The lesbian character feels like a prop, a character meant to show up in flamboyant eye makeup, go through IVF, and then die.

It’s thrilling to watch an artist as accomplished as Arnold reach a sort of apex of her talents while still pushing for reinvention. The result is a film that is impossible to predict from narrative to form to emotional experience.

This is a very human film, but it’s also a very gay film with jokes that are sure to land even harder for queer audiences.

The wrongness of the servant/matriarch relationship does not preclude these encounters from being very, very sexy.

I’m glad we have lesbian cinema that goes beyond this narrative of homophobia and shame. But as long as homophobia and shame are present in our world, there will be a place for movies like Sweet Angel Baby.

There’s a pressure on trans people and trans storytellers to frame transition as a wholly positive experience. Any negativity is supposed to be external.