By Richard Knight, Jr.
2005 was the year that gay movies went mainstream. In 2006 they went back underground. For many in the GLBT audience the first disappointment of the year came at the tail end of February when Brokeback Mountain failed to take the Best Picture Oscar. But though Brokeback did win its share of Oscars and Philip Seymour Hoffman did cop Best Actor for Capote, the slate of 2006 films hasn't offered the mainstream public anything comparable to 2005. Gay characters and subject matter have once again gone missing from high profile projects.
I'd like to point out—as I do every year—that all these 'Best of' lists are completely subjective. My list tends to shift around with repeat viewings and reconsiderations. And what exactly constitutes a 'gay' movie these days anyway? Clearing Eating Out 2: Sloppy Seconds would proudly display that label. But what about The Devil Wears Prada with the year's most outrageous costumes and bitchiest villain? Like its camp sister, Mommie Dearest, won't this be enshrined by gay audiences long after the fickle straights have moved on? Prada is just the latest example of a mainstream film destined to enter the gay movie hall of fame. As in the past, some of these pictures were 'coded' so perfectly for Our People that they made my list. And with that, here's my list of the 10 Best GLBT Movies of 2006 ( in preferential order ) :
1. Shortbus: John Cameron Mitchell lived up to his enormously creative debut, Hedwig & the Angry Inch, with his passionate, thrilling and due to its hardcore content, controversial sophomore effort. An Altmanesque focus on a group of sexually frustrated New Yorkers, Mitchell's deeply emotional movie is also gloriously and unapologetically FUN about sex ( the gay three-way is also one of the year's funniest scenes ) . The movie's 'Don't Dream It, Be It' message coming at the end ( one can hope ) of the long, tired winter of rigid conservatism was also very refreshing. Still in theatres.
2. Two Drifters: Another sophomore effort, this time from Portuguese writer-director Joao Pedro Rodrigues, took my breath away with its daring and the crazy intensity of its characters. The story of a young gay bartender grieving over the death of his lover and the crazy woman who may or may not be inhabited by his ghost is sexy and audacious. The movie is passionate, tantalizing and so over-the-top it's just this side of camp. It was sadly overlooked in theatres so check out the DVD. Subtitled.
3. Quinceañera: This follow-up to the very likeable The Fluffer by real life partners Wash Westmoreland and Richard Glatzer tackles teen pregnancy, teen homosexuality, homophobia, gentrification, and a whole lot more besides. It's an assured, beautifully observed piece—a Latino style kitchen style drama that crackles with energy. Coming to DVD January 9th.
4. Hate Crime: Writer-director-producer Tommy Stovall's exciting, In the Bedroom style melodrama, the prologue and aftermath of a vicious hate crime on a young gay couple in the south. Stovall's script convincingly moves into thriller mode as the couple's world is shattered by their interaction with their new neighbor, a troubled religious conservative. On DVD.
5. V for Vendetta: The best social protest film in years. Set in a horribly conservative England of the future the story focuses on V, an insurrectionist who, Phantom of the Opera like, wears a mask, loves art, music and culture, and engages in various acts of terrorism ( aided by the fetching Natalie Portman ) in a quest to bring down control of the rigid government. Part of his rage has to do with the various injustices ( including torture ) done to his gay and lesbian compatriots in the name of 'family values.' Stylish and sweeping. On DVD.
6. Casino Royale: There's a new James Bond in town—after 40+ years –one Daniel Craig, the first Bond to not only take on the role but also the part of the series' sex symbol. Now it's Craig, not Halle Berry or Ursula Andress, who struts out of the ocean in the bikini blithely showing off his God given assets. This Bond clearly doesn't mind being fantasy material for anyone who wants to take a gander.
7. Notes on a Scandal: Feature films didn't offer a lot to the ladies this year ( things were a bit better on DVD with the current Loving Annabelle a dyke must see ) . One big exception is this acting tour de force that stars Judi Dench as the sneering, superior Barbara, a teacher and closet lesbian at a private prep school and Cate Blanchett as Sheba, the new teacher and object of her latest fantasy romance. 'Her complexion is the color of white peaches' Barbara lovingly writes in her precious journal but as the complicated story reveals ( and as Dench thrillingly portrays ) this narcissist isn't about to let anything get in the way of her potential Great Romance—not even the disinterest of her intended. The film opens in Chicago on December 27th.
8. Gay Sex in the '70s: Joseph Lovett's documentary homage to the halcyon, hedonistic period when gay men, after centuries of repression ( centuries! ) , helped themselves to each other whenever and wherever the mood struck. But this free wheeling look back, of course, comes with the foreknowledge of the AIDS scourge that soon hustled the gay sexual liberation offstage. On DVD.
9. X-Men: The Last Stand: From the misunderstood, vilified mutants being forced to take a cure that rids them of their 'specialness' to the purple costumed Sir Ian McKellen cooing to Patrick Stewart one moment, bitching about him the next, this was Gay Sci-Fi Movie Central. And the scene where the hunky, golden haired mutant with the wings, stripped to the waist, decides to forgo the cure and flies out the window high above the city, proud of his 'deformity' at last is like a clarion call to everyone still in the closet. Could there be a bigger gay metaphor than this? On DVD.
10. Time to Leave: Provocative French gay writer-director François Ozon ( Eight Women, Under the Sand ) returned with this poetic elegy on the death of a gorgeous but distant and rather egotistical David LaChapelle like photographer facing death from brain cancer. In typical Ozon fashion, delicious ambiguities abound. French heartthrob Melvil Poupaud plays the title role and Jeanne Moreau has a memorable cameo as the grandmother. On DVD.
HONORABLE MENTION: 20 Centimeters is the wacky Spanish musical whose leading character is a narcoleptic transsexual involved with a hunky stock boy who can't get enough of her…20 centimeters. On DVD.
You can find my archived reviews at www.windycitytimes.com or www.knightatthemovies.com . Feedback can be left at the latter Web site.
