Monthly Movie Night Fundraiser!

Margaret Cho’s “I’m the One That I Want,” the feature film of her one-woman, off-Broadway show, is a queer comedy masterpiece. Filmed in 1999 at the Warwick Theater in San Francisco, the film is a joyful, heartbreaking and laugh-until-you-cry experience that chronicles Cho’s struggles with racism, drug use, misogyny, homophobia and coming-of-age in a world that wasn’t built for her.

But what the film is really about is Cho’s journey to radical self-love and acceptance. While it’s raunchy and pushes boundaries (an early segment features the six-letter F-word, which might feel shocking), it’s a sumptuous love letter to the queer community, from a queer woman with a gift for exposing the humor in the things we love without hurting them.

Cho carries the show with the airiness of a diva and the warmth of your best friend, so you feel like you’re in on the joke as she delivers devastating one-liners, utilizing her face and her whole body just in case you weren’t already laughing hard enough. Plus, she understands fan service, so there’s plenty of her classic ‘voicemails from mom’ for good measure.

It’s been 25 years since “I’m the One That I Want” came out in theaters, and so much has changed, but the film holds up under the weight of today’s awareness of how language impacts trauma. And it is still so absurdly funny. I’m so delighted that ECC is creating the opportunity for folx who might need a little positivity right now to come and laugh in community and support of Brunswick Pride.

*This month’s film night is hosted by our resident teacher, Victoria Karol who is an artist living and working in Portland, Maine, with a studio residence at Avalon in Westbrook. Her primary disciplines include analog and digital illustration, sculpture and fiber arts including crochet, sewing, weaving and macrame.