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Bloomington (film)

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Bloomington
DVD cover
Directed byFernanda Cardoso
Written byFernanda Cardoso
Produced byJason Shumway
StarringAllison McAtee
Sarah Stouffer
Katherine Ann McGregor
Erika Heidewald
Ray Zupp
Music byJermaine Stegall
Release date
  • June 23, 2010 (2010-06-23) (Frameline)
Running time
83 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Bloomington is a 2010 coming-of-age drama film about a former child actress (Sarah Stouffer) attending college in search of independence and who ends up becoming romantically involved with a professor, played by Allison McAtee. Their relationship thrives until an opportunity to return to acting forces them to make life-altering decisions.

Bloomington was written and directed by Fernanda Cardoso and filmed in Indianapolis, Indiana and Los Angeles, California. The film received mixed reviews.

Plot summary

Jackie Kirk, a former child actress, catches the eye of an infamous, predatory lesbian teacher, named Catherine Stark (McAtee), when Jackie attends college in Bloomington, Indiana. Jackie attempts to fit in with her fellow students, who are in awe of her acting background. After meeting at an on-campus mixer, Catherine and Jackie begin a secret and scandalous affair that draws Jackie away from the college social life. Catherine and Jackie grow closer as they help each other discover more about themselves, when suddenly Jackie gets the chance to return to acting. Catherine becomes uncomfortable with their situation, seeing how it could seemingly never work out, with Jackie having to constantly visit Catherine under the guise of her just being a "friend," as it would be hazardous for both of them if their romance ever got out.

Catherine attempts to distance herself from Jackie by trying to declare they were never in a formal relationship, and that Jackie is not worth it in Catherine's eyes, while Jackie claims Catherine is worth it. Jackie, at odds with her friends, gets into a fight with Sandy (Erika Heidewald), jealous that Jackie is competing for a scholarship she doesn't need and angry that Jackie's affair with a teacher means she gets preferential treatment. Jackie slaps Sandy, who punches her in the face. The next day Jackie shows up at Catherine's doorstep with a black eye. Catherine sees paparazzi taking pictures and quickly drags Jackie into the house. While Catherine is taking care of Jackie, she notices Catherine is wearing a dress. When questioned about it, she reveals she is attending a party, Jackie asks if she is going alone, Catherine says no but will not reveal her date, and will not let Jackie replace her date, claiming she would just be attention starved; Jackie offends Catherine by insulting her for not being financed by her own means.

Jackie stays on the couch at Catherine's house when Catherine returns from the party, acting passive-aggressive towards Jackie, she brings her date, a male closer to her age, into her room, causing Jackie to leave. Jackie goes to a party and hangs out with friends and flirts with a male friend, Zach (Ray Zupp). After leaving for L.A. to film the movie version of Jackie's old show, Catherine loses her job due to her relationship with Jackie being partially exposed.

Months later, Jackie and Catherine are shown sleeping together one last time. Saying their goodbyes as a formal end to their romance, Jackie leaves the next day for her new role back in California.

Cast

  • Allison McAtee as Catherine Stark
  • Sarah Stouffer as Jacqueline "Jackie" Kirk
  • Katherine Ann McGregor as Lillian
  • Erika Heidewald as Sandy
  • Ray Zupp as Zach

Reception

Lesbian media site After Ellen called Bloomington a "sexy and offbeat" and "fantastic little drama."[1] The review notes that "Compared to other teacher-student romances that we’ve seen on the lesbian screen, including Mädchen in Uniform and the more recent Loving Annabelle, this is far more above-board," meaning that Jackie is a legal adult.

Queer website Autostraddle complains that by the end of the movie "nothing’s resolved and the Pandora’s box of issues that was opened in this relationship hasn’t been acknowledged by either party", adding that the action takes place "in a world where subtlety is not a concept that exists".[2]

Legacy

More than a decade after Bloomington's release, it is still finding new fans – and new critics – as people continue to discover the film via DVD or Amazon Prime. A fan-generated YouTube video that features a montage of clips of the most romantic scenes from the film, set to music, has been viewed 3.5 million times.[3]

The fact that the film ends with the two principal characters going their separate ways has led some fans to hope for a Bloomington 2 – there is even a Facebook group called WE WANT Bloomington 2 and the call is repeated many times on social media.[4] But, in truth, there is no indication that creator Fernanda Cardoso ever planned a follow-up film. In a behind-the-scenes feature on the DVD, Cardoso says that she’s working on the script for a horror film.[5]

In a 2018 interview, McAtee, who has been in more than a dozen films since Bloomington,[6] said that Bloomington is still the film that she gets most feedback on, and that it seems to resonate with a lot of people.[4]

In June 2021, Bloomington co-stars McAtee and Stouffer were reunited on screen when McAtee guest starred in two episodes of Stouffer's web series Grey Area. Their shared scenes made tongue-in-cheek references to Bloomington.[7][8]

Awards

See also

References

  1. ^ Staff (July 30, 2010). "Review of "Bloomington"". AfterEllen. Archived from the original on March 9, 2015. Retrieved June 8, 2017.
  2. ^ Erin (September 5, 2017). "I Watched Lesbian Classic "Bloomington" and Hoooo Boy This Is a Lot". Autostraddle. Retrieved February 28, 2022.
  3. ^ Manchester by the Sea (January 26, 2020). "Bloomington- Hot kiss (Alison McAtee & Sarah Stouffer)". YouTube. Retrieved March 19, 2022.
  4. ^ a b Grabski, Sarah (3 July 2018). Allison McAtee, movie star from Erie, discusses acting, new film (interview). Erie Times-news. Retrieved March 19, 2022.
  5. ^ Cardoso, Fernanda; Shumway, Jason; Stouffer, Sarah; Feucht, George (contributors); Moore, Saterah (producer) (2010). Making of Bloomington (DVD special feature). Philadelphia: TLA Releasing.
  6. ^ McAtee, Allison (2020). "Past Projects". Allison McAtee. Retrieved March 19, 2022.
  7. ^ Moore, Evan (director); Stouffer, Sarah and Salleh, Assad (creators) (June 12, 2021). Old Friends Pt. 1 (web series). Los Angeles: Last Second Sea. Retrieved February 28, 2022.
  8. ^ Moore, Evan (director); Stouffer, Sarah and Salleh, Assad (creators) (June 19, 2021). Old Friends Pt. 2 (web series). Los Angeles: Last Second Sea. Retrieved February 28, 2022.
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