FILM REVIEW: JENNY'S WEDDING

Jenny (Katherine Heigl) and Kitty (Alexis Bledel) in Jenny's Wedding.

Wind between the ears

By Miranda Inganni

Jenny (Katherine Heigl) is tired of dodging questions from her parents and siblings about her romantic life. After being pushed to lie one too many times, she finally decides to tell her parents that not only is she a lesbian, but that she wants to marry Kitty (Alexis Bledel), her “roommate” of five years. Predictable reactions from her family ensue.

Mom and Dad (Linda Emond and Tom Wilkinson) are disappointed and confused; what did they do to cause her to be like this? But like all of their concerns, Dad tries to sweep it under the rug, or covers as the case may be with the parents’ many bedtime talks, and Mom gossips with her best friend, Ellen (Diana Hardcastle). Essentially, both Mom and Dad feel like Jenny is trying to change their lives by being gay. They cannot accept that Jenny wants a big wedding and would prefer that she just keep things quiet (initially not even telling her siblings). Her parents perpetuate the lie about Jenny’s romances to their friends and colleagues, but continue to blame themselves and each other for this “failure.”

Meanwhile, Jenny's sister, Anne (Grace Gummer), having convinced herself that Jenny has always been mom and dad’s favorite, distances herself even more from her sister now that she knows her unspeakable truth. Big brother Michael (Matthew Metzger), on the other hand, couldn’t care less about who his sister marries and has known since high school that Jenny wasn’t into boys. (Why, oh why, then does he continually force awkward introductions between her and his single friends)

In the scene that proved to be cathartic for Jenny, she and her father finally have words. Loud words. In a funeral home. Jenny draws a line in the sand. It does not end well for familial ties, but Jenny asserts her independence and (finally!) realizes that she has to live her life the way she wants to.

Written, directed and produced by Mary Agnes Donoghue -- perhaps best known for having penned that 1988 tearjerker, Beaches --it’s as if Donoghue cannot get out of her own way and tell the story in a more organic way. It feels at times that Donoghue was trying to make a lesbian coming out movie aimed at Middle America, which is why it ends up diluted on impact. All of the acting is fine (though Bledel is underutilized), but the heavy-handed soundtrack is overused to dictate emotion -- and also reassure viewers that everything will be just fine.

 

 

 

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OUTFEST 2015: THAT'S NOT US



Alex (Sarah Wharton) and Jackie (Nicole Pursell) in That's Not Us.



Three pairs to find

By Miranda Inganni

Early fall, Fire Island, New York. Three couples head to a beach-side cottage to ostensibly enjoy the fading sunlight. In reality, the six 20-somethings discuss their relationship problems in director William Sullivan’s That’s Not Us.

Alex (Sarah Wharton) and her girlfriend, Jackie (Nicole Pursell), have hit a sexual impasse -- as in, they aren’t having any. Jackie’s sister, Liz (Elizabeth Gray), and her new husband, Dougie (Tommy Nelms), are having plenty of sex, but are not completely open with each other. Spencer (David Rysdahl) and his boyfriend, James (Mark Berger), might as well be newlyweds with the amount of sexy times they are enjoying, but are not sure how much longer it will last with Spencer’s recent acceptance to school in Chicago.

Though all six are more than comfortable talking -- all the time -- about their problems, they are not so good about actually communicating. What should be a fun weekend getaway quickly turns to tension and trouble. Dougie seriously injures himself while learning to ride a bike at Liz’s near-dictatorial insistence. Spencer finally admits that he wants to head to Chicago for school, leaving New York and the fate of his relationship with James in question. Alex tries to reignite the passion between her and Jackie with a rainbow dildo, but the gesture falls flat as their romance limps flaccidly along. All three couples seem to live by the idea that they can potentially fix their problems by talking about them repeatedly. At least they have very pretty scenery around them in which they can do all this talking.

Shot over eight days with improvised dialogue based on a loose story co-written by Sullivan and director Derek Dodge, That’s Not Us stays true to the romantic comedy formula of happy endings. The acting is commendable and the improvisation impressive.

 

 

That's Not Us screens at Oufest, tonight, 9:30 p.m., DGA 2. For more information: TNU.

 

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OUTFEST 2015: A GAY GIRL IN DAMASCUS -- THE AMINA PROFILE

A scene from A Gay Girl in Damascus: The Amina Profile.

When she is not there

By Miranda Inganni

In 2011, Sandra Bagaria, a Frenchwoman living in Canada and Amina Abdallah Arraf, a Syrian-American woman living in Damascus, Syria, meet online and begin courting one another. They sext, encourage each other’s creativity, and forge a bond that spans the thousands of physical miles separating them. They fall in love.

With Bagaria's support, Arraf starts a blog called “A Gay Girl in Damascus” as an outlet for her LGBT activism against the regime of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad, who was already cracking down on Syrian protesters.

Already out to her family, Arraf posted daily (and sometimes more often than that) about attending protests and the struggle she faces. After the secret police come to arrest her one night, Arraf's father (knowing his political connections will serve him well) stands up for his daughter and refuses to let them take her away. In response, Arraf pens a piece entitled, “My father, the hero.” Bagaria, concerned, but proud of her girlfriend, reposts the piece on social media and the press picks it up.

From there Arraf becomes a poster child for an underrepresented community struggling against a despicable government. Bagaria and Arraf continue their long-distance love affair despite Arraf's warnings that her phone has been tapped and she is being watched all the time. Eventually, Sandra’s worst fears are confirmed with she finds out Amina has been abducted. Radio silence.

Spurred by this twist in events, Sandra reaches out to the online activist community, reporters and even the US state department in hopes of tracking down Arraf. And then a strange thing happens. No one can find her.

Travelling around the globe to talk with folks who had been online friends of Arraf's, plus others who were now simple trying to discover the truth behind the mystery, Bagaria unravels a truth that is stranger than fiction.

Directed by Sophie Derespe, A Gay Girl in Damscus: The Amina Profile painstakingly exposes a selfish hoax perpetrated by a manipulative and duplicitous ass. Unfortunately, but perhaps deliberately, the documentary does not explore the many layers of psychologically fuckedupness (clinical term) going on here. Nevertheless, The Amina Profile is told with tact, suspense and tenderness.

 

 

The Amina Profile screens at Outfest Film Festival: July 17, 5 p.m., DGA 2. For more information: Amina.

 

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LAAPFF 2015: MARGARITA, WITH A STRAW

Laila (Kalki Koechlin) in Margarita, With a Straw.

Drink up at LAAPFF Closing Night

By Miranda Inganni

It’s not often that a movie depicts a female protagonist exploring her sexuality the way she wants to and learning what she wants from life. We do not usually see women in charge of their own sexual agency portrayed in a positive manner. Fortunately, that just what happens in director Shonali Bose’s film, Margarita, With a Straw.

Laila (Kalki Koechlin) loves her friends at Delhi University and the band for which she writes lyrics and composes. Sadly, she loves the lead singer, Nima (Tenzing Dalha), more than he loves her. When her feelings are rebuffed, the shame of rejection is too much for her to return to classes. Fortunately, a scholarship and acceptance letter from New York University arrives and she soon has other plans for her higher education.

Leaving her middle class Delhi neighborhood, Laila and her mother (Revathi) head to New York where Laila goes about settling into her new collegiate life, under her mother’s watchful, but trusting eye. Laila’s broken heart is soon mended, or at least distracted, when she meets Jared (William Moseley), a blond Brit assigned to help her with her classwork. She also meets activist Khanum (Sayani Gupta), who happens to be blind, at a local protest and the two become fast friends. The two young woman quickly become more than friends and explore their new home city -- and each other’s bodies -- with cautious excitement.

Did I mention that Laila is wheelchair-bound due to her Cerebral Palsy? If not, it is because Laila does not allow herself to be restricted. She does not see herself as someone “less” than an able-bodied person, and rightfully so. Unfortunately, not everyone else feels the same way.

The color palate utilized in Margarita, With a Straw heightens both the sensuality and the sweetness of the movie and the acting is fantastic. The family dynamic between Laila and her mother is wonderfully touching. Though the ending feels a bit rushed (especially considering the pacing of the first act), Bose does a lovely job hitting the right notes and not pandering to stereotypes or social “norms.” Laila falters and fumbles through her sexual awakening, just like every other young woman learning to love herself.

 

LAAPFF screens Margarita, With a Straw today, 7:30 p.m., DGA. For more information: LAAPFF CLOSING NIGHT.

 

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SUNDANCE 2015: THE AMINA PROFILE

A scene from The Amina Profile.

Desperately seeking gay girl in Damascus

 

By Don Simpson

 

Sophie Deraspe’s The Amina Profile begins with a sultry online romance between Amina Arraf and Sandra Bagaria. They met on Facebook then soon began emailing and sexting each other. Based in Syria, Arraf achieved international celebrity via her blog “Gay Girl in Damascus.” Arraf bravely risked her life by attaching her real name and image to a blog which rebelliously documented her participation in the early days of the Arab Spring. Bagaria observed Arraf’s revolutionary actions from the safety of her home in Canada, impressed (and turned on) by Arraf’s audacious behavior, all the while concerned about Arraf’s safety; because, despite living thousands of miles away apart and having never met in person — let alone heard each other’s voice — Arraf and Bagaria considered themselves to be in a relationship.

 

After Arraf was purportedly kidnapped by the Syrian government, Bagaria began to search for anyone who might have some information regarding Arraf’s situation. As more people began asking questions, it became increasingly obvious that Arraf was nothing like her online profile. Arraf’s blog “Gay Girl in Damascus” was promptly discredited and major new organizations admitted that they were duped. It was not all that comforting to Bagaria that she was not the only one fooled by the online persona of “Amina Arraf,” so she takes it upon herself to confront the real person.

 

In the greater context of things, it was probably the LGBTQ Syrian communities who were harmed the most by this charade. They were given a false sense of security by “Gay Girl in Damascus,” leading them to believe that it was safe to “out” themselves and stand up to Bashar al-Assad and his cronies. “Gay Girl in Damascus” also gave the Syrian LGBTQ community a voice in the international media, but after the blog was outed as an elaborate ruse, the mainstream media lost interest in them.

 

For better or worse, the “Gay Girl in Damascus” affair has spawned a greater level of reluctance towards online activists. Perhaps this will serve as a lesson for people (especially the media) to authenticate sources before believing them. Though no matter how many cautionary tales about false online personas are presented to our society, there will always be people intent upon believing everything that they read on the Internet. This is especially true with online relationships, which most likely is why Deraspe chose to enter this story via Bagaria’s interactions with Arraf. Deraspe is extremely careful about her representation of Bagaria, carefully avoiding making her out to be a romantic fool. In Deraspe’s eyes, there is only one fool in this story and that is the person hiding behind the “Amina Affaf” avatar.

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AGLIFF 2014: EVER

Ever (Wendy McColm) in Ever.

Life after death

By Don Simpson

Ever since the unexpected death of her fiancé, Ever (Wendy McColm) has lost her motivation to be happy. Even if Ever were to become happy, she would feel much too guilty to actually enjoy the moment. So, Ever opts to live a lonely existence, working in a quiet bookstore and returning to her sparsely decorated apartment.

Eventually, Ever concedes to go to a movie with a floppy-haired indie rock musician who is unwilling to take no for an answer; but when that date does not go very well, Ever all but gives up on humanity. That is until she meets Emily (Christina Elizabeth Smith), a kind and loving soul who sees the overwhelming goodness glimmering inside of Ever. Whereas Ever might find it difficult to be happy around a man, Ever feels comfortable enough around Emily to finally remove her protective shell. The two women form a bond that seems to transcend mere friendship, leading Ever to question her sexuality.

Anyone who has found it difficult to be happy again after the death of a significant other is sure to find a lot of authenticity in Josh Beck’s Ever, but this film’s real strength is in its depiction of sexuality. While it might be disconcerting to some that Ever’s recent history with male aggression and male stupidity is what triggers her explorations with lesbianism, Ever’s existential struggle is undeniably natural. Emily is probably the best possible person for Ever to explore her newly discovered feelings because she is so understanding of Ever’s hesitations. In Ever, sexuality is refreshingly not black and white. Ever and Emily were "not born" lesbians, they are both attracted to people’s personalities, not their gender. The most convincing aspect of Ever is the organic chemistry between McColm and Smith.

Respectfully toning down the quirky hipster undercurrent that could have easily undermined the film’s aspirations for realism, Beck and cinematographer Micah Van Hove cleverly balance visual style with stoic grace. Simple and sweet, Ever fits gracefully within the new trend of LGBTQA filmmaking, subtly approaching its subject, allowing it to pass as a “straight” film that can easily crossover into the LGBTQA market.

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AGLIFF 2014: APPROPRIATE BEHAVIOR

Shirin (Desiree Akhavan) in Appropriate Behavior.

Sex (I am)

By Don Simpson

When Shirin (Desiree Akhavan) is dumped by her girlfriend, Maxine (Rebecca Henderson), she finds herself lost and confused. In her own head, Shirin may have identified herself as Maxine’s partner, but she was never able to actually “come out” as a lesbian, especially not to her socially-conservative, Iranian-American family. Whether or not Shirin’s family were ever keen enough to catch on to the fact that Maxine was more than just her roommate is totally beside the point; they ignored the obvious signs and assumed that Shirin would eventually settle down and marry a man.

Now that she is single, Shirin has the opportunity to start anew by reevaluating her sexual and cultural identities in the hopes of coming up with a definition of herself with which she feels more comfortable. 

Taking a cue from Woody Allen's Annie Hall, Desiree Akhavan’s Appropriate Behavior utilizes flashbacks as Shirin contemplates the highs and lows of her relationship with Maxine. In the present, Shirin halfheartedly flounders away with her own life, moving into an artist loft in Bushwick and starting a new job teaching an after-school filmmaking program.

Channeling the simplicity of the post-Mumblecore set (which means this film will be probably compared to Lena Dunham’s work), Akhavan presents a very realistic portrayal of a young woman struggling to balance her sexuality with her ethnicity in the “anything goes” atmosphere of Brooklyn. In Appropriate Behavior, “coming out” is not as simple as just stating your sexuality; for people of some ethnic and religious backgrounds, it can be a much more complicated statement to make. 

Then again, the whole idea of people needing to proclaim their sexuality is sort of ridiculous. (Says the straight, white male.) I sense that could be why Appropriate Behavior focuses on the comedic absurdity of Shirin’s efforts to find herself. Not only is it ridiculous that Shirin thinks that she will have an answer by the end of the film’s timeline, but it is silly that she even has to go through this whole rigamarole. While it is understandable that a lack of sexual identity could be frustrating (and scary) for a romantic partner, why does it even matter otherwise, especially to her family? (That’s a rhetorical question, by the way.)

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OUTFEST 2014: SARAH PREFERS TO RUN

Sarah (Sophie Desmarais) in Sophie Prefers to Run.

That running and loneliness thing

By Miranda Inganni

Sarah (Sophie Desmarais) doesn’t just prefer to run, the 20-year-old lives to run in director Chloe Robichaud’s feature film debut, Sarah Prefers to Run.

Sarah’s mother (Hélène Florent) opposes her daughter’s plans on moving to Montreal to run at McGill University, pointing out that running will not pay the bills. Fortunately for Sarah, her coworker, Antoine (Jean-Sébastien Courchesne), has enough money to get both of them to Montreal and into an apartment. However, once there Antoine suggests they marry to take advantage of government grants. Affable Antoine gets more domestic and comfortable with his roommate/wife, but Sarah seems oblivious and continues to focus on running. 

One of her teammates, Zoey (Geneviève Boivin-Roussy), catches Sarah’s eye and a slightly awkward friendship begins. Once Sarah begins to explore, or at least acknowledge, her sexuality, it becomes clear that she is not running toward anything, but rather away from herself. Things are further complicated when Sarah develops a heart condition, but will it stop her from running?

Desmarais does an exceptional job portraying the titular character in all of her youthful innocence cum lack of mindfulness. Sarah seems so removed from everything other than running. She is obsessively focused, even to the potential detriment to her health. 

Robichaud creates an ambiance of dullness for Sarah to live in, replete with a beige- gray color scheme and little dialogue. Sarah Prefers to Run is more of a character study than a typical dramatic narrative, but Sarah (well acted by Desmarais) is an interesting enough character to take a close look at as she follows the course of her life.

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OUTFEST 2014: BFFS

A scene from BFFs. 

Friends and lovers

By Miranda Inganni

When Kat (Tara Karsian) receives an all-expense paid trip to a retreat entitled Closer to Closeness, Kat and her best friend Samantha (Andrea Grano) cannot pass up the offer. The only catch is that it is a couples retreat and both ladies are single.  Or are they?

Posing as a lesbian couple at the retreat, Kat and Samantha work through various group sessions – performing trust and communication exercises with the rest of the couples – in order to take advantage of the beautiful scenery, fabulous food and fun of this free weekend getaway. But somewhere between the ropes course and an exercise in self-expression, the two friends realize that they might have more than a friendship. 

Of course, this is not that surprising. How often do we hear of someone describing their partner as their “best friend?” The difference being that usually those couples already know about their sexual orientation.

BFFs stars Karsian and Grano co-wrote and produced this exceptionally well written and acted film. Directed by Andrew Putschoegl, and with help from an excellent supporting cast -- including Jenny O’Hara, Pat Carroll, Richard Moll, Sigrid Thornton, Sean Maher, among many others --  BBFs explores the answers to pesky questions such as what is important in a friendship and how is that different in a romantic relationship? Karsian and Grano have exceptional chemistry with each other. Between that, the witty writing and massive talent of the supporting cast, BFFs is a sharp-tonged, slyly subversive exploration of love.

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OUTFEST 2014: LIFE PARTNERS

A scene from Life Partners.

Single out

By Miranda Inganni

The opening night film at this year's Outfest Los Angeles LGBT Film Festival, Life Partnerstells the somewhat typical story of the trials and tribulations of two best friends when love comes between them. The main difference between this and any other Rom-Com with a similar premise is that one of the friends is a lesbian.

Uptight Paige (Gillian Jacobs) is an environmental lawyer, who is best friends with free spirited Sasha (Leighton Meester). The girls have great times gallivanting about Pride parades and sharing cocktails with their eclectic group of gal pals. That is until handsome and successful Doctor Tim (Adam Brody, Meester's husband off screen) enters the picture.

Hold up. Here’s where I have a slight problem. I just referred to the two leads as girls. The characters are both 29 years old, not little girls, but they often act so childish that it is hard to believe that Paige owns a home or that either is capable of being a fully formed woman. But perhaps that is part of the story.

It is often a tricky transition for young women to go from having best girl-friends to having serious romantic relationships. Figuring out how to divide one’s time between a new lover and an old friend can be challenging. Is there a “correct” way to mature? Does it mean following one’s dreams or a preconceived notion of what exactly mature life is supposed to be? Paige and Sasha tackle these issues from opposite ends of the spectrum. As Paige slides into domestic comfortability with Tim, Sasha finds herself falling for increasingly immature women (who all still live at home). No longer can Paige and Sasha spend the night at the other’s house on a whim (usually because they are too tipsy to drive to their own abode). And gone are the weekly sessions of watching Top Modelwhile drinking wine and quipping at the TV.

But both characters come to a kind of maturity during the course of Life Partners and realize the strength of what their friendship meant to them.

Co-written by Joni Lefkowitz and Susana Fogel, Life Partners is Fogels’ feature directorial debut. The film is an adaptation of a play the two wrote with the same name based on their friendship. The entire cast is chock full of talent --with excellently written and acted supporting characters played by the likes of Gabourey Sidibe, Greer Grammer, Kate McKinnon, Beth Dover and Abby Elliott, among others. It’s also interesting to see real life husband and wife duo of Brody and Meester play against eachother.

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FILM REVIEW: REACHING FOR THE MOON

Elizabeth Bishop (Miranda Otto) and Lota de Macedo Soares (Gloria Pires) in Reaching for the Moon.

Lunacy and love

By Ed Rampell

I really liked this movie, mainly because of its unusual characters based on actual historical figures. Directed by Brazilian Bruno Barreto, Reaching for the Moon is a biopic about the Pulitzer Prize winning poet Elizabeth Bishop (Miranda Otto). The film focuses on the long lasting affair between Bishop and Lota de Macedo Soares (Gloria Pires). As breakthroughs in same sex marriage continue to make headlines, this tale of a lesbian romance that began back in 1951 is especially timely.

The script by Matthew Chapman, Julie Sayres and Carolino Kotscho, inspired by Carmen Oliveira’s novel, Rare and Commonplace Flowers, has what this critic considers to be a hallmark of good writing: Lots of twists and turns the viewer doesn’t see coming. Succeeding sequences serve to explain previous scenes. The film opens at Central Park, but soon Bishop is on the road to Rio de Janeiro, where events conspire to keep her there for decades as she encounters Soares.

No frail lotus blossom, Soares is arguably the biopic’s most interesting, original character, and throughout this two-hour feature your mystified reviewer continued to change his evolving opinion of her as Soares' character developed. On the one hand, Soares' is an out of the closet lesbian in the Catholic, Portuguese-influenced, patriarchal Brazil of the 1950s. On the other, she is a charter member of the ruling class, so despite her sexual preference she is used to getting her way. After all, if wealth is our international language, then money talks -- regardless of one’s sexual preference.

It’s interesting that Soares' lesbianism is not made much of in Brazil, nor is her ensuing affair with the far more repressed, secretive Bishop. This seems true both when they are at Soares' modernist refuge in the Amazon jungle or staying at her posh penthouse in Rio. There is lush, sumptuous cinematography by Mauro Pinheiro Jr. of the tropics, Copacabana Beach, Sugarloaf, etc., and the  degree of acceptance of the screen couple’s Sapphic sexuality and same sex relationship from the 1950s through the 1960s is indeed eye opening, especially considering how they most likely would have been treated in the staid U.S.A.

It’s interesting to note that currently another great American writer -- Glenn Greenwald, that fierce champion of civil liberties who brought Edward Snowden’s revelations about NSA über-snooping to the world’s attention -- is an expat who has left America to live in Brazil with his male Brazilian lover. Perhaps Brazil is ahead of the supposedly “advanced” United States?

This critic has no idea how historically accurate this biopic is, but according to the movie Bishop chafes under the rule of the military junta that overthrows the democratically elected Brazilian government in 1964. As a charter member of the land owning elite Soares' position is different, and it’s interesting to see how political events shape the lovers’ lives.

Director Barreto helmed 1997’s fact-based Four Days in September, which starred Alan Arkin as a U.S. diplomat kidnapped by the MR-8 “terrorist” group, which supported armed resistance to Brazil’s brutal military dictatorship (which, BTW, tortured Brazil’s current President, Dilma Rousseff, a former Marxist guerrilla, who is currently fighting against the NSA surveillance of her, which Snowden revealed). Barreto also directed the popular 1976 erotic ghost comedy, Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands, and along with Otto attended the private screening for Reaching for the Moon. His pithy introductory remarks put his finger on Moon’s message, saying: “This is a love story.”

Indeed, straight, gay, trans or whutevah, love is what inspires the poet in all of us -- whether or not we’ve won Pulitzers -- and makes the world and moon go round. Reaching for the Moon is an absorbing, insightful psychological drama with political overtones which won an OutFest Audience Award and is one of the year’s best movies about the love.

 

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OUTFEST 2012: MY BEST DAY

Karen (Rachel Style) in My Best Day.

Thawed relationships

By Miranda Inganni

It is the Fourth of July and sparks will fly around a small town after a phone call in writer-director Erin Greenwell’s wonderfully crafted film, My Best Day.

Karen (Rachel Style) is bored and annoyed. While others enjoy the holiday independently from work, Karen is stuck answering phones for a repair shop. Assuming the normal tedium, Karen’s day changes after she receives a call from a man with the same name as the father of hers she has never knew.

Eager to find out if the man is her father, Karen takes a trip to the next town over with the help of her friend, Meagan (Ashlie Atkinson). Meagan is going through a bit of a bout of relationship woes and recently has purchased a motorcycle -- perchance for a ride to freedom with an attractive, new love interest. With Meagan posing as the fridge repair person, the two young women get involved with Karen’s newly reunited family.

Subtle, nuanced hilarity ensues.

Karen reconnects with her half-sister, Stacy (Jo Armeniox), whose life has been overwhelmed by a gambling problem, while meeting her younger half-brother, Ray (Robert Salerno), who spends his day fighting with neighborhood bullies while trying to win over his first love. Then there are the nutty cops, a guy in search of meatless meat and host of smaller, small town folk.

Greenwell’s writing is superb and the cast of characters is extremely well acted, if not just exceptionally well cast. Characters are comical yet recognizable, making My Best Day one of the better films of the Outfest film festival.

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OUTFEST 2012: A MAP FOR A TALK

Javiera (Francisca Bernardi) and Roberta (Mora Andrea) in A Map for a Talk. 

A Chile reception

By Miranda Inganni

Set in two days in Santiago, Chile, A Map for a Talk (Mapa Para Conversar) addresses the difficulties of establishing a relationship with someone while an overbearing parent looks on with distrust and dismay.

Roberta (Moro Andrea) is raising her young son, Emilio (Romano Kottow), with her girlfriend, Javiera (Francisca Bernardi). The tension between the lovers quietly simmers while they go about their daily lives, but it is clearly taxing the two women. One afternoon Roberta joins her mother, Ana (Mariana Prat), for coffee specifically to tell mom about her relationship with Javiera. A rather conservative woman with an uncomfortable past association with the politics of Chile's Pinochet regime, Ana is more concerned with her own image than her daughter's happiness.

Roberta decides that a day at sea on a relatively small sail boat is exactly what the three women need in order for her mother to be comfortable with Roberta’s lifestyle. What starts out with somewhat forced familiarity quickly turns to inebriated loss of inhibitions, which in turn leads to uncomfortable confrontations. Roberta and Javiera bicker. Roberta and Ana berate each other. Ana and Javiera butt heads.

While the dynamics between the two lovers is explored in writer-director Fernandez Constanza's A Map for a Talk, it is the relationship between mother and daughter that is at the heart of the film. Ana is not homophobic, she essentially approves of Javiera, but she clearly believes her daughter is not living up to her potential.


A Map for a Talk screens at Outfest 2012: July 14, 7:15 p.m., DGA 2; July 21, 2 p.m. DGA 2. For more information: A Map for a Talk.

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TRIBECA 2012: JACK AND DIANE

Jack (Riley Keough) and Diane (Juno Temple) in Jack and Diane.

Eaten by the monster of love


By Don Simpson


Here is a little ditty about Jack (Riley Keough) and Diane (Juno Temple)… When Jack and Diane’s eyes first meet, it is love at first sight. Their chemistry is electric until… After staying out all night with Jack, Diane is grounded by her aunt (Cara Seymour). Knowing that she must attend a summer fashion program in Paris in a few weeks, Diane does not let her punishment stop her from spending time with Jack. The problem is Diane never told Jack that this is just a temporary visit.


Bradley Rust Gray’s Jack and Diane is an overtly metaphoric study of young love. Just as the Zoe Kazan character from Gray’s The Exploding Girl expresses her emotions by way of convulsive seizures, the love between Jack and Diane is so explosive that it causes blood to gush from various orifices and prompts a recurring dream about a horrific, organ-devouring beast. The strength of Jack and Diane is in its normal representation of the love between two, polar opposite teenage girls. Temple’s uber-girlie Diane is far from Hollywood’s stereotypical lesbian while Keough’s boyish representation of Jack is much more in line with what Hollywood has taught us about lesbians.

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FILM REVIEW: PARIAH



Alike (Adepero Oduye) in Pariah.

Invisible lesbian

By Don Simpson

Alike (Adepero Oduye) is very shy and totally unsure of herself. At 17-years of age, Alike attempts to define herself by her tomboy wardrobe, as if wearing a placard that boldly states “Kiss me, I’m a lesbian”; because that is really all she wants, a kiss. Hanging around her bull-dyke best friend, Laura (Pernell Walker), further accentuates her boyish traits. Of course Alike’s overprotective Christian mother (Kim Wayans) does not like that. She wants Alike to wear clothes that flaunt her girlish figure; but that seems to only make Alike rebel more. Luckily, Alike’s father (Charles Parnell) is oblivious enough to his surroundings that she is able to maintain a somewhat “normal” relationship with him while her meddling little sister (Sahra Mellesse) is the only family member who is fully cognizant and accepting of Alike’s sexual orientation.

As much as I like Pariah, and would never want to discount its message, it is very difficult for me to overlook some of the very same issues that I had with Lee Daniels’ Precious. For instance, the images, set design and performances seem more like Hollywood representations of Alike’s world; a hyper-real manifestation of reality. Drama and emotion are tweaked off the charts like some nauseatingly sappy poetry or excruciatingly trite singer-songwriter lyrics. The dialogue seems oh so perfectly manicured, and certain scenes seem all too purposeful. Two scenarios in particular seem especially unreal to me: when an AP English teacher urges Alike to “go deeper” with her soul-baring poetry and when Laura passes her GED only to have her mother slam a door in her face when she tries to tell her the good news. (Oh, and do not even get me started on the conclusion…) The apparent falsities constantly distract me from the emotional core of this heartbreaking tale — which is a crying shame because several of the performances are quite amazing and I really do love Pariah‘s overall message. The story would have really benefited from a more realistic representation and a wee bit more directorial restraint.

Yet I want to conclude this on an uplifting note, because Pariah really is quite effective in portraying how a teenager’s closeted queer lifestyle can lead to friction at home, leaving a crumbling family unit in its wake. This is by no means Alike’s fault; her parents are irritatingly irrational and clueless towards her homosexuality. The overall situation seems brutally honest, as if it is torn directly from the pages of Rees’ personal experience.



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AGLIFF 2011: MANGUS

Mangus (Ryan Boggus) in Mangus.

Holy handicap

By Don Simpson

Mangus Spedgwick’s (Ryan Boggus) destiny is to be Jesus…in his fictional hometown of Rivercity’s annual production of Jesus Christ Spectacular, that is. It is a long-standing family tradition for the Spedgwick males to play the leading role in Jesus Christ Spectacular — the poor man’s version of Jesus Christ Superstar — and Mangus appears to be a shoe-in to keep that tradition alive.

A freak accident renders Mangus handicapped — or handicapable — and the people of Rivercity vote against having a cripple perform in the role of Jesus. All the while, Mangus’ father (Charles Solomon Jr.) is called to duty in Iraq and Mangus’ evil stepmother (Deborah Theaker) sends Mangus to live with his mother (Jennifer Coolidge) and half-sister (Heather Matarazzo) in their trailer park home.

Other than Mangus’ half-sister coming out as a lesbian, writer-director Ash Christian’s Mangus is not necessarily a “queer film” — or a film with any message or agenda, for that matter. However, Mangus is obviously from a very queer perspective. Everything about Mangus screams queer, from the brightly colored production design (Ryan M. Smith) to the cartoonish performances to the musical production that the plot revolves around.

I did not find the onslaught of handicap jokes to be very funny; otherwise, Mangus is supremely quirky and ridiculous…in a good way. The film’s sense of humor is certainly off-kilter and might be a bit too sparkly of a pill for some to swallow, but I recommend hanging in there until Jennifer Coolidge and Heather Matarazzo’s characters are introduced because that is when Mangus really hits its stride. Not that Ryan Boggus is not fantastic as Mangus — because he truly is — but he is at his best when playing off Coolidge and Matarazzo. Noteworthy cameos by Leslie Jordan, John Waters and a few others really add a dash more zaniness to the overall insanity.

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AGLIFF 2011: LULU SESSIONS

Dr. Louise Nutter in LuLu Sessions.

Close to the heart

By Don Simpson

A hard-drinking, chain-smoking, world-renowned cancer researcher with a tender heart and a mouth like a sailor, Dr. Louise Nutter -- a.k.a. LuLu -- discovered a new anti-cancer drug right around the same time that she was diagnosed with terminal breast cancer. The LuLu Sessions' writer-director (plus, to mention producer and cinematographer) S. Casper Wong was on her way to videotape a friend’s wedding in San Francisco when LuLu asked her to accompany her to her biopsy in Minneapolis. As fate would have it, the wedding was canceled and Wong opted to stay in Minneapolis with Lulu.

Turning the camera toward LuLu, Wong documents the last 15 months of LuLu’s life. The camera documents as LuLu receives the dreaded diagnosis from her oncologist -- judging by Lulu's reaction this is not a reenactment. We observe several key moments during LuLu's treatments, but we also witness the ebbs and flows of Wong's intense relationship with LuLu. Shooting in the cinema verite tradition, Wong suddenly becomes one of the primary subjects in her own documentary.

Not only does The LuLu Sessions explore the transformations in a person while they anticipate a rapidly approaching death, but Wong's film also blurs the definition of same sex relationships. LuLu and Wong share emotions that transcend most platonic relationships. Wong shares an intense bond with LuLu, but it remains unclear if their relationship ever becomes sexual. Then again -- who cares? Why does our society always need to define people and their relationships?

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THEATER REVIEW: I LOVE BEING ME, DON'T YOU?

A scene from I Love Being Me, Don't You. Photo credit: Steven Gunther.

Unleashed downtown

By Ed Rampell

If you love your humor hurled like a drone missile and dripping with irony, then head on down to the REDCAT to achieve your sarcasm orgasm at Sandra Bernhard’s I Love Being Me, Don’t You? 

When I entered the sold-out theater, along with around 300 other intrepid souls, I was perplexed to see the otherwise bare stage setup for a concert, and didn’t know what to expect: A) A standup routine? B) A one woman show? Or: C) Was Madonna’s onetime gal pal (and lord knows what else) presenting a musical performance?

The answer is: D) All of the above – and then some. Yes, the now 50-something bad girl of comedy did open the evening with a song and went on to perform a variety of pop numbers, accompanied by a melodious backup band -- and an African-American crooner whom Bernhard quipped was her “black-up singer.” However about 60 percent of her act remained spoken comedy, served with Bernhard’s signature slice-and-dice-anything-but-nice brand of scathing humor.

Nothing escapes Bernhard’s scorching gaze and no vapidity, shibboleth, sacred cow (or bull) and social pretense is safe from her withering wit, which could curdle the milk of human not so kindness. Onstage she mockingly reads ads with gusto, reaming consumerism a new one. The wag lampoons The New York Times and harpoons celebrities, from Iman to Bristol Palin (don’t expect to see our gal Sandy Dancing With the Stars any time soon). To her audience’s delight, the openly lesbian Bernhard holds forth on the superiority of gays over straights, insisting that homosexuals have more disposable income, fashion sense and so on than their poor misbegotten, downtrodden hetero counterparts. A sort of latter day Oscar Wilde, Bernhard is proof positive that the love that once dared not speak its name can no longer be shut up.

Bernhard gets away with this because -- like those court jesters of yore who mocked the royals -- she’s high-lariously funny (even if many of the laughs may stick in your craw). Although she’s the sworn enemy of societal hypocrisy heaping scorn upon pretentiousness, pomposity and the like, Bernhard doesn’t spare her own self from her razor sharp, acid-dipped tongue. In fact, Bernhard is one of her favorite targets, and her hilariously bad singing not only deconstructs rock music but spoofs her own persona and pretention that she has anything remotely resembling musical ability. The only thing this lady has in common with Mick Jagger, for instance, are mile long pouting lips -- certainly not any singing talent. By poking fun at herself, Bernhard gets away with ridiculing those who are no longer high and mighty after they undergo the Bernhard treatment.

I Love Being Me, Don’t You? includes guest performers, and on opening night the diva of rock and droll was joined onstage by Leisha Hailey, who’d co-starred as the outspoken gay rights advocate Alice on Showtime’s The L Word (which Bernhard had a recurring role on) and sang a spirited duet with Bernhard. (Not coincidentally, Hailey is reminiscent of a younger Bernhard.) Other guest stars are expected to make special appearances during the run of the show.

Onstage Bernhard appeared rather tall in her heels and was looking good, although she cracked wise about surgical procedures she may (or may not have) undergone. At her debut show she wore a sexy dress with see-through slits that seemed to reveal that the only thing she was wearing beneath the glittery gown was a thong, which Bernhard joked at one point was responsible for her moodiness (use your own fertile imagination, dear reader). Her flesh seemed minus any body tone, although the thought of her working out at a fitness center conjures up visions of sheer hilarity. And of course, with those exaggerated elastic features, Sandra has a punim made for comedy.    

Bernhard and her unique brand of Don Rickles-on-steroids humor isn’t everybody’s cup of hemlock. But for those who enjoy the puncturing of balloons of bombast, self-importance and arrogance, and the treating of those suffering from delusions of grandeur with comical derision, get thee to the REDCAT for a yuk-a-minute laugh-a-thon. (Earplugs optional.)

Sandra Bernhard: I Love Being Me, Don’t You? runs through Aug. 21 at the REDCAT, 231 W. 2^nd St., L.A., CA 90012. For more info: (213)237-2800; www.redcat.org       

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