Arts & Entertainment
Catchy soundtrack keeps ’Trash’ moving
The musical comedy plays at Reel Affirmations
‘Girl Trash’ (Photo courtesy of Reel Affirmations)
‘Girl Trash’
Friday, 6:30 p.m.
Human Rights Campaign
1640 Rhode Island Ave., N.W.
Reel Affirmations, a program of the D.C. Center
$10 general admission
$30 VIP pass for all four films this weekend
$50 host committee tickets
“Girl Trash: All Night Long” is a movie with a fitting title. For the duration of the 85-minute musical comedy from Angela Robinson, the writer and executive producer of “True Blood,” five female leads spend their entire night looking for a hook up, each with varying degrees of success.
The film, based on Robinson’s successful web series sponsored by Showtime, features a cast almost entirely of women, including Lisa Rieffel, the lead singer of Killola; Michelle Lombardo from “Quarterlife”; Gabrielle Christian and Mandy Musgrave from “South of Nowhere”; Rose Rollins, Kate French and Clementine Ford from “The L Word”; and Megan Cavanagh.
Scenes range from a car chase to drunken debauchery in a sorority house. And all the while, the girls sing in harmony about love, sex, breakups and dating fantasies.
A number of twists and turns make it somewhat unclear which girls will end up hooking up before the night is out. But by and large, the plot is predictable and the acting generic, failing to present anything regular viewers of romance flicks haven’t already seen.
A bizarre, borderline racist sub-plot entails Rollins’ character, Monique Jones, who spends her airtime chasing down the other girls for money — at one point even stealing their car — though it remains unclear what they owe her for unless you’ve also seen the web series.
“Girl Trash,” released on DVD June 3 and shown at Reel Affirmations at 7 p.m. tonight, does have its redeeming qualities. The songs performed throughout are catchy. The lyrics, while often trite, are easy to sing along to. And the movie has a degree of social value in that it portrays a wide range of lesbians — ranging from a butch, lanky punk rocker to a virgin sorority sister in a jumpsuit — some of whom fulfill the time-tested stereotype and some of whom, refreshingly, do not.
The musical’s saving graces are the few serious conversations that take place between musical performances, including one where two lesbian sisters talk about the difficulties associated with coming out, especially to family members who are less than receptive.
Just don’t expect this film to win an Oscar anytime soon.
Baltimore
This John Waters interview has been edited for readability — but perhaps not human decency
Pope of Trash dishes on Trump, plane etiquette, last meal, and more
By WESLEY CASE | At 80 years old, John Waters is still the ideal dinner guest — incisively sharp, quick-witted and funny as hell.
The chic Baltimore native proved it again and again in a recent Zoom interview, calling from his summer home in Provincetown, Mass.
The occasion was the Blu-ray releases of two of his movies — the 1977 dark comedy “Desperate Living” and his enduring 1988 musical “Hairspray” — on June 23 by the Criterion Collection, which publishes restorations of films it deems culturally important. The Criterion stamp of approval has become the gold standard among cinephiles.
“It’s like getting an award,” said Waters, who wrote and directed both films.
The rest of this article can be read on the Baltimore Banner’s website.
The Washington Blade held the seventh annual Pride on the Pier at The Wharf DC on Saturday, June 13.
(Washington Blade photos by Landon Shackelford)
The 2026 Lost River Pride Festival was held on the scenic grounds of the Lost River Farmers Market in Lost City, W.Va. on Saturday, June 13. Headliner Tom Goss performed at the festival and gave a second performance at the nearby Guesthouse Lost River.
(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)
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