Reverend's Reviews: Straight & GLBT Collide in New DVDs

It seems appropriate for three new DVDs exploring mash-ups of the hetero and homo/bi/trans worlds at the beginning of GLBT Pride season. First out of the gate is Breaking Glass Pictures' Straight & Butch, which was just released today. This intriguing documentary follows the multi-year odyssey undertaken by Butch Cordora, an openly gay Philadelphia TV host, to create a calendar in which he and an assortment of straight men would pose together nude. In re-creating iconic images including Janet Jackson's hands-on-breasts Rolling Stone cover, a nude John Lennon embracing Yoko Ono, and The Beatles' Abbey Road album cover sans clothing, Cordora hoped to find common ground between gay and straight men in the most intimate of photographic situations.

While a few of the subjects were personal friends or co-workers of Cordora's before shooting and a couple are professional models, most are regular guys from the Philadelphia area. The film notes that 59 exclusively straight men in all were asked to participate, but 48 said "no" and refused to state their reasons for doing so on camera. A few wrote that their wife or girlfriend would be uncomfortable with them posing nude, at least with another man.

Those models who agreed include the husband of one of the photographers, a Whole Foods grocery store bag boy, a pizzeria owner, a professional wrestler, and a heavily-tattooed artist. There is also a nice ethnic mix among them, including two Black men, a Latino originally from Colombia, and an Asian. The men's initial comfort levels vary, as do their body types, but all save one come away from the experience of being photographed nude with Cordora feeling good about it. As one model remarks, "(The project) says something about our country or, more importantly, where our country could and should be" in terms of gay-straight relations. While Straight & Butch gets a little long and repetitive by the final shooting session, it is well worth watching.

Meanwhile, a lesbian-themed movie out May 3 on Wolfe Video, Bloomington, is generally worth avoiding. The plot initially focuses on the adjustment to college life in the titular Midwest city of a previously home-schooled young woman who also happens to be the former star of a cult science-fiction TV series à la Star Trek (to really drive the comparison home, the character's name is Jackie Kirk). Jackie, played by the Miley Cyrus-esque Sarah Stouffer, has good intentions of leaving showbiz behind and studying law. Things start to change, however, once she crosses paths with Abnormal Psychology professor Catherine Stark (the beautiful Allison McAtee).

Stark's reputation as a "vampire lesbo" (in the unflattering words of one student) who sleeps with her students precedes her. It isn't long before Stark confirms she is lesbian and begins an affair with Jackie. It also isn't long before Hollywood starts beckoning Jackie back for a movie version of her TV show. Fearful Catherine starts drinking and inexplicably sleeping with a man, while Jackie apparently realizes she needs to "straighten up" and have sex with a male fellow student if she is to have a chance at headlining a blockbuster movie.

Bloomington, written and directed by Fernanda Cardoso, starts promisingly but is ultimately compromised by its characters' shifting allegiances and alliances. Too much of the film is hard to swallow, from the casual way it treats an ethically-questionable sexual relationship between student and teacher to its perfunctory ending. Like Jackie, Cardoso may need to get back to basics academically.

The best by far of these new DVD releases is Casper Andreas' hilarious Violet Tendencies, out May 24 from Breaking Glass Pictures. Mindy Cohn, lovingly remembered by many of us as the irrepressible Natalie on the 1980's series The Facts of Life, stars as "the last fag hag" in Manhattan. Violet is adored by her large circle of gay friends and spends virtually all her free time with them. This makes it difficult for her to find romance with a "fag stag" or other straight man, for which she desperately longs, despite late nights on the "Frisky Friends" phone chat line and resultant, aborted dates.

As much as she hates to do so, Violet cuts herself off from her boys once she meets Vern, an ex-Mormon architect from Idaho who reminded me a lot of Geoffrey Rush in Shine. But the boys will have none of it, devoted to Violet's happiness as they are, and begin to seek a more ideal partner for her... who may unknowingly be right in their midst.

Violet Tendencies kept getting away from me when it played last year's GLBT film festival circuit, and I'm so glad I finally saw it. The film is chock full of relatable, well-drawn characters, razor-sharp dialogue and witty observations (the screenplay was written by Jesse Archer, Andreas's frequent collaborator), and fabulous New York locations. Cohn's performance and those of the supporting cast are great, and there are cameos by such NYC gay icons as Hedda Lettuce, Michael Musto and Randy Jones, a.k.a. the Village People's Cowboy.

To quote Violet's dating advice-dispensing, food-deprived fashion model co-worker, Salome: "Get off your racket" and see Violet Tendencies ASAP!

Reverend's Ratings:
Straight & Butch: B
Bloomington: C-
Violet Tendencies: A-

Review by Rev. Chris Carpenter, resident film critic of Movie Dearest and the Blade California.

Reverend's Preview: TCM Fest Brings Classic Film Lovers Together

Thousands of fans of "Old Hollywood" gathered from throughout the US last year for the first ever Turner Classic Movies Classic Film Festival. Held over one weekend at Grauman's Chinese Theatre and other historic sites, it was such a success that an announcement was made before the festival was even over that it would return in 2011.

True to organizers' word, the second TCM Fest is set for April 28-May 1 in Hollywood. Beloved movies will unspool on the big screen (some for the first time in decades) and big stars including Warren Beatty, Debbie Reynolds, Alec Baldwin, Leslie Caron, Mickey Rooney, Jane Powell and Shirley Jones will appear. Family members of the late Gregory Peck will also be on hand to introduce two of Peck's greatest films, To Kill a Mockingbird and The Guns of Navarone.

Caron will be on hand opening night for the world premiere of a 60th anniversary restoration of An American in Paris. The actress-dancer starred alongside Gene Kelly in this colorful musical directed by Vincente Minnelli (Liza's dad) and set to the music of George Gershwin. It won six Academy Awards, including Best Picture of 1951, and the then-dreamy Kelly won an honorary Oscar for his achievements as an actor and choreographer.

Beatty won an Academy Award for his direction of the 1981 historical epic Reds (one of my all time favorite movies) and he is scheduled to introduce a special 30th anniversary screening of his masterwork during the festival. While it might not appear that Reds holds much appeal for GLBT viewers at first glance, it is important to note Maureen Stapleton's Oscar-winning performance as anarchist/Communist Emma Goldman. Goldman plays a significant role in GLBT history as an outspoken critic of anti-gay prejudice. She wrote in 1923, "It is a tragedy, I feel, that people of a different sexual type are caught in a world which shows so little understanding for homosexuals and is so crassly indifferent to the various gradations and variations of gender and their great significance in life." As Magnus Hirschfeld said of Goldman, "She was the first and only woman, indeed the first and only American, to take up the defense of homosexual love before the general public." While this isn't directly referenced in Reds, the film and Stapleton's performance stand as fitting tributes to Goldman.

Several of Walt Disney's movie classics, both animated and live action, will be prominently featured at this year's TCM Fest. "Disney's Musical Legacy" will include a restored version of 1940's Fantasia, a showcase of Silly Symphonies cartoon shorts, and tributes to such Disney musical classics as Mary Poppins and Bedknobs and Broomsticks. In addition, Disney's teenage discovery Hayley Mills will be present to introduce a special 50th anniversary screening of gay fave The Parent Trap, in which she stars as twin sisters who were separated by their parents' divorce but are reunited at summer camp. Mills will also present the rarely seen, non-Disney movie Whistle Down the Wind (1961), in which she plays one of several children who mistake an escaped convict for Jesus Christ. Whistle Down the Wind was subsequently turned into a similarly rarely-performed stage musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber.

Other classic movie musicals to be shown include 1964's The Unsinkable Molly Brown, which will be introduced by its leading lady, Debbie Reynolds; Rodgers & Hammerstein's Carousel, starring Shirley Jones; a 50th anniversary screening of West Side Story in a 70mm print; Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, starring Jane Powell; the unusual but noteworthy Pennies from Heaven (1981), with Steve Martin and Bernadette Peters; and 1943's all-black classic Cabin in the Sky.

Also of GLBT interest during the fest will be a 50th anniversary restoration of Breakfast at Tiffany's, based on the story by gay writer Truman Capote. Although the film version was largely de-gayed, Audrey Hepburn's performance as Holly Golightly and a gorgeous young George Peppard as her admirer still resonate. A Streetcar Named Desire (1951), adapted from Tennessee Williams' play and featuring a broodingly hot Marlon Brando, and 1935's The Devil is a Woman, starring Marlene Dietrich, will also be worth GLBT festival goers' attention.

Roger Corman's campy, low-budget classic The Little Shop of Horrors (1960) — later musicalized on stage and screen — will also be shown and introduced by Corman himself. Jack Nicholson made one of his first movie appearances in this horror-comedy about a carnivorous plant set on taking over the world. At the other end of the cinematic spectrum, a 70th anniversary restoration of Orson Welles' Citizen Kane, generally regarded by critics as the greatest movie yet made, will be revealed during the 2011 TCM Classic Film Festival.

Several same-sex couples walked the opening night red carpet at last year's fest, and many attendees were dressed to the nines in both classic and contemporary fashion styles. For the full schedule of screenings and other festival events and to purchase tickets or passes, please visit the TCM website.

Review by Rev. Chris Carpenter, resident film critic of Movie Dearest and the Blade California.

Reel Thoughts: Love Under the Big Top

Circus movies are a tough thing to pull off. The Greatest Show on Earth was widely considered the worst Best Picture Oscar-winner of all time (at least until Crash crushed Brokeback Mountain). Tod Browning’s Freaks was so disturbing for its time that it was banned for thirty years in England. Joan Crawford’s Berserk! was disturbing for a host of other reasons. And don’t forget Big Top Pee-Wee… oh, you already did. While Water for Elephants isn’t likely to spur a generation of kids to run away and join the circus, it is a handsomely-made, pleasingly old-fashioned love story set against the backdrop of a struggling circus during the Great Depression.

Robert Pattinson gives a strong, impassioned performance as young Jacob Jankowski, but to be honest, he gets a huge boost by being introduced as an older man played by Hal Holbrook. Holbrook’s haunted eyes do more heartbreaking acting than most young actors do with their whole performance, and it can’t have been easy playing a lonely widower so soon after losing his wife Dixie Carter last year. The older Jacob is found soaking in the rain by the manager of the Circus Vargas, apparently having been left behind by his nursing home bus. Charlie (Paul Schneider), the circus manager, gets into a discussion of big top disasters and discovers that Jacob was there in 1931 for the infamous Benzini Brothers catastrophe.

Caught off guard by a faded picture of a beautiful woman on an elephant, Jacob reveals that she was Marlena (Reese Witherspoon) and that the ringmaster in the photo was her husband August (Christophe Waltz, in a brilliant, violent performance). In 1931, Jacob was a Cornell veterinary student with a bright future, but his parents were tragically killed in a car accident, leaving Jacob bereft, and as it turns out, without a home. His parents had spent everything and gone into debt to send Jacob to college, and the realization is more than he can handle.

Jumping a passing train, he finds that he has inadvertently “run away to join the circus.” The Benzini Brothers Circus is run by the dedicated but ruthless August, who rules his people as harshly as he does his poor animals. Despite its PG-13 rating, you may find it hard to watch his brutal attack on Rosie the elephant, August’s latest “star attraction”. Jacob and Marlena bond over their love of animals, first her prized show horses and later Rosie, and Jacob’s veterinary skills prove invaluable to the circus. It doesn’t take long before August’s violent outbursts drive Marlena and Jacob together, but getting away from August may prove deadly. Anyone whom he deems a threat or a financial liability is routinely “red-lighted”, tossed from the fast-moving train by August’s goons.

Witherspoon plays against her natural alpha personality to play the passive Marlena, but she demonstrates strength when needed as Marlena finds her independence. She effortlessly evokes Jean Harlow. Waltz proves that his terrifying Col. Hans Landa in Inglourious Basterds wasn’t a fluke. He mines complex depths from his villainous character, showing the scared and insecure man beneath the monster. Pattinson is a better actor than he’s given credit for, and he makes Jacob a fully-rounded hero.

Water for Elephants is gorgeously-rendered and emotionally satisfying, apparently streamlining Sara Gruen’s best-selling novel for the screen without losing any of its power. Screenwriter Richard LaGravenese and director Francis Lawrence do a masterful job showing the hardships of the Depression against the tattered magic of the circus. Tai the elephant also deserves special mention, since Rosie is a vital part of the film’s success. Water for Elephants is not a film full of surprises, although what Marlena’s fate was and how Jacob ended up forgotten in a nursing home are questions you want to see answered. Sometimes, a well-made, romantic classic is just what the veterinary student ordered.

UPDATE: Water for Elephants is now available on DVD and Blu-rayfrom Amazon.com.

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

Reverend's Reviews: Bag Hag

Most of us — gay and straight — would agree that bags under one's eyes are not a good thing. Turns out, though, that we should be much more worried about the damage being done to our environment and, subsequently, to ourselves by plastic grocery bags. This isn't news to the "green" among us but a new documentary, Bag It, is trying to reach those who haven't yet heard the message. It is currently airing on most local PBS stations and via nationwide theatrical screenings in honor of Earth Day (visit the film's official website for information about screenings in your area).

Award-winning director Suzan Beraza focuses on Jeb Berrier, a Colorado-based expectant father and "everyman" citizen concerned about the damage done by the proliferation of non-biodegradable plastic products since the 1950's. The statistics they report are startling. For example, Americans use 1 million plastic bags per minute, and 500 billion plastic bags are used worldwide each year. Most of these end up not recycled but as trash dumped in the sea, where they are frequently mistaken by sea life as edible jellyfish. There is a growing epidemic of turtles, sharks and other marine animals necessary to the global food chain dying as the result of eating a diet primarily made up of plastic. The colony of albatross birds who call the Pacific's Midway Atoll home are also dying of plastic consumption.

In light of such dire findings, the United Nations called for a global examination of plastic shopping bags and ultimately condemned their use. US grocer Whole Foods Markets eliminated them in 2008, and Ireland imposed a 22-cent fee on each bag. As a result of the latter, consumption of plastic bags on the Emerald Island has dropped 90%. While most items made of plastic are recyclable, too many people still toss them in the trash instead of the recycle bin.

At a brisk, informative 79 minutes, Bag It easily holds one's attention. Berrier isn't the most attractive spokesperson and his anti-plastic enthusiasm can be grating, but he is balanced by the film's incorporation of expert interviews and commentary by other professionals. Many take what might be considered an extreme view of buying less in general and overcoming our consumerist, disposable mentality. Better to start with small steps, I think, and first start recycling our plastic bags and other items or purchasing the re-usable bags now sold by many stores.

Also of note: one study cited in the film found that exposure to a common component in plastic, Bisphenol A (also known as BPA), can result in "gender neutrality" in developing children. Could this also potentially result in homosexuality? Bag It doesn't go that far, but I find it interesting to consider. While I don't place the blame on anything or anyone for "making" me gay, what if my mother's or grandparents' plastic goods were at least partly at fault? No more Tupperware parties for me!

Reverend's Rating: B

Review by Rev. Chris Carpenter, resident film critic of Movie Dearest and the Blade California.