A tale of queer Jewish horror

by David-Elijah Nahmod

The new film “Attachment,” now streaming on Shudder, is a lesbian romance, a Jewish folk tale and a horror movie all rolled into one. It’s the debut offering from director Gabriel Bier Gislason. While he hasn’t made a great film, he does show a flair for good storytelling and handles the film’s complex plotline quite well.

The story begins in Copenhagen, Denmark, where washed up Danish actress Maja (pronounced Maya, played by Josephine Park) meets Leah (Ellie Kendrick), a young woman visiting from London. The two women fall for each other hard, and after only a day or two of knowing each other they find themselves heading to London together.

But before they leave Leah has what appears to be an epileptic seizure, during which she breaks her leg.

In London, Maja quickly sees that all is not well. Leah lives in an apartment above her mother Chana (Sophie Grabol), an ultra-Orthodox Jew, and the two have a close if troubled relationship.

It appears that Chana is mentally ill, and that Leah is sticking around to help care for her.

Things start to take a creepy turn after Maja visits a Jewish bookstore run by Leah’s uncle Lev (David Dencik).

Uncle Lev shows Maja several books on Jewish mysticism and tells her about Dybuuks, Jewish demons.

As the story progresses, it appears that Chana is becoming increasingly unhinged. There’s a disturbing sequence in which the three women sit down for a Sabbath dinner. Shortly into the meal Maja becomes violently ill after ingesting peanuts that were mixed into her food. Maja is deeply allergic.

Leah accuses Chana of deliberately trying to kill Maka, which Chana denies.

Maja and Chana also have some private conversations in which Chana urges Maja to leave for her own good.

Maja, for her part, is becoming increasingly concerned. She finds salt sprinkled in a corner of Leah’s living room as well as a prayer parchment rolled up into a hole in Leah’s wall. Maja breaks into Chana’s apartment and discovers that Chana is keeping objects which are used in Jewish mystical rituals, or witchcraft.

Something is obviously very wrong. Something terrifying is coming. Something that Maja is totally unprepared for.

Park is quite good in a role that requires her to display a wide range of emotions, but the film’s top acting honors go to Kendrick. Her seizures are terrifying, and Kendrick uses her entire body to show how much distress Leah is in. Grabol also gives a good performance as a deeply unhappy woman who is harboring a terrible secret.

“Attachment” is a quiet film with a small cast. For most of the film the only people seen are Park, Kendrick, Grabol and Dencik. They play off each other quite well and contribute to the

In addition to offering aforementioned thematic horn of plenty, the play is also plenty horny. The frisson of attraction between the main characters is palpable from the very first scene, with subtexts buzzing around every cleverly directed movement: To even sit on a bed is to light a fuse, to kneel in anguish is an invitation for sexual healing.

The characters’ paths toward their eventual sensual nude scene feel inevitable and spine-tinglingly real. It’s been too long since a local queer theater has presented such affecting and arousing sex between characters.

Quismorio elicits strong performances from his cast, hampered only by too-frequent, too-pregnant pauses in the dialogue. The pace needs to be picked up a bit, but it’s not clear whether the actors or director are driving the intermittent doldrums. Brady makes telling use of his hands, constantly wriggling in his hoodie pockets to reveal his character’s underlying anxiety. And Covington brings full-blooded life to his second character, complete with a distinctive and convincing accent.

“A Guide to the Homesick,” provides a welcome remedy for those who’ve been missing the Rhino at its finest.t

‘A Guide for the Homesick,’ through March 19. $12.50-$25.

Theatre Rhinoceros, 4229 18th St. 415-552-4100. www.therhino.org film’s ever-encroaching sense of dread.

The only thing in the film that doesn’t work is the quick and unconditional manner in which Chana and Lev accept the lesbian relationship between Maja and Leah. Ultra-orthodox Jews are notoriously homophobic. In the real world the relationship between the two women would never be accepted by Chana and Lev.

What does work beautifully is the love story between Maja and Leah. They clearly love each other deeply, and their love scenes are quite romantic.

As stated earlier, “Attachment” is not a great film but it is a good one, worth seeing if you’re in the mood for something different.t www.shudder.com

by Laura Moreno

Long before artists like Elton John and Liberace hit the scene, LGBTQ artists have driven innovation, shaped culture and made major lasting contributions to the history of music, and always have. In celebration of this fact, Spotify introduced GLOW, a new global music program that amplifies LGBTQ artists and creators all year round.

The new GLOW hub includes not only music, but podcasts, news, and an expansive selection of themed playlists of old and new music that set just the right mood. Choose from an impressive array of playlists that feature trans artists, Black artists, soundtracks, club dance music, a multiplicity of “break up playlists,” and much more.

I was pleasantly surprised to find the GLOW hub also includes beloved oldies like the albums of the popular 1980s Spanish group Mecano, for example.

“We recognize the power of our platform to elevate, uplift, and spotlight voices that have been historically marginalized, and we’re committed to using it to drive cultural change,” Spotify announced.

In addition, the Swedish company Spotify has declared its commitment to the LGBTQ community by offering full support that will provide expert “editorial and partnership capabilities, marketing support, and charitable giving to organizations like QORDS, Astrea, Black Trans Femmes In The Arts, ChamberQueer, Allgo, It Gets Better, Youth Music, and Casa Chama.”

Progress out of the gate

In the short time since Spotify launched GLOW, the platform has already seen a significant boost to the careers of the featured LGBTQ artists. Reportedly, playlists in the main hub have already registered over 6.9 million streams and counting, offering listeners the chance to discover upcoming new LGBTQ talent.

Recently, GLOW hosted its first songwriting workshop session in Los Angeles. It included a panel discussion of featured queer musicians Leland, Isaac Dunbar, Miki Ratsula, and Arlissa along with Spotify Artist Partnership Team Manager Lisa Ritchie.

Leland, whose work has been featured on “RuPaul’s Drag Race” among other places, talked about his initial trepidation that writing songs about same-sex relationships could get him banned from being played on the radio.

As the audience watched, Leland composed a song together with Isaac Dunbar, who gained fame by singing covers of well-known songs of gay icons.

It took a few tries, but in short order the pair had successfully laid down a minimalist beat, some fancy guitar riffs, and had collaborated on some catchy lyrics to demonstrate the songwriting process.

The hope is that such song-writing workshops sponsored by Spotify’s GLOW will help hone the skills of talented up-and-coming LGBTQ artists.

Furthermore, Leland expressed the hope that the other music industry players would take note of GLOW. “I hope they’re inspired to put queer artists in the budget at the top of the year,” he said.

Up until now, Spotify has earned a bad reputation with musicians for good cause. As has been widely reported, in 2014, Taylor Swift removed her entire catalogue from Spotify stating, “Music should not be free.” This was in protest of their history of exploiting artists by underpaying them and concealing their payment structure. Spotify has even been caught illegally engaging in “payola,” the old practice of pay-for-play that many in the industry thought had disappeared from the industry.

Plus, there is a worrying new trend. Digital platforms and Spotify in particular, are surveilling their listeners while claiming in public that they are not able to illegally spy on your conversations.

But now we know this is not true.

In 2021, Spotify filed a patent for an illegal unconstitutional technology: the artificial intelligence Spotify utilizes not only spies on listeners’ conversations, but also conducts emotional surveillance and has the capability to manipulate the moods of listeners. This capability exists even though there is no need for such invasive unconstitutional technologies.

Transgender/genderqueer singersongwriter-activist Evan Greer, who is also Deputy Director of FightfortheFuture.org, wrote the song “Surveillance Capitalism,” part of the album “Spotify is Surveillance,” to raise awareness of Spotify’s privacy violations and emotion surveillance and manipulation. Fight for the Future, a non-profit organization that fights for our digital rights, is demanding that Spotify abandon its patent.

Objectively, in weighing the pros and cons of what Spotify offers listeners, buyer beware. The platform provides an intuitive easy-to-use experience with excellent features. But for music lovers who value their privacy and/or quality of sound coming through the ear buds, other digital platforms offer a better, less exploitative user experience.

Spotify has simultaneously launched Frequency, a new hub that celebrates Black artists, culture and community.t

Spotify’s GLOW is available at www.open.spotify.com