December 27, 2024
Big Gay Movie Roundup: 13 Notable Films from 2024
Kilian Melloy READ TIME: 16 MIN.
The Critic
Why is Ian McKellen so good at playing bad? As Jimmy Erskine in Anand Tucker's "The Critic," the out icon serves all flavors of evil, from desperately duplicitous to calculatingly ruthless to a strain of merely mortal and mendacious, with a streak of genuine compassion that's smothered by the darkness in his life and in his soul.
There's darkness in the England of 1937, too, where fascism is on the rise and queer men like Erskine are targets for harassment, arrest, and public humiliation. A monster of a homophobic society's making, Erskine gives us pause and forces us to ask what we might do in his situation. We surely wouldn't stoop to the schemes Erskine attempts in this atmospheric noir... would we?
"The Critic" is far from a perfect movie, but why carp? It's perfect for what it is: A sturdy-enough vehicle for a crackling Sir Ian.
"The Critic" is available on VOD platforms. Read the EDGE interview with Tucker Anand.
Kilian Melloy serves as EDGE Media Network's Associate Arts Editor and Staff Contributor. His professional memberships include the National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association, the Boston Online Film Critics Association, The Gay and Lesbian Entertainment Critics Association, and the Boston Theater Critics Association's Elliot Norton Awards Committee.
