Reverend’s Report: Musicals & More at TCM Fest 2013

I’m privileged to be able to cover several great Los Angeles-area film festivals each year (I even help program one of them) but the TCM Classic Film Festival has emerged as my personal favorite.  Why?  Because it doesn’t involve schmoozing, bidding, soliciting or having to find and define the best new movies out there.  The TCM Fest, which just celebrated its fourth smash year this past weekend, is all about movie lovers coming together to proclaim their love of classic films, however “classic” is defined.  There are no distribution deals to make or potential Oscar contenders to peg; the films screened received distribution or were nominated for or won Oscars decades ago.

In addition to fans seeking out long-lost movies or newly-restored versions, musicals are always a top draw and this year was no exception.  Indeed, the festival opened Thursday night with both a new print of Barbra Streisand’s star-making 1968 Funny Girl (which is being released on Blu-rayfor the first time today alongside Streisand’s more recent big-screen outing, The Guilt Trip) and a screening of 1958’s adaptation of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s South Pacific.  Whereas Babs was a no show for Funny Girl (Cher served as a crowd-pleasing substitute), South Pacific stars Mitzi Gaynor and France Nuyen participated in a lively pre-screening Q&A with TCM’s Ben Mankiewicz.

Gaynor, fit and feisty at the age of 81, discussed the torturous path she took to win the role of Navy nurse Nellie Forbush.  She playfully dissed rival Elizabeth Taylor, saying “Liz was too busy getting married” and “Unlike her, I could sing.”  Mankiewicz was even more flummoxed, amusingly so, by Gaynor’s description of the late Ricardo Montalban as “a bitch.”  She went on to share how badly she had wanted to co-star with Marlon Brando in Sayonara but was turned down because Brando insisted on an Asian actress, Miyoshi Umeki.  The famously Latino Montalban, on the other hand, was cast in Sayonara as an Asian!  Finally, Gaynor demanded that Mankiewicz’s wife bring their newborn baby out for the approval of the crowd gathered around the Roosevelt Hotel pool for the outdoor screening.  Mrs. Mankiewicz dutifully complied, to everyone’s delight.

Neither South Pacific nor Funny Girl holds up as well cinematically as their reputations would have one believe (I hadn’t seen Funny Girl in its entirety prior to this weekend).  Each runs over 2 ½ hours and is sluggishly-paced.  Director Joshua Logan has long been criticized for his use of different colored filters for some of South Pacific’s musical numbers, but his true offense was to make the World War II-set production dull.  Funny Girl, directed by three-time Oscar winner William Wyler, is the livelier film for its first hour or so before it too gets bogged down by the doomed love affair between Streisand’s Fanny Brice and gambler Nicky Arnstein, played by the then-controversially cast Omar Sharif.  However, the lead performances and stunning scores for both shows/films remain beyond reproach.

Another big-screen musical I had never seen and was determined to catch at TCM Fest was 1955’s Kismet.  A rare box-office flop for Vincente Minnelli, this Arabian Nights-inspired confection is energetically choreographed by the great Jack Cole and beautifully designed.  It also boasts fun performances by Howard Keel, Ann Blyth (who was on hand to discuss her work on Kismet as well as her Oscar-nominated turn as vile daughter Veda in the original Mildred Pierce with TCM’s Robert Osborne), Sebastian Cabot and the absolutely scintillating Dolores Gray, who steals the show as the favorite yet scheming wife of Cabot’s wicked Wazir.  Her performance of the show-stopping “Not Since Nineveh” drew sustained applause from the screening audience, which applauded pretty much every musical number.  The 35mm print shown wasn’t in the best condition but the film is available in a likely better-quality version on DVD.  I agree with the festival’s program guide that Kismet is ripe for re-discovery.

It isn’t a musical but I couldn’t resist the chance to catch George Stevens’ Giant on the big screen of the TCL (formerly Grauman’s) Chinese Theatre, especially since I had never seen the Texas-set epic in its 3 ½ hour entirety.  Wow!  The 1956 film adapted from Edna Ferber’s sweeping novel boasts terrific performances by leads Rock Hudson, Elizabeth Taylor and James Dean (who died just two weeks after shooting completed) as well as great supporting turns by Mercedes McCambridge, Jane Withers (who introduced the TCM Fest screening) and then-newcomers Carroll Baker, Sal Mineo, Dennis Hopper and Rod(ney) Taylor.  Stevens won the Oscar for his superb direction but Giant ultimately lost Best Picture to the more entertaining but artistically inferior Around the World in 80 Days.  Some critics and viewers have carped that this still-timely exploration of commerce, greed, family and race is overlong, but I couldn’t find a single scene to cut without potentially diminishing the film’s power.  It is a true classic by any measure.

So impressed and overwhelmed was I by Giant that I had little remaining interest in or energy for the many other cinematic treasures shown over the weekend.  Thankfully, the spectacular success of the TCM Classic Movies Festival — it has grown from approximately 2,000 attendees its inaugural year to more than 25,000 today — virtually ensures that I will have another opportunity next year.

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

Reverend’s Reviews: Love, Damage & Vampires

The latest in gay-interest home video releases…

Love Free or Die (Wolfe Video):
This award-winning documentary by gay director Macky Alston (Questioning Faith: Confessions of a Seminarian) is inspiring and infuriating in equal measure. Alston’s subject is Bishop V. Gene Robinson, who last year concluded his controversial tenure as head of the Episcopal Diocese of New Hampshire.  Robinson suffered public criticism, private death threats and the scorn of many of his fellow bishops in the global Anglican Communion in the wake of his election as bishop in 2003, all because he is openly gay and partnered.  Never mind that he is also a compassionate, learned, wise, dedicated and holy man of God.

Robinson’s election and subsequent travails have been recounted to some extent in previous documentaries, notably 2007’s For the Bible Tells Me So. Alston, however, focuses exclusively on the bishop and spent the better part of seven years following Robinson.  Most significant during that time was Robinson’s exclusion from the 2008 Lambeth Conference, the Anglican Church’s gathering of bishops held every ten years in London.  Disappointed but undeterred, Robinson went to London anyway to meet with other disenfranchised Christians, and Alston’s camera was on hand to capture key moments.  For me, the film’s most powerful, moving sequence occurs when Robinson, not invited with the gathered bishops to tea with the Queen, chooses to have tea with HIV-infected “commoners” instead.  It is exactly what Jesus would have done.

Love Free or Die also reveals how far the Episcopal Church has come regarding the full inclusion of LGBT people in the last decade, largely and ironically thanks to the backlash to Robinson’s consecration. While it has had to whether departures from more conservative/traditionalist clergy and members, some of whom left to form rival congregations and others to join the Roman Catholic Church, Episcopalians are now the undisputed leaders within mainstream American Christianity when it comes to incorporating men and women in same-sex relationships. This was cemented in 2009, when an overwhelming majority of the church’s bishops, clergy and laity voted against the larger Anglican Communion’s will to not only continue ordaining bishops in committed same-sex relationships but to bless same-sex unions among its clergy and laity as well.

Some of the film’s content can be upsetting, especially the inexcusable decision of Rowan Williams, the former Archbishop of Canterbury and Anglican primate, to ban Robinson from the Lambeth Conference. Williams clearly placed his fear of reprisals from church conservatives over the sacramental and fraternal responsibility he had to a duly-elected and consecrated fellow bishop. Shame on him, but kudos to Robinson for hanging in there despite all obstacles, and to filmmaker Alston for documenting it all so well.
Reverend’s Rating: B+

Broadway Damage (Village Art Pictures):
Of all the fine gay independent movies deserving of a Blu-ray release, I wouldn’t put this 1997 romantic-comedy at the top of my list. Great as it looks in hi-def, the New York-centric plot hasn’t aged well. A trio of pals (played by Michael Lucas, Aaron Williams and Mara Hobel, best known as little Christina Crawford in Mommie Dearest) deal with boyfriend, roommate and rodent issues.  Hugh Panaro, who has gained considerable success since in such Broadway hits as The Phantom of the Opera, co-stars as a struggling singer and gay love interest. Much of writer-director Victor Mignatti’s script feels forced and padded, making the film feel at least 15 minutes too long. The performances are of mixed quality as well.  Broadway Damage may best be appreciated as a time capsule, complete with oversized cell phones, Friends-inspired fashions and gay 90’s hairstyles.
Reverend’s Rating: B-

Vampire Boys 2: The New Brood (Ariztical Entertainment):
The first Vampire Boys sucked (pardon the pun) and was hardly deserving of a sequel but it must have rented well. Chapter two is actually something of an improvement. Both films feature a gang of bisexual bloodsuckers on the hunt for new recruits. Here, they are running an underground fight club too. Can a Twilight-inspired trio of two hot guys and a pretty girl (the twist is that the guys are the primary couple) stop them? Vampire Boys 2 is a bit more polished than the first film and amps up both the gay content and full-frontal male nudity. Young gay Twi-hards will likely enjoy sinking their teeth into it. Everyone else should stick with Interview with a Vampire.
Reverend’s Rating: C+

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

Reverend’s Reviews: Foreign Visions

 

Before the summer movie season gets underway with this weekend’s release of Pain & Gain (which features the hunky dream pairing of Mark Wahlberg and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson) and the arrival of Iron Man 3 next week, check out these current foreign releases.

Lore
Australian director Cate Shortland’s previous, debut film Somersault (2004) was a critically-acclaimed exploration of a young girl’s sexual awakening.  In her new film, Shortland explores a teenager’s moral awakening.  Newcomer Saskia Rosendahl gives a riveting performance as Lore (short for Hannelore), the eldest of several siblings left to fend for themselves at the end of World War II when their Nazi parents are arrested by allied forces.  As the children make their way through the ravaged countryside and villages toward their grandmother’s house with the help of a young Jewish man (The White Ribbon’s Kai Malina), Lore develops her conscience as well as her libido.  Unflinching but thoroughly engrossing, the film provides a rarely depicted look at the Holocaust’s other innocent victims.  Adapted from the lauded novel The Dark Room, it also boasts beautiful cinematography by Adam Arkapaw (Animal Kingdom).
Reverend’s Rating: B+

The Silence
A generally well-made yet disturbing psycho-sexual thriller from Germany.  In the summer of 1986, a young man named Timo (Wotan Wilke Moehring, giving a very good, haunted performance) watches his best friend, Peer (a creepy turn by Ulrich Thomsen) rape and murder a teenaged girl.  They hide the body and Timo soon goes his separate way, much to Peer’s disappointment.  23 years later, another girl is murdered in the same location on the same date as the first.  Is it a coincidence, the work of a copycat killer, or is Peer trying to lure Timo back?  While Timo searches for his own answers, the detectives on the case include a widowed officer who occasionally wears his dead wife’s dresses.  Though The Silence struck me as truthful regarding how parents deal with the loss of a child, other script elements — such as a pregnant policewoman being sent alone to question a suspect in his home — strain credibility. Nonetheless, neophyte writer-director Baran bo Odar is a talent to watch.
Reverend’s Rating: B

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

Reverend's Preview: GLAAD Tidings

After the Oscars, Golden Globes and Grammys, one would think all the awards for 2012’s best achievements in movies, music and television have been given out.  Think again.  GLAAD, the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, will host their annual Los Angeles Media Awards event tonight.

Founded in 1985, GLAAD continues to advocate for and hold the media accountable in their presentation of LGBT characters, people and issues.  The organization has annually honored the best of these representations for the last 24 years, and its awards events are now spread out among three different cities: LA, New York and San Francisco.  Proceeds from each fund GLAAD’s important, ongoing work on behalf of our community.

“Images and stories from the LGBT community continue to push support for equality to historic levels,” according to Herndon Graddick, GLAAD’s new president.  “This year’s nominees enlighten and entertain, but also reflect a new American landscape where a growing majority accept and value their LGBT family, colleagues and friends.”

The films, TV programs and other media being recognized this year include The Perks of Being a Wallflower, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, ParaNorman, How to Survive a Plague, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, The New Normal, Modern Family, DC Comics, Huffington Post and bisexual R&B singer Frank Ocean’s Channel Orange album.  All in all, GLAAD named 120 nominees in 25 English-language categories as well as 33 Spanish-language nominees in eight categories.  A complete list of nominees can be found online at here.

In addition, special honorees are feted in each of the three cities for their work in furthering LGBT visibility.  Anderson Cooper was presented with the organization’s prestigious Vito Russo Award (by Madonna, no less) at last month’s New York gathering, and former president Bill Clinton will be honored in LA, to be hosted by Drew Barrymore. Awards presenters at the LA event will include newly-minted Oscar winner Jennifer Lawrence, previous Oscar winners Charlize Theron and Mary Steenburgen, Tobey Maguire, Matt Bomer, Alex Pettyfer, Elle Fanning, Betty White, Chris Evans, Ted Danson, Diane Kruger, Joshua Jackson and Leonardo DiCaprio. Also, Grammy Award-winning recording artist Kelly Rowland will perform at the ceremony.

MSNBC news anchor Thomas Roberts has been confirmed as a Special Guest at tonight's celebration in LA, which will take place at the JW Marriott Hotel.  Roberts famously came out as a gay man in 2006 while speaking at a convention of gay and lesbian journalists.  Last year, he legally wed his longtime partner in New York City. Additional special guests include Glee's Naya Rivera and Alex Newell;  The New Normal's Andrew Rannells, Justin Bartha, Ellen Barkin, NeNe Leakes, Georgia King and Jayson Blair; Raising Hope's Cloris Leachman, Lucas Neff, and Shannon Woodward; Scandal's Dan Bucatinsky and Guillermo Díaz; and Sara Ramirez (Grey's Anatomy), Brad Goreski (It's a Brad, Brad World); Stephen Chbosky (The Perks of Being a Wallflower); Trevor Donovan (90210); Maria Menounos (Extra); Scott Evans (One Life to Live); Brad Bell (Husbands), GLAAD's former Entertainment Media Director Chaz Bono and GLAAD National Spokesperson Wilson Cruz.

As GLAAD president Graddick stated, “Now more than ever, viewers not only accept gay and transgender characters and plot lines, they expect them — just as they both accept and expect LGBT people to be a valuable part of their everyday lives.”  The LA Media Awards provides a great opportunity for local members of our community to celebrate this new reality.  For more information or to purchase tickets, visit the GLAAD Media Awards website.

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