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    Hulu’s “Love, Victor” Breaks New Ground With Focus On Latino Gay Teen in the Deep South

    By SHOOTUpdated:No Comments2072 Views
    This image released by Hulu shows Michael Cimino in a scene from the series "Love, Victor," premiering on June 19. (Gilles Mingasson/Hulu via AP)

    By Russell Contreras

    RIO RANCHO, N.M. (AP) --

    The 2018 film, "Love, Simon," brought a fresh perspective to the first love, coming-of-age genre through the eyes of a gay teen.

    Exploring love's innocence, isolation, and fear of rejection, the film showed that a story about an LGBTQ character could transcend and be included in the narrative of American life. But like most LGBTQ projects, it was told from the experiences of a white gay male.

    "Love, Victor,'' a spinoff series, premieres Friday on Hulu. It takes the universe of "Love, Simon" into a new level, adding class, race, and ethnicity in the mix as another teen walks through the same love conflicts.

    The series follows Victor Salazar, a Latino high school student struggling with his sexual identity and life in school. Portrayed by Michael Cimino, Victor's working-class, conservative Catholic family relocates to Atlanta from Texas. Victor immediately reaches out to Simon via social media to lash out at Simon's "perfect life."

    Victor believes he's gay, too. That is, until African American student Mia Brooks (Rachel Hilson), the school's most popular girl, falls in love with him. 

    Victor joins the basketball team and gets a job at a coffee shop to pay for the fees. The other boys give the new kid "bro hugs." Meanwhile, his sister endures racist taunts, being called Dora the Explorer. Their parents continuously argue.

    Still, Victor can't take his eyes off Benji, played by George Sear. He's an openly gay classmate who often stares back.

    "Its is a great honor to represent the Latino community and not just the Latino community, but the LGBT community in a way that can positively affect people's lives," Cimino told The Associated Press in an interview.

    For Latinos, the series is as groundbreaking as "Love, Simon." True, there have been other Latino LGBTQ-themed shows like the Starz drama "Vida."  But "Love, Victor" is a family-friendly project placed in the not-so-Latino-friendly region of the American Deep South. 

    Cimino said gay Latinos aren't abstract concepts to him. They are family. He said he molded the portrayal of his character on the coming out experience of an older cousin.

    "He is a very special person for me, and being able to have this communication with him and being able to build the character from his personal experience and what he had to go through meant a lot to me, "said the actor. "And it obviously meant a lot to him."

    Associated Press writer Marcela Isaza contributed to this report from Los Angeles.

    Category:News
    Tags:HuluLGBTQMichael Cimino



    Review: Director Ben Taylor’s “Joy”

    Thursday, November 21, 2024

    Toward the end of Netflix's "Joy," the muffled cry of a newborn baby prompts a man and woman in a hospital to embrace out of pure bliss. They aren't the parents, but they had as much to do with the birth as the mom and dad.

    This charming and winning movie charts the decade-long true story of how the world's first IVF baby was born in England in 1978 — a 5-pound, 12-ounce girl who paved the way for millions more. It's an upbeat, very English affair, mixing sober discussion of endometriosis with chocolate biscuits.

    The couple embracing that day were pioneering scientist Robert Edwards and Jean Purdy, a young nurse and embryologist. Together with surgeon Patrick Steptoe, the trio succeeded with in vitro fertilization, a method of treating infertility. Edwards would go on to win the Nobel Prize.

    "Joy" has been birthed at a time when science is under threat in America — even IVF — so it's downright inspiring to see plucky, smart scientists working hard to change the world. "What we're doing, it matters," says Steptoe, played with quiet economy by Bill Nighy.

    "Joy" is the personal stories of the three scientists — mostly through the eyes of Purdy, a polite lab-coated warrior. "If I hear a commotion, I'm not very good at staying out of it," she says. Perfectly played by Thomasin McKenzie, Purdy is both vulnerable and strong, learning through the process to be a better human. James Norton plays Edwards with charm, self-doubt and calm spirit.

    Jack Thorne's script nicely explains the massive pressure the trio faced. IVF may have become common and uncontroversial over the last decades, but back in the late '70s it was experimental and shunned. The Anglican church called it a sin, the newspapers labeled it Frankenstein-ish and other... Read More

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