Reverend's Interview: International Gay Love from Eytan Fox

Steven Spielberg, Chloe Zhao, Kelly Reichardt and Martin Scorsese. These are four of my picks of the top five filmmakers living and working today. The fifth is writer-director Eytan Fox. He is also the only gay artist among this quintet.

Fox was born in New York City but grew up in Israel after his family immigrated there. He broke through internationally as a filmmaker in 2003 with Yossi & Jagger, a groundbreaking love story between two male Israeli soldiers. He followed it up with a moving 2012 sequel, simply titled Yossi. In between, Fox directed The Bubble, about a group of friends in Tel Aviv and a young Palestinian who comes to live with them; the superb Walk on Water, in which a hunky Mossad agent tracks the gay grandson of a Nazi war criminal; and the delightful Cupcakes, a musical comedy about friends entering an international song contest. His films have won 28 international awards altogether. Fox also developed the acclaimed Israeli television series Florentine, The Bar Mitzvah and Mary Lou.

His latest production is Sublet, which will be released in select US theaters on June 11th. It will also become available on VOD July 9th. The film follows Michael (played by current Tony Award nominee John Benjamin Hickey), a travel columnist for The New York Times. He flies to Tel Aviv to write an article about the destination pre-COVID, after he and his husband have suffered a personal tragedy. Michael is still grieving, so he just wants to do his research and return home.

He sublets an apartment from a young film student, Tomer (sexy newcomer Niv Nissim). Michael gradually finds himself drawn into the life of the city with Tomer's help. Superficially, the two men couldn’t be more different. Michael is surprised to find a city filled with fascinating contradictions and pulsing with life. But what really begins to turn things around for him is the unlikely and intense bond he forms with Tomer, which transforms both their lives in unexpected ways.

Fox's trademark compassion, humor and visual flair illuminate Sublet, which is his first movie in several years. Why the delay? As Fox writes in the film's press notes: "Besides the difficulties of making movies in the small Israeli film industry in which I work, it took me time to figure out who I was in the context of today’s quickly changing reality, and to express that as a filmmaker." The release of his finished film was then delayed a year by the COVID-19 pandemic.

He continues in the press notes, poignantly: "I’m 56 and probably never going to have biological children. In a very real way, however, my films are my children. They are conceived, nurtured, and eventually set free into the world with the hope that they will find their way there safely. In sending Sublet out into the world, I’m hoping that this story of men from two generations facing their demons and finding a way back to love from grief will strike a chord with people, the way Yossi & Jagger did many years ago. Maybe it too will change the world a little in the process."

I recently had the great privilege of speaking with Fox via phone in advance of the release of his latest "child."

REV: Hello Eytan! How are you? Where are you calling from?
EF: I am in Tel Aviv, which is back to normal (after last month's violence between Israel and Palestine). It's been a crazy time but I am doing well, thank you.

REV: When did you first get interested in filmmaking?
EF: I always wanted to be some kind of artist. I was a dancer in high school, then discovered photography in college. After I completed my time in the Israeli army, I studied film at Tel Aviv University.

REV: Has it always been your intention to tell primarily gay or LGBTQ stories?
EF: It wasn't a conscious decision, but I realized I wanted to fill my films with all kinds of subjects important to me. When I started making films, the culture here was very homophobic and nationalistic. It was a therapeutic experience for me. After people saw my films with their gay characters, they naturally started to ask me if I was gay. That was my coming out. I still try to tackle issues very important to me, including my homosexuality.

REV: How did you select your two lead actors in Sublet, John Benjamin Hickey and Niv Nissim?
EF: John I saw off-Broadway in the original production of Love! Valour! Compassion! and it blew me away. I later saw him in the movie. He was wonderful in it and I started following his career. He seemed perfect to me for this role as a New Yorker, openly gay and an artistic guy. John came to Tel Aviv and we then had chemistry tests with several actors for the role of Tomer. With him and Niv, it was in many ways love at first sight. They became close on screen and off. Niv took John home to his parents for dinners (laugh). It was truly a case of life imitating art.

REV: This is your first film primarily in English. Was that much of an adjustment for you or your Israeli artists?
EF: Not really, no. I was born in the states and have America in me. I have John's character in me and it was easy for me to teach the character of Michael to him. I actually had to learn more about young gay people in Tel Aviv today. I showed the script early on to some friends and they said "You don't know anything about young people today" (laugh). So I had to go out to the modern clubs and gay centers and talk to younger gay men.

REV: Do you continue to receive much criticism from conservatives regarding the gay content in your films?
EF: Let me say it is much easier now than when I started. The achievements we (the LGBTQ community) have made worldwide are amazing. My early films in the late 1980's were either banned or I had a hard time raising money for them. It wasn't until my films started to be shown outside of Israel that it began to become easier. When I made Yossi & Jagger, the Israeli military would not give me any access. They said, "Absolutely not." When it got out that I was preparing the sequel, the military came to me and said, "What do you need?"

REV: Wow, that is amazing! So what's next for you? Or do we have to wait another 5 to 10 years?
EF: I'm working on a few different projects, mostly for television. I'm kind of sad to admit that. I'm afraid everything is moving to TV. I am developing a show in Israel about a gay rabbi.

REV: That sounds great! Anything else you want my readers to know?
EF: Sublet is going to be shown here this weekend (the last weekend of May), finally. And in a theater! I'm so happy that the film is finally being shown. We were supposed to premiere in April 2020 but the festival was cancelled due to COVID. I'm happy that those of us who made it are now able to have closure with the film. And I'm happy we can travel again! Sublet lets people see Tel Aviv but they can also come visit us. We are coming back to life! Now that I think of it, that's like the characters in the film. We're all coming back to life.

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

MD on IG: The de Vil and Miss Stone

As the titular Disney villainess of Cruella, Emma Stone never lights up a cigarette (so as not to send the kiddy-darlings into nicotine fits, right?) yet she does face off against Emma Thompson as a psychopathic fashion doyenne who's prone to tossing rivals of a cliff to their horrific deaths. So who exactly is this movie made for? Not half as campy as it should be, Cruella is an origin story nobody asked for turned into the latest over-long, over-CGI'ed entry in Disney's incessant live action-fication of its beloved animated canon.

MD Rating: 5/10

Cruella is now playing in theaters and also streaming on Disney+ with Premiere Access.

Reverend's Reviews: Sadists and Sequins

When I was coming of gay age back in the 1980's, there were two prominent gay-themed movies I was obsessed with seeing: Making Love and Querelle. Unfortunately, both films were rated R and I was only 14. They were shown on HBO approximately one year after their theatrical release but late at night, so I recall sneaking down to our living room and watching them with minimal volume so as not to wake my mother or brother. On a side note, Querelle is available on HBO Max today, nearly 40 years later!

Querelle served not only as my introduction to elements of S&M but to filmmaker Rainer Werner Fassbinder, the young enfant terrible of German cinema. It would sadly be his last production, as he died at the age of 37 shortly after its completion. Some of his other acclaimed movies are Fox and His Friends, Lola, Berlin Alexanderplatz and The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant. Many of Fassbinder's works were controversial since the gay writer-director often portrayed homosexuals, transsexuals, prostitutes and criminals sympathetically.

A new biopic about Fassbinder appropriately titled Enfant Terrible is now playing in US theaters. While undeniably gifted and quite prolific during his fairly brief career, the man is also shown as demanding, racist, sexist and abusive, sadistically so. His abuse of drugs and alcohol is also graphically depicted. Actor Oliver Masucci, who plays Fassbinder, and director Oskar Roehler have created a no-holds-barred dramatization of his life that can be as off-putting at times as it is illuminating.

The movie opens with a card reading "Each man kills the thing he loves," a memorable quote from Querelle (which was adapted from gay writer Jean Genet's novel). Primarily set during the 1970's, Enfant Terrible traces Fassbinder's evolution from a community theatre actor and playwright into one of the world's most renowned filmmakers. It is filmed in a stylized and theatrical manner, not unlike Querelle. An angel of death even appears to Fassbinder several times as his health declines.

Masucci does a superb job resurrecting the man and his debaucheries, which must have been difficult for the actor at times. The supporting cast is also excellent. At more than two hours, the film is arguably too detailed and revealing although Fassbinder's fans will likely love it for this reason. Just don't say I didn't warn you.

Another new release this week is the gay coming-of-age tale Sequin in a Blue Room. It is also pretty unflinching in its depiction of a 16-year-old named Sequin, who is exploring his burgeoning sexuality through an obsession with no-strings sexual encounters. After one such hookup he receives a mysterious invitation to the Blue Room, a strictly anonymous sex party. Sequin connects there with a hot, captivating stranger but they suddenly become separated. Utterly fixated on this man, Sequin sets off on an exhilarating yet dangerous mission across Sydney, Australia to track him down. Meanwhile, a gay classmate becomes attracted to Sequin but Sequin is too distracted to see it.

The movie marks the impressive feature debut of Australian writer-director Samuel Van Grinsven and features a breakout performance from bisexual actor Conor Leach, who plays Sequin. It won the Audience Award for Best Feature at the 2019 Sydney Film Festival and played to wide acclaim around the world, including Outfest and the Toronto International Film Festival, before the COVID-19 pandemic. The titular Blue Room is artistically staged and shot with an intense, accompanying techno score. The film also features a nice, deserved romantic ending.

Sequin in a Blue Room is now available for streaming on multiple VOD platforms courtesy of Peccadillo Pictures.

Enfant Terrible: B-
Sequin in a Blue Room: B

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

MD on IG: Psycho Beach Party

If you are in need of a Kool-Aid colored splash of escapist nonsense (and who doesn't these days?) then Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar is just the frothy flick for you. From the insanely original minds of its stars/creators Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumolo comes this campy, crazy, culotte-clad comedy destined for quotable culthood, so see it now to one-up all your friends. Among its many joys (not too mention, to be fair, a few shaggy edges) is the sight of an entirely game for silliness Jamie Dornan embracing his inner goofball while managing to be sexier then all three Fifty Shades movies combined.

MD Rating: 7/10

Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar is now available for purchase and rental via digital, Blu-ray and DVD.