Reverend's Reviews: Murder on Fire Island, Kissing Cousins and VelociPastor!

 

Summer may be coming to an end, but gay-interest releases in theaters and on home video are just heating up! Here's a rundown of new movies for which to keep an eye out...

In the sexy suspense-thriller Last Ferry (opening today at the Laemmle Music Hall cinema in Los Angeles and screening during Palm Springs' Cinema Diverse in September) a young gay lawyer, Joseph (played by the very cute Ramon Torres), arrives on Fire Island to explore his sexuality. Unfortunately for him, he ends up drugged and mugged, then becomes witness to a murder. A handsome stranger, Cameron (Sheldon Best), helps Joseph to safety and introduces him to his eclectic group of friends. Just when things are heating up between him and Cameron, Joseph discovers his savior may be friends with the killer. Their relationship becomes complicated, to say the least.

Written by Torres and directed by Jaki Bradley, Last Ferry explores a darker side of the east coast gay mecca than we usually see. But the movie isn’t without humor plus its chock full of hot guys of diverse ages, body types, ethnicities and even hair colors. It also offers some thoughtful reflections on the progress that’s been made by the LGBTQ community, as well as the tendency to be our own worst enemy at times.

I didn’t find this film’s ending to be completely satisfying but it is engrossing throughout. Alexa Wolf’s beautiful, off-season cinematography of Fire Island as well as a hip score by dance-jazz duo Wonderly (Jim Brunberg and Benjamin Landsverk) also make Last Ferry worth seeing and listening to.

Blending big-screen sexiness with a healthy dose of religion is the Brazilian drama Cousins. It is currently making the LGBTQ film festival rounds, including September's Cinema Diverse, and will open in Los Angeles for a weeklong run at the Laemmie Music Hall on November 1st. Young Lucas (Paulo Sousa) lives with his devout Catholic aunt, Lourdes, in a small country town. Up to now, life has been pretty simple and quiet. Things change, however, when his charitable aunt announces the arrival of another nephew, Mario (Thiago Cazado). Just out of jail, Mario's life has been anything but quiet. When their aunt goes out of town for a weekend, the boys are left to their own devices and things between them can't help but get interesting.

Sousa and Cazado are adorable (and frequently naked) as the love-struck relations. Of note, Cazado wrote Cousins and co-directed the film with Mauro Carvalho. I don't know anything about Cazado's personal life, but he fully and sensitively invests himself in his role as Mario. The movie's finale sends a refreshing message of acceptance, much to the hilarious consternation of the young woman who wants Lucas for herself. A definite gay crowd pleaser.

Rafael Gomes' 45 Days Away from You , new on DVD courtesy of Dekkoo Films and TLA Releasing, is as good as Cousins and similarly from Brazil. The lead character, a gay writer named Rafael in what is seemingly an autobiographical story, is grieving the unexpected breakup of a recent relationship and considers himself "the most inadequate person alive." He decides to pursue some distance and perspective by visiting an actress friend in London.

Over the 45 days of the film's title, Rafael (played by Rafael De Bona) ends up traveling to France, Portugal, Denmark and Argentina as well, gaining advice from various longtime friends in each locale. These include his straight but bromantic buddy Fabio as well as the gay, sexy Icaro. As Fabio thoughtfully ruminates, "Our biggest legacy may be the collection of our love stories."

Gomes' screenplay is well-written and philosophical throughout, with such additional bon mots as "a broken heart is a moving forest" and "I love you like no one is looking." The acting is great all-around, plus Dhyana Ma's location photography is gorgeous. 45 Days Away from You is a reflective winner.

Speaking of Argentina, that country's writer-director Marco Berger is back with The Blonde One, his latest romance between initially straight guys. This has become his patented bread and butter, as seen in such previous films as Plan B, Taekwondo and Hawaii. Unlike most of those, The Blonde One will be released theatrically in the US starting in LA on September 6th.

In the suburbs of Buenos Aires, Gabriel (the fair-haired boy of the title) has just moved in with his colleague, Juan. Shy and reserved, Gabo is reluctant to follow Juan's wandering hands and meaningful looks. Gabo also has a young daughter from a previous hetero dalliance. Besides, with a revolving door of female beauties streaming out of his bedroom Juan's machismo seems firmly in place. However, the attraction between the two men is undeniable. What starts out as a sexual relationship based on convenience of location, soon develops into the engrossing evolution of a tender and intimate relationship.

Berger's movies are defined by slow-building chemistry between his male leads. Unfortunately, this is even more protracted than usual in The Blonde One and the film's first half is dull as a result. It's a thoroughly predictable story but there's no denying the main actors' sexiness.

Not very gay but intentionally campy as all get out is The VelociPastor, now available for streaming and scheduled for DVD release on September 17th. Fr. Doug Jones (cute, often scantily-clad Gregory James Cohan) is a devoted young priest until he witnesses the murder of his parents. After receiving some questionable theological counsel, Fr. Doug travels to China. There, he is unexpectedly endowed with the power of "the dragon warrior" and becomes capable of turning into a justice-seeking dinosaur!

After returning to his Pennsylvania parish, the priest crosses paths with Carol (the very funny Alyssa Kempinski), a kind-hearted prostitute who remarks of her thwarted higher ambitions "there's a surprisingly low demand for hooker-doctor-lawyers." They gradually fall in love and team up to take down local criminals as well as battle a gang of Catholic ninjas (?) led by Doug's neglected brother. As the vengeful priest states, "I think God wants a lot of people dead."

Written, directed and edited by Brendan Steere with tongue firmly in cheek, The VelociPastor is a hoot. Complete with 1970's visual/filmmaking throwbacks, cheesy make-up and visual effects, a fun punk rock song score by various bands, and a perfectly laughable dinosaur costume, it is a low-brow must see for those into such things!

Reverend's Ratings:
Last Ferry: B
Cousins: B+
45 Days Away from You: B+
The Blonde One: C
The VelociPastor: B

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

Reverend's Reviews: Gay Days of Summer

 

The typically over-heated month of August has long been referred to as the "dog days" of summer. I have no idea why. This year, however, we can think of August as the gay days of summer based on all the LGBTQ-themed movies now in theaters, on home video, or fresh from their Outfest Los Angeles premieres.

New in select US theaters this weekend is Consequences (from Uncork'd Entertainment), which happens to be the first gay-themed narrative film from the historically conservative country of Slovenia. The attractive Matej Zemljic (who resembles CW's The Flash star Grant Gustin) plays Andrej, a troubled young man who finds himself remanded to a residential program for youths with behavioral issues.

Since the facility's counselors are largely ineffectual, Andrej finds himself drawn to his manipulative peer Zele. Zele seduces Andrej not only sexually but into his bullying lifestyle. "We're the mafia, aren't we?," Zele asks Andrej with a smile. Andrej comes to his senses and does the right thing in the end but, unfortunately, pays a price for it even as the experience leads him to embrace his sexual orientation.

Talented writer-director Darko Stante handles this subject matter sensitively but doesn't shy from the story's more brutal situations. Consequences illustrates the darker side of "What I Did for Love" as well as underscores the enduring vulnerability of gay or bisexual men in Eastern Europe. The film strikes a more universal chord in showing that a perceived attitude of entitlement among today's youth is hardly unique to North America. Despite some necessary roughness, it is definitely worth a look.

Newly available on home video courtesy of TLA Releasing is Always Say Yes (Siempre Si), a remarkable, at times experimental movie from Mexico. Gay viewers will be enticed by the DVD cover's promise that it "contains real sex, a lot of it" but there is much more going on than just that. Subtitled "a Mexican picaresque," Alberto Fuguet's semi-autobiographical film provides an intimate exploration of Mexico's culture, literature, music and politics. It is dedicated, tellingly, to the country's celebrated gay novelist, Luis Zapata, as well as to Joe Dallesandro, the underground American actor/sex symbol.

Gerardo Torres Rodriguez headlines the sexy, virtually all-male cast as Hector Vasquez, a young gay man lured to Mexico City for the first time from his home in more rural Hermosillo. He lives a closeted existence there but is excited about posing nude for an established gay photographer. Things don't go as planned but Hector ends up going home far from disappointed thanks to steamy, unplanned encounters at his hotel, a bathhouse, and other locales. Plus, he meets another gay photographer with whom he forges a more long-term relationship.

One may well consider booking a trip to Mexico City after watching Always Say Yes. It is inspiring in this sense as well as revealing new subjects and techniques for the Mexican film industry. Most interestingly, Fuguet employed multiple cinematographers to shoot in a variety of styles including black and white, digital, celluloid, and color. The result is a sometimes dreamy, sometimes (porno)graphic "picaresque" that thoroughly enraptured me.

This was the first year I covered Outfest, the annual Los Angeles LGBT Film Festival, from afar since I moved to New England last summer. I'm grateful to the many filmmakers and publicists who kept me "in the loop" and enabled me to sample their wares (so to speak) from afar. I noted several Outfest premieres in my July preview article but here are my capsule reviews of a few others that will likely continue on the festival, theatrical, and/or streaming circuit:

Holy Trinity is a thoroughly and unabashedly queer celebration set in Chicago. Written and directed by Molly Hewitt and executive produced by "mumblecore" auteur Joe Swanberg, its chock full of colorful, kinky characters including a dominatrix through whom dead people start speaking, a balloon-bedecked "Imp Queen," and a Catholic priest who drinks holy water and loves Madonna (the pop singer as opposed to the Virgin Mary). There's a little too much huffing and smoking among them for my taste, but the movie boasts a fabulous musical interlude that gives new meaning to "going to church."

Label Me, the potent, sexy story of a Syrian immigrant, Waseem (well played by Renato Schuch), who studied music in his home country but is forced to hustling once he arrives in Europe. He gains a regular client, Lars (Nikolaus Benda), who begins to pay Waseem for more than just sex. A deeper but tenuous relationship grows between them. Kai Kreuser's film is hard-hitting at times but ultimately hopeful.

From Zero To I Love You is the latest from actor-writer-director Doug Spearman of Noah's Arc and Hot Guys With Guns fame. Here, he crafts a sometimes far-fetched yet well-intentioned tale of romance between a straight, married father and a single gay man historically drawn to married men. The fact that one of them is white and the other black is initially, refreshingly not an issue. Things eventually take a strained turn in this regard but the movie, set in Philadelphia, has enough high-quality production values plus a strong cast (Noah's Arc's Darryl Stephens, The Bay's Scott Bailey, Ann Walker in a funny cameo, and Jai Rodriguez) to keep it afloat.

Tu Me Manques, a cinematic expansion of writer Rodrigo Bellott's 2015 play. Young Bolivians Sebastian and Gabriel fall in love at first sight in New York City but, unfortunately, Gabriel's conservative Christian parents refuse to accept his homosexuality. Their relationship ends tragically but Sebastian sees an opportunity to help others through a theatrical production inspired by their story. The film jumps around in time, which can be confusing at times, but it builds to a strong, memorable conclusion. Bellott was awarded a special Jury Prize at Outfest for his screenplay.

The Garden Left Behind is a similarly strong yet sad story about a young trans woman, Tina (played by Carlie Guevara), taking the final steps toward her surgical transition. She has saved money by working as an Uber driver and bartender, has the support of her seemingly accepting boyfriend, and lives with her understanding grandmother. Everything goes well until it doesn't, and then they go from bad to worse in Flavio Alves' sympathetic but arguably too pessimistic film. Name actors Michael Madsen and 89-year old Ed Asner appear in supportive supporting roles.

Kathy Griffin: A Hell of a Story details the horrific treatment the comedian and LGBTQ ally has endured since posting a satiric photo of herself holding a replica of President Donald Trump's severed head two years ago. She was investigated unconstitutionally by the FBI, put on no-fly and Interpol lists, and remains blacklisted by the US entertainment industry. Her new, self-made documentary/stand up movie screened at Outfest prior to a July 31st Fathom Events showing in 700 movie theaters. It serves as both Griffin's latest, hilarious critique of the powers that be as well as a call to arms to LGBTQ and straight Americans alike. Netflix, Hulu, and other streaming services ought to be ashamed if they don't buy and stream this immediately.

And if all these aren't enough for one month, Rocketman – hands down the gayest movie of the year to date – will be out on home video August 27th!

Reverend's Ratings:
Consequences: B
Always Say Yes: A-
Holy Trinity: B-
Label Me: B+
From Zero to I Love You: B
Tu Me Manques: B
The Garden Left Behind: C+
Kathy Griffin: A Hell of a Story: A-

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

Reverend's Preview: I Scream, You Scream, We All Scream for Outfest

 

This month’s 37th annual Outfest, the Los Angeles LGBTQ Film Festival, promises to be a scream. Among the approximately 200 short and feature-length films from around the world that will be screened is an eye-opening documentary exploring the gay/anti-gay history of one of the most notorious horror films of all time.

Outfest 2019 runs July 18th-28th at various venues in and around Los Angeles. It is the largest LGBTQ film fest in the world and the largest of the many film festivals that take place in Southern California each year. More than 40,000 attendees, filmmakers, community leaders and others participate in Outfest’s plentiful screenings, panels and parties.

Things will kick off the evening of Thursday, July 18th at the Orpheum Theater with Rachel Mason’s intimate and absorbing documentary, Circus of Books, about LA’s legendary gay pornography emporium run by her parents, Karen and Barry Mason. The film was recently picked up by Netflix. Additional gala screenings include Adam (US Centerpiece), an adaptation of Ariel Schrag’s YA novel directed by Outfest alum and Transparent producer Rhys Ernst; the Sundance hit This Is Not Berlin (International Centerpiece), set within the 1980’s queer music scene in Mexico City; the acclaimed Changing the Game (Documentary Centerpiece), which focuses on three resilient transgender high school athletes fighting to compete amidst national scrutiny; and Straight Up (Breakthrough Centerpiece), a sharp and witty Los Angeles-set comedy written and directed by newcomer James Sweeney, who also stars.

The festival will close in gala fashion on Sunday, July 28th at The Theatre at the Ace Hotel with Hannah Pearl Utt’s Before You Know It, a quirky comedy about two sisters who discover the mother they’d long been told was dead is actually a famous soap star. In addition to Utt, the film’s cast features Judith Light, Alec Baldwin, Tim Daly, Mike Colter and Mandy Patinkin.

In a major change, the majority of screenings are moving this summer from the fest’s longtime home at the Director’s Guild of America building to the TCL Chinese 6 theater complex at Hollywood and Highland. This classic, easily-accessible location is sure to heighten the Outfest experience for many.

I can’t recommend highly enough the special sneak previews on July 20th and 21st of Scream, Queen! My Nightmare on Elm Street. When the horror sequel A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge was released in 1985, fans thirsting for more Freddy Krueger slasher mayhem weren’t prepared for what became dubbed “the gayest horror movie ever made.” Some consider it the gayest movie ever made, period.

But the film has been re-appraised more recently by scholars as well as documentarians Tyler Jensen and Roman Chimienti. While its original reception derailed the acting career of its gay star, Mark Patton, he is now recognized as the horror genre’s first male “scream queen.” Patton and fellow cast members from the infamous sequel including Freddy himself, Robert Englund, will gather following the Outfest screenings to discuss its legacy and queer aesthetic. The documentary also unapologetically confronts the Hollywood homophobia that ended opportunities for Patton and other gay actors during the height of AIDS hysteria in the mid-1980’s.

Scream, Queen! reveals much about Patton’s personal life, including his own HIV+ status, his longtime self-imposed exile in Puerto Vallarta, and his enduring friendship with singer/actress/goddess Cher. Patton shared even more with me during a recent phone interview:

CC: Have you seen the documentary? What was your reaction to it?
MP: Oh yes. I love it. It’s what I intended it to be. It’s been cut 8 or 9 times over the years. We started working on it five years ago, so I’m very happy with the final version. We’re really hoping for a theatrical release but it will definitely be available for streaming. I really want to protect young people nowadays, and I think the movie raises awareness of a lot of issues affecting LGBTQ young people then and now.

CC: Were you satisfied by your meeting with Freddy’s Revenge screenwriter David Chaskin (shown during the documentary’s climax)? Any follow up thoughts or insights?
MP: Well, I knew he really wasn’t apologizing (for having blamed Patton over the years for the film’s gay interpretation). I often ask audiences after viewing the film, “How many of you have had therapy?” Sometimes it’s all you really get from people. But my desire to confront David ultimately wasn’t about him, it was about me. My main thought watching Freddy’s Revenge for the first time was “Could people tell I was gay?,” which was horrible. Now, I’m completely comfortable with myself. I also realize none of this (the documentary and its positive reception) is happening by accident.

CC: How does it feel to be back in the public eye for the first time in 30 years?
MP: Well, you know I’ve had a gentle slide back in. I flew into Los Angeles the day after they talked to me about the documentary. Then I started the convention thing with Comic-Con and what not. People want to see me, and that feels great. I do have some moments when I’ve been overwhelmed, including in Toronto (during the Toronto Film Festival). It’s one thing when people know you but another as the ripples get bigger and people don’t know you. I’ve learned not to look at social media. But I’ve also heard from people that they consider me a gay icon, which I’m really humbled by.

CC: Speaking of gay icons, here is the question some of my readers will consider the most important: Do you still speak with Cher?
MP: (Laughs) I do. I used to live near Chaz (Bono, Cher’s son) in West Hollywood. Cher lives in a particular world, surrounded by people at her level of success, but she’s always been kind to me. We met when we did the play Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean on Broadway (in 1982; they co-starred in the film version, also released that year). We were very close and are still friends. We would go out to Studio 54 after the show. At the time she always had a dark-haired young man she would be interested in and a blonde young man at her side, so I was her blonde “wing man” at the time (laughs). She remains very supportive and I really hope she comes to see the film at some point.

CC: Do you think you might act more or get otherwise involved in the film industry?
MP: I was literally testing the waters with the two little films I made recently (Family Possessions and Amityville: Evil Never Dies). I know I can do it now. This movie I’m making now in Portland, Black Butee, is a really professional gig. It’s about a serial killer but is a great part. It’s my announcement that the store is open for business! (Laughs).

CC: Finally and more personally, how is married life in Mexico treating you?
MP: Good! I’ve been married for 14 years to a man I never thought I would be with (Hector Morales Mondragon). We met in a club when he started dancing around me. I thought, “Leave me alone!” (laughs). Being in a married relationship takes work. You have to really want it. He’s upstairs right now. We have our fights sometimes, as all couples do, but it’s great.

Visit the official Outfest website for further information about the festival, including the full schedule of films and to purchase passes or tickets.

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

Reverend's Reviews: Marvel-ous Women

Fans of badass females, zombies, aliens, and/or cats who may be aliens (are there any other kind?) will want to check out these new releases!

Captain Marvel (now available for streaming and on home video) is the first female-led entry in the ever expanding Marvel Cinematic Universe. Though lesser-known than her male counterparts such as Captain America, Iron Man and Thor, Captain Marvel has a convoluted comic book history that also incorporates Ms. Marvel, but she technically pre-dates many other superheroes.

Fan boys including my husband were generally thrilled with this blockbuster movie adaptation. The screenplay by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck, who co-directed, plus Geneva Robertson-Dworet is a celebration of girl (super)power that smartly incorporates elements from the title character's various iterations. Here, she is referred to as Vers for the most part but is ultimately identified as Carol Danvers, a military test pilot who is kidnapped and brainwashed by an alien race. We learn her background along with her when she becomes marooned on earth circa 1994.

The Marvelous Ms. Danvers

Vers/Carol finds herself caught in an intergalactic battle between the Kree, the alien race she believes to be her own, and the Skrull, a race of shape-shifters who also arrive on earth. Things aren't as they initially appear, however, which also applies to a scene-stealing feline dubbed Goose (after Anthony Edwards' character in the 1986 movie Top Gun) who befriends Vers.

Captain Marvel's plot is engrossing, its special effects are impressive (especially the CGI that convincingly de-ages Samuel L. Jackson's Nick Fury), and its supporting cast that includes Annette Bening, Jude Law and Ben Mendehlson (finally breaking his tiresome streak of villains) in addition to Jackson is excellent. Best of all is Oscar winner Brie Larson, perfectly cast in the title role that she has already repeated in Avengers: Endgame to similarly winning effect. Larson also shouldn't be missed as the star of her 2019 directorial debut, the delightfully whimsical Unicorn Store, available on Netflix.

Meanwhile, Dark Phoenix (which may or may not still be in a theater near you) is the final chapter of Twentieth Century Fox's long-running X-Men saga, based on the Marvel Comics. The public and critical response has been decidedly underwhelming, partly because Dark Phoenix re-boots a story that was previously told in 2006's X-Men: The Last Stand that involved Jean Grey turning evil and going haywire.

That aspect of the plot is overly familiar but the new movie is an accomplished, occasionally thrilling farewell (at least for now) to the beloved characters and their longtime players. Also, Dark Phoenix is notably more female-centric than its predecessors, with Sophie Turner's Jean Grey, a nasty body-snatching alien played by a stiletto-wielding Jessica Chastain, and Jennifer Lawrence's Mystique taking center stage for the most part. This sequel is a somewhat tired but nevertheless acceptable option to tide one over until Disney/Marvel inevitably resurrects the X-Men...and X-Women.

Endzeit (Ever After in German, now playing theatrically in LA and NYC) does not involve superheroes but is based on a graphic novel. Set in a post-apocalyptic, zombie-plagued world, the movie is worth noting as the first feminist take on the genre with few male cast or crew members involved.

Set in an unspecified but not too distant future, only two European cities have survived an uprising of the undead that began two years prior. No one is allowed to leave their community in an effort to thwart further infections. Despite the rule, two young women escape their city, Weimar, in the hope of finding a better life in the other, Jena. Eva is the more experienced, badass of the pair, with the pink-haired Vivi sensitive and fearful. When the supply train they stowaway on breaks down in between Weimar and Jean, the women end up bonding while taking their chances.

Endzeit features moments of de riguer zombie violence but also many striking moments of natural beauty. These include a family of moths living in the train's bathroom, green meadows, sunsets over wide-open fields, a rabbit and even giraffes frolicking, all shot with an observant eye by cinematographer Leah Striker. Directed by Carolina Hellsgard, this is a unique horror-romance.

Reverend's Ratings:
Captain Marvel and Unicorn Store: A-
Dark Phoenix: B-
Endzeit: B

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