Reverend's Reviews: Love is On the Screen

Valentine’s Day is here, and Cupid has his bow and arrows ready.  Some of us hope to be struck, while some of us may do everything we can to dodge his arsenal, but there is no doubt that love will be in the air.

Lots of people turn to romantic movies this time of year for both encouragement and solace, which got me thinking about those LGBT-themed films that can be considered the most romantic.  I have my personal preferences but I also enlisted the help of nearly thirty gay and lesbian Facebook friends to identify their favorites.

The notion of romantic movies geared toward our community is actually fairly recent, with few such films made before the 1990’s.  Pioneering productions in this regard include Midnight Cowboy (1969), Sunday Bloody Sunday (1971), Dog Day Afternoon (1975), Making Love (1982) and My Beautiful Laundrette (1985).  Things really started to change with 1987’s Maurice.  This gorgeous Merchant-Ivory adaptation of E.M. Forster’s autobiographical novel (which Forster refused to allow to be published while he was living) focuses on the repressed feelings shared between two young, upper-class British men.  While their relationship doesn’t endure, the title character is more successful with a dark and handsome groundskeeper (memorably played by Rupert Graves).  Maurice was mentioned by several of my FB friends.

Pre-90’s romantic favorites among the ladies include Silkwood (1983), in which Cher cares for a radiation-exposed Meryl Streep; Desert Hearts (1986), a passionate, 1950’s-set love story between a divorcee and the Nevada ranch hand she meets; and Personal Best (1982), Robert Towne’s graphic-at-the-time exploration of love between two female athletes and the male coach who threatens to come between them.

For many LGBT people, the most cherished romantic movies are coming-of-age stories.  Frequently cited in my survey are 1996’s Beautiful Thing, the British tale of tentative first love between two put-upon high school boys (based on Jonathan Harvey’s hit play); the similar but lesbian-themed The Incredibly True Adventure of 2 Girls in Love (1995); and Get Real (1998), in which a brainy gay boy crushes on his school’s star athlete and finds his attentions reciprocated, at least for a time.  Two of my personal favorites in this subgenre are 1996’s Lilies, about a tortured love triangle in a Catholic school for boys, and Come Undone (2000), a no-holds-barred French drama about two toned and tanned young men who fall in love on the beach during summer vacation.

Love and loss often seem to go hand-in-hand in real life, so it isn’t surprising that a few gay-themed films considered the most romantic also involve death and dying.  The Oscar-winning gay cowboy saga Brokeback Mountain (2005) is the undisputed champ in this regard, and the film resonates even more strongly in the wake of co-star Heath Ledger’s tragic death just a few years after its release.  Other tragic love stories mentioned by my Facebook pals are the revolutionary AIDS dramas Parting Glances (1986) and Longtime Companion (1989), Harvey Fierstein’s Torch Song Trilogy (1988), the fact-based Soldier’s Girl (2003), A Home at the End of the World (2004) and, the most recent of the bunch, Peru’s Undertow (Contracorriente).  I would add here David Lewis’ 2009 film Redwoods, starring gay fave Matthew Montgomery and the beautiful Brendan Bradley as two men who embark on a life-changing relationship that endures beyond death, as well as Tom Ford’s exquisite A Single Man (also 2009).  Colin Firth scored a deserved Academy Award nomination for his moving yet frequently funny turn as a gay university professor grieving the sudden death of his partner.

As if being homosexual, bisexual or trans wasn’t considered unorthodox enough, a few recent movie gems feature unexpected romances between unusual pairings.  From Beginning to End is a 2009 Brazilian film about an Olympics-bound swimmer in love with another man.  The catch?  The two are half-brothers who were raised together from a young age.  So controversial it was never released theatrically in the US, it is worth seeking out on DVD.  And then there’s Plan B from Argentina, in which two heterosexual men bond as friends over one’s messy breakup with his girlfriend (whom the other man is now dating) but ultimately become lovers.  I found this film refreshing in its disdain for sexual labels and very touching in the end.  Finally, 2010’s Paulista, also from Brazil, boasts a male-to-female trans title character who knowingly has an affair with her initially in-the-dark but increasingly vulnerable father.  It isn’t for everyone but some trans viewers may find their dilemma intriguing, to say the least.

Trick, Jeffrey, Fried Green Tomatoes, Yossi & Jagger, The Wedding Banquet, Carrington and Big Eden wrap up the remainder of my Facebook friends’ nominees for most romantic LGBT films of all time, and I agree with most of them.  Wherever you find inspiration, we wish you all a happy Valentine’s Day!

Review by Rev. Chris Carpenter, resident film critic of Movie Dearest, Rage Monthly Magazine and Echo Magazine.

Reverend's Interview: Family Man

Darryl Stephens is well-known among gay men as the star of Noah’s Arc, which aired on Logo from 2005-2007 and was followed by a well-received theatrical movie, Noah’s Arc: Jumping the Broom.  As struggling screenwriter Noah Nicholson, Stephens embodied the many professional and personal challenges endured not only by gay African-Americans but by gay men of all ethnicities.

Stephens is also an accomplished theatre actor, dancer and singer, as I recently learned while researching Stephens’ career prior to interviewing him about his appearance this month in the world premiere of Gary Lennon’s play A Family Thing.  The Echo Theater Company production will run February 16th-March 17th at Stage 52, 5299 W. Washington Blvd. in Los Angeles.

“First and foremost, I wanted to work with Gary,” Stephens said of his decision to do Lennon’s latest work.  Lennon previously authored the acclaimed plays Blackout and 45 (both of which were turned into movies) as well as numerous episodes of TV’s The Shield, The Black Donnellys and Justified.  “I worked with (Lennon) last year on The Interlopers,” Stephens continued, “and he’s really good at writing certain voices and characters.”

In addition to Stephens, A Family Thing stars Saverio Guerra, Johnny Messner and Sean Wing as three brothers raised in New York’s tough Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood.  One of the brothers has just gotten out of prison, another is a struggling drug addict, and the youngest is a gay screenwriter trying to break his family’s cycle of mayhem and betrayal.

“This particular play is to me about people running from the past and confronting their demons,” Stephens reflects.  “It’s about how the further we run from our issues or deny them, the stronger they become.”

Stephens’ own family upbringing was spent in Southern California.  He was born in Pasadena in 1974 and grew up between there and the Altadena area of LA.  He studied sociology and ethnic studies as well as drama and dance at the University of California, Berkeley.  Following graduation, Stephens performed in San Francisco for four years with the cult theatre troupe, Sassymouth.  He then moved back to LA to pursue roles in movies and TV.

I asked Stephens when he first began performing.  “It’s kind of a weird story,” he replied.  “In high school, I was getting weird, not necessarily positive attention in the school yard.  I wasn’t being bullied but it was very awkward for me.  I had a friend in show choir and I started going to practice with him during lunch to avoid the school yard.  The choir director asked me to start singing, which I did and enjoyed, and from then on it snowballed into acting.”

Upon his return to LA, Stephens secured parts in the films Seamless (with Shannon Elizabeth) and Circuit, as well as on episodes of the series Undressed and That’s Life.  Then, writer-director Patrik-Ian Polk noticed the actor and cast him as the lead character in Noah’s Arc.  I asked Stephens whether Noah and his circle of friends are gone for good.

“There was talk of a spinoff series after the movie, which did very well, but we all moved on,” Stephens responded.  “Fans are very enthusiastic about a reunion but it doesn’t look like it’s going to happen.  I hear from fans every single day, and it’s been an amazing experience for me seeing how powerful the representation of these characters was at the time.”

More recently, Stephens had roles in the gay-themed films Another Gay Movie and Boy Culture, and appeared on such popular TV shows as Ugly Betty, Two and a Half Men and Desperate Housewives.   Currently, he can be seen on Logo’s DTLA as well as alongside his fellow Noah’s Arc alumnus, Wilson Cruz, as a gay men’s health professional in Patrik Ian-Polk’s latest movie, The Skinny.  The dramedy about an emotionally- and sexually-charged reunion among a group of former college friends is newly available on DVD.

In speaking with him, it seems that Stephens is most enthusiastic about his work on two other fronts: the page and the stage.  His first novel, Shortcomings, was published last year, and he is currently writing his second novel in addition to “co-writing a couple of screenplays.”

Discussing his recent work on stage, Stephens has a particular fondness for his role in Lennon’s The Interlopers.  “I played a pre-op transgender activist,” he recalls.  “I had never played a character so loud and brassy and I loved flexing my comedy muscle, which I don’t get to do very often.”  Stephens is very much an activist himself when it comes to LGBT concerns.  “I definitely try to keep folks informed about issues that affect our community; I try to represent the community in a positive way.”

In closing, I asked Stephens whether he is satisfied with his career at this point.  “I don’t think an artist can ever really be truly satisfied, but I am happy to be working as an out black gay man,” he said.  “I wouldn’t say I’ve hit my stride yet as an artist but I’m definitely building up to it.”

For more information about A Family Thing or to purchase tickets, visit the Echo Theater Company website or call (877) 369-9112.

Interview by Rev. Chris Carpenter, resident film critic of Movie Dearest and Rage Monthly Magazine.

Reverend’s Reviews: Hearts & Brains

‘Twas the week before Valentine’s Day and all through the Cineplex, several scary creatures were stirring: zombies, giant spiders and, perhaps most terrifying of all, Julianne Hough!

Zombies have replaced vampires as the monsters du jour on movie and TV screens, largely due to the massive success of AMC’s The Walking Dead.  Adding welcome doses of romance (yes, really) and humor to the genre is the current Warm Bodies.  Clearly targeted at the tween fans of the recently concluded Twilight Saga (and released by the same studio), it depicts the blossoming love of an undead boy for the ex-girlfriend of the guy whose brain he just ate.  Brains have been zombies’ chief dietary staple since at least 1985’s Return of the Living Dead, and Warm Bodies proposes a novel hypothesis that zombies inherit the memories of the living.

British actor Nicholas Hoult plays R., a bored “walker” who spends his days wandering the remains of a decimated airport and collecting mementoes from the pre-apocalyptic world.  Hoult is memorable as the sexually-questioning student who befriends Colin Firth’s gay professor in A Single Man and also headlines next month’s big-budget Jack the Giant Slayer, by gay director Bryan Singer.  Here he gives his most endearing performance to date as the fine young cannibal suddenly smitten by Julie (Teresa Palmer, vet of I Am Number Four and The Sorcerer’s Apprentice).  Unbeknownst to R., Julie is the daughter of the living’s leader (a game and very good John Malkovich), who has walled off their city from the zombie-infested world and has a zero-tolerance policy toward brain-munchers.

The initial, uneasy alliance between R. and Julie grows into a Shakespeare-lite love story complete with a balcony scene.  In the process, R. regains his heartbeat and starts to become human again, as do those fellow zombies who witness his and Julie’s romance.  Unfortunately, this marks them all as menu items for the Boneys, ghastly skeletal creatures (brought to pseudo-life by so-so digital effects) who have completed their zombie transformation and, we’re told, will eat anything with a heartbeat.

Jonathan Levine, who adapted the screenplay from a young adult novel by Isaac Marion and directs, has a definite knack for stories about young people facing life or death situations.  His last film was 2011’s acclaimed 50/50, in which Joseph Gordon-Levitt deals with a cancer diagnosis.  Warm Bodies takes place on a grander scale but is in essence a similar story about a 20-ish guy who steps back from the brink and learns to live, and love, again in the process.  Despite being slow in spots, it has enough gore (albeit minimal given the film’s PG-13 rating) and scares to keep the guys interested while being the rare female-skewing horror movie thanks to its genuinely moving — not to mention beating — heart.

Spiders, which premieres this Friday in numerous L.A.-area theaters and premium Video on Demand, certainly lives up to its title.  Chock-full of supersized arachnids infused with alien DNA who fall to Earth from a crippled, Cold War-era Soviet space station, it evoked for me pleasant childhood memories of watching such "giant monsters on the loose" B-movies as Them!, Tarantula and The Giant Spider Invasion.

When the station crash lands without warning in a New York City subway tunnel, Transit Supervisor Jason Cole (Patrick Muldoon, who previously battled giant bugs in Starship Troopers) understandably suspects a terrorist attack.  The truth soon becomes known once a worker he sends to investigate is killed and military scientists descend on the site.  Most inconveniently, the situation causes Cole to be late for his daughter’s birthday dinner, infuriating his already estranged wife, Rachel (Christa Campbell).  Conveniently, though, Rachel is a city health inspector and she becomes convinced Jason is telling the truth about his excuse for being tardy when dead bodies filled with spider eggs start turning up.  Jason and Rachel find themselves thrust into the major responsibility of not only saving their daughter but everyone else in the Big Apple from the eight-legged horde and their monstrous queen.

Several elements raise Spidersa notch above what could otherwise have been cheap Saturday night programming on the SyFy channel.  Most critical perhaps are the excellent special effects, which make the spiders appear more organic than most digitally-created critters (note how the real parked cars move up and down when the spiders crawl on them).  Another merit is Lorenzo Senatore’s hi-def cinematography.  Finally, the film’s NYC setting looks and feels completely authentic despite the fact that most of it was shot in Bulgaria.

Director and co-writer Tibor Takacs (best known for the pretty bad but beloved-in-some-circles 1987 horror movie The Gate) dispenses with much of a set up to the plot and continue to keep things moving along throughout. There are worse ways to spend 90 minutes than watching Spiders; just wait ‘til Julianne Hough arrives next week in the sure-to-be-sappy Safe Haven.

Reverend’s Ratings:

Warm Bodies: B

Spiders: B-

Review by Rev. Chris Carpenter, resident film critic of Movie Dearest, Rage Monthly Magazine and Echo Magazine.

Reverend’s Reviews: Skinny, Wise & Out

This time of year is generally regarded as the doldrums at local movie theaters, Oscar contenders aside.  Fortunately, there are several new DVD releases of interest to gay viewers, if of mixed quality:

The Skinny
From Breaking Glass Pictures/QC Cinema
Reverend’s Rating: B-
The latest from Noah’s Arc creator Patrik-Ian Polk is a dramedy centered on five college friends (four gay men and a lesbian) who reunite in NYC over Pride weekend.  Their host, Magnus (former child star Jussie Smollett from The Mighty Ducks, all grown up and cuter than ever), uncovers secrets about his boyfriend’s behavior while Sebastian (Blake Young-Fountain) plots to lose his virginity to the promiscuous Kyle (Anthony Burrell) before their time together is over.  The film is more explicit than previous Polk productions but also more heavy-handed than usual, especially when it comes to talk about STDs and bottom-training/-cleansing.  Welcome cameo appearances are made by Noah’s Arc alumni Darryl Stephens and Wilson Cruz.

The Wise Kids
From Wolfe Video
Reverend’s Rating: B+
This thoughtful coming-of-age drama with a religious bent racked up numerous awards on the LGBT film festival circuit over the last two years.  A trio of high school seniors, including gay Tim (the talented Tyler Ross, who has more recently starred in the indie hit Nate & Margaret), experience tensions and revelations while working on their Southern Baptist church’s Christmas program.  Refreshingly humane and non-hysterical, the movie was written and directed by Stephen Cone (In Memoriam), who also plays the students’ closeted pastor.

Luna Park
From Ariztical Entertainment
Reverend’s Rating: C
An unusual plot entailing a successful, female producer of erotica, her many secrets, and the stable of hot gay porn actors in her employ.  Although Alexia (Laura Reilly) and her company are based in New York, her younger brother Christi (who is gay, mute and played by Taylor Caldwell) has essentially been banished to the title apartment community in Fullerton, California.  When Christi gets into trouble with some other tenants, Alexia dispatches her trusted assistant Maxwell (former Calvin Klein model Michael Brent) to keep an eye on him.  It isn’t long before a decidedly non-professional relationship develops between Maxwell and Christi.  Writer-director Steven Vasquez employs considerable full-frontal nudity as well as some stylish touches that are all the more impressive given the film’s obviously low budget.  On the negative side, the acting quality is inconsistent, there are some continuity gaffes regarding clothing/costumes, and a distasteful incest subplot eventually figures in.  Still, a unique film all in all.

Out in the Open
From Breaking Glass Pictures/QC Cinema
Reverend’s Rating: D
A disappointingly dated and tedious documentary about the coming out process of various gay celebs, despite the promising participation of Carson Kressley, Greg Louganis, Eric Roberts and his wife (who aren’t gay but apparently have a briefly-mentioned lesbian daughter), and American Idol/Tarzan on Broadway star Josh Strickland.  They reveal little that we didn’t already know, and the movie is hampered by a faux 1950’s framing device about “the horrors of the homosexual lifestyle.”  Director Matthew Smith, who doubles as one of the film’s subjects, may have broken ground with this approach 10-15 years ago but now it just seems embarrassingly retro. To top it all off, the film’s music score is repetitive and irritating.

Review by Rev. Chris Carpenter, resident film critic of Movie Dearest, Rage Monthly Magazine and Echo Magazine.

Reverend’s Reviews: Around the World with the Fab Five

It is hard to imagine Jules Verne’s classic 1873 novel Around the World in 80 Days, with its globe-trotting storyline and cast of thousands, being effectively adapted for the stage.  It’s even harder to imagine a meager cast of five actors assaying all the adventure tale’s characters.  Playwright Mark Brown and Long Beach’s International City Theatre (ICT) haven’t only taken both of these unexpected routes but have succeeded near-brilliantly with them.

The plot is fairly well-known, if not from actually reading Verne’s novel than from one of several movie or TV versions, most notably Mike Todd’s Oscar-winning 1956 production.  Punctuality-obsessed British gentleman Phileas Fogg accepts a wager that he can travel completely around the globe in 1,920 hours — if not less — following his departure from London.  He takes with him his newly-hired manservant Passepartout, and together they navigate a route utilizing a combination of trains, steamer ships and even elephants (though not hot air balloon, which Todd’s film added).  The pair encounter a detective who suspects Fogg of being a thief, religious cultists, a pretty Indian princess with whom the impenetrable Fogg becomes semi-smitten, a rootin’-tootin’ cowboy and marauding Apaches in the prairies of the US, and a variety of other residents of the countries through which they travel.

ICT’s fantastically talented cast of five brings approximately 40 of these characters to vivid life during the play’s 135-minute running time.  Jud V. Williford is appropriately taciturn throughout as Fogg, whereas Michael Uribes primarily plays Passepartout but also a number of supporting roles.  As the lone female, Melinda Porto naturally plays Princess Aouda while also portraying a comical variety of other female and male parts.  Mark Gagliardi, who is well-known in southern California as the current Genie in Aladdin: A Musical Spectacular at Disney's California Adventure, proves himself an accomplished master not only of physical comedy but of a diversity of international accents.  Rounding out the cast is Brian Stanton, very funny as the wily-in-his-own-mind detective tracking Fogg and any number of other roles.  On opening night, Stanton and Gagliardi brought the house down with hilarious improv when one of Stanton's mutton chops fell off mid-scene.

This Los Angeles area production was directed by Allison Bibicoff, who served as Assistant Choreographer and Associate Producer of Broadway's Tony-nominated Xanadu.  Her playful spirit gives the production a decidedly tongue-in-cheek approach; it would seem the script could be performed most seriously as well.  Bibicoff and set designer Staci Walters here employ an ingenious wall depicting Fogg's trip route that also contains hidden drawers and a series of Laugh In-like windows through which props appear and characters speak.  The period-perfect costumes were designed by ICT resident Kim DeShazo.

Splendid entertainment for adults, teens and school-age children, Around the World in 80 Days runs in Long Beach through February 17th.  To purchase tickets or for more information, visit the International City Theatre website.

Meanwhile, another, real-life “Fab Five” is currently making an appearance on the considerably larger stage of LA’s Ahmanson Theatre, where Backbeat is having its US premiere through March 1st.  Based on Iain Softley’s 1994 movie about the formational years of The Beatles, it is an uneven, occasionally inert production (especially during the first act) but not without its merits.  These are primarily the excellent quintet of young actor-musicians who play the five founding members of what would become one of the world’s greatest bands: Andrew Knott, as domineering ringmaster John Lennon; Daniel Healy, possessed of a lovely singing voice, as Paul McCartney; Daniel Westwick as George Harrison; Oliver Bennett as drummer Pete Best, who would find himself dumped in favor of Ringo Starr; and Nick Blood (cool, toned and shirtless as often as possible) as Stuart Sutcliffe, an aspiring painter who left The Beatles just as the band's fame was exploding in 1962 and tragically died shortly after of a brain hemorrhage.

Backbeat is essentially constructed around a speculative love triangle between Sutcliffe, Lennon and Astrid Kirchherr, a German photographer with whom Sutcliffe did become romantically involved.  The more speculative part is the depth of Lennon's feelings for his longtime best friend, although Lennon's widow Yoko Ono would remark that "hardly a day went by that John did not talk about (Sutcliffe)."  Leanne Best, as Kirchherr, has little to do in the role other than be the camera-toting woman who came between the two erstwhile artist-friends, but then character development isn't this show's strong suit when it comes to virtually all the pop-culture figures portrayed.  Any younger viewers with little advance knowledge of The Beatles' members will likely wonder what all the fuss was about.

The book by Softley and Stephen Jeffreys covers the three-year period during which the boys groomed their sound and, eventually, themselves between Liverpool, London and "decadent" nightclubs in Hamburg.  The second of these German clubs provides the show with some needed style and diversity, populated as it is with drag queens and kings, a leather-suited gay dancer, and a tuxedoed, Cabaret-esque MC.  Five-time Tony Award nominee David Leveaux directs the proceedings with some visual flair, high decibels during the songs and, in Act II, some heavy-handed but nonetheless welcome emotional wallops that the first act sorely lacks.

Songs from The Beatles catalog comprise the show's score, including such classics as "Love Me Do", "She Loves You", "I Want to Hold Your Hand" and "Twist and Shout".  If the volume is more often than not excessive, I appreciated the free-wheeling feel and lack of obvious choreography during the musical moments.  Those who go to see Backbeat expecting an upbeat "Jukebox musical" crafted on Beatles songs will likely be disappointed.  There's some "dark night of the soul" stuff going on here when it comes to the conflicts that can arise among friends/lovers who are simultaneously heeding the call to be artists, all played out against a frequently seedy backdrop.  By the time band manager Brian Epstein and producer George Martin enter the picture in Act II, one may understandably conclude that The Beatles sold their souls to the devil.  Thankfully, this show's talented cast members don't have to do so.

For more information about Backbeat or to purchase tickets for the LA production, visit the Center Theatre Group website.

Reverend’s Ratings:

Around the World in 80 Days: A-

Backbeat: B-

Review by Rev. Chris Carpenter, resident film critic of Movie Dearest, Rage Monthly Magazine and Echo Magazine.

Reverend’s Reviews: Paradise Lost & Found

The plight of the “West Memphis Three,” a trio of then-teenagers railroaded by the courts and public opinion and ultimately convicted of the murders of three 8-year old boys in Arkansas in 1993, has been well-documented previously in HBO’s Paradise Lostseries.  However, a stunning series of new developments in the case over the last few years inspired director Amy Berg (Deliver Us From Evil) to pick up the torch, resulting in West of Memphis (now playing nationwide courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics).  Berg and the film received major backing from Lord of the Ringsand Hobbit producers Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh as well as from rocker Eddie Vedder, who had all become convinced of the now-adult prisoners’ innocence.

Horribly killed and possibly abused sexually in the process, news of the boys’ murders rightly shocked locals and much of the US when originally reported.  Though two of the boys’ parents were early suspects, suspicion quickly settled on three young men in the community who better fit their neighbors’ stereotypical image of would-be killers.  Damien Wayne Echols, Jessie Miskelley and Jason Baldwin were social misfits who kept to themselves, wore dark clothing and listened to heavy metal music.  Rumors swirled that satanic worship, animal abuse and homosexual relations (horrors!) were practiced among the three.  The court of public opinion found them guilty long before a jury did so, even though the start of the teenagers’ trial was rushed in comparison with similar cases.

Lorri Davis, initially Echols’ pen pal and now his wife, became convinced that the three had not committed the murders.  As Davis pushed for a new investigation with the benefit of now-routine DNA testing of evidence, she also began an e-mail correspondence with producer Walsh that led to documentation of her and others’ renewed efforts to exonerate Echols, Miskelley and Baldwin.  The three were finally freed in 2012 by pleading “innocent but guilty” via an Arkansas legal quirk rather than the state go through an expensive new trial.

The first third of West of Memphis is largely comprised of a recounting of the crime and trial that will seem overly-familiar to those who have seen any of the Paradise Lost films.  However, the remainder of the new documentary contains shocking new revelations, among them the results of DNA testing of a strand of hair found in the rope with which one of the victims was tied that virtually proves Terry Hobbs, stepfather at the time to one of the boys, was the killer (no DNA linking those convicted to the murders has been found).  Hobbs has yet to be arrested, let alone tried.  Several witnesses in the trial against the West Memphis Three have since recanted their testimony and explain why they did so in West of Memphis.  As one of Echols’ accusers now says in reversing his damning words on the stand and, it should be pointed out, under oath: “He was just a normal kid.”

Berg’s doc is gripping, often infuriating, but in the end hopeful about the ability of the truth and innocence to prevail thanks to the efforts of those who strive against all obstacles to uphold them.  Of his interest in the case, producer Jackson bluntly states, “I have a pathological hatred of bullying; rights must prevail.”  Kudos to him.  What that all multimillionaire filmmakers shared Jackson’s commitment to social justice.  West of Memphis is frequently horrific and heartbreaking but an excellent, engrossing expose.  How did this not get an Oscar nomination for Best Documentary this year?

Paradise found and lost is a central theme in the otherwise completely different Tabu, a new feature by Portuguese writer-director (and former film critic) Miguel Gomes.  From Adopt Films, it opens today at Laemmle’s Royal in West LA and Playhouse 7 in Pasadena before expanding this spring.  The movie is even divided into two parts entitled “A Lost Paradise” and “Paradise.”

In part one, a recent retiree and devout Catholic, Pilar (Teresa Madruga), obsesses over the health and loneliness of her elderly neighbor, Aurora (veteran Portuguese actress Laura Soveral), in post-Christmas Lisbon, 2010. Aurora, meanwhile, is concerned about her distant daughter and Santa, her possibly voodoo-practicing maid (played by Isabel Cardoso).  When Aurora becomes hospitalized on the verge of death, Pilar is dispatched by Santa to retrieve a mysterious elderly man named Ventura from a nursing home so Aurora can see him one last time before she dies.

En route (and during the film’s dialogue-free part two), Ventura relates to Pilar the secret love story shared between him and Aurora fifty years earlier in colonial Africa.  Young Ventura and the married Aurora meet and eventually begin a heated affair.  Carlota Cotta (as Ventura, looking like a 1950’s Brando) and Ana Moreira (as younger Aurora) are lovely and give affecting performances all the more impressive for their silence.  Also worth noting, for gay viewers, is the homoerotic vibe between Ventura and his best friend, Mario (Manuel Mesquita).

For a decades-spanning, country-hopping romance on a low budget, Tabu looks great.  Shot in black & white by Rui Pocas (with help from artistic consultant Silke Fischer), it intentionally evokes in aesthetics, settings and/or plot elements such cinematic classics as Casablanca, The Postman Always Rings Twice, A Streetcar Named Desireand even the original King Kong.  The script includes more direct references to The Snows of Kilimanjaro, Out of Africa (including the line “Aurora had a farm in Africa…”), Jean Renoir’s The River and possibly even the 1999 giant crocodile-Betty White mash-up Lake Placid (Aurora has a certain pet on said farm).  Only an avowed, lifelong movie fan such as the 40-year old Gomes could possibly incorporate such diverse sources of inspiration.

The performances sometimes seem stiff among the women in part one but this may be melodramatically intentional à la acting styles of the 1940’s-50’s.  Gomes remarks in the press notes for Tabu that his latest work is “about the passage of time, about things that disappear and can only exist as memory, phantasmagoria, imagery — or as cinema, which summons and congregates all that.”  Even if Gomes doesn’t succeed 100% at capturing or conveying this, the talented young filmmaker gets credit for trying.

Reverend’s Ratings:

West of Memphis: A-

Tabu: B

Review by Rev. Chris Carpenter, resident film critic of Movie Dearest, Rage Monthly Magazine and Echo Magazine.

Reverend’s Reviews: Gay Goy

Mikael Buch’s Let My People Go!, which is now showing in New York and opening in Los Angeles on January 18th prior to a national rollout, is surely the world’s first Gay-French-Jewish-Finnish movie. Throw in Almodovar regular Carmen Maura (Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, Volver) for a bit of Spanish flavor, and this enjoyably campy comedy becomes even more international/universal.

Sweet but high-strung Reuben (Nicolas Maury) is a French-Jewish postman living idyllically in Finland with his Nordic boyfriend, Teemu (Jarkko Niemi). They met there while Reuben was earning his Master’s in “Comparative Sauna Studies.” The couple’s bliss is shattered one day when Reuben finds himself inexplicably gifted with nearly $200,000 in cash. Teemu, believing the money to be stolen, kicks Reuben out on the eve of Passover, so Reuben returns to his dysfunctional family in Paris for the holiday.

Back in Paris, Reuben has no luck finding solace from his philandering father, deluded mother (Maura, playing French and Jewish convincingly), abused sister or domineering brother. As he pines for Teemu and tries to recover a lost suitcase in which his small fortune is hidden, Reuben falls into one mostly-comical misadventure after another, including an unintended sexual tryst with a much older family friend. Teemu, meanwhile, learns that Reuben was telling the truth about how he got the money and heads to Paris to win his true love back. Will Teemu make it there and mend fences with Reuben in time for Passover dinner?

The screenplay, co-written by Buch and fellow filmmaker Christophe Honore (Love Songs), is occasionally labored but more often witty. As an example of the latter, the film includes a moral debate over a man’s presumed death that quickly gives way to an argument over whether all French actresses are “drama queens.” It also has an early-Almodovar vibe and style to it that is only heightened by Maura’s participation. Buch moves the farcical proceedings along briskly so that, with a running time of 86 minutes, the film doesn’t overstay its welcome.

I also appreciated how Let My People Go! likens the gay experiences of oppression and coming out to the history of the Jewish people as recounted in the Old Testament book of Exodus in a generally light-hearted way, including a Passover-themed “Coming Out of Egypt” dance party at a gay club. Also, Reuben refers to his suddenly Job-like life as “one big Jewish joke.” In the end, the film succinctly but potently sums up the meaning of Passover: “We’re free; We’ve suffered enough.” Now who — gay, Jewish or gay and Jewish — can argue with that?

Reverend’s Rating: B

Review by Rev. Chris Carpenter, resident film critic of Movie Dearest, Rage Monthly Magazine and Echo Magazine.

Reverend's Reviews: Road Movie

Numerous filmmakers have attempted over the decades to bring Jack Kerouac’s Beat Generation classic On the Road to the big screen.  Walter Salles, who hit it big with The Motorcycle Diaries in 2004, has finally done so.  I hesitate, though, to say that he has succeeded with his adaptation.  It is well-cast, with relative newcomer Garrett Hedlund (Tron: Legacy) and Twilight star Kristen Stewart revealing previously unseen emotional depths.  The film also boasts a number of cameo appearances by such big name actors as Terrence Howard, Amy Adams, Viggo Mortensen, Kirsten Dunst and, in a surprising gay turn, Steve Buscemi.

Kerouac’s novel is autobiographical and deeply personal, which can be difficult to translate to film.  Indeed, trying to “open up” the source material to make it more accessible while remaining true to the author’s rebellious spirit is what stymied most of Salles’ predecessors.  Also, much of the narrative is comprised of road trips that naturally take place in the cinematically-unfriendly confines of cars.  Salles and screenwriter Jose Rivera achieve decidedly mixed results.  On the Road is a great-looking production thanks to Eric Gautier’s beautiful photography of an array of American landscapes, but much of it remains interior and inert.

On the plus side, the movie features considerable gay and bisexual content.  Hedlund’s character, Dean, has sex with women and men (including the aforementioned Buscemi), and occasionally with both at the same time.  Tom Sturridge plays the poetic, defiantly gay Carlo Marx (a stand-in for Kerouac’s friend, fellow beat writer Allen Ginsberg), who doesn’t hide his attraction to Dean and ultimately helps Dean embrace his bisexuality.  Subsequently, gay viewers with an interest in classic American literature may best appreciate On the Road.

Reverend's Rating: C+

Review by Rev. Chris Carpenter, resident film critic of Movie Dearest, Rage Monthly Magazine and Echo Magazine.

Reverend’s Reaction: The 85th Annual Oscar Nominations

The early morning announcement of each year’s AcademyAward nominees has historically been a brief, dignified affair.  Yesterday’s live-from-Hollywood event, though, could best be described as unprecedentedly rollicking.  Writer-comedian-singer Seth MacFarlane (who will also host the awards presentation on February 24th, making him the first to perform announcer-host double duty since Charlton Heston did so way back in 1972) and actress Emma Stone brought a welcome tongue-in-cheek vibe to the formerly straightforward affair with their funny commentary on various nominees.  They also poked fun at themselves and one another; Stone’s reaction to MacFarlane comparing her to Meryl Streep was priceless.  Whether all longtime Academy members approve of the new approach remains to be seen but I believe it generally bodes well for next month’s show, which is being produced by gay dynamic duo Neil Meron and Craig Zadan of Smash, Hairsprayand Chicagofame.

As is the case every year, there were snubs and surprises when the nominations are compared to prognosticators’ predictions.  The biggest upset was in the Achievement in Directing category, where anticipated nominees Ben Affleck (Argo), Kathryn Bigelow (Zero Dark Thirty) and Tom Hooper (Les Miserables) were sidelined by Michael Haneke and Benh Zeitlin for their superb Amour and Beasts of the Southern Wild,respectively.  While I have yet to see Bigelow’s controversial take on the hunt for Osama Bin Laden, I can’t say I’m surprised by Hooper’s omission for his no less controversial (at least in movie-musical and musical theatre circles) of Les Miz.

I’m personally delighted by the recognition of Amour and Beasts(which were numbers 2 and 3 on my best of 2012 list) not only in the direction category but among this year’s nine nominees for Best Picture.  Amour also has the rare distinction of simultaneously being up for Best Foreign Language Film, which it will almost certainly win.  Six of the other Best Picture nominees were essentially sure things (Lincoln, Life of Pi, Argo, Silver Linings Playbook, Zero Dark Thirty and Les Miserables) but ninth nominee Django Unchainedrepresented something of a wild card.  While Django is being debated heavily for its graphic depiction of slavery and 19th century racial politics, writer-director Quentin Tarantino obviously remains beloved by many Academy members.  He is up for Best Original Screenplay, and Djangowas also nominated for its cinematography, sound editing, and terrific supporting performance by Christoph Waltz.

Waltz is a prior Oscar winner and, as Stone and MacFarlane didn’t hesitate to remind everyone, so is every nominee in the Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role category this year.  The others are Tommy Lee Jones for his scenery-chewing turn in Lincoln, Philip Seymour Hoffman as The Master’sdebauched religious guru, Alan Arkin for his memorable turn (primarily due to his movie-producer character’s unprintable, signature line) in Argo and Robert DeNiro, who admittedly gave what I consider his most purely enjoyable performance in years in Silver Linings Playbook.  The Best Supporting Actress category likewise includes two past winners (Sally Field as Mary Todd in Lincoln and Helen Hunt as The Sessions’ vulnerable sex therapist), whereas the remaining three are all former nominees: Anne Hathaway, short-lived and histrionic in Les Miz but virtually guaranteed to win; Amy Adams, who gave what I consider the best performance in The Master; and Australian actress Jacki Weaver as the well-meaning mom in Silver Linings Playbook.

There are few surprises among this year’s candidates for Best Actor and Actress in a Leading Role, although Denzel Washington may be to some.  But to those of us who saw Flight,his nomination likely seems most deserved.  I haven’t always admired Washington’s work, finding an often imperious air in many of his performances, but said imperiousness works well here in light of his alcoholic pilot’s battle with inner demons. Washington does in Flight what I believe to be the most truthful work of his career to date.  Meanwhile, nominee Naomi Watt’s performance in The Impossiblestrikes me as overrated, especially since her character spends half the movie in a coma.  I’m pleased, though, with the recognition of little spitfire Quvenzhane Wallis as Beasts’ Hushpuppy and Emmanuelle Riva as the dying wife in Amour, who also represent the youngest and oldest nominees ever in Oscar’s lead actress category.  They, along with Les Miz's Hugh Jackman and Silver Linings' Bradley Cooper, are the only first time nominees among all four acting categories this year.

More categories were announced than usual during yesterday’s nominations event, though not all.  Time and space also prohibit me from examining every category today.  I do, however, want to give a very grateful shout-out to the Music branch of the Academy for restoring five nominees to the Best Original Song category.  When a tragically minimal two songs were nominated last year, it couldn’t help but give the appearance that the category itself was in jeopardy.  The Music branch’s members subsequently revised their consideration rules to assure more nominees in the future.  This year’s contenders are great, with British songstress Adele nominated for her Bond title theme from Skyfall and even MacFarlane included for his Ted song “Everybody Needs a Best Friend.”  My only gripe is that there was no love for past nominee Dolly Parton, who wrote several notable songs for 2012’s Joyful Noise.  I thought her wistfully romantic “From Here to the Moon and Back” would be a shoo-in.

And so the final march to Academy Awards glory, for this year anyway, begins.  Our congratulations go out to all the nominees, as well as to MacFarlane and Stone as the fabulously funny MCs of yesterday’s nominations announcement.  I’m looking forward to what I hope will be more of the same on February 24th.

By Rev. Chris Carpenter, resident film critic of Movie Dearest, Rage Monthly Magazine and Echo Magazine.

Dearie Awards 2012: Movie of the Year

Movie of the Year: KEEP THE LIGHTS ON

Ira Sachs’ authentic, explicit, occasionally bruising but ultimately hopeful depiction of the ups and downs of an addiction-fueled gay relationship over the course of a decade emerges as the finest gay-themed drama in several years.  Danish actor Thure Lindhardt and Zachary Booth(best known as Michael Hewes on TV’s Damages) command attention throughout as they dance their codependent tango but, to its great credit, the film never becomes histrionic and Sachs treats both wounded men with nothing but compassion.  (Booth’s character is actually bisexual, a big-screen rarity.)  Contemporary gay-themed movies just keep getting better and better — see previous Dearie Award Movies of the Year A Single Man and Weekendfor further evidence of this — and Keep the Lights On now takes the crown.

Honorable Mentions: THE PERKS OF BEING A WALLFLOWER and LES MISERABLES

Perks, starring a post-Harry Potter Emma Watson and rising stars Ezra Miller and Logan Lerman, emerged as one of the year’s biggest indie hits after doing consistent business at the box office for several months.  While not primarily LGBT-themed, Miller gives an exhilarating performance as an unapologetically gay high school student in this cross-generational success.

And though the long-awaited movie version of the long-running stage musical Les Miserablesdidn’t please all fans or critics, it is suffused with enough emotional and spiritual intensity, tortured romance and visual flourishes to fill several movies, not to mention a spectacular lead performance by Hugh Jackman as Jean Valjean.

By Rev. Chris Carpenter, resident film critic of Movie Dearest, Rage Monthly Magazine and Echo Magazine.

Dearie Awards 2012: Television Show of the Year

Winner: THE NEW NORMAL
On the heels of his smash hits Glee and American Horror Story, Ryan Murphy delivered another quality series to TV with NBC's newest sitcom success The New Normal.  Centering on the subject of gay parenting (something that Murphy only recently knows all about), The New Normal deftly blends high comedy with well-earned sentimentality, plus a healthy dose of brash, highly un-P.C. humor by way of Ellen Barkin as the show's answer to Sue Sylvester.  Justin Bartha and Dearie Award winner Andrew Rannells anchor the show as a loving odd couple (complete with plenty of onscreen PDAs), joined by the sassy Nene Leakes, Georgia King as their perky surrogate and the scene-stealing Bebe Wood as her Little Edie-quoting daughter.  They all make it quite easy to embrace this "new normal".

Honorable Mention: GCB
Lord a'mighty, these GCB (that's "Good Christian Bitches" to you, darlin') were a hoot!  At least while they lasted.  Tragically cut short after only one season, this tart Texas-set comedy/soap was ABC's hope for the next Desperate Housewives... unfortunately, they scheduled it after that past-its-prime show during its too-painful-to-watch final season.  Nevertheless, with a cast included gay faves Kristin Chenoweth, Annie Potts and the best looking male eye candy to grace primetime for quite a spell, GCB was a Lone Star treat.

Honorable Mention: STEEL MAGNOLIAS
Lifetime's "all black" version of Steel Magnolias was a rare flower indeed: a remake that surpassed the original.  Led by an Emmy-worthy Queen Latifah (who's never been better), this updated adaptation of Robert Harling's perennial stage dramedy was more down-to-earth than the 1989 feature film that is now a certified gay camp classic.  Honestly earning every laugh and tear, this Steel Magnolias proves that even an old favorite can bloom anew.