Rialto Pride Month & Girl Like You (Elliott, Marlowe, 2021)

The Oscar nominations for 2023 were announced yesterday and, despite the groundbreaking win for Ariana DeBose in 2022 for West Side Story, becoming the first queer woman of colour to win an Oscar, the presence of LGBTQI+ stories were tellingly thin on the ground, as were the number of queer actors and storytellers nominated. Major characters in only Todd Field’s Tár, Darren Aronofsky’s The Whale and screenplay nominee Glass Onion are queer, while Everything Everywhere All At Once’s Stephanie Hsu marks the only major acting nomination for a queer actor. In the International Feature category, Lukas Dhont’s Close qualifies as a queer story, while Lady Gaga’s presence in the Original Song category gives that section some representation as well. There have been great strides in representation for these communities over the years. By and large, though, in a world where Disney continually drags their feet on having an out and out queer character in their stories – let alone a queer kiss – the stories of the LGBTQI+ community, particularly those by queer creators, remain on the fringes of cinema, flourishing in independent spaces, where they have been most welcome throughout history. 

Rialto Channel’s annual Pride Month lineup promises a range of incisive and profound queer stories from fringe and independent cinema scenes. At the centre is Girl Like You, a revealing and commendably complex document of transitioning and the struggles of relationships undergoing major changes.

Rialto Channel’s forthcoming Pride Month programming features stories of both historic queer struggle and the everyday challenges of navigating life as part of this community. Nelly and Nadine, the Jury Award Winner at last year’s Berlin Film Festival, is an act of unearthing, exploring the story of two women in a 1944 concentration camp and the remarkable love that they shared. Into My Name is the Elliot Page-produced documentary exploring the effects of transition on a tight-knit group of boys in the Italian city of Bologna. A personal favourite is the return of Shiva Baby, a wonderfully stressful comedy about a queer woman thrown into an extremely messy romantic situation during a family shiva, starring rising talent Rachel Sennott.

Also among the offerings is Girl Like You, a kind-hearted but commendably unsentimental Australian film that chronicles the relationship of Elloise and Laura, as they face the unexpected challenges that come with Elloise’s transitioning from male to female. Beginning life as a heterosexual couple, Elloise finds herself flourishing as a person, all the while feeling more and more alienated from the person she once was, leaving her relationships and friendships in a strange limbo. It’s a sensitive and disarmingly frank film, giving equal weight to Elloise and Laura’s experiences and treating them with openness and respect. Laura, a largely heterosexual woman who works at a racecar track, is a likeable presence and a good foil for Elloise, even as the cracks begin to appear in their pairing. Though the film occasionally leans a little too hard on the ‘Talking Heads’ conceit of documentary – in which interviewees essentially narrate the story – there’s much to be said for the film’s patience and humanity, the way in which it values the messiness of life and the complexities of making tough choices, even if they are ones that ultimately lead to self-acceptance. Perhaps most valuable, Girl Like You feels familiar and everyday – the struggles the couple encounter are unique to the trans community and yet are tackled in a way that encourages viewers to see the humanity and necessity of those transitioning.

Throughout February… Rialto Channel celebrates the Rainbow Community with a festival of the very best LGBTQI+ films and documentaries!

WATCH THE TRAILER HERE