For this program, we decided to follow the KISS principle (keep it simple, stupid!) and feature a selection of reviews and recommendations for TV shows and films that we have recently enjoyed and wanted to make you all aware of too. Up first, ‘On the Road’ is an intense drug, violence and sex-fuelled Mexican thriller directed by David Pablos that introduces us to Veneno, a young hustler who makes ends meet by sleeping with drivers at truck stops in exchange for cash or drugs. He seemingly has no family nor long-term plans; so, when one of his clients stiffs him, he decides to hitch a ride to the other side of the country. Enter Muñeco, a hardened forty-something trucker estranged from his wife and kids, who offers Veneno a seat in his 18-wheeler. As the men drive across northern Mexico, walls come down and feelings develop – but can the pair outrun the demons from Veneno’s past? The film won the Queer Lion at Venice as well as the festival’s Orizzonti Award for Best Film and is a great addition to the line-up of excellent queer films we’ve had hit out big and small screens in 2026. Then we moved on to ‘The Invite’; directed by Olivia Wilde from a screenplay by Will McCormack and Rashida Jones, this very funny, intense, and heartbreaking feature is an English-language remake of the 2020 Spanish film ‘The People Upstairs’ and stars Seth Rogen, Olivia Wilde, Penélope Cruz, and Edward Norton. Our next pick was ‘Ride or Die’, a new TV series that was created by Tessa Coates and stars Octavia Spencer and Hannah Waddingham, who also serve as executive producers. The story follows two long-time friends who have to go on the run from a mysterious enemy, and it turns out that one of the friends is secretly a highly trained assassin. We finished up by revisiting our interview from March with AP Pobjoy, the writer and creator of ‘Homebodies’, a brilliant local series that came out in March of this year via SBS, that celebrates trans visibility and Australian queer storytelling. ‘Homebodies’ stars Claudia Karvan, Luke Wiltshire, and Jazi Hall, and follows Darcy, a trans man who reluctantly returns to his regional hometown to care for his estranged mother, Nora. But home isn’t as he left it. Nora has been living with a secret housemate: Dee, the teenage ghost of Darcy’s pre-transition self. As old wounds resurface, Darcy must confront the parts of himself he tried to leave behind or risk losing himself entirely. It’s must-see Aussie TV for many reasons including Claudia Karvan’s Silver Logie award winning performance for Best Supporting Actress in a Drama series.
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