A young man explores cruising and roleplay in this early feature from acclaimed filmmaker Ira Sachs
Welcome back to our queer film retrospective, “A Gay Old Time.” In this week’s column, we revisit 1996’s The Delta, the first full-length feature from prolific queer filmmaker Ira Sachs.Last weekend, Passages, the newest film from acclaimed queer indie filmmaker Ira Sachs, opened in theaters.
It stars Franz Rogowski as a film director engaging in a toxic love triangle with his husband (Ben Whishaw) and his young lover (Adèle Exarchopoulos).
To commemorate its release—which has been buzzed for its NC-17 rating and explicit queer sex scenes—we’re looking back almost three decades to Sachs’ first feature film.The Delta, Ira Sachs’ directorial debut, came out in the midst of the New Queer Cinema movement of the 1990s, a time where young, rebellious filmmakers like Gregg Araki, Derek Jarman, Todd Haynes, Gus Van Sant, and Cheryl Dunye made films that centered queer characters, themes, and issues in low-budget, independent narrative.
This movement sought to subvert and expand the traditional portrayals of sexuality in film, and the protagonists often chose to live on the margins of mainstream society or reject its ideals.
