Reverend's Reviews: Love & Denial

As Saturday Night Live's self-help guru Stuart Smalley (played by now-Senator Al Franken) regularly declared back in the 1990's, "Denial ain't just a river in Egypt." It didn't matter whether he was addressing addiction, codependency, emotional inadequacy or sexuality, Stuart called his celebrity guests on their dirty little secrets.

Two new DVD releases out today, Kawa(Wolfe Video) and This is What Love in Action Looks Like(TLA Releasing), effectively illustrate the life-sapping power denial has when it comes to homosexuality. The first, which is also available via download and Video on Demand, is a visually-stunning family saga set in seaside New Zealand. Billed as "a coming out drama," it depicts the title character's struggle to keep his attraction to men a secret from his wife, children, co-workers and father, whom Kawa is destined to succeed as leader of the local Maori community.

Straight New Zealand superstar Calvin Tuteao (Once Were Warriors) imbues Kawa with a sense of nobility and yearning integrity that makes his dilemma that much more palpable, especially when he falls for a handsome actor. Of interest, Kawa was made primarily by women, notably writer-director Katie Wolfe (adapting a novel by Witi Ihimaera, who also wrote the movie-inspiring Whale Rider). Wolfe balances well the film's other characters and the impact Kawa's denial has on them, especially given its slender running time of 77 minutes. Also of note is the movie's moody, sensual music score. And though the plot may seem somewhat dated to us somewhat more open "westerners," there are still many men and women around the world who will no doubt identify with Kawa's plight.

This is What Love in Action Looks Like, meanwhile, is a documentary by activist-filmmaker Morgan Jon Fox that exposes the reprehensible tactics used by organizations and facilities that claim to be able to cure homosexuality. When 16-year old Zack Stark told his parents he was gay in 2005, he quickly found himself sent to Refuge, a fundamentalist-Christian youth program based in Raleigh, North Carolina. Before going, though, Stark blogged about the program's anti-gay agenda which espoused, among other untruths, "A homosexual lifestyle leads to an early death." A nationwide protest ensued, which was covered at the time by CNN, Good Morning America and many other outlets. As a result of the controversy, Refuge was thankfully shut down in 2009.

Unfortunately, the ministry that ran Refuge, Love in Action (LIA), remains in operation. Founded in 1973 -- the same year that homosexuality was removed as a mental disorder by the American Psychological Association -- LIA and its larger "parent organization," Exodus International, continue to try to convince GLBT people that our sexual orientation can be changed, despite few if any of their past clients acknowledging success in this effort. LIA's former director, the Rev. John Smid, ultimately disavowed the ministry he led for 18 years and allowed himself to be interviewed extensively for this film.

More than a few commentators, several of them former LIA clients, in This is What Love in Action Looks Like reference the comedy But I'm a Cheerleader in their description of Refuge. As Stark and now Fox reveal, though, such programs are no laughing matter. The documentary moves along briskly and subsequently doesn't allow for much nuance, but its potency can't be denied.

Reverend's Ratings:
Kawa: B+
This is What Love in Action Looks Like: B

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

Reel Thoughts: Young Love & Death

Fresh from a series of awards across the festival circuit comes Jitters, an Icelandic coming-of-age film about first love now available on DVD. On a Summer trip to study abroad in Manchester, England, Gabriel (Atli Oskar Fjalarsson) meets a supposedly straight boy named Markus (Haraldur Ari Stefánsson) who seems intent on corrupting the introverted Gabriel.

After a night of drinking, the boys share a fantastic kiss that makes Gabriel realize and accept that he’s gay, but then he has to return to the prying attention of his parents, who realize that something is different. Even Gabriel’s friends notice a change, but they are going through a lot of changes themselves. His best friend Stella finds love with Mitrovik, a boy who works with her at a drug store, while his friend Greta is desperate to meet her birth father.

When Gabriel runs into Markus again, sparks fly and he is ready to take their relationship further. Unfortunately, Markus seems to have retreated back into the closet. A number of events force all of the friends to grow up and seek out what is important to them, especially Gabriel.

Jitters is a sweet and moving film, and its Icelandic setting is intriguing. In many ways, it reminded me of Spring Awakening, the Tony Award winning Broadway musical, because it deals with teens who are trying to explore their sexuality amongst controlling or oppressive adults. Not everyone has a happy ending in both pieces, but both end on a hopeful note.

Billed as a twisted Bonnie and Clyde for the new generation, American Translation is a film now on DVD that is sure to disturb many people. Pierre Perrier plays a brooding and sexually voracious wanderer named Chris, who picks up an American girl named Aurore (Sleeping Beauty’s real name) and draws her into an escalating life of sex and serial killings.

Set in France, American Translation depicts the seductive and psychotic Chris as the epitome of an anti-hero. He chooses to be with women sexually, but he is obsessed with having sex with male prostitutes and then murdering them. It isn’t clear why Aurore, played by Brittany Murphy look-alike Lizzie Brochère, doesn’t run screaming when she finds that Chris has strangled a cute young hustler while having sex with him, but the feeling is that she is a lot like Caril Ann Fugate, who helped the infamous Charles Starkweather in the late fifties in what was termed a “spree killing”. Starkweather’s explanation of how freeing it felt to kill someone is echoed in Chris’ explanation to Aurore. The film is an unsettling blend of sexuality and violence, although the murders are not often depicted.

American Translation aims to put you in the mind of a serial killer, but its determination not to give the film a moral makes the story feel like it meanders from murder to murder until something happens to interrupt the killing. There is a lot of frank nudity and sex, and the cast is purposely gorgeous. It is just not certain who will be able to appreciate the film’s mix of sensuality and sadism.

Of course, true crime stories are always popular, and although this is not based on real events, the director finishes the film by telling you that it is inspired by real serial killers. The fact that the killer is a bisexual intent on killing gay men is important to remember before bringing American Translation home for date night.

 Review by Neil Cohen, resident film critic of Movie Dearest and Phoenix's Echo Magazine.

Reverend's Preview: Sunny Days & Dark Shadows

Ah, summer, beloved season of Pride, fruity cocktails and minimal swimsuits.  It is also the time of year when Hollywood releases its biggest, most expensive spectacles for audiences to ogle.  Superheroes, vampires and aliens typically reign supreme, but this summer's more GLBT-interest movies will feature such sights as male strippers, Tom Cruise in ass-less chaps, and a pairing of Brit divas Maggie Smith and Judi Dench. Here's the rundown (Please note all release dates are subject to change)...

The Avengers (May 4):  The largest collection of men in tights to hit the big screen since, well, Robin Hood: Men in Tights.  Marvel Comics heroes Captain America (Chris Evans), Iron Man (Robert Downey, Jr.), Thor (Chris Hemsworth) and Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) join forces with The Hulk (ever-dreamy Mark Ruffalo) and Black Widow (Scarlett Johanson) to save the world.  Written and directed by Joss Whedon, who also masterminded Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (May 4):  A group of British senior citizens, led by Dench and Smith, decide to retire to an unexpectedly-rundown hotel in India in this comedy.  Co-starring cute Dev Patel from Slumdog Millionaire and directed by John Madden, who previously steered Dench and Gwyneth Paltrow to Oscar glory in Shakespeare in Love.

The Perfect Family (May 4):  Kathleen Turner plays a devout wife and mother up for her parish's "Catholic Woman of the Year" award who suddenly learns that her daughter (Emily Deschanel) isn't only a lesbian but is about to get married to her partner.  While it doesn't get all the church details right, the film is an enjoyable dramedy that premiered at last year's Outfest.  Out actor Richard Chamberlain plays the local monsignor. 

Dark Shadows (May 11): Based on what I've seen of it, Tim Burton's take on the supernatural soap opera that ran in the late 1960's-early 70's will no doubt be the campiest movie of the summer, possibly of the year. Johnny Depp stars as 200-year old vampire Barnabas Collins, who wakes up in 1972 to a decidedly different world.  The great supporting cast includes Michelle Pfeiffer, Helena Bonham Carter, Eva Green and horror veteran Christopher Lee.

Hysteria (May 18):  This film's director, Tanya Wexler, likely describes it best: "It's a romantic comedy about the invention of the vibrator in Victorian England."  She even bought cast members Maggie Gyllenhaal, Hugh Dancy and gay fave Rupert Everett, among others, vibrators as gifts.  Needless to say, the movie's got... buzz.

Virginia (May 18):  Academy Award-winning, openly gay screenwriter Dustin Lance Black (Milk, J. Edgar) has assembled several top-drawer actors including Jennifer Connelly, Ed Harris and Emma Roberts for his directorial debut.  I'm not sure what, if any, GLBT content is in the film but it will nonetheless give our community the opportunity to support one of our own as Black's standing in Hollywood continues to rise.

Chely Wright: Wish Me Away (June 1):  An eye-opening documentary, featured at last year's Long Beach Q Film Festival, about the former country music superstar's process of coming out as a lesbian.  Wright is impressively, movingly candid in her recounting of events before, during and after her tumultuous decision.

Rock of Ages (June 15):  Gay director-choreographer Adam Shankman (Hairspray) adapts another Broadway musical for the screen.  This time, he got big names Alec Baldwin, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Mary J. Blige, Paul Giamatti and Tom Cruise (and convinced Cruise to wear a codpiece and the previously mentioned chaps) to pay homage to the rock & roll "hair bands" of the 1980's.  Pour some sugar on me, baby! 

Brave (June 22):  This summer's animated epic from Disney-Pixar features a female lead, a first for the mega-successful Pixar.  Merida, a Scottish teenager during the Middle Ages, takes it upon herself to defend her parents' kingdom when it is endangered by the wicked witch Merida had sought counsel from to avoid being married against her will.  Sure sounds like a lesbian-gay parable to me!

Magic Mike (June 29):  The gays (myself included) will definitely be lining up for this expose of the goings-on at a male strip club, which reportedly includes a gay character/subplot. The movie was inspired by the pre-Hollywood career of its hot leading man, Channing Tatum, and is directed by Oscar winner Steven Soderbergh (Traffic, Contagion).  And if Tatum doesn't do it for you, one of his thong-clad co-stars (Matthew McConaughey, True Blood's Joe Manganiello, Alex Pettyfer, Adam Rodriguez and the recently out Matt Bomer) surely will.

The Amazing Spider-Man (July 3):  Andrew Garfield, taking over the title role from Tobey Maguire, told a reporter last month that he went commando under his form-fitting costume during filming.  That revelation has sure got my "Spidey Sense" tingling over this adventure, in which the webslinger tries to solve the mystery behind his parents' death while battling The Lizard, a mutated scientist.

Katy Perry: Part of Me (July 4):  Nothing screams "Independence Day" to me more than a 3-D concert film starring the fireworks-laden pop singer.  While Perry comes in second to Lady Gaga in many gay men's minds, I consider her "Fireworks" song to be as much of a gay anthem as Gaga's "Born This Way."  By the way, why hasn't Gaga had a 3-D movie devoted to her yet?  Well, I guess there's always next summer.

The Dark Knight Rises (July 20):  Batman (Christian Bale) returns to contend with the villainous Bane (rising star and hottie Tom Hardy) and the more mysterious Selina Kyle, a.k.a. Catwoman (the fabulous Anne Hathaway).  Joseph Gordon-Levitt also appears as a cop with potentially conflicting motives. Football fields will explode, Gotham City will be endangered, and ticket sales will soar.

Ruby Sparks (July 25):  Not much has been made known yet about this one, but the fact that it is co-directed by Little Miss Sunshine's Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris is enough to get my gay hopes up. Their earlier film's Paul Dano here plays a struggling author who discovers that the fictional girl in the book he is writing has somehow come to life.  Annette Bening and Antonio Banderas also star.

The Bourne Legacy (August 3):  Jeremy Renner, who made a splash in last December's Mission: Impossible-Ghost Protocol and also appears in this May's The Avengers, takes over from Matt Damon in the latest installment of this durable, intelligent franchise.

Hope Springs (August 10):  Any movie starring La Meryl (Streep, that is) is cause for gay celebration.  She re-teams here with David Frankel, director of The Devil Wears Prada, for a romantic comedy in which Streep is a married women who seeks marriage therapy with her prickly husband, played by Tommy Lee Jones.  Steve Carell co-stars as their therapist.

Sparkle (August 17):  The late Whitney Houston produced and makes her final screen appearance in this remake of a Dreamgirls-esque 1976 film about a girl group on the rise.  Houston plays the mother of one young singer (played by American Idol alumna Jordin Sparks) who is yearning for stardom.  She also sings on the movie's soundtrack.

Lawless (August 31):  Tom Hardy makes his second summer movie appearance of 2012 as a bootlegger in this reality-based story set during the Prohibition era.  Shia LaBeouf and Jason Clarke appear as his conniving siblings, and all must try to stay one step ahead of the obsessed G-man on their collective tail (played by Guy Pearce of The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert and last year's made-for-TV version of Mildred Pierce).

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

Reverend's Reviews: Playing Politics

The Kennedy and Bush dynasties (not to mention the currently on-trial John Edwards) can't hold a candle to the Chandlers, the scheming political family at the center of The Fix. This stage musical was first presented by impresario Cameron Mackintosh (Les Miserables, The Phantom of the Opera) in London in 1997 but is only now receiving its West Coast US premiere through May 20th courtesy of Long Beach, California's renowned International City Theatre (ICT).

When presidential front-runner Reed Chandler suddenly dies during sex with his mistress, his Oval Office-obsessed widow (a delicious Alix Corey) sets her sights on their decidedly deficient but photogenic son, Cal (the vocally- and physically-gifted Adam Simmons), as the new candidate. With the aid of Reed's polio-afflicted but politically-experienced brother, Grahame (a superb Sal Mistretta, who theatre buffs may recognize as Pirelli in the home video version of Sweeney Todd with George Hearn and Angela Lansbury), Cal's unlikely rise to power begins.

The musical's book and score (by John Dempsey and Dana P. Rowe, who went on to adapt The Witches of Eastwick as a musical for Mackintosh) aren't the greatest, leaving virtually no scandalous-cliche stone unturned: adultery, drug abuse, questionable paternity, mob ties, affairs with strippers, and even a creepy touch of homosexual incest.  A couple of these would have been adequate.  It also features only one particularly memorable tune (the seductive "I See the Future," which is brilliantly staged here) while at least two songs, "First Came Mercy" and "The Ballad of Bobby 'Cracker' Barrel," are redundant and/or excessive (though "Ballad" is undeniably amusing).

Criticisms aside, this is a superior production boasting an excellent cast.  ICT director Randy Brenner definitely elevates the material, with strong support provided by choreographer Heather Castillo and musical director Darryl Archibald. This is one of only a handful of U.S. mountings of The Fix since an initial, 1998 staging in Virginia where, interestingly, Mistretta first played Grahame.  ICT has wisely, economically pared the cast down to nine actors from an original count of 19. Also, while The Fix is billed as a rock musical, Archibald's handling of the score is more subdued in its current Long Beach presentation.

Stephen Gifford's scenic design evokes the center ring of a circus, and is beautifully lit by Donna Ruzika.  It is the very talented, totally game cast, though, that truly makes this production soar.  In addition to the previously mentioned Simmons, Corey and Mistretta, William T. Lewis is most effective as the observant ghost of Chandler Sr., Melanie Fernandez sizzles as Cal's stripper-lover, Carrie St. Louis is great as Cal's Nicole Kidman-esque wife, and David Michael Laffey is terrific in a variety of roles but especially as Bobby "Cracker" Barrel.  The remaining cast members, who are deserving of equal mention and praise, are Jay Donnell and Stephanie Hayslip.

Not unlike our two chief options in the 2012 presidential race, The Fix is less than perfect but nonetheless demands consideration thanks to ICT.

Reverend's Rating: B

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