The Canadian Stephen Dunn resuscitates the uninhibited gays of “queer as folk” in New Orleans, twenty years after the original created by Russell T. Davies.
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The French translation of the title of this cult series from across the Channel has become so perilous that this remake-the second coming from the United States-will do without its French broadcast, from July 31 on The Starzplay platform. Just you have to know that the formula, taken from a popular expression (“There’s now so queer as folk”), contains in it the idea of excess: we are warned, queer as folk is a series that leaves No space for half measures. It takes a lot of ambition to tackle the project that has made Russell T. Davies one of the most important showrunners of the last twenty years in the United Kingdom: in addition to its involvement in Doctor Who, we owe him Wonders like Years and Years and It’s A Sin.
broadcast on Channel 4 in 1999 (on Canal+ in France), Queer AS Folk made at the time the effect of a blast. First production of the British public service featuring homosexual characters, the series divided the country, was hacked all over the world and revealed Aidan Gillen (the future Littlefinger of Game of Thrones) to the general public.
Twenty years after a first American remake made in a hurry -and just as quickly forgotten -, the Canadian Stephen Dunn offers a pop and colorful updating located in New Orleans. Almost a quarter of a century has passed and the gay community in the Nola district appears in broad daylight. But it is no longer a question today of telling the crazy attraction of a teenager (the character of Nathan was 15-16 years old at the time of the first queer as folk) in full interrogation on his identity for a yuppie who continues conquests.
Call against homophobia
The youngest character in this new version, Mingus (end Argus), is 17 years old and wants to try his hand at the Drag-Queens competitions, supported by a loving mother (Juliette Lewis). The evening of his first performance at the Babylon (a cabaret baptized with the same name as the iconic gay bar of the British original), a mortal shooting rushed him into the life of Brodie, a student returned to New Orleans to reconquer his former Noah in love, and his friend Ruthie, as a couple with Shar, who gives birth to twins that night (of which Brodie is the biological father). Queer as folk is the narrative, polyphonic and a little disjointed, weeks following this drama in which the local gay community perceives an urgent call for remobilization against homophobia.
It is difficult to stand up against so many good intentions, especially when they are served by actors entirely devoted to causes in the form of cause. A few second knives (Candace thanks to an overwhelmed mother, Kim Cattrall in relaxed matron …) deserve the trip.
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