steelymaris

[steelymaris]

there are people who say 'women come out as lesbian or bi for clout', and, I don't know, it's such a foreign idea to me because 'being perceived as a possible lesbian' as a teenager just worsened my life. and I wasn't even a declared one

[steelymaris]

I understand fem lesbians (well, I'm one too) who wish people would 'perceive' them as lesbians more often but at the same time 'being perceived as a lesbian' can be oftenly hellish

[steelymaris]

Tommy February6 - Tommy Airline album

[steelymaris]

[steelymaris]

Melissa Auf Der Maur and Patty Schemel for the album cover of Celebrity Skin, 1998 ✮

[steelymaris]

Y tu mamá también (2001) dir. Alfonso Cuarón

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Clockwatchers (1997) dir. Jill Sprecher

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Jesuíta Barbosa as NEY MATOGROSSO in Homem com H (2025), dir. Esmir Filho.

[steelymaris]

Clockwatchers (1997) - Jill Sprecher

Sometimes it hits you how quickly the present fades into the past, and you question everything around you.

[steelymaris]

it's winter now and for the first time in my life I am craving the summer

[steelymaris]

5 brazilian horror movies

since it’s october i wanted to make a post to recommend some of my favorite old brazillian horror movies. i tried to add links to watch them but not all have subtitles unfortunately! this is mostly in the order i thought of them, not exactly of content/quality/whatever. i haven’t watched many myself yet but i figured this would be a nice introduction to anyone who is interested!

1. as filhas do fogo (1978) dir. walter hugo khouri 

ana & diana are a couple who go on a trip to diana’s family estate - an old house owned by old money, german colonizers. there we learn about diana’s family, her controlling & wwii-obsessed grandfather who wanted to get away from everything and bought this land & her mother who commited suicide years ago. we also meet the groundskeepers who live there, including the mysterious mariana. a heavily atmospheric, dark (both in content & the poor quality of the available print..), quiet, haunting & wonderful movie. khouri was mostly disregarded by critics because he seemingly went against the grain: while directors at the time were documenting concerns re the brazilian working class, khouri was mostly in old big homes, filming the ennui of a middle to upper class. that’s not to say that his movies are without a critique, however, and as filhas do fogo is a good example of his cinema that was well aware of, not only the history of the country, but the current political climate of a dictatorship. besides all that, most importantly.. it is so creepy! this is my favorite from khouri (and not just because it stars a lesbian couple) and possibly my favorite movie on this list.

watch on archive.org (w/ eng subtitles)

2. barão olavo, o terrível (1970) dir. júlio bressane

in this lovely experimental film, bressane pays an homage to horror & insanity in a very brazilian manner. the titular baron olavo owns the home which is the central point of the film and the inspiration for bressane, who saw this 19th century house as a laboratory of light. there’s no central plot exactly, but a spectacle of colors, horror, tenderness, absurdity and indulgence.. i love it. and yes, maybe lesbians are involved too.

watch on archive.org (no subtitles)

3. estrela nua (1984) dir. josé antonio garcia & ícaro martins

a very recent watch, estrela nua is a movie that could be easily paired with perfect blue or any of those 2girls1persona films. carla camurati plays glória, an aspiring actress who is suddenly cast to substitute troubled actress ângela, who has recently died in a car accident. ângela was working on an incestuous erothic thriller, and as glória starts working on the film she begins to.. maybe blend with said dead actress?? obsess over her?? dream about/with her..?? you know where this is going. there’s the clear element of a film within a film in this, but as it ends we realize we might have watched more than a couple movies - and they all work. carla camurati & cristina aché are phenomenal and the great selma egrei (from as filhas do fogo) also shows up as a lesbian actress.. it’s just so strange and good.

watch here (no subtitles)

4. excitação (1977) dir. jean garrett

i opted for his garrett instead of a mulher… even though i consider both great brazilian horror films. both lean heavy on the erotic (or rather, the pornochanchada) and deal with, among other things, The Gaze. but i think excitação’s atmospheric beach scenes fit this list better. helena’s husband buys a beach house hoping that she’ll be able to rest & recover from whatever has been ailing her (hysteria..? paranoia..?). there, she finds out the past owner killed himself and that perhaps is what has been haunting her.. or is it maybe all the electronics in the house? excitação is, as i said, incredibly atmospheric. helena is mostly isolated, away from her husband, walking around the beach alone at night. she looks and looks: at the sea, at beautiful women, at every possible machine around her. this is one for the psychotic women enjoyers. kate hansen is so good.

watch on youtube (no subtitles)

5. as noites de iemanjá (1971) dir. maurice capovila

as noites de iemanjá is in my mind reminiscent of 40s val lewton films like i walked with a zombie.. both in the sense of women at the beach & also the vital element of african religions/deities, in the case of this movie the afro-brazilian iemanjá. and also because while that is the background (and it is very important to the story), the movie centers women that aren’t exactly a part of said religions, even if they are influenced by them. it’s a mysterious one, i can’t remember much of the dialogue, but joana fomm is hypnotic in this. she plays a nameless character who goes to the seaside with the lover because she is ignored by her husband. there, they watch together a group of people making offerings to the sea, to iemanjá. after this her lover disappears. it’s another good example of the mix of horror, folklore and the erotic, so characteristic of these brazilian movies of the time. this one (along w/ as filhas do fogo) shows up on kier-la janisse’s folk horror doc and it was a lovely surprise! 

watch on youtube (no subtitles)

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Diamanda Galas by Rosa von Praunheim

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Rainer Werner Fassbinder

- Fox and His Friends

1975

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Faustrecht der Freiheit / Fox and His Friends (1975) dir. by Rainer Werner Fassbinder

[steelymaris]

I need everyone to get less poptimist now