Reverend's Reviews: Modern Gay Classics on DVD

Longtime fans of independent queer cinema will probably find it hard to believe that it's been 20 years since Todd Haynes' Poison hit the screen. The controversial anthology of three mini-movies exploring the darker side of the gay experience debuted at the 1991 Sundance Film Festival and won its Grand Jury Prize. It also won the prestigious Teddy Award at the Berlin International Film Festival.

Poison is being re-released today by Zeitgeist Films as a special, remastered 20th anniversary edition DVD. Packed with rare extras and a 16-page booklet, it provides an excellent opportunity to re-discover the film or see it for the first time. The success of Poison enabled Haynes to write and direct such popular queer titles as Velvet Goldmine, Far from Heaven and the recent HBO miniseries adaptation of Mildred Pierce.

The filmmaker's classic opens with the foreboding words, "The whole world is dying of panicky fright." Haynes then intersperses scenes from the stylistically-diverse "Hero," "Horror" and "Homo" over the next 85 minutes. The first is a mock TV news report of a boy who kills his sexually abusive father and then, inexplicably, flies away. "Horror" serves simultaneously as a black & white homage to 1950's B-movies and as a metaphorical account of the AIDS epidemic, focusing on a well-intentioned scientist who isolates the human sex drive with devastating results. "Homo," inspired by the work of gay writer Jean Genet, is a dream-like but disturbing romance between two prison inmates. All three stories are beautifully photographed by Maryse Alberti and Barry Ellsworth.

Upon its release, Poison was denounced by conservative commentators such as Ralph Reed and the American Family Association's Donald Wildmon. They objected to both Haynes' subversive, pro-gay commentary and the graphic nudity and sex depicted in the "Homo' segment, especially since the film had received funding from the National Endowment for the Arts. Of course, many more critics — including J. Hoberman (whose original essay from The Village Voice is included in the DVD's booklet), David Ansen and Richard Corliss — lauded the movie.

Poison also launched the careers of producers Christine Vachon and James Schamus, who have supervised many of the most significant independent films of the last 20 years. Schamus eventually became president of Focus Features, which released Far from Heaven, Brokeback Mountain, Milk and the current Beginners. He and Vachon as well as Haynes are featured in a special 20th anniversary Q&A about their achievements. As made clear by the new, remastered DVD, the impact of Poison has been far-reaching.

1981's German production Taxi zum Klo (in English, Taxi to the Toilet) has left a similar mark on queer film history and was also recently made available on DVD in a 30th anniversary Director's Cut by QC Cinema. It was written and directed by Frank Ripploh, who also stars as a respected schoolteacher with a secret gay life. Set in West Berlin, it has been hailed as "the first masterpiece about the mainstream of male gay life." While dated in some respects and perhaps not the most positive portrait of our community by today's standards, Taxi zum Klo is nonetheless an enduring testament to the gay experience, then and now.

Reverend's Ratings:
Poison: A-
Taxi zum Klo: B-

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

Reverend's Reviews: Coal Miner's Disaster

Now that the political/sexting scandal dubbed "Weinergate" is over (please God!), it's time to get back to more critical matters like big corporations raping the environment and local communities. The eye-opening, ire-raising new documentary The Last Mountain, which opens this weekend in Los Angeles and Orange County and will soon expand nationally, is well timed in this regard.

Eco-filmmaker Bill Haney, whose last film was the acclaimed The Price of Sugar, has once again teamed with social issues-oriented producer/director Tim Disney (American Violet) to pull back the curtain on the continuing battle over coal strip-mining in the Appalachian Mountains. The citizens of Coal River Valley, West Virginia, have long been subjected to deforestation, flooding, birth defects and brain tumors that they claim are the consequences of mountain top removal by Massey Energy in their vicinity. According to a statistic cited in The Last Mountain, "Mountain top removal has destroyed 500 Appalachian mountains, decimated 1 million acres of forest, and buried 2,000 miles of streams."

Haney focuses on efforts over the past decade led by Maria Gunhoe, a local waitress-turned-activist, and Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. to hold Massey Energy's CEO and West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin, one of the corporation's biggest defenders, accountable. Along the way, we meet numerous townspeople and experts concerned about the coal industry in particular and America's ongoing dependence on coal energy in general. The film also provides gorgeous, almost painterly shots of the Appalachians. This is one movie that really ought to be presented in 3D.

The Last Mountain filmmakers unquestionably side with Massey Energy's critics, which limits their objectivity. Defenders of the corporation and of coal mining are given very brief screen time. Still, this is an important account of a disastrous situation that was permitted to grow out of control under former President George W. Bush. Damage has obviously been done. Hopefully, The Last Mountain will encourage justice to be achieved and healing to begin.

Reverend's Rating: A-

UPDATE: The Last Mountain is now available on DVDfrom Amazon.com.

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

Reel Thoughts: Ryan Reynolds’ Green Bland Turn

They say that sci-fi or comic book “origin story” films are often boring due to all the exposition necessary to start the franchise. A fellow critic always says that any movie that starts with voice-over narration is automatically going to suck. Then, there is always the possibility that some actors can’t overcome lazy writing and end up looking amazing but bland. The latter would be my guess why Green Lantern looks so good but feels so empty.

Ryan Reynolds plays Hal Jordan, a generically cocky fighter pilot with daddy issues (his hero father died in a plane crash) who is also afraid of commitment. Thanks to helpful narration at the beginning, we know that the universe was created by a set of “Guardians” who have harnessed the green power of “will” (I wonder what Fundamentalists think of that?) and have entrusted the safety of the universe to an elite group of peacekeepers called the Green Lantern Corps. As the film opens, a trio of aliens crashes onto a desolate planet in “the Lost Sector” unleashing a malevolent entity known as Parallax. The big-headed villain feeds on fear, sucking the life force from any living thing he meets and swallowing planets whole. He wastes no time mortally wounding the Green Lantern who imprisoned him, sending him plummeting to Earth to look for someone to take his mantle before he dies. The Green Lantern ring “chooses” who will possess it, and for some reason the ring thinks professional screw-up Hal is the best man on Earth for the job.

While the writhing Parallax speeds across the galaxy towards Earth, a wormy scientist named Hector Hammond (played by Peter Sarsgaard) gets infected by some of Parallax’s yellow fear mojo and begins getting a swelled head, literally and figuratively. He is an old schoolmate of Hal’s and is obsessed with Hal’s old girlfriend Carol Ferris (Blake Lively), and his jealousy makes him a perfect proxy villain for Parallax.

Green Lantern has many plusses going for it. It has the most impressive use of 3-D effects I’ve seen in a live-action film. Reynolds, although dull in the role, looks amazing in his skintight costume. Tim Robbins has fun as Hector’s father, a questionable congressman, and it is always a pleasure seeing Angela Bassett, even in a throwaway role like this.

Given the high expectations for Green Lantern, it may well do blockbuster business, and I have to admit that my friend, who is a longtime fan of the comic book, enjoyed it immensely. For the uninitiated, however, Green Lantern is a comic book movie to leave on the newsstand.

UPDATE: Green Lantern 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 Preview: Dance Camera West 2011

As the founder of a famed Massachusetts dance troupe and festival is quoted in a new documentary, "Dance is the one art form that leaves nothing but memories." While the more recent technologies of film and video can now record such "memories" for the ages, dance remains distinct from painting, sculpture and what can be described as tangible or permanent media.

Southern California's annual Dance Camera West Film Festival, which will celebrate its 10th anniversary June 16-19, is a major chronicler of dance's magnificent global evolution. This year's event will take place at a variety of locations in and around Los Angeles, including the Getty Center, UCLA and the Hammer Museum. For a full schedule and to purchase tickets, visit the fest's official website.

The GLBT pinnacle of this year's festival is Never Stand Still, the feature-length documentary referenced above. It will make its West Coast premiere on June 19. The film recounts the fascinating history behind the Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival, which is derived from the first all-male dance troupe established by choreographer Ted Shawn in 1931. Shawn had been partly paralyzed as a young man, the result of diphtheria, and initially took up dance for strictly therapeutic purposes. He later came across and purchased an abandoned farm in the Berkshires (later learned to have been a stop on the Underground Railroad), which was christened Jacob's Pillow. According to gay choreographer Bill T. Jones, who narrates Never Stand Still, Shawn "wanted to prove dance could be a viable career for men" at a time when it was dominated by women.

Dance was also dominated by ballet when Shawn established Jacob's Pillow, so he set out to expand modern dance as a legitimate field of study and performance. The results were trailblazing. 80 years later, Jacob's Pillow is today considered one of the world's preeminent dance studios by such choreographic luminaries as Mark Morris, Merce Cunningham and Paul Taylor (all of whom are gay and appear in Never Stand Still) as well as acclaimed dancers/performers Marge Champion, Bill Irwin and Rasta Thomas.

The documentary, insightfully directed by Ron Honsa, showcases some remarkable dance pieces featuring an array of diverse styles and techniques. Honsa will be on hand to introduce the screening on June 19. Also not to be missed during DCW is the incredible short film Stronger, which will be shown as part of the "Global Screendance 2" program on Friday, June 17. Two attractive, shirtless male dancers leap through the woods and into the trees during this beautifully choreographed, photographed and edited film.

Whether or not you are a dance aficionado, DCW is the place to be and create new memories this June.

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