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Reviews
When Ocean Meets Sky (2003)
Now I have a visual to go with my friends' stories of Fire Island
Fast paced and amazing footage of this gay anomaly of a place, this film helps me to understand why so many friends continue to talk about their days at Fire Island Pines in the 70's and 80's. This documentary goes back to the beginning (in the early 50's) and is brimming with amazing videos, interviews and photographs displayed perfectly to entertain and educate.
It is gratifying to see how this small Petri dish of a place grew with gay and straight members of the community working together (for the most part) to create magic, drawing gay men by the droves, inspiring drag queens to invade and proving so enticing that the likes of Carol Channing, Judy Garland and many other celebrities braved the ferry ride to experience Fire Island.
The film's pace hits an intended and beautifully timed snag in 1980 when "gay cancer", GRID or as we know it now AIDS first comes on the scene. Laced with present day interviews with Larry Kramer and other contemporaries, the film is a living testimony of how the little island endured Nor' Easters and fires and was shut down as people were afraid the new disease that was killing gay men in New York might somehow be linked to Fire Island. The pace picks up quickly as we watch the community fight back to raise money and create organizations that remain critical to the fight against AIDS today and ultimately rebound to reemerge as one of the great iconic gay destinations in the world.
Sommersturm (2004)
Beautiful cinematography, amusing and while not ground breaking, worth seeing
This isn't as captivating as "Beautiful Thing", but it provides a lovely look into a summer camp coming of age story that deals with the heartache of being a teenager gay or straight, and the complexities that exist among heart, mind and societal pressure.
The music and cinematography are excellent. The acting is fine. The 98 minute story seems to drag a bit here and there, but generally is enjoyable. The editing jumps joltingly from scene to scene with no apparent attempt to avoid the resulting whiplash experienced by the viewer.
This film provides wonderful insight into growing pains as young Tobi attempts to deny who he is and deals with rejection from his best friend and love interest Achim. Ultimately honest self evaluation and self acceptance win out. As is the case for many of us (gay or straight), acceptance by others comes only when we finally accept ourselves. While this film is a bit cliché perhaps, it still merits a look.
The Dying Gaul (2005)
Creative, Intriguing - Think David Lynch meets Alfred Hitchcock
What a stroke of genius to have this film open the 7th annual Miami Gay & Lesbian Film Festival. Craig Lucas attended and was wonderful. In a time when being gay is mostly viewed as a normal part of our societal fabric (current Administration and Red States notwithstanding)this film seems to me to elude the "gay film" classification. It has a gay character, it has a bi character (yes Virginia, there are "bi" people) and they are central to the story, but they are NOT the story. (Shhh...don't tell anyone, but the gay character isn't the good guy - WHAT!?)
For those who like their movies' plot lines all tied up in nice neat little bundles, with only one plausible explanation, "The Dying Gaul" probably isn't for you. This is a gem. Groundbreaking is the word that keeps coming to mind. It takes the psycho-thriller genre into the 21st century with only enough blood and gore to get it moved to the 9pm slot were it to appear on network TV (of course the gay content would probably relegate it to cable).
Amazing acting by Patricia Clarkson, Campbell Scott and Peter Sarsgaard make this film so easy to enjoy. The cinematography is beyond words; the screenplay and direction, brilliant. Craig Lucas (Long Time Companion, Secret Loves of Dentists, and Prelude to a Kiss) has proved his genius extends beyond writing to inspired directing.
Haunting and beautiful, this is a story as unique as the imagination of the viewer. Taken at face value there is an amazing film here. But for anyone willing and able to go below the surface, this is a multi-leveled film that deserves at least a 2 hour visit over coffee with a friend to explore the intricate, disturbing possibilities it conjures. BRAVO!
Le clan (2004)
Dark, violent and realistic - not entertaining
While several friends loved it, I didn't care for this film. One can strive to find redemption in the way the 3 brothers cared for one another in this amazingly dysfunctional family, but it doesn't make up for the gratuitous violence and brutal portrayal of the killing of a dog.
This film seems mostly about pushing the edges of the shock envelope with frontal nudity (shaving and pub trimming included) psychological and physical brutality taking center stage. For some, this kind of non-Hollywood shock therapy is apparently enjoyable. For me it was an unfortunate way to spend one and one half hours.
Many people walked out during the screening I attended, and many more complained about the inclusion of this film in the local film festival as unnecessary. If hitting a painful nerve is the intent, this film does that well.
That Man: Peter Berlin (2005)
Biographical Documentary of gay icon/porn star Peter Berlin
I had the pleasure of joining a near capacity audience for the North American Premier of "That Man: Peter Berlin" at the Miami Gay & Lesbian Film Festival. The film provides a provocative and entertaining look at the life of this 70's gay sex icon who has for years shunned any camera but his own. Containing hundreds of Berlin's pictures of himself (every inch of himself), his vain, self absorbed persona drew me in much as it apparently drew in thousands when he was a 30 year old exhibitionist hunk cruising the streets of San Francisco in his white, skin tight, pants (with a bushel sized basket) and blonde page-boy haircut in the 70's.
Armistead Maupin, John Waters and porn legend Jack Wrangler, together with Producer Lawrence Helman provide insight and commentary into this extraordinary life. Robert Maplethorpe and Andy Warhol provided a glowing peer review from the grave of this interesting photographer cum street performance artist. Possibly most remarkable was the on camera interaction between the Director and the painfully shy Armin (Berlin's real name) about his life experience and his unique take on sex and sexuality.
Director, Jim Tushinski, did a remarkable job of introducing us to both the persona "Peter Berlin" and the reclusive 62 year old from San Francisco who created this iconic persona during his youth.
This is Tushinski's first documentary. While the 80 minutes passed quickly with so much eye candy, the film could benefit from some additional editing and deletion of some stock footage of seemingly irrelevant gay pride parades and such improving both the pace and the length of the film.
Touch of Pink (2004)
Who knew there were gay Muslims?
I had the opportunity to view "Touch of Pink" as a special showing to members of the Miami Gay and Lesbian Film Festival community this week. The director, Ian Iqbal Rashid, was present and provided a wonderful Q&A following the showing.
The film is "low budget" - just how low is low? The director wouldn't say (a provision in his contract with Sony, apparently). Frankly, I have seen many big budget films that delivered much, much less. The fact that the director also wrote the screenplay and the lyrics to the original compositions shows his devotion to delivering this film. From concept to screen took him 11 years!
Several facts speak for themselves: 1. The audience reacted very favorably to this film at Sundance, and at the screening I attended, 2. It has been picked up by several major Lesbian & Gay Film Festivals for prime opening or closing night slots and 3. It is scheduled for release by Sony Pictures in July. This is not your run of the mill film festival film! Most films come to the film festival circuit LOOKING for a distributor.
One could easily say the premise has been overdone (i.e., homophobic mother/gay son/coming out angst story). For me, however, this film had unique twists that made it anything but trite. A gay, Indian Muslim from Canada living in London and forced to confront his own and his family's, homophobia isn't something I've ever witnessed before. Kyle MachLachlan as Cary Grant (a make believe friend of the main character, Alim) is a sight to behold. The acting is generally superb; the timing of the lines perfect. Throw in enticing sets and wonderful costuming and you've got magic going on.
At a time when we in the West are confronted daily with images of the "evil" radical fundamentalist Muslim world, I believe this film serves yet another purpose. It shows the humanity of Muslims, and I'm certain this image is much more realistic than the one we see repeated ad nausea on CNN. Dealing with homophobia is a common denominator: Maybe we have more in common with the vast majority of Muslims than we have been lead to believe. One leaves with a sense of optimism (if Alim can survive this mess with such cultural obstacles, maybe there is hope for the kid in the Midwest from a fundamentalist Christian family). There is even an Indian distributor signed up, so maybe an even greater impact will be made in the Muslim world.
As one audience member put it, "I like movies that make me think, make me laugh and make me cry...this did all three." I couldn't agree more. This is a must see!