QFest: Movie Reviews

By Mister Curie

I really enjoyed Qfest!  I'm sad it is over already.  Here are my reviews:

Is It Just Me? (grade: A)

I thought this was a very cute romantic comedy and follows a pretty traditional romantic comedy script.  I thought the character development in the movie was superb with the characters initially appearing to be stereotypes, but each develops throughout the movie to destroy those original stereotypes.  It was very funny and heartwarming.  The director and the main actor for the movie were in attendance and held a Q and A session afterwards, which was fascinating.  This movie should be available on Netflix around October of this year.

Beyond Gay: The Politics of Pride (grade: A)

I really enjoyed this documentary.  It was very interesting to see how pride festivals differ around the world and to see what types of civil rights exist for the LGBT community around the world.  I found that the movie enhanced my meaning of Pride by showing areas of the world where Pride is a protest and a march for rights, as opposed to the celebration we usually see in the US.  It also highlighted some interesting historical background to Pride and the rainbow flag that I was unaware of.  I think what enhanced my experience with this movie was that a major portion of the film focused on Russia, where Pride parades are banned each year.  I served a Russian speaking mission and so those portions of the film hit me particularly strongly.  I found myself suffering emotional whiplash as the scenery in the film reminded me of my mission and that contrasted with the Russian mobs attacking the LGBT participants. 

The Secret Diaries of Miss Anne Lister (grade: B)

Jane Austen period piece and a lesbian romance.  What more is there to say?  It was actually fascinating to see LGBT and feminist themes in a very different time period before the word lesbian was even coined.  I'll leave the details of this review to Madame Curie.

The Four-Faced Liar (grade: A)

This film focused on sexual fluidity and finding someone who compliments you in every way.  The main drawback was that the two men didn't get together and instead the movie focused on the lesbian romance.  The most memorable thing about this movie is the music, which I thought was amazing!


Fashion Victim (grade: A)

This movie was hilarious and very well done.  The main message seemed to be about accepting our differences and how that makes the world a better place.  The main drawback was that it is a non-English film with subtitles, so the many quotable lines will never become mainstream because there is no inflection to imitate when repeating the lines.

Shut Up and Kiss Me (grade: F)

Don't waste your time with this one.  I have seen better cinematography from high school filmmakers.  The equipment used was sub-par and the sound was terrible.  The actors lines were often lost because the equipment would pick up the scrape of the chairs louder than the dialogue.  The acting was terrible and the story unremarkable.  There was no chemistry between the actors and I couldn't believe the romantic side of the film.  The film also devolved into a preachy moral that I disagreed with and did not think was adequately illustrated by the film.  The film does have a couple of scenes with full frontal male nudity, if you are into that sort of thing.

Eyes Wide Open (grade: B)

This was a pretty interesting story about another conservative religion, orthodox Judaism.   While the specifics are different from Mormonism, the attitudes were largely similar.  The more I learn about other religions, the more I see the similarities.  The love story was compelling and the music was fantastic.  The film did lean toward attempting to be artistic rather than entertaining, so many of the scenes move slowly.  The film did provide food for thought regarding the mixed-orientation marriage portrayed in the film. 


You Should Meet My Son! (grade: A)

This was a fast-paced comedy that was hilarious.  The acting was a bit melodramatic, but it added to the charm of the film.  The end of the film did get a bit preachy as regards a self-professed homosexual entering into a mixed-orientation marriage.  While I disagreed with the films pretense that such marriages are always loveless, many of its points were well taken, including the propensity of highly religious people to think a mixed-orientation marriage is the only way to please God.

Undertow (grade: A+)

This was my favorite film of the festival and I highly recommend to everyone, but particularly to those who have only accepted their homosexuality after marriage who now find themselves in a mixed-orientation marriage.  The film really surprised me with the intensity of the emotions I felt.  The film really spoke to me.  I cried through nearly half of the film as it dealt with the story of how one man grapples with fully loving his wife and child, but also being gay and falling in love with another man.  The cinematography and location were beautiful and the acting fantastic.


Children of God (grade: A)

Beautifully done and powerful, I really enjoyed this movie.  The main message seemed to be to portray how religion messes up everything, a feeling I regularly identify with.

Again, I am quite sad that the film festival is now over.  I had a great time and really look forward to next years film festival.  In the meantime, I only was able to see 10 of the 125 films presented and I know I missed several that I want to see.  I'm really hoping that many of them will show up on Netflix over the coming year and provide plenty of entertainment to come.

QFest: Friday

By Mister Curie

Madame Curie is really outdoing herself tonight by watching Le Petite Curie all night so that I can attend the following three films:


You Should Meet My Son!


Family values just the way we love them, and lots of laughs in this wonderfully joyous film about a pair of Southern women who try and set their son/nephew up with the right man.
Probably the sweetest and one of the funniest movies in this year’s festival, Keith Hartman’s feature debut is about the mom and aunt everyone wished they had. Mae (JoAnne McGee) is a Southern mother who just wants the best for her son Brian (Stewart Carrico). Mae and her sister Rose (Carol Goans) invite Brian and every single girl in town over most Friday nights to meet Brian. But Brian always brings his “special friend and roommate.” One night the sisters finally catch on – with the help of an "Is Your Son Gay?" survey in a magazine. The sisters then wonderfully change their course and try to find Brian a man. They’ve heard that the Internet is the place, so they ask a teenage neighbor to set up a computer for them. He sends them right to Manhunt, where they’re abruptly shot right into the gay meat-market of the 21st century. But, they’re determined ladies, even if it means hitting the bars and clubs themselves to rustle up a few Mr. Rights. Absolutely charming, You Should Meet My Son is like one of the best "Golden Girls" episodes, if they went gay, I mean even gayer.

Undertow


Shot in a scenic Peruvian fishing village, Undertow is the emotionally powerful story of a secret love between a married man with a pregnant wife and an openly gay artist.
Profoundly moving, Undertow is a gay romance like none you’ve seen before. Set in a gorgeous Peruvian seaside town, this tender, romantic tale positively radiates love. Miguel (Cristian Mercado) and Mariela (Tatiana Astengo) are a popular couple in their small fishing village. Mariela is expecting a child and all seems well on the surface. The couple are an integral part of a very tight village social structure. The town is so small that most secrets are hard to keep; gossips are always busy. But Miguel has a secret life; he’s having an affair with Santiago, a gay artist, who is scorned by the other villagers. The two are very much in love with one another, but Miguel is torn between the traditions of his village and his love for Santiago. A tragedy occurs that forces him to make a choice between conformity and amore. Filmed with an eye for detail and rich with emotion, writer/director Javier Fuentes-Leon’s debut film won the coveted World Cinema Audience Award at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival. Undertow is the highlight of the year for gay international cinema; it’s a must-see at QFest.

Children of God


Finding inspiration in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, Kareem Mortimer’s film is the tale of an intense romance between an artist and a closeted musician on a small island in the Bahamas.
For those of you lucky enough to have seen Kareem Mortimer’s wonderful short, Float (PIGLFF 2008), you’ll be excited to see the feature debut of this exciting Bahamian filmmaker. Johnny (Johnny Ferro) is an art student in Nassau whose technique is perfect, but he’s creatively blocked. His teacher sends him off to the rural island of Eleuthera where he meets Romeo (Stephen Tyrone Williams), a hot musician. They begin a clumsy dance of attraction and romance. Romeo has a fiancé and is identified as straight, but he’s been known to play with the boys on the side secretly. The Bahamas are bound by religious traditions that discourage homosexuality and end up forcing gay men into the closet. Lena is a pastor’s wife. Her husband demonizes homosexuality to further his career, yet he’s on the DL as well. When Lena discovers that her husband has infected her with VD, he accuses her of infidelities. These characters are all bound together in this intense drama of love, family and secrets. The filmmaker has honored the Bard well with his inspiration. With extraordinary cinematography (on a low budget), a vacation worthy setting, naturalistic actors and a mythic story Children of God is a superb tale of “a pair of star-cross’d lovers.”

Reviews to follow . . .

QFest: Wednesday

By Mister Curie

Madame Curie is being an absolute saint this evening and taking care of Le Petite Curie so that I can attend the following movie tonight:

Eyes Wide Open


Much to the shock of their tightly-knit, ultra-Orthodox community in Jerusalem, a married butcher with four children falls in love with a twenty-something young man in this stunningly moving Israeli film.
Powerful and quietly humane, Eyes Wide Open,, Haim Tabakman's, debut feature is an extraordinary portrait of forbidden love. Aaron (Zohar Strauss) leads a quiet life. Each day he goes from his tidy apartment, where he lives with his four children and his wife Rivka, to work at his butcher-shop. After work, Aaron goes to his synagogue to pray. Aaron is a tzaddik, a righteous man, and when Ezri (Ran Danker), a handsome young man arrives at his shop during a rainstorm looking for shelter, he gives it. But something more happens as sexual desire develops between the two men. Ezri wants to kiss Aaron, but Aaron tells Ezri that it's a challenge for them to pray about. Ezri takes Aaron to a spring outside the city where their desire bubbles to the surface. As their gay love is consummated, the marital love between Aaron and Rivka becomes troubled. Insightful and almost delicate in its storytelling, Eyes Wide Open, is a essential film in the cannon of queer filmmaking. With not an extra word, frame or movement, director Haim Tabakman and screenwriter Merav Doster deserve kudos for this gorgeously wrenching film.

Review to follow . . .

QFest: Tuesday

By Mister Curie

Date night!  We are going to attend a triple-header at Qfest.  Movies are as follows:

The Four-Faced Liar


Named after a clock that fails to keep the same time on each of its four faces, The Four-Faced Liar is the Greenwich Village Irish bar that provides the backdrop to this screwball comedy of sexual confusion with lesbian inclinations!
Bridget, who prefers to have a girl of the moment rather than a meaningful relationship, is drowning beers with her best-friend/roommate Trip and his girlfriend Chloe at The Four-Faced Liar. Greg and Molly, childhood sweethearts and new transplants to New York, venture in. Call it destiny, kismet, or being in the right place at the right time, but sparks are instantaneously ignited. While Greg and Trip bond over sports, Bridget and Molly discover a mutual appreciation for Emily Brontë and Wuthering Heights. As sexual tensions build, Bridget realizes she’s falling in love for the first time with the unavailable, soon to be married Molly. This delightful sexy take on love and life amongst a group of twenty-something friends is crisply shot, tightly scripted and 100% engaging. Writer, producer and principal star Marja-Lewis Ryan is charming, witty and believable as Bridget, and director Jacob Chase proves he is a talent to watch as he masterfully transitions from short to feature length filmmaker. A must-see for any young adult questioning their not-so-platonic friendship!

Fashion Victim


A truly original 16th century comedy about a gay fashion designer who is selected to make a wedding gown for a Spanish noble. "Project Runway" meets “Monty Python” in this hilarious farce.
Experience a totally different kind of French farce! Stylists are fussing over the models; the curtains are drawn; the candles along the runway are lit; the orchestra begins to play; and then it’s the special moment—the models in spectacularly wild clothing walk the runway to the audience’s oohs and aahs. No, it’s not fashion week at Bryant Park; it’s gay designer Pic Saint Loup’s (star/co-writer/director Gerard Jugnot) fashion show for the rich and famous in 1577 Paris. The Madonna-like show so impresses King Henri III that the House of Pic Saint Loup is selected to make the gown for the wedding of his nephew to the daughter of a Spanish noble. Yet behind the scenes, the esteemed fashion house is in trouble. Age and new fashion trends have caught up to the 60-ish, fussy, always-in-a-tizzy boss. With the designer’s creative well dried up, he's secretly depending on others for his ideas. Commanded to make the gown, he and his entire staff (including Arabs, Jews and homosexuals) travel to Spain which is in the midst of the Inquisition, not exactly a happy time for the aforementioned people. The overwhelmed designer is about to become a fashionista up to his neck in medieval craziness – what’s a queen to do?

Shut Up and Kiss Me


Ben’s friends think he is catch – smart, successful, sexy…and a commitmentphobe. Ben thinks he just hasn’t found the one. Find out who's right.
Straight from the heart, screenwriter/star Ronnie Kerr’s autobiographical romance hits home because it’s his story, and it’s a sweet one. Ben is attractive, successful, and looking for love…in all the wrong places. Failed attempts with video dating, his uproarious friends setting him up, and bad gym run-ins have this perennially single 35-year-old ready to call it quits. He figures maybe romance is just not in the cards for him. Except there is this hot stud who runs by his house each morning as he waters his lawn. It takes a fair amount of courage for Ben to speak with Grey, well actually, he’s pushed into it by his best gal pal Callie, and the chemistry is instant. But there’s one small problem, Grey’s got some commitment issues and Ben’s “a one man guy”. Shut Up and Kiss Me is the classic story of boy meets boy -- one of the boys likes to sleep with multiple boys -- the first boy wants it all to himself. Fresh, sharp and witty; this one’s a romance for the rest of us.

Reviews to follow . . .

QFest: Sunday

By Mister Curie

As Madame Curie already announced on her blog, we are attending QFest, the Philadelphia Gay and Lesbian film festival, this year.  We sat down and identified which days we could arrange for babysitting so we could attend together and then we identified which other films were "must see" and we arranged with each other to watch Le Petite Curie so the other person could go on a solo excursion to the film festival.  Just to keep it fair, we each get the same number of solo nights out and we will each see a total of 10 films at the film festival (4 together, 6 solo).  Today's films we are going to see are as follows:

Is It Just Me?

A witty, feel-good romantic comedy about a sexually-frustrated young man, his hunky go-go boy roomate and the man he meets in an online chatroom. Romance turns to chaos when a case of mistaken identity upsets his chance for true love.
One of the funniest and sweetest gay romantic comedies in years, Is It Just Me? delivers a refreshingly witty take on one gay boy’s search for Mr. Right. Cute, but unaware of his adorableness, Blaine (Nicholas Downs), a newspaper columnist can’t seem to meet guys, let alone form a relationship. His beefy go-go boy roommate Cameron— who has no shortage of willing partners —can’t understand why he doesn’t pounce and enjoy some one-nighters. Instead, Blaine hides in his room and searches Internet chat rooms for a kindred spirit. He may have found one in the form of Zander, a shy recently relocated Texan. But when the time comes to exchange photos, Blaine accidentally sends an image of his hunky roomie, and things go from romantically promising to just confusing. This case of mistaken identity escalates when Blaine begs his roommate to go out with the charming, sandy-haired Zander. When it seems they hit it off, our lonely hero feels love has passed him by again... or did it? Think Cyrano de Bergerac by way of Eating Out, writer/director J.C. Calciano’s first feature film is a hilarious, captivating winner. And the guys aren’t bad either!

Beyond Gay: The Politics of Pride

A documentary exploring the role and relevance of Pride Celebrations, detailing the vast differences in Pride movements around the world.
This film covers the diverse range of Pride events along with the political dynamics behind them. From Brazil's government sponsored events that attract three million participants to Sri Lanka, where "curative rape" is sanctioned as a "cure" for lesbianism, you are reminded that homosexuality remains illegal in roughly 80 countries (punishable by death in seven). As Ken Cooler (Canadian Pride Festival Planner) travels to various locations around the world a 'Freedometer' charts each location/country's LGBT tolerance level. Highlights of the film include interviews with Gilbert Baker—the activist who created the Rainbow Flag, along with Russian organizer Nikolai Alekseev. Alekseev arranged cloak and dagger meetings to stage and quickly disperse a parade in Moscow, where the mayor has banned the Pride parade forever. This 2008 Moscow Gay Pride March will have you cheering and standing on your feet. Even those who have become jaded toward parades and Pride events will have a lot to reconsider after viewing this inspiring film.


The Secret Diaries of Miss Anne Lister


Considered by many to be the first modern lesbian, Anne Lister—born in the same era as Jane Austen—was an inspiring 19th-century landowner, industrialist and traveler. A prolific diarist, she detailed her observations on life, and her passionate affairs with other women in over four million words, one-sixth written in secret code!
John Lister, the last in the line of the Lister family, wisely stashed the diaries of his relative Anne behind the paneling of the ancestral home in Shibden Hall, Halifax, Yorkshire, over 150 years ago. Discovered in the 1980s, this Sapphic treasure-trove which took 6-years to decode is the rich source material for this sumptuously produced, BBC period-drama. The story starts with Anne, (Maxine Peake, "Criminal Justice") looking through her monocular at a woman, Mariana (Anna Madeley), her secret lover and soul-mate. United, they savor illicit kisses pressed against an ancient tree. When Mariana succumbs to societal pressure and marries a wealthy landowner, Charles Lawton, Anne is bereft. Finding solace in scholarly pursuits—journal-writing, pistol-shooting and remodeling the vast estate—her libido is soon re-energized when she spies a young pretty parishioner, Miss Browne. When an heiress, Ann Walker, agrees to back a business proposal, Miss Lister has to make some difficult choices to carve out a lesbian life for herself. Writer Jane English (“Sugar Rush”) and director James Kent deserve a standing ovation for resuscitating the true story of this remarkable woman, who only loved “the fairer-sex,” and bringing her vividly back to life, 170 years after her death!

I will see the first two solo, while we will see the third film together.  Reviews to follow . . .