Yair
Hochner’s
Antarctica
20th Annual Newfest:
The New York Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender
Film Festival
34th Street Theater
312 W 34th St. at 8th Ave
June 5-15, 2008
Reviewed
by Frank J. Avella
To be blunt, Yair
Hochner’s Antarctica is one of
the most striking and original films I have seen
in a long time. This masterfully directed gem
commands your attention from the first hyper-sexually-charged
frame to the audacious finale--always challenging
the viewer and never wavering into contrivance
or formula following.
One of the legion
of refreshing things about Antarctica
is that it’s bold, daring and quite unique
in story and character development as well as
filmmaking style. It also effectively manages
the difficult feat of genre-blending. Tagged as
“the first Israeli queer romantic sexy comedy,”
I would have no clue where to place it in the
DVD section of your local store—except in
the ‘Best of 2008’ section!
Hochner probes
the complexities of human emotions and the foibles
of feelings in exciting and honest ways. We become
privy to how our character’s feelings change
and evolve, often in a matter of moments--and
yet sometimes years cannot erase hurt and humiliation.
In Hebrew with
subtitles, Antarctica follows the physical,
spiritual and emotional journeys of a group of
gays and lesbians in the non-stop city of Tel
Aviv. Reminiscent of the work of genius Robert
Altman (Nashville, Short Cuts)
and his protégé’ Paul Thomas
Anderson (Magnolia, Boogie Nights)
as well as Michael Winterbottom (the auteur admits
to being ‘heavily inspired by Wonderland’),
Hochner poetically investigates coincidental convergences
and adds a cosmic twist!
The movie opens
with an unrelentingly graphic (and hot!) multi-screen
visceral and visual assault as it depicts a week
or month in the nocturnal life of Boaz (hunky
Ofer Regirer), clean-cut businessman by day, one
night stand sex-maniac by night, who prides himself
on the line: “You know how many guys I bring
back here?” One hook-up, in particular,
jars him. Danny (Yiftach Mizrahi), a sweet, troubled
teen, stops Boaz mid-petting and asks if they
should talk first, or have coffee. A while later,
Danny shows up at Boaz’ place and asks if
he can stay for a while.
The screen reads
“3 Years Later,” and the mosaic-like
plot kicks into high gear as we meet the wonderful
cast of characters. They include: Omer (Tomer
Ilan), a shy librarian about to celebrate his
thirtieth birthday; Omer’s harried lesbian
sister Shirley (Lucy Dubinchik) and her on-again/off
again girlfriend (Liat Ekta) who owns the local
bar; Omer’s slutty friend Miki (Yuval Raz);
who cyberconnects with smoldering journalist Ronen
(Guy Zo-Aretz) and best-selling author and past-alien-abductee
Matilda Rose (Rivka Neuman), just to name a few!
Via a blind date,
Omer meets Danny, who is living with Ronen who
is carrying on with Miki. Boaz reenters the picture
and wants to reconnect with Danny. And it seems
Omer and Ronen may have a connection of their
own…
I will not give
any more plot away (I’m not certain I could,
anyway!), but I will say that the sequence of
events prove hilarious, heartbreaking, outrageous
and ballsy. Hochner’s terrific script is
matched only by his great abilities as director
and his magnificent cast. The entire ensemble
is to be commended. It is rare that so many talented
actors come together and seamlessly weave into
one great work. There is one curious bit of casting
in the film, but upon much reflection, I can accept
it—with reservation.
Tech credits are
outstanding across the boards, in particular:
Ziv Berkovitch’s gorgeous and mesmerizing
photography and the appropriate original songs
written and performed by Shirly Solomon.
The title is a
metaphor for how much a person, in this frenzied
and lunatic day and age, will allow themselves
to love; to thaw their own carefully acquired
chilliness and simply leave themselves open to
it—especially when it also means leaving
themselves open to the worst kind of pain. Sex
can be a beguiling distraction. It can also turn
into a consuming compulsion. Hochner never judges
his characters, nor does he manipulate them. He
respects them and follows them around for an all-too-brief
while.
I certainly hope
audiences will not let the fact that this is a
foreign film stop them from experiencing such
sensational cinema. I have a grand idea: why not
use the subtitles as an excuse to see the film
a second time!
Guido Santi & Tina
Mascara’s
Chris & Don: a love story
20th Annual
Newfest:
The New York Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender
Film Festival
34th Street Theater
312 W 34th St. at 8th Ave
June 5-15, 2008
Reviewed by Frank J. Avella
Like Wrangler: Anatomy of an
Icon, Chris & Don: a love story is
an important document to gay history; testaments
to the indefinable notions of love and sexuality.
Both films also happen to be entertaining cinema.
Christopher Isherwood
is one of the most celebrated authors of the 20th
Century. He is most famous for writing The
Berlin Stories (Goodbye to Berlin, 1939)
which was adapted into a stage play and movie
called I Am a Camera and later further
developed into the musical Cabaret. Isherwood
lived an openly gay lifestyle at a time when few
would dare.
In 1952, Isherwood
embarked on a relationship with Don Bachardy,
a boy thirty years his junior. They would remain
together until Isherwood’s death in 1986.
Chris & Don is their fascinating
and inspiring story.
Directors Guido
Santi & Tina Mascara have structured their
documentary in non-linear fashion and the film
is the better for it with many of the moments
culled from actual footage shot by Chris and Don
during their time together. The filmmakers have
also woven interviews with friends, colleagues
and, most importantly, with the two men. Isherwood
is seen in a 1972 interview promoting the film
version of Cabaret. (It is said he thought
Liza Minnelli was wrong for Sally Bowles, since
she was such a talented artist) Barchardy was
interviewed especially for the film and provides
a rich treasure trove of insights and anecdotes
into Isherwood and their relationship.
Santi and Mascara
also splice in a few recreated scenes, which are
wholly unnecessary, and the only time the film
stumbles…but just a bit.
“He taught
me all kinds of wicked things. It was exactly
what the boy wanted.” Speaking in the third
person Bachardy honestly explains how he fell
in love with a man thirty years older than he
was and goes on to speak about the difficulties
they encountered, being an openly gay couple as
well as dealing with the age gap and the stark
difference in their class status (not to mention
the fact that Isherwood was an established writer
and Bachardy was…a teen).
The film discusses
Isherwood’s affluent upbringing in Britain
and his fleeing to Germany, wherea more flamboyant
way of life was being celebrated. “To Chrisopher,
Berlin meant boys.” With the Nazi party
coming into power, Isherwood was forced to flee
in 1933.
Barchardy and his
gay brother (who Isherwood slept with first) were
raised by a starstruck mother who would take her
children to movie premieres where they would pretend
be guest in order to get photos taken with the
celebrities in attendance.
Chris and Don met
on a Santa Monica Beach.
Soon Don found
himself immersed in Chris’ world of the
rich and famous—and felt awkward and cast
aside by these powerful titans. That would eventually
change.
Chris took on the
role of mentor wholly and completely. Director
John Boorman described the transformation of Don:
“He (Isherwood) had succeeded in cloning
himself.”
With great encouragement
from Chris, Don enrolled in art school and found
his calling. He would go on to paint many a famous
person including: Bette Davis; Joan Crawford;
Olivia deHavilland and Montgomery Clift, to name
a few.
While the film
gives us a lot of juicy background information
as well as gossipy tidbits, the heart of the docu
is the love story about how these two very different
men fell in love and stayed in love for over thirty
years, despite many troubles as well as naysayers
who felt the relationship was wrong.
The film is a celebration
of a different kind of love and a testament to
how love can be found in the most unexpected places--if
I may paraphrase a Barbra Streisand song. Chris
& Don is an inspiring and significant
work.
James Bolton’s
Dream Boy
20th Annual Newfest:
The New York Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender
Film Festival
34th Street Theater
312 W 34th St. at 8th Ave
June 5-15, 2008
Reviewed by Frank J. Avella
Set in the 1970’s rural south,
James Bolton’s lyrical film, Dream Boy,
begins as a sweet teen courtship, the twist being
both teens are boys!
Nathan, a painfully
shy and awkward fifteen year old has recently
moved next door to Roy, the hunky, honest yet
sexually naïve seventeen year old school
bus driver. Nathan’s crush is reciprocated
and the two begin to learn about one another mostly
via what they do not say.
The clumsy, curious
and kind way the opening scenes are handled is
a refreshing tonic to many films of this nature.
But an ominous tone is established early on, setting
the stage for a major shift.
We soon learn the
reason for Nathan’s odd and awkward nature
(as well as why he is more sexually knowledgeable
than Roy) have everything to do with his abusive
father.
Based on the best-selling
novel by Jim Grimsley, Dream Boy tells
a story of awakening physical and emotional desire
that take a terrible turn late in the story. Which
boy is the ‘dream boy’ for which boy
is one of the many questions the film asks. It
also probes the effects of sexual abuse on a small
family that has nowhere but prayer to turn in
order to deal with such horrible realities. I
only wish the story had allowed for a more complex
ending that was true to the domestic story as
well as the love story. (more about that below)
The film is poignant
and piercing. Bolton’s script is perfectly
sparse and his direction is meticulous and powerful.
And the score is understated and wonderfully effective.
Stephan Bender
and Maximillian Roeg are to be commended for outstanding
work—the kind of natural and honest acting
one rarely sees anymore. Bender embodies Nathan
completely, both physically and mentally. And
Roeg has the perfect jock exterior, but such a
loving quality about him, it’s jarringly
mesmerizing. The two have a strange and wonderful
chemistry.
I highly recommend
Dream Boy, but prepare to go through
an emotionally wrenching and devastating experience.
********SPOILER
ALERT***********
Do not read on
if you do not want things about the ending revealed.
As much as I love
a good emotionally crippling film ending, I felt
Nathan’s final humiliation was gratuitous
and cruel. Perhaps it’s because I had come
to love the character so much as wanted him to
escape his horrific genetic burden. Maybe the
filmmakers felt he needed to be martyred via being
put out of his misery and returning as an angel
of sorts. But I still felt cheated and angry.
To show us a boy who has been victimized his entire
life finally find love only to be raped and murdered
because of who he is (by a character who is sketchily
realized at best). It was a bit too much.
The final ten minutes
is also narratively confusing and apparently the
book’s ending is as well (I have not read
it). So maybe we are meant to bring our own ending
to the film. I must tell you, happy-ending hater
that I am, I wanted Roy to find out about Nathan’s
dad and take Nathan away. And the two boys could
live hopefully ever after in a big city somewhere!
Now, how pathetically Hollywood is that?
Newfest
Gabriel Fleming’s
The Lost Coast
20th Annual Newfest:
The New York Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender
Film Festival
34th Street Theater
312 W 34th St. at 8th Ave
June 5-15, 2008
Reviewed by Frank J. Avella
Gabriel Fleming’s
The Lost Coast is a moving yet muddled
narrative feature (barely, at 73 minutes) where
nothing much happens onscreen. Nicely photographed,
the film is contemplative and evocative yet, ultimately,
unsatisfying.
It’s Halloween
in San Francisco’s Castro District and brooding
twentysomething Jasper (Ian Scott McGregor) is
visiting old friends; the handsome and gregarious
Mark (Lucas Alifano) and the aloof Lily (Lindsay
Benner). Mark and Lily were a couple back in high
school, despite the fact that Mark and Jasper
also had a relationship—of sorts. Mark is
now gay, while Jasper is engaged to a woman.
The film begins
and is narrated via an email Jasper is sending
to his girlfriend Wendy explaining his relationship
with Mark and the sequence of events that occur
on this particular Halloween.
What does occur
involves a search for Ecstasy (the drug) which
leads our trio (plus a pathetic friend of Mark’s)
to a lame party, then across Golden Gate park
where they discover a corpse--and finally to the
ocean where Mark and Jasper finally confront their
feelings for one another…sort of.
Fleming’s
story is too sparse. Visually the film is quite
enticing (I thought of The Blair Witch Project
on occasion since nothing really happens in that
film either), but we are never truly brought into
the hearts and minds of our two main characters.
And poor Lily (Benner is a trouper) is relegated
to having to portray a one-dimensional oddball.
McGregor does his
best to tap into the enigmatic Jasper. On the
one hand you could argue he’s a closet case,
yet the final moments seem to indicate otherwise.
Alifano gives the
richest and best performance. He wholly leaps
into Mark’s egotism while displaying true
loving feelings for Jasper. His final moment is
the most poignant one in The Lost Coast.
I wonder where
Fleming might have taken the picture with twenty
more pages of script. I sure wish he’d chosen
to be really daring and develop his characters
further.
Newfest Opening
Night
Stewart Wade’s
Tru Loved
20th Annual Newfest:
The New York Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender
Film Festival
34th Street Theater
312 W 34th St. at 8th Ave
June 5-15, 2008
Reviewed by Frank J. Avella
I hate to sound
like one of those negative Nancy naysayers but
Newfest’s Opening Night choice, Stewart
Wade’s Tru Loved, is a big disappointment.
And that sucks because Wade’s heart is in
the right place and the movie does try to please
everyone. But that is one of the principle problems,
it is too intent on pleasing everyone in the gay/lesbian/bisexual
community. Furthermore, the movie moves from fairy
tale to comedy to drama without any cohesion.
If it weren’t
for the strong lead performance by the remarkable
Najarra Townsend, Tru Loved would be
little more than a painfully politically correct
Afterschool Special (it also feels dated and out
of touch). Yet showing it to adolescents is not
a bad idea because it does present an ideal notion
of how people should be accepting.
The basic plot
follows sixteen year old Gertrude aka: Tru (Townsend),
who has been raised by her two lesbian moms and
two gay dads, embarking on a relationship with
Lo (Matthew Thompson), all-American jock and star
quarterback. Tru soon realizes that Lo is actually
gay and deeply closeted, but agrees to act as
his beard. Tru makes friends with openly gay and
victimized Walter (Tye Olson) and the two decide
to form a Gay-Straight Alliance at the High School.
During the first meeting Tru meets Trevor (Jake
Abel), who appears to be gay but is actually straight
and very interested in Tru.
As you can see
from the plot description, the film has so much
promise. I appreciate the filmmakers wanting to
explore the angst and difficulty of being gay
in a small town high school where the notion of
what is and isn’t masculine is taken very
seriously. But here it’s presented in such
a flimsy manner, as opposed to so many other films
(Get Real and Edge of Seventeen
come instantly to mind) and even on television
(recently with Gossip Girl) where the
characters actually feel real and distraught.
The happy, feel-good denoument is just insulting
icing on the fake feeling cake.
There are things to enjoy in Tru Loved:
a few fun cameos (Marcia Wallace, Bruce Villance),
the wonderful scenes between Tru and Trevor (a
frustrated Trevor asks: “Can I please just
feel you up?”) as well as Tru’s relationship
with her parents (all four of them).
Chief among the
joys is Najarra Townsend who imbues Tru with a
believable grounded belief system, even when she
also craves acceptance.
Jake Abel has both matinee idol looks and terrific
acting chops (an unusual combination). But the
scene-stealer in this movie is Star Trek’s
own Nichelle Nichols, who is a hoot and a half
as Lo’s racist grandmother. Nichols has
aged nicely and taken on a Ruby Dee quality, combining
feistiness and grace. Her hilarious final line
will have you leaving the theatre with a wide
smile on your face. And maybe that was Wade’s
intent with the film (and I am sure many will
appreciate the paint-by-numbers ‘careful’
quality of the pic).
Tru Loved has
the dubious distinction of featuring one of the
worst performances by an actor I have seen in
years: Vernon Wells as the homophobic Coach Wesley.
I realize we’re not supposed to like this
character but Wells line deliveries were so laughable
that it was impossible to take him seriously.
I really don’t
get this choice for the Opening Night film. Yair
Hochner’s Antarctica (see my review),
a brilliant cinematic achievement, would have
made so much more sense since it also blends different
gay and lesbian stories. The difference is that
it does so in an original and exciting way. Perhaps
the Festival committee wanted an American feature
to open Newfest. I just wish they had made a wiser
choice.
Gustav Hofer & Luca Ragazzi’s
Suddenly, Last Winter (Improvvisamente l’inverno
scorso)
20th Annual Newfest:
The New York Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender
Film Festival
34th Street Theater
312 W 34th St. at 8th Ave
June 5-15, 2008
Reviewed by Frank
J. Avella
Let’s play
a little game. It’s called what country,
what year?
The capital city
elected a fascist mayor.
The media is controlled by the state.
Gays and lesbians have absolutely no civil rights.
So you’re,
perhaps, guessing Germany in the late thirties/early
forties.
No and no. Let’s continue…
The population
is anywhere from 95% to 97% Catholic, depending
on the source.
The government is heavily influenced by the Vatican.
Okay, now you’re
saying Italy in the late thirties/early forties.
You’re half
correct. Let’s give it one more go, shall
we?
Homophobia is on
the rise, mainly because the current Pope and
his Papal underlings are promoting mandatory heterosexuality.
"The union of love, based on matrimony between
a man and a woman, which makes up the family,
represents a good for all society that can not
be substituted by, confused with, or compared
to other types of unions."
Herr Benedict,
the ruby-slipper wearing Pontiff himself, spoke
these words on May 16, 2008, the day after a California
court ruled in favor of gay marriages.
So you now realize
that all of the above is happening TODAY in Italy.
And how frightening is that?
I know it’s
not that difficult to believe that Pope Benedict
is promoting intolerance, after all this is the
same person who deliberately covered up the sex
abuse scandal. What is shocking is just how many
Italians are allowing such obvious religious propaganda
to permeate their judgment.
Brave Italian journalists
Gustav Hofer & Luca Ragazzi, who also happen
to be partners for the last eight years, have
made an important and incisive documentary on
the current state (or non-state, as the case shamefully
is as of late) of rights for gay and lesbians
in Italy. The result is the courageous and compelling,
Suddenly, Last Summer.
There seemed to
be hope for a civil union law in Italy. Two years
ago a law was presented concerning same-sex partnerships.
A heated national debate ensued throughout Italy
and soon turned terribly homophobic, in large
part due to the Vatican’s unwavering anti-gay
pressure.
In February of
2007, the Center-left government of Prime Minister
Romano Prodi fell. The reason, it turned out,
had everything to do with a missing vote from
Senator Giulio Andreotti, a member of Parliament,
closely associated with the Vatican. Andreotti
confessed that he “could not sustain a government
that tries to pass a law for gay and lesbian couples.”
An agitated Gustav
convinced an apprehensive Luca to parlay their
anger and outrage into action, via filmmaking.
The duo took their camera and, literally, took
to the streets and to the House of Parliament.
Gustav and Luca
made the wise decision to cast themselves in the
film, giving it a periodic comical tone. And since
the subject matter is anything but funny, it comes
as a nice relief. Luca’s incredulous reactions
to the sheer stupidity of many of the statements
made by government officials, religious leaders
and street zealots are hilarious.
In street interviews
with Romans, almost all of them are opposed to
civil rights for gays and lesbians using the family
values argument. Many are also opposed to any
type of same sex relationships because “it
goes against nature” and “God doesn’t
want that,” as one Italian woman firmly
puts it—as if she just got off the phone
with the Almighty. An elderly clergyman vehemently
proclaims: “one must never question the
Holy Roman Church because it’s the center
of the world…the Church, you obey.”
The film discusses
how the Vatican fuels the homophobia by stating
that homosexuality is on the same level of abomination
as incest and pedophilia. Except for Islamic countries,
this type of gay hatred is unheard of in civilized
nations. But with Vatican City literally in their
back yard, Italy has become a festering cauldron
of Church-led brainwashing against tolerance and
for hatred and alienation.
With the Berlusconi regime in power again, the
Vatican is getting exactly what they want when
it comes to their mental gay-bashing. Italian
citizens are following blindly as good Catholics
are taught to do from a very young age (speaking
from experience here!) Consequently, violence
towards Italian gays is on the rise. But the fight
continues—as it must. And Gustav and Luca
are leading the way.
Earlier this month
Berlusconi met with Pope Benedict for forty minutes
and proclaimed that a priority of his government
is “"the sacredness of the human person
and of the family." He defended the Vatican’s
interfering in domestic Italian affairs and punctuated
it with: "We are on the side of the church
and we believe in the values of our Christian
tradition."
It’s a scary
time in Italy, not just for gays and lesbians,
but also for those who cherish basic freedoms.
Bravi to Gustav Hofer & Luca Ragazzi for having
the balls to expose the travesties going on in
their country.
One final note:
Distributors in Italy are afraid to touch the
film so the directors are doing a tour and showing
it themselves throughout the country. They are
also traveling the world showing the film wherever
they can. It would behoove a savvy U.S. company
to pick this gem up and release it to as wide
an audience as possible. As cozy as we sometimes
feel here in the U.S., we should remind ourselves
of the last eight years and the erosion of so
many of the rights we always assumed would protect
us.
Sam Zalutsky’s
You Belong to Me
20th Annual Newfest:
The New York Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender
Film Festival
34th Street Theater
312 W 34th St. at 8th Ave
June 5-15, 2008
Reviewed by Frank
J. Avella
In Sam Zalutsky’s
surprisingly suspenseful and wickedly intriguing
new thriller, You Belong to Me, Boy is
so taken with French Boy that despite a pretty
obvious brush off, he decides to move into French
Boy’s building. But Boy gets a bit more
than he bargains for when he discovers some terrifying
secrets under his rotting floorboards.
The film is completely
absorbing and damned scary.
But that’s
nothing compared with the creepy and campy tour
de farce bravado of Patti D’Arbanville.
She is landlady Gladys: sweet, doting…a
bit too doting…and ultimately terrifying.
D’Arbanville reminded me of a younger version
of Sylvia Miles (was Sylvia Miles ever young???)
crossed with a much younger version of Ruth Gordon
(in her Rosemary’s Baby heyday).
Her Gladys is hilarious and monstrous all at the
same time. But in the end D’Arbanville makes
us understand her insanity and feel for her.
Daniel Sauli plays
Jeffrey, the way-too-impulsive architect. Sauli
shines in a complex role that is sometimes erratically
written.
Heather Simms is
Jeffrey’s black fag-hag. Simms has all the
fun retorts and tell-it-like-it-is charm we have
come to expect from this gay film staple.
You Belong
to Me is good filmmaking. My one major complaint
is that the movie deserved a more thought out
ending.
Jeffrey Schwarz’s
Wrangler: Anatomy of an Icon
20th Annual Newfest:
The New York Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender
Film Festival
34th Street Theater
312 W 34th St. at 8th Ave
June 5-15, 2008
Reviewed by Frank
J. Avella
“I didn’t
want to be wanted for my intellect or my wit.
I wanted to be lusted after.”
Such were the prophetic
words of Jack Wrangler, gay porn pioneer.
John Robert Stillman
was born into affluence in California. His father
was a prominent film and TV producer. “Jack”
grew up with MGM star Eleanor Powell as his Sunday
School teacher and was bitten by the entertainment
bug early on. He was soon working as an actor
and director. He did the dinner theater circuit
where he had to deal with the aging egos of divas
like Betty Hutton, Jane Russell and Yvonne DeCarlo.
In the 1970’s
Jack Stillman became Jack Wrangler, the first
brand name gay porno star. It was the golden age
of adult cinema and Wrangler (taking his name
from the Jeans label) was at its center. In the
midst of his “film” career, Jack decided
to branch out and became the number one attraction
in straight porn as well.
In 1976, Jack met
popular singer Margaret Whiting. By 1979, they
were married, despite the fact that he was 22
years her junior.
Wrangler: Anatomy
of an Icon chronicles exactly how such a
privileged and awkward young gay boy could become
queer porn star extraordinaire and then switch
gears and settle down to a monogamous “and
masturbatory” straight life with an older
woman.
Wrangler’s
story defies convention, which makes it all the
more fascinating and enveloping. The film is chronological
and features interviews with many important figures
in his life as well as the man himself. Wrangler
is very honest about his sexuality: I’m
not straight. I’m not bisexual. I’m
a gay man.” And about desire: “On
the one hand we want the lover and the fireplace.
On the other hand we wanna be pure trash.”
He also acknowledges that he was one of the lucky
ones who escaped the early years of AIDS, because
he had given up porn for Whiting.
Yet the documentary
shows how, all these years later, Jack feels the
need to make his father proud; to receive the
acceptance he had always craved but had never
gotten.
Wrangler discusses
how he is always introduced as “former porn
star, Jack Wrangler,” no matter what his
other accomplishments are. He does not say this
with any shame or regret, but with a combination
of pride and humility. It’s in these perceptive
moments that the film shows a truly extraordinary
talent who went down an unknown path and broke
ground, without ever having intended to do anything
but make an audience happy.
