Juan Barquin
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neurotic, queer, latin american writer and programmer. they/them. co-creator & filmmaker for @flamingclassics. chair of @FLfilmcritics
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Articles by Juan Barquin
Nicolas Winding Refn: ‘ I’d been given a gift to start over again’
Nicolas Winding Refn returns to the cinema – and from the dead – with a neon-hued fable about the father-daughter relationship from hell. To enter any of the worlds Refn has created, from Drive and The Neon Demon to Pusher and Valhalla Rising, is to experience something truly unique. It may sound odd, considering the filmmaker’s penchant for wearing his influences on his sleeve and often being criticised for his indulgence in imagery, but there’s little like it.
Barbara Hammer’s Lesbian Filmmaking Will Live Forever
To call Barbara Hammer one of the greatest lesbian filmmakers to ever live is simply a fact. With a career spanning over 50 years, Hammer spent much of that time crafting queer masterpieces like Dyketactics, No No Nooky T.V., and Nitrate Kisses and always questioning both her own interests and the form she worked within.
Committing to the Bit
Maddie's Secret (John Early, 2025).
Kokuho review – a kabuki star is born
Kokuho review – a kabuki star is born Lee Sang-il's historical drama about the making of a kabuki legend is nothing short of intoxicating. 4 Anticipation. The all-time highest-grossing Japanese live-action film… and it’s about kabuki! 4 Enjoyment. Any quibbles fall by the wayside with how intoxicatingly classical it is. 4 In Retrospect. A kabuki star is born in Ryo Yoshizawa, a face we can’t stop thinking about.
‘Tropical Park’ Paints a Real Portrait of Queer Miami
Miami’s filmmaking scene has seen a rise in microbudget features over the past decade, offering up a different perspective of South Florida than the typical partiers and tech bros would try to sell you. One of the most recent and exciting of the crop is Hansel Porras Garcia’s experiment Tropical Park: an intimate tale told entirely from the inside of a car during a driving lesson.
Mean Girl Cinema Is So Back With ‘Forbidden Fruits’
From the very moment it kicks off, Forbidden Fruits feels like a throwback to a bygone era of cunty girl cinema. Meredith Alloway’s debut feature — adapted from Lily Houghton’s play Of the woman came the beginning of sin and through her we all die and produced by none other than Diablo Cody — has a deceptively simple premise: A young woman joins a stunning group of mall retail workers and tries to navigate their performative sisterhood.
Slices of life in the Sundance shorts section
Slices of life in the Sundance shorts section Don't let the excitement of the ritzy feature premieres fool you – Sundance's brightest gems can be found in their excellent shorts programming. Don’t let the excitement of the ritzy feature premieres fool you – Sundance’s brightest gems can be found in their excellent shorts programming.
Sundance Review: Jaripeo is an Immersive Portrait of Mexico’s Queer Rodeo Culture
There’s always been something sexy about the image of the cowboy, which has been praised as a portrait of good, old-fashioned masculinity as much as it’s been parodied. Queerness, of course, has expanded our idea of what a cowboy can/should be beyond that traditional coding, but for some, that notion of a John Wayne or Clint Eastwood type will forever linger.
Sundance Review: Aanikoobijigan Demands a Necessary Reclamation
Even before his campaign for the removal of indigenous people from their land in the 1800s, Thomas Jefferson was pillaging burial grounds under the guise of scientific understanding. His actions predate those by countless archaeologists who followed suit: disturbing and excavating the remains of the dead and hoarding their bodies and / or the objects with which they were buried.
Annapurna Sriram Wrote the Slutty, Liberated Brown Girl Ingenue She Wanted To Play Herself
Borrowing from everything from the French New Wave and tarot cards to Federico Fellini and John Waters, Annapurna Sriram’s film Fucktoys throws the audience headfirst into fictional city Trashtown, USA to follow AP (played by Sriram herself) on a journey to lift a curse. For a mere thousand dollars, the tarot reader she’s gone to is willing to sacrifice a baby lamb and help her, but making that money becomes its own journey.
'Return to Silent Hill' Gets Stuck in an Awkward Adaptation Limbo
Silent Hill is back in the zeitgeist, due in part to the popularity of Bloober Team’s Silent Hill 2 and the latest installment in the longstanding game series, the marvelous Silent Hill f. A whopping 20 years after Christophe Gans adapted the first game into a feature film, the director has returned to bring us his adaptation of the beloved second game with Return to Silent Hill.
'28 Years Later: The Bone Temple' Isn't a Bad Movie - It's Just Empty
Last year, we were treated to the return of the 28 Days Later series. This comeback, in the form of 28 Years Later, brought original director Danny Boyle and writer Alex Garland – who have been off doing their own things to varying degrees of quality for years now – back to the universe they created.
'No Other Choice' Delivers a Pitch-Black Comedy Aimed Squarely at Capitalism
Park Chan-wook’s No Other Choice opens on a portrait of perfection, with a family sharing a meal outside together, prompted by a gift of food from the father’s job. Everything about this opening is comically idyllic, down to the sickly sheen of the cinematography as this family of six (two adults, two kids, and two dogs) comes together to share a brief but beautiful moment of unity together in his very own childhood home that he now owns.
'The Secret Agent' Is the Dense, Sociopolitical Tale the Cinematic World Needs More Of
Ever since the continuing rise of the blockbuster, especially in our Marvelized era, there has been something of a dearth of truly mature and adult thrillers. This has been especially true for political thrillers, a subgenre that has found itself unable to match the relative insanity of contemporary politics as we know them.
'F**ktoys' Is Fearless Filmmaking at Its Finest
In the opening moments of Annapurna Sriram’s F**ktoys, both the audience and the protagonist are informed of dire circumstances by way of a tarot card reading in the middle of a swamp. AP (Sriram), a sex worker who has been cursed, is informed that she can break the curse with a sacrifice – the ritual slaughter of a baby lamb. AP confirms this solution over and over with various psychics, all of whom promise that it can be handled – for a fee, of course.
Elizabeth Olsen Makes A24's Rom-Com Worth the Commitment
Exploring the afterlife has always been on the minds of artists, be it ages of musings via literature and religion or just the past century of cinematic attempts at capturing what might exist beyond our current existence. A24’s latest romantic comedy, Eternity, posits that, upon death, a person must choose what kind of “world” they’d like to spend eternity in.
Wicked: For Good review – Chu is as much a fraud as his Wizard
Wicked: For Good review – Chu is as much a fraud as his Wizard Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo shine together, but Jon M Chu's second instalment of the Broadway adaptation is otherwise a bloated, unimaginative mess. 2 Anticipation. Jon M Chu’s decision to split Wicked into two films seemed misguided at best. 2 Enjoyment. Ariana Grande is a breath of fresh air practically any time she shows up. 2 In Retrospect.
Natalie Portman-Backed 'Arco' Ambitiously Upends What a Kids Movie Can Be
To watch Ugo Bienvenu’s Arco is to be thrown back to a time when children’s movies weren’t just an onslaught of the same thing over and over again. Arco is a film that is comfortable just being itself, sidestepping any overexplanation and instead instantly throwing you into a futuristic world that’s as deceptively simple in design as it is genuinely ambitious.
Jennifer Lawrence Goes Feral on Robert Pattinson in the Intoxicating 'Die My Love'
The great beauty of the cinema of Lynne Ramsay is her ability to present some of the most impenetrable characters in a way that still draws the viewer in. Her films are purposely dark, her characters often surrounded by what seems like complete hopelessness, which is exactly what makes them so compelling. Die My Love is no different, instantly trapping the audience with a woman whose behavior is impossible to rationalize.
'Star Wars: Visions' Is Back With the Best Installment Yet
With its rise as a brand, Star Wars as a work of art has diminished increasingly over the past few years. Under Disney’s command, so little of the experimentation and wild worldbuilding that once existed is still there. The few attempts to pursue those avenues are canceled, or handed over to someone with no real vision (as we all saw with the nightmare that was The Rise of Skywalker), always in favor of maintaining a mediocre status quo, akin to The Mandalorian.
'Star Wars: Visions' Is Back With the Best Installment Yet
The court ruled that Bill Essayli had been acting “unlawfully” as U.S. attorney in Los Angeles but that he could stay on as the office’s top deputy for now. A federal judge disqualified the United States Attorney in Los Angeles on Tuesday, the latest rebuke to the Trump administration’s attempts to …
'Lesbian Space Princess' is an Animated Sci-Fi Adventure for the Terminally Online
Imagine getting dumped on your twenty-third birthday. Worse yet, imagine this dumping happening in front of your insufferably happy gay parents (who don’t even know how old you are) and everyone who has been invited to your party. Throw in the fact that you, as a child of immensely successful royals who can summon a labrys (a double-bitted axe) with ease, are failing at this very coming-of-age ritual because of how bad your anxiety is.
'Chainsaw Man - The Movie: Reze Arc' is Colorful, Bloody Anime Mayhem
Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc is a very good movie. It is also a movie that simply can’t escape the fact that it’d be all the better split into five or six episodes of television. Reze Arc is a continuation of the hit anime Chainsaw Man by the animation studio MAPPA, itself based on Tatsuki Fujimoto’s exquisite ongoing manga of the same name.
'Mr. Scorsese' Is an Unbalanced, but Insightful Portrait of a Master Filmmaker
Few directors are as comfortable in front of the camera as Martin Scorsese. As a friend once joked, the man has never met a camera he didn’t love — and, frankly, cinephiles are better off for it. That doesn't just mean the cameos he’s made in movies made by his friends, either as himself or in any given bit role. It's also in the way he’s always happy to skillfully and earnestly communicate his thoughts and experiences with cinema to audiences everywhere.
Jennifer Lopez was Born to Star in 'Kiss of the Spider Woman'
Manuel Puig’s novel Kiss of the Spider Woman has taken many forms. First, the author adapted it into a play. Then it was an Academy Award-winning motion picture starring John Hurt, Raul Julia and Sonia Braga. Later, it even became a Broadway musical, with music by John Kander and Fred Ebb and a book by Terrence McNally. The latest feature from Bill Condon (Dreamgirls, Gods and Monsters) is an adaptation of that last incarnation, trading stage for screen and Chita Rivera for Jennifer Lopez.
'After the Hunt' Is a Tiresome, Pseudo-Intellectual Waste of Time
At the top of Luca Guadagnino's After the Hunt, the question “What determines the moral worth of an action?” is scrawled on a chalkboard. These words – though not necessarily emphasized as much as the incessant ticking of a clock (“Time’s Up!” goes the #MeToo slogan) or the decision to use Woody Allen’s preferred font (Windsor Light) – call attention to exactly what the film is about: the weight of an accusation.
'Plainclothes' Fails to Live Up to Its Electrifying Premise
There’s a beauty to the art of cruising for sex that is irresistibly cinematic: the gestures, the wordless gazes, the seedy venues. It’s why any number of queer filmmakers have chosen to depict it so lovingly, and exploited it for everything from creating an intellectual argument dissecting its appeal to imagining the horrifying scenarios that can unfold when two strangers meet under such vulnerable circumstances.
Trae DeLellis
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'A Big Bold Beautiful Journey' Plays Like It Was Written by an AI
There was a time early in the AI craze when people would feed scripts into a computer and have them spit out something “new” based on what the algorithm had analyzed. And although a few, like the Thomas Middleditch-starring short filmSunspring, managed to shine through, the results were largely unworkable messes that came across like patchwork, stitching together every trope and beat upon which these films rely.
We Need More Sweaty, Sexy Neo-Noirs Like 'Motel Destino'
Motel Destino is immediately striking. It isn’t just the gorgeous locations and shots, with their oversaturated colors and lighting. It's also the way Karim Aïnouz’s film draws you into its classical crime trappings. It’s the very definition of a sun-soaked and neon-lit neo-noir, a tale of a brash man trying to lie low in the wake of a crime gone wrong only to find himself in deeper danger than before.
After a 20-Year Absence, the Brothers Quay Return with a Bewildering New Film
Two decades after their last feature film, the Brothers Quay have returned to theaters with another adaptation of the work of Polish author Bruno Schulz. Sanatorium Under The Sign Of The Hourglass could most succinctly be described as the story of a man who travels to a sanatorium, where his dead father is still able to exist due to the nature of time within its walls.
'Ne Zha 2' Brings Chinese Blockbuster Animation to the West
If you’re keyed into movie news, you might have heard about a Chinese animated film breaking box-office records. That feature is Ne Zha 2, a sequel to 2019’s Ne Zha by director Jiaozi (the professional name of animator Yang Yu) that follows an ostracized demon child who must challenge prophecy and choose between good and evil.
Adult Swim's Almodóvar Parody Is Great in Its Own Right
When it comes to comedy, it’s all too easy to fall into the traps of pastiche or parody rather than a sincere tribute. And the new Adult Swim show Women Wearing Shoulder Pads — the network's first Spanish-language original series—seems designed to imitate the aesthetic and narrative beats of a Pedro Almodóvar film. That prompts fears that this might be mere burlesque, but with each passing episode, Gonzalo Cordova’s show proves itself to be a great series in its own right.
An Imagined Meeting Between Musical Greats That's Not for Everyone
Once upon a time, Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder hung out at Paul’s Scottish cottage in The Mull Of Kintyre for a weekend and wrote the song “Ebony & Ivory”. This is not actually a true story: McCartney wrote the song on his own at his Scottish farm for his album Tug of War. Rather, it's the plot of Jim Hosking’s Ebony & Ivory, a two-hander that imagines how exactly the creation of “Ebony & Ivory” would have gone if the two had spent a weekend together.
Hungry? This 'Ebony & Ivory' Exclusive Clip Has a Nugget Slide for You
From the man who brought you The Greasy Strangler and An Evening with Beverly Luff Linn comes Ebony & Ivory, a motion picture that can only be described as Not At All True But Definitely Loosely Based On Real People.
A Cast of Comedy All-Stars Barely Carries the Thin 'Boys Go to Jupiter'
Some films are content to present the world as it is. Others take great delight in creating their own little universe. Julian Glander’s Boys Go to Jupiter falls into the latter category, turning Floridian suburbia into a land of dreamy computer-animated science fiction. Boys is largely a coming-of-age story, about a sixteen-year-old high-school dropout named Billy 5000 who's hustling on a food-delivery app to make, well, $5,000.
'No Sleep Till' Shows the Real Florida, with Gorgeous Results
For most people, Florida is a joke. The people within it are either depicted as caricatures of human beings, or as pitiable individuals desperate to leave the state. In some cases, those things are true. In most, they’re opposed to the reality, which is that the people who live in Florida are just as average as in any other place. And simply allowing Floridians to exist without a need for any nonsensical situations is the appeal of Alexandra Simpson’s gorgeous debut feature No Sleep Till.
Lena Dunham Netflix series is just right
Many episodes come across as though Jessica is barfing her emotions and inanities onto those around her, to delightful effect, with a rotating cast of supporting characters that Stalter exquisitely bounces off. The best of these are the women of her family, played by Rhea Perlman as her grandmother, Rita Wilson as her mother, and Dunham herself as her sister.
Saving the Everglades Is a Queer Issue
For all the jokes about Florida, the people who actually inhabit the state know its beauty. There’s a rich history in this state, not just in the buildings and communities that have been built over decades, but in the stunning natural landscapes that have always been there and, unfortunately, find themselves being regularly exploited and destroyed.
'I’m working through my grief about Miami changing so rapidly and violently'
About Little White Lies Little White Lies was established in 2005 as a bi-monthly print magazine committed to championing great movies and the talented people who make them. Combining cutting-edge design, illustration and journalism, we’ve been described as being “at the vanguard of the independent publishing movement.” Our reviews feature a unique tripartite ranking system that captures the different aspects of the movie-going experience. We believe in Truth & Movies.
These Queers Saw the TV Glow
It’s been over a year since I Saw the TV Glow premiered at Sundance to the delight of the precious few trans critics and audience members (and a pleasantly surprising number of cis critics) that had the chance to experience it. Once it hit theaters everywhere thanks to A24 in May 2024 audiences fell for the film, often finding themselves relating to its protagonists and their plights.
Rains Over Babel is a magical realist masterpiece
Saray Rebolledo as La Flaca in Rains Over Babel After its premiere at Sundance Film Festival, I haven’t stopped thinking about Rains Over Babel. It’s a film that’s as unabashedly queer as it is religious as it is magical as it is ambitious, diving into the stories of those who frequent a purgatory-like bar named Babel.
4 Queer Movies to Watch At South Florida’s Outshine Film Festival
It’s always a treat to dive into contemporary queer cinema, especially in the weeks following Miami Beach Pride, when the energy and sense of community are at their peak. For those who want to dive into LGBTQ-centered movies, Outshine Film Festival returns for its spring edition from Thursday, April 17, through Sunday, May 4. Screenings take place in Miami Beach, Fort Lauderdale, and even virtually.
La La Land Composer Justin Hurwitz on the Film's Longevity: "It's Surreal"
Though the 2016 film La La Land is all about Los Angeles, it will always have a strange connection to Miami: It was, of course, the film that was initially (and erroneously) announced as the Best Picture winner at the 2017 Oscars instead of the rightful winner Moonlight, the Liberty City-based coming-of-age tale directed by Miami's own Barry Jenkins.
Miami Film Clocked Tells a Trans Story Made in Florida
For filmmaker Noah Salzman, creating his feature film Clocked was a case of writing what you know — and what he didn't know, he learned from consulting his surrounding community of actors. Salzman, who's been based in Miami for about two decades, wrote a queer Miami story made with queer Miami performers, and on Trans Visibility Day, it's screening here for the first time, at Coral Gables Art Cinema.
The Fight to Censor a Miami Movie Theater Isn’t the First, and Won’t Be the Last
An image from No Other Land, the Oscar-winning documentary by a Palestinian-Israeli activist collective. Mayor Steve Meiner looked almost apologetic on Wednesday at Miami Beach’s City Hall as he declared he would withdraw his own proposal, which threatened to terminate the arthouse theater O Cinema’s current lease and grant funding because it had screened the Oscar-winning Palestinian-Israeli documentary No Other Land.
Janelle Monae Is Excited to Share the Stage With Chaka Khan During Montreux Miami
As a fan of Janelle Monáe's (who uses they/them pronouns) music and personality since I was 16 and begging my high school newspaper professor to let me review Metropolis: The Chase Suite, getting to experience their work live over the years has been, for lack of a better word, truly affirming. The prospect of a Monáe concert is inherently exciting — just look back at New Times' review of their 2018 Dirty Computer show.
The Arsht's New Broadway in Miami Season: The Wiz, Book of Mormon, and More
This morning, the Adrienne Arsht Center announced the 2025-2026 lineup for its highly anticipated Broadway in Miami series. The lineup features selections ranging from jukebox musicals to Best Musical winners and a classic comedy. It also features a number of South Florida and Miami premieres and one returning favorite to mark the popular series' 20th anniversary.
'At least they’re not saying “banned filmmaker” anymore'
About Little White Lies Little White Lies was established in 2005 as a bi-monthly print magazine committed to championing great movies and the talented people who make them. Combining cutting-edge design, illustration and journalism, we’ve been described as being “at the vanguard of the independent publishing movement.” Our reviews feature a unique tripartite ranking system that captures the different aspects of the movie-going experience. We believe in Truth & Movies.
Love in the land of Twin Peaks
About Little White Lies Little White Lies was established in 2005 as a bi-monthly print magazine committed to championing great movies and the talented people who make them. Combining cutting-edge design, illustration and journalism, we’ve been described as being “at the vanguard of the independent publishing movement.” Our reviews feature a unique tripartite ranking system that captures the different aspects of the movie-going experience. We believe in Truth & Movies.
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