THE VOICE OF CHICAGO'S GAY, LESBIAN, BI, TRANS AND QUEER COMMUNITY SINCE 1985

# Adventures Of Felix ( Winstar ) : Gay and HIV-positive Felix ( Sami Bouajila ) begins his adventures after he loses his job. While preparing to sell his deceased mother's apartment, he discovers letters written to his mother from the father he never met. Felix sets out on a hitchhiking journey, from Normandy to Marseilles, to find his father. Along the way he witnesses a murder and then encounters a wonderful array of characters that flesh out his adventures. To the credit of co-writers and directors Olivier Ducastel and Jacques Martineau, and the extraordinary cast, I felt completely transported by

Pierre-Loup Rajot and Sami Bouajila as 'Felix' in Adventures of Felix at Music Box.

this movie. Felix's experiences had an impact on me as an observer. When he felt scared, in his encounter with the murderers, I was scared. When he felt arousal, in his interactions with teenager Jules ( Charly Sergue ) , and later a driver with whom he has a roadside sexual encounter, I was aroused. When he feels loved and cared for, as he does with both the elderly Mathilde ( Patachou ) and the mother of three Isabelle ( Ariane Ascaride ) , the warmth radiated off the screen. And when he is finally reunited with his lover Daniel, for whom he purchased a train ticket so that they could meet in Marseilles, I felt a sense of satisfaction and accomplishment and arrival. ( In French with subtitles ) On a scale of 1 to 10: 9 ( @ Music Box )

# Come Undone/Presque Rien ( Picture This! Entertainment ) : Moving back and forth over the course of a short period of time, this French film ( with English subtitles ) tells the sexual coming of age story of Mathieu ( Jeremie Elkaim ) and Cedric ( Stephane Rideau, who also played gay in Wild Reeds ) , two boys in their late teens, who meet at the beach in a resort town and begin a sexual and romantic relationship. Cedric, the more experienced of the two, has had his eye on Mathieu for a year and finally makes his move. The impressionable Mathieu, who is summering at the beach with his depressed mother, jealous and suspicious younger sister, and aunt, is receptive to Cedric's advances, and it doesn't take the two long to become involved. Sexually graphic and erotic, the movie is also populated with open-minded characters ( Cedric's father, Mathieu's mother and aunt ) , who keep the action from getting overly dramatic. However, the movie is rather slow-moving, and the nonlinear storytelling gets confusing, although the soft-core sexual scenes will probably feel like a reward for their patience, to some viewers. The touching, queer-oriented music video for Vidrar vel til loftaras by Sigur Ros is being shown before the feature. On a scale of 1 to 10: 6.5 ( @ Landmark Century Cinema )

Donnie Darko ( Newmarket ) : The world of "weird" and "cute" high school student Donnie Darko ( Jake Gyllenhaal ) comes crashing down on him, during October of 1988, after the jet engine from an airplane breaks off and lands on the roof of his house. As spooky and surreal as it is funny and frank, writer/director Richard Kelly's feature film debut contains elements of several contemporary pop culture images including the work of David Lynch, the movies Harvey, Waking Life and The Sixth Sense, and The X-Files. Fortunately, it has enough of its own original soul and energy to stand on its own. Gyllenhaal is riveting, and the supporting cast, including Mary McDonnell as his mother, Drew Barrymore and Noah Wylie as two of his teachers, Katherine Ross as his therapist, and Jena Malone as his girlfriend, flesh out this fantastic world that we are privileged to enter. Haunting and hilarious, Donnie Darko is easily one of the most memorable movie characters of the year. On a scale of 1 to 10: 7

# The Man Who Wasn't There ( USA Films ) : As it turns out, there is more than one "man who wasn't there" in the Coen Brothers' most film-noir movie to date. Both the late '40s/early '50s time period and the artful black-and-white cinematography might have something to do with it. Ed ( Billy Bob Thornton in a controlled and nuanced performance ) is a barber who doesn't talk much...he just cuts hair in Santa Rosa, Calif. Dolores ( Frances McDormand ) , his unfaithful wife, is having an affair with Big Dave ( James Gandolfini ) . When Creighton Tolliver ( the animated and openly gay Jon Polito ) , a "pansy" venture capitalist, comes to town, looking for investors in a dry cleaning business, Ed decides the quickest way to get the money is to blackmail Big Dave, who is married to department store heiress Ann ( Katherine Borowitz ) . The plot takes a few twists and turns before it becomes a murder mystery. With the introduction of fast-talking big-city lawyer Freddy Riedenschneider ( Tony Shalhoub ) , the movie becomes the Coen brothers' version of a courtroom drama. However, there are enough humorous moments in the film, which also includes such subject matter as embezzlement, entrepeneurship, racism, alcoholism, mentoring and flying saucers, to qualify it as one of the Coen Brothers' blackest comedies to date. On a scale of 1 to 10: 8 ( Wide release )

# Mulholland Drive ( Universal ) : Before it veers off the road and becomes a lurid and lascivious ( David ) Lynchian lesbian sex fantasy, Mulholland Drive is a bizarre and refreshing tribute to and parody of film noir and the young innocent's arrival in Hollywood. Lampooning Hollywood ( actors and actresses, directors, movie studios ) is a little like biting the hand that feeds, but it must have tasted awfully good. In addition to all of the fresh faces on-screen...Justin Theroux as filmmaker Adam, Naomi Watts as just-off-the-bus Betty, and Laura Elena Harring as the mysterious mystery woman Rita...writer/ director Lynch serves up a heaping portion of Ann Miller as, alternately, Betty's landlady and Adam's mother, looking like she's ready for her close-up. Just when you think that the mysteries have been solved, Lynch throws in a lesbian landslide and opens a Pandora's Box that may leave you more puzzled than pleased. Scale of 1 to 10: 7.5