There’s a moment in the Netflix film “The Old Guard”Marwan Kenzari is seated in a car with guards and handcuffed next to his partner who is passed out. A shitty cop said “what is he, your boyfriend?.”All the cops laugh like lunatics. Marwan continues to deliver one of the most moving speeches on love. It ends in. “he’s not my boyfriend, he’s all and he’s more.”Then they kiss. And OhWhat a beautiful kiss. They will be out of the armored van and out with all the guards when you next see them. It was so hard to watch them in that monologue. I was also overwhelmed to see two gay superheroes wailing about love, and then kick some major asses. It made me realize that that’s what I’m craving in cinema. We should be the hero, the villain, or the man suffering from a mental disorder, and the captain of Starship Enterprise.Everything. Every queer child growing up today should have a hero like Luke Skywalker. Everything I want to be queer.
Hey! That’s what I did in my small part. My mental breakdown was the subject of a film I made called “Hypochondriac.” Since we premiered at SXSW, I have had the pleasure of witnessing some of the best queer genre films that are doing exactly what I want: existing in spaces we haven’t existed before.
Before I go on, let me tell you about “Hypochondriac,”The following films are important to me: “Sissy” (directed by Kane Senes & Hannah Barlowe), “Huesera”(directed by Michelle Garza Cervera). “Swallowed”Carter Smith directed the film “Something in the Dirt”This was directed by Justin Benson, Aaron Morehead, and “The Cow who Sang A Song into the Future”Francisca Algerian directed. These films feature prominent queer characters that exist both because of and without their sexuality. And they’re all going to be in theaters and/or on demand within the next year. A lot of people have been telling me they love my movie because it’s not about being gay, it’s about mental health. But if I have to be honest, that’s a little like telling me “oh wow I had no idea you were gay” as if I’m supposed to take that as a complement. And look, I get it, but what I think they’re trying to say, is that they were able to identify with the characters despite the fact that they don’t identify with their identity. And that’s absolutely wonderful! As a child, I did the same (refer to Luke Skywalker).
So, let’s get to the present landscape. To make a queer movie is an act of bravery in today’s world. While myself as a gay white-passing Puerto Rican isn’t necessarily under attack, our trans and non-binary family very much are. As much as I used hesitate to say this, art can make a difference in people’s lives. The sheer act of putting the LGBTQIA+ into narratives that they normally haven’t been included in — leads to normalization. It saves lives. I yell to anyone who will listen that that’s what “Glee”Did in 2009. It is a reason why gay marriage was legalized. Ryan Murphy is forever in my debt for this experience.
And I think the beautiful thing about horror is it has the capacity to talk about things in extremely creative ways that other genres can’t. “Hypochondriac”Talks directly about inherited traumas and mental health. “Huesera”Talks directly about conflicting conceptions of pregnancy and how to admit the truth leads to destruction. “Sissy”This is a mockumentary of the toxic nature of Instagram culture. You can go on and on. But also — they’re queer! Not to say horror always needs to be about something — but when it is? **chef’s kiss** Art has power. It’s extremely evident now in year three of the pandemic. What did we do when we couldn’t leave our house? We used Netflix to browse their entire catalog. That’s what I did. I watched every queer-themed movie in the world.
The more we get to exist in genre spaces, especially in cinema, the more audiences can empathize with the queer community’s plight and maybe, just maybe, we can bring a little more humanity back into our world.
“Hypochondriac”It is currently playing in select theaters, on demand and digitally on Aug. 4.
Addison Heimann is currently a Los Angeles filmmaker whose films explore queerness in the genre space.