June is busting out all over and film festival season has begun in Los Angeles. Dances With Films (DWF), celebrating its “Sweet 16” edition, is running now through June 9 and will dovetail this weekend with the annual Los Angeles Greek Film Festival. Next week brings the LA FilmFestival, which will run June 13-23 and will be followed in early July by Outfest, the LA Gay & Lesbian Film Festival.
While DWF is a bit deficient with GLBT-themed movies this
year, it does feature the LA
premiere tonight of a romantic-comedy starring one of gaydom’s
favorite actors. Cheyenne Jackson, Broadway’s hunky leading man as well
as a regular on 30 Rock and other TV
series, is the biggest name among the ensemble cast in Matthew Watts’ Mutual Friends. Gay fans may be
disappointed to see the openly-gay Jackson
play straight here but he impresses as usual with his turn as Christophe, an
engaged man celebrating his 30th birthday. After making his
entrance shirtless and in bed (thumbs up for that), the sweet but clueless
Christophe is dispatched with for a while as his fiancée plans a surprise
birthday party for him.
The party preparations end up serving as a catalyst for
various tensions, explorations and revelations by the angst-ridden New Yorkers
who are Christophe’s friends. His fiancée even realizes, quite
predictably, by the party’s start that she is in love with another man.
No less than seven screenwriters are credited for the film’s multiple
storylines dealing with people “afraid of making a real
connection.” While it is perfectly acceptable for Jackson to play a heterosexual man, I did
find it odd that there are neither GLBT characters nor people of color among Mutual Friends’ fairly large cast of
characters. They do live in NYC after all.
There are a number of very good, naturalistic performances
rendered by the movie’s largely theatre-trained players, as well as some funny
lines of dialogue in the script (example: Upon discovering Christophe’s
initial, accidentally penis-shaped birthday cake, one party planner remarks
“I hope it doesn’t taste like cock”). Mutual Friends is pleasurable enough in
the watching but left me wanting more, especially more of Jackson.
A few other intriguing films screening during DWF are the
world premiere of Automotive, a
piece of modern noir told through “the eyes” of a 1964 Mercury car;
Forever’s End, also a world
premiere, in which the presumed last woman on earth following an apocalyptic
event suddenly meets a strange man; the 1980’s-set, John Hughes-inspired Murt Ramirez Wants to Kick My Ass; and
John V. Knowles’ Chastity Bites,
a horror-comedy based on the real-life vampiress, Countess Elizabeth Bathory.
Meanwhile, over at the Writers’ Guild of America this
Friday night will be the US
premiere of Panagiotis Evangelidis’ provocative They Glow in the Dark. Though part of the
LA Greek Film Festival due to the director’s national heritage, the
documentary is a New Orleans-based examination of two gay longtime friends who
have forged a threadbare life together in the wake of Hurricane Katrina’s
devastation. It recently won the prestigious FIPRESCI Award at the Thessaloniki
Documentary Festival.
Jim Baysinger and Michael Glaab moved to the Big Easy together
from Illinois
in late 2005 expecting to take part in an anticipated post-hurricane “renaissance”
that, according to them, has yet to happen. They live in a formerly
waterlogged house along with a number of stray cats and a dog they have taken
in. Both men are HIV+ and “basically are partners,” according to
Jim, although they no longer sleep together or have sex. They eke out a living
selling luminescent figurines made by Jim of New Orleans’ legendary underworld
guide Baron Samedi as well as bags of “ghost poop” to tourists.
They Glow in the Dark, well shot
in verite style by Evangelidis himself, turns an unblinking eye on both the
harsh reality of the men’s existence and the palpable devotion they
share. “I wish I could take his pain away,” Jim says at one point regarding
Michael’s AIDS-related neuropathy. Both Jim and Michael share their
grief over past loves who have either died or weren’t meant to be had in
the first place, but they often do so with a sense of humor. Attractive in
their youth (Jim was even a frequent centerfold in gay men’s magazines),
age, HIV and poverty have taken their toll. “I’ve got Nureyev’s
butt and Golda Meir’s face,” bemoans Michael. “It’s
just not fair.”
As Jim insightfully observes, “a lot of people come
(to New Orleans)
to either initiate or complete their self-destruction.” It seems clear
by the film’s end, though, that he and Michael have gained a new lease on
life as well as an enduring — and endearing — bond since they moved
there. They Glow in the Dark
serves as a memorable testament to love, regret and hope in the city of broken
levees and dreams.
Not film fest-related but new on home video
is this year’s
hit comedy Identity Thief,
starring Jason Bateman and Melissa McCarthy. I avoided the movie when it
played in theaters due to the involvement of director Seth Gordon, whose last film
was 2011’s inexplicably successful, truly horrible Horrible Bosses. Sent an advance copy of
the Blu-ray, however, I did my critical duty and watched it… and was
pleasantly surprised. Identity Thief
is no classic but McCarthy’s vivid performance may well become one. Playing
the title character, a gleefully morality-free Florida woman who nearly bankrupts Bateman’s
family man, McCarthy is hilarious but brings a welcome, surprising poignancy to
her role. Although it threatens to do so at one point, Craig Mazin’s
script wisely avoids explaining how McCarthy’s Diana became the
destructive force she is. Bateman serves as a great foil, even if his
financial-minded character comes across as way too naïve initially. Identity Thief and, especially, McCarthy
may well steal your heart.
is this year’s
hit comedy Identity Thief,
starring Jason Bateman and Melissa McCarthy. I avoided the movie when it
played in theaters due to the involvement of director Seth Gordon, whose last film
was 2011’s inexplicably successful, truly horrible Horrible Bosses. Sent an advance copy of
the Blu-ray, however, I did my critical duty and watched it… and was
pleasantly surprised. Identity Thief
is no classic but McCarthy’s vivid performance may well become one. Playing
the title character, a gleefully morality-free Florida woman who nearly bankrupts Bateman’s
family man, McCarthy is hilarious but brings a welcome, surprising poignancy to
her role. Although it threatens to do so at one point, Craig Mazin’s
script wisely avoids explaining how McCarthy’s Diana became the
destructive force she is. Bateman serves as a great foil, even if his
financial-minded character comes across as way too naïve initially. Identity Thief and, especially, McCarthy
may well steal your heart.
Reverend’s Ratings:
Mutual Friends: B-
They Glow in the Dark: B+
Identity Thief: B
Review by Rev. Chris Carpenter, resident film critic of Movie Dearest, Rage Monthly Magazine and Echo Magazine.
1 comment:
Horrible bosses is great. Your reviews were horrible.
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