Reverend’s Preview: Celebrating 40 Years of Outfest LA

40 years ago, during the summer of 1982, I was between my freshman and sophomore years of high school. Ronald Reagan was president (ugh) and E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial became the biggest movie of the year. I was slowly figuring out I was gay, but sure as hell wasn’t ready to admit it to anyone!

1982 also produced three of the most LGBTQ-positive movies up to that point: Making Love, Personal Best and Victor/Victoria. Before then, most big-screen depictions of homosexuality or queer love were downright condemnatory. The 40 years since 1982 have seen amazing progress for all of us in the LGBTQ+ community, and much of this has been achieved with the help of filmmakers representing us in a positive light.

Not coincidentally, the Outfest LA LGBTQ+ Film Festival is celebrating its 40th anniversary and “40 years of changing the narrative” this week. Since its founding in 1982, Outfest has screened thousands of US and international films for audiences of well over half a million people. It remains the largest and longest-running film festival of any kind in Southern California. Outfest is also the leading queer media arts organization in Los Angeles, and possibly the world.

The fest is back in person and online in 2022. It will incorporate 11 days of LGBTQ+ films, television, special events, parties and more. In-person screenings will once again be held at the Directors Guild of America in West Hollywood plus at various venues across LA, including festival favorite outdoor venue, The Ford Amphitheater. Visit Outfest for tickets and more information.

Presented by Warner Bros. Discover and IMDb, the fest will run July 14th-24th. Opening night, held at Downtown L.A.’s historic Orpheum Theatre, will feature Tony Award winner Billy Porter’s directorial debut Anything’s Possible. The high school-set film follows a young trans student and her love interest as they navigate a romance during their senior year. It stars Eva Reign, Abubakr Ali, Simone Joy Jones, Kelly Lamor Wilson and Broadway star Renée Elise Goldsberry (Hamilton). Porter will be joined opening night by his cast and producer Christine Vachon, who will present Porter with a special Achievement Award for his creative contributions over the years. The fest will also feature appearances by actors Kevin Bacon and Julianne Moore, filmmaker Todd Haynes, author Clive Barker, and Big Freedia, among others.

Outfest LA will conclude on July 24th with a celebration at The Theater at the Ace Hotel in Downtown LA. The closing night world premiere will be of playwright and screenwriter John Logan’s directorial debut They/Them. Oscar- and Tony-nominated Logan has been highly acclaimed for his previous work on the James Bond epics Skyfall and Spectre. His new slasher pic, set at an LGBTQIA+ conversion camp, follows the young residents as they band together against their counselors when an unidentified killer begins claiming victims.

Several centerpiece screenings will also be presented. These include a 20th-anniversary screening of Todd Haynes’ Far From Heaven with Haynes, Vachon and star Julianne Moore set for an in-person Q&A; the documentary Mama Bears, about a community of Christian mothers with an unwavering love for their LGBTQIA+ children; and platinum centerpiece HeBGB TV, described as a “high camp tribute to late-night horror television in the vein of Elvira in which a retro cable box begins programming queer killer content into the home of a brother and sister who’ve stayed up past bedtime.” Yikes!

Reverend was able to preview two other standout films to be screened during the fest. Unidentified Objects, the US Centerpiece on July 20th, stars New Amsterdam’s Matthew Jeffers in a road movie/buddy dramedy. Jeffers plays Peter, a self-described “college-educated, homosexual dwarf who is balding and prone to illness.” His alien-obsessed neighbor, Winona J (not that Winona J), offers Peter $1,700 to drive her from NYC to Canada in 72 hours. We learn she is scheduled for a rendezvous with the interplanetary visitors who abducted her when she was 15, and she doesn’t want to miss it.

Naturally, Peter is dubious but he needs the money. He also needs to fulfill a promise he made to his late best friend, Shay, while he is in Canada. Peter and Winona (played by Sarah Hay) gradually bond, plus the prickly yet lovable Peter has an unexpected fantasy encounter with a hot Canadian at a local bar. Director and co-writer Juan Felipe Zuleta proves himself a talent to watch with his feature film debut. In addition, Unidentified Objects features striking cinematography by Camilo Monsalve and music score by Sebastian Zuleta.

While Reverend was in seminary back in the early 1990’s, more than a few of us had subscriptions to the homoerotic clothing catalog International Male. The straight women and gay students who worked in the seminary mailroom at the time definitely weren’t complaining! Outfest 40 will be also presenting the nostalgic new documentary All Man: The International Male Story on July 16th.

The late catalog, which actually debuted way back in the bicentennial year 1976, was decried by anti-gay cultural critics as “hedonistic,” “tasteless” and “selling sex.” As the documentary reveals in fascinating detail, it ultimately weathered those naysayers as well as the tragic devastation that HIV/AIDS wrought on the catalog’s staff and model pool during the 1980’s-90’s. I never expected to feel proud of International Male 30+ years later, but dagnabit I do thanks to filmmakers Bryan Darling and Jesse Finley Reed. Gay faves Matt Bomer, Drew Droege, Carson Kressley, Jake Shears and fellow LGBTQ critic Frank DeCaro also make welcome contributions.

According to Outfest’s executive director Damien S. Navarro: “We’re excited to host audiences and fans across the city to celebrate just how far queer cinema and entertainment have come. The body of work we have curated from nearly every continent increasingly represents adventurous styles and genres, from vibrant romantic comedies – where the trans lead gets the boy – to horror films that balance the scares and the sexy.”

Congratulations on 40 years, Outfest, and blessings for many more!

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

MD Review: Pride and Prejudice

The whole 'upstairs/downstairs' crew of Downton Abbey have returned for A New Era... of withering snobbery, apparently. When last we reveled in the period ecstasy of The Crawleys and Co., they weathered through a Royal visit with cheeky aplomb. Alas, this time out they spend most of the time embracing tired clichés of the rich and the British, with one half of the clan looking down their noses at a silent movie crew on the home front, while the other half go abroad to show up the French ("so French!") on their own turf. Whereas the Downton gang's first big screen outing was like savoring a warm crumpet, the sequel is more akin to taking a big bite of stale custard tart.

MD Rating: 6/10

Downton Abbey: A New Era is now streaming on Peacock.

Dorian TV Awards Hail "Hacks", "Somebody Somewhere"

With a combined tally of 37, HBO and its streaming brand HBO Max lead in the recently announced nominations for the 14th Dorian TV Awards. Presented by GALECA, the Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics (of which yours truly and Movie Dearest contributor Chris Carpenter are founding members), the Dorian TV Awards honor the best and brightest in television, whether it be broadcast, cable or streaming, such as the two HBO comedies with a field best total of 5 nominations each, Hacks and Somebody Somewhere.

HBO's Euphoria leads the drama categories with 4 nominations, followed by its fellow network series Barry, The Other Two, Our Flag Means Death, Succession and The White Lotus, along with ABC's Abbott Elementary, Netflix's Heartstopper, Apple TV +'s Schmigadoon! and Showtimes' Yellowjackets, with 3 nods each.

Winners for the Dorian TV awards will be revealed on August 17. And the nominees are (see comments section below):

Reverend's Reviews: Gay Pride... and a Little Prejudice

Happy Pride, my dear online congregants! I've been amusing myself these past couple of weeks thinking about what early-19th century novelist Jane Austen might think of Fire Island (now streaming on Hulu), the new and very gay adaptation of her classic Pride and Prejudice. I expect she would be shocked by its few but fairly graphic sex scenes, titillated by the excessive number of fit men clad in tiny swimwear, but ultimately touched by its resolution of conflicted love stories. One story even features an unapologetically gay version of her famed, conceited Mr. Darcy.

Unfortunately, what Austen may find revolutionary by her esteemed standards seems quite cliché today. Director Andrew Ahn (who previously helmed the acclaimed Spa Night and Driveways) and screenwriter-star Joel Kim Booster (The Other Two) definitely get points for their more diverse approach and casting, but the film's situations and dialogue will be painfully obvious even to those somehow unfamiliar with Pride and Prejudice. Actually, Fire Island ends up having even more in common with the exploitative (though straight) "let's get laid" movie comedies of the early 1980's.

Booster heads the cast as Noah, a hot young New Yorker who reunites with his bestest friends for their annual trek to the title, offshore gay mecca. Among them is Noah's longtime BESTest friend Howie (played by out SNL standout Bowen Yang), who remains painfully insecure as a gay Asian man despite living in gay- and Asian-friendly San Francisco. During the course of one week, they enter into tentative relationships with, respectively, aloof lawyer Will (a.k.a. Mr. Darcy, well-played by delectable stage and screen vet Conrad Ricamora) and seemingly shallow pediatrician Charlie (cute James Scully). Thankfully, Margaret Cho is also on hand as the friends' entertaining hostess/voice of reason.

The cast of Fire Island is uniformly attractive and funny, even if Torian Miller is somewhat wasted as the lone/token Black friend in the group. I was hoping for more from this heavily promoted Pride month offering but others – depending on one's experience or perspective – could well find it revolutionary.

Another "gaysian" talent making a splash on streaming this month is Alex Liu, the 36-year old director and star of A Sexplanation (Herra Productions). This revealing first-person documentary follows Liu as he explores the numerous influences, both positive and negative, that have shaped his sexuality. In the process, he interviews his parents and grandmother plus friends, sex educators and researchers, politicians, Porn Hub executives and even a Roman Catholic priest!

Unsurprisingly, Liu concludes that American society is sexually repressed. Superficiality masks shame, which in turn creates or reinforces more shame. As one of his friends puts it, "Sex is shameful and what we should be most focused on." Liu shares that his shame over his homosexuality led him to consider suicide when he was younger. Along with this is a cultural fear of "the P word," pleasure, especially in regard to masturbation. One of the film's funny highlights is when Liu asks his parents about their masturbatory habits.

A Sexplanation is impressively personal and comprehensive, with Liu an engaging, likable host. As director, he also works in some good, fun visuals to illustrate various points. Nothing he learns struck me as particularly revolutionary, but the film reiterates a long-standing but still-important call for good, comprehensive sex education within families, schools, churches or religious groups and the media. Here, here!

Speaking of retro depictions of sex and related shame, gay filmmaker Terence Davies is back with his new biopic Benediction (Roadside Attractions). The celebrated writer-director of such modern classics as The Long Day Closes and Distant Voices, Still Lives here relates the life story of British poet Siegfried Sassoon. Sassoon was also a decorated soldier on the Western Front during World War I.

Sassoon was attracted to men and had multiple gay affairs after the war. However, social conventions of the time being what they were, he married a woman and fathered a son. The film admirably depicts Sassoon as being open with his wife about his affairs with men before they got married. He continued to write poems, novels and an autobiography. Sassoon died in 1967 at the age of 80.

Typical of Davies' films, Benediction is elegantly directed in addition to being beautifully scored (largely with pre-existing music) and shot (by Nicola Daley). Its exceptional cast headed by Jack Lowden as Sassoon also boasts British stalwarts Peter Capaldi, Julian Sands, Gemma Jones, Ben Daniels and newly-minted Tony Award winner Simon Russell Beale. There are plentiful scenes featuring catty, early-20th century gays carrying on. Definitely recommended.

Reverend was also recently able to catch two new gay-themed movies from Italy. Mascarpone (Uncork'd/Dark Star Pictures) was the opening night selection at Connecticut's just-concluded Out on Film CT festival and is now available for streaming. It successfully combines several desirable ingredients: sexy guys, Roman landmarks and food! The latter are delicious-looking pastries baked by lead character Antonio, who enrolls in pastry school after his husband unexpectedly leaves him for another man. Antonio gradually creates a new life for himself with the help of a drug-dealing prostitute he ends up rooming with, plus a gym buddy turned first employer and then lover. A sometimes hard-hitting but ultimately hopeful dramedy.

Blessed Boys, also known by its Italian title La Santa Piccola, made its US premiere just last week during New York's Tribeca Film Festival and then screened during Out on Film CT. Set in Naples, it opens with a young girl, Annaluce, miraculously bringing a dead bird back to life. Soon dubbed "The Saint" by her priest and church members, she later confirms her abilities by resurrecting her seemingly dead mother.

All this religious attention presents challenges to Annaluce's brother, Lino, and his best friend Mariu. Their very physical, homoerotic-leaning friendship masks Mariu's secret longings for Lino as well as Lino's need to prostitute himself to local women to pay his family's rent. Things between the men take a dramatic turn when Mariu ends up participating with Lino and one of his clients. There is enough sex, Catholicism, and attractive men in Blessed Boys to please pretty much everyone!

Reverend's Ratings:
Fire Island: C+
A Sexplanation: B
Benediction: B+
Mascarpone: B
Blessed Boys (a.k.a. La Santa Piccola): B-

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