nathansnook

Blue Jean

A masterpiece. It's in the quietude and Rosy McEwan's face does everything unravel, does everything convey in the multitude of layers in queer identity, the masks, the coding, the hiding. Fear and negligence, how we fail members of our own community, but also ourselves. Beautiful shots throughout with a killer soundtrack. The only thing the film suffers from is lack of strong characterization. It scrapes the surface, the very paint off the masks we wear. I could not for the life of me understand why Jean would love Viv other than that opposites attract. Though Hayes offers a wonderful dedication to her role, there is nothing else in her character other than passion and passion alone. I know only that she is proud of who she is and she eats far too loudly. And that's it. It's perhaps in the lack of background that there is no leverage to care about these characters. Only to see them as distant as they offer up facades in themselves. Regardless, in its short running time and closely crafted shots, it is a faithful rendition of what it means to hide and pretend for a queer person. Deeply personal, deeply felt.