Reverend's Reviews: Back to the Future?

44 years ago, Reverend was an innocent yet nubile 14-year-old who was nonetheless following the movie industry closely as a budding young filmmaker. I was reading rumblings in mainstream newspapers and magazines — remember those? — about Caligula, a historical epic inspired by the life of the notoriously vicious Roman emperor.

Caligula, initially released in the US in 1980, was the most expensive independent film in cinema history at the time but had a tumultuous journey to the screen. Written by the esteemed Gore Vidal and headed by the then-stellar cast of Malcolm McDowell, Helen Mirren, Peter O'Toole and Sir John Gielgud, it was meant to be an epic showcase of the generation's finest talent while addressing the corrupting influence of power amid the rampant sexuality of the Roman court. However, producer Bob Guccione — who at the time also published the 18+ Penthouse magazine — seized control of the negative and randomly inserted graphic scenes of unsimulated sex and gratuitous violence. The cast and film team disavowed what had become a blatant desecration of Vidal's themes. Vidal himself successfully sued to have his name removed from the project. Extensive coverage of such behind-the-scenes notoriety had an unexpected effect: the film became an international box office success.

Jump ahead to 2024 and enter Caligula: The Ultimate Cut. A complete reconstruction of one of cinema’s most lavish-yet-notorious productions, it is being released by Drafthouse Films in select US theaters beginning today prior to a 4K Ultra High-Definition home video release. This new presentation made its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in 2023, introducing both new generations of movie audiences and classic filmgoers. Its significant reconstruction uses alternate takes and camera angles, and features — for the first time ever — the complete film narrative.

This new release aligns more closely to Vidal's original script, especially with the addition of a prologue that illustrates one of Vidal's missing scenes created by noted graphic artist Dave McKean. Nearly 100 hours of footage was discovered by the film's dedicated reconstructionist, Thomas Negovan. It showcases underrated performances from the film’s cast and fully realizes McDowell's complex, charismatic Caligula. McDowell himself has recently stated he is happy to have his full performance in the film finally available. The new edition also resurrects eventual Oscar winner Mirren's more layered character arc, which now cements the film's final hour.

All in all, Caligula: The Ultimate Cut adds about 30 minutes to the original, unedited version's run time of 2 ½ hours. It retains much of the graphic sex and violence of the prior edition while eliminating its more "ejaculatory" moments. Thankfully, there is even more gay/poly content in the new version, which would no doubt please the outspokenly gay Vidal. Danilo Donati's minimalist costumes but extravagant sets are even more stunning in 4K.

Alas, the continuing deficit to Caligula in its various iterations is that the title character remains almost inexcusably evil. While The Ultimate Cut provides a bit more backstory in its first 30 minutes as to why Caligula turns out the way he does, he remains blissfully unrepentant in the end. But, for all its excesses, perhaps that's why this woebegone epic remains resonant today. What are Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin, Nicolas Maduro and Xi Jinping but modern-day Caligulas, eager to retain power no matter what the human cost?

Upon a recent re-viewing, Reverend was struck by how Francis Ford Coppola's 1986 fantasy Peggy Sue Got Married has grown in thematic significance. The film was conceived and/or perceived as the antithesis to 1985's Steven Spielberg-produced Back to the Future. Coppola's take on time travel —thoughtfully scripted by Jerry Leichtling and Arlene Sarner — was more feminist, more philosophical, less dependent on visual effects and, ultimately, more divisive than its blockbuster predecessor.

An Oscar-nominated, then-superstar Kathleen Turner headlines as the titular character, who finds herself mysteriously transported from middle-age to her senior year of high school 30 years earlier. She is subsequently presented with the unique opportunity to re-evaluate her life choices, including her troubled marriage to high-school sweetheart Charlie (an oft-criticized but endurably offbeat performance by Coppola's nephew, Nicolas Cage). In addition to Cage, Helen Hunt, Joan Allen, Catherine Hicks, and some guy named Jim Carrey make significant early-career appearances in the film. Veteran actors Barbara Harris, Leon Ames, Maureen O'Sullivan and John Carradine are also on hand.

Perhaps because I'm celebrating my 57th birthday but remembering when I first watched Peggy Sue Got Married at the theater in which I served as an assistant manager back in 1986, the movie was even more resonant this time around. I also became unexpectedly emotional with the appearances of Peggy Sue's mother and maternal grandmother in the film, since my own mother and maternal grandmother have both passed away in more recent years.

Coppola helmed this more cost-efficient production following his big-budget flops One From the Heart and The Cotton Club. I dare say it is one of his very best films, right up there after The Godfathers and Apocalypse Now. It has even gotten better with age. You owe it to yourself to watch or re-watch Peggy Sue Got Married asap.

Reverend's Ratings:
Caligula: The Ultimate Cut- B-
Peggy Sue Got Married- A-

Reviews by Rev. Chris Carpenter, resident film and stage critic of Movie Dearest and Rage Monthly Magazine.

Reverend's Reviews: MaXXXine, Cats and NYC Pride Shows

Midsummer has brought an abundance of cinematic and theatrical thrills. From new twists on serial killer and alien invasion tropes, to a fantastic revival of a classic musical plus a new off-Broadway LGBTQ event, there is truly something for everyone available right now. Here is Reverend's rundown:

MaXXXine, now playing in theaters from A24 releasing.
Mia Goth's title scream queen turned murderess first made a splash in 2022's X, then became the retro Pearl in last year's gory throwback to an earlier era of filmmaking. Writer-director Ti West again proves himself to be a master at recreating cinematic eras with this new sequel, set in the excessive mid-1980's. Goth returns as now-porn star Maxine Minx, who is desperate for mainstream crossover success and will stop at nothing to achieve it.

Soon after being cast in the lead role of sequel-within-a sequel The Puritan 2, Maxine's friends start turning up dead and a creepy private investigator played by none other than Kevin Bacon begins trailing her. Could her imperious director, the real-life serial killer dubbed "The Night Stalker," and/or Maxine's religious fanatic father be behind things? No spoilers here. While MaXXXine doesn't quite reach the deliriously campy heights of Pearl nor the intensity of X, it is a worthy entry in this smart and lovingly self-aware series. Goth remains one of today's most exciting, unpredictable big-screen actors. And I really hope they release this movie's song soundtrack — featuring the likes of Frankie Goes to Hollywood, Kim Carnes, ZZ Top, New Order, Animotion, John Parr and more — on old school CD!

A Quiet Place: Day One, now playing in theaters from Paramount Pictures.
This engrossing prequel to actor-director John Krasinski's previous two sci-fi/horror films about blind yet sound-sensitive aliens decimating the human race revitalizes things in a rather ingenious way: It relates the beginning of the invasion from the perspective of a terminally-ill woman and her therapy cat. I'm not kidding. Eventually, they meet up with an anxiety-stricken young man who becomes an unexpected ally, but this movie definitely belongs to Lupita Nyong'o's Samira (or Sam for short) and the impressively loyal Frodo (played interchangeably by two real cats, Nico and Schnitzel).

Sam is making her anticipated final visit to New York City with fellow residents of her hospice on the day the vicious aliens arrive, which can be perceived as either unfortunate or fortunate timing. She subsequently makes her way through the devastated metropolis in single-minded pursuit of her dying wish: a slice of pizza from her favorite Harlem restaurant. Uniquely, the intervention of the aforementioned young man (Joseph Quinn of Stranger Things and the upcoming Gladiator II) threatens to upend her plans more than the aliens.

As written and directed by relatively new but gritty filmmaker Michael Sarnoski (Krasinki was apparently busy with his Jack Ryan series and charming, recent movie IF), Day One is unexpectedly thoughtful and moving. I can attest to its authenticity as a depiction of a dying woman's experience, since I work full-time with diverse hospice patients. Thankfully, most dying people don't have to contend with evil aliens in addition to their serious illnesses!

Cats: The Jellicle Ball, now being performed through August ​11th at the Perelman Performing Arts Center (PAC) in New York City.
Speaking of cats, Frodo above isn't the only feline currently strutting their stuff in audience-pleasing offerings. The 40-year old stage musical Cats, written by Andrew Lloyd Webber and inspired by the writings of T. S. Eliot, has been re-envisioned as an NYC-set queer ballroom story à la the classic documentary Paris is Burning and more recent FX-Hulu series Pose. This new interpretation is nothing short of sensational, and one of my all-time favorite theatrical experiences to date.

I was not a fan of the original production of Cats; in fact, I prefer the much-maligned 2019 film. I love actual cats and have 3, but the sight of adult dancers in feliney leotards plus ears and tails left me underwhelmed. Happily, there are few literal feline allusions in this new Jellicle Ball. Instead, co-directors Zhailon Levingston and Bill Rauch have re-defined the term cat as "slang for any queer person or ally who is part of the Ballroom scene," in the context of their production. They are aided delightfully by co-choreographers Omari Wiles and Arturo Lyons, not to mention an amazing cast of LGBTQ performers and allies headlined by 78-year old Tony Award winner Andre De Shields as Old Deuteronomy. Best of all for fans of Paris is Burning like me is the participation of Junior LaBeija ("O-P-U-L-E-N-C-E!") as Gus, the Theatre Cat!

The palms of my hands were sore from applause by the end of the performance I attended, and I had cried at least twice. If you'll be anywhere near NYC this summer, you simply MUST attend Cats: The Jellicle Ball.

From Here, also being performed now through August 11th by Renaissance Theater Company at the Pershing Square Signature Center in NYC.
I closed out Pride weekend in NYC with a preview performance of this striking new musical inspired by the tragic shooting of 49 LGBTQ people and allies at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida 8 years ago. Donald Rupe wrote, scored and directed a semi-autobiographical and undeniably affecting story that focuses on a group of friends impacted by the massacre in various ways.

The engaging Blake Aburn leads the cast and holds center stage throughout as Daniel. While struggling for acceptance from his mother for being gay and having difficulty committing to a long-term relationship, Daniel nevertheless secures a chosen family of devoted friends. Although they all survive the June 12th, 2016 shooting at Pulse, they understandably bear emotional and spiritual scars. The musical gives almost everyone a literal spotlight in which to share their experience.

Rupe's book and songs are strong as are his cast members, who are mostly transplanted from Orlando and making their NYC stage debuts. His direction is at times too self-referential and threatens to become cloying but thankfully did not during the performance I attended. Most bothersome to me was the sound mix in a theater that is ultimately too small for this powerful production. Here's hoping From Here graduates soon to a larger venue in NYC and/or elsewhere.

Reverend's Ratings:
MaXXXine- B+
A Quiet Place: Day One- A-
Cats: The Jellicle Ball- A
From Here- B

Reviews by Rev. Chris Carpenter, resident film and stage critic of Movie Dearest and Rage Monthly Magazine.

Reverend's Interview: Dressed for Success in Bottoms

Many of us have been captivated this past month by season 2 of Heartstopper, the acclaimed Netflix series about a group of nice, largely well-behaved LGBTQ teens. Well, get ready for Bottoms, a raunchy, politically-incorrect new movie that serves as the virtual antithesis of Heartstopper but I still recommend. It is now playing in select theaters.

This comedy directed by Emma Seligman (Shiva Baby) focuses on two queer girls, PJ and Josie, who start a high school fight club in an effort to lose their virginities to cheerleaders. Their bizarre plan works. The fight club gains traction and soon the most popular girls in school are beating each other up in the name of self-defense, with some self-discovery worked in. But PJ and Josie soon find themselves in over their heads and in need of a way out before their plan is exposed.

Rachel Sennott, who previously starred in the similarly provocative Shiva Baby, headlines the cast as PJ and co-wrote the screenplay with Seligman. Ayo Edebira (also currently seen in Hulu’s The Bear) plays Josie, and British actor Nicholas Galitzine co-stars as a charmingly narcissistic football player. Galitzine is currently making viewers swoon as Prince Henry in Amazon Prime’s hit gay-themed romance Red, White & Royal Blue. Bottoms also boasts a music score co-composed by pop singer-songwriter Charli XCX.

There are an abundance of LGBTQ teen characters in Bottoms, which was actually titled Gay High School Fight Club while Seligman and Sennott were writing it. As Sennott recalls in the film’s press notes: “Emma had this idea to do a queer teen high school story, and I wanted to do a comedy where the women behave badly and the main characters are sort of unlikeable. We connected over that and spent the next few weeks outlining and brainstorming.”

Seligman described the inspiration behind the script. “Our initial references were Superbad or American Pie or the many other teen movies with male leads trying to lose their virginity,” she said. “Rachel and I felt that there are just as many flawed, superficial, horny teenage girls as there are flawed, superficial, horny teenage boys. Those were the initial references, then Wet Hot American Summer, Bring It On, Sugar & Spice and Drop Dead Gorgeous, and all these Y2K teen movies helped shape the tone of the movie.” While they aimed to have positive representations of queer teen sexuality, Seligman and Sennott really wanted to show just how messy women can be.

1999’s homoerotic drama Fight Club, which co-starred Brad Pitt and Edward Norton and was directed by David Fincher, is another inspiration referenced multiple times in the film. Ultimately, Bottoms has abundant heart as well as moments of bad taste plus a great montage set to Bonnie Tyler’s classic song "Total Eclipse of the Heart", an awesome finale, and some hilarious bloopers during its end credits.

Eunice Lee

Another standout element of the movie are its character’s costumes, drawn from influences spanning different time periods, film genres and dramatic tones by designer Eunice Lee. Lee began her career as a high-fashion stylist and a fashion journalist before entering the film industry. She is currently designing costumes for the upcoming Twisters, a big-budget sequel to/reboot of the 1996 tornado thriller Twister.

Lee recently took time out of her busy schedule to speak with me via Zoom:

CC: Hi Eunice! I’m really excited because in my 25-plus years of interviewing filmmakers and other talent, I’ve never interviewed a costume designer! Maybe for myself and the less familiar, can you kind of explain what exactly a costume designer does or how do you approach your work?
EL: Oh wow, sure! Costume designers are responsible for designing the overall look and every outfit for every character that you see on set or in the film.

CC: Where does the design process typically start for you? I know some directors will read scripts and they’re picturing certain actors in certain roles. When you’re reading a script, are you picturing the costumes or the fashions the characters might be wearing that immediately or does that come later on?
EL: Well, the first time I read the script I read it in totality so I don’t really think about the fashion. I think about who these characters might be. My process is really to create backstories for characters, like what makes each character a whole person and not just a character. We see them for an hour and a half to two hours and that’s not their full story, and to create something, or a person or a character, that doesn’t feel shallow you kind of have to understand what got this person or this character to this place to begin with. And so I just start creating these backstories for everyone.

CC: That’s cool, that’s interesting. And you got your start in fashion journalism, is that right?
EL: That’s correct, actually. I went to Parsons School of Design (in New York City) and while I was there getting my BBA I interned my way through Conde Nast. Then I moved to London and got my Masters at another fashion school in fashion journalism, and I kind of stayed in that high luxury fashion space for a very long time (laugh).

CC: So, what inspired you or led you into costume design?
EL: It’s more serendipity than anything else. Long story short, I suppose: After London and being in this very competitive space as a stylist, I went to Seoul for a holiday and I was introduced to this Italian filmmaker who felt very passionate about setting me up with this Korean-American director because he was in town prepping for his next indie film. I had never done a film before, I had never even considered it. But this director asked me to go to LA and meet with this designer that he had hired, and he let her know that he wanted me to be a part of this project. And so, a few months later, I was in Seoul and traveling around South Korea on that film and that’s where I met (actor-producer-director) Justin Chon, who I’ve collaborated on multiple films with including Blue Bayou and Jamojaya, which premiered at Sundance this year.

CC: That’s awesome. Yeah, serendipitous is definitely the appropriate word there. So, talk to me about Bottoms. How did this film or project find its way to you?
EL: It’s not very exciting. I got sent the script through my agents and I’d heard of Emma Seligman because she had just done this great film called Shiva Baby. I love dark comedies and I just felt like, “here’s this really young girl who just graduated NYU doing something.” I mean, she really had her finger on the pulse in terms of comedy and I thought she would just be really fun to collaborate with. So I really fought to be a part of this film and I really wanted to work on something that really highlighted the LGBTQIA community.

CC: Bottoms is a very funny movie and your designs for the women in the cast are certainly noteworthy, but one of the funniest things about the movie for me was the football players and how they’re in their uniforms the entire film. Was that how it was written or was that the director’s choice or your choice, or was there consultation about that?
EL: (Laughs) For sure. That was an Emma idea. We had multiple conversations about this but I really used Fight Club as an example for this film, not just for the obvious but because I love the way that Michael Kaplan, who designed Fight Club, utilizes the use of gender to signify or kind of juxtapose these really masculine, macho acts of fighting and beating each other up. But then you have Brad Pitt wearing women’s robes and these tight floral shirts and, like, these really camp glasses. It just kind of normalizes it as a masculine thing, and I loved the idea of making the silhouettes for these football players as feminine as it can get within the parameters of it still being a uniform. So, we used smaller padding. We used very, VERY tight uniforms. I mean, I sized down for everyone and it was a nightmare! (Laughs) Most days, we thought the seams were going to rip. The boys could hardly get themselves inside the uniforms. It took two costumers to help every football player.

CC: That is too funny! You mentioned Michael Kaplan and that raised a question for me: Are there other costume designers, either living or deceased, who have really inspired you or you really kind of admire?
EL: Oh, I mean I don’t want to leave anyone out but I love Sandy Powell (a 15-time Oscar nominee and 3-time Oscar winner). I think Heidi Bivens (Euphoria, Reservation Dogs) is very exciting; I think that she is just a phenomenal designer who really has her finger on the pulse. And Jenny Beavan (an Oscar winner for Cruella and Mad Max: Fury Road). There are so many, honestly, I just don’t even know how to answer that question. I think the one thing about choosing designers, for directors, is that everyone will bring a different perspective. You’re never going to have two separate designers who bring the same thing to the table.

CC: Hmm, that’s interesting to think about. In the film’s press notes, it mentions that you “connect with characters from diverse and LGBTQ communities.” Can you talk a little bit about that connection or attraction?
EL: Sure. I mean, I’m gay and I’m a Korean-American who grew up in Orange County in a very Christian, Korean bubble (laughs). It was suffocating for me but I luckily escaped. I moved to New York and, you know, just seeing different representation of our community there and then, furthermore, moving to London and getting to see the variety of style and types of people in our community just really opened my eyes to the diversity and the individuality of each person.

I also think the way that gay people are portrayed to mainstream media is so different from how we see ourselves and, sure, in the gay culture there’s going to be super-camp men or there’s going to be women who present themselves as super-butch. But the reality is that’s not the entirety of our community, and I really wanted to do a film where I could show that there’s this ultra-feminine character who you don’t know if she’s gay or not. And there’s another character who’s still trying to figure out who she is and her place in the gay community and how she wants to express herself to the world. I thought that it was really important to bring these different types of style and show each character as a full human as opposed to just a caricature or stereotype.

CC: Are there any other big-name or known filmmakers who you really hope to work with sometime?
EL: Yeah, I’ve always wanted to work with Wes Anderson (Asteroid City, Moonrise Kingdom, et al), which kind of feeds the stylized side of my brain, but there are other really exciting people. I think Jonah Hill is an incredible filmmaker. I loved what he did on Mid90s and that version of storytelling is really exciting as well. There are so many people I want to work with!

CC: I can see you working with Wes Anderson. I think your sensibilities and style would line up really well.
EL: Thank you! We’ll see, but I do think that things that are meant for you do come and things that don’t just aren’t meant for you. But it’s been exciting so far!

Interview by Rev. Chris Carpenter, resident film and stage critic of Movie Dearest and Rage Monthly Magazine.

Reverend's Interview: Spoiler Alert! Death and The Holidays Go Hand in Hand

Ah, the sights and sounds of the holiday season are upon us: Christmas trees, eggnog, traditional carols, Santa Claus, terminal illness. Wait, terminal illness? Yes, it strikes me that many of the most beloved Yuletide tales, both in print and on movie screens, involve the potential or actual death of a beloved character. Think of Tiny Tim in A Christmas Carol; the matriarchs played by Diane Keaton and Catherine Deneuve in The Family Stone and A Christmas Tale, respectively; suicidal George Bailey (Jimmy Stewart) in It’s a Wonderful Life; or Queen Latifah’s misdiagnosed department store clerk in Last Holiday. And don’t forget The Little Drummer Boy’s pet lamb!

Continuing this tear-jerking tradition is the new dramedy Spoiler Alert, opening in theaters on December 2nd. Based on Michael Ausiello’s best-selling memoir, the film follows the 14-year love affair between the author, a Smurfs-loving entertainment journalist (played by Jim Parsons of The Big Bang Theory fame), and Christopher “Kit” Cowan (British actor Ben Aldridge). It was essentially love at first sight for the men when they met at a gay nightclub in 2001. Through Kit, Michael discovers the family he was robbed of as a child, from Kit’s small town parents (Oscar winner Sally Field and Tony winner Bill Irwin) to their circle of Manhattan friends.

Sadly, tragedy struck after 13 years of dating and marriage. Doctors diagnosed Kit with rare, stage 4 neuroendocrine cancer and he died in 2015 at the age of 43. Michael and his parents were at his side through it all. To process the final months of Kit’s life, Michael took to social media to share regular updates with friends and family. Little did he know that his posts would lead him to explore their bond in a whole new way. It would also allow him to share that bond with millions of people.

“A couple of months after Kit died, I was actually approached from an editor at Simon & Schuster who had followed some of the story on social media,” Michael Ausiello said more recently of the genesis of his memoir, Spoiler Alert: The Hero Dies. “I had been documenting Kit's cancer journey on Facebook among a close-knit group of friends. One of them, Rakesh Satyal, was an acquaintance at Simon & Schuster, and he was really moved by the story. He said, ‘Would you ever give any thought to turning this into a book?”

He was understandably hesitant. “I'd never written a book before,” Ausiello continued. “I was still grieving when I was writing it, so emotionally it was sort of a traumatizing experience reliving the details of, not only the year Kit was sick and his death, but the 13 years that came before. It was hard. But it got me thinking about what an extraordinary opportunity it would be to introduce Kit to thousands, potentially millions of people.” His memoir was published in 2017 and quickly optioned to be made into a film by the Emmy Award-winning Parsons and his producer husband, Todd Spiewak.

The book has been smartly yet sensitively adapted for the screen by gay actor-turned-writer David Marshall Grant and gay columnist-turned-screenwriter Dan Savage. Multiple scenes take place during Christmas festivities. Spoiler Alert, the movie, feels more authentic than many other movies I’ve seen that deal with a terminal disease prognosis. (Full disclosure: I work “by day” as a hospice chaplain so am aware of many similar, real-life situations.) Also significant are the tender lead performances by Jim Parsons, who co-produced the film, and Ben Aldridge.

“I’d known Michael Ausiello for many years,” Parsons recalls. “At some point, right before the book was released, he asked if I would conduct a Los Angeles Q&A about it. I said yes, and they sent me a copy. What’s funny is that it became such an important part of my life. I remember where it sat on this one bench in my apartment for a very long time until I was taking a vacation with my husband Todd [Spiewak] and picked it up. I thought it was a good time to read it. It was so traumatic, reading it. From that moment, Todd was the one, having watched me react to it, that asked if we should consider optioning it. He felt strongly that it would make a good movie. I was so moved and attracted to the material I couldn’t disagree.”

The producers next had to select a director and one name stood out for them: Michael Showalter. Showalter started out as an actor-comedian but has since become a prolific, Emmy-nominated director, writer, and producer. He directed the two-time Oscar-winning film The Eyes of Tammy Faye, an intimate look behind the extraordinary rise, fall and redemption of televangelist Tammy Faye Bakker. Jessica Chastain played Bakker and won the 2022 Academy Award for her portrayal. Showalter previously directed The Big Sick, which received an Oscar nomination for its screenplay written by Emily Gordon and Kumail Nanjiani, and Hello, My Name Is Doris starring Sally Field. On the television side, Showalter recently directed and produced Hulu’s The Dropout starring Amanda Seyfried as Elizabeth Holmes, for which she won an Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series, and Showalter was nominated for Outstanding Directing. Finally, but perhaps most importantly to its many fans, he is the co-creator of the Wet Hot American Summer movie and subsequent series.

This writer recently had the privilege of speaking with Showalter via Zoom in advance of his new movie’s release.

Michael Showalter

CC: Congratulations on your success last year with The Eyes of Tammy Faye and now with Spoiler Alert! I’m really interested in your journey from comedian and actor to producer-director of Oscar-winning movies today. Tell me a little bit about your journey.
MS: Let’s see, I started in comedy and am very much influenced by an absurdist kind of comedy, whether it’s the Zucker Brothers in their Airplane movies or Steve Martin’s early comedies, or Monty Python and what have you. I did sketch comedy in college and started a sketch group out of college. That was really my focus. I was doing a lot of writing of things to perform in and then wrote a movie, Wet Hot American Summer. I became interested after that in really learning how to write a well-made screenplay and, as a corollary to this, I originally when I went to college thought that I may be a Cinema Studies major. So, before I got into comedy I thought of becoming a Cinema Studies major because I had taken a class one summer about Alfred Hitchcock movies and was really interested in how he made movies. I thought: “Well, that would be really cool; I could write about movies and that would be my career.” I had always had an interest in not just comedies but all kinds of movies, all kinds of stories, and looking at film as a serious pursuit beyond just being comedic. And then there was kind of a period where I decided I didn’t want to be an actor any more, and I was in New York and I was predominantly teaching screenwriting at NYU Film School, the graduate school. I really enjoyed teaching and I found myself encouraging my students to pursue a certain kind of process that I knew I wasn’t doing myself, and so what ended up happening was I co-wrote a screenplay and really decided to put into action some of the things that I had been talking about and thinking about. That movie, Hello, My Name is Doris, was the first time that I actually put comedy and drama in the same thing without any quotation marks around it. It’s just a story about a person who is quite strange and has a lot going on, and it’s a very funny movie but it’s also a very dramatic movie and I realized “Oh wow, those two things can co-exist and I’m actually able to do that.” That was the beginning of the next phase of my career, so to speak.

CC: What drew you to Michael and Kit’s story in particular? I know you had read the memoir but what really grabbed you and made you say “I want this to be my next movie”?
MS: To me, it’s this incredibly sad story, this incredibly heartbreaking story that uses this sort of brutal, relatable honesty and authenticity about who these people really were and their deepest insecurities and their deepest foibles, and finding humor in that and wanting the world to know these things about us that we’re afraid to tell or show each other. All of the kind of secrets that we have, the things we have done that we’re embarrassed or ashamed about or aren’t sure about. That was all on display in this book that was ultimately about this group of people trying to cope with something that was so difficult, and that really made me feel just so connected to it and I fell in love with it.

CC: It seems to me that many holiday- or Christmas-themed films, including Spoiler Alert, often involve the terminal illness of a character or the death of a significant character. Do you have any thoughts about that trend or tradition?
MS: Yeah, I think that the holidays are a time for family, they’re a time for groups coming together, a time of reflection about what’s really important, about what really matters. There’s a kind of way in which the holidays remind us to be the best versions of ourselves, and to kind of come together and put our disagreements aside or what have you. I feel like there’s a lot happening underneath the holiday season that I think makes people think about togetherness and forgiveness and love, so that could be part of it.

CC: That’s great. You know, I had the pleasure recently of seeing Jim Parsons perform in A Man of No Importance in New York City.
MS: I’m dying to see it!

CC: It’s so good, and it’s great to see him doing more dramatic work, and in a musical! What was your experience like directing him and working with him as one of the producers?
MS: Oh, he and I (I hope he agrees) felt like we had a really deep connection in every sense in creating this character and telling this story. He and I were constantly in contact about every tiny little detail of it, and I think there was a lot of mutual respect between the two of us. We’re both people that have a lot of background in comedy but are also really interested in telling stories that have dramatic weight to them as well. I think we had a really, really great collaboration and I would love to work with him again.

CC: That’s awesome. Last question: You earlier mentioned Wet Hot American Summer and I’m a fan. Is there going to be a next entry in the franchise?
MS: Nothing planned but never say never. I mean, those characters definitely live on in my brain and I could easily imagine us revisiting them, you know, when we’re like 60 or something and then we’ll be playing like they’re in their mid-20’s or something like that, yeah.

CC: That’s cool. Thank you so much for your time and continued success to you!
MS: Thank you, I really appreciate it. Take care!

Spoiler Alert opens in theaters this Friday, December 2nd.

Reviews by Rev. Chris Carpenter, resident film and stage critic of Movie Dearest and Rage Monthly Magazine.

MD Review: Gods and Monsters

Leave it to Marvel to take a group of obscure comic book characters and build a whole big budget sub-franchise around them. But what worked for the Guardians of the Galaxy does not for Eternals, no matter how much the studio pushes it as their next awards-baiting break out, à la Black Panther. Oscar-winning director Chloe Zhao tries, but it's hard to care much about a bunch of angsty, super-powered immortals you've never heard of before.

MD Rating: 6/10

Eternals is now playing in theaters.

MD Review: The Dirty Dozen (More or Less)

In the constantly rebooting morass that is DC Comics' attempts at their own "cinematic universe", James Gunn's The Suicide Squad falls right in step with its predecessors, this despite its creator's "rebel auteur" image among fanboys. The Warner-owned franchise's formula – hire a hip director to bring their "visionary" talents to the project and give them carte blanche to run roughshod over decades of comic book history – is on full view in this blood-soaked, hyper-violent and, ultimately, run of the mill anti-hero yarn. Only in a DC movie do they start the retconning during the end credits.

 

MD Rating: 5/10

 

The Suicide Squad is now playing in theaters and streaming on HBO Max through September 5th.

 

Reverend's Interview: Hitting the Road with Joe Bell

Growing up as an LGBTQ teenager is not without its traumatic moments. Most of us weather them but, sadly, some have endured so much bullying that suicide is the only option they can see to have some peace.

Such was the case for Jadin Bell, a 15-year old Oregon boy who took his own life in 2013 after months of abuse from his schoolmates. He was bullied for being gay both in person and online. Though tragic, his death subsequently raised the national profile of youth bullying and gay victimization. This has led to greater precautions against these in schools and society.

Jadin's death also motivated his grieving father, Joe, to take a dramatic step to honor his son's memory. Joe Bell embarked on a walk across America in April, 2013. He intended it to last two years as he would speak about his late son's experience to whomever would listen to him. Joe's life would also end prematurely in October, 2013, when he was struck and killed in Colorado by a semi driver who had fallen asleep at the wheel.

Jadin and his father are being commemorated this month with the release of a major motion picture. Titled Joe Bell, it tells each of their stories in deeply moving yet ultimately inspiring fashion. Notably, the screenplay was written by Diana Ossana and the late Larry McMurtry, who won the Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar for Brokeback Mountain in 2006. The film will be released in theaters this Friday, July 23rd, having had its world premiere at last year's Toronto International Film Festival. Joe Bell garnered rave reviews, both for the film as a whole and for the lead performances by Oscar nominee Mark Wahlberg as Joe and young Reid Miller as Jadin.

As Wahlberg states in the movie's press notes: "With movie theaters reopening, we are excited to partner with exhibitors to bring the extraordinary story of Joe Bell and his son Jadin to audiences around the country." Additionally, the film's producers note: "Joe Bell has always been a labor of love and a story that we feel is necessary and resonant, not only first and foremost for the LGBTQ+ community but universally for parents and caretakers at large."

Co-star Reid Miller, who is now 21 years old, has previously appeared in such TV series as Play by Play, You, The Fosters and Training Day. He played the lead role in the campy holiday-horror film, Santa Jaws, and has also written and directed several short films. Miller recently spoke with Reverend about this powerful new entry in the LGBTQ film genre.

REV: I've been researching you and you are a very talented young man. Congratulations on your success thus far!
RM: Thank you so much!

REV: Had you heard about Jadin and Joe Bell prior to this project? What was your reaction to the script when you first read it?
RM: I actually hadn't (heard about them). I remember hearing little things from my friends about Jadin taking his own life but no real details. When I read the script it was a visceral reaction, which feels like an understatement. I grew up in a small Texas town and endured isolation and bullying at that age. No one should have to go through that. It was hard reading about what Jadin went through to lead him to do what he did. It makes me mad at the people who made him feel that way. He was such a light in his family and in the community.

REV: What was the casting process like for you? Did you have to audition and do callbacks?
RM: Oh yeah. Auditions and callbacks. There was so much pressure to get the casting right. They initially wanted a name actor in the role, but Jadin was young and had a very specific look. Plus, I felt I understood what Jadin went through, at least parts of it. The process was pretty rigorous. I did an audition tape in early 2019 and got a callback right away. But then there was a change of directors (from Cary Fukunaga, who moved on to the new James Bond adventure No Time to Die, to Reinaldo Marcus Green) and I didn't hear anything for months. When I finally did, there was a series of meetings with the director and Mark Wahlberg at Mark's house. I felt like things were going well but didn't know for sure. Finally, Reinaldo said "You're the guy!"

REV: Speaking of Mark Wahlberg, you have great father-son chemistry on screen. How was your experience working with him?
RM: It was great. He's a very talented guy, a very nice guy. He also created a very safe environment where I felt safe to be put on the spot since I really had to express my own woundedness while playing Jadin.

REV: How have viewers responded to the film and your performance thus far?
RM: It's always been very powerful reactions, sometimes very visceral and emotional. Some have said how they feel I brought Jadin back to life, which is great to hear but especially from members of his family.

REV: What do you hope viewers take away from the movie or the Bells' story?
RM: I say this a lot but I hope people gain a greater sense of empathy and acceptance. There is so much hate right now, especially online where there is a lot of bullying. I wish people would just take a step back and say "It's not all about me." Empathy is so important.

REV: There is a lot of debate going on in LGBTQ circles about whether only LGBTQ actors should play LGBTQ roles. As an actor, what do you think?
RM: I've heard this a lot, especially in my circles because of my age. I think it all comes down to who is the best person for the role and the story. We're living in an intense time right now and everyone is so sensitive!

REV: I agree completely. So, what are you working on now? What are some of your goals as an actor and filmmaker?
RM: I have some stuff coming up, now that we're finally at a point where people are getting vaccinated and auditions and things are opening up again. I just finished a short film that I directed and wrote that I want to develop as a feature. I'm all about action! I want to be Tom Cruise! Or his son. Can't he have a kid in one of his movies? Can't he be a father for once? (laughs.)

Interview by Rev. Chris Carpenter, resident film and stage critic of Movie Dearest and Rage Monthly Magazine.

MD Review: Along Came a Spider

After a much too long (in more ways than one) journey to her own solo adventure, the first lady of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Natasha Romanoff, is finally front and center in Black Widow. And, as trite as it may sound, it was well worth the wait. From Russia with love and filled with femme fatales, non-corny humor (rare for the MCU) and a tatted-up David Harbour squeezed into a tight super-Soviet suit, star Scarlett Johansson and director Cate Shortland deliver a globe-trotting, high stakes espionage thriller to rival the best of Bond.

MD Rating: 8/10

Black Widow is now playing in theaters and streaming on Disney Plus with Premiere Access.

MD Review: Bodega Nights

Before Hamilton catapulted him into the zeitgeist, Lin-Manuel Miranda was the Broadway wunderkind behind In the Heights, his 2008 Tony Award winning musical about those who live and love in the Washington Heights neighborhood of NYC. The film adaptation, brought to the screen by Crazy Rich Asians director Jon M. Chu, is a dizzyingly giddy visual and aural fiesta that transcends the stage-bound original, sending its diverse cast of characters into swimming pools and up brownstones for its stunningly choreographed (by Christopher Scott) musical numbers. You don't need to know what a "piragua" is or ever crossed the George Washington Bridge to enjoy a hot summer night visiting these Heights.

MD Rating: 8/10

In the Heights is now playing in theaters and streaming on HBO Max through July 11th.

Reverend's Interview: International Gay Love from Eytan Fox

Steven Spielberg, Chloe Zhao, Kelly Reichardt and Martin Scorsese. These are four of my picks of the top five filmmakers living and working today. The fifth is writer-director Eytan Fox. He is also the only gay artist among this quintet.

Fox was born in New York City but grew up in Israel after his family immigrated there. He broke through internationally as a filmmaker in 2003 with Yossi & Jagger, a groundbreaking love story between two male Israeli soldiers. He followed it up with a moving 2012 sequel, simply titled Yossi. In between, Fox directed The Bubble, about a group of friends in Tel Aviv and a young Palestinian who comes to live with them; the superb Walk on Water, in which a hunky Mossad agent tracks the gay grandson of a Nazi war criminal; and the delightful Cupcakes, a musical comedy about friends entering an international song contest. His films have won 28 international awards altogether. Fox also developed the acclaimed Israeli television series Florentine, The Bar Mitzvah and Mary Lou.

His latest production is Sublet, which will be released in select US theaters on June 11th. It will also become available on VOD July 9th. The film follows Michael (played by current Tony Award nominee John Benjamin Hickey), a travel columnist for The New York Times. He flies to Tel Aviv to write an article about the destination pre-COVID, after he and his husband have suffered a personal tragedy. Michael is still grieving, so he just wants to do his research and return home.

He sublets an apartment from a young film student, Tomer (sexy newcomer Niv Nissim). Michael gradually finds himself drawn into the life of the city with Tomer's help. Superficially, the two men couldn’t be more different. Michael is surprised to find a city filled with fascinating contradictions and pulsing with life. But what really begins to turn things around for him is the unlikely and intense bond he forms with Tomer, which transforms both their lives in unexpected ways.

Fox's trademark compassion, humor and visual flair illuminate Sublet, which is his first movie in several years. Why the delay? As Fox writes in the film's press notes: "Besides the difficulties of making movies in the small Israeli film industry in which I work, it took me time to figure out who I was in the context of today’s quickly changing reality, and to express that as a filmmaker." The release of his finished film was then delayed a year by the COVID-19 pandemic.

He continues in the press notes, poignantly: "I’m 56 and probably never going to have biological children. In a very real way, however, my films are my children. They are conceived, nurtured, and eventually set free into the world with the hope that they will find their way there safely. In sending Sublet out into the world, I’m hoping that this story of men from two generations facing their demons and finding a way back to love from grief will strike a chord with people, the way Yossi & Jagger did many years ago. Maybe it too will change the world a little in the process."

I recently had the great privilege of speaking with Fox via phone in advance of the release of his latest "child."

REV: Hello Eytan! How are you? Where are you calling from?
EF: I am in Tel Aviv, which is back to normal (after last month's violence between Israel and Palestine). It's been a crazy time but I am doing well, thank you.

REV: When did you first get interested in filmmaking?
EF: I always wanted to be some kind of artist. I was a dancer in high school, then discovered photography in college. After I completed my time in the Israeli army, I studied film at Tel Aviv University.

REV: Has it always been your intention to tell primarily gay or LGBTQ stories?
EF: It wasn't a conscious decision, but I realized I wanted to fill my films with all kinds of subjects important to me. When I started making films, the culture here was very homophobic and nationalistic. It was a therapeutic experience for me. After people saw my films with their gay characters, they naturally started to ask me if I was gay. That was my coming out. I still try to tackle issues very important to me, including my homosexuality.

REV: How did you select your two lead actors in Sublet, John Benjamin Hickey and Niv Nissim?
EF: John I saw off-Broadway in the original production of Love! Valour! Compassion! and it blew me away. I later saw him in the movie. He was wonderful in it and I started following his career. He seemed perfect to me for this role as a New Yorker, openly gay and an artistic guy. John came to Tel Aviv and we then had chemistry tests with several actors for the role of Tomer. With him and Niv, it was in many ways love at first sight. They became close on screen and off. Niv took John home to his parents for dinners (laugh). It was truly a case of life imitating art.

REV: This is your first film primarily in English. Was that much of an adjustment for you or your Israeli artists?
EF: Not really, no. I was born in the states and have America in me. I have John's character in me and it was easy for me to teach the character of Michael to him. I actually had to learn more about young gay people in Tel Aviv today. I showed the script early on to some friends and they said "You don't know anything about young people today" (laugh). So I had to go out to the modern clubs and gay centers and talk to younger gay men.

REV: Do you continue to receive much criticism from conservatives regarding the gay content in your films?
EF: Let me say it is much easier now than when I started. The achievements we (the LGBTQ community) have made worldwide are amazing. My early films in the late 1980's were either banned or I had a hard time raising money for them. It wasn't until my films started to be shown outside of Israel that it began to become easier. When I made Yossi & Jagger, the Israeli military would not give me any access. They said, "Absolutely not." When it got out that I was preparing the sequel, the military came to me and said, "What do you need?"

REV: Wow, that is amazing! So what's next for you? Or do we have to wait another 5 to 10 years?
EF: I'm working on a few different projects, mostly for television. I'm kind of sad to admit that. I'm afraid everything is moving to TV. I am developing a show in Israel about a gay rabbi.

REV: That sounds great! Anything else you want my readers to know?
EF: Sublet is going to be shown here this weekend (the last weekend of May), finally. And in a theater! I'm so happy that the film is finally being shown. We were supposed to premiere in April 2020 but the festival was cancelled due to COVID. I'm happy that those of us who made it are now able to have closure with the film. And I'm happy we can travel again! Sublet lets people see Tel Aviv but they can also come visit us. We are coming back to life! Now that I think of it, that's like the characters in the film. We're all coming back to life.

Reviews by Rev. Chris Carpenter, resident film and stage critic of Movie Dearest and Rage Monthly Magazine.

MD on IG: The de Vil and Miss Stone

As the titular Disney villainess of Cruella, Emma Stone never lights up a cigarette (so as not to send the kiddy-darlings into nicotine fits, right?) yet she does face off against Emma Thompson as a psychopathic fashion doyenne who's prone to tossing rivals of a cliff to their horrific deaths. So who exactly is this movie made for? Not half as campy as it should be, Cruella is an origin story nobody asked for turned into the latest over-long, over-CGI'ed entry in Disney's incessant live action-fication of its beloved animated canon.

MD Rating: 5/10

Cruella is now playing in theaters and also streaming on Disney+ with Premiere Access.

Reverend's Reviews: Sadists and Sequins

When I was coming of gay age back in the 1980's, there were two prominent gay-themed movies I was obsessed with seeing: Making Love and Querelle. Unfortunately, both films were rated R and I was only 14. They were shown on HBO approximately one year after their theatrical release but late at night, so I recall sneaking down to our living room and watching them with minimal volume so as not to wake my mother or brother. On a side note, Querelle is available on HBO Max today, nearly 40 years later!

Querelle served not only as my introduction to elements of S&M but to filmmaker Rainer Werner Fassbinder, the young enfant terrible of German cinema. It would sadly be his last production, as he died at the age of 37 shortly after its completion. Some of his other acclaimed movies are Fox and His Friends, Lola, Berlin Alexanderplatz and The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant. Many of Fassbinder's works were controversial since the gay writer-director often portrayed homosexuals, transsexuals, prostitutes and criminals sympathetically.

A new biopic about Fassbinder appropriately titled Enfant Terrible is now playing in US theaters. While undeniably gifted and quite prolific during his fairly brief career, the man is also shown as demanding, racist, sexist and abusive, sadistically so. His abuse of drugs and alcohol is also graphically depicted. Actor Oliver Masucci, who plays Fassbinder, and director Oskar Roehler have created a no-holds-barred dramatization of his life that can be as off-putting at times as it is illuminating.

The movie opens with a card reading "Each man kills the thing he loves," a memorable quote from Querelle (which was adapted from gay writer Jean Genet's novel). Primarily set during the 1970's, Enfant Terrible traces Fassbinder's evolution from a community theatre actor and playwright into one of the world's most renowned filmmakers. It is filmed in a stylized and theatrical manner, not unlike Querelle. An angel of death even appears to Fassbinder several times as his health declines.

Masucci does a superb job resurrecting the man and his debaucheries, which must have been difficult for the actor at times. The supporting cast is also excellent. At more than two hours, the film is arguably too detailed and revealing although Fassbinder's fans will likely love it for this reason. Just don't say I didn't warn you.

Another new release this week is the gay coming-of-age tale Sequin in a Blue Room. It is also pretty unflinching in its depiction of a 16-year-old named Sequin, who is exploring his burgeoning sexuality through an obsession with no-strings sexual encounters. After one such hookup he receives a mysterious invitation to the Blue Room, a strictly anonymous sex party. Sequin connects there with a hot, captivating stranger but they suddenly become separated. Utterly fixated on this man, Sequin sets off on an exhilarating yet dangerous mission across Sydney, Australia to track him down. Meanwhile, a gay classmate becomes attracted to Sequin but Sequin is too distracted to see it.

The movie marks the impressive feature debut of Australian writer-director Samuel Van Grinsven and features a breakout performance from bisexual actor Conor Leach, who plays Sequin. It won the Audience Award for Best Feature at the 2019 Sydney Film Festival and played to wide acclaim around the world, including Outfest and the Toronto International Film Festival, before the COVID-19 pandemic. The titular Blue Room is artistically staged and shot with an intense, accompanying techno score. The film also features a nice, deserved romantic ending.

Sequin in a Blue Room is now available for streaming on multiple VOD platforms courtesy of Peccadillo Pictures.

Enfant Terrible: B-
Sequin in a Blue Room: B

Reviews by Rev. Chris Carpenter, resident film and stage critic of Movie Dearest and Rage Monthly Magazine.

Reverend's Reviews: Mapplethorpe, Apartheid & Prison Viewed Through a New Lens

Plenty of artists have been the subjects of movies over the years. Vincent van Gogh, Michelangelo, Frida Kahlo, Jackson Pollock, Caravaggio, Diane Arbus and Jean-Michel Basquiat are but a well-known few. Several of them have been LGBTQ. Now, we can add gay photographer Robert Mapplethorpe to the list. One of the most consequential and controversial artists of the 20th Century, he is being newly represented by the biopic Mapplethorpe, The Director's Cut. A re-worked version of the original 2018 release, it is now available for viewing via Hulu and VOD.

The film marks the narrative feature debut of acclaimed documentarian Ondi Timoner and stars Doctor Who alum Matt Smith in the title role. Mapplethorpe, The Director’s Cut features an all-new soundtrack and offers restored scenes depicting the artist’s childhood love of photography, his embattled relationship with his father, and his lingering yet ambivalent connection to the Catholic Church in which he was raised. It also more deeply explores Mapplethorpe's love affair with rocker Patti Smith (Marianne Rendón) and his subsequent, pivotal romance with powerhouse art collector Sam Wagstaff (played by current Tony Award nominee John Benjamin Hickey). We see the development of his precise, erotically-charged photographic style along with his climb toward mainstream recognition. His eventual success was only briefly halted by Mapplethorpe's untimely death from AIDS complications in 1989.

The story behind this new, revised version of Timoner's film is almost as tumultuous as its subject's life. Producer Jamie Wolf saw an early cut of Mapplethorpe and was especially impressed with its reverberant quality, which she felt effortlessly transcended the traditional biopic. Wolf, who is quietly known for her creative hand as a producer (Newtown, City of Gold, The Truffle Hunters), has a particularly strong commitment to enabling a director’s vision. When she learned the original version of Mapplethorpe had been altered for its theatrical release, Wolf recalled an article by Richard Brody in The New Yorker which chronicled Kenneth Lonergan’s long journey to restore the original cut of his 2011 film Margaret, after a version he did not endorse was first distributed.

Wolf and partner Geralyn Dreyfous persuaded the Samuel Goldwyn Company, distributor of the 2018 release, to allow them to follow the Margaret road map and create a director’s cut of Mapplethorpe. Wolf tapped Nathalie Seaver, Executive Vice President at Foothill Productions, to work with her on the project, which was expected to be a three-month endeavor. However, with their meticulous attention to detail – which included adding an original score by Drazen Bosnjak and a new soundtrack assembled by Michael Turner – the film's re-working stretched to over a year. Having seen both versions, I can attest that the new Director's Cut is a significant improvement. Smith's performance is especially impressive.

Director and co-writer Ondi Timoner has built her reputation as a documentarian, accomplishing the unusual feat of garnering two Grand Jury Prizes at the Sundance Film Festival with her film Dig! in 2004 and We Live in Public in 2009. Timoner’s first exposure to the work of Robert Mapplethorpe came when she was 12 years old. “I had a calendar of Mapplethorpe’s flowers,” she says. “I absolutely loved it, but I had no idea that there was this other side to his photography.”

The photographer’s famed floral portraits, especially of the white calla lily, have now rippled across generations. But many of his other images, including full-frontal male nudes, were considered so transgressive that much of his work was covered up at an early exhibition in Boston and could only be viewed by lifting up an obscuring curtain.

As Timoner reveals in the film's press notes: “My goal in making this film was to make an anthem for artists. I make films about difficult visionaries, about people who are unable to turn away from the quest, even when they come up against doubt and ridicule and struggle, as well as the penalties often involved. Robert Mapplethorpe set out to make people bend to his vision, to embrace what they deemed obscene, and worship it as holy. That’s an incredible thing."

Reverend recently had the pleasure of speaking further with the multi-talented Timoner via phone about her new Director's Cut:

REV: Can you talk about the process of making your film?
OT: I originally optioned the rights to a script by Bruce Goodrich. In exploring (Mapplethorpe's) life, I learned how he comes into his art and that led him into his sexuality. His art was the bridge to this life that he saw as beautiful. No matter how you feel about some of his controversial choices, like knowingly infecting people with AIDS, he lived his life authentically and there is beauty in that.

REV: How was your collaboration with Matt Smith?
OT: He's fantastic, an incredible artist and also a serious intellect. Originally, James Franco was cast but my then-9-year-old son, who was a Doctor Who fan, suggested Matt. (Matt and I) had lots of debates on set about every little thing I'd written. He was so right for the part, jaw-dropping. We shot the whole movie in 19 days and started at the end of Mapplethorpe's life. Matt had to lose weight before we began shooting. He remains a good friend and an ally to this day. My son actually hit it off with Matt and they're still friends.

REV: Did you receive any reaction to the film from Mapplethorpe's brother Edward (who is also a photographer) or other family or friends?
OT: I did. I didn't have any help from Robert's brother while making it, but Matt and I met to tour the Guggenheim Museum one day and coincidentally bumped into Edward. He said he loved the film! Robert's last assistant, Brian English, also saw and loved it.

REV: You are primarily a documentarian but do you plan to make other narrative films?
OT: Yes, I actually have a script I've written about my father's (Eli Timoner) meteoric rise and life called A Stroke of Genius. He founded Air Florida. He passed away recently but I was able to spend his final weeks with him and went through the script page by page with him. He had a stroke when I was 9. It's another movie set primarily in the 1970's, like Mapplethorpe.

REV: That sounds great! What would you say is the most important legacy of Mapplethorpe's work or life?
OT: I think that, hopefully, one can see the poignancy in him living truthfully, to see the price he paid for that but also the value of that. His legacy is the beauty of his work. That will never end. He made photography a collectible art form, and he helped to advance the LGBTQ movement through his art.

32 years after his death, Robert Mapplethorpe's influence undeniably lives on!

It was also 30-some years ago that I learned about apartheid, the shockingly racist policy of South Africa's then-government. Although black activist Stephen Biko was murdered in 1977 while he was unjustly imprisoned, I was largely unaware of his story or the horrific conditions his people were living under until the release of Richard Attenborough's 1987 film Cry Freedom. Thankfully, apartheid was dismantled in the 1990's through a combination of Nelson Mandela's leadership and international pressure.

Untold until now is the equally disturbing story of gay white men who lived under apartheid. Oliver Hermanus's 2019 film Moffie (a word that was the Afrikaans equivalent of faggot) is finally being released in US theaters and on VOD this Friday, April 9th, from IFC Films. It was an official selection at that year's Venice Film Festival and won the Mermaid Award for best LGBTQ entry at the Thessaloniki International Film Fest. Then COVID hit and unfortunately but understandably delayed release plans.

Set in the early 1980's, Moffie depicts the travails of 17-year old Nicholas Van de Swert (played by the very photogenic Kai Luke Brummer). It was national policy at the time that all white boys over the age of 16 had to serve in the South African military for two years. It was assumed that all such boys were heterosexual, but Nicholas is gay so necessarily closeted in light of social mores that treated LGBTQ citizens almost as badly as the country's black citizens.

Nicholas and his fellow recruits have to endure a sadistic sergeant, difficult desert conditions, and a war against neighboring Angola. On the plus side, he falls in love with the similarly closeted Dylan after they spend a night sharing a sleeping bag while on patrol in the desert. Dylan is eventually discharged and sent to a psychiatric facility for "treatment," but Nicholas continues to carry a torch for his special friend.

Adapted from an autobiographical book by Andre Carl van der Merwe, Moffie is a revealing, moving and occasionally sexy exploration of South Africa's treatment of gay men under apartheid. The movie is chock full of sweaty, frequently naked young men but doesn't feel exploitative. Jamie Ramsay's naturalistic, intimate cinematography helps in this regard. So do the sympathetic performances of all the actors involved. While I was wishing for a more upbeat ending to the film after Nicholas and Dylan are reunited, the happiest ending to this or any apartheid-era story is that apartheid no longer exists.

Writer-director Jon Garcia already has a substantial gay following thanks to his three-part, Mormons-in-love saga The Falls. Garcia's latest release Luz (newly available this week on VOD) marks an impressive, more accomplished development in the filmmaker's career. Moving on from same-sex LDS missionaries, Garcia relates the romance that gradually develops between two cellmates in a men's prison.

Mafia driver Ruben (a great, vulnerable performance by Ernesto Reyes) is sentenced after an accident that resulted in the death of his boss' trans girlfriend. The slightly older, more experienced Carlos (Jesse Tayeh) takes Ruben under his wing... and more. After Carlos is unexpectedly released from prison, Ruben has to wait three more years until his own term ends. Once it does, he sets out to find Carlos with conflicted feelings of both retribution and desire. Ruben also seeks his deaf daughter, who has been taken in by mafia boss (and Ruben's cousin) Julio.

While Luz hits some of the same emotional notes as The Falls, the film benefits from a tighter narrative as well as some more graphic sex scenes than its predecessors. Reyes and Tayeh also give more professional performances than Garcia's previous leading men. In addition, Luz has a genuinely happy ending, which is rare among the recent LGBTQ films I've seen. One can become illuminated while streaming Luz.

Reverend's Ratings:
Mapplethorpe, The Director's Cut: B+
Moffie: A-
Luz: B

Reviews by Rev. Chris Carpenter, resident film and stage critic of Movie Dearest and Rage Monthly Magazine.