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All
Boys
A Documentary by Markku Heikinnen
(Finland, 72 min.)
2010 Newfest Film Festival
Reviewed by Frank J. Avella
Dan Komar is notorious for having introduced
bareback sex into the Prague-based porn industry. When
the wall fell, he made the Czech Republic his home and
preyed on the gorgeous boys he found there—mostly
lower class street kids—introducing them to gay
porn and then tossing them aside once they reached a certain
age (one of the porn producers inferred that once the
boys reach age twenty, they’re show signs of wear
and must be replaced.)
Markku Heikinnen’s documentary,
All Boys, is a meandering account of the rise
and fall of Komar and some of his “actors,”
including Ruda (aka Aaron Hawke, named after Ethan Hawke).
At the heart of this film is a fascinating, if dysfunctionally
twisted, love story: that of Dan and Ruda.
When the film chooses to focus on the
enigmatic Komar speaking about his inability to find true
love and how his boys use him, seemingly unaware of the
irony of what he is saying--as well as Ruda and his rise
and devastating fall (at the film’s end he is interviewed
in the large homeless box he lives in)—the film
is fascinating and compelling.
Dan found Ruda on the streets. He was
beautiful. He exploited him and paid him very little.
Then he seduced him and the two were together for three
years. Dan constantly cheated while Ruda says he was never
unfaithful. In the end, Dan claims he tried to better
Ruda but insists Ruda refused his Pygmalion-like help.
Dan comes off as a manipulative and greedy dirtbag.
Had the filmmaker decided to tell this
story in more depth, All Boys might have been
pretty extraordinary. But too often Heikinnen peppers
his film with dull and underdeveloped substories as well
as pointless shots of boys sitting around doing nothing.
Komar isn’t the only predatory
capitalist who moved to Prague and sets up shop. As a
matter of fact, within ten years, Komar is bankrupt thanks
to a saturated market and the bourgeoning Internet.
The film does point out that most of
the boys who are roped into doing gay porn to survive,
once they are too old to continue, are so addicted to
sex and drugs that they turn to hustling to feed their
needs. It’s a sad story. It’s a mediocre but
thought-provoking movie.
Tickets now on sale to the general
public online and at the Mobile Box Office at the LGBT
Center, 208 W.13th St between Seventh and Eighth Aves.
Open 4-8pm Monday – Thurs, 3pm – 9pm Fri –
Sun.
NEWFEST is running at the SVA Theatre at 333 West 23rd
through June 13, 2010. For Information: http://newfest.org/wordpress/.
SVA Theatre | 333 West 23rd.Street
Marco Filiberti’s
David’s Birthday (Il Compleanno)
2010 Newfest Film Festival
SVA Theatre
Written by Marco Filiberti
Starring: Alessandro Gassman; Maria de Medeiros; Massimo
Poggio; Michela Cescon; Christo Jivkov; and Thyago Alves
In Italian with English subtitles 106
min.
Reviewed by Frank J. Avella
Lately, Italian filmmakers are proving
quite gutsy when it comes to the last taboo in that country:
homosexuality. Along with Ferzan Ozpetek (Loose Cannons
is his latest gem), Marco Filiberti examines one man’s
repression and how, once those desires become overpowering,
his actions have potentially devastating consequences.
Matteo (Massimo Poggio) is a therapist
who is seemingly happily married to Francesca (Maria de
Madeiros). They join their friends (Alessandro Gassman
& Michela Cescon) on vacation along a sunny Italian
beach awaiting the arrival of David, the latter couple’s
stunning teen son who will be celebrating his birthday.
Once David arrives, Matteo’s attraction to him begins
to overtake him while David’s seeming sexual ambiguity
begins to come into focus.
David’s Birthday (Il Compleanno)
is a sweeping and operatic melodrama, gorgeous to look
at (kudos to Roberta Allegrini’s camerawork) and
listen to (likewise Andrea Chenna’s powerful score).
And the entire ensemble is to be congratulated on giving
nuanced and perfectly modulated performances.
Gassman is a hoot as the abrasive father.
His Diego is the typical pigheaded Italian male who wants
to control his wife but wants to seek out other women
as well. Gassman steals almost every scene he is in with
his dynamic comic timing.
Poggio strikes all the right balances
of longing, tension—sexual and otherwise, dissatisfaction
and, eventually, bliss. His Matteo feels intellectually
superior to most others (including his patients) but he
is a sexual mess. Poggio’s ogling of David as he
hoses himself down is simultaneously hilarious, sad and
highly seductive.
Maria de Medeiros gives a lovely and
rich rendering of a woman trying her best to be the perfect
Italian wife—even when being demeaned by her husband.
De Medeiros gives off faint hints that she is aware something
is off about her mate, but nothing too obvious.
Thyago Alves is an absolutely gorgeous
male specimen. I defy heterosexual men to gaze on this
god and not have a doubt or two. The wonder of Alves is
that he is also a very good actor, imbuing David with
just enough mystery to keep us guessing. It’s shocking
that this is his film debut!
Filiberti has meticulously structured
his script, down to the last detail and, at first; I was
taken aback by the climax until I realized that it was
the only way to show the dangers of repression. In the
Italian culture there are certain things you cannot discuss.
If you must do these things then you do them behind closed
doors. And then you go back to your family. Or you simply
deny yourself who you are and live a lie. Bravo to Filiberti
for having the balls to depict this onscreen and for doing
it in such an artistically triumphant manner.
Tickets now on sale to the general public
online and at the Mobile Box Office at the LGBT Center,
208 W.13th St between Seventh and Eighth Aves. Open 4-8pm
Monday – Thurs, 3pm – 9pm Fri – Sun.
NEWFEST is running at the SVA Theatre
at 333 West 23rd through June 13, 2010. For Information:
newfest.org/wordpress/.
SVA Theatre
| 333 West 23rd.Street
Aluisio Abranches’s
From Beginning to End (Do Comeco Ao Fim)
2010 Newfest Film Festival
SVA Theatre
Written by Aluizio Abranches
Starring: Julia Lemmertz; Fabio Assuncao; Jean Pierre
Noher; Louise Cardoso; Gabriel Kaufmann; Lucas Cotrim;
Rafael Cardoso; and Joao Gabriel Vasconcellos
In Portuguese with English subtitles
Reviewed by Frank J. Avella
In this country no one would ever have
the chutzpah to make a film like From Beginning to
End. And I am pretty certain most reviews here in
the U.S., will be dismissive or convey disgust.
But if we could get beyond our pretend
Puritanism we might realize that writer/director Aluizio
Abranches has made a beautiful film about deep and true
love. And, yes, the lovers are brothers (half-brothers
to be precise).
Probably one of the most controversial
films at NEWFEST, it also happens to be my favorite (along
with David’s Birthday) so far, not just
for it’s daring but because Abranches has the courage
of his own character convictions and refuses to turn his
tale of incest into something dark and terrible.
Twelve-year old Francisco (Lucas Cotrim)
and his six-year old brother Thomas (Gabriel Kaufmann)
are closer than most siblings. Their mother (the lovely
Julia Lemmertz) seems to know something is up, but has
no intention of trying to fix it. The early scenes of
the boys together might be off-putting to some because
Abranches sees their bond as playful and natural.
Fifteen years later, Francisco (now
Joao Gabriel Vasconcellos) and Thomas (now Rafael Cardoso)
are as close as ever and the viewer is given full view
of their sexual relationship. The two men happen to be
incredibly attractive, but also good actors who make us
believe in their love for one another.
Yes, the pic gives its target audience (gay men) plenty
of buff naked bodies to ogle but there is more going on
than soft-core porn.
The film isn’t perfect with an
unbelievable yet forgivable plot contrivance meant to
break the brothers apart as well as the fact that no one
ever really questions them face-to-face about their relationship.
But perhaps the latter was deliberate. Perhaps Abranches
didn’t want to waver.
From Beginning to End
is a startling, provocative, deeply engrossing film that
doesn’t advocate incest as much as it insists on
showing us an atypical love story.
Tickets now on
sale to the general public online and at the Mobile Box
Office at the LGBT Center, 208 W.13th St between Seventh
and Eighth Aves. Open 4-8pm Monday – Thurs, 3pm
– 9pm Fri – Sun.
NEWFEST is running at the SVA Theatre at 333 West 23rd
through June 13, 2010. For Information: http://newfest.org/wordpress/.
SVA Theatre | 333 West 23rd.Street
8: The Mormon Proposition
A Documentary by Reed Cowan & Steven Greenstreet
(USA, 88 min.)
2010 Newfest Film Festival
SVA Theatre
Reviewed by Frank J. Avella
So many documentaries are made lately
that take on so many just and worthy causes (as well as
subject matter that isn’t all that interesting or
important), but sometimes the filmmaking can be shoddy
and the presentation didactic and preachy.
The best documentaries inform, educate
and attempt to illuminate. Occasionally, one comes along
that exposes hard truths and has the potential to galvanize
its audience and urge change.
8: The Mormon Proposition is
a vital and important film for anyone who cares about
civil rights (specifically, gay rights) and the separation
of church and state.
Reed Cowan (along with co-director Steven
Greenstreet) painstakingly depicts the David vs. Goliath
(self-ironically the production company’s name)
story of the ongoing fight to legalize gay marriage vs.
the tremendous power of the Mormon Church—financial
and otherwise.
Narrated by Dustin Lance Black, the
film examines Prop 8--the California measure that basically
decimates the California Supreme Court decision giving
gays the right to marry, in essence taking the right away—and
how early polls showed Californians opposed to the measure
but, because of a meticulous and calculated $22 million
campaign by the LDS Church, Prop 8 passed.
Thanks in large part to political consultant
Fred Karger; the filmmakers were able to view a slew of
internal Mormon documents that clearly show their carefully
planned and executed homophobic agenda. Knowing the unpopular
LDS behemoth needed to maintain very low visibility, they
brought in the Catholics and other Christian groups to
help do their dirty work. LDS leaders indoctrinated their
Bishops to solicit donations from parishioners based on
their salaries—sometimes handing over all their
children’s college monies for the cause—since
Mormons are taught obedience first.
Instead of preaching the gospel, the
Mormon Church “prophets” took it upon themselves
to promote hatred and intolerance, which resulted in so
many Mormon youth taking their own lives. This is where
the film truly disturbs, incenses and should motivate
many to action.
I could see how religious conservatives
would view elements of this film as propaganda—certainly
the LDS Church although they were asked to take part in
the docu (their refusal speaks volumes to their integrity,
or lack thereof). If you are mired in a hatred-based faith,
not much is going to change your mind about gay rights.
What I can’t imagine is how any human could see
and hear the stories in the pic of young men and women
being told that suicide is a better option to being gay
or lesbian and not thinking there is something fundamentally
wrong with that kind of Church teaching.
This is not a perfect film. It’s
filled with manipulation techniques (the score and the
way certain Elders are filmed in a very ominous and evil
manner to name just a few flaws) and I wanted more information,
more stories and a little more Mormon history. But its
definitely an important film, an important beginning to
making certain religious institutions cease playing politics
or deal with the consequences when they do.
Tickets now on sale to the general public online and at
the Mobile Box Office at the LGBT Center, 208 W.13th St
between Seventh and Eighth Aves. Open 4-8pm Monday –
Thurs, 3pm – 9pm Fri – Sun.
NEWFEST is running at the SVA Theatre at 333 West 23rd
through June 13, 2010. For Information: http://newfest.org/wordpress/.
SVA Theatre | 333 West 23rd.Street
Marco Berger’s
Plan B
2010 Newfest Film Festival
SVA Theatre
Written by Marco Berger
Starring: Manuel Vignau; Lucas Ferraro;
Mercedes Quinteros; and Damián Canduci
(Argentina, In Spanish with English
subtitles. 103 min.)
Reviewed by Frank J. Avella
Marco Berger’s Plan B
tells a simplistic story, where you can see the ending
coming in the first reel. But he does it so well that
you don’t mind going along for the cine-ride.
Bruno (sexy Manuel Vignau) is upset
when his girlfriend, Laura (Mercedes Quinteros), leaves
him for adorable Pablo (equally sexy Lucas Ferraro). Upon
hearing rumors that Pablo has admitted to gay experiences,
Bruno comes up with a plan (B) where he will get Laura
back by seducing Pablo, thus revealing his bisexuality
and infidelity.
As Bruno and Pablo begin to bond, a
funny thing happens; they discover they genuinely like
one another. Bruno begins sleeping with Laura again, but
much to his surprise, he has become enamored with Pablo,
who it turns out has never had a gay experience but he
has feelings for Bruno.
Cultural note: Homosexuality is still
a big taboo in Latin and South America so admitting to
same-sex attraction is tantamount to emasculation.
Vignau and Ferraro deliver honest and
complex performances that keep the viewer’s interest
throughout.
Plan B is a worthwhile sit,
although it could have used another five or ten minutes
at the end to give the obvious target audience what they
spent 100 minutes craving, instead of blue-balling them.
However, given the repressed culture, less probably needed
to be more in hopes of reaching the unenlightened.
Tickets now on
sale to the general public online and at the Mobile Box
Office at the LGBT Center, 208 W.13th St between Seventh
and Eighth Aves. Open 4-8pm Monday – Thurs, 3pm
– 9pm Fri – Sun.
NEWFEST is running at the SVA Theatre at 333 West 23rd
through June 13, 2010. For Information: http://newfest.org/wordpress/.
SVA Theatre | 333 West 23rd.Street
Darren Flaxstone’s
Release
2010 Newfest Film Festival
SVA Theatre
Written by Darren Flaxstone
and Christian Martin
Starring: Daniel Brocklebank;,
Wayne Virgo; Bernie Hodges; Garry Summers; and Simon Pearce
(U.K. 87 min.)
Reviewed by Frank J. Avella
Darren Flaxstone & Christian Martin
wrote last year’s harrowing festival entry, Shank.
And although I admired its audacity, I wondered whom exactly
were these filmmakers making films for? That question
came up again as I watched the brutal and unendingly bleak
world these artists created onscreen in their new feature,
Release.
Most of the gritty narrative is set
in prison and surrounds Father Jack (Daniel Brocklebank
in a towering performance), who is incarcerated for a
crime he has committed. Most of the inmates assume it’s
pedophilia and they taunt him about it. Father Jack has
embarked on a gay affair with a prison guard but, because
of his past sins, feels he does not deserve love.
In addition, Father Jack comes to the
defense of his cellmate, Rook (Wayne Virgo, star of Shank),
who is almost beaten to death by other prisoners.
The film is most powerful when it focuses
on the intense relationships between Father Jack and the
guard as well as Father Jack and Rook. But when the film
meanders and veers from these intense scenes, the results
are uneven.
Flaxstone's blend of the nasty realism
of prison life with otherworldly and supernatural elements
never fully gel. Also, there’s a moment near the
end that is almost laughably reminiscent of the Prom scene
in Carrie and the denouement is contrived (although
poetic).
The villainous leader is an ambiguous
and one-dimensional character and simply frustrates the
viewer since there is never any payback.
Like Shank, Release
presents a singularly pessimistic view of the world. But
it is also refreshingly original in parts. Release
sees redemption as a possibility but not a tangible reality.
And in a medium saturated with films designed to please
and entertain, there is certainly room for…a different
vision.
Tickets now on
sale to the general public online and at the Mobile Box
Office at the LGBT Center, 208 W.13th St between Seventh
and Eighth Aves. Open 4-8pm Monday – Thurs, 3pm
– 9pm Fri – Sun.
NEWFEST is running at the SVA Theatre at 333 West 23rd
through June 13, 2010. For Information: http://newfest.org/wordpress/.
SVA Theatre | 333 West 23rd.Street
Rock Hudson: Dark and Handsome
Stranger
A Documentary by Andrew Davies, Andre Schafer, Jamie
Travis
(Germany, 96 min.)
2010 Newfest Film Festival
Reviewed by Frank J. Avella
Rock Hudson: Dark and Handsome Stranger
is at it’s best when it explores the matinee
idol’s film career and commitment to his craft,
specifically a meaty segment where Salome Jens and Richard
Anderson discuss the much-maligned John Frankenheimer
work Seconds. This was his proudest performance
and the film is appreciated much more today.
Rock Hudson was one of the last products
of the Hollywood studio system where stars were nurtured
and, literally, made. But he had one small problem; he
was a homosexual. In the studio days, gay stars were protected
and press knew to stay away from reporting about their
real lives. Stories were fabricated about who they dated,
etc. Hudson’s career did almost come to a crashing
halt in the 50s when Confidential magazine threatened
to expose him…the studio handled it and ruined another
actor instead. Today, closeted stars have “handlers”
who take care of these things and there is still a silent
agreement with the media to leave these titans alone.
In the mid-80s, Hudson became famous
for being, quite literally, the face of AIDS. Whether
he heroically came forward to save lives (highly unlikely)
or was forced out of the closet because of the illness,
can be debated forever. The film, unfortunately, sheds
little light on this question.
In addition, the omission of his well-publicized
stint on the nighttime soap Dynasty and controversial
kissing of Linda Evans seems glaring since it was such
a big deal back then.
The documentary focuses too much attention on the salacious
without getting really dirty. I have no problem with gossip
but if you’re going to go for it, then really go
for it! Instead we get snippets from unknowns about his
pool parties—never going into any major detail.
Armistead Maupin (Tales of the City), at least, tells
some fun Rock stories but when he seems ready to tell
a sex story in detail, the camera cuts away.
It took three directors to put this
docu together. You’d think they’d fact check
details (The Mirror Crack’d is graphically
displayed as The Mirror Cracked) and investigate beyond
what any street person already knows about Hudson.
The film also feels shoddily put together.
Much of the stock footage is inane and the score feels
inappropriate. In addition, the interviewees leave a lot
to be desired. Old footage of co-stars would have served
the film much better than the likes of Rona Barrett and
her offensively homophobic comments masking as caring
and thoughtful.
In the end, Hudson was an underrated
actor and a gorgeous hunk of a movie star who ended up
ravaged by AIDS. The footage of him with Doris Day close
to the end of his life is truly haunting and more devastating
than anything in the film.
This documentary leaves the viewer wanting
so much more.
Tickets now on sale to the general
public online and at the Mobile Box Office at the LGBT
Center, 208 W.13th St between Seventh and Eighth Aves.
Open 4-8pm Monday – Thurs, 3pm – 9pm Fri –
Sun.
NEWFEST is running at the SVA Theatre at 333 West 23rd
through June 13, 2010. For Information: http://newfest.org/wordpress/.
SVA Theatre | 333 West 23rd.Street
Casper Andreas’s
Violet Tendencies
2010 Newfest Film Festival Closing Night Film
SVA Theatre
Written by Jesse Archer
Starring: Mindy Cohn; Marcus Patrick; Kim Allen; Vincent
De Paul; Shari Albert; Casper Andreas; Jesse Archer; Samuel
Whitten; Kim Allen; and Adrian Armas
Reviewed by Frank J. Avella
Casper Andreas is quite a prolific filmmaker.
Just last year he gave us the fab Big Gay Musical.
The year previous he directed what I consider his best
film, Between Love & Goodbye and in 2007
he made A Four Letter Word, which I wasn’t
fond of.
This year he’s reunited with the
writer/actor of the latter movie and has crafted an enjoyable,
sometimes silly, sometimes poignant comedy about the last
fag-hag in NYC!
Violet (The Facts of Life’s
Mindy Cohn) is a successful businesswoman who is now forty.
Thanks to a gorgeous, if nutty co-worker named Salome
(Kim Allen) she realizes that all her friends are gay
which makes meeting a mate nearly impossible. Violet begins
to ignore her true friends in a lunatic quest to find
her Mr. Right. We are also privy to subplots involving
Violet’s gay gaggle, the most interesting involving
the delicious Samuel Whitten and the cute Andreas himself
as a couple who disagree about adopting a child.
Andreas is a gifted director but Archer’s
script too often settles for the one-liners instead of
probing dialogue and he sets up too many vulgar comedic
moments that destroy credibility instead of giving us
true-to-life situations. Sometimes the real overtakes
the camp and that’s when Violet Tendencies
soars.
Cohn can be abrasive, affecting, sympathetic
and grotesque—the mix is erratic at best.
The best performance in the film is
by Megan Fox look-a-like, Kim Allen, who steals every
scene she is in as Salome. Allen is someone to watch.
She has charisma, charm, comic-flair, stunning looks and
is a damn good actress!
Violet Tendencies fits nicely,
if too safely, into the Andreas oeuvre. I wish he would
truly challenge himself with his next project. We shall
see in about a year.
Tickets now on
sale to the general public online and at the Mobile Box
Office at the LGBT Center, 208 W.13th St between Seventh
and Eighth Aves. Open 4-8pm Monday – Thurs, 3pm
– 9pm Fri – Sun.
NEWFEST is running at the SVA Theatre at 333 West 23rd
through June 13, 2010. For Information: http://newfest.org/wordpress/.
SVA Theatre | 333 West 23rd.Street
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