2009 Milwaukee LGBT Film/Video Fest Updated
October 23, 2009 Compiled
& written by Glenn Bishop
Festival's Week Two Features “Hollywood, Je
T’aime”
Feature Review By Glenn Bishop
Day 10 - Saturday, October 24 - 9 PM
UW-M Union Theater
As the Milwaukee LGBT Film / Video Festival rolls into its second fabulous weekend, Glenn is reminded how fortunate and humbled he
is by the opportunity to screen (almost) all
of the dazzling array of cinematic offerings and, again ever so humbly,
reveal to you, loyal Quest
readers, the unmissable, the unimaginable and, on occasion, the
unexplainable.
And really, how fortunate we Milwaukeeans are to have such a LGBT Film Festival, one whose programming doesn’t rely merely upon populist comedies and imminent DVD releases. Thanks to the inclusion of documentaries such as John Greyson’s ravishing “Fig Trees” and the still to be screened “Travel Queries,” festival-goers are certain to find films unlikely to appear either amongst the astonishingly gratuitous programming on HereTV! ™ or buried for that matter on Logo’s absurdly repetitive schedule.
Yet for far too many in Glenn’s acquaintance, the Milwaukee LGBT Film/Video Festival both begins and ends with the Opening Night selection. Now, that’s a real shame.
Well, having editorialized long enough, Glenn will get to the matter at hand: “Hollywood, je t’aime.”
In point of fact, “Hollywood, je t’aime” was not in fact Glenn’s initial choice for the Festival’s second weekend spotlight review. Ever willing to rock the boat, Glenn thought to choose a documentary: “Edie and Thea: A Very Long Engagement.” Hanging his head in abject shame, Glenn will admit to thinking “Edie and Thea” sounded, at least on paper, a right snooze. Yet in the hands of filmmakers Greta Olafsdóttir and Susan Muska (“The Brandon Teena Story”), Edie and Thea’s forty-year engagement is an absolutely magical experience.
Well, that idea was returned to Glenn faster than a Roger Federer serve.
Surely the logical choice then, even Glenn will concur, is this year’s Chad Allen movie, “Hollywood, je t’aime.”
Enter hunky Frenchman Jerome Beaunez (Eric Debets) who is not only trapped in a Paris rendered unflatteringly in boring old black & white, but has been dumped by his cute but cheatin’ boyfriend Gilles (Jonathan Blanc). So it is not surprisingly, then, how easily Jerome is seduced by the blatantly sexual imagery he spies in a travel agent’s window, of gorgeous surfer dudes frolicking out on the golden beaches of Southern California. Catching Gilles in flagrante delicto with Henri (Quelle horreur!), another of Gilles sexy bedmates proves the last straw for Jerome.
Deciding California is the place he ought to be, Jerome loaded up his suitcase and “moved to Beverly.” Only the California Jerome finds is barely recognizable to that depicted in the travel poster; yet at least not depicted in black & white but rather in hideous day-glo colors.
Much like Blanche DuBois, Jerome immediately finds himself dependent upon the kindness of strangers. And kindness (and strangeness) Jerome finds in abundance: Chad Allen’s Ross, a friendly stoner, is Jerome’s first benefactor; Norma Desire (Michael Airington) is all very Anna Madrigal (as if channeled by Paul Lynde) in offering Jerome a room in her shabby-chic Silverlake residence.
One after another, Jerome experiences marvelously picaresque episodes. Here is Jerome naively dashing off to the beach in mid-December, nary a gorgeous surfer dude to be found for love or ready money. Looking absurdly bewildered at a music video audition, Glenn pondered whether Jerome had really given much serious thought to the notion: “I-want-to-be-an-actor.” Later, Jerome whisks moviegoers off to a lovely bathhouse where he manages to walk off with the cutest boy and yet still manages to make this a most unsatisfying encounter.
Come to think of it, do any of Jerome’s many and varied encounters actually prove even remotely satisfying?
And all the while Jerome dreams of Gilles. Initially Jerome tries to impress this “dream Gilles” with tales of his extraordinary, not to mention immediate, California success; all too soon “dream Gilles” is enticing Jerome back to Paris and back to his bed - as long as Jerome doesn’t mind Gilles’s revolving bedroom door.
Is Jerome destined to find a gorgeous Southern California surfer dude all his own or will he scurry back to Gilles’s welcoming arms?
Full Price, Matinee Or Wait ‘Til The Budgets
Allusions to “The Wizard of Oz” and “Tales of the City” neatly place Jerome in the wild wonderland that is Los Angeles, a deliciously squalid “City of Angels” peopled with aging, Bingo-spinning drag queens, tranny prostitutes, and sweet HIV-positive drug dealers. On the plus side, Eric Debets is often shirtless and looks equally sexy sans trousers. Fully clothed, Debet’s Jerome’s appeal proved rather illusive to Glenn. Why does the briefly introduced romance with Gilles so dominate Jerome’s nocturnal misadventures? Alternately, if Glenn is to believe Jerome remains deeply in love with Gilles, is indeed even capable of love, then how can he be so cruelly oblivious to all of those wacky souls who welcome him into their lives and their hearts? Before clicking her heels three times, Garland’s Dorothy was a little girl transformed by her experiences. But what of Jerome?
Just The Facts
“Hollywood Je t’aime” will be screened at 9 PM on Saturday, October 24 at the UWM Union Theatre. Last year’s Chad Allen film was “Save Me” which co-starred Robert “QAF” Gant. All about “Hollywood Je t’aime” at: www.hollywoodjetaime.com Find complete schedule information at: arts.uwm.edu/lgbtfilm.
Film Festival Schedule: Week Two
Day 9 Friday, October 23
UWM Union Theatre
*** (7:00 PM) A Sampling of Cheeses & Wine: An Evening of Men’s Shorts
Tonight’s program of international and award-winning shorts explores many of the challenges and joys of relationships and sex. The program features characters looking to friends, strangers, songs, and airport security personnel for love. To include: Candy Boy (Pascal-Alex Vincent, France, in French with English subtitles, 35mm, 13min., 2007); Teddy (Christopher Banks, New Zealand, 13min., 2009); Dish (Brian Harris Krinsky, USA, 16min., 2009); Frequent Traveler (Patricia Bateira, Portugal, 8min., 2007); James (Connor Clements, Ireland, 18min., 2008); Kaveri (A Mate) (Teemu Nikki, Finland, in Finnish with English subtitles, 8min., 2007); and Boycrazy (John Sobrack, USA, 25min., 2009).
(Not screened)
*** (9:00 PM) And Then Came Lola
(Megan Siler & Ellen Seidler, USA, video, 70min., 2009)
Lola (Ashleigh Sumner) is a sexy serial monogamist faced with the task of delivering some very important photographic prints to her equally sexy girlfriend of the moment Casey (Jill Bennett). No worries, right? Thanks to her quirk of not turning her clocks back, Lola has only an hour to complete her task. There’s just one problem, if Lola has a Guardian Angel, she must be out to lunch. Nothing, absolutely nothing, will go right. Little does Lola expect, for example, that her car will get booted or be confronted by a right sassy meter maid; or that she’ll trip on a dog, lose her cell phone or get trapped in a cab with a couple of swinging (straight) oldsters. Yet Lola perseveres. The prints are delivered but Casey drives off into the sunset with her gorgeous client Danny (Cathy Debuono). Damn. But wait, through the miracle of modern cinematography, Lola has another chance. Can Lola get it right this time? Run Lola, run! In a scant 67 minutes And Then Came Lola incorporates some delightful animation, a pulsing soundtrack and some of the hottest girl-on-girl action ever screened at this Festival.
(Recommended)
Day 10 Saturday, October 24
UWM Union Theatre
*** (1:00 PM) Diagnosing Difference
(Annalise Ophelian, USA, video, 60min., 2009)
How does it feel to have your gender identity included in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders? The documentary Diagnosing Difference features interviews with thirteen transgender and genderqueer scholars, artists, and activists who explore the impact and implications of Gender Identity Disorder (GID) on their lives and communities. Using the diagnosis as a departure point, these diverse and articulate participants debunk myths and misconceptions about transgender identities, challenge stereotypical gender expectations, and offer insight into the terms and language used to describe transgender lives.
With : Kaden Later (Harriet Storm, USA, video, 9 min., 2009)
A follow-up to Kaden, screened at last year’s Festival, Kaden Later marries documentary with animation as it follows Kaden, a transman now in his early thirties, as he and his girlfriend Monika plan their wedding.
(Not screened)
*** (3:00 PM) Travel Queeries
(Elliat Graney-Saucke, USA, in Russian, Ukrainian, Serbian, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, Hebrew, German, French, Danish and Finnish with English subtitles, video, 68 min., 2009)
Travel Queeries is a feature-length documentary film that examines the culture, art and activism of radical queers in contemporary Europe. Through personal interviews and documentation of performances, festivals, and lively arts spaces, Travel Queeries focuses an international lens on queer fringe culture. With the aim of building bridges and awareness, Travel Queeries considers the word “queer” and explores the complexities, innovative values and the spirit of queer within a progressive social change movement.
Plus: Welcome to My Queer Bookstore
(Larry Tung, USA, video, 19min., 2009)
A portrait of Taipei’s Gin Gin’s Bookstore, the only bookstore dedicated to the LGBT community in the Chinese-speaking world.
(Not screened)
*** (5:00 PM) Edie & Thea: A Very Long Engagement
(Greta Olafsdottir & Susan Muska, USA, video, 67min., 2009)
This confession might not come as much of a shock: Glenn is not a sentimental kind of guy. It is the rare film for which Glenn has shed a tear. Dorothy’s quest for boring old Kansas has always bewildered Glenn; there’s never been a Tiny Tim Glenn hasn’t loathed. Once, yes it is quite true, Glenn even kicked a puppy. How then could Greta Olafsdottir and Susan Muska’s Edie & Thea: A Very Long Engagement have left Glenn limp, blubbering like a schoolboy and clutching a soggy wad of tissues? Yes, indeed, this is not a pretty picture. Edie & Thea offers an extraordinarily simple portrait of two feisty, funny older lesbians (Sharon Gless, please take note) deeply in love and who offer a fabulous oral history of pre-Stonewall New York City and on to their quest for a proper (Canadian) marriage, where they might exchange the simple vow, “With this ring I thee wed.” For over forty years Edie and Thea shared a life, took lavish trips to Europe and continued to dance long after paralysis from MS left Thea wheelchair-bound. Edie & Thea: A Very Long Engagement is quite simply an unforgettable portrait of an unforgettable couple.
(Highly Recommended)
*** (7:00 PM) An Evening of Women’s Shorts: Who Needs Therapy?
This prescription instead: tonight’s program of shorts-both angsty and witty-explores dating, delving, dancing, and despair. Work to screen includes: Berated Woman (Anya Meksin, USA, 14min., 2008); Cut (Susan Justin, Canada, 4.5min., 2008); 25 Random Things I Did During My Big Fat Lesbian Depression (Chris J. Russo, USA, 11min., 2009); Countertransference (Madeline Olnek, USA, 15min., 2008), Queerer Than Thou (Kalil Cohen & Tera Greene, directed by Ramses Rodstein, 8 min., 2008); Dancing to Happiness (Tanz ins Gluck) (Barbara Seiler, Switzerland, in German with English subtitles, 16min., 2008), Sparklene (Leigh Fisher, Canada, 2.5min., 2007) and Falling for Caroline (Caroline Chew, Canada, 20min. 2009)! All work to be shown on video.
*** (9:00 PM) Hollywood Je T’aime
(Jason Bushman, USA, English and French with English subtitles, video, 95min., 2009) (See review above)
Day 11 Sunday, October 25
UWM Union Theatre
*** (2:00 PM) Andy Warhol Video & TV: Factory Diaries Featuring Brigid Polk - Free Admission
This program celebrates a favorite Warhol star, Brigid Berlin, and her variety of moods-performative, confessional, free associative, musical-all showcasing her wary intelligence, her bristling loyalty, her sharp wit, and her singular star quality. To include: Factory Diary: Brigid Polk Showing Polaroids of Andy, October 25, 1971 (32 min., 1971); Factory Diary: Brigid Polk on Money, More Talk Show Practice, June 10, 1974 (38min., 1974); Factory Diary: Brigid Testing for Talk Show, June 12, 1974; (33min.,1974); Factory Diary: Brigid Polk Plays Piano, August 21, 1971 (6min., 1971)
*** (4:00 PM) Off And Running: An American Coming of Age Story
(Nicole Opper, USA, video, 79min., 2009)
Intriguing and yet incredibly frustrating, Nicole Opper’s camera is unflinching in following young Avery Klein-Cloud’s coming-of-age story in Off and Running. The adopted daughter of white Jewish lesbians, Avery’s household also includes two adopted brothers, one who is mixed-race: the well-adjusted Rafi and cute little Zay-Zay who is Korean. By all accounts, theirs is a very loving family and her lesbian mothers initially encourage Avery when she decides to explore her African-American roots, a decision leading Avery to attempt to contact her birth mother. Sorry, there’s no fabulous fairy-tale ending here; Avery’s birth mother isn’t similarly inclined and the inferred rejection leaves Avery feeling alienated and alone. Growing more and more distant, Avery moves in with her boyfriend, quits school, becomes pregnant and even has an abortion, all of which is ishown in sharp contrast to brother Rafi, who seems to have his life well in order, going to Princeton to study molecular biology. Yet Rafi’s support of Avery is unfailingly unconditional; although it is clear he does not share her need to reclaim family roots. As compelling as Off and Running often is, Glenn found Avery far too indulged, thoroughly oblivious as to how her behavior has impacted all those around and in the end not particularly sympathetic.
*** (6:00 PM) Word is Out
(The Mariposa Film Group: Peter Adair, Nancy Adair, Veronica Selver, Andrew Brown, Robert Epstein and Lucy Massie Phenix, USA, 35mm on video, 135min., 1977)
Glenn is delighted to see that Festival Director Carl Bogner has once again has turned back the clock, choosing the wonderful Word is Out for the Closing Night selection. Originally released in 1977, Word is Out was first screened here at Milwaukee LGBT Film Festival somewhere back in the mists of time. This ground-breaking documentary by Peter and Nancy Adair introduced 26 gay men and lesbians to an unsuspecting American public; an ethnically diverse group, their ages ranging from 18 to 77.
All had a story to tell; a story growing up, of coming out or of living openly. Their stories were told with extraordinary simplicity, eloquence and humor. Pat Bond is hilarious explaining the roles of butches and femmes, recalling when she joined the WAC’s, marching into the mess hall and hearing cries of “Good god, Elizabeth, here comes another one!”
Others are quite affecting, as is young David Gillon, “I thought I was just one of those people who could never love anybody. When I fell in love with Henry...it meant I was human.” Most of the film’s interviewees are quite appealing, a few rather less so. One woman talks frankly of being a lesbian separatist. Another interviewee, an actor, prattles on endlessly about his fabulous weirdness until Glenn was forced to reach for the remote. Long before the LGBT community found the rainbow, Word is Out truly celebrated diversity!
Plus: “Word Is Out: Then And Now - Thirty Years Later”
(The Mariposa Project, 25min., 2008) A short film updating us on the lives of some of the participants. (Highly Recommended)
Feature review by Glenn Bishop
Day 1 Thursay, October 15
Landmark Oriental Theatre
The leaves are amidst their miraculous, seasonal transform; the twilight comes earlier each and every day with a refreshing coolness in the air and, most damning of all, the “Back to School” sales have given way to mountains of bagged, bite-size Halloween candy and stack upon stack of boxed Holiday cards.
“Oh my,” Glenn exclaims, his breath smoking the windowpane, “it’s film festival weather!” Suitable apologies, please, to the estate of Truman Capote.
Although rather tardy this year, the latest installment of the always
fabulous Milwaukee LGBT Film/Video Festival begins on Thursday, October
15. Last year’s fest offered such cinematic delights as the charming
Opening Night musical, “Were the World Mine,” the hilarious “Butch
Jamie,” several powerful documentaries including “Jihad of Love” and
“Be Like Others” as well as such searing dramatic films as “Affinity”
and “Save Me.”
And what well 2009 bring? Glenn will never tell.
Okay, actually Glenn will, of course. Strictly speaking, Glenn will only reveal here details of “Patrik, Age 1.5,” the Opening Night offering. For further film fest highlights, please check Glenn’s extensive first-week coverage in the next issue of Quest, available October 8 on the street and online.
Most loyal Quest readers know that films tagged (burdened?) with such sound-bite descriptions as “heartwarming,” “poignant” and especially the dreaded, “a real crowd-pleaser” are certain to send chills right up Glenn’s spine. Still, Glenn must persevere as such phrases will appear in most reviews of “Patrik 1.5,” although surely not Glenn’s.
Göran (Gustaf Skarsgård) and Sven (Torkel Petersson), an engaging newbie gay couple, has moved into the nightmarish world of the Swedish suburbs, one in which Wisteria Lane has seemingly given way to the sleepy, somnambulist streets of Stepford. Thus it came as no surprise to Glenn that not only was Göran and Sven the only gay couple in the neighborhood but that only the thinnest of veneer of acceptance hid rather more provincial attitudes.
Sven and Göran pay little heed; their excitement over the imminent arrival of their eagerly awaited adopted infant literally bubbling over any reasonable notion of common sense.
After a monkey wrench or two has been thrown their way, the happy day arrives; a letter appears in their mailbox announcing they have been approved to foster a boy called Patrik, aged 1,5. The expectant fathers are ecstatic. How, therefore, can either be prepared for the Patrik that turns up on their doorstep: a sullen, homophobic 15 year-old convinced his virginal little tush is at peril should sleep take him.
Damn that misplaced comma!
Sven is ready to kick Patrik out immediately; Göran, guided by the best of intentions, is determined to do the correct thing. So Patrik stays; stays until they can get the “right” Patrik. Right Patrik or wrong Patrik, this Patrik ain’t goin’ nowhere.
Things do not go well, right from the start. Upon learning of Patrik’s troubled past, our heroes carefully hide all of the kitchen knives and poor Patrik is locked up in the nursery, a “baby-cam” keeping watch 24/7. Thereafter Ella Lemhagen’s screenplay is a skillful jumble of both the not-so predictable (the tearful Goran booting husband Sven out of hearth and home) and predicable (Patrik organizing the pizza-party meant to bring Göran and Sven back together).
Still, Glenn didn’t need to consult Dionne Warwick’s Psychic Friends Network for how this one was going to end.
Day 2 Friday, October 16
UWM Union Theatre
*** (5:00 pm) An Englishman in New York (Richard Laxton, USA, video, 74min., 2009)
Now
it is difficult to imagine a time before Quentin Crisp whose celebrity
ascended rapidly following the PBS broadcast of the extraordinary The Naked Civil Servant, which
starred John Hurt as the flamboyant raconteur who publicly declared his
homosexuality during the brutally homophobic and misogynistic England
of the 1930s and '40s - a time when this alternative lifestyle was
still an offense punishable by imprisonment in Great Britain. Now,
decades later, Hurt reprises his role, as Crisp ventures to New York
City. Seeing him as a viable commodity, a savvy agent (Swoosie Kurtz)
recognizes that Crisp is his own one-man show and takes a gamble.
Meanwhile Crisp is befriended by Christopher Street magazine's Philip
Steele (Denis O'Hare) who would remain a lifelong friend and confidant.
Gay America's love affair with Crisp faltered however after he
infamously declared, "AIDS is a fad," then refusing to retract. Hurt's
extraordinary performance is an unmissable opportunity to revisit a
true, 20th Century original! (Highly recommended)
*** (7:00 pm) Prodigal Sons (Kimberly Reed, USA, video, 86min., 2008)
Every year there is
one Festival programming choice Glenn finds a total anomaly. Every
year. Yes every year there is one such film in the offering that
invariably boasts fantastic credentials, terrific buzz not to mention a
portfolio of glowing reviews. Last year, the Festival Centerpiece
selection of Water Lilies confounded Glenn. As charming as indeed Water
Lilies proved to be, it seemed to Glenn little more than a cute lesbian
"afternoon special." In 2009 Kimberly Reed's documentary,
Prodigal Sons, receives Glenn's vote. No problem with the film's
intriguing premise: coming back to hometown Helena, MT for her high
school reunion for the first time since transitioning, Kim insists she
is also hoping to put right her troubled relationship with her brother
Mark, who by-the-by is absolutely crackers. The reunion is absolutely
anticlimactic, little more than drunken story-telling around a keg of
beer but Kim is determined to soldier on; resolute in her need to bury
the last traces of Paul, her former self. Missing a chunk of his brain
- don't ask - Mark grabs the film's spotlight (briefly) as his
connection to Orson Wells, true Hollywood royalty, is discover. Even
here Kim stubbornly wrenches back focus. Yet as she endeavors to
enlist Mark in erasing twenty-odd years of Paul, really twenty-odd
years family history, she blithely ignores how this undermines Mark's
increasing fragile grasp of identity.
*** (9:00 pm) We Are The Mods (E.E. Cassidy, USA, video, 85min., 2008)
Last year Michelle
Ehlen's fabulous Butch Jamie (almost) charmed the pants right off of
Glenn - none too easy a task. Well, let Glenn introduce Sadie (Melia
Renee), a photographer and would-be Mod-ster navigating the pitfalls of
her high school's treacherous social scene in We Are The Mods.
Something of an outsider, Sadie is happiest behind the camera. All that
changes when the seductively fabulous Nico (Mary Elise Hayden)
literally explodes into Sadie's otherwise drab existence. Nico might
not be able to coax Sadie in front of the camera but she's going to
make damn sure Sadie doesn't while away her time photographing
exquisite compositions of rocks. Where once there was only black &
white, there's now vibrant, Mod-inspired colors and along the way Sadie
has her first experiences with sex, drugs and love. Mary Elise Hayden
is sensational as Nico, her mod-inspired bravado never quite concealing
her outsider's vulnerability; she very nearly steals the picture. Glenn
is pretty clueless about a Mod-revival but We Are The Mods is visually
strikingly and offers a terrifically fun soundtrack to boot!
(Recommended)
Day 3 Saturday, October 17
UWM Union Theatre
*** (5:00 pm) Straightlaced (Debra Chasnoff, USA, video, 65min., 2009) (Free)
With a fearless look at a highly charged subject, Straightlaced examines how popular pressures around gender and sexuality are confining American teens. From girls confronting media messages about body image, to boys who are sexually active just to prove they aren't gay, this fascinating array of students opens up with brave and intimate honesty about the toll that deeply-held stereotypes and rigid gender policing take on all of our lives. (Not Screened)
Au Milieu Du Gay (9 min., 2009)
A segment from the French television show L'effet papillon (The Butterfly Effect) on Milwaukee's own Alliance School.
*** (7:00 pm) Hannah Free (Wendy Jo Carlton, video, 90 min., 2009)
Vaguely
reminiscent of Fried Green Tomato, Hannah Free offers Sharon Gless as
Hannah, a still feisty lesbian now bedridden in a small Midwestern
nursing home. It is a cruel twist of fate for a woman like Hannah, one
who never took to settling down, "I can't spend my life looking out
just one window." Hannah started off in Alaska; later joined the WACs
during the war. Hannah continued her rambling no matter how adversely
it affected her relationship with the love of her life, Rachel. And
now? Hannah and Rachel remain separate, although not down to Hannah's
restless spirit but rather Rachel's daughter Marge (Taylor Miller).
Marge believes Rachel, in a coma and kept alive by life support, must
be protected from Hannah and the nursing home administration presumably
feels obligated to honor the wishes of Rachel's daughter. Weaving back
and forth between past and present, too often confusingly so, Claudia
Allen's screenplay effectively captures how Hannah and Rachel held on
to their love despite a marriage, a world war, infidelities, and family
denial. Possessing a wry twinkle and undeniable charm, Kelli Strickland
beautifully portrays Young Hannah's restless spirit at once so
appealing and infuriating to Rachel while Glenn felt Sharon Gless
rarely the Hannah beneath the cantankerous facede.
*** (9:00 pm) Rivers Wash Over Me (John G. Young, USA, video, 83min., 2009)
Feature review by Glenn Bishop
Many of you, most loyal Quest readers, have been writing, emailing, texting, and even a few resourceful folks have gained knowledge of Glenn’s (previously) secret, unlisted trick number all in the hopes of obtaining programming information for this year’s fabulous Milwaukee LGBT Film & Video Festival. Well, your wait is officially over.
As previously promised, within the pages of this issue of Quest you’ll find complete first week coverage, plus in depth look at writer/director John G. Young’s third feature film, “Rivers Wash Over Me.”
The programming for the Fest’s first week is an extraordinary sequence of searing dramas, challenging documentaries, harmony-challenged musicals plus the lovely treat of John Hurt returning to his astonishing embodiment of Quentin Crisp, a role that shot Hurt to stardom oh-so many years ago with “The Naked Civil Servant.”
But on to “Rivers Wash Over Me.”
Once upon a time, in a land far, far away Glenn thought living in American, anywhere in America, to pretty much a homogeneous experience.
Didn’t all Americans all speak the same language? Weren’t we all of us proud to start off our day reciting the Pledge of Allegiance? However disparate and contradictory the experiences of JFK’s assassination and Neil Armstrong’s first steps on the moon, hadn’t these extraordinary events found all Americans to be glued to their television sets?
Long before the internet and cable, there being just the three networks all America watched all the same television. We all loved Lucy, right? Surely all the great sitcom Moms, from Donna Reed and Laura Petrie to June Clever and Carol Brady might be certain to have ready on the table nourishing lunches of Campbell’s Cream of Tomato Soup and grilled cheese sandwiches made from real Kraft American Singles even if Glenn’s own childhood noontime misadventures were rather more chaotic affairs.
Television was young’s Glenn’s giant, black & white window to the world, managing to both reflect and redefine life. Thus it was a bit of a shock for Glenn to discover that growing up in various places in America could be as foreign, if not more so, than growing up outside our own borders.
Such is the predominant theme of “Rivers Wash Over Me.” Young Sequan Greene (newcomer Derrick L. Middleton) hasn’t had an easy time of it. After a devastating fire destroys his home and leaves him orphaned, Sequan is forced to leave New York City for Jefferson, a misery of a Southern town, a place time clearly has forgotten. There, Sequan finds himself a veritable stranger in a strange land.
He comes to Jefferson to live with his Aunt LuEllen (Leslie Jones), her brawny drug-dealing basketball star son Michael (Cameron Mitchell Mason) and her all-seeing daughter Charity (a sensational Tina Jetter). Sequan is in for a rude awakening, learning firsthand the differences of the haves-and the have-nots of Jefferson - indeed his Aunt LuEllen is a proper, subservient maid to an affluent white family. Perhaps LuEllen means well, Glenn is rather hesitant to venture a definite guess but she remains oblivious to fresh bruises that appear daily on Sequan, bruises the result of the repeated beating and sexual abuse he suffers at the hands of his closeted cousin Michael.
His uncle Charles (Darien Sills-Evans), the new sheriff might offer Sequan deliverance, especially since he too is aware not all is right with the boy. As is so often the case in stories such as this, Charles, too, finds it easier to look the other way.
Curiously, the only person who makes an effort with Sequan is Laurie (Elizabeth Dennis), the black-sheep daughter of the family LuEllen works for. Laurie is also the school slut. Initially Sequan chalks up her attentions as yet another case of her to attraction for “black dudes.” Eventually, however, Sequan recognizes her to be a fellow outcast. Perhaps it is the gift of a book, James Baldwin’s “Nobody Knows My Name,” that convinces Laurie to introduce Sequan to her equally bookish brother Jake (Aidan Schultz-Meyer). Together the three form a fascinating, if wonderfully improbable threesome.
Day 4 Sunday, October 18
UWM Union Theatre
*** (2:00 pm) Andy Warhol Video & TV (Free)
This afternoon's program features videos from a Factory sojourn West-when one star system met another-with work that touristically views, and in the case of Taylor Mead playing Tarzan (abetted by a Dennis Hopper cameo) apes, the factory of Hollywood. Screening to include: Factory Diary: Movie Stars Houses, Beverly Hills, CA, July 1, 1972 (18min., 1972); Factory Diary: Ann Rutherford in Beverly Hills, July 1, 1972 (33min., 1972); Factory Diary: June Allison in Los Angeles, July 8, 1972 (9min., 1972); Tarzan and Jane Regained...Sort of (16mm, 81min., 1964; print courtesy of Museum of Modern Art). (Not Screened)
*** (5:00 pm) Still Black: A Portrait of Black Transmen (Kortney Ryan Ziegler, USA, video, 77min., 2008)
Looking to give
voice to black transmen, Kortney Ryan Ziegler has assembled in Still
Black a group of six African Americanstransitioning from female to
male. There's no simple Q & A format, Ziegler allows his camera to
roll, generously allowing each transman to tell his story in turn. This
is a format fraught with danger but here pays dividends thanks to how
each manage to articulate their unique, deeply personal story. Two in
particular, Kayden and Louis, have honed their public speaking skills
at LGBT workshops, speaker's bureaus and conferences and tell their
stories with authority and grace. From one participant to the
next, themes keep popping up. Carl and Rashad focus on the importance
of family in their lives; Carl again and Ethan discuss transitioning
within the context of way the African American male is perceived in
society. For the most part filmmaker Kortney Ryan Ziegler is content
with his rather straightforward filming but occasionally veers rather
too heavily to unnecessary cinematic gimmicks like split-screen and
goofy framing devices.
*** (7:00 pm) Fig Trees (John Greyson, Canada, video, 104min., 2009; music by David Wall)
By far the Festival's
First week highlight proved to be John Greyson's extraordinary,
positively astonishinging documentary, Fig Trees. Exuding a Derek
Jarman-esque cinematic sensibility, Fig Trees is an opera-infused
depiction of about the struggles of AIDS activists Tim McCaskell of
Toronto and Zackie Achmat of Capetown as they fought to secure access
to treatment drugs. Please do be forewarned: publicity materials
promise "a surreal narrative that features Gertrude Stein, a singing
albino squirrel, and St. Teresa of Avila in its exploration of the
meaning of pills, saints, and activism." Fair enough. Yet Fig Trees, a
cacophony of split-screen and collage, is at once maddening, baffling
and wonderful; by far the Festival's most strikingly original entry.
Best of all, Fig Trees is something of an admonition to American
moviegoers who often fail to recognize that the AIDS crisis and AIDS
activism as something that occurs outside US borders.
Covered (John Greyson, Canada, video, 15min., 2009)
A characteristically dense and notably urgent video that reports on the violence that met the 2008 Queer Sarajevo Festival. (Highly recommended)
Day 5 Monday, October 19
UWM Union Theatre
*** (7:00 pm) On the Same Team: An Evening of Women's Basketball Training Rules
(Dee Mosbacher & Fawn Yacker, USA, video, 60min., 2008)
Just look at the WNBA or the LGPA for that matter and it is patently clear that very little has changed in recent years: lesbians in sports remain a dirty little secret. In their fascinating documentary Training Rules, Dee Mosbacher and Fawn Yacker profile Rene Portland, former coach of Women's basketball at Penn State University. Rene Portland (in) famously had three training rules during her 26 years coaching basketball at Pennsylvania State University: no drinking, no drugs and no lesbians. Portland's reign would be challenged by both changes campus non-discrimination policies as well as a celebrated lawsuit by one student athlete, Jennifer Harris who is curiously restictedfrom speaking about her experiences due to terms of her lawsuit settlement. .
Lady Trojans
(Elizabeth Hesik, USA, video,
58min., 2008)
Filmmaker Elizabeth Hesik has crafted a wistful and nostalgic look back at a strikingly lesbian high school basketball team in Tuscon, Arizona in the early 1990s. Combining a generous helping of footage of the girls then, reminiscences now plus some wickedly clever "re-enactment scenes" to help film in the blanks, Lady Trogans captures both the joy and the tears; the apprehensions and confusion of emerging adolescent lesbian sexuality.
Day 6 Tuesday, October 20
UWM Union Theatre
*** (7:00 pm) Everytime I See Your Picture I Cry (Written, illustrated and performed by Daniel Barrow, 60 min., 2008)
The latest from "manual animator" Daniel Barrow who, seated behind an overhead projector, performs his animation live. Barrow combines overhead projection with video, music, and live narration to tell the story of a struggling artist who, Barrow reports, is "a garbage man with a vision to create an independent phone book chronicling the lives of each person in his city. What he doesn't yet realize is that a deranged killer is trailing him, murdering each citizen he includes in his book, thus rendering his cataloging efforts obsolete." Barrow's animation is a marvel to behold: like a graphic novel performed live with the simplicity and wonder of a magic lantern show, Barrow's entrancing storytelling is both cutting edge and pre-cinematic. Soundtrack by Amy Linton. (Not Screened)
Day 7 Wednesday, October 21
UWM Union Theatre
*** (7:00 pm) To Die Like a Man (Morrer como um homem) (João Pedro Rodrigues, Portugal, 35mm, 138min. 2009)
Okay, on
paper Morrer como um homem (To Die Like a Man) looked unbeatable. Let's
start with aging drag artiste Tonia (Fernando Santos) whose young and
very sexy (junkie) boyfriend wants her to have a sex change. Add in her
sexually confused son Zé Maria (Chandra Malatitch) AWOL and on the run
for the murder of another soldier. If her woes at home weren't enough,
Tonia is facing challenges from ambitious younger artistes at the club,
especially the absolutely stunning Jenny (Jenni La Rue). Perhaps
Santos's Tonia might have even became a character Glenn grew to care
about if she didn't systematically alienate everyone around her. To Die
Like a Man opens with Zé Maria out on maneuvers with another soldier, a
sexual encounter after which the other soldier ends up dead. Zé Maria
reemerges briefly; ostensibly to terrorize Tonia's goldfish and then
disappears. Then slowly, very slowly - oh so slowly - Tonia is poisoned
by her breast implants. Clearly writer/director João Pedro Rodrigues
allowed his story run away on him, although with an almost unbearable
running time of 138 minutes Glenn must question using "run" to describe
any aspect of the film. A pity, really; in the hands of a filmmaker
like Pedro Almodóvar, To Die Like a
Man, could have been amazing. (in
Portuguese with English subtitles)
Day 8 Thursday, October 22
UWM Union Theatre
Andy Warhol Video & TV
Milwaukee Art Museum, 700 N. Art Museum Drive
*** (6:15 pm) Andy Warhol's Fifteen Minutes 1985 -1987
A short-lived co-production from the entity known as "Andy Warhol TV Productions" and the then all-new MTV, Andy Warhol's Fifteen Minutes. As production director Don Munroe tells it, "..the premise behind the show was to have Andy sitting watching TV and changing channels, channel surfing... Everyone gets fifteen minutes of fame. That was what it was about except our tag line was today you only get fifteen seconds. So make it good. And that created the pace of the show - next, next, next." With regular appearances by Warhol and friends like Debbie Harry and Jerry Hall. The final episode, broadcast shortly after Warhol's untimely death, includes a tribute to the artist. For a complete listing of Andy Warhol Video & TV screenings and events, see end of Festival schedule. (Not Screened)
*** (9:00 pm) Fruit Fly (H.P. Mendoza, USA, in English and Tagalog with English subtitles, video, 94min., 2009)
Those expecting
a kinder, gentler Glenn in 2009 - well, forget it. Glenn wanted to like
Fruit Fly. Glenn tried
his darndest to like Fruit Fly. Then Glenn's mind slipped back, just a
couple of years back; a distant high-pitch whining growing stronger and
stronger. Then Glenn remembered: Colma: The Musical. Surely you
remember Colma: The Musical? No? Well, Glenn does, writing at the time:
"The glowing review blurbs for Colma: The Musical contained in this
reviewer's Festival packet did little to prepare Glenn for the film's
100 minutes of excruciatingly awful entertainment. 100 minutes of life
lost to Glenn forever." God bless him, H.P. Mendoza, creator of
Colma is back in '09 with Fruit Fry. L.A. Renigen played a "hag" in
Colma; her Bethesda has now graduated to "fruit fly" status although
admittedly she's no less annoying here. Bethesda joins a painfully
unfunny San Francisco household, presumably Mendoza's personal homage
to Maupin's Tales of the City. Characters are introduced and then
dropped but not before they sing a song. Or two. There are, in fact,
lots of songs; 19 in all. Then with nary a dramatic thread resolved but
with a dazzling musical flourish, Fruit Fly's final credits begin to
roll. Say what? When all is said and sung, Fruit Fly looks terrific and while
never as excruciatingly awful as Colma: The Musical nevertheless never
actually feels complete. Although at 94 minutes, Glenn felt it to be
plenty long enough.
Feature Review By Glenn Bishop
Day 10 - Saturday, October 24 - 9 PM
UW-M Union Theater
As the Milwaukee LGBT Film / Video Festival rolls into its second fabulous weekend, Glenn is reminded how fortunate and humbled he
is by the opportunity to screen (almost) all
of the dazzling array of cinematic offerings and, again ever so humbly,
reveal to you, loyal Quest
readers, the unmissable, the unimaginable and, on occasion, the
unexplainable. And really, how fortunate we Milwaukeeans are to have such a LGBT Film Festival, one whose programming doesn’t rely merely upon populist comedies and imminent DVD releases. Thanks to the inclusion of documentaries such as John Greyson’s ravishing “Fig Trees” and the still to be screened “Travel Queries,” festival-goers are certain to find films unlikely to appear either amongst the astonishingly gratuitous programming on HereTV! ™ or buried for that matter on Logo’s absurdly repetitive schedule.
Yet for far too many in Glenn’s acquaintance, the Milwaukee LGBT Film/Video Festival both begins and ends with the Opening Night selection. Now, that’s a real shame.
Well, having editorialized long enough, Glenn will get to the matter at hand: “Hollywood, je t’aime.”
In point of fact, “Hollywood, je t’aime” was not in fact Glenn’s initial choice for the Festival’s second weekend spotlight review. Ever willing to rock the boat, Glenn thought to choose a documentary: “Edie and Thea: A Very Long Engagement.” Hanging his head in abject shame, Glenn will admit to thinking “Edie and Thea” sounded, at least on paper, a right snooze. Yet in the hands of filmmakers Greta Olafsdóttir and Susan Muska (“The Brandon Teena Story”), Edie and Thea’s forty-year engagement is an absolutely magical experience.
Well, that idea was returned to Glenn faster than a Roger Federer serve.
Surely the logical choice then, even Glenn will concur, is this year’s Chad Allen movie, “Hollywood, je t’aime.”
Enter hunky Frenchman Jerome Beaunez (Eric Debets) who is not only trapped in a Paris rendered unflatteringly in boring old black & white, but has been dumped by his cute but cheatin’ boyfriend Gilles (Jonathan Blanc). So it is not surprisingly, then, how easily Jerome is seduced by the blatantly sexual imagery he spies in a travel agent’s window, of gorgeous surfer dudes frolicking out on the golden beaches of Southern California. Catching Gilles in flagrante delicto with Henri (Quelle horreur!), another of Gilles sexy bedmates proves the last straw for Jerome.
Deciding California is the place he ought to be, Jerome loaded up his suitcase and “moved to Beverly.” Only the California Jerome finds is barely recognizable to that depicted in the travel poster; yet at least not depicted in black & white but rather in hideous day-glo colors.
Much like Blanche DuBois, Jerome immediately finds himself dependent upon the kindness of strangers. And kindness (and strangeness) Jerome finds in abundance: Chad Allen’s Ross, a friendly stoner, is Jerome’s first benefactor; Norma Desire (Michael Airington) is all very Anna Madrigal (as if channeled by Paul Lynde) in offering Jerome a room in her shabby-chic Silverlake residence.
One after another, Jerome experiences marvelously picaresque episodes. Here is Jerome naively dashing off to the beach in mid-December, nary a gorgeous surfer dude to be found for love or ready money. Looking absurdly bewildered at a music video audition, Glenn pondered whether Jerome had really given much serious thought to the notion: “I-want-to-be-an-actor.” Later, Jerome whisks moviegoers off to a lovely bathhouse where he manages to walk off with the cutest boy and yet still manages to make this a most unsatisfying encounter.
Come to think of it, do any of Jerome’s many and varied encounters actually prove even remotely satisfying?
And all the while Jerome dreams of Gilles. Initially Jerome tries to impress this “dream Gilles” with tales of his extraordinary, not to mention immediate, California success; all too soon “dream Gilles” is enticing Jerome back to Paris and back to his bed - as long as Jerome doesn’t mind Gilles’s revolving bedroom door.
Is Jerome destined to find a gorgeous Southern California surfer dude all his own or will he scurry back to Gilles’s welcoming arms?
Full Price, Matinee Or Wait ‘Til The Budgets
Allusions to “The Wizard of Oz” and “Tales of the City” neatly place Jerome in the wild wonderland that is Los Angeles, a deliciously squalid “City of Angels” peopled with aging, Bingo-spinning drag queens, tranny prostitutes, and sweet HIV-positive drug dealers. On the plus side, Eric Debets is often shirtless and looks equally sexy sans trousers. Fully clothed, Debet’s Jerome’s appeal proved rather illusive to Glenn. Why does the briefly introduced romance with Gilles so dominate Jerome’s nocturnal misadventures? Alternately, if Glenn is to believe Jerome remains deeply in love with Gilles, is indeed even capable of love, then how can he be so cruelly oblivious to all of those wacky souls who welcome him into their lives and their hearts? Before clicking her heels three times, Garland’s Dorothy was a little girl transformed by her experiences. But what of Jerome?
Just The Facts
“Hollywood Je t’aime” will be screened at 9 PM on Saturday, October 24 at the UWM Union Theatre. Last year’s Chad Allen film was “Save Me” which co-starred Robert “QAF” Gant. All about “Hollywood Je t’aime” at: www.hollywoodjetaime.com Find complete schedule information at: arts.uwm.edu/lgbtfilm.
Film Festival Schedule: Week Two
Day 9 Friday, October 23
UWM Union Theatre
*** (7:00 PM) A Sampling of Cheeses & Wine: An Evening of Men’s Shorts
Tonight’s program of international and award-winning shorts explores many of the challenges and joys of relationships and sex. The program features characters looking to friends, strangers, songs, and airport security personnel for love. To include: Candy Boy (Pascal-Alex Vincent, France, in French with English subtitles, 35mm, 13min., 2007); Teddy (Christopher Banks, New Zealand, 13min., 2009); Dish (Brian Harris Krinsky, USA, 16min., 2009); Frequent Traveler (Patricia Bateira, Portugal, 8min., 2007); James (Connor Clements, Ireland, 18min., 2008); Kaveri (A Mate) (Teemu Nikki, Finland, in Finnish with English subtitles, 8min., 2007); and Boycrazy (John Sobrack, USA, 25min., 2009).
(Not screened)
*** (9:00 PM) And Then Came Lola
(Megan Siler & Ellen Seidler, USA, video, 70min., 2009)
Lola (Ashleigh Sumner) is a sexy serial monogamist faced with the task of delivering some very important photographic prints to her equally sexy girlfriend of the moment Casey (Jill Bennett). No worries, right? Thanks to her quirk of not turning her clocks back, Lola has only an hour to complete her task. There’s just one problem, if Lola has a Guardian Angel, she must be out to lunch. Nothing, absolutely nothing, will go right. Little does Lola expect, for example, that her car will get booted or be confronted by a right sassy meter maid; or that she’ll trip on a dog, lose her cell phone or get trapped in a cab with a couple of swinging (straight) oldsters. Yet Lola perseveres. The prints are delivered but Casey drives off into the sunset with her gorgeous client Danny (Cathy Debuono). Damn. But wait, through the miracle of modern cinematography, Lola has another chance. Can Lola get it right this time? Run Lola, run! In a scant 67 minutes And Then Came Lola incorporates some delightful animation, a pulsing soundtrack and some of the hottest girl-on-girl action ever screened at this Festival.
(Recommended)
Day 10 Saturday, October 24
UWM Union Theatre
*** (1:00 PM) Diagnosing Difference
(Annalise Ophelian, USA, video, 60min., 2009)
How does it feel to have your gender identity included in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders? The documentary Diagnosing Difference features interviews with thirteen transgender and genderqueer scholars, artists, and activists who explore the impact and implications of Gender Identity Disorder (GID) on their lives and communities. Using the diagnosis as a departure point, these diverse and articulate participants debunk myths and misconceptions about transgender identities, challenge stereotypical gender expectations, and offer insight into the terms and language used to describe transgender lives.
With : Kaden Later (Harriet Storm, USA, video, 9 min., 2009)
A follow-up to Kaden, screened at last year’s Festival, Kaden Later marries documentary with animation as it follows Kaden, a transman now in his early thirties, as he and his girlfriend Monika plan their wedding.
(Not screened)
*** (3:00 PM) Travel Queeries
(Elliat Graney-Saucke, USA, in Russian, Ukrainian, Serbian, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, Hebrew, German, French, Danish and Finnish with English subtitles, video, 68 min., 2009)
Travel Queeries is a feature-length documentary film that examines the culture, art and activism of radical queers in contemporary Europe. Through personal interviews and documentation of performances, festivals, and lively arts spaces, Travel Queeries focuses an international lens on queer fringe culture. With the aim of building bridges and awareness, Travel Queeries considers the word “queer” and explores the complexities, innovative values and the spirit of queer within a progressive social change movement.
Plus: Welcome to My Queer Bookstore
(Larry Tung, USA, video, 19min., 2009)
A portrait of Taipei’s Gin Gin’s Bookstore, the only bookstore dedicated to the LGBT community in the Chinese-speaking world.
(Not screened)
*** (5:00 PM) Edie & Thea: A Very Long Engagement
(Greta Olafsdottir & Susan Muska, USA, video, 67min., 2009)
This confession might not come as much of a shock: Glenn is not a sentimental kind of guy. It is the rare film for which Glenn has shed a tear. Dorothy’s quest for boring old Kansas has always bewildered Glenn; there’s never been a Tiny Tim Glenn hasn’t loathed. Once, yes it is quite true, Glenn even kicked a puppy. How then could Greta Olafsdottir and Susan Muska’s Edie & Thea: A Very Long Engagement have left Glenn limp, blubbering like a schoolboy and clutching a soggy wad of tissues? Yes, indeed, this is not a pretty picture. Edie & Thea offers an extraordinarily simple portrait of two feisty, funny older lesbians (Sharon Gless, please take note) deeply in love and who offer a fabulous oral history of pre-Stonewall New York City and on to their quest for a proper (Canadian) marriage, where they might exchange the simple vow, “With this ring I thee wed.” For over forty years Edie and Thea shared a life, took lavish trips to Europe and continued to dance long after paralysis from MS left Thea wheelchair-bound. Edie & Thea: A Very Long Engagement is quite simply an unforgettable portrait of an unforgettable couple.
(Highly Recommended)
*** (7:00 PM) An Evening of Women’s Shorts: Who Needs Therapy?
This prescription instead: tonight’s program of shorts-both angsty and witty-explores dating, delving, dancing, and despair. Work to screen includes: Berated Woman (Anya Meksin, USA, 14min., 2008); Cut (Susan Justin, Canada, 4.5min., 2008); 25 Random Things I Did During My Big Fat Lesbian Depression (Chris J. Russo, USA, 11min., 2009); Countertransference (Madeline Olnek, USA, 15min., 2008), Queerer Than Thou (Kalil Cohen & Tera Greene, directed by Ramses Rodstein, 8 min., 2008); Dancing to Happiness (Tanz ins Gluck) (Barbara Seiler, Switzerland, in German with English subtitles, 16min., 2008), Sparklene (Leigh Fisher, Canada, 2.5min., 2007) and Falling for Caroline (Caroline Chew, Canada, 20min. 2009)! All work to be shown on video.
*** (9:00 PM) Hollywood Je T’aime
(Jason Bushman, USA, English and French with English subtitles, video, 95min., 2009) (See review above)
Day 11 Sunday, October 25
UWM Union Theatre
*** (2:00 PM) Andy Warhol Video & TV: Factory Diaries Featuring Brigid Polk - Free Admission
This program celebrates a favorite Warhol star, Brigid Berlin, and her variety of moods-performative, confessional, free associative, musical-all showcasing her wary intelligence, her bristling loyalty, her sharp wit, and her singular star quality. To include: Factory Diary: Brigid Polk Showing Polaroids of Andy, October 25, 1971 (32 min., 1971); Factory Diary: Brigid Polk on Money, More Talk Show Practice, June 10, 1974 (38min., 1974); Factory Diary: Brigid Testing for Talk Show, June 12, 1974; (33min.,1974); Factory Diary: Brigid Polk Plays Piano, August 21, 1971 (6min., 1971)
*** (4:00 PM) Off And Running: An American Coming of Age Story
(Nicole Opper, USA, video, 79min., 2009)
Intriguing and yet incredibly frustrating, Nicole Opper’s camera is unflinching in following young Avery Klein-Cloud’s coming-of-age story in Off and Running. The adopted daughter of white Jewish lesbians, Avery’s household also includes two adopted brothers, one who is mixed-race: the well-adjusted Rafi and cute little Zay-Zay who is Korean. By all accounts, theirs is a very loving family and her lesbian mothers initially encourage Avery when she decides to explore her African-American roots, a decision leading Avery to attempt to contact her birth mother. Sorry, there’s no fabulous fairy-tale ending here; Avery’s birth mother isn’t similarly inclined and the inferred rejection leaves Avery feeling alienated and alone. Growing more and more distant, Avery moves in with her boyfriend, quits school, becomes pregnant and even has an abortion, all of which is ishown in sharp contrast to brother Rafi, who seems to have his life well in order, going to Princeton to study molecular biology. Yet Rafi’s support of Avery is unfailingly unconditional; although it is clear he does not share her need to reclaim family roots. As compelling as Off and Running often is, Glenn found Avery far too indulged, thoroughly oblivious as to how her behavior has impacted all those around and in the end not particularly sympathetic.
*** (6:00 PM) Word is Out
(The Mariposa Film Group: Peter Adair, Nancy Adair, Veronica Selver, Andrew Brown, Robert Epstein and Lucy Massie Phenix, USA, 35mm on video, 135min., 1977)
Glenn is delighted to see that Festival Director Carl Bogner has once again has turned back the clock, choosing the wonderful Word is Out for the Closing Night selection. Originally released in 1977, Word is Out was first screened here at Milwaukee LGBT Film Festival somewhere back in the mists of time. This ground-breaking documentary by Peter and Nancy Adair introduced 26 gay men and lesbians to an unsuspecting American public; an ethnically diverse group, their ages ranging from 18 to 77.
All had a story to tell; a story growing up, of coming out or of living openly. Their stories were told with extraordinary simplicity, eloquence and humor. Pat Bond is hilarious explaining the roles of butches and femmes, recalling when she joined the WAC’s, marching into the mess hall and hearing cries of “Good god, Elizabeth, here comes another one!”
Others are quite affecting, as is young David Gillon, “I thought I was just one of those people who could never love anybody. When I fell in love with Henry...it meant I was human.” Most of the film’s interviewees are quite appealing, a few rather less so. One woman talks frankly of being a lesbian separatist. Another interviewee, an actor, prattles on endlessly about his fabulous weirdness until Glenn was forced to reach for the remote. Long before the LGBT community found the rainbow, Word is Out truly celebrated diversity!
Plus: “Word Is Out: Then And Now - Thirty Years Later”
(The Mariposa Project, 25min., 2008) A short film updating us on the lives of some of the participants. (Highly Recommended)
Reviews
from Week One
“Patrik, Age 1.5” Opens Milwaukee LGBT Film
& Video FestivalFeature review by Glenn Bishop
Day 1 Thursay, October 15
Landmark Oriental Theatre
The leaves are amidst their miraculous, seasonal transform; the twilight comes earlier each and every day with a refreshing coolness in the air and, most damning of all, the “Back to School” sales have given way to mountains of bagged, bite-size Halloween candy and stack upon stack of boxed Holiday cards.
“Oh my,” Glenn exclaims, his breath smoking the windowpane, “it’s film festival weather!” Suitable apologies, please, to the estate of Truman Capote.
Although rather tardy this year, the latest installment of the always
fabulous Milwaukee LGBT Film/Video Festival begins on Thursday, October
15. Last year’s fest offered such cinematic delights as the charming
Opening Night musical, “Were the World Mine,” the hilarious “Butch
Jamie,” several powerful documentaries including “Jihad of Love” and
“Be Like Others” as well as such searing dramatic films as “Affinity”
and “Save Me.”And what well 2009 bring? Glenn will never tell.
Okay, actually Glenn will, of course. Strictly speaking, Glenn will only reveal here details of “Patrik, Age 1.5,” the Opening Night offering. For further film fest highlights, please check Glenn’s extensive first-week coverage in the next issue of Quest, available October 8 on the street and online.
Most loyal Quest readers know that films tagged (burdened?) with such sound-bite descriptions as “heartwarming,” “poignant” and especially the dreaded, “a real crowd-pleaser” are certain to send chills right up Glenn’s spine. Still, Glenn must persevere as such phrases will appear in most reviews of “Patrik 1.5,” although surely not Glenn’s.
Göran (Gustaf Skarsgård) and Sven (Torkel Petersson), an engaging newbie gay couple, has moved into the nightmarish world of the Swedish suburbs, one in which Wisteria Lane has seemingly given way to the sleepy, somnambulist streets of Stepford. Thus it came as no surprise to Glenn that not only was Göran and Sven the only gay couple in the neighborhood but that only the thinnest of veneer of acceptance hid rather more provincial attitudes.
Sven and Göran pay little heed; their excitement over the imminent arrival of their eagerly awaited adopted infant literally bubbling over any reasonable notion of common sense.
After a monkey wrench or two has been thrown their way, the happy day arrives; a letter appears in their mailbox announcing they have been approved to foster a boy called Patrik, aged 1,5. The expectant fathers are ecstatic. How, therefore, can either be prepared for the Patrik that turns up on their doorstep: a sullen, homophobic 15 year-old convinced his virginal little tush is at peril should sleep take him.
Damn that misplaced comma!
Sven is ready to kick Patrik out immediately; Göran, guided by the best of intentions, is determined to do the correct thing. So Patrik stays; stays until they can get the “right” Patrik. Right Patrik or wrong Patrik, this Patrik ain’t goin’ nowhere.
Things do not go well, right from the start. Upon learning of Patrik’s troubled past, our heroes carefully hide all of the kitchen knives and poor Patrik is locked up in the nursery, a “baby-cam” keeping watch 24/7. Thereafter Ella Lemhagen’s screenplay is a skillful jumble of both the not-so predictable (the tearful Goran booting husband Sven out of hearth and home) and predicable (Patrik organizing the pizza-party meant to bring Göran and Sven back together).
Still, Glenn didn’t need to consult Dionne Warwick’s Psychic Friends Network for how this one was going to end.
Day 2 Friday, October 16
UWM Union Theatre
*** (5:00 pm) An Englishman in New York (Richard Laxton, USA, video, 74min., 2009)
Now
it is difficult to imagine a time before Quentin Crisp whose celebrity
ascended rapidly following the PBS broadcast of the extraordinary The Naked Civil Servant, which
starred John Hurt as the flamboyant raconteur who publicly declared his
homosexuality during the brutally homophobic and misogynistic England
of the 1930s and '40s - a time when this alternative lifestyle was
still an offense punishable by imprisonment in Great Britain. Now,
decades later, Hurt reprises his role, as Crisp ventures to New York
City. Seeing him as a viable commodity, a savvy agent (Swoosie Kurtz)
recognizes that Crisp is his own one-man show and takes a gamble.
Meanwhile Crisp is befriended by Christopher Street magazine's Philip
Steele (Denis O'Hare) who would remain a lifelong friend and confidant.
Gay America's love affair with Crisp faltered however after he
infamously declared, "AIDS is a fad," then refusing to retract. Hurt's
extraordinary performance is an unmissable opportunity to revisit a
true, 20th Century original! (Highly recommended) *** (7:00 pm) Prodigal Sons (Kimberly Reed, USA, video, 86min., 2008)
Every year there is
one Festival programming choice Glenn finds a total anomaly. Every
year. Yes every year there is one such film in the offering that
invariably boasts fantastic credentials, terrific buzz not to mention a
portfolio of glowing reviews. Last year, the Festival Centerpiece
selection of Water Lilies confounded Glenn. As charming as indeed Water
Lilies proved to be, it seemed to Glenn little more than a cute lesbian
"afternoon special." In 2009 Kimberly Reed's documentary,
Prodigal Sons, receives Glenn's vote. No problem with the film's
intriguing premise: coming back to hometown Helena, MT for her high
school reunion for the first time since transitioning, Kim insists she
is also hoping to put right her troubled relationship with her brother
Mark, who by-the-by is absolutely crackers. The reunion is absolutely
anticlimactic, little more than drunken story-telling around a keg of
beer but Kim is determined to soldier on; resolute in her need to bury
the last traces of Paul, her former self. Missing a chunk of his brain
- don't ask - Mark grabs the film's spotlight (briefly) as his
connection to Orson Wells, true Hollywood royalty, is discover. Even
here Kim stubbornly wrenches back focus. Yet as she endeavors to
enlist Mark in erasing twenty-odd years of Paul, really twenty-odd
years family history, she blithely ignores how this undermines Mark's
increasing fragile grasp of identity. *** (9:00 pm) We Are The Mods (E.E. Cassidy, USA, video, 85min., 2008)
Last year Michelle
Ehlen's fabulous Butch Jamie (almost) charmed the pants right off of
Glenn - none too easy a task. Well, let Glenn introduce Sadie (Melia
Renee), a photographer and would-be Mod-ster navigating the pitfalls of
her high school's treacherous social scene in We Are The Mods.
Something of an outsider, Sadie is happiest behind the camera. All that
changes when the seductively fabulous Nico (Mary Elise Hayden)
literally explodes into Sadie's otherwise drab existence. Nico might
not be able to coax Sadie in front of the camera but she's going to
make damn sure Sadie doesn't while away her time photographing
exquisite compositions of rocks. Where once there was only black &
white, there's now vibrant, Mod-inspired colors and along the way Sadie
has her first experiences with sex, drugs and love. Mary Elise Hayden
is sensational as Nico, her mod-inspired bravado never quite concealing
her outsider's vulnerability; she very nearly steals the picture. Glenn
is pretty clueless about a Mod-revival but We Are The Mods is visually
strikingly and offers a terrifically fun soundtrack to boot!
(Recommended)Day 3 Saturday, October 17
UWM Union Theatre
*** (5:00 pm) Straightlaced (Debra Chasnoff, USA, video, 65min., 2009) (Free)
With a fearless look at a highly charged subject, Straightlaced examines how popular pressures around gender and sexuality are confining American teens. From girls confronting media messages about body image, to boys who are sexually active just to prove they aren't gay, this fascinating array of students opens up with brave and intimate honesty about the toll that deeply-held stereotypes and rigid gender policing take on all of our lives. (Not Screened)
Au Milieu Du Gay (9 min., 2009)
A segment from the French television show L'effet papillon (The Butterfly Effect) on Milwaukee's own Alliance School.
*** (7:00 pm) Hannah Free (Wendy Jo Carlton, video, 90 min., 2009)
Vaguely
reminiscent of Fried Green Tomato, Hannah Free offers Sharon Gless as
Hannah, a still feisty lesbian now bedridden in a small Midwestern
nursing home. It is a cruel twist of fate for a woman like Hannah, one
who never took to settling down, "I can't spend my life looking out
just one window." Hannah started off in Alaska; later joined the WACs
during the war. Hannah continued her rambling no matter how adversely
it affected her relationship with the love of her life, Rachel. And
now? Hannah and Rachel remain separate, although not down to Hannah's
restless spirit but rather Rachel's daughter Marge (Taylor Miller).
Marge believes Rachel, in a coma and kept alive by life support, must
be protected from Hannah and the nursing home administration presumably
feels obligated to honor the wishes of Rachel's daughter. Weaving back
and forth between past and present, too often confusingly so, Claudia
Allen's screenplay effectively captures how Hannah and Rachel held on
to their love despite a marriage, a world war, infidelities, and family
denial. Possessing a wry twinkle and undeniable charm, Kelli Strickland
beautifully portrays Young Hannah's restless spirit at once so
appealing and infuriating to Rachel while Glenn felt Sharon Gless
rarely the Hannah beneath the cantankerous facede.*** (9:00 pm) Rivers Wash Over Me (John G. Young, USA, video, 83min., 2009)
Feature review by Glenn Bishop
Many of you, most loyal Quest readers, have been writing, emailing, texting, and even a few resourceful folks have gained knowledge of Glenn’s (previously) secret, unlisted trick number all in the hopes of obtaining programming information for this year’s fabulous Milwaukee LGBT Film & Video Festival. Well, your wait is officially over.
As previously promised, within the pages of this issue of Quest you’ll find complete first week coverage, plus in depth look at writer/director John G. Young’s third feature film, “Rivers Wash Over Me.”
The programming for the Fest’s first week is an extraordinary sequence of searing dramas, challenging documentaries, harmony-challenged musicals plus the lovely treat of John Hurt returning to his astonishing embodiment of Quentin Crisp, a role that shot Hurt to stardom oh-so many years ago with “The Naked Civil Servant.”
But on to “Rivers Wash Over Me.” Once upon a time, in a land far, far away Glenn thought living in American, anywhere in America, to pretty much a homogeneous experience.
Didn’t all Americans all speak the same language? Weren’t we all of us proud to start off our day reciting the Pledge of Allegiance? However disparate and contradictory the experiences of JFK’s assassination and Neil Armstrong’s first steps on the moon, hadn’t these extraordinary events found all Americans to be glued to their television sets?
Long before the internet and cable, there being just the three networks all America watched all the same television. We all loved Lucy, right? Surely all the great sitcom Moms, from Donna Reed and Laura Petrie to June Clever and Carol Brady might be certain to have ready on the table nourishing lunches of Campbell’s Cream of Tomato Soup and grilled cheese sandwiches made from real Kraft American Singles even if Glenn’s own childhood noontime misadventures were rather more chaotic affairs.
Television was young’s Glenn’s giant, black & white window to the world, managing to both reflect and redefine life. Thus it was a bit of a shock for Glenn to discover that growing up in various places in America could be as foreign, if not more so, than growing up outside our own borders.
Such is the predominant theme of “Rivers Wash Over Me.” Young Sequan Greene (newcomer Derrick L. Middleton) hasn’t had an easy time of it. After a devastating fire destroys his home and leaves him orphaned, Sequan is forced to leave New York City for Jefferson, a misery of a Southern town, a place time clearly has forgotten. There, Sequan finds himself a veritable stranger in a strange land.
He comes to Jefferson to live with his Aunt LuEllen (Leslie Jones), her brawny drug-dealing basketball star son Michael (Cameron Mitchell Mason) and her all-seeing daughter Charity (a sensational Tina Jetter). Sequan is in for a rude awakening, learning firsthand the differences of the haves-and the have-nots of Jefferson - indeed his Aunt LuEllen is a proper, subservient maid to an affluent white family. Perhaps LuEllen means well, Glenn is rather hesitant to venture a definite guess but she remains oblivious to fresh bruises that appear daily on Sequan, bruises the result of the repeated beating and sexual abuse he suffers at the hands of his closeted cousin Michael.
His uncle Charles (Darien Sills-Evans), the new sheriff might offer Sequan deliverance, especially since he too is aware not all is right with the boy. As is so often the case in stories such as this, Charles, too, finds it easier to look the other way.
Curiously, the only person who makes an effort with Sequan is Laurie (Elizabeth Dennis), the black-sheep daughter of the family LuEllen works for. Laurie is also the school slut. Initially Sequan chalks up her attentions as yet another case of her to attraction for “black dudes.” Eventually, however, Sequan recognizes her to be a fellow outcast. Perhaps it is the gift of a book, James Baldwin’s “Nobody Knows My Name,” that convinces Laurie to introduce Sequan to her equally bookish brother Jake (Aidan Schultz-Meyer). Together the three form a fascinating, if wonderfully improbable threesome.
Day 4 Sunday, October 18
UWM Union Theatre
*** (2:00 pm) Andy Warhol Video & TV (Free)
This afternoon's program features videos from a Factory sojourn West-when one star system met another-with work that touristically views, and in the case of Taylor Mead playing Tarzan (abetted by a Dennis Hopper cameo) apes, the factory of Hollywood. Screening to include: Factory Diary: Movie Stars Houses, Beverly Hills, CA, July 1, 1972 (18min., 1972); Factory Diary: Ann Rutherford in Beverly Hills, July 1, 1972 (33min., 1972); Factory Diary: June Allison in Los Angeles, July 8, 1972 (9min., 1972); Tarzan and Jane Regained...Sort of (16mm, 81min., 1964; print courtesy of Museum of Modern Art). (Not Screened)
*** (5:00 pm) Still Black: A Portrait of Black Transmen (Kortney Ryan Ziegler, USA, video, 77min., 2008)
Looking to give
voice to black transmen, Kortney Ryan Ziegler has assembled in Still
Black a group of six African Americanstransitioning from female to
male. There's no simple Q & A format, Ziegler allows his camera to
roll, generously allowing each transman to tell his story in turn. This
is a format fraught with danger but here pays dividends thanks to how
each manage to articulate their unique, deeply personal story. Two in
particular, Kayden and Louis, have honed their public speaking skills
at LGBT workshops, speaker's bureaus and conferences and tell their
stories with authority and grace. From one participant to the
next, themes keep popping up. Carl and Rashad focus on the importance
of family in their lives; Carl again and Ethan discuss transitioning
within the context of way the African American male is perceived in
society. For the most part filmmaker Kortney Ryan Ziegler is content
with his rather straightforward filming but occasionally veers rather
too heavily to unnecessary cinematic gimmicks like split-screen and
goofy framing devices.*** (7:00 pm) Fig Trees (John Greyson, Canada, video, 104min., 2009; music by David Wall)
By far the Festival's
First week highlight proved to be John Greyson's extraordinary,
positively astonishinging documentary, Fig Trees. Exuding a Derek
Jarman-esque cinematic sensibility, Fig Trees is an opera-infused
depiction of about the struggles of AIDS activists Tim McCaskell of
Toronto and Zackie Achmat of Capetown as they fought to secure access
to treatment drugs. Please do be forewarned: publicity materials
promise "a surreal narrative that features Gertrude Stein, a singing
albino squirrel, and St. Teresa of Avila in its exploration of the
meaning of pills, saints, and activism." Fair enough. Yet Fig Trees, a
cacophony of split-screen and collage, is at once maddening, baffling
and wonderful; by far the Festival's most strikingly original entry.
Best of all, Fig Trees is something of an admonition to American
moviegoers who often fail to recognize that the AIDS crisis and AIDS
activism as something that occurs outside US borders.Covered (John Greyson, Canada, video, 15min., 2009)
A characteristically dense and notably urgent video that reports on the violence that met the 2008 Queer Sarajevo Festival. (Highly recommended)
Day 5 Monday, October 19
UWM Union Theatre
*** (7:00 pm) On the Same Team: An Evening of Women's Basketball Training Rules
(Dee Mosbacher & Fawn Yacker, USA, video, 60min., 2008)
Just look at the WNBA or the LGPA for that matter and it is patently clear that very little has changed in recent years: lesbians in sports remain a dirty little secret. In their fascinating documentary Training Rules, Dee Mosbacher and Fawn Yacker profile Rene Portland, former coach of Women's basketball at Penn State University. Rene Portland (in) famously had three training rules during her 26 years coaching basketball at Pennsylvania State University: no drinking, no drugs and no lesbians. Portland's reign would be challenged by both changes campus non-discrimination policies as well as a celebrated lawsuit by one student athlete, Jennifer Harris who is curiously restictedfrom speaking about her experiences due to terms of her lawsuit settlement. .
Lady Trojans
(Elizabeth Hesik, USA, video,
58min., 2008)Filmmaker Elizabeth Hesik has crafted a wistful and nostalgic look back at a strikingly lesbian high school basketball team in Tuscon, Arizona in the early 1990s. Combining a generous helping of footage of the girls then, reminiscences now plus some wickedly clever "re-enactment scenes" to help film in the blanks, Lady Trogans captures both the joy and the tears; the apprehensions and confusion of emerging adolescent lesbian sexuality.
Day 6 Tuesday, October 20
UWM Union Theatre
*** (7:00 pm) Everytime I See Your Picture I Cry (Written, illustrated and performed by Daniel Barrow, 60 min., 2008)
The latest from "manual animator" Daniel Barrow who, seated behind an overhead projector, performs his animation live. Barrow combines overhead projection with video, music, and live narration to tell the story of a struggling artist who, Barrow reports, is "a garbage man with a vision to create an independent phone book chronicling the lives of each person in his city. What he doesn't yet realize is that a deranged killer is trailing him, murdering each citizen he includes in his book, thus rendering his cataloging efforts obsolete." Barrow's animation is a marvel to behold: like a graphic novel performed live with the simplicity and wonder of a magic lantern show, Barrow's entrancing storytelling is both cutting edge and pre-cinematic. Soundtrack by Amy Linton. (Not Screened)
Day 7 Wednesday, October 21
UWM Union Theatre
*** (7:00 pm) To Die Like a Man (Morrer como um homem) (João Pedro Rodrigues, Portugal, 35mm, 138min. 2009)
Okay, on
paper Morrer como um homem (To Die Like a Man) looked unbeatable. Let's
start with aging drag artiste Tonia (Fernando Santos) whose young and
very sexy (junkie) boyfriend wants her to have a sex change. Add in her
sexually confused son Zé Maria (Chandra Malatitch) AWOL and on the run
for the murder of another soldier. If her woes at home weren't enough,
Tonia is facing challenges from ambitious younger artistes at the club,
especially the absolutely stunning Jenny (Jenni La Rue). Perhaps
Santos's Tonia might have even became a character Glenn grew to care
about if she didn't systematically alienate everyone around her. To Die
Like a Man opens with Zé Maria out on maneuvers with another soldier, a
sexual encounter after which the other soldier ends up dead. Zé Maria
reemerges briefly; ostensibly to terrorize Tonia's goldfish and then
disappears. Then slowly, very slowly - oh so slowly - Tonia is poisoned
by her breast implants. Clearly writer/director João Pedro Rodrigues
allowed his story run away on him, although with an almost unbearable
running time of 138 minutes Glenn must question using "run" to describe
any aspect of the film. A pity, really; in the hands of a filmmaker
like Pedro Almodóvar, To Die Like a
Man, could have been amazing. (in
Portuguese with English subtitles)Day 8 Thursday, October 22
UWM Union Theatre
Andy Warhol Video & TV
Milwaukee Art Museum, 700 N. Art Museum Drive
*** (6:15 pm) Andy Warhol's Fifteen Minutes 1985 -1987
A short-lived co-production from the entity known as "Andy Warhol TV Productions" and the then all-new MTV, Andy Warhol's Fifteen Minutes. As production director Don Munroe tells it, "..the premise behind the show was to have Andy sitting watching TV and changing channels, channel surfing... Everyone gets fifteen minutes of fame. That was what it was about except our tag line was today you only get fifteen seconds. So make it good. And that created the pace of the show - next, next, next." With regular appearances by Warhol and friends like Debbie Harry and Jerry Hall. The final episode, broadcast shortly after Warhol's untimely death, includes a tribute to the artist. For a complete listing of Andy Warhol Video & TV screenings and events, see end of Festival schedule. (Not Screened)
*** (9:00 pm) Fruit Fly (H.P. Mendoza, USA, in English and Tagalog with English subtitles, video, 94min., 2009)
Those expecting
a kinder, gentler Glenn in 2009 - well, forget it. Glenn wanted to like
Fruit Fly. Glenn tried
his darndest to like Fruit Fly. Then Glenn's mind slipped back, just a
couple of years back; a distant high-pitch whining growing stronger and
stronger. Then Glenn remembered: Colma: The Musical. Surely you
remember Colma: The Musical? No? Well, Glenn does, writing at the time:
"The glowing review blurbs for Colma: The Musical contained in this
reviewer's Festival packet did little to prepare Glenn for the film's
100 minutes of excruciatingly awful entertainment. 100 minutes of life
lost to Glenn forever." God bless him, H.P. Mendoza, creator of
Colma is back in '09 with Fruit Fry. L.A. Renigen played a "hag" in
Colma; her Bethesda has now graduated to "fruit fly" status although
admittedly she's no less annoying here. Bethesda joins a painfully
unfunny San Francisco household, presumably Mendoza's personal homage
to Maupin's Tales of the City. Characters are introduced and then
dropped but not before they sing a song. Or two. There are, in fact,
lots of songs; 19 in all. Then with nary a dramatic thread resolved but
with a dazzling musical flourish, Fruit Fly's final credits begin to
roll. Say what? When all is said and sung, Fruit Fly looks terrific and while
never as excruciatingly awful as Colma: The Musical nevertheless never
actually feels complete. Although at 94 minutes, Glenn felt it to be
plenty long enough.