Jisu Sheen Photo
In the words of local queer and trans organization East Rock House’s Ashley LaRue, “The world is too freaking wild right now.” Sometimes you just need to share a snowy February moment watching women in cowboy boots and rhinestoned button-downs fall in love. This month’s Queer Film Club pick, presented by East Rock House at Best Video in Hamden Thursday night, was the 1985 classic romance Desert Hearts.
Best Video's Ruthie Bryant taking drink orders before the show.
The crowd was a mix of people who had loved the movie for years and folks like Best Video employee Ruthie Bryant who just “heard lesbian and cowboys and said: ‘I’m in.’”
Sharon Murphy, a self-proclaimed old-timer in attendance, added one more ingredient to the cult classic recipe, noting how remarkable it was that an older queer film would avoid tropes of extreme tragedy. “Do lesbians always have to die or be killed?” Murphy asked.
Dozens of moviegoers in the video store, faces reflecting the soft glow of the projector screen, found the answer for themselves among desert dust, bolo ties, yearning, and the croons of Patsy Cline’s “Crazy.”
More than anything, the film had style. Somewhere, the wind was always blowing. Lights were always twinkling. Scenes bled into each other like double exposures through fade-ins, fade-outs, and Star Wars-esque wipe transitions that took over the whole screen. Complications that might have seemed prime for major conflicts in the movie — like a divorce, or your boyfriend not liking your lesbian lovers — shriveled under the heat of a sharp quip in a country twang.
In the world of Desert Hearts, an easy smile could cut any tension, and the same came true for the crowd at Best Video. Dry jokes were met with giggles from all around, and attendees gave each other looks as they took note of each iconic outfit change. The gentle clinking of dishes from the video store’s kitchen almost made sense with the sounds of the film. The projector screen, nestled between two big speakers, might as well have been a door to a back-room bar, or a window out to the desert. As if at any moment you could reach into the screen and find something to hold.
By the time the final love song played over Desert Hearts’ ending credits, the Best Video crowd was clapping and whooping, and the video store switched from movie-theater darkness to dim yellow lamplights. Different generations of queer-film lovers wove into each other as attendees asked, “So, did you like it? What did you think? This was your first time watching it?”
Moviegoer Suyane Oliveira started an informal audience poll as to whether people were for or against the prominent mouth sounds in the kissing scenes. (So far the count is at four for and zero against, but remains ongoing.)
The film’s strong stylization and big, unashamed expressions of love came forward as the keys to its freshness, even after 40 years. Queer lineages are often marked by struggle and pain, but the unruly joy is passed down too. The understanding of love as something fierce, good, and earnest, something to create “for ourselves” in this wide world, fit right in at such a well-loved local spot. As the last few attendees prepared to brave the snow and ice outside, multiple people commented, “That’s Mother Juniper!” — recognizing a local indie favorite playing on Best Video’s sound system.
Is it enough to share big love in a small space? As fiery spirit Cay declares in one of Desert Hearts’ pivotal arguments, “I don’t act that way to change the world. I act that way so the goddamn world won’t change me!”
The next movie in East Rock House’s Queer Film Club series is Tangerine, at Best Video in Hamden on Thursday, March 6 at 6:30 p.m. East Rock House also has two events coming up in New Haven: A “Meet Ur Next Ex” pre-Valentine’s Day party at 168 York St. Café on Saturday, Feb. 8 from 8 p.m. to 12 a.m., and a Cuffing Season Social on Wednesday, Feb. 12 at Blue Orchid from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Ashley LaRue of East Rock House introducing the film.