Click here to send us a message! This week, Brian is joined by writer Sezin Devi Koehler, who quite literally wrote the book on Keanu Reeves. Her book, Much Ado About Keanu: A Critical Reeves Theory highlights the actor’s legendary career. We take a specific look at The Matrix , a franchise created by trans women, and John Wick, an iconic character that, according to Sezin’s theory, is very likely transgender himself. You can find a copy of her book here https://tinyurl.com/2tbpyex6...
Jun 20, 2025•59 min•Season 8Ep. 141
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May 24, 2025•54 min•Season 8Ep. 140
Click here to send us a message! This week we’re taking a look at two very different queer icons. Musical geniuses Freddie Mercury and Liberace each got the biopic treatment in the 2010’s, and each got very different treatment. Behind the Candelabra starred Oscar winners Michael Douglas and Matt Damon and was directed by Oscar winner Steven Soderbergh. Despite the pedigree, only HBO would release it. Bohemian Rhapsody , by contrast, despite a troubled production and a problematic filmmaker, some...
May 09, 2025•1 hr 19 min•Season 8Ep. 139
Click here to send us a message! This week we’re joined by film scholar Syd Wrigley, who joins the podcast to discuss Gregg Araki’s famed Teen Apocalypse Trilogy. Starting with Totally Fucked Up in 1993, he followed it with The Doom Generation in 1995 and finally Nowhere in 1997, the trilogy that would define a generation and stands at the center of the New Queer Cinema movement. Recently re-released via Criterion, these films are being discovered by a brand new generation, and Araki is only now...
Apr 25, 2025•1 hr 8 min•Season 8Ep. 138
Click here to send us a message! This week we have an interview with director Dana Flor discussing her new documentary, 1-800-ON-HER-OWN, an intimate look at singer songwriter Ani DiFranco ! And we’re excited to announce a partnership with the filmmakers to bring the movie to Chicago! On April 13 at the #Music Box Chicago to catch the Chicago premiere in person!
Apr 04, 2025•39 min•Season 8Ep. 137
Click here to send us a message! This week we're joined by writer Alonso Duralde, author of Hollywood Pride to discuss Barbra Streisand's directorial debut, Yentl. The story of a young woman who bucked convention, and gender norms, to follow her dreams. Progressive for 1983, the film was ahead of it's time, and is undergoing a queer reappraisal....
Mar 21, 2025•33 min•Season 8Ep. 136
Click here to send us a message! We only have one tradition here at Piece of Pie, and that's our annual Oscar episode. We started this little podcast discussing the Oscars, and ever since we've made sure to cover them. This year Paul Klein and Chris Alexander join Brian to discuss queer representation at the yearly show, Conan O'Brien and more!
Mar 07, 2025•1 hr 17 min•Season 8Ep. 135
Click here to send us a message! This week we're joined by Chicago's Joan Waters, local drag queen and John Waters super fan, and we're taking a look at Polyester , John Waters' first studio film. With his biggest budget to date, Waters paid tribute to William Castle, and Douglas Sirk, two of his favorite filmmakers. Sirk directed the Rock Hudson classic All That Heaven Allows , a clear influence on queer filmmakers like Todd Haynes and Rainer Werner Fassbinder. So we paired it with Polyester as...
Feb 21, 2025•1 hr 18 min•Season 7Ep. 134
Click here to send us a message! Brian interviews filmmaker, writer and actor Vera Drew about her debut film, The People's Joker. Produced on a shoestring budget and released in secret while Warner Bros waged a legal battle, The People's Joker uses popular DC Comics characters to tell a truly unforgettable coming age of story.
Jan 24, 2025•50 min•Season 7Ep. 133
Click here to send us a message! We're saying goodbye to a tumultuous 2024 by discussing one of the year's biggest, and arguably gayest, box office hits. From bookshelves, to Broadway and now to movie theaters, Wicked is a superhero tentpole movie for theatre kids, but is it any good? And how does it hold up taken next to the beloved stage play? Rob and Max join Brian to discuss all that and more!...
Dec 12, 2024•33 min•Season 7Ep. 132
Click here to send us a message! We’re closing out spooky season with a couple of tear-jerkers. In one of our most poignant episodes, Brian opens up about the loss of his mother and how it affected watching these two films, one an Oscar powerhouse the other something of an Oscar also-ran, each of them with passionate queer followings given their stacked casts.
Nov 01, 2024•1 hr 2 min•Season 7Ep. 131
Click here to send us a message! Brian and Max went to the Alamo Drafthouse to catch one of the year's most talked about films of the year, Francis Ford Coppola's Megalopolis. Developed by Coppola over a course of 3 decades, Megalopolis finally hit screens in 2024. After standing ovations at film festivals, the film released to the public with mostly a shrug, but Brian and Max wanted to see it for themselves, and then recorded at a bar after the screening....
Oct 19, 2024•45 min•Season 7Ep. 130
Click here to send us a message! By now, Keanu Reeves is an accomplished action star with two multi-billion dollar franchises to his name. But this week we're taking a look at the two movies that helped get him there, Point Break and Speed. He hit it big with these two films, and represented a shift away from the buff action heroes which drove the critics of the time to only one conclusion - he must be gay. Join us as we unpack two of the biggest hits of the 1990's; the queer coded Point Break a...
Oct 05, 2024•1 hr 9 min•Season 7Ep. 129
Click here to send us a message! This week we're joined by "The Horror Dyke," Heather O. Petrocelli as we take a look at David Cronenberg and recent Palme D'Or Winner! In 1996, Cronenberg released the controversial Crash , about a man who seeks to reinvigorate his sex-life after a near-fatal automobile accident. We pair it with 2021's Titane , Julia Ducournau feminist body horror film that owes a huge debt to Croneberg's work, while remaining it's own truely unique vision....
Aug 29, 2024•1 hr 8 min•Season 7Ep. 128
Click here to send us a message! Our newest contributor Paul rejoins the podcast as Max and Brian revisit their series pairing off the films of Quentin Tarantino and Paul Thomas Anderson. We've skipped ahead a bit to land on their 70mm roadshow pictures, each auteur using their clout to shoot on film, on location. In doing so they crafted two of their most personal movies, with wildly varied results. Give us a listen as we continue to pit these two geniuses against each other!...
Aug 08, 2024•1 hr 14 min•Season 7Ep. 127
Click here to send us a message! This week we’re taking a look at two films from Gregg Araki. One of the architects of the New Queer Cinema movement of the 1990’s, Araki pivoted in the new century after finding critical success with Mysterious Skin . He followed up that award winner by pivoting to a stoner comedy that Max argues is worth revisiting every April 20.
Jul 26, 2024•49 min•Season 7Ep. 126
Click here to send us a message! This week we're joined by film scholar Paul T. Klein, as he brings a queer appraisal to one of the biggest box office hits of all time, Titanic. What is it about this film that appeals to queer audiences? Is it Rose rejecting the life others want for her? Or did Cameron interject just enough Sirkian melodrama to appeal to our camp sensibilities? Maybe it was just Leonardo DiCaprio in his Twink era? We also take a look back at the 1958 classic, A Night to Remember...
Jul 11, 2024•55 min•Season 7Ep. 125
Click here to send us a message! As we head into the final stretch of #Pride2024 we’re taking a look at a couple of movies that attempt to dramatize the very concept. In 2014, action film director Roland Emmerich tried, and failed, to tell the legendary story of #Stonewall via a white-washed tale of privilege. A year later came a film called #Pride that tells the true story of a group of activists who find kindred souls in a group of coal miners and work to support their cause. Two true stories ...
Jun 28, 2024•41 min•Season 7Ep. 124
Click here to send us a message! We're celebrating Pride 2024 by introducing Pink Flamingos to a contributor who'd never seen a John Waters movie! This disgusting masterpiece has been grossing people out since 1972, long since becoming a beloved cult classic. With tongue firmly in cheek, Waters' film features violent SA, cannibalism and, yep, that famous ending with dog feces. How does it hold up fifty years after it's debut? You'll have to listen to find out....
Jun 14, 2024•50 min•Season 7Ep. 123
Click here to send us a message! With the recent release of Ripley on Netflix, Brian welcomes Max and Nick to discuss all things Tom Ripley. Since the novel was released in 1955, audiences have been captivated by the murderous exploits of this charming sociopath. Every generation, filmmakers bring their own perspectives and a brand new actor to the role, as he gets gayer by the decade. Join us as we discuss the character, why does he endure, and why are audiences so enthralled by a queer murdere...
May 16, 2024•1 hr 42 min•Season 7Ep. 122
Click here to send us a message! With celebrated out filmmaker John Schlesinger at the helm, 1969's Midnight Cowboy has entered the queer canon, flaws and all. We pair it up with 2017's Beach Rats from director Eliza Hittman.
May 03, 2024•1 hr 19 min•Season 7Ep. 121
Click here to send us a message! We're joined this week by writer Casey Snow, who brings her love of the lesbian spy comedy D.E.B.S. and we pair it with 2023's hit comedy, Bottoms, starring Ayo Edebiri and Rachel Sennot.
Mar 29, 2024•1 hr 10 min•Season 7Ep. 120
Click here to send us a message! We don't have many yearly traditions here at The Queer Film Podcast, but we always make time for the Academy Awards! It's our seventh annual discussion--despite what Brian says in the recording, mistakenly saying it's the sixth--and he convened with regular contributors Rob and Chris, to discuss predictions before the show and reactions after the fact. Join us as we celebrate yet another year of movies!...
Mar 12, 2024•1 hr 44 min•Season 7Ep. 119
Click here to send us a message! Is the director of The Love Witch a cult visionary, or a TERF Tommy Wiseau? This week we're joined by Raphael Martinez, programmer at Facets and host of their monthly film trivia night, to discuss that exact question. And be sure to join us on February 29, 2024 as your host Brian co-hosts the trivia with Raphael as we give away prizes before a screening of the film in question!...
Feb 22, 2024•1 hr 9 min•Season 6Ep. 118
Click here to send us a message! With Oscar season in full swing, Brian and Chris are once again looking at the Best Actor race. This year, Bradley Cooper and Colman Domingo are nominated for playing real life queer figures , and so too are Jodie Foster and Annette Bening. In an Oscar season that's largely been defined by snubs, there's also a record number of queer characters and stories this year.
Feb 10, 2024•1 hr 10 min•Season 6Ep. 117
Click here to send us a message! We're revisiting our Quentin Tarantino / Paul Thomas Anderson series with two films that many would say are their respective masterpieces. After they spent the 90's being the gods of film schools everywhere, they entered the 21st century artists with something to say, each filmmaker forging seeking to forge a new path for their career. Or did they? Brian welcomes Max and Nick back to the show to discuss two modern classics, There Will Be Blood and Inglorious Bast...
Jan 25, 2024•1 hr 21 min•Season 6Ep. 116
Click here to send us a message! With a new Mean Girls in theaters, what better time to revisit the 2004 film that's become a classic. It's also one of our most requested movies to cover, so for those who've asked, your wait is over! We've paired it with the cult 1988 classic Heathers, starring Winona Ryder and Christian Slater. Is Heathers a precursor to the Lindsay Lohan film or does it have more in common with Terence Malik's Badlands ?...
Jan 11, 2024•1 hr 21 min•Season 6Ep. 115
Click here to send us a message! For our final episode of 2023, Brian and Max are celebrating a Shane Black Christmas!
Dec 15, 2023•55 min•Season 6Ep. 114
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Nov 30, 2023•34 min•Season 6Ep. 113
Click here to send us a message! Two of Brian's favorite filmmakers have movies coming out in the last few months of 2023, so for this episode we put on our Film Nerd Caps to revisit their earlier works. Chris from When We Were Young joins us again as we discuss David Fincher's The Social Network and Martin Scorsese's The Wolf of Wall Street.
Nov 19, 2023•1 hr 33 min•Season 6Ep. 112
