 recaps and 2023 anticipated features; we know. We’re gluttons for punishment and maybe a little bit psycho. But yes, we obviously like to look ahead and look back, and our annual The Best Films Of [Insert Year Here] We’ve Already Seen feature is the perfect opportunity to do both.

READ MORE: The 25 Best Films Of 2022

The gist? Well, we’ve already made our list of the 100 Most Anticipated Films Of 2023, which could have been much longer and will be expanded, by the very least, in our Sundance preview.

Continue reading The 25 Best Films Of 2023 We’ve Already Seen at The Playlist.

With its abundance of flickery grain, exceedingly credible period production, and eminently authentic ensemble, UK filmmaker Georgia Oakley’s astonishing debut feature “Blue Jean” — which premiered at the Venice Film Festival last week, no doubt primed to pick up a swath of gongs and laurels — could well be a relic exhumed from the back cupboards of a dusty film archive. 

READ MORE: Venice Film Festival Preview: 16 Must-See Films To Watch

Set amid Margaret Thatcher’s reign of terror in the late ‘80s, the little-known Rosy McEwen puts in a calling card performance for the ages as Jean, a closeted lesbian gym teacher torn asunder by the emergence of Section 28: barbaric British legislation that, until 2003, prohibited the “promotion of homosexuality” across the country.

Continue reading ‘Blue Jean’ Review: Georgia Oakley’s Brilliant Debut Is An Astonishingly Credible, Complex Queer ’80s Drama [Venice] at The Playlist.