What We're Watching: Travel Films, May 2020
Hi folks, Leah here again! I’m excited to bring you more quarantine picks- this time? Travel!
Nonessential, just-for-fun travel is impossible right now, but watching movies isn’t. This edition of “What We’re Watching” is dedicated to movies about traveling. I may be leaving my apartment a lot less right now, but I can watch as many movies about summer camp, France, Italy and road trips as I want.
Crip Camp (2020, dir. James Lebrecht, Nicole Newnham)
Crip Camp is a new documentary available on Netflix about a summer camp in upstate New York for disabled teens in the 1970s, and the many disability rights activists that attended the camp. James Lebracht, one of the directors, went to the camp as a teen and is featured in the film.
This movie is inspiring, but inspiration porn it is not. The movie makes it clear that disability rights, like the passing of the Americans with Disabilities Act, were hard won by the people they affected, and not easily given. I admit, I didn’t know much about the history of disability rights in the United States, and while this film just scratches the service, it’s a great start.
A group of disable teens came together from across the nation to go to a summer camp geared towards them, one of the only things in many of their lives that was. Years after, the effects of the camp are still felt as they grow up and travel to different corners of the US, many of them landing in Berkeley, California, some even rooming together.
Crip Camp is about how one place can stay with you for the rest of your life, even if you just travel there a few months. Plus, at its heart, it’s about camaraderie and friendship, the likes of which you really only find at summer camp.
To Wong Foo, Thanks For Everything! Julie Newmar (1995, directed by Beeban Kidron, written by Douglas Carter Beane)
To Wong Foo, Thanks For Everything! Julie Newmar is a road trip movie starring Patrick Swayze, Wesley Snipes and John Leguizamo as three drag queens on their way from New York to Hollywood to participate in the “Miss Drag Queen of America Pageant,” but their car breaks down and traps them in a small town, where they get in some fist fights and give some makeovers and make new friends. It’s a joyful movie, and a touchstone in queer film history.
Not every aspect of the movie has stood the test of time. For example, while the writer is gay, none of the main actors are queer, nor is the director. It’s very much of its time, but is still worth a watch if you’ve never seen it (or even if you have). Keep an eye out for the many cameos!
Y Tu Mamá También (2001, directed by Alfonso Cuarón, written by Alfonso and Carlos Cuarón)
Y Tu Mamá También is another road trip movie, this time about two best friends and a woman they just met traveling through Mexico. Cuarón made this film as a direct response to popular filmmaking techniques at the time, techniques he had used in his previous films, rejecting them in favor of a more realist documentary style. As a result, it feels like you’re on the road trip with these people.
Following them on their journey, both physical and emotional, I felt like a part of it. This movie does such a good job of making these characters feel like real people you might know. I feel so invested in their lives in an admittedly short period of time (most of the movie only takes place over the course of a few days). Watch this movie and come out feeling like you’ve truly gotten to know some new people, and wondering what else is going to happen in their lives.
Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019, written and directed by Céline Sciamma)
This was the last movie I saw in theaters before we temporarily stopped going to the movies, and I loved it. A woman travels to an island off the northern coast of France to paint a young woman’s portrait in order to send it to her suitor and secure her marriage. It’s such a beautiful, queer, feminine movie. It feels optimistic while still realistic and melancholy at times. I don’t want to say too much and ruin it. Just watch it, I promise it’s great.
Blinded by the Light (2019, directed by Gurinder Chadha, written by Paul Mayeda Berges, Gurinder Chadha and Sarfraz Manzoor)
Blinded by the Light is about love for Bruce Springsteen that transcends race and country. Javad, a Pakastani-British teen, discovers himself and his passions through the Springsteen songs. Springsteen’s themes of working class struggles and rooting for the underdog appeal to Javad, who experiences racism from his peers and whose parents don’t understand him.
It’s a fun and feel good movie from the director of Bend it Like Beckham, another one of my favorites. The travel in this movie is kind of a spoiler, so I’ll just let you watch it and see.
Before Sunrise (1995, directed by Richard Linklater, written by Richard Linklater and Kim Krizan)
Before Sunrise is about two young people meeting on a train to Vienna, and spending one day together before ostensibly separating forever. It’s an atmospheric, youthful and wistful fantasy. Young Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy are excellent in it, and the dialogue is so grounded and realistic it feels like it could have been improvised, though it was not. Linklater wanted the film to have a realistic, genuine feminine voice, so he sought out his co-writer Kim Krizan.
This movie is one that always makes me want to travel to Europe by myself, with no agenda, and see what happens. I can’t do that right now, and I may never do that, but I can watch this movie over and over and have basically the same experience, right?
ABOUT WHAT WE’RE WATCHING
What We’re Watching is our guide on tv and films from our team at the Light Leaks. Finding new things to watch shouldn’t feel intimidating- too many of us have been bombarded by bro-y film culture telling us what’s good. This column is our way of introducing you to new (and maybe some familiar) favs to watch. Happy viewing!
Leah Williams is a social writer and lover of film and television. She also loves the midwest, independent bookstores and watching videos of other people cooking. Find her on Twitter @leahgwilliams.