With all this talk about an animated production being released in theaters by a small rising company very unlike the big media corporations... Let me make a proper introduction to the "Jim Queen" movie.
I already shared before a trailer of it without any context. You might have heard more about it recently because it was one of the midnight screenings of the Cannes Festival.
"Jim Queen", of its full name "Jim Queen and the quest for the Chloroqueer", is a gay satire-comedy cartoon produced by Bobbypills (in fact they are proud to present it as their first movie). They are known for various works such as "Peepoodo" or "Vermin", though I don't know much about them... But I DO know about THE work that boosted their fame in the first place: "Les Kassos" (which I think got an English translation at one point, as "The Wakos"? or maybe "The Dorks"?). An irreverent, very dark, very goofy and funny adult cartoon about the famous characters of children's media and entertainment become "social cases" as they passed their prime, and turning into grotesque caricatures of themselves. Lot of sex, lot of swears and lot of blood occurs as they all come in the office of the same tired social agent. Think a bit of it as a French spiritual successor to "Meet the Feebles" (though the Wikipedia page rather invites people to compare it to "Robot Chicken").
But back to Jim Queen: it shall get official theater screenings around mid June. It had an online funding in association with to ACT (Against Conversion Therapy) - though I heard some people say the funding campaign actually couldn't be completed despite the movie going out, so either they found the money elsewhere either they completed the cartoon with lower quality than what they intended? But you're not here to hear about money problem - you're here to see HUGE SEXY GAY MEN.
The story follows two protagonists. Jim Perfect, the most famous gay influencer of all of Paris, and Lucien, his twink self-proclaimed "number one follower". The two of them are forced into a quest for the mysterious remedy known as the "chloroqueer" (yes it is a chloroquine joke) when a mysterious epidemy spreads around queer people - the Heterosis, which turns homosexuals into heteros. And Jim just learned he contracted it - meaning soon he shall lose his fashion sense, his perfect-body obsession and his enjoyment of prostate-orgasm, in short everything that makes his identity. [Some clickbaity article made the plot sound very VERY different by just summing it up as "A gay influencer faces a virus" and stopped there]. In fact this is how Lucien will go from his first to his very last follower as his heterosexuality makes him lose everything and only Lucien is willing to remain by his side, even if he becomes... *shivers* an heterosexual.
The movie presents itself as dedicated to the Parisian queer scene, and the adventures of the duo will take them through caricatural versions of some of the "most famous landmarks of the gay community" in Paris, according to what was promised on the funding page. One of the two main creators of the movie, Marco Nguyen, also proudly claims he is the co-creator of the "MercrediX" and "VendrediX", the "hottest gay afterworks of Paris" which... I'll have to trust his word onto, I haven't been in Paris in a WHILE. At least in this part of Paris. Last time I went there it was to go in a bookshop-spree and I almost got hit by bikes four times in a row - and only twice was I actually near a road. Parisian bike-riders are the most dangerous bike-riders of France, let me tell you that. Foutus vélos parisiens va... Enfin bref.
So this was their project: to create, in their own words, a "politically incorrect, irreverent comedy for all to gather around, heteros or LGBTQIA+" which shall reveal "all what the gay people live through and that nobody dares to tell". (Have I mentionned that one scene included some BDSM-elderly-Nazi-styled guy locking up someone in an Iron Maiden with dildos instead of spikes? And that the bears in this movie are ACTUAL humanoid bears?).
They also managed to bring on the cast Elisabeth Wiener, who is quite a famous voice actor in France for doing the roles of Cruella, Yzma or Winifred Sanderson. She plays Lucien's mother, an homophobic health minister who is the main reason Lucien stays in the closet and is basically an awkward "first-time gay"... (A thinly-veiled caricature of Christine Boutin). La Briochée is also part of the cast, this drag queen that you might know for being the French voice of Angel Dust. And there's also Philippe Katerine who you might (unfortunately) know from that one Olympic Games performance... (Before he was more better known for his song "Louxor j'adore") - he plays *puts on glasses*... Lucien's prostate. No that's not a type, Lucien actually has a scene during which his prostate appears to him in a divine vision. It is that type of movie.
Their funding page included quite interesting bonuses specifically for animation fans - as in, traditional animation fans, because while computers and tablets replaced a lot of the paper-work, they offered to recreate animatons cellulos based on the animation files so people could have them for supporting the movie, with a certificate of authenticity.
Of course I can't say any more given the movie is not yet released to the public and I was not at the Cannes festival... But as I said before, it has been announced as THE gay comedy of France this year, so we shall see!
dededos
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