By Kate & Carolyn
Welcome to Movie Night! Where we choose a movie based on any number of variables and feelings, create a themed menu to match, then spend the night eating these foods and watching these movies! It’s an uncomplicated but promising plan.
In honor of upcoming Valentine’s Day and the lady you’d like to smooch, here’s a movie about forbidden romance and really beautiful kissing that will get the two of you in the mood for equally beautiful kissing. We’ve also provided you with a decadent meal that says you’re deadly serious about the finer things in life, and you consider her to be fine as hell.
THE MOVIE
Kiss Me
[ buy me ]
via imdb.com
MIA (Ruth Vega Fernandez) and FRIDA (Liv Mjönes), both in their thirties, meet each other for the first time at their parents’ engagement party. Mia’s father, Lasse (Krister Henriksson), is about to get married to Frida’s mother, Elizabeth (Lena Endre), which will make Mia and Frida stepsisters. Lasse’s daughter, Mia, has not visited her father in years and arrives with her boyfriend, Tim (Joakim Nätterqvist), with whom she is about to get married. As Mia and Frida get to know one another, strong emotions begin to stir between them. Their relationship will turn everything upside down for everyone close to them with dramatic consequences.
And we all know that “turning everything upside down” in the lesbian world means love, lust, and all the feelings in between will be exploding across the screen at an amplified volume. What makes Kiss Me so wonderful, though, is that what could be a sudsy soap opera – two stepsisters falling for each other on the eve of a double wedding – is told in such a way that the emotions get to speak for themselves. The cinematography is gorgeous, the acting is solid, and the narrative itself is quiet and understated.
Why did you kiss me?
I don’t know. I just…did.
This is a treat of a film for so many reasons. As much as lesbian cinema has risen from its pulp foundations, it’s often kept the corn factor close to its heart. Let the record show there is no amount of corniness in Kiss Me‘s depiction of a complicated and passionate situation, although there is a lot of wine and cigarettes. Did I mention the soundtrack is provided by José Gonzalez and Robyn? ROBYN. Do you now feel obligated to see this film? Good, you should.
THE MENU
Swiss Chard Linguini and Garlic
Stewed Rhubarb and Strawberries
The entree for this menu takes a bit of time, so to compensate I paired it with a dessert and a cocktail that take almost no effort. Speed up the process by prepping all your ingredients in advance, particularly the chard.
If you really don’t like chard, substitute broccoli rabe. I used a much higher vegetable to pasta ratio because I really like vegetables, but if you’re indifferent, use only two points of chard and a full pound of pasta. Additionally, if you don’t like or are allergic to olives or feta, skipping either is acceptable. Using canned olives is not.
Swiss Chard Linguini and Garlic
Ingredients
1/3 cup olive oil
1 bulb garlic, cloves peeled and cut lengthwise
1 onion, finely chopped
3 pounds Swiss chard
1/2 cup water
1/2 lb linguini
1/4 cup black olives, pitted and sliced lengthwise
1/2 cup feta, crumbled or finely chopped
1/2 tsp each freshly ground salt and black pepper, plus more to season to taste
Directions
1. Wash the chard and shake dry. Remove the leaves, coarsely chop, and set aside in a bowl. Finely chop the stems and set aside in a different bowl.
2. Put a few layers of paper towel on a plate and set aside. Bring a large pot of heavily salted water to a boil and cook the linguini according to package directions until al dente. Scoop out 1 cup of pasta water for later and drain the rest. Rinse briefly with cool water to stop it from cooking further.
3. Meanwhile, in a large cast iron or otherwise heavy pan over medium, heat the oil. Add the garlic and cook until golden, stirring so it doesn’t stick. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the garlic to the paper towel to dry.
4. Add the onion to the pan and stir until soft, about 5 minutes. Add the 1/2 cup of water, salt and pepper, and slowly stir in the chard stems. Cook over highish heat until they start to get tender, about 5 minutes. Add the chard leaves and cook for another five minutes, until everything is basically done.
5. Slowly add the linguini and 1/2 cup of the reserved pasta water and toss. Add more pasta water if needed. If everyone wants to eat olives, add them now.
6. Dish into individual bowls, sprinkle each with garlic chips and optional feta, and serve.
Adapted from Smitten Kitchen.
Stewed Strawberries and Rhubarb
This is a very easy-going dessert. Use any sweetener you like and however much you like of it – most recipes call for 1 cup of white granulated sugar, I use 1/2 a cup, and you could probably use brown sugar, agave or honey in varying amounts and end up with something that still tastes good. If you have fresh fruit, use it, but frozen will work too. If you can’t find strawberries, use 6 cups of rhubarb, and if you can’t find rhubarb, use strawberries and only sweeten to taste at the end. Lemon zest is optional in any scenario.
Stewed rhubarb can be made in advance and lasts (in theory, anyway) for at least a week in the fridge. For dessert, serve it over ice cream, rice dream, or alone. It’s also really excellent at breakfast over granola or yogurt.
Ingredients
4 cups chopped rhubarb, fresh or frozen
2 cups chopped strawberries, fresh or frozen
1/2 cup white sugar
2 tbsp. water
pinch of lemon zest
Directions
1. Wash and trim the rhubarb and chop into smallish pieces. Add rhubarb, sugar, lemon zest and water to heavy saucepan. Cook over medium heat and stir until the sugar dissolves. Then reduce the heat to medium low and simmer, uncovered, for about 10 minutes.
2. While the rhubarb cooks, wash and trim the strawberries and cut into cubes. Add them and simmer for another 10 minutes, until the rhubarb breaks down and the strawberries are soft.
3. Let cool and serve.
Oh wow. Cinema and food. Seriously.. this is my dream column.
That looks delicious.
Super excited about this! :D
I don’t even care about the food (and thats a unusual thing to say for me) this movie is just perfect.
okay I care a little about the food as well. I like being fancy and use elderflower sirup instead of sugar. vanilla sugar is also quite good. served with a homemade vanilla sauce it’s to die for. ah fuck it store-bought will probs also do the job
I super recomend this movie!
and i´m so doing the linguini tonight, but after all the garlic i hope nobody tries to kiss me :P
Maybe it’s just because I am hyper-critical of lesbian films, but I thought Kiss Me was only so-so. I felt like it would have been amazing if it had been released 15 years ago, but these days I want to see something more than people just having lesbian feelings at each other. Something like a lesbian remake of Romancing the Stone starring Julie Goldman and Brandy Howard. HOW AMAZING WOULD THAT BE.
On a positive note, this makes it 2/2 Swedish lesbian films that have ended with incongruous Robyn dance tracks, so I’m adding that to my terrible lesbian film cliché list.
Yes yes yes. More films about lesbians in which they do more than just fall in love with each other. I mean, they can fall in love with each other, also, but it should be while doing other things. How about lesbian sci-fi? Lesbian action films? Hey, there are a hundred terrible lesbian detective novels out there. Can we not have terrible lesbian detective movies at least?
I may be very vaguely planning a webseries on one or more of those themes. I have Life Circumstances that get in the way of it happening right now, though.
Cryptic comment is cryptic, I’m afraid.
I wholeheartedly approve. Well, not of the circumstances-getting-in-the-way, on which I’m kind of an expert myself.
I’m working on a few different novels in which there are lesbians and they do things other than fall in love, but I have exactly zero knowledge of webseries production. So I’m glad someone’s working on it!
agree.
the only one I can think of is bound, which is a noir-ish crime movie. and I <3 it, only partially because gina gershon is super hot in it, but there should be more!
Oh, I love Bound! I remember watching it with my then-10-year-old brother one summer between college semesters. Possibly not the ideal company for watching that movie, but hey, I also took him to a Butchies show once.
agreed. the preview bored me to death. i feel i have seen this movie many times before. also, more movies where the women start off (and stay) as lesbians would be great.
I’m completely with you. Kiss Me was beautifully shot, and a cute movie, but seriously – can’t we do better than lesbian movies about girls having feelings at each other these days? Like something with a plot where the characters’ lesbianism is integral, but also somewhat incidental. Like, for example, this idea that I posted on another board –
How about set in the 1930’s New York- young female ingenue, new to the workforce is befriended by large company owner’s seductive and smart, brazen daughter. The ingenue and daughter’s relationship evolves into something a bit…more. Large company owner dad is a bit of a sociopath and has political ambitions – he’s maybe running for Senate or something. Dad decides it would be too scandalous to have a lesbian daughter who’s been rather carefree with her affairs, and arranges to have her offed and blame an intruder. Ingenue witnesses company owner’s daughter’s offing, and winds up being blamed, but has no means of proving that she’s not the killer. In a cruel twist of fate, Ingenue is suddenly a wanted woman and has to go into hiding in the gritty underground of NYC. As she evades public notice, she finds herself enveloped in NYC’s lesbian scene. There she meets young, whip-smart, casuistic librarian-type who figures out the Ingenue’s identity, doesn’t believe she’s the murderer, and offers to help. In their search for the murderer and evidence to prove the Ingenue’s innocence, the Librarian develops feelings for the Ingenue, who is too blinded by her past trauma and search for the murder to notice. As the Librarian and Ingenue close in on solving the case and absolving the Ingenue of the Daughter’s murderer…they encounter danger and characters at every turn…Blah, blah, blah…they eventually solve the murder and clear the Ingenue’s name…leaving the Librarian to now feel a bit extraneous in the Ingenue’s life. Realizing that she’s no longer needed and thinking that the Ingenue will never return her feelings…the Librarian distances herself from the Ingenue and tries to move on. Ingenue realizes, “Oh crap! I’m in love with the Librarian!” and wins her back and they live happily ever after.
Or something like that. But seriously, no more boring as fuck lesbian flicks.
I would totally watch that.
I haven’t seen this film so I can’t comment on it. I did want to just say I would love to see a few more lesbian films where it’s not always a “straight” married/engaged woman who suddenly discovers she’s gay through an encounter with some new beautiful woman. As much as I generally dislike rom-coms I would love to see a les rom-com without the whole still-entangled-with-a-man part.. It’d be refreshing
Anyway, that wasn’t supposed to be a rant on you ladies because I love all the AS columns and love the food you have presented here, I’m just whining about the film industry :)
Ever see “Better Than Chocolate”? It’s Canadian, really sweet, and totally cheesy, but it doesn’t exhibit that typical situation you describe. Also there’s a totally hot/adorable love scene involving paint.
YES. That film is great. It was the first queer lady film I saw so totally cheesy was pretty much what I needed.
Also try Itty Bitty Titty Committee if you haven’t already seen it! Upbeat and super riot grrrl, plus the only coming out is as a radical feminist rather than as a lesbian. Good stuff.
I too am tired of seeing movies with “a “straight” married/engaged woman who suddenly discovers she’s gay through an encounter with some new beautiful woman.” And although Kyss Mig is somewhat cliched they actually handled this really well. It is part of the storyline that Mia had slept with women before (I think she had even had a GF).
#FOREVERALONE But I’ll probably make that dessert and watch the movie by myself, and it will still be glorious.
Yeah, doubt I’ll be not-single by Valentine’s Day, but still totally want to watch this movie!
Perfect moment of sychronicity – this review went up just as I finished watching Kyss Mg for the first time. Autostraddle you are in my head. Gorgeous gorgeous film.
Everytime Autostraddle, another article so fitting to my thoughts…I just bought this movie on iTunes the other night. And again my exact thoughts Alex after watching this movie, we need more lesbian movies where it’s all about the lesbians!
Now intending to find this movie even if the only thing we celebrate about Valentine’s is a mouthful of candy hearts.
i loved this movie. it’s just so beautifully shot. and hot.
is Robyn contractually required to provide both soundtracking and alternative titles to ALL Swedish lesbian movies?
See also Fucking Amal/Show me Love.
i started laughing when “With Every Heartbeat” rolled in the credits
I so have the hots for Liv Mjones in this movie.
It would be perfect if I had someone to watch it with in this blizzard, too!
One of my main thoughts throughout the movie was how entirely gorgeous she is.
swooooon!
“Kiss Me” first thoughts:
Never date a guy named Tim or you will be seduced by a hot European woman….. Omg WHERE CAN I FIND A GIY NAMED TIM???
MY FIRST THOUGHT TOO
I just fell into a food coma looking at those pics!
Can someone please give the link to the paid queer movie streaming website that was featured/sponsored on Autostraddle a little while ago?
Or an alternative method to watch this film (the link above in this article is not working). Many thanks.
And of course, thank you for sharing this lovely article – I’m excited to try the recipe and watch this film :)
I think the website you’re referring to was BuskFilms:
http://buskfilms.com
Wolfe On Demand is a good as well:
http://wolfeondemand.muvies.com
BuskFilms is laydee-centred, Wolfe is general LGBT. Hope that helps answer your question!
hm, this post shouldn’t have been published without a proper affiliate link but it looks like it was! go team! the link has been fixed now, and here it is again:
http://www.wolfevideo.com/products/kiss-me/?R=1423
I am so gun shy about lesbian films- Does this one have an actual happy ending? Sometimes a gril just want to watch a sappy ass romcom with her girl where everyone makes out and lives happily ever after in the end.
I really liked the movie but even I had hard time comprehending why these two fell for each other. They didn’t seem to be a great match to me? It was cute though.
Saw this in theaters when it came out.
Overwritten and rather poorly directed is what I remember of it.
Basically this is “Imagine me an you” in Swedish and without Giles..ImeanAnthonyheadofcourse..
Lovely.Sounds like a great night indoors. Not too heavy but with just the right amount of drama to keep one interested. It reminds me of that other movie where the two leads meet at a wedding, Imagine Me & You.
It’s raining buckets outside and I can just imagine snuggling up with that special lady and watching this to the sound of the rain whilst indulging in delicious pasta. And the strawberries are a nice touch too ;)
love this idea! if you want to be extra gay/make your dish even more pretty, use rainbow swiss chard! also, a short video on how to peel an entire bulb of garlic in ten seconds (tried it, it works!). why I didn’t learn this in my high school cooking class, I’ll never know. http://vegan.com/blog/2011/09/29/how-to-peel-an-entire-bulb-of-garlic-in-10-seconds/
Me and my woman watched it today (via skype). It was good but we did spend a lot of time throwing our hands up in frustration at their inability to say ‘I’m angsting, help me’ and at one point Linny said ‘I don’t think we’re taking this film as seriously as it wants to be taken’.
There was some hot sex and a few lulz though and frankly that’s a win/win.
Holy shit, this food was good. I still don’t understand why it was so good.
This movie was less good. I just can not hang with the love at first sight without talking situation. Like the gay boy movie Weekend worked for me because there was talking and it wasn’t all zero to “I’m in love with her” in ten seconds flat of character hangout time. Watch that movie!
Where was this movie filmed? I noticed that 1 part was in Spain but didn’t know where the majority of it was filmed at.