This review originally ran September 13, 2022, in conjunction with the film’s premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival.
Much like “Moonlight,” “The Inspection” has the trappings of an instant queer classic.
Premiering at the Toronto Film Festival, writer-director Elegance Bratton’s semi-autobiographical film, about a young gay Black man’s desire for approval and human connection in an unforgiving environment poisoned by bigotry and toxic masculinity, tells essential truths about the state of queer life in America outside gay villages and other safe spaces. Yet stories like these have seldom been told even as queer cinema has steadily evolved beyond homogeneous narratives.