What gives Boy Meets Girl a fresh spin on its Southern-fried, coming-of-age tale from writer/director Eric Schaeffer is not just that Ricky, the teen in question, has already come to terms with her sexuality but that she's also comfortable being transgender.
It also doesn't hurt that Michelle Hendley, the trans actress who plays Ricky, is refreshingly down-to-earth. Droll but not self-deprecating, confident in herself yet modest to a fault, Ricky is seemingly the rare teenager without a need for constant melodrama. And yet, plenty of that is provided ( along with plenty of sexy times and comedic confusion ) when Ricky suddenly strikes up a very close friendship with Francesca, the pretty local rich girl.
The friendship creates an unexpected crisis in the lives of both girls when Ricky's hunky but sweet best friend, Robby, and Francesca's even hunkier fiancé become jealous of the friendship. The movie has spent more than a year on the LGBT film-festival circuit ( including an opening-night stint at Reeling ), is now available digitally ( as of 4/7 ) and comes to DVD on April 28. https://www.wolfevideo.com/products/boy-meets-girl/
April in queer movie history
April has two memorable dates in queer movie history—the first renowned, the second just as important in its own way. The controversial, unapologetically gay Poison, from out writer-director Todd Haynes and producer Christine Vachon, was the launching pad for a group of movies that came to be known as the New Queer Cinema movement. The film, which opened April 5, 1991 ( after premiering that year at Sundance ), is a metaphorical treatise on the AIDS pandemic. The movie, which came under fire from the conservative right, launched the careers of Haynes and Vachon, who followed up with a slew of critically hailed LGBT-themed movies ( Velvet Goldmine, Far From Heaven, I'm Not There ).
Equally notable in its own way is the New Wave classic Liquid Sky. Russian-born director Slava Tsukerman helmed this downbeat focus on New York's avant garde art scene, encompassing fashion, aliens, plenty of drugs and healthy doses of sexual ennui. Anne Carlisle ( who also co-wrote the screenplay ) stars in the dual role of bisexual Margaret and her modeling nemesis Jimmy, a drug addict constantly nagging Margaret's girlfriend for heroin ( aka "liquid sky" ). A spacecraft landing on the roof of Margaret's building leads to mayhem for both characters and their acquaintances just as the big nightclub fashion show approaches. A hit underground midnight movie hit thanks to its glacial pacing and vibrant look, those elements have overshadowed Liquid Sky's blurring of gender boundaries, the film's one true innovation. The movie originally opened April 15, 1983.
Blockbuster Stonewall?
The openly gay film producer/director Roland Emmerich—renowned for his mega-budget blockbusters Independence Day, The Day After Tomorrow and 2012—is now bringing the birth of the modern-day gay-liberation movement to the screen. Roadside Attractions has announced that its picked up the distribution rights to Emmerich's Stonewall, a fictional drama set within the legendary New York gay bar that was the setting for the Stonewall riots in June of 1969.
British heartthrob Jeremy Irvine ( War Horse, Woman in Black 2 ) stars along with Jonathan Rhys-Meyers ( Velvet Goldmine, TV's Dracula ) and Ron Perlman ( Hellboy series, Alien Resurrection ). Emmerich, who has been a longtime supporter and fundraiser for LGBT causes, has veered from his typical disaster genre movies before with Anonymous, the Elizabethan melodrama centered on whether Shakespeare authored his plays. Although that over-the-top film flopped with audiences, here's hoping that Stonewall, which gay writer Jon Robin Baitz scripted, won't share the same fate. Look for a late fall release in time for awards consideration.
Home viewing must-haves
Now you can go back Into the Woods as often as you want. Out director Rob Marshall's big-screen adaptation of the Stephen Sondheim-James Lapine much-revived stage musical is now available on Blu-ray. Meryl Streep headlines the starry cast in her Oscar-nominated role as the Witch who sets the timid baker and his clever wife ( James Corden and Emily Blunt ) on a quest that will change the lives of all the characters in this bittersweet fairytale saga. Sondheim fans ( and we are legion ) will be most thrilled to hear ( and see ) "She'll Be Back," the original song penned for the film which Streep's witch sings; it's a spoken/sung lament that follows the character's desertion by her adopted daughter, Rapunzel.
Also available is Morten Tyldum's The Imitation Game, the story of gay British mathematical genius Alan Turing, who was instrumental in cracking the infamous Nazi enigma code, turning the tide for the Allied forces in WWII. The film is bracketed by the tragedy that engulfed the openly gay Turing following his triumph when the British government persecuted him for the "crime" of homosexuality ( finally pardoning him in 2013 ). The film won an adapted screenplay Oscar for Chicago native Graham Moore, whose acceptance speech exhorting outsiders to "stay weird" was a highlight of the Oscar ceremony.
Just around the corner ( April 15, to be exact ) you can take home—if you dare—last year's creepiest movie: The Babadook. Writer-director Jennifer Kent's simple set up about an exhausted mother reading a pop-up book to her frightened son about a persistent boogeyman trying to enter their lives is endlessly inventive—more so because it utilizes traditional in-camera effects to augment its psychological scares. The packaging from Shout! Factory, which features a mini-version of one pop-up cutout from the film's truly creepy children's book, is sure to be an eerie delight for fans of the movie.
Upcoming movie calendar
Highlights from films opening in Chicago, April 10 and 17 ( or available digitally )
Boy Meets Girl ( 4/7 )—It's a winning coming-of-age transgender teenage romance. ( See details above. )
The Longest Ride ( 4/10 )—Hunky Scott Eastwood, son of the legendary director-actor Clint ( and a dead ringer for dad ), stars in this latest big-screen adaptation of yet another Nicholas Sparks romantic drama. This one focuses on a former champion bull rider trying to climb his way back to the big time and his star-crossed affair with a college arts student ( Britt Robertson ) along with their fateful meeting with an elderly man ( Alan Alda ) who offers them insight into their relationship.
Desert Dancer ( 4/10 )—British heartthrob Reece Ritchie ( Hercules, Prince of Persia ) stars as a dance-mad young man who starts a dance troupe deep in the desert, away from the prying eyes of the conservative Iranian government. Slumdog Millionaire's Frieda Pinto co-stars.
Grey Gardens ( 4/10 )—The Maysles brothers captured the saga of Big Edie and Little Edie Beale—the high-society mother-daughter cousins of Jackie Kennedy Onassis who lived out their lives in the squalor of their decaying East Hampton beach mansion—in this classic 1976 documentary that has inspired a Broadway musical, an acclaimed film and a documentary sequel. A restored print will be shown as part of the Music Box Theatre's, 3733 N. Southport Ave., tribute to the recently deceased Albert Maysles. http://www.musicboxtheatre.com/features/grey-gardens
black./womyn.:conversations… ( 4/11 )—Sharon Zurek's long-running Dyke Delicious series at Chicago Filmmakers returns with this feature-length documentary from Zurek that's focused on the lives and views of lesbians of African descent from various backgrounds. Issues such as coming out, sexuality and religion, love, relationships, patriarchy, and gender and race issues are part of the discussion. The screening will take place at Chicago Filmmakers, 5243 N. Clark St. http://chicagofilmmakers.org/cf/content/blackwomynconversations-lesbians-african-descent
Unfriended ( 4/17 )—This found footage horror flick uses bullying as its central theme. A year after popular teenager Laura commits suicide, the six not-so-popular teens who helped bully her into the act get together in a Skype session to talk about what they did. A seventh ( and unknown ) person logs on and soon the tension ramps up ( along, no doubt with the body count ) when they realize that if they log off they will die!
The Dicks from Texas ( 4/16 ), CIMMFest Cruising Tracks ( 4/17 ) and Cakes da Killa: No Homo ( 4/17 )—These three LGBT-themed programs ( the first a feature-length documentary about the self-described "commie-faggot punk band," the second an evening of radical queer music videos and slo mo dance party, and the third a documentary short about an up-and-coming gay rapper ) are part of the annual four-day Chicago International Movies & Music Fest ( CIMMFest ), which returns April 16-19 at venues along the Milwaukee Boulevard corridor. Complete festival information: http://cimmfest.org/
Absolute Beginners ( 4/18 )—One more shout out for this year's CIMMFest line-up is this ultra-rare 35mm presentation of Julian Temple's 1986 musical that features original songs by David Bowie, Sade and Ray Davies ( who co-star in vivid cameos ) as well as arrangements courtesy of cool jazz legend Gil Evans. Temple's film, which has an opening sequence to rival Welles's Touch of Evil, focuses on the youthquake movement that took England by storm in the late 1950s. Dazzling and colorful, the movie was an unfair flop upon its release but has since gained a devout following, thanks to its sophisticated visuals and one-of-a-kind soundtrack. ( Twilight Time recently announced it will release a restored Blu-ray version on June 9 ). It's a must-see ( and, yes, it does include several gay characters including a fun, teenage variation on Oscar Wilde ). Screens at the Gene Siskel Film Center ( 164 N. State St. ) at 10pm on Saturday, April 18; http://cimmfest.org/absolute-beginners/
Ex Machina ( 4/17 )—Alan Turing, the gay math genius profiled in The Imitation Game, also conceived the Turing Test, a series of questions designed to test artificial vs. human intelligence ( and whether computers could fool humans ), forming the basis for this sci-fi love story/thriller.
Clouds of Sils Maria ( 4/17 )—A Swiss film starring Juliette Binoche, Kristen Stewart and Chloe Grace Moretz about an older, successful movie star, her devoted assistant and a younger actress in a complex theatrical drama has been critically hailed since its debut at last year's Cannes Film Festival. [Editor's note: Earlier this year, Stewart became the first U.S. actress to win a Cesar—France's equivalent of the Oscar—for her role.]
True Story ( 4/17 )—Gay audience fave James Franco is an accused killer and Jonah Hill is a disgraced New York Times reporter whose identity he has stolen in this cat-and-mouse chamber piece based on real events. The Theory of Everything's Felicity Jones co-stars.
Date Change: Self/Less—the quasi-remake of the 1966 Rock Hudson sci-fi drama Seconds that stars Ben Kingsley, Ryan Reynolds and Matthew Goode—has had its release date pushed back from April 17 to July 31.
