PFLAG Newsletter: AT THE MOVIES 9/10, 2001 Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit source - "Walter Lippmann" PFLAG-LA NEWSLETTER September-October 2001 AT THE MOVIES by Walter Lippmann I've seen fewer movies recently. Also, a number of movies reviewed last time are still playing in the theaters as this is written. The most prominent of these is THE CLOSET. If you haven't seen it yet, take yourself out to see it on the big screen. LOST AND DELIRIOUS This was an fascinating movie which captures both the terrible power of the closet on young people and the ways they are unable to deal with their feelings when social pressure denies them an avenue. Lea Pool's latest picture begins when one teenaged girl is taken and dropped (or is it dumped?) at a private boarding school. The movie is told from her point of view. She's assigned to room a pair of girls whom she soon discovers are having sex with one another. When the younger sister of one of the lovers enters her room and finds out by accident, the drama begins, since the "found-out" girl adamantly denies, first to her sister, and then to herself, that she's a "lesbian." She's just in love with the person, as she sees it. And then to prove the point, she begins dating a guy. The movie is about unrequited love, teen-age angst, and the closet as a vehicle for social pressure, and the closet as a place people enter to protect themselves from what others may think or say about them. http://www.jewishjournal.com/home/searchview.php3?id=7121 ALL OVER THE GUY This is a simple romantic comedy about a couple of young men who are drawn to each other, but whose fears of any actual intimacy prevent them from having the relationship each say they want. We've seen many movies recently in which gay characters are presented as the charming and well-spoken sidekicks of the straight characters (FOUR WEDDINGS AND A FUNERAL). Here the two guys are framed by their two straight friends who meet, have sex, and move happily along in life with no apparent relationship traumas of any kind. New Times LA summarized this movie well, writing that, "All Over the Guy A slightly fussy, neurotic young Jewish journalist (Dan Bucatinsky, who also adapted the script from his own stage play) falls for a hunky young teacher (Richard Ruccolo), who has problems making commitments. While their relationship goes up and down and on and off, their respective best friends (Adam Goldberg and Sasha Alexander), who fixed them up in the first place, have an easier time falling in love. THE DEEP END Visually beautiful in every way, and praised to the sky by all the critics I've read, this was one of the worst movies I've seen in ages. (I won't spoil it for you by giving away the plot conclusion.) This movie is said to be about what lengths a mother would go to in order to protect her son. This theme was emphasized in a recent issue of The Advocate, which put Tilda Swinton, the lead actress who plays the protagonist, on its front page. Ms. Swinton, powerfully portraying a mother lost beyond her abilities in an out-of-control situation, is the apparent head of household where three generations live and in which everyone old enough to tell lies to one another does so. None of the family members seems able to ask a direct question of one another. Mom thinks her 17-year-old son is gay, but she never asks him. She goes to the gay bar where he's met a man and had some sort of relationship. She asks the man to stay away from her son, and he says he will - in exchange for $5,000.00. The man doesn't keep his promise, however, and comes to see the son shortly afterwards. A fight occurs and the boy's unsavory lover is killed. When mom discovers the body, she doesn't ask her son "what's up with this body, dear." Instead, she MOVES the body, and proceeds do one foolish thing after another, attempting to cover up what she assumes is the murder she assumes that her son has committed. All of this without ever once asking her son, "honey, do we have something to talk about?" not to speak of, "honey are you gay." The boys father is never seen or heard from during the movie. He's a ships captain somewhere and is hard to reach. It seems "don't ask, don't tell" is the theme of this family's interactions. What I've given you is in merely the first ten or fifteen minutes of the movie. Numerous convoluted plot twists follow before the ultimate resolution. Tilda Swinton is a wonderful actress, but this story was utterly non-credible, at least to this thriller-loving viewer. Beautiful to look at, but completely non-believable from a logical standpoint. WAITING FOR THE MESSIAH (Esperanda al mesias) This Argentine movie screened but once at the Latino International Film Festival. There's a small chance that it might get a commercial release. It centers around the young son of an orthodox Jewish restaurant owner who decides to strike off on his own, breaking out beyond the Jewish community and the various plans his family has made for him (marry a nice Jewish girl, first of all.) While he's employed at a large corporation doing temp work, he meets and falls in love with a woman who is not only not Jewish, she's bi-sexual. What's so pleasing about this movie is that she's an adult, and her bi-sexuality is presented matter-of-factly as if its significance were no more than the color of her eyes. Let's hope it gets at least an art-house release. Some individual viewers comments can be found here: http://us.imdb.com/CommentsShow?0248001 GLBT MOVIE REVIEW RESOURCES Here are a few resources with which you can check out movies in theatrical release and on video: FILM REVIEWS AT WOMEN'S STUDIES DATA BASE http://www.inform.umd.edu/EdRes/Topic/WomensStudies/FilmReviews/ BRIGHT LIGHTS FILM JOURNAL http://www.brightlightsfilm.com/gayandlesbian.html LESBIAN FLICKS http://www.glweb.com/lesbianflicks/ POPCORN Q AT PLANETOUT http://www.planetout.com/pno/ ================================================================= NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org e-mail: nyt@blythe.org ================================================================= nytsxp-09.07.01-00:17:42-31468