Pgh Lesbian Correspondents

I have never received so many inquiries as I have about the Pittsburgh release of the movie ‘Carol’ starring Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara. It seems ALL of the lesbians want to know when their movie will be playing and when.

Good news – the movie debuts in Pgh on Friday January 8 at six local theaters. Click here for a complete list. Hat tip to Al Hoff of the Pittsburgh City Paper for helping me track down the information with honorable mention to Barbara Vancheri of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette for giving me solid leads.

I have never read the novel The Price of Salt so I have very little backstory expectations heading into this film. I’m troubled by the backstory of the author, Patricia Highsmith, who was an unrepetenant racist and anti-semite. Not just a one quote drop, but pretty ugly harsh stuff. Highsmith seems to have been a bitter, mean-spirited person whose talent and wit fueled her survival. More than a few queer people have mentioned this to me when discussing if/when they’ll see the movie. I was also often disturbed by the entire concept of Tom Ripley.

The movie itself has been well-received, nominated for lots of awards and is generally considered a cinematic masterpiece – mostly by white cis heterosexual men who focus on the filmmaking, not the author. I’m not so comfortable neatly severing the two, but I will see the movie. It isn’t so much that I expect people not to see the movie (or read the book) as to at least acknowledge that you can’t separate art from the people who created it and Patricia Highsmith did create this story.

Will you see Carol?