Gay and lesbian film festival
Oct. 25th, 2005 01:05 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
fan_eluneAs some of you know, I've been volunteering at the "11ème festival de films gays et lesbiens de Paris," which was happening at the Forum des Images in the Halles, from October 14th to the 23rd - which would be yesterday. What does it mean? It means I opened for some of the movies, checking tickets and all, and got to see the movies for free. So I thought I'd go through everything I've seen, and review it. You've got both shorts and feature films, both small independent things and big premieres (the biggest being Neil Jordan's Breakfast on Pluto and Ang Lee's Brokeback Mountain).
Unveiled - a German/Austrian movie by Angelina Maccarone, to be released in April 2006. The movie follows Fariba, who fled Iran when she was denounced as a lesbian, and has to pretend to be a man in order to stay in Germany. It was a good, interesting movie, and the actors were spot-on. Fariba made for a very interesting and compelling heroin, a strong woman with many weaknesses. Homophobia wasn't even what she had to put up with most of the time; racism was. It was an interesting twist on the usual 'two women fall in love' thing, and the major homophobe-and-racist of the movie was a surprisingly not-that-hateful character. I could actually understand him, he made sense - in his own intolerant manner, of course. I wouldn't say it's a happy film, but the last touch of might-be-hope at the end was appreciated. Fariba keeps moving forward.
Courts côté garçons/Gay shorts - only two of them caught my attention in a good way. First would be Boy, a Kiwi short by Welby Ings. Very eerie, and interesting, such an odd atmosphere, with broken-dolls-turned-angels. Well worth seeing. Second was Les couilles de mon chat (My Cat's Balls), a French short by Didier Bénureau, where Rémi agonises over having to have his cat castrated. Very funny, and it touches on some interesting issues.
The D-Word - the relatively well-known Dyke TV-produced parody of the L-Word, with dykes all over instead of glamorous, rich and beautiful lesbians. It got a few laughs out of me.
Butterfly - a Chinese film by Yan Yan Mak about Flavia, a married woman who fell in love with a classmate when she was younger, and is now falling in love with another woman and cannot keep repressing the memories and denying that part of her life. The movie tells two love stories, but not only - it's also about standing up for what you believe in, using the tragic events of Tien An Men as the background for the end of the first love story. The actresses were all extremely beautiful, each of them in her own style, and the love stories well-depicted and interesting. There is a different feel to a Chinese film than to what we Western people are used to, and I don't just mean the language. That said, the structure of the film - introducing flashbacks now and then to tell the first love story - was definitely the way to go, but even that wasn't enough to keep me from feeling the film was too long. I was still interested in the story, mind you, but at some point I just started wishing it would be over.
Courts côté filles/Lesbian shorts - on the whole, much better than the gay ones I found. The one that stands out most is Who's the top?, an American short by Jenny Livingstone. Here is the official site, if you're interested. It's about kinks, and sex, and love, and it's funny and smart and well-written and well-shot and well-acted, and there's Broadway dancers, and also a small part for Steve Buscemi. (I did not squee in the theatre when I saw him. At least not out loud.)
Transparent - an American documentary by Jules Rosskam about transparenthood. Female-to-male transexual parents speak of their experiences, both on the process and transition, but also - mostly - about how they view their role as a parent. Preconceived ideas shatter, and it was a fascinating documentary. Then followed a small debate with Kael T. Block, a pretty famous FTM trans in French circles. Really enlightening.
Sugar - a Canadian movie by John Palmer, with Brendan "Roswell" Fehr. Who, it turns out, can really fucking act. He plays Butch, a prostitute who Cliff, the hero of the movie, falls in love with. From the very start, you see hints as to how exactly fucked up Butch is. But you wanna believe in those two guys, because they can be cute and sweet and yes, you want it to work. And then comes along the scene that bitchslaps you across the face, and you can only watch the rest shell-shocked. Both main actors are excellent, and play their characters with such nuances and ambiguity, but really it's Brendan Fehr that won me over. His performance is absolutely amazing, particularly towards the end of the film. Self-destruction is one way to call his life's path, and you desperately want to believe that Cliff could help, could make it change. That being said, the conclusion is not exactly dark, gloomy and depressing... and yet it does not ruin the film. Special kudos go to Cookie, the character of Cliff's younger sister, completely absolutely freaky.
Breakfast on Pluto - an Irish and British film by Neil Jordan, to be released in early 2006. It is the story of Patrick 'Kitten' Braden, a transvestite amazingly portrayed by Cillian Murphy. It's a gem of a movie. Kitten hides incredible strength and great weakness, particularly in her refusal to take things seriously, and Cillian Murphy is as great an actor as ever. The IRA subplot is chilling and perfectly utilised. The whole cast is amazing, truth be told - I could rant about so many characters, but won't. The script is spot-on, and the soundtrack ever so fitting. I haven't seen all of Neil Jordan's films, but I haven't yet seen one I didn't love. This one is no exception.
Brokeback Mountain - the 'surprise film' to close the festival, the much-awaited Ang Lee "gay western" with Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhall, to be released in early 2006. Jack and Ennis meet while working for a rancher up on Brokeback Mountain, and slowly fall in love, but they then go back off the mountain and back to their own lives, get married, get children. First off, let me profess my love for Jake. This man is sexy in the darkest of ways, and his performance is just that good. Heath wasn't half bad either, but... anyway. I don't wanna say too much, to keep this spoiler-free and completely readable. So, what can I say? The acting's brilliant. The script is great. But... I think I expected too much out of this movie. Because it didn't make me feel any more than the trailer did. Which is already quite a bit, granted, but I expect trailers to only be a foretaste. I've been wanting to see this movie for so long, I really think my expectations were too high. My favourite line still remains one we heard in the trailer, "I wish I knew how to quit you" - and it is, of course, a Jake line. Also, end's a bit too cheesy for me. The very very end. Truthfully, I think I'll need to go see that movie again once it's released, to actually form a thought-out opinion of it. But yes, those two boys are hot together. Do you even need to ask?
And on an unrelated note, Joey's back tomorrow. Yay!
Unveiled - a German/Austrian movie by Angelina Maccarone, to be released in April 2006. The movie follows Fariba, who fled Iran when she was denounced as a lesbian, and has to pretend to be a man in order to stay in Germany. It was a good, interesting movie, and the actors were spot-on. Fariba made for a very interesting and compelling heroin, a strong woman with many weaknesses. Homophobia wasn't even what she had to put up with most of the time; racism was. It was an interesting twist on the usual 'two women fall in love' thing, and the major homophobe-and-racist of the movie was a surprisingly not-that-hateful character. I could actually understand him, he made sense - in his own intolerant manner, of course. I wouldn't say it's a happy film, but the last touch of might-be-hope at the end was appreciated. Fariba keeps moving forward.
Courts côté garçons/Gay shorts - only two of them caught my attention in a good way. First would be Boy, a Kiwi short by Welby Ings. Very eerie, and interesting, such an odd atmosphere, with broken-dolls-turned-angels. Well worth seeing. Second was Les couilles de mon chat (My Cat's Balls), a French short by Didier Bénureau, where Rémi agonises over having to have his cat castrated. Very funny, and it touches on some interesting issues.
The D-Word - the relatively well-known Dyke TV-produced parody of the L-Word, with dykes all over instead of glamorous, rich and beautiful lesbians. It got a few laughs out of me.
Butterfly - a Chinese film by Yan Yan Mak about Flavia, a married woman who fell in love with a classmate when she was younger, and is now falling in love with another woman and cannot keep repressing the memories and denying that part of her life. The movie tells two love stories, but not only - it's also about standing up for what you believe in, using the tragic events of Tien An Men as the background for the end of the first love story. The actresses were all extremely beautiful, each of them in her own style, and the love stories well-depicted and interesting. There is a different feel to a Chinese film than to what we Western people are used to, and I don't just mean the language. That said, the structure of the film - introducing flashbacks now and then to tell the first love story - was definitely the way to go, but even that wasn't enough to keep me from feeling the film was too long. I was still interested in the story, mind you, but at some point I just started wishing it would be over.
Courts côté filles/Lesbian shorts - on the whole, much better than the gay ones I found. The one that stands out most is Who's the top?, an American short by Jenny Livingstone. Here is the official site, if you're interested. It's about kinks, and sex, and love, and it's funny and smart and well-written and well-shot and well-acted, and there's Broadway dancers, and also a small part for Steve Buscemi. (I did not squee in the theatre when I saw him. At least not out loud.)
Transparent - an American documentary by Jules Rosskam about transparenthood. Female-to-male transexual parents speak of their experiences, both on the process and transition, but also - mostly - about how they view their role as a parent. Preconceived ideas shatter, and it was a fascinating documentary. Then followed a small debate with Kael T. Block, a pretty famous FTM trans in French circles. Really enlightening.
Sugar - a Canadian movie by John Palmer, with Brendan "Roswell" Fehr. Who, it turns out, can really fucking act. He plays Butch, a prostitute who Cliff, the hero of the movie, falls in love with. From the very start, you see hints as to how exactly fucked up Butch is. But you wanna believe in those two guys, because they can be cute and sweet and yes, you want it to work. And then comes along the scene that bitchslaps you across the face, and you can only watch the rest shell-shocked. Both main actors are excellent, and play their characters with such nuances and ambiguity, but really it's Brendan Fehr that won me over. His performance is absolutely amazing, particularly towards the end of the film. Self-destruction is one way to call his life's path, and you desperately want to believe that Cliff could help, could make it change. That being said, the conclusion is not exactly dark, gloomy and depressing... and yet it does not ruin the film. Special kudos go to Cookie, the character of Cliff's younger sister, completely absolutely freaky.
Breakfast on Pluto - an Irish and British film by Neil Jordan, to be released in early 2006. It is the story of Patrick 'Kitten' Braden, a transvestite amazingly portrayed by Cillian Murphy. It's a gem of a movie. Kitten hides incredible strength and great weakness, particularly in her refusal to take things seriously, and Cillian Murphy is as great an actor as ever. The IRA subplot is chilling and perfectly utilised. The whole cast is amazing, truth be told - I could rant about so many characters, but won't. The script is spot-on, and the soundtrack ever so fitting. I haven't seen all of Neil Jordan's films, but I haven't yet seen one I didn't love. This one is no exception.
Brokeback Mountain - the 'surprise film' to close the festival, the much-awaited Ang Lee "gay western" with Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhall, to be released in early 2006. Jack and Ennis meet while working for a rancher up on Brokeback Mountain, and slowly fall in love, but they then go back off the mountain and back to their own lives, get married, get children. First off, let me profess my love for Jake. This man is sexy in the darkest of ways, and his performance is just that good. Heath wasn't half bad either, but... anyway. I don't wanna say too much, to keep this spoiler-free and completely readable. So, what can I say? The acting's brilliant. The script is great. But... I think I expected too much out of this movie. Because it didn't make me feel any more than the trailer did. Which is already quite a bit, granted, but I expect trailers to only be a foretaste. I've been wanting to see this movie for so long, I really think my expectations were too high. My favourite line still remains one we heard in the trailer, "I wish I knew how to quit you" - and it is, of course, a Jake line. Also, end's a bit too cheesy for me. The very very end. Truthfully, I think I'll need to go see that movie again once it's released, to actually form a thought-out opinion of it. But yes, those two boys are hot together. Do you even need to ask?
And on an unrelated note, Joey's back tomorrow. Yay!
