Polyish Movie Reviews - Episode 55: The Duchess
Poly-ish Movie Reviews
Can a Hollywood-made dramatic biopic made in the current century actually show polyamory? That might depend on how we define "polyamory". Joreth reviews the narrative version of Lady Georgiana Cavendish's life as portrayed by Natalie Portman to see if polyamory happened during the Georgian era and if polyamory can be shown in a movie made in the modern era. The Duchess is based on a true story about Georgiana Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire, who married William Cavendish, the 5th Duke of Devonshire. Biopics can be challenging to review because, on the one hand, I...
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Polyish Movie Reviews - Episode 54: Big Top Pee-Wee
Poly-ish Movie Reviews
Many today think of Pee Wee Herman as a children's show character, but that was not always the case. He started out as a very adult stand-up character that morphed into a weird, surrealist dark humor movie character, that then got a children's show, and THEN ... made this movie. What does all this have to do with polyamory? Good question! Joreth watches Big Top Pee-Wee to find out how polyamory fits in with the world of Pee-Wee Herman. Big Top Pee Wee is about as goofy as you'd expect. It's nothing like the first Pee Wee movie - Pee Wee's Big Adventure. That movie is...
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Polyish Movie Reviews - Episode 53: Beloved Sisters
Poly-ish Movie Reviews
Joreth reviews the biographical historical drama Beloved Sisters, a biopic about two sisters, Caroline and Charlotte von Lengefeld, and the man they love, German poet Friedrich Schiller. Discussing sorrel polygyny, can this FMF polygynous arrangement be polyamorous? Is it true? Did it happen? Does the movie actually show polyamory on screen? Follow along with this movie review with the transcript located on the show notes page of the website at Beloved Sisters is a German biographical film based on the life of the German poet Friedrich Schiller and...
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Poly-ish Movie Reviews - Episode 52: A Good Old Fashioned Orgy
Poly-ish Movie Reviews
A group of aging friends decide to say goodbye to their youth with ... an orgy? Joreth finds out if a bunch of single people can navigate group sex with respect and maturity, and does group sex make it poly or not? OK, I have had this movie in my queue forever and people keep telling me about it. So I finally sat down to watch it. I'm gonna say that it's not poly but ... it's not NOT poly either. Here's the thing, a little personal background on me: When I was in high school and college, I had ... um, friends. I had *those kinds* of friends. I remember having a couple of...
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Poly-ish Movie Reviews - Episode 51: 5 To 7
Poly-ish Movie Reviews
A married woman takes a lover, but can Joreth take yet another affair movie? It's so much worse when they manage to get you to like a movie before they turn it to shit. No, you're not experiencing deja vu. I said that exact same line when I reviewed Paint Your Wagon. It's still true. 5 to 7 was a Netflix recommendation, so naturally I went into it expecting it to be a total shitstorm. Instead, I found it charming. The Netflix summary says: "an aspiring young novelist finds his conservative beliefs about love and relationships tested when a chance encounter outside a New York City...
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Poly-ish Movie Reviews - Episode 50: 3 (Drei)
Poly-ish Movie Reviews
Yet another movie named "3" - will this one have some polyamory in it? Or will it be another cheating film? Joreth reviews the German film Drei, or 3, for polyamorous content.
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Poly-ish Movie Reviews - Episode 49: Something About Sex
Poly-ish Movie Reviews
3 couples struggle with the definitions of monogamy and fidelity, after some "insight" from Jason Alexander. Joreth reviews this film to see if any ethical non-monogamy could possibly come out of it at all.
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Poly-ish Movie Reviews - Episode 48: Three
Poly-ish Movie Reviews
There are so many movies called "Three"! Is this one that actually has polyamory in it? Is there really an FMF triad like on the cover? Are any of the characters polyamorous? Or is this just another cheating cautionary tale or threesome gone wrong story? Joreth reviews this particular "Three" to find out!
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Poly-ish Movie Reviews - Episode 47: Bandits
Poly-ish Movie Reviews
Can a movie with blockbuster names be a poly movie? Joreth reviews Bandits with Bruce Willis, Billy Bob Thornton, and Cate Blanchet to see if there is any polyamory in this star-studded film.
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Poly-ish Movie Reviews - Episode 46: The Blood Oranges
Poly-ish Movie Reviews
Can a movie set in the '60s and filmed in the '90s really feature a polyamorous quad? Joreth reviews The Blood Oranges for a little-seen poly structure to see if there is any polyamory in it at all.
info_outlineIs the indie film Shortbus really a poly film? This movie claims to have it all - alternative sexuality, BDSM, polyamory, consensual & ethical non-monogamy, swinging, "free love", and more.
I'm just going to come right out and say it ... I didn't like this movie. I know, it's all groundbreaking with its use of real, actual, penetrative sex among the actors and it's gritty look at alternative sexuality. But I didn't like it. I didn't like the characters, I didn't like the situations, I just didn't like it.
Shortbus is a movie that takes us on a series of vignettes of random people with no other connection to each other except the Shortbus - an alternative club that features a drag queen host and just about every sexual desire you can imagine. We have the sex therapist who has never had an orgasm, the gay couple who want to add a third to their family (well, one half of the couple wants to add a third), the creepy voyeur across the street from the gay couple, and the depressed dominatrix.
Yeah, it belongs on a poly-ish movie list because the movie embraces all forms of relationships and sexualities, including consensual non-monogamy. I just thought it was a crappy movie that tried too hard to be avant-garde. The moral of the story seemed to be "sex with strangers fixes everything", and that bores and irritates me.
But just about everyone I know loved that movie, so don't avoid seeing it just because of my review. We might have different tastes in films, and I seem to be an outlier on this one.
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