Studio One Forever review – affectionate look back at LA’s legendary gay club

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Frequented by those looking for a refuge from homophobia, this documentary charts the history of the venue and the effort to save its cultural legacy ‘It used to be paradise. Now it’s a straight club.” The dismay is obvious when a bunch of former regulars at Studio One, the legendary West Hollywood gay club, take a tour of the venue in 2019. From 1974 until 1993, 9pm to 2am, seven nights a week, men packed the dancefloor of Studio One. “It was the happiest place on Earth,” remembers one. Looking at the photographs you can almost smell the sweat. One ex employee says that so many guys were taking poppers you could get a head-rush high simply by breathing in on the dance floor. The story of Studio One is told in this affectionate, nostalgic documentary. Film-maker Marc Saltarelli interviews men who were there and follows a campaign in 2019 to save the Studio One building – a former factory – from demolition. When it opened in 1974, homophobia was rife outside. Studio One was a place wh
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Buffalo Kids review – CGI old west adventure with a big, warm heart

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Three children and a puppy traverse 19th-century America in this wholesome family film – which is especially admirable for its representation of disability

This is the family-friendly animated story of Tom and Mary, a pair of parentless 19th-century mites making the journey from Ireland to California in search of their uncle, who they hope will adopt them. Along the way they fall in with a tiny puppy and a boy named Nick who uses a wheelchair, and this gang proceed to have various wholesome adventures before the happy ending, which ties everything up neatly at the hour and a half mark.

Some family films – while not reaching the god-tier of Wallace and Gromit or Paddington – are perfectly decent entertainments for their intended audience, no more no less. It is into this category that we can slot Buffalo Kids. It’s amiable and rattles along nicely enough without ever really surprising anyone. It is seamlessly dubbed into English from the Spanish original, and while the CGI character design isn’t particularly charming, there are some nice old-west backdrops and scenery on offer.

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