Film critic Alonso Duralde returns to Dallas for USAFF screening and book signing

RICH LOPEZ | Staff writer
Rich@DallasVoice.com

The way Alonso Duralde rattles off deep knowledge about films is extraordinary. In one fell swoop, he’ll drop a film recommendation and his reasoning behind it and then throw in a bit of its trivia for good measure.

This isn’t surprising, considering he currently serves as the chief U.S. film critic for The Film Verdict, is the co-host of three film-based podcasts and has dropped knowledge on PBS, NPR, TCM and CNN.

Part of his origin story is set here at Dallas Voice, where he covered films in the ’90s, when the gay wave of cinema was starting to happen.

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Film association

Before film critic Alonso Duralde heads to Dallas for his appearance at the USA Film Festival’s screening this month, he dropped a few recommendations. In a slight variation on Word Association, we mentioned some “categories,” and he gave us his first responses.

Now go find these on your streaming services stat.

Category is:
• Movie for younger queer folks: Go Fish. It’s still so funny. It’s a love story but also about friends and community.
• Movie for trans representation: Close to You with Elliot Page. This film came out earlier this year. I believe it was mostly improvised. It really captures that sense of family trying to do the right thing but also grapples with things like the language.
• Overrated queer film: You’re trying to get me in trouble with this one. So, I never loved The Birdcage. I don’t begrudge that movie, because it’s a gateway movie. But yeah, it’s not one that I love.

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Duralde returns to Dallas on Thursday, Sept. 26, to work again with the USA Film Festival, even though it’s been a while since he’s been back here.

“I was going regularly to the USA, and then COVID happened. So — about five years now? But I’ve stayed in touch over the years,” he said. “They were very supportive when I worked there and when I left. So this sounded like a fun thing to come and do and sign some books as well.”

The USAFF will screen the 1973 film The Last of Sheila, with Duralde in attendance to introduce the film, at the Angelika Film Center Dallas. Duralde will also sign copies of his new book, Hollywood Pride: A Celebration of LGBTQ+ Representation and Perseverance in Film, that came out earlier this year.

“The festival is pleased to welcome back our great friend and alumni curator Alonso Duralde to present this fun, whodunnit cult classic and celebrate his latest book,” USAFF Managing Director Ann Alexander said in a press release.
In the film, James Coburn stars as a ruthless Hollywood producer whose wife is killed during a party. A year later, he reunites the guests for a week of fun and games on a yacht in the French Riviera that turns deadly.

USAFF describes the film as a deliciously bitchy showbiz comedy mixed with wickedly twisted vibes. Stephen Sondheim (Into the Woods, Company) and Anthony Perkins (Psycho) wrote the screenplay, which was mostly based on games they themselves created for their friends.

“It’s such a crowd pleaser film, and I’m astonished it hasn’t been more heard of,” Duralde said. “It still feels like a discovery to some, but it had a bit of resurgence as Rian Johnson named it as an influence on Knives Out and, especially, Glass Onion.”

The film may not be particularly gay, but Duralde does consider it a queer film.

When the film came out, the production code was over, and queer characters were being featured in mainstream Hollywood films — only not in the best way.

“They were these grotesque characters then,” he said. “But with Sheila, the idea of queerness is not pathologized in a way that time in Hollywood would usually do.”

In Hollywood Pride, which came out this summer, Duralde takes a look at films that chart the evolution of LGBTQ storytelling but also at the creatives in front of and behind the camera since the beginning of film up to today.

In a short time, he documented a comprehensive history of LGBTQ impact on film.

“I stand on many shoulders for this book, mostly Vito Risso and William Mann,” he said. “Vito Russo’s The Celluloid Closet was about the films, and William Mann’s Behind the Screen: How Gays and Lesbians Shaped Hollywood was about the filmmakers. This book puts all that together.”

Turner Classic Movies presents the book that follows similar releases Hollywood Black and Viva Hollywood which explored specific demographics of Black and Latine communities in Tinseltown.

With all his coverage of queer films in his career at Dallas Voice, The Advocate and other publications, Duralde went into the project with confidence.

“I was thinking ‘I got this,’ but there was this constant process of finding new things,” he said. “I never realized how the production could affect the lives of people in the industry not just onscreen but off as well.”

Duralde had a “snug” year to work on this vast project. Along the way, he learned more about cinematographer James Crabe who was part of The Gay Girls Riding Club, an informal association of queer men who made a slew of short films. Duralde learned about Angela Morley who in 1974 became the first openly trans composer nominated for an Oscar.
The book highlights the present as well as the past, and, as identifiers and orientations expand, Duralde gives his own glimpse into the future of queer cinema.

“Younger, upcoming generations are having these coming out conversations at an earlier age. And when they grow into filmmakers, films will likely reflect that in the stories they tell. And their queer experience will be far different than yours and mine, and I look forward to seeing what those are like,” he said.

Visit USAFilmFestival.com for event information.