Reverend's Report: When Film Festivals Collide

Most people think it's fun and semi-glamorous being a film critic, and it can be. A film critic's job, however, becomes about as challenging as a job can get when covering not just one film festival but two — while also serving as a programmer for a third festival — simultaneously. Such was my lot from late May through July 17, when I provided advance coverage for and attended the Los Angeles Film Festival and Outfest, the 29th Los Angeles Gay & Lesbian Film Festival, while reviewing submissions for this September's Long Beach Q Film Festival. All in all, I've been subjected to over 300 mostly independent, primarily GLBT-interest shorts and features in 60 days, an average of 5 films per day. And this isn't even my full-time job!

Outfest 2011 came to a close with the LA premiere of The Perfect Family, starring Kathleen Turner as the conservative Catholic mother of a lesbian daughter. On the same day she is nominated for the "Catholic Woman of the Year" award, Mom learns that her daughter and daughter's partner are planning to get married. Out actor Richard Chamberlain plays the local monsignor, and Sharon Lawrence has a great turn as Turner's co-nominee/nemesis. While the film is chiefly a drama, it has its comedic moments and I couldn't help but picture Turner at times as her Serial Mom character and wish she'd make an obscene crank call or two to Lawrence, which only made the movie funnier for me. The Perfect Family doesn't get all the Catholic details right but still presents the church's rituals and parish politics more seriously than most movies. Rating: B

Religious themes were big this year, with several significant entries in both the LA Film Fest (including Vera Farmiga's haunting Higher Ground) and Outfest. The Wise Kids, featured at the latter, is a lovely, teen coming-of-age story that avoids most of the clichés we've come to expect of that genre. Writer-director Stephen Cone (who also plays a closeted, married church leader in the film) won the festival's Grand Jury Award for Outstanding Screenwriting, and the movie was awarded the Grand Jury prize for Outstanding US Dramatic Feature. Its no-name cast is excellent and I was also impressed by the ethereal music score by Mikhail Fiksel.  Rating: B+

Mangus!, by Ash Christian of Fat Girls fame, is a John Waters-type farce that even includes a cameo by Waters (as Jesus, no less). The title character is the latest in a line of family members who have performed the starring role in Jesus Christ Spectacular, a local stage tradition begun when the producers couldn't afford the rights to Jesus Christ Superstar. It's inconsequential, frequently trashy stuff but benefits from a great supporting cast that includes Leslie Jordan, Jennifer Coolidge and Heather Matarazzo. Rating: C

While the standout film for me at both the LA Film Festival and Outfest was the joyous urban ball-musical Leave It On the Floor (which has also been selected to screen at our Long Beach festival), there were a number of other movies shown during Outfest that particularly impressed and/or touched me. These include the documentaries Carol Channing: Larger Than Life and We Were Here. Carol Channing arguably ranks second only to Betty White in the category of 90-year old entertainment legends. The original Dolly Levi in the Broadway cast of Hello, Dolly! as well as an Oscar nominee for her loopy performance in the 1967 movie musical Thoroughly Modern Millie ("Raspberries!") continues to make talk show and fundraising appearances. Channing is also the subject and frequent narrator of this wonderfully informative documentary that explores her illustrious stage career, her upbringing in San Francisco, and the history behind her current marriage of 10 years to her Junior High sweetheart. It can be faulted somewhat for only viewing Channing through admiring, rose-colored glasses, but then I suppose anyone who disparages the endearingly cheery star does so at their own peril. Rating: A-

We Were Here, meanwhile, is a riveting reflection on the initial, devastating impact of the AIDS epidemic on San Francisco's gay community. Don't watch it without a box of tissues handy; my partner had to console me when I broke down at least twice while watching the movie, which I very rarely do. The film won the Audience Award for Outstanding Documentary Feature at Outfest and is scheduled to be released theatrically this September. Rating: B+

Weekend, which won the Outfest Grand Jury Award for Outstanding International Dramatic Feature, is getting a great reception among gay men wherever it shows. It will be released in US theatres starting this October. Written, directed and even edited by Andrew Haigh (Greek Pete), it follows two gay men over the course of 48 hours following their initial, Friday night meeting. Well-written and insightful, I don't think we've seen a gay-themed film this purely romantic and ultimately affecting since Brokeback Mountain. Lead actors Tom Cullen and Chris New have undeniable chemistry and give great, vulnerable performances. Unfortunately, I was put off by the characters' considerable drug use in the film. Getting high on marijuana and cocaine during the early stages of courting is hardly a healthy foundation for a long-lasting relationship. This is the only aspect in which Weekend felt false to me. Still, it's highly recommended. Rating: B+

Romeos is a standout among an unusually high number of transgender-interest submissions at all three film festivals I've been a part of this summer. While Tomboy (which had its US premiere at the LA Film Festival) is in my opinion the best among them (although some are arguing Tomboy is a lesbian-themed story rather than a trans-interest one), I also like this German production a lot. A male-appearing but secretly transgender young adult captures the eye and, eventually, the heart of a very hot gay boy. As false appearances and stereotypical expectations are gradually removed, the two forge a genuinely pioneering romance; well worth seeing. Rating: B+

Quite possibly the most ambitious production screening at Outfest was Woman's Picture. This evocation of/tribute to traditional women's genre films merely represents the first three segments of what is intended to be a 10-year film project masterminded by the highly intelligent and talented Brian Pera (The Way I See Things). Pera, looking Kevin Bacon-esque, co-stars alongside trans actress Calpernia Addams in the first part, "Ingrid." Singer Amy Lavere and the wonderful Anne Magnuson head up the other two, initial chapters. Woman's Picture, which Pera calls an homage to his grandmothers in the press notes, is a bit over-long and self-indulgent at times but it is also stylistically fascinating and beautifully shot by Ryan Parker. Given the film's presumably low budget, Pera deserves props for his economic technique, at least. Rating: B

Other award-winning movies screened during Outfest are Circumstance (Audience Award for Outstanding First US Dramatic Feature and Grand Jury Award for Outstanding Actress, Nikohl Boosheri; it also won the Audience Award at January's Sundance Film Festival and will be released theatrically at the end of August); the ingenious Shakespeare update Private Romeo, which won the Grand Jury Award for Outstanding Actor for its entire, all-male cast; and Tom Tykwer's bisexual-themed 3, which garnered Outfest's 2011 Audience Award for Outstanding Dramatic Feature Film.

The last two months have provided me a wonderful cinematic workout, but I'm ready for a celluloid-free vacation... right after I see the final chapter in the Harry Potter saga and Captain America, that is...

Report by Rev. Chris Carpenter, resident film critic of Movie Dearest and the Blade California.

Reverend's Interview: Alan Brown Gives Shakespeare a Gay Twist with Private Romeo

There have been contemporary adaptations of Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare's tragic saga of star-crossed young lovers from feuding families, notably Baz Luhrmann's 1995 movie version starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes. There has even been a prior all-male stage version, the off-Broadway hit R & J. But Alan Brown's Private Romeo is the first film to combine a contemporary setting of the play with an all-male cast.  The film will screen this Friday as part of this year's Outfest, the Los Angeles Gay & Lesbian Film Festival.

In a recent phone conversation with the New York-based director, I asked Brown what were his sources of inspiration. "I lived in Japan for 8 years and taught my last two years there at a university using Franco Zeffirelli's (1968 film) Romeo and Juliet," Brown replied. "The Japanese love Shakespeare, but I also used the AIDS drama Longtime Companion and would have my students write plays based on those two movies. That's when I first made the connection between Romeo and Juliet and gay issues."

Brown had also seen R & J during its New York run, and was approached by the producers who held the rights to direct a film adaptation of it. That project failed to materialize, and Brown had moved on to studying soldiers' issues during the Iraq War. He met openly gay serviceman Daniel Choi and was inspired by the many stories he heard from GLBT troops. They served as fodder for Brown's 2007 film, Superheroes.

Growing calls for the repeal of the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy as well as increasing incidents of bullying of GLBT young people ultimately led Brown to make Private Romeo. "I will feel good about the repeal of DADT when they implement it," the filmmaker says. "When Bush was re-elected in 2004, I felt like a lot of people I knew were depressed and felt we were powerless."

Brown continued, "I asked myself 'How can I contribute as a filmmaker to this issue?' I felt like what I learned then was 'Tend to your own garden,' so I made Superheroes and now Private Romeo." Most of Brown's new film was shot at the Maritime College of SUNI in the Bronx. Interestingly, some of it was filmed at a Catholic boys' high school on Long Island, which welcomed the production after a nearby public school withdrew their permission to shoot on campus due to a football hazing incident there.

Apart from his childhood years in Scranton, Pennsylvania ("I grew up Jewish in a very Catholic city," he said) and the time he spent in Japan, Brown is a longtime New Yorker. He started out as a journalist before deciding to pursue filmmaking full time. Brown has been partnered for 20 years with a Japanese man who works in the art world.

Brown had been planning to return to Japan to make what was supposed to be his next movie, Audrey Hepburn's Neck, based on his novel. Production has been postponed in the wake of the recent earthquake and tsunami that has devastated the country. "The story is set in Japan and is about cross-cultural, heterosexual sexual obsession," according to Brown, "but (the main male character's) best friend is a gay American in Japan who only dates Japanese men."

In the meantime, Brown has developed a music film, The Park. It will feature a large cast of diverse characters, some of them gay, who converge for a music festival in New York's Prospect Park. "It is Altman-esque, with overlapping stories all taking place in one day," Brown says. Shooting is to begin in October.

As one of a growing number of filmmakers dedicated to telling GLBTQ stories, Alan Brown and his Private Romeo represent Outfest at its best.

UPDATE: The US distribution rights for Private Romeo have been acquired by Wolfe Video. The film will be released theatrically this Fall in partnership with The Film Collaborative and debut on DVD/VOD in 2012.

Interview by Rev. Chris Carpenter, resident film critic of Movie Dearest and the Blade California.

Reverend's Preview: Outfest 2011

Dolly Parton hasn't appeared on the big screen in nearly 20 years but she will be a dominant figure at this month's Outfest, the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Film Festival. The singer-actress-GLBTQ ally appears in not one but two films that will be screened during the event that runs July 7-17 at various locations throughout LA, Santa Monica and Hollywood. Pornographic zombies, lesbian rockers, Kathleen Turner as a seemingly-perfect housewife and mother nominated for the "Catholic Woman of the Year Award," and yet another chapter in the Eating Out series are also among the tasty offerings on this year's menu.

Now in its 29th year, making it one of the longest-running film festivals of any kind in the US, Outfest annually presents the best of new and classic, independent GLBTQ movies. Six gala screenings will be featured in addition to more than 100 features and shorts. "This year's selection of galas represent some of the most acclaimed and thematically diverse films of the year," according to Kirsten Schaffer, Outfest's Executive Director.

Is this the C***sucker residence?
The 2011 Opening Night Gala will kick off with the presentation of the 15th Annual Outfest Achievement Award to Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato. Once the acclaimed directors of such eye-opening documentaries as Party Monster, The Eyes of Tammy Faye, 101 Rent Boys and the recent Becoming Chaz have been honored, the feature Gun Hill Road will be shown. It stars Esai Morales (Rapa Nui, Caprica) as a recently released parolee who comes home to discover his teenage son is transgender. The drama's great cast also includes Judy Reyes of TV's Scrubs and impressive newcomer Harmony Santana as Michael/Vanessa (look for an interview with Santana here next week). A spectacular Opening Night after-party will follow Gun Hill Road.

Outfest's Closing Night Gala at the Ford Amphitheatre on July 17 will showcase The Perfect Family, which recently had its world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York. Jason Ritter, Emily Deschanel, Sharon Lawrence and out actor Richard Chamberlain (as a Catholic monsignor) co-star with Kathleen Turner in this drama-comedy about the collision of traditional values and modern reality within a Catholic household. It marks the feature film debut of director Anne Renton. The Closing Night after-party will be celebrated at Hollywood's classic Roosevelt Hotel.

Between these "bookends," other gala screenings will be held: Circumstance, a contemporary story set in ultra-conservative Iran about the forbidden love between two teenage girls that won the Audience Award at this year's Sundance Film Festival; Weekend, a well-written, affecting drama by British filmmaker Andrew Haigh (Greek Pete), in which the relationship between two men grows from a one-night stand to something more complex and significant; the documentary Hit So Hard, about rock musician Patty Schemel; and 3, the latest stylish movie by mainstream German director Tom Tykwer (Run Lola Run), who now explores the topic of sexual fluidity.

Dolly Parton will take the cinematic spotlight during Outfest 2011 on two occasions (and is making her live performance debut at the Hollywood Bowl this month as well). The traditional "Sing-Along" movie musical event on July 13 will be 1982's The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas. The fact-based hit stars Parton as a beloved madam, Miss Mona, who with the local sheriff (a crooning Burt Reynolds) squares off against a religious crusader (the late Dom DeLuise) determined to shut her brothel down. It contains such classic songs as "I Will Always Love You," "Hard Candy Christmas" and "A Li'l Ol' Bitty Country Place." Of note, the movie was helmed by gay director Colin Higgins, who sadly died of AIDS complications not long after its original release.

Then, on July 16, Parton will be seen in the wonderful documentary Hollywood to Dollywood. The country-western queen is the lifelong object of affection of two gay twin brothers, Gary and Larry Lane, who rent a mobile home and set out on a road trip to hand-deliver a screenplay they've written to Parton at her Tennessee amusement park. Their resulting film serves as a loving tribute to her as well as an opportunity to see the twins' industry friends, which include gay faves Leslie Jordan, Beth Grant and Chad Allen.

A few other must-see movies at this year's Outfest I was able to preview are:

- Leave It On the Floor, a spectacular musical-on-a-budget by director Sheldon Larry and screenwriter/lyricist Glenn Gaylord. Set in Los Angeles, it focuses on local "dynasties" of GLBT young people who perform in weekly drag balls. It combines elements of the 1991 documentary Paris is Burning as well as Dreamgirls, and features the best dance number set in a bowling alley since Grease 2 (and I am counting the lane-shaking sequences in The Big Lebowski and Across the Universe)! The movie's recent world premiere at the LA Film Festival sold out quickly, so don't wait to buy tickets.

- Private Romeo, an ingenious transplanting of Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet to a modern, all-male military academy. Alan Brown (watch for an interview with him later this week) directs an attractive and talented cast, who utilize the original text and gender references but also add an unexpected twist or two.

- I Am, which explores GLBTQ life in India. This insightful, award-winning documentary was inspired by director Sonali Gulati's personal efforts to bring closure to her relationship with her deceased mother. Along the way, we are introduced to numerous out Indians including prince-turned-political-activist Manvendra Singh Gohil, who was famously but tragically disowned by his royal family after he revealed he was gay.

Not as good but still recommended:

- Longhorns, the latest comedy from the producers of BearCity and Fruit Fly. Set in the 1980's, it evokes such gotta-lose-my-virginity titles of the time as Porky's and Risky Business — but with a gay sensibility — to often-hilarious effect. The hot, funny cast includes local boys Dylan Vox and Kevin Held.

- August, a beautifully filmed and scored tale of romantic entanglement. Following his return to LA after several years in Europe, a man reunites with his former partner despite his ex's new relationship with a sexy immigrant. The movie's writer-director, Eldar Rapaport, is designated by Outfest as one of "4 in Focus" filmmakers to pay particular attention to.

- The Green, a timely story about a gay high school teacher in Connecticut who is accused of having a sexual relationship with a male student. It features excellent performances by name actors Jason Butler Harner, Cheyenne Jackson of Glee and Broadway fame, Ileanna Douglas, Karen Young and, as a lesbian attorney, Julia Ormond.

For certain, shall we say unusual tastes, this year's Outfest will include L.A. Zombie, a new porn-horror epic by provocateur Bruce LaBruce. Adult superstar François Sagat plays the possibly schizophrenic, possibly undead title role. Graphic and gory but chock-full of hot men, the movie is likely to give new meaning to the term "raising the dead"!

For the full Outfest 2011 festival schedule and to purchase passes or tickets, visit the fest's official website.

Preview by Rev. Chris Carpenter, resident film critic of Movie Dearest and the Blade California.