>>PREVIEW
FAIRY TALES INTERNATIONAL GAY AND LESBIAN FILM FESTIVAL
May 26 to June 1
Uptown Screen
· BOY CULTURE (dir. Q. Allan Brocka, 2006, U.S.A.)
Director Q. Allan Brocka’s Boy Culture translates Matthew Rettenmund’s novel of the same name with TV movie of the week results. As X, a hustler hiding his heart of gold, Derek Magyar slinks across the screen as a pale modern version of Joe Dallesandro and Jon Voight in far less interesting clothes. X cares for his clients just about as much as we come to care for him, leaving the reasons his roommates Joey (Jonathon Trent) and Andrew (Darryl Stephens) both hold such a candle a little more than merely questionable. For one, neither even knows his real name.
A fairy godfather of sorts, X’s newest elderly client, Gregory (Patrick Bauchau), holds off on the sex until X wants it as badly as he does. It’s no real shock their scenes together hold very little chemistry, but at least Bauchau’s recollections of his early realizations of his orientation give Boy Culture what little gravity it’s got.
Brocka’s biggest mistake is in relying far too often on X’s monotone interior dialogue, ceaselessly commenting on every onscreen event. Were Magyar a stronger actor, (and Brocka a stronger director working from a worthwhile script) these asides wouldn’t be necessary. As it stands, Boy Culture is a film with nothing much to say.
· WHO’S THE TOP? (dir. Jennie Livingston, 2005, U.S.A.)
It’s often said that the easiest road taken for an uncertain director is an over-obvious voiceover. Absent from direction since 1990’s Paris is Burning, Jennie Livingston’s short film Who’s the Top? attempts to explore sexual liberation through sub-dom power relationships, but comes out the other end a limp bit of self-important fluff.
Alixe (Marin Hinkle) wants her girlfriend Gwen (Brigitte Bako) to examine her kinky side, with rather uninspiring results. Introduced to Mars (occasional drag king Shelly Mars, featured in the 2002 documentary Venus Boyz), Alixe discovers the dominating partner she’s always wanted. Entangled with a pointless fascination with the poet Cymon "Blank" (Steve Buscemi, wasted), Who’s the Top?’s occasional musical fantasy sequences do little else than stretch out an already drawn-out storyline.
While Livingston’s first attempt at narrative filmmaking may not offer much, it does give up at least one hilarious moment in which Alixe states her "safe word" as "dualistic conundrum." At least I won’t be forgetting that one for awhile.
· GYPO (dir. Jan Dunn, 2005, U.K.)
As the U.K.’s first officially certified entry into the Dogme 95 series of films, Jan Dunn’s Gypo is a subtly nuanced film that settles neatly alongside the rest of the Dogme 95 canon. Insulting slang for gypsy, Gypo follows Helen’s (Pauline McLynn) growing affection for her daughter Kelly’s (Tamzin Dunstone) friend Tasha (Chloe Sirene), a refugee from the Czech Republic.
Portraying the same events from a trio of viewpoints, Gypo honours the strict conventions of Dogme 95 with stark honesty and a lack of disingenuous flourish. Alongside Helen and Tasha’s retellings, Helen’s draining husband Paul (played with blank cruelty by Paul McGann) tosses prejudiced volleys towards those seeking asylum and work on his "small island."
While Gypo’s inclusion in any gay and lesbian film festival may ultimately give away Dunn’s (not to mention her actresses’s) finest revelation, the lesbian relationship at the heart of the story is one introduced and treated entirely free of questions – a rare form of onscreen love that remains unhindered by intellectual over analysis. Held up by McLynn’s naturalistic acting and a sense of displacement shared by all of its characters, Gypo is in all ways a stunning debut from a novice director displaying wisdom and patience uncommon to filmmakers quite so inexperienced.
· THAT MAN: PETER BERLIN (dir. Jim Tushinski, 2005, USA)
Despite a surprisingly small body of work, Peter Berlin has been long remembered as a gay icon in total control of his image and power. An infamous San Francisco landmark (several of those interviewed recall their first time spotting Berlin strolling down the street in his trademark skin-tight white trousers), Berlin’s pair of early 1970s films, Nights in Black Leather and That Boy arguably became gay culture’s answer to Deep Throat.
Exploring the continuing mystique and enigmatic life of a man classed by many as "the Greta Garbo of gay porn," That Man corners Berlin (now in his early 60s) in his small apartment, the walls crowded with photographic and artistic evidence of his former life. An intriguing subject, Berlin reveals the full extent of the intense design behind the character, at times letting the lines between his real and fictional selves blur. Classifying the aspects of silence and lustful longing as the most powerful angles in sexuality, it’s easy to wonder if Berlin’s seeming lack of happiness in his life would’ve been avoided had he chosen to descend from his pedestal as a lust object into the real world. Given the tragedies within his own love life, it’s easy to feel both pity and frustration towards Berlin’s frosty walls, of which only he is responsible for constructing.
Featuring hilarious interviews with the likes of John Waters and Armistead Maupin, That Man is equal parts absorbing documentary portrait and fascinating slice of 1970s gay history.
· PICK UP THE MIC: THE REVOLUTION OF HOMOHOP (dir. Alex Hinton, 2005, USA)
There’s far more to gay life than the standardized and dumbed-down Americanized portraits Queer as Folk and Will and Grace. Pick Up the Mic: The Revolution of Homohop enters the burgeoning queer hip hop scene, introducing a group of artists railing against the homophobia inherent in rap music.
While it’s not altogether surprising to find the likes of the Deep Dickollective (effectively co-led by Juba Kalamka and Tim’m T. West) operating out of San Francisco, Pick Up the Mic’s most interesting passages take place once director Alex Hinton leaves North America’s undisputed gay mecca for other, potentially less-friendly states. Profiling the likes of Miss Money, an underground producer and label owner based in Atlanta, female-to-male transsexual rapper Katastrophe, and Chicagoan Johnny Dangerous – whose X-rated duet with gangsta Deadlee gives all new meaning to the term "crack" in hip-hop – Hinton finds a group of likeminded artists not only thirsting for mainstream success, but willing to work together en masse to gain the respect necessary to make it happen. In the film’s most effective scene, tough guy Aggracyst breaks down in tears.
Whether discussing many of its players’ reticence towards use of the terms "gay" or "queer" to define themselves and their music (West, for one, prefers "living the life" or "family"), or profiling the role of the Internet in bringing queer hip hop artists and fans together, Pick Up the Mic is a call for musical (not to mention gender and orientation politics) revolution. |
Copyright ©2006 FFWD. All rights reserved.