Have you been longing desperately for a new film version of Shakespeare’s incredibly amazing, yet incredibly depressing King Lear?

If you have, then not one, but two treats are coming your way. This autumn will see the release of a TV movie adaptation of the play, featuring the cast and director of a recent Royal Shakespeare Company production, including Sir Ian McKellen as Lear, and Atonement actress Romola Garai as his daughter, Cordelia.

In 2010, we should see the release of a feature film adaptation that was recently announced at Cannes, with Sir Anthony Hopkins attached to play the King, and Keira Knightley set to play Cordelia. Recent news reports claim that Naomi Watts and Gwyneth Paltrow have also signed on to play Lear’s older daughters Goneril and Regan, making the film of particular interest to anyone who likes to see a cluster of female gorgeousness and talent.

With that said, I have mixed feelings about both these upcoming movies. For one thing, I can’t help feeling frustrated on Romola Garai’s behalf, as Keira Knightley seems to keep on coming in and stealing her thunder. According to Wikipedia, Garai was nearly cast as Lizzy Bennet in the 2005 adaptation of Pride & Prejudice, before director Joe Wright decided to go with Knightley instead. Then, of course, there was Atonement, where Romola (as Briony) got overshadowed in the posters and promotion by Keira in her green dress. This would be less annoying if I didn’t happen to think that Romola was a much better actress than Keira. … continue reading

It’s that time of year again. Now celebrating its 22nd birthday, the London Lesbian and Gay Film Festival will screen at the British Film Institute on London’s South Bank from March 27 to April 10, offering queer-themed shorts, documentaries, and feature films from around the world.

The Chinese Botanist's Daughter

You can view a complete list of the films on offer here. Among the ones reviewed or mentioned by AfterEllen.com are the romantic tragedy The Chinese Botanist’s Daughter (pictured above), the American TV pilot Don’t Go featuring Guinevere Turner, and the Oscar-winning short documentary Freeheld, about the fight of dying lesbian policewoman Laurel Hester to see her pension go to her partner Stacie Andree.

There’s also the Taiwanese romance Spider Lilies, the German drama Vivere, the French coming-of-age film Water Lilies, and the South African period romance The World Unseen.

The World Unseen

There’s the 1996 American documentary It’s Elementary — Talking About Gay Issues in School, and its 2007 follow-up, It’s STILL Elementary — The Movie and the Movement. And there’s the HBO film Life Support, starring Queen Latifah as an HIV-positive charity worker (although unfortunately her character isn’t a lesbian).

A program titled "The Face of Another: Imagining Lesbian Desire" offers a chance to see Naomi Watts and Laura Elena Harring fall in love in Mulholland Dr. It also includes films that explore female relationships but are not so overtly lesbian-themed, like Ingmar Bergman’s Persona and the Madonna–Rosanna Arquette flick Desperately Seeking Susan. … continue reading

The British movie Atonement debuts in the U.S. in December. In the U.K., it has already been making waves, with many predicting that it could provide Keira Knightley with her second Best Actress Oscar nomination (her first was for Pride and Prejudice in 2006). Certainly, there are several factors that are likely to endear the movie to Academy voters: It’s an adaptation of a prestigious novel, it’s set during World War II, and it features a tragic romance (between Knightley and James McAvoy, star of Becoming Jane). It’s also very finely directed, and it deserves to be well received. But if they do start handing out Oscar nods for the performances, I hope there’ll be one in there for Romola Garai.

Garai is a young British actress who has yet to achieve the breakout success of Knightley, although she’s been on my radar for about as long. While Keira was appearing in Bend It Like Beckham in 2002, Romola was starring in the BBC’s adaptation of George Eliot’s Daniel Deronda, as Gwendolen Harleth, the beautiful, spoiled, willful heroine. … continue reading