Even after 22 years, the organizers of Reeling: The Chicago Lesbian and Gay International Film Festival, still have a knack for programming a fascinating, wide-reaching and appealing variety of films, with gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and questioning themes, into the schedule. Full-length features, documentaries and short films from Britain, France, Italy, Canada, Norway, Greece, India, Ireland, Spain and Germany will be showing alongside several films from the U.S., including a number with direct connections to the host city of Chicago itself.
Sexy and promiscuous Christian (Wesley A. Ramsey) has his world turned upside down when Mormon missionary Aaron (Steve Sandvoss) moves into his building in Latter Days. When he isn't waiting tables at Lila's, the restaurant owned by Lila (Jacqueline Bisset), he's putting notches on his headboard or hanging out with best friend, singer and fellow waiter Julie (Rebekah Johnson). But his curiosity gets the best of him and after striking up a friendship with Aaron, Christian makes a bet that he can get Aaron into bed. The challenge is easier than Christian expects because Aaron is questioning his sexuality. When the other missionaries with whom he shares a flat, including the homophobic Ryder (Joseph Gordon-Leavitt) find Aaron kissing Christian, he is sent back home, where his father, a big-wig in the church, practically disowns him. Even Aaron's mother Gladys (the always amazing Mary Kay Place) doesn't know how to deal with him, leading to a suicide attempt. There is a happy ending, however, which I won't reveal, that did give Latter Days something of a radiant glow.
Tipping The Velvet, is a three-part BBC drama based on lesbian novelist Sarah Waters's award-winning novel of the same name. Set in the late 19th century, Tipping The Velvet (a period phrase for cunnilingus), begins in a seaside town where Nan (Rachael Stirling) lives with her family. Tony (Dean Lennox Kelly), the theatrically employed boyfriend of her sister Alice (Monica Dolan), introduces Nan to Kitty (Keeley Hawes), a performer on whom she has developed a crush. When Kitty leaves for London, Nan accompanies her and they begin a sexual relationship. Kitty breaks Nan's heart when she becomes involved with a man, which leads Nan on an exotic and erotic journey. While working as a cross-dressing streetwalker, she moves into a rooming house across the street of a woman named Florence (Jodhi May), who she suspects is just like her. But one night, when Nan is almost raped, she is discovered and rescued by well-to-do lesbian Diana (Anna Chancellor). Their relationship is extremely dysfunctional, and when it comes to an abrupt end, Nan finds herself homeless. She seeks out Florence, who is living with her brother and the infant son of Florence's former lover, and makes herself indispensable to them. Just as Nan feels like she is home at last, Kitty reappears to complicate things. Who will Nan choose? If you haven't read the book, you will have to watch this period piece to find out the answer.
The 'event' of the movie The Event's title is the farewell party and ensuing assisted suicide of Matt (Don McKellar), a young gay man whose struggle with AIDS has reached a critical turning point. Told in flashbacks, the movie follows the investigation of Matt's death by District Attorney Nick (Parker Posey). As she questions AIDS-care worker Brian (Brent Carver), unstable lesbian therapist Mona (Jane Leeves), loose-lipped drag performer Rory (Rejean Joseph Cournoyer), and members of Matt's family, including his sisters Gabrielle (Joanna P. Adler) and Dana (Sarah Polley), and mother Lila (Olympia Dukakis), among others, details of the 'event' are revealed. At the same time, Nick must come to term with aspects of her own father's death that she had repressed. Gay director Thom Fitzgerald (The Hanging Garden, Beefcake and others), who co-wrote the screenplay, gives the film a grainy, low-budget feel, while eliciting big-budget performances from Dukakis and Polley, whose portrayals of grief-stricken relatives are at the heart of this touching tearjerker.
Director and cast-member, Michele Mahoney, is the person behind the gender-bending super-eight burlesque The Undergrad. Based on the acclaimed 1967 Mike Nichols film The Graduate, Mahoney and her all-female cast of drag kings and artists have constructed an entertaining and thought-provoking homage. Ben (Sam Stalling) is at a crossroads in terms of his future plans, and the best advice he is given by a friend of his parents is 'latex' (a reference to the 'plastics' line in The Graduate). Another family friend, Mrs. Robinson (Barbara DeGenevieve), pays Ben a visit looking for 'smoke.' She then tells him that he is 'a spoiled boy, a bad boy,' and giving him her card, offers to punish him when he is ready. Later, Ben gets a motel room, which must be seen to be believed, at Fullerton and California and calls Mrs. Robinson to meet him. When Mrs. Robinson spanks Ben, she tells him it is 'for the sandwich bed' and the 'coffee cup hot tub' (no kidding!). Meanwhile, at the office, Ben's father (Diane Torr) and Mr. Robinson (Mahoney) discuss Ben's potential homosexual leanings, fixing Ben up with the Robinson's gay son Alan (Kristin Lohr), and their own 'repressed tendencies.' Ben and Alan do go out on a date, but Alan is more interested in his Log Cabin Republican boyfriend Jon (Kelley Hayes), whom he plans to marry, and Ben can't stop thinking of Mrs. Robinson. With multiple references to the original film and even a choreographed dance number in a men's bathroom, The Undergrad appears bound for the head of the class.
It's 1963, shortly before the assassination of John F. Kennedy, and Harvard English professor Arthur Knight (Will Lyman) is having a secret affair with his teaching assistant Will (Alexander Chaplin of Spin City fame) in Alma Mater. Knight, who is married to Gwen (Cady McClain), a woman obsessed with Jackie Kennedy, was JFK's roommate when they were at Harvard, and is stuck with that as his claim to fame. We are also introduced to Molly (Kate Super) a student of Knight's who desperately wants his approval, and Charlie (Andrew van den Houten), who is in love with Molly and desperate to get her attention, as well as Molly's frat boy boyfriend Andrew (Michael Bederman) and his sister Eleanor (Faran Krentcil), who has a crush on Charlie. Alma Mater looks at what was supposed to be a simpler time and reveals the period's own complexities and peculiarities at a pace that simply moved too slowly.
A combination of incredibly pretentious writing and bad acting, make Blind Spot a movie that viewers would be wise to turn a blind eye to. Sure, the movie does star incredibly hot James Franco as Danny, a young man in love with the troublemaking Darcy (Morgan H. Margolis). But the insufferable narration (provided by Danny) and the ridiculous dialogue spoken by Darcy's abandoned girlfriend April (Shawn Montgomery) and Jarvis (Steve Ferguson), who are also looking for Darcy, but for different reasons, will have you seeing spots before the movie comes to an end.
Well-regarded lesbian documentary filmmaker Dee Mosbacher returns with musical and informative Radical Harmonies. Consisting of interviews with women from all phases of the women's music world and a generous assortment of vintage and contemporary performance footage, Mosbacher has created this labor of love that is a cause for celebration for both women and men who value and appreciate the work and pioneering spirit of the performers, organizers and inspirations for this movement. Among the interviewees you will find Amy Ray, Alix Dobkin, Holly Near, Susan Abod, June Millington, Hazel Dickens, Judy Dlugacz, Kristin Lems, Ferron, JEB, Nancy Vogl, Ginny Berson, Robin Tyler, Gwen Avery, Mary Watkins, Margie Adam, the late Kay Gardner, Cris Williamson, Linda Tillery, Judith Casselberry, Sue Fink, Terry Grant, Laurie Fuchs, Ani DiFranco, Bonnie J. Morris and many others. Tracing the evolution of women's music from social protest and civil-rights activism to the founding of women's record labels and music festivals, Mosbacher has a genuine respect for the movement and allows the documentary to unfold and blossom like a field of wildflowers.
With 44 ex-lovers under his belt, 29-year-old Jeremy (Chad Lindsey), the Totally Sexy Loser of the title, is having second thoughts about his current long-term boyfriend, flight attendant Chip (Mark DeWhitt). Jeremy, who believes that he is incapable of love, complains to his friend and co-worker Gretchen (Amy Gollnick), that he has a habit of getting involved with 'damaged people,' and that he 'finds mental illness hot.' Self-obsessed Jeremy is really the damaged one (and not that totally sexy, either), and he tells Chip that he wants to break up after they have sex. Chip, who has a history of suicide, doesn't want the relationship to end and finds ways to keep them together. We see the story of their romance through a series of flashbacks and also the way their friends, exes, new acquaintances and neighbors relate to the duo during their rough patch. Totally Sexy Loser is most notable for its honest and natural dialogue, even if the actors' performances don't rise to the level of the words they are given to speak.
More reviews to follow next week.
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REELING 2003:
The 22nd Chicago Lesbian and Gay International Film Festival
FESTIVAL HOTLINE: 鵸) 458.9117. Online: www.chicagofilmmakers.org/reeling.
Tix Phone: Monday-Friday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. at 齅) 293-1447 (or online any time).
Walk-Up: Monday-Friday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturday, noon to 5 p.m. at Chicago Filmmakers, 5243 N. Clark St.
DAY OF SHOW TICKETS: Only available for purchase at the theater box office beginning 30 minutes prior to the first screening of the day. Cash only.
TICKET PRICES: Regular Evening Screenings at Landmark: $9. Regular Evening Screenings at Chicago Filmmakers: $7. Matinee Screenings at all venues (prior to 5 p.m.): $6.
SPECIAL ADMISSIONS: Opening Night Film, Reception and After-screening Party: $25.
Tipping the Velvet Party (includes free screening of the film): $20
Closing Night Film and Party: $20.
Ticketholders: You must be in the theatre 10 minutes before the film's published start time or they reserve the right to sell your seat in the event of a sell-out.
VENUES: The Music Box Theatre, 3733 N. Southport Avenue.
Landmark's Century Centre Cinema: 2828 N. Clark St.
Chicago Filmmakers, 5243 N. Clark St.
OPENING NIGHT: Thursday, Nov. 6, Music Box Theater, Kick-off Party, Screening of Latter Days by C. Jay Cox, After-Screening Reception at High Risk Gallery, 1113 W. Belmont.
TIPPING THE VELVET BURLESQUE RECEPTION, Friday, Nov. 7, Landmark's Century Centre Cinema, 7 p.m. Screening of Tipping the Velvet, Parts 1 & 2, 9-11 p.m., Burlesque Reception at Curl Up and Dye, 2837 N. Clark St.
THE UNDERGRAD WORLD PREMIERE PARTY, Saturday, Nov. 8, Landmark's Century Centre Cinema, 11 p.m. Screening of The Undergrad, 12 p.m. Premiere Party at Spin Nightclub, 800 W. Belmont Ave. Join director Michele Mahoney and cast and crew members from the Chicago Kings as they celebrate the world premier of their gender-twisting send-off of the 1967 The Graduate.
CLOSING NIGHT: Thursday, Nov. 13, Landmark's Century Centre Cinema, 8 p.m. Screening of Blue Citrus Hearts by Morgan Jon Fox, 10:30 p.m. Closing Night party Hydrate Nightclub, 3641 N. Halsted St.
Other Festival programs include:
Friday, Nov. 7, At Landmark Cinema , 9:15 p.m.: You'll Get Over It, Fabrice Cazeneuve, France. Charming and handsome high school student Vincent seemingly has it all—he's the star of the swim team, an A student, and has a cute girlfriend. What everyone doesn't know is that he also has a twenty-something guy on the side.
Friday, Nov. 7, Chicago Filmmakers, 7 p.m., A World of Love, Aurelio Grimaldi, Italy. Controversial Italian filmmaker Pier Paolo Pasolini's early years as a literature professor in a small village are poetically realized in this strikingly beautiful and dreamy film.
Friday, Nov. 7, Chicago Filmmakers, 8:45 p.m., Dangerous Living: Coming Out in the Developing World, John Scagliotti, U.S. Narrated by Janeane Garofalo, this documentary about the emerging movement to end atrocities against GLBT people in the Global South centers on the story of the Cairo 52— a group of men arrested, tortured, and imprisoned for simply gathering at a discotheque on the river Nile. Occurrences of oppression in Honduras and Kenya are counter-pointed by the uplifting story of a transgendered Thai kick boxer and the emotions of the 2002 Gay Games in Sydney. Through interviews and personal accounts, director John Scagliotti finds human-rights violations and other dire conditions in Honduras, Samoa, India, Namibia, Pakistan, and Vietnam. 62 min
Preceded by: Less Than Human, Diana Volbeda, The Netherlands. A chilling look at the involvement of the police in gay-bashing incidents in Ecuador, Turkey, Zimbabwe, and the U.S. The U.S. footage is drawn from two Chicago cases being worked on by Amnesty International and the Chicago Anti-Bashing Network: those of Jeffrey Lyons and Kentin Waits. 36 min
Friday, Nov. 7, Chicago Filmmakers, 10:45 p.m., Supercamp Shorts. These shorts are loaded with music and style.
Saturday, Nov. 8, Landmark Cinema, 1 p.m., Robin's Hood, Sara Millman, U.S. When Robin, a beautiful and conscientious social worker falls in love with Brooklyn, the daughter of a French prostitute and a Brooklyn-born convict, social justice takes a fast-paced, dangerous, and philanthropic turn. In this hip, Oakland-based adaptation of the famous legend, first-time director Sara Millman and writer/actress Khahtee V. Turner team up with a great cast for a hot, interracial love affair that irreverently rips the system and all its hypocrisies.
Saturday, Nov. 8, Landmark Cinema, 3 p.m., We Know What Boys Like. Shorts for the guys.
Saturday, Nov. 8, Landmark Cinema, 5 p.m., Laughing Matters, Andrea Meyerson, U.S. This hilarious docucomedy showcases four unique veteran performers—each from different ethnic and economic backgrounds. Yet all of these women have two things in common: Each is a professional stand-up comedian, and all have been out lesbians for the entire duration of their careers. Celebrated comedians Kate Clinton, Marga Gomez, Suzanne Westenhoefer, and Karen Williams have followed their hearts as performers. 60 min
Preceded by: Straight Sex, Mouncey Ferguson III, U.S. Two old friends, a gay man and a lesbian, try to get pregnant the 'old-fashioned' way. 8 min
Saturday, Nov. 8, Landmark Cinema, 7 p.m. Dyke Delicious Shorts. A frolicsome feast of tasty film hors d'oeuvres, these seven shorts range from sweet and low to tart and tangy.
Saturday, Nov. 8, Landmark Cinema, 9 p.m. The Event, From the director of The Hanging Garden comes this dark, yet deeply moving exploration of the unconventional ways we celebrate life and death.
Saturday, Nov. 8, Chicago Filmmakers, 11 a.m. A Day on the Force Ronit Bezalel, Laurie Little, and Sree Nallamothu, U.S. Features Chicago's first professional women's tackle football team, The Chicago Force.
Saturday, Nov. 8, Chicago Filmmakers, 12:30 p.m. AlternaQueer Shorts
Saturday, Nov. 8, Chicago Filmmakers, 2 p.m., School's Out: The Life of a Gay High School in Texas, Jeremy Simmons, U.S.
Saturday, Nov. 8, Chicago Filmmakers, 4 p.m. Pandemic: Facing AIDS, Rory Kennedy, U.S. A haunting panorama of the growing pandemic of AIDS around the world, this is one of the most moving and important documentaries of our time.
Saturday, Nov. 8, Chicago Filmmakers, 6:30 p.m. Boys Coming Together Shorts.
Saturday, Nov. 8, Chicago Filmmakers, 8:30 p.m. Hooked, Todd Ahlberg, U.S. Gay online cruising is a phenomenon that is growing almost as rapidly as the web itself.
Sunday, Nov. 9, Landmark Cinema, 12 p.m. Close to Leo, Christoph Honoré, France. Leo's close-knit family has always been accepting of his homosexuality, but their love is tested when he tells them he has HIV.
Sunday, Nov. 9, Landmark Cinema, 1:30 p.m. On the Down Low. Tadeo Garcia, U.S. Set in Chicago's Little Village, On the Down Low is a new feature based on local filmmaker Tadeo Garcia's award-winning short Broken Warning. On the Down Low is the explosive story of the relationship between Isaac and Angel, two young Latinos involved in a South Side Chicago gang. The decisions these men make and the paths they each take create a trap for them in a community where rules can't be broken and secrets won't be tolerated. With characters that defy stereotyping, and a surprising tenderness, the film is an unconventional look at life in the hood.
Sunday, Nov. , Landmark Cinema, 3:30 p.m. Tipping the Velvet, Part 3.
Sunday, Nov. 9, Landmark Cinema, 5:15 p.m. Kevin's Room: Part 2—Trust, Sharon Zurek and Lora Branch, U.S. World Premiere. Just how far will one go for love? That is the ultimate question for the six main characters. Kevin leads a support group for gay men of color whose lives are tested by the big-ticket trust items: honesty, fidelity, barebacking, living with HIV and much more. The second installment of the highly successful film will answer questions that left viewers of the first Kevin's Room episode hanging on to the edge of their seats. 60 min
More schedule and reviews next week.
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Pictured: #1 Martin Luther King, Jr., and Bayard Rustin in Brother Outsider: The Life of Bayard Rustin, which screens Tuesday, Nov. 11 at Landmark Cinema, 6 p.m.
Pictured: #2 Tipping the Velvet.
Pictured: #3 On the Down Low. Sunday, Nov. 9, Landmark Cinema, 1:30 p.m.
