Nigel Finch Movies
But for one feature film, British producer-director Nigel Finch spent his entire career working for BBC television. He joined the venerable network in the 1970s as a researcher and became an editor and director of the web's outstanding arts/music anthology program Arena. Finch directed two highly influential episodes of the series: "The Private Life of the Ford Cortina," and "My Way," both of which helped change the way the network approached and presented pop culture. He also directed a few miniseries, notably The Lost Language of Cranes (1992). When he succumbed to complications from AIDS, Finch was putting the finishing touches on his feature-film debut, Stonewall, a gripping docudrama account of events leading up to a riot between drag queens and police in 1969 New York (the event is credited with starting the Gay Pride movement). ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- 1986
Raspberry Ripple was produced for British television. John Gordon Sinclair stars as a doleful young man confined to wheelchair. Sinclair regularly escapes reality by dreaming about American gangster movies. Figuring in his fantasies is a team of Bonnie and Clyde-like desperadoes. Please note that Faye Dunaway has a guest role herein. Raspberry Ripple premiered in the US on the A&E cable network. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- 1987
- R
This video reconstructs one of the world's most unusual undercover operations. Journalist Peter Watson disguised himself as an art dealer of unsavory reputation and in concert with Sotheby's, Christie's, and members of various law enforcement agencies, set himself up as the center of a sting operation. The object? To recover some of the world's stolen masterpieces of art, including a painting by Renaissance master Caravaggio. ~ Rob Ferrier, Rovi
- 1990
Nigel Finch's two-hour-plus documentary 25x5: The Continuing Adventures of the Rolling Stones is a 1990 film that chronicles the first quarter century of what many believe is the best rock & roll band of all time. Using a collection of live footage, archival films (including an appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show), and interviews both old and new, the movie chronicles the band's early days, its initial rise to fame, the death of founding member Brian Jones, the tragic concert at Altamont Motor Speedway, and the release of such classic albums as Exile on Main Street and Let It Bleed. The film concludes with the band preparing Steel Wheels. ~ Perry Seibert, Rovi
- Starring:
- The Rolling Stones
Poignant, well-received documentary that reveals the community of New York's minority drag queens, gay black and Latino men who cross dress as women and invent the dance style of "voguing," imitating the fashion poses on the covers of the magazine Vogue. As director Jennie Livingston discovers, her subjects band together into family-like "houses" for protection, taking the same last names and competing in drag balls where awards are given out for authenticity or "realness," as well as other categories like "evening wear" and "executive wear." Both an embracing and a refutation of the world of high fashion, the balls become the social locus of this underclass, underground society of outcasts defiantly refusing to be ignored by a world that scorns them. Paris Is Burning (1991) was one of several critically acclaimed documentaries of the late 1980s and early 1990s excluded from Academy Award nominations, eventually leading to a reappraisal of the Academy's stodgy selection process. ~ Karl Williams, Rovi
- Starring:
- Dorian Corey, Pepper Labeija, (more)
Adaptation of the David Leavitt novel in which a young man agonizes over revealing his homosexuality to his parents, but doesn't realize that his father is also gay and is about to come out of the closet in a way that will destroy his marriage. ~ Nicole Gagne, Rovi
- Starring:
- Brian Cox, Eileen Atkins, (more)
- 1994
Comedienne Sandra Bernhard is profiled in this British documentary. Much of the film is taken from a nightclub routine she performed in New York in 1992. The performer's lines are then used to lead into her personal history. Bernhard and her mother are both interviewed, but they don't reveal a lot of secrets. Included are family pictures and pictures from her Playboy layout. Her work is discussed by people such as Camille Paglia and Martin Scorsese. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Sandra Bernhard, Martin Scorsese, (more)
The birth of the gay rights movement gets a fictionalized treatment in this drama based loosely on the acclaimed documentary of the same name by Martin Duberman. In 1969, Matty Dean (Fred Weller) arrives in New York City's Greenwich Village hoping that life there will provide the sexual liberation forbidden to him by his small town upbringing. Matty falls in love with LaMiranda (Guillermo Diaz), a cross-dresser who introduces him to the regulars at the infamous Stonewall Inn, a popular gay bar. He is shocked, however, to learn that the NYPD regularly raids the Stonewall, harassing the clientele and closeted owner Vinnie (Bruce MacVitte). After one such incident, Matty ends up in jail, where he's attracted to Ethan (Brendan Corbalis), a gay activist preaching a moderate policy of conformity and peaceful protest. The latter is not possible, however, when police storm the Stonewall yet again and, led by Vinnie's lover Bustonia (Duane Boutte), enraged drag queens fight back in a riot of historical significance. ~ Karl Williams, Rovi
- Starring:
- Guillermo Diaz, Frederick Weller, (more)
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