Outfest in Review: Week One

If there's any question as to the state of gay filmmaking today, the first week of the 26th annual Outfest Gay and Lesbian Film Festival should answer it with a resounding statement: "We're doing great!"

Indeed, the festival contains its share of drivel and dreck, but by and large, this year's crop of features show that gay filmmakers have finally caught on to the notion that not all gay movies need to be coming-out stories or stories about doomed romances and tragic heroes who never get the guy. Having seen just six of the movies so far, I can attest that a refreshing diversity of genre is also on display at the fest, where the filmmakers are ably helming comedies, dramas, documentaries and everything in between with confidence and vision.

Some of the best movies are those dealing with familial relations, as in Ingo Rasper's delightfully screwball German dramedy Fashion Victims, about a teenage boy who unknowingly begins a flirtation with his father's chief competitor in selling women's clothing to local stores. With his plans for summer vacation put on hold due to his father's scuffle with the law, Karsten (Florian Bartholomäi) is understandably pissed, but things begin looking up when he meets handsome Steven (Roman Knizka) at the dry cleaners. Their romance unfolds against the comic shtick and the family drama that Rasper dishes out with a steady hand, and it's at once tender and complicated. There's a good deal of comic hamming from Edgar Selge as Karsten's increasingly flustered father, Wolfie, who becomes desperate as things begin to spin out of his control. It's nice to see Karsten's sexuality treated so matter-of-factly in the movie (when his father finds out, he takes the news rather well, especially considering who his son's lover is), and the coming-out story is integrated nicely with a subplot about Wolfie's failing marriage with Karsten's mother.

Actually, the same can be said for almost all of the gay subject matter I've seen in the movies this week. In Dan Castle's gorgeous Newcastle, the struggle of a Aussie gay teen (Xavier Samuel as the Goth-like Fergus) to fit in among the macho surfers of his brother's circle of friends is simply part of the fabric of the overall tale about family dynamics and jealousy among competitors. Fans of Lords of Dogtown will take to this movie, which features some of the most stunning underwater photography since The Blue Lagoon and the breathtaking footage of lean, muscular surfers riding their waves to glory (and sometimes tragedy). As Fergus nurses his crush on sexy Andy (Kirk Jenkins), his relationship with brother Jesse (Lachlan Buchanan) is tested, and the climax of the movie (a bit of an anti-climax really) is the perfect way for it all to end. If Castle chickens out in giving the same attention to Fergus' first attempts at sex that he does to the hetero sex in the movie (seriously, what's with that, Dan?), he redeems himself by letting Fergus' sexual orientation be just an overall part of the whole. Castle was at Outfest to introduce his film, and he commented, "This is a movie that only a gay man could have made, but it's not really a gay movie." I disagree with the first part of his statement (after all, one need only watch the recent remake of The Amityville Horror with Ryan Reynolds walking around in his wet PJs to see that the studios have become privy to marketing to the gay dollar), but I do agree --and celebrate--that Newcastle isn't a gay film. It's not a straight film either. It's just a damn good movie, period. The way it should be.

Andrew Fleming has similar success with Hamlet 2, a hilariously droll sendup (and homage) of teacher-student movies like Dangerous Minds, Stand and Deliver and Dead Poets Society that adds in a dash of Waiting for Guffman for comic effect. Camera mugger Steve Coogan stars as washed-up actor Dana, who is stuck teaching drama in Tucson, Arizona, where he finds himself embroiled in a national controversy when he decides to stage a racy sequel to Shakespeare's Hamlet that features songs such as "Raped in the Face" and "Rock Me Sexy Jesus." The movie's first two acts are really just an excuse to get to the last act, when the play finally gets staged amidst protests and threats against Dana's life, but those first two acts are, in fact, very funny. There's nothing remotely original about the premise or the setup, but Coogan is talented enough not to let his comic hamming derail the movie, which also features a kick-ass performance by Catherine Keener as Dana's long-suffering (and painfully honest when she's drunk) wife and a droll supporting turn by Elisabeth Shue as herself. The gay content comes in the form of the Tucson Gay Men's Chorus, which provides musical backup for the play, and in closeted student Rand (Skylar Astin), who backs out of the play when Dana decides to recast Laertes as bi-curious. In introducing the film to the Outfest audience, director Fleming (Threesome) deadpanned that the film "is pretty darn gay," and that much is true. But the movie's charm comes from its affectionate satire of the utter seriousness and narcissism of theater actors everywhere--gay and straight. It's something that everybody can laugh at, no holds barred.

Ferzan Ozpetek's lovely Saturn in Opposition (Saturno contro) more dramatically entwined the lives of its gay characters among those of their straight friends in a sort of gay-themed Big Chill about love, life, friendship and death. When the handsome Lorenzo (a dreamy Luca Argentero) suddenly falls ill, his friends deal with a bevy of emotions in the face of their own imperfect lives. Infidelities are revealed, and jealousies are brought to light, but the film's success comes from the way that Ozpetek, working with an exceptionally talented cast, lets it all unfold in a slow, methodical way that mirrors real life. Such naturalism is not for everyone (after all, some people were actually bored by Brokeback Mountain!), but I found its pacing to be lovely. Two couples--one gay and one straight--were at the forefront of the storyline, which incorporated several other character arcs in a fashion similar to that of Robert Altman, but Ozpetek is less interested in showing off than he is in the dynamics of relationships. The movie ends on a very hopeful note, one that shows how important our friends can be to us in moments of need, and the moments of beauty that are found in this wonderful Spanish import are worth all the painful scenes that remind us that we are not perfect.

Speaking of imperfect characters, it would be safe to say that the most found in any film during the first week of Outfest were found in Adrian Shergold's made-for-British-TV drama Clapham Junction, which does for gay relations in contemporary London what Paul Haggis' Crash did for race relations in Los Angeles. Indeed, the influences of Crash are impossible to ignore, and at times, the contrived coincidences and forced plot points can frustrate and even irritate. But, like Crash, the contrivances are implemented for a reason, and in this case, it's to show how all of us are connected in one way or another, whether gay or straight. The plot revolves around 36 hours in the lives of several Londoners. During that time, a closeted man (Paul Nicholls) takes his anger out on the men he finds cruising each other in the park, a respectable businessman (James Wilby) witnesses the beginning of a gay bashing after having sex in a public toilet, and a horny 14-year-old (Luke Treadaway) unwittingly seduces the pedophile (Joseph Mawle) that lives next door. It's not easy stuff to digest, nor is the film's revelation that gay people are just as messed up and imperfect as the rest of the world. Many have criticized the movie for only showing the "bad" stuff that goes on in the community, but I think it's a far braver thing for a filmmaker to show these things without judgment than to cast them in a negative light. Shergold's depiction of toilet sex and sex in bushes isn't salacious as much as it is objective; he clearly shows that it's how people react to those things that is the problem, not the act itself. But one's reaction to this movie will depend on how comfortable he or she is being part of a community that engages in risky but thrilling behavior. Personally, I was very moved by the movie, and think it's one of the strongest I've seen this year.

Less effective was Brian Pera's The Way I See Things, a "quirky" and all-too-naturalistic story about one man's grief that seemed far longer than its 85 minutes. Pera plays Otto, a man who is still grieving over the death of his long-term lover. After starting out on a road trip with his friend Rob (Jonathan Ashford), he eventually ditches Rob and winds up at a New Agey commune in the woods, where members are encouraged to get in touch with their "authentic self." It's here where the film starts to unravel, as Pera decides to take a painfully naturalistic approach to these looney tunes instead of poking gentle fun at them. (Having been through my own journey of enlightenment at one such "center," I am allowed to say that, as helpful as they are, these places are indeed ripe for being made fun of.) This is a grave error in judgment; many of the scenes that could be played for comedy are instead shot dryly (which effectively drains all the comedy from the scene), and the "authenticity" of the dialogue becomes insufferably annoying after a while (Pera is a master at the pregnant... pause. Whatever.), while, the final moments of the movie are a jumbled mess, confounding audiences even more. The performances are great, but I wish that Pera had displayed more of the flair that we gays are known for instead of insisting on showing how "authentic" we too can be. Still, one sorta dud out of six movies isn't all that bad, and I am very much looking forward to seeing what else I can discover about myself and my community during the second week of the festival. So stay tuned for more!

Are Audiences Lazy???

Or are audiences today too impatient? My short movie is only 8 minutes long (!!), yet I've already had some people tell me that they think it's too long. Too long!!!???

Man, whatever happened to the days of the 1970s, when movies like China Syndrome and Klute could unfold at a nice leisurely pace and nobody complained. Now, movies like Brokeback Mountain get attacked for being "too slow" and "boring" because they actually take time to reveal characters to us. Have audiences gotten so used to being assaulted MTV-video-style that we get antsy if things don't move along at a breakneck pace? I think so. I think audiences today are L-A-Z-Y. I actually hear people saying that 2-hour-long movies are too long. Anything over 90 minutes is now looked at skeptically. Man, am I part of a dying breed of people who actually love big epic Hollywood movies? Give me the Lord of the Rings extended cuts any day over the original theatrical releases. I was thrilled to hear that Peter Jackson added 45 minutes of footage back into his recent remake of King Kong. It's in the slower, more subtle stuff that the real meat of the movie comes out. That's when you get to know the characters, instead of just watching them DO things.

I know I'm in the minority here, but I don't care. I think everyone else is just lazy. TRUE film lovers want as much of a good thing as possible. They don't complain that there's too much of something that good.

Oh well, I'm not going to worry about it. I'm just going to keep on seeing long movies, and my next film short might even be 10 minutes long. Uh oh!

I Made My Own Movie!!!

Well, folks, it's done: My first-ever movie. I moved to Los Angeles just about seven years ago to get in the movie business, and I'm finally getting off my butt and doing something about it. I'm loving film school, and the opportunity to do something like this has been a huge inspiration to me.

We shot the movie over two days in the Pan Pacific Park, which incidentally is where they shot the exterior of the disco in Xanadu. So "movie magic" was all around us. Haha. I shot it on a budget of $100 (for food and snacks for the actors) and with the fear that the police might come and kick us out at any moment because we were filming without a permit! But we never had anyone bother us in the two days we were there. On the contrary, everyone left us alone, though the families with their kids were quite amused to see six mimes walking around the park on that first day.

The assignment for class was to do a chase film. I wanted to do something slapsticky and in the vein of Benny Hill, except without the gratuitous T&A shots. I ran through several scenarios until I came up with this idea: A man reading a book in the park is bothered by an excitable mime who won't leave him alone. This leads to the mime stealing his book, which leads to the big chase. I was lucky enough to find a professional mime on Craigslist. Mark Wenzel was awesome to work with. He came with his own props and ideas on fun things to do. The whole unicycle bit came from him bringing it along. I thought it would be great to shoot all kinds of fun comedy bits during the chase. It really worked out well.

My director of photography was Michael Bosman, who is also my next door neighbor. He had graciously offered to help me out on my project a while back, and he was instrumental in the movie looking as good as it does. He shot on his professional camera, and we sat together for five late nights and collaborated on the editing. It was laborious, but great fun just the same.

I wasn't supposed to play the Guy, but you really find out who your friends are when you're making a movie. I couldn't find anyone to play the Guy, so I stepped in and did it myself, but I really had a great time doing it, though I gotta tell you, all that running about killed my legs. I fell at one point and totally scraped up my knees. They are still recovering! Anything for your art, right?

Here's one interesting tidbit for all you NCIS fans. Mark couldn't really whistle that well, so we had to dub in someone doing his whistling for him. So I asked my neighboor and good friend, NCIS star Pauley Perrette (aka "Abby") to do the whistling. So yes, I have a bona fide TV star in my movie. How cool is that?

Anyway, there you go. Some of the fun behind-the-scenes facts about the making of my very first movie. I hope you enjoy it!



XOXO,
Hollywood Ken

Ken's 2008 Oscar Predictions

The Contenders

This year’s crop of Oscar nominees is made up of a decidedly “alpha” bunch. IN gets into the ring to predict which ones will emerge victorious.

By Ken Knox
If you’re the type of person who follows trends (and really—what gay man living in Los Angeles doesn’t?), you may have noticed that many of this year’s line-up of Oscar nominees have something in common: They’re a rather manly bunch. From the rough-and-tumble virility of Best Actor nominees Daniel Day Lewis, Tommy Lee Jones and Viggo Mortensen, to the tomboy trio of Best Supporting Actress nominees Amy Ryan (as a hardened addict in Ben Affleck’s Gone Baby Gone), Tilda Swinton (as a ball-busting law woman in Michael Clayton) and Cate Blanchett (who actually appears as a man in Todd Haynes’ unconventional study of folkie Bob Dylan, I'm Not There), right down to the nominees for sound editing, this year’s crop of Oscar contenders is downright burly in nature. Now that the writer’s strike is over and the Oscars are going on as scheduled, we can all sit back in anticipation of the big fight and watch the sweat and blood—or at least the bitchy jokes by Bruce Vilanch—fly.

Who’s going to win, you ask? Aye, there’s the rub. In a year in which the race is as wide open as a porn star’s legs on a Saturday night, certainties are virtually non-existent. Which is why I'm here to offer you my expert opinion on who will be this year’s champions.

Best Actor

George Clooney, Michael Clayton
Daniel Day-Lewis, There Will Be Blood
Johnny Depp, Sweeney Todd
Tommy Lee Jones, In the Valley of Elah
Viggo Mortensen, Eastern Promises

This is by far the most rugged collection of actor nominees in a while. Heck, even Johnny Depp managed to leave behind his trademark fanciful mirth for a typically brilliant turn as a hardened barber-turned-murderer in Sweeney Todd. But Depp’s turn to win is still off in the distance—Oscar rarely honors musicals—so perhaps his next collaboration with director Tim Burton will bring him a statue. Clooney deserves a nomination for his stellar work as the unhinged title character in Michael Clayton, but the film’s low profile could hurt his chances. Likewise, In the Valley of Elah’s poor showing at the box office will unfairly hinder Jones’ chances at a win. We’d love to predict that studly Mortensen (whose much-ballyhooed nude fight scene in Eastern Promises got more attention than the flick itself) would emerge victorious, but since virtually no one saw the movie, I'm betting that the trophy goes to category front-runner Day-Lewis, whose showy but solid turn as an oil man in Paul Thomas Anderson’s There Will Be Blood was the most talked-about performance of the year.

Best Actress

Cate Blanchett, Elizabeth: The Golden Age
Julie Christie: Away From Her
Marion Cotillard, La Vie en Rose
Laura Linney, The Savages
Ellen Page, Juno

After being snubbed by virtually every other awards shows, Linney was a surprise nominee for an Oscar, but the lack of support cancels her out. Blanchett will have a hard time overcoming her movie’s bad reviews, while Cotillard will have to settle for achieving that rare feat of being a foreign actress nominated for an Academy Award. That leaves Ellen Page in one corner and Julie Christie in the other. Though 20-year-old Page was delightfully engaging as the precocious title character in Juno, she’ll have many other opportunities in her still-budding career to take Oscar home—which means that veteran actress Christie is the best shot for a sure thing in this category. Her devastating depiction of a woman in the throes of Alzheimer’s is everything the Academy loves. Plus it’s about time she picked up another trophy; this will be her first since her win for 1965’s Darling.

Best Supporting Actor

Casey Affleck, The Assassination of Jesse James…
Javier Bardem, No Country for Old Men
Philip Seymour Hoffman, Charlie Wilson’s War
Hal Holbrook, Into the Wild
Tom Wilkinson, Michael Clayton

I’d love to see Hoffman take the trophy for his hilariously droll turn as a maverick CIA operative in Charlie Wilson’s War, but it will be impossible to overcome the buzz for Bardem, whose menacing performance as a murderous crook probably scared the Academy into voting for him. Dark horse potential goes to Hal Holbrook.

Best Supporting Actress

Cate Blanchett, I’m Not There
Ruby Dee, American Gangster
Saoirse Ronan, Atonement
Amy Ryan, Gone Baby Gone
Tilda Swinton, Michael Clayton

With no clear front-runner, this is perhaps the tightest race of the night. Here’s who won’t win: Swinton and Ronan, whose combined screen time in their respective films equals about 30 minutes. Veteran actress Dee has some steam after her surprise win at the SAG Awards and could pull off the seemingly requisite upset in this category, while Ryan’s performance as a drug-addled mother of a kidnap victim in Gone Baby Gone has won her accolades from virtually ever major critic’s organization. But I'm going with Blanchett, a prior winner in this category for playing another real-life character (Kate Hepburn in The Aviator). As a ‘60s-era Bob Dylan, she stole the show from the likes of Richard Gere and the late Heath Ledger. Plus, drag queens know: Donning the clothing of the opposite sex is no easy task.

Best Animated Feature

Persepolis
Ratatouille
Surf’s Up

Although I think it’s a crime not to honor Marjane Satrapi’s stunning Persepolis, it’s hard to argue with the momentum of Pixar’s Ratatouille. After all, who doesn’t love a rat in the kitchen? Um, on second thought…

Best Documentary Feature

No End in Sight
Operation Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Experience
Sicko
Taxi to the Dark Side
War/Dance

With all the emphasis on wartime drama, this category is nothing if not a battleground. The lone exception is Michael Moore’s health care doc, Sicko, which gets points for eschewing some of Moore’s usual bombastic chest thumping in favor of a bit more objectivity. But it will be hard to best the critically lauded No End in Sight, which gets points for revealing the incompetence that fueled President Bush’s so-called “war on terror.”

Best Original Screenplay

Brad Bird et al,. Ratatouille
Diablo Cody, Juno
Tony Gilroy, Michael Clayton
Tamara Jenkins, The Savages
Nancy Oliver, Lars and the Real Girl

While the Coen brothers are sure to take the award in the Adapted Screenplay category for their treatment of No Country for Old Men, the Original Screenplay race is a bit less predictable. Ratatouille has been universally praised by critics everywhere as one of the best films of the year, but if the equally beloved Juno is to win any major awards, it will be here. And even though Cody’s teen-speak is a bit on the self-consciously “hip” side, look for her teen pregnancy comedy to leave the Kodak Theater with a baby named Oscar.

Best Director

Paul Thomas Anderson, There Will Be Blood
Ethan Coen and Joel Coen, No Country for Old Men
Tony Gilroy, Michael Clayton
Jason Reitman, Juno
Julian Schnabel, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

In a perfect world, Michael Clayton’s Tony Gilroy would be honored for his studied re-enactment of a ‘70s suspense drama, but I know how these things work by now—which means that the front-running Coen brothers are shoo-ins for the award they should have received for 1995’s Fargo. That means talented whippersnapper Reitman will just have to wait his turn, while Schnabel will have to settle for just being nominated. Potential dark horse: Anderson, who directed Daniel Day-Lewis to deliver the performance of his career.

Best Picture

Atonement
Juno
Michael Clayton
No Country for Old Men
There Will Be Blood

First things first: A Best Picture nomination for Juno? I loved the movie, but the more deserving Persepolis (or hell, even Ratatouille) should have taken its place in this category. That said, Reitman’s comedy doesn’t stand a chance for the win, so it’s really a moot point. Atonement has the sweeping romance of 1996 winner The English Patient, but the reviews have been mixed and without nominations for actor, actress or director, it will have a hard time overcoming the competition. Meanwhile, Michael Clayton (my choice for the deserving winner) lacks the momentum to snag the trophy. Critical momentum counts for a lot in this category, and, while There Will Be Blood has received its fare share, the Coen brothers’ ultra-violent adaptation of Cormac McCarthy’s novel, No Country for Old Men, is the best-reviewed film of the year. Then again, look what happened with Brokeback Mountain in 2006. I'm still knocking remnants of that chip from my shoulder two years later.

THE OTHER CATEGORIES

Documentary Short

Freeheld
La Corona (The Crown)
Salim Baba
Sari’s Mother

Sari’s Mother is an emotionally affecting movie about an Iraq mother seeks health care for her AIDS-stricken 10-year-old son. You do the math.

Foreign Language Film

Beaufort
The Counterfeitters
Katyn
Mongol
12

With Persepolis and The Orphanage unjustly ignored in this category, look for Poland’s WWII drama to take the gold this year. Potential dark horse: The Counterfeitters.

Cinematography

The Assassination of Jesse James…
Atonement
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
No Country for Old Men
There Will Be Blood

Atonement and There Will Be Blood looked great, but the No Country sweep will continue here.

Art Direction

American Gangster
Atonement
The Golden Compass
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
There Will Be Blood

Does anyone else notice that movies with European settings almost always seem to win the Oscar in this category? That would make Atonement the practical choice for a winner, but I'm going with Sweeney Todd for its overall tone of foreboding, which was brilliantly complimented by the drab sets.

Animated Film Short

I Met the Walrus
Madame Tutli-Putli
Même les Pigeons Vont au Paradis
My Love (Moya Lyubov)
Peter & the Wolf

The classic kids’ film gets a CGI makeover and goes directly to the podium in the process.

Live Action Film Short

At Night
Il Supplente (The Substitute)
Le Mozart des Pickpockets
Tanghi Argentini
The Tonto Woman

Movies about scrappy but adorable little boys tug at the heart strings of everyone, and Oscar voters are no exception.

Visual Effects

The Golden Compass
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End
Transformers

Please—my head is still reeling from watching cars turn into giant robots.

Costume Design

Across the Universe
Atonement
Elizabeth: The Golden Age
La Vie en Rose
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

I'm tempted to go with Sweeney Todd again, but my bet is that the European factor will reign supreme in this category.

Film Editing

The Bourne Ultimatum
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Into the Wild
No Country for Old Men
There Will Be Blood

Though The Bourne Ultimatum featured some of the flashiest editing ever put on film, look for the more subtle choice, No Country, to come out on top.

Sound Mixing

The Bourne Ultimatum
No Country for Old Men
Ratatouille
3:10 to Yuma
Transformers

Please—I’ve still got a headache from listening to cars turning into robots.

Sound Editing

The Bourne Ultimatum
No Country for Old Men
Ratatouille
There Will Be Blood
Transformers

See above.

Original Score

Atonement
The Kite Runner
Michael Clayton
Ratatouille
3:10 to Yuma

With Johnny Greenwald’s mesmerizing score for There Will Be Blood unjustly snubbed due to an insipid technicality, look for Atonement and 3:10 to Yuma to duke it out in this category. Odds to Atonement, just because Academy voters love sweeping romantic scores.

Original Song

“Falling Slowly,” Once
“Happy Working Song,” Enchanted
“Raise It Up,” August Rush
“So Close,” Enchanted
“That’s How You Know,” Enchanted

All those nods for Enchanted should (hopefully) cancel each other out, allowing scrappy indie pic Once to rise up and win.

Makeup

La Vie en Rose
Norbit
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End

One look at the sea creatures that descend upon Captain Jack and company and the winner in this category becomes very transparent.

New Reviews: Peaceful Warrior, The Promise & Shadowboxer

ACK! I've fallen so behind on movie reviews. I suck. Here are some new ones. Actually, they're not new now, but they're recent enough. I know, I suck. :)

PEACEFUL WARRIOR
(Lions Gate, rated PG-13. 120 min.)

In his insufferably awe-inspired adaptation of Dan Millman’s best selling self-help book Way of the Peaceful Warrior, Victor Salva ditches the blood and gore of the Jeeper’s Creepers films for the more familiar sentiments that populated 1995’s supernatural feel-good film Powder, yet still manages to convey an equally creepy overtone of another kind. Given his admitted fondness for male youth (he served 12 months for molesting the 12-year-old star of his low-budget feature debut Clownhouse), Salva seems an odd choice to helm the story of a college student (Mean Creek’s Scott Mechlowicz as Millman) who is tutored on the merits of inner strength by an older man (an appropriately grizzled and gravel-voiced Nick Nolte as mysterious and curmudgeonly gas station attendant Socrates). Indeed, the director wastes no time in fawning over his young male lead and the equally strapping actors who portray members and competitors of his gymnastics team, often showing them shirtless and sweaty in all their athletic glory—as if they had walked right out of an Abercrombie & Fitch catalog. The effect is only a bit disquieting, however, as the movie is guilty of far worse faults than youthful homoeroticism. From the first encounter that Dan has with Socrates—when the older man mysteriously vanishes from the ground only to reappear on top of his gas station’s roof in a matter of seconds—the film falls prey to a dewy-eyed mysticism that weighs it down every time it begins to take flight. Socrates coaches Millman through a series of laborious tasks, spouting off bumper-sticker rhetoric such as “The warrior's life is not about imagined perfection or victory; it's about love.” Millman, in turn, gets all Ralph Macchio on Socrates, defying his mentor’s teachings and giving in to his own impatience until tragedy strikes and his career is derailed by his own childish impulsiveness and ego. That’s when the real test of his character begins—and the movie really falls victim to its own sense of righteousness. Mechlowicz is a dynamic young actor, but here he overacts through much of the film, while Nolte merely phones it in, but both of these talented men are just victims of Salva’s penchant for overwrought emotion and heavy-handed melodrama. The shots of the half-naked jocks in the locker room, on the other hand, are the few moments where the movie actually feels genuinely inspired. Grade: C. --Originally published in IN Los Angeles Magazine.

THE PROMISE
(Warner Independent, rated PG-13, 102 min.)

Somewhere between the fairy-tale mysticism of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and the outlandishly cartoonish theatrics of Kung Fu Hustle lies The Promise, an action-packed Chinese import from director Chen Kaige that mixes storybook simplicity and sweeping romanticism with high-wire stunts and CGI to tell the story of a love triangle that is seemingly doomed by the consequence of human choice. When the lovely princess Quingcheng (Cecilia Cheung) falls in love with the slave (Jang Dong-Gun) who saved her life while disguised as the mighty General Guangming (Hiroyuki Sanada), the fates of all three characters become tragically linked. Complicating the love triangle is a pact that Quingcheng made as a child with a goddess to forsake true love for wealth and power. Toss in a few characters to further complicate matters (such as a mysteriously hooded assassin who can run travel back in time and a scorned duke who wants to make Quingcheng his wife)—as well as plenty of mind-boggling fight sequences that stretch the limits of imagination—and you’ve got all the makings of an epic martial arts extravaganza to equal both Crouching Tiger and Zhang Yimou’s Hero. Or not. Whereas those films were defined by a strong sense of humanity and spiritual tranquility--not to mention subtlety--The Promise demonstrates no such grasp on nuance. Instead, director Kaige stages every twist and turn of the plot as if it were something out of animated flicks like Spirited Away and Howl’s Moving Castle, placing the emphasis on awe-inspiring fairy-tale shenanigans over emotional resonance. At times, it’s easy to lose yourself in the superficiality of the story (from a script by Kaige and Zhang Tan). The principal players are certainly game enough; Cheung, especially, manages to imbue Quingcheng with three-dimensional qualities, while as evil Duke Wuhuan, Nicholas Tse makes an attractive and charismatic villain. But somewhere between the choppy, disjointed editing (not another ominous fadeout!), the overwrought musical score, and the laughably low-rent CGI, The Promise ends up being more of an amusing distraction instead of the epic romance it wants to be. Grade: C. —Originally published in IN Los Angeles Magazine.

SHADOWBOXER
(Freestyle Releasing, rated R, 93 min.)

Poor Cuba Gooding Jr. Though it’s been 10 years since he won the Academy Award for his performance in Jerry Maguire, the admittedly talented actor still seems to be having a hard time adjusting to life post-Oscar. Having made some pretty bad choices (the short list includes such stinkers as What Dreams May Come, Rat Race, Pearl Harbor and, er, Snow Dogs), Gooding now seems to be focusing on gritty action thrillers and character dramas like the recently released Dirty and this peculiar little indie pic about assassins and redemption. Cast as Mikey, a hired killer of little words reared and—-ahem-—seduced by the female assassin who shot his father, Gooding gamely smokes and smolders his way through the film, in which Mikey and terminally ill mentor/lover Rose (Helen Mirren, effectively shaking off Hollywood ageism) become saddled by Vickie (Angelina Jolie look-alike Vanessa Ferlito)—the pregnant woman they were hired to kill—after Rose has a last-minute change of heart and decides to start an anti-nuclear family. What sets director Lee Daniels’ provocative suspense yarn apart from others of its kind is not only its relatively simple narrative and some of its artier leanings (cinematographer M. David Mullen shadows much of the action in vibrantly colorful hues and occasionally surreal effects), but the film’s unorthodox (yet refreshingly accurate) presentation of human sexuality. Whether it be in the surprisingly sensuous couplings between Gooding and Mirren or the graphically depicted intercourse of those who use sex as a form of control (watch out for that full-frontal shot of a rather well-endowed Stephen Dorff), Shadowboxer reveals a world where black and white, old and young, and thin and fat naturally co-exist sexually. If the story (against his better judgment, Mikey makes a promise to the dying Rose that he will look after Vickie—even if it means his own death) were only so boldly original and not stunted by Daniels’ unfortunate penchant for heavy-handed moodiness, Shadowboxer might have been a major knockout of a film. As it is, it will have to settle for being a movie that merely coulda been a contender. Grade: B-. —Orginally published in IN Los Angeles Magazine.

New Reviews: Guys & Balls, Somersault

Hey, folks. I'm back with a couple new film reviews. More to come, I promise! :)

GUYS & BALLS
(COMPANY, rated R, 106 min.)

What is it with German gay guys and sports movies? Following closely on the heels of the recently released Summer Storm (which gracefully depicted the coming-out experience of a gay rowing teammate), Sherry Horman’s Männer wie wir (Guys & Balls) tells the story of a recently outed football (aka soccer) player and his efforts to prove his mettle as a rough-tough jock who can play ball as good as any hetero. After being kicked off his team, Ecki (the adorable Maxiliam Brückner) decides to assemble an all-gay football squad so he can teach his old teammates a lesson. He recruits a rag-tag team of unlikely athletes (a nelly butcher, a trio of middle-aged leather queens, a hetero in love with his sister, etc.) who aren’t half-bad, but--as is usually the case with inspirational, against-the-odds stories of success such as these--he soon suffers a crisis of faith. Will he come to terms with his sexuality and take a stand against bigotry in time to lead his team to victory? Will he get the courage to hold hands with his cute boyfriend/teammate in front of his father? What do you think? Borrowing heavily from just about every sports-themed flick ever made (especially A League of Their Own), Guys & Balls admittedly brings nothing new to the playing field. Yet, despite the movie’s lack of originality, it ain’t half bad. Horman seems to have been raised on U.S.-released genre flicks (the film’s American sensibility is impossible to miss), but her flair for humor and pacing are undeniable, as is her skill in directing the large ensemble cast. Speaking of, Brückner isn’t just especially hella-nice to look at; he’s a competent actor who--in his feature-film debut--brings gravitas to the role of Ecki, while cast mates Lisa Maria Potthoff (as his sister) and Dietmar Bar and Saskia Vester (as, respectively, Ecki’s father and mother) offer fine support. Though the film deals heavily in outdated gay stereotypes (its gentle pokes at the leather community are a bit tiresome), it’s a harmless and well-intended story of triumph in the face of homophobia that has more than few balls in its court. Grade: B-.--Originally published in IN Los Angeles Magazine.

SOMERSAULT
(COMPANY, rated R, 106 min.)

There is a moment in Cate Shortland’s Somersault where Joe (Sam Worthington), a surly and emotionally closed-off young man confused over the feelings he has for his kind-of girlfriend Heidi (Abbie Cornish), shows up at the home of an openly gay acquaintance of his mother’s and—after downing several shots and spilling his guts to the older man—follows him into the hallway and makes an awkward pass at him by planting a drunken kiss on him. It’s a surprising twist in both Joe’s development as a character and the movie itself, but it’s just one of several similarly unexpected--and unexplained--moments that define Shortland’s oddly compelling drama about sexual coming-of-age. Joe is not the main character, nor does the film ever revisit his attempt at same-sex experimentation, and it’s that vague attention to detail that is the most frustrating aspect of the movie. The story actually belongs to Heidi, an evidently emotionally troubled teenager with no concept of propriety who, for no apparent reason, decides to make a pass at her mother’s hunky boyfriend. When mom comes home and catches the two kissing, she freaks, and Heidi runs away to a neighboring town. There, she shacks up in the small flat of an empathetic motel owner, gets a job at the local BP service station, and has sex with a string of guys. It is Joe, however, that most captivates her, and their awkward and strained attempts at forging a relationship are some of the most authentic captured on celluloid. Both of them are plagued by troubles that are never explored (apparently, Heidi once tried to commit suicide, as is evidenced by the scars on her wrists), but as they begin to open up to each other, the movie becomes more fascinating and oddly romantic. Shortland’s direction is as languid as her ambling script (a bit more back story on the characters would have made them more three-dimensional), but her style is effective nonetheless, providing a showcase for the talents of both Worthington and Cornish, two young Aussie up-and-comers who appear to have big futures ahead of them. Grade: B.--Originally published in IN Los Angeles Magazine.

New Reviews: A Gay Double Feature: Adam & Steve, Surge of Power

OK, folks, here are reviews of two new gay flicks that are just now, um, "coming out." Enjoy!

ADAM & STEVE
(TLA Releasing, rated R, 99 min.)

Actor-writer-director Craig Chester’s gay romantic comedy Adam & Steve is not a perfect film, but at least it avoids the stale clichés that often litter most of today’s self-consciously gay-themed entertainment. In this light and breezy romp through (what else?) the trials of the heart, Chester (Swoon, Grief) stars as Adam, a single man who, when we first meet him, is a Robert Smith-idolizing Goth with the requisite bad hair and eye makeup who spends most of his time hanging out in clubs with the requisitely overweight fag hag Rhonda (Parker Posey in a hysterical fat suit). When he meets go-go boy Steve (Malcolm Gets, looking much buffer than I remember him on Caroline in the City), the encounter – which includes copious amounts of coke laced, um, with baby laxatives – inevitably ends in disaster, and the two part ways never to see each other again. Or so they think. Cut to 17 years later, when Adam and Steve unexpectedly reunite after Adam almost kills his dog (don’t ask) and rushes the poor pooch into the hospital where Steve, now a successful doctor, works. Not recognizing each other from their previous encounter, they eventually wind up in a relationship that is, of course, doomed by the inevitable realization that is to come. It’s a clever setup, and one that is informed by Chester’s obvious fondness for the romantic comedy genre, even if his somewhat lackadaisical style as a director occasionally clashes with the more outrageous tone of his slapstick-inspired script. Still, it’s a fun ride. Buoyed by the engaging performances of the ensemble cast (SNL vet Chris Kattan is particularly riotous as Steve’s straight roommate Michael) and benefiting from Chester’s confident, no-guilt approach to an otherwise formulaic genre, Adam & Steve may not be the ultimate date movie, but that’s certainly no reason not to embrace a film that is this un-self-conscious about being exactly what it is. That’s not a bad lesson for the entire gay community, come to think of it. Grade: B. --Originally published in IN Los Angeles Magazine.

SURGE OF POWER
(Company, not rated, 98 min.)

For those who’d always fantasized that Spider-man had been bitten by a radioactive spider that was part of an experiment on, say, the origins of sexual orientation, Mike Donahue’s decidedly kitschy gay superhero flick Surge of Power just might be the movie for you. Or not. As a bona fide superhero fan myself (I’m a sucker for a man in a codpiece and colorful tights), I’d like to report that Donahue’s indie comedy redefines action hero stories for a contemporary gay audience. But, rather than send up the genre (as one might have hoped any creative queen with a camera might do), Donahue merely tweaks it to include a surprisingly outdated gay sensibility. Working with a woefully limited budget and a cast of “actors” (I use the term very loosely) who appear to have never even heard of acting class, Donahue gleefully follows all the conventions of superhero origins without giving them a truly fresh spin: Comic book fanatic Gavin (Vincent J. Roth, who also wrote, produced, and designed costumes for the film) acquires odd electrical powers after an egomaniacal science queen named Hector (John T. Venturini) with delusions of grandeur and an overly gym-pumped body causes an explosion in a scientist’s laboratory, then sets about saving the world while romancing the pants off the badly dressed circuit queen he saved from a potential fag bashing. The script is supposed to be witty (a la Scream, characters frequently comment upon the superhero conventions applied throughout the film; Surge’s one superhero weakness is—wait for it—dance music), but the dialogue is so embarrassingly cringe-worthy (“Wait’ll the city gets a load of my magnetic personality!” seethes the magnetically powered Hector) and the acting so awkward (honestly, I’ve seen better work in porn flicks) that most of the “jokes” just fall flat with a resounding Pow! Even a series of D-grade celebrity cameos (hey, there’s Lou Ferrigno ordering a copy of a gay comic book!) can’t buoy the film’s spirits. Still, I wouldn’t be surprised if this so-bad-it’s-actually-unintentionally-hysterical stinker wound up becoming a gay cult classic. At least the midnight costume screenings would be a riot! Grade: D. -- Originally published in IN Los Angeles Magazine.