Only white Hollywood would make a mainstream movie where toilets and shit are used as significant tropes to tell a story of black-white relations, as if the topic is right up black folks’ alley.

We recently heard, and verified, the shocking news that some of Bright Lights’ contributors actually have lives and activities outside their work on the once-humming BL assembly line. Apparently some of them (and you know who you are) have been busy writing books and making art! After we recovered from our initial dismay that BL ... read more »

November 2011 | Issue 74 From the Editor “#Occupy Bright Lights?” Gary Morris FEATURES Religious Allegory and Cultural Discomfort in Mike Leigh’s Happy-Go-Lucky: And Why Larry Crowne Is One of the Best Films of 2011 J. D. Markel “You can laugh while Rome is burning, but believe you me, Poppy, it is burning, and if ... read more »

[Editor's note: Wham! Bam! Islam! plays on PBS on Thursday, Oct. 13 as part of its estimable Independent Lens series. Check local listings for time.] In July 2010, Dr. Naif Al-Mutawa presented a lecture as part of the nonprofit TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) “Ideas Worth Spreading” series, entitled “Superheroes Inspired by Islam.” In April of ... read more »

by Bob Moricz [Editor's note: This is our second tribute to George Kuchar, who passed away in San Francisco on Tuesday, September 6, 2011, age 69, from prostate cancer. He was beloved by many, and was certainly a "bright Light" to us at the magazine. Here filmmaker and Kuchar pal Bob Moricz talks about George.] I’m ... read more »

By Jack Stevenson [Editor's note: George Kuchar passed away in San Francisco on Tuesday, September 6, 2011, age 69. The cause was prostate cancer. He was beloved by many, and was certainly a "bright Light" to us at the magazine. Here writer and Kuchar friend Jack Stevenson offers some reminiscences.] My original plan with this ... read more »

by David Hathwell The Tree of Life seems to excite fanatical devotion. The reactions to the film heard, for example, on Filmspotting, from both the podcast’s commentators and its listeners, have an uncritical — an anticritical — ardor that makes those of us with mixed feelings about the film feel like infidels. I agree that ... read more »

From the Editor “You can’t have your cinema and eat it too” – or can you? Gary Morris   Features Bodies Politic/Body Politics: The Political and the Personal in Contemporary Film Essays Matt Brennan “Your body is a microcosm of all existence.” – Death: A Love Story Boris Barnet: The Lyric Voice in Soviet Cinema ... read more »

The Celluloid Closet, by Vito Russo. New York: Harper & Row, 1981, rev. ed. 1987, 1995. 386pp. by MARK ADNUM Editor’s note: On the 30th anniversary of publication of Vito Russo’s Celluloid Closet, Mark Adnum takes a fresh look at this important but problematic history of queer representation in cinema. Time has not been kind ... read more »

By GARY MORRIS The queer community, long accustomed to not relying on craven politicians, creepy religiosos, and other empire-building miscreants to address homophobia, has shown particular skill over the years at changing culture — and society — for the better. Most encouraging in this process has been the fact that so many of our heroes ... read more »