CAMP Film

At the close of every summer, film buffs are treated to the same, droning news—"The Biggest Box Office Ever!!!" as trumpeted by the studios. It is true, total grosses last summer were up ($3.76 billion). But when you take into account the hike in ticket prices, it was actually down 4 percent.

This is not to suggest the movie industry is slacking off by any means. Hell, with that amount of money, you could almost afford Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman to co-star once again, with enough change left over to throw Jim Carrey in for a rib-tickling three-way.

But, given the expectations of last summer, it was still a disappointment. Remember when 2003 was to be "The Year of the Matrix" (as touted by Newsweek soothsayers at the end of 2002)? Well, in a way it was, but only as a sad footnote to the consequences of bloated budgets and egos. The summer battlefield left a slew of potential franchises in its wake—The Hulk, Laura Croft: Tomb Raider, S.W.A.T. and Charlies’s Angels, just to name a few.

This summer, the studios are not playing things so safe. There will still be a smattering of sequels: a second helping of Shrek and Spiderman, a third go-round for Harry Potter and Blade. But who’da thunk summer would be the perfect time for a Jackie Chan-starring remake of Around the World in 80 Days? Brad Pitt going gladiator in time for Memorial Day in Troy? What says "Happy Fourth of July" better than another telling of King Arthur (July 7)? And what marketing whiz at Parmount decided to release a film called Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow on June 25?

This will undoubtedly be a summer worth watching, if not in the theaters themselves, then from afar to see if summer audiences (whom in the past movie studios have treated like popcorn-munching automatons) will actually see film fare with, dare I say, heavy substance?

Regardless, there are a number of smaller summer flicks whose voices will undoubtedly get muffled by the heavy blitz of Spidey saturation. It may take some travel or time to sniff out these independent features, but they may be worth the extra trouble. For the discerning film junkie, here are a few offerings this summer to keep on your radar screen:

29 Palms: This one has been a cinematic litmus test for critics, dividing its audiences into distinct love-it-or-hate-it camps. Directed by Bruno Dumont (Humanity, Life of Jesus), Palms focuses on David, an independent photographer, and Katia, an unemployed woman, who leave L.A. to search the desert for a natural setting for a magazine photo shoot. They find a motel at 29 Palms and spend their days on their 4-wheelers, discovering the Joshua Tree Desert, losing themselves on nameless roads and trails. Frantically making love all the time and most everywhere, they regularly fight, then kiss and make up according to the petty events of this quite ordinary daily life. Until something horrible and hideous brutally puts an end to their trip. (April 9)

Connie and Carla: Or "My Big, Fat Transvestite Comedy." Nia Vardalos, Toni Collette and David Duchovny star with Vardalos and Collette as the titular leads. Connie and Carla, two struggling Chicago dinner theater performers accidentally witness a mafia hit...so they take the obvious route, heading to L.A., where they pose as drag queens. Overnight, they become the belles of the, um, balls. Vandalos, who burst out with My Big Fat Greek Wedding, co-wrote this tale, which looks to borrow parts from Sister Act, Victor/Victoria, and Too Wong Foo... (let’s hope it’s the good parts). (April 16)

Bulgarian Lovers: From Titanic to The Fluffer, just what are the boundaries we go to for love? Based on the 1996 book by veteran Spanish gay fiction author Eduardo Mendicutti , Lovers tells the story of Daniel, an architect who is part of a group of wild, promiscuous and flamboyant homosexual men in Madrid. The influx of broke, hungry Eastern European men, willing to do whatever it takes for a buck or a meal, has certainly increased the group’s sex life. That is, until he falls for one of them, Kyril, who happens to be straight. Writer-star Fernando Guillen Cuervo promises this to be a very edgy and dark dramedy. (April 30)

Carandiru: A harrowing film based on real life experiences of doctor Drauzio Varella. The film is set inside dank, dreadful State penitentiary, Carandiru, in São Paulo, Brazil, where Varella was doing social work for AIDS prevention. There he discovered hundreds of convicts living under wretched, degrading conditions. The situation came to a climax in 1992, when in order to smother a rebellion, a police force killed 111 men. (May 7)

Love Me if You Dare: As adults, best friends Julien and Sophie continue the odd game they started as children—a fearless competition to outdo one another with daring and outrageous stunts. While they often act out to relieve one another’s pain, their game might be a way to avoid the fact that they are truly meant for one another.

The Stepford Wives: OK, technically, this is not a tiny, low-budget feature, but how can you overlook something that has the potential for being so deliciously campy? Joanna, a young wife and mother, who moves from Manhattan to the upper-class suburb of Stepford, Connecticut. Once there, she makes friends with bombastic Bobbie Markowitz (Nicole Kidman). Together they find out, much to their horror, that all the housewives are strangely blissful, and somehow... doomed. (June 11)

A Touch of Pink: If you’ve ever heard the expression "Bollywood," but have no idea what it means, perhaps this may be your introductory course. Screened at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, Pink is a Romantic Gay Muslim Screwball retro-comedy. Jimi Mistry (The Guru, another nod to Bollywood), stars as Alim, a Canadian living in London who happens to have Cary Grant as his guardian angel (played by Kyle MacLachlan). (July).

Film Society Bits

Thanks to everyone who supported the film society at our recent screenings: the Oscar-winning Barbarian Invasions, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Magdalene Sisters. Be sure to head to the Movies at Midway on Thursday, April 29th at 7 p.m. for a special screening of Shattered Glass. This 2003 indie won universal praise for its dramatized version of the editorial career of Stephen Glass. Glass, a reporter for The New Republic and contributor to Rolling Stone and GQ, was fired amidst a maelstrom of controversy, when it was revealed he fabricated not only facts, but entire articles. The screening will be hosted by Dennis Forney, publisher of the Cape Gazette and Terry Plowman, editor and publisher of Delaware Beach Life magazine.