LETTERS From CAMP Rehoboth |
CAMP Talk: A Banquet of Gay Film Fare |
by Bill Sievert |
One of my favorite thoughts about the approach of cooler autumn evenings is that of curling up on the sofa with a good videocassette. After our hectic summer schedules, it's a perfect time of year for John and me to dig into our personal library and revisit some of the hottest gay films in our collection. No, I speak not of the kind of heat generated by the big stars of Stallion or Colt releases. I'm talking about the growing body of dramatic and comedic works that, through strong story lines and well-drawn characterizations, provide insight into what it means to be gay/lesbian. To me, the greatest films with gay themes or characters show us something about ourselves, the ways we form relationships and create community, while offering insights to non-gay people about how much we all have in common. The depiction of gay men has come a long way in the cinema since the release of Mart Crowley's Boys in the Band in 1970. I will forever shudder that so many heterosexual folks saw that flick, with all its stereotypes and depressive characters, making them think they had been right about us all along. That movie set back my own coming-out by at least two years. In the early 1970s, John Schlesinger's British production Sunday, Bloody Sunday, improved our lot at least a little with the relationship between Peter Finch and Murrray Head. Then came Craig Russell's wonderful look into the world of gay bars and drag performance in his autobiographical Canadian film Outrageous. Things finally began to improve in Hollywood in 1982 when Arthur Hiller made Making Love, a big-time tearjerker if ever there was one. But this domestic drama also presented a big breakthrough, as spellbound audiences watched Micheal Ontkean fall head over heels for Harry Hamlin (and vice versa). The number of worthwhile gay-theme films has taken a quantum leap in the last decade. PopcornQ, the gay movie website of PlanetOut, this summer issued its "Ultimate Lesbian and Gay Video List," featuring 50 titles. Though very incomplete, the list includes many historically important selections. Among them are Longtime Companion, Personal Best, Torch Song Trilogy, and Philadelphia. GLAAD (the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation) offers 166 choices on its web site, from which the group is conducting a year-long poll to pick the "20 Best Lesbian & Gay Films of the Century." As a chronic list-maker and as someone who has written about movies for much of his life, it was easy for me to cast my ballot. I would reveal to you all 20 of my votes but editor Steve keeps begging me to keep these columns to about 1,000 words. So, I'll limit this list to five favorites. Whether you're male or female, gay or not, you shouldn't miss any of these fine films. (You'll note that none of them are Hollywood productions and all were made during the last decade.) 5. Heavenly Creatures (1994, New Zealand). The haunting story (based loosely on true events) of two young girls, played by Kate Winslet and Melanie Lynskey, whose stunningly depicted imaginations as playmates evolve into a passionate commitment to one another as they grow into womanhood. The lack of comprehension by straight-laced parents and other adult authority figures leads to a chilling crime. But viewers come to understand that the worst horror is the homophobia that makes such a crime possible. 4. Gods and Monsters (1998, England). Sir Ian McKellan gives a tour-de-force performance in this Oscar lauded film about the later life of horror-film director James Whale. The flashbacks to the way gay men lived in Hollywood of the 1940s and 50s are as touching as the bond Whale forms with his young gardener, played by Brendan Fraser with just the right blend of reticence and vulnerability. Lynn Redgrave's disapproving but caring housekeepershe says it all with just the tick of an eyerounds out a wonderful trio of characters whose frailties make them all the more endearing. 3. The Wedding Banquet (1993, Taiwan). Ang Lee's wonderfully funny look at Old World family values clashing with the realities of a modern young gay man in New York. Goo Wai-Tung plays the man whose grandparents, back in Taiwan, desperately want a grandchild and won't stop meddling in his life until he is married. Wai-Tung's lover thinks he has the answer and arranges an in-name-only wedding to a woman friend who needs a "green card." Things get wonderfully sticky when the grandparents show up, planning to host a traditional Chinese wedding feast. The scenes of the handsome gay couple living a quotidian urban life together are as pleasant to behold as are the hilarious moments at the banquet and the film's final resolution. This is an unforgettable story that shows us what being part of a family really means. 2. Lilies (1997, Canada). John Greyson's beautifully crafted motion picture is a surprise from start to finish, earning it Canada's version of the Oscar and success on the film-festival circuit (where many of us had the opportunity to catch it during last fall's Rehoboth Beach Independent Film Festival). Set in a prison, the film is an elaborate theatrical play staged by inmates to confront a visiting bishop about his secretive past. As the suspenseful story of gay love and jealousy builds, the players take us back in time to beautifully photographed sequences from the bishop's youth, gradually revealing the real reason he has been summoned to the prison. Remarkable in every detail, Lilies defies every film genre and most every cinematic convention to stand as a unique piece of literature and art. 1. Strawberry & Chocolate (1994, Cuba). Robert Redford can be very proud that he brought to American audiences this heartwarming story of intellectual and romantic honesty in contemporary Cuba. The intricately woven plot concerns the relationships among a sophisticated gay writer, a nave college student and a busybody neighbor woman who befriends the guys and teaches them a thing or two about living passionately. While the film by Tomas Gutierrez documents the difficulties of being openly gay in Cuba, its message is much more universal. We alternatively laugh and cry as we watch these three friends struggling to be themselves in the face of pressures to fit into the social mold. If I've whetted your appetite for more suggestions of quality gay/lesbian movies, or if you'd like to select your own "personal best" list, check out the web sites: www.popcornq.com and www.glaad.org. Also, don't forget that some of this year's finest titles will be shown during the second annual Rehoboth Beach Independent Film Festival Nov. 10-14. The festival's web address is www.rehobothfilm.com Bill Sievert is co-owner of Splash, a clothing and accessories store on Baltimore Avenue, and the Program Director of CAMPsafe, CAMP Rehoboths AIDS education and prevention program. |
LETTERS From CAMP Rehoboth, Vol. 9, No. 11, Aug. 13, 1999 |