Reverend’s Reviews: Restoration Station

“Restored” and “extended” directors’ cuts of movies are all the rage today, largely due to demand from home video cinephiles. A film doesn’t have to be a bonafide classic to warrant such treatment; sometimes the director him- or herself revisits even a recent work in an effort to improve it. See Oliver Stone’s 2004 Alexander as one example, which underwent two revisions prior to the “final director’s cut” available on Blu-ray that still has critics and viewers divided.

Increasingly, though, a long-lost film is found, restored to its original glory as much as possible, and presented anew to modern audiences. Such was the case at Los Angeles’ historic Orpheum Theatre on October 13th, when Germany’s 1919, pro-LGBT Different from the Others (Anders als die Andern) made its US premiere nearly 100 years after it was made. The screening was the most spectacular of several highlights at this year’s Outfest Legacy Awards gala.

The annual Legacy Awards presentation has become my favorite of all the great events and festivals Outfest sponsors annually. Funds from ticket sales, auction items and donations solicited during the evening go to the Outfest Legacy Project for LGBT Film Preservation. Administered in partnership with the UCLA Film & Television Archive, the Legacy Preservation Project has grown to more than 20,000 elements in only seven years. It is the largest collection of LGBT images in the world. Feature films and documentaries previously restored through the project include Mona’s Candle Light Footage (1950), Queens at Heart (1965) and Bill Sherwood’s beloved Parting Glances (1986).

Different from the Others saw all of its intact prints, along with virtually all gay media in Germany, destroyed once the Nazis rose to power. Conrad Veidt, of The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari fame, stars as a gay violinist who falls for one of his young male pupils (the doe-eyed Fritz Schulz, who struck me as a precursor to Sal Mineo’s closeted teen in Rebel Without a Cause). Soon after, Veidt’s character finds himself being blackmailed by a homophobic predator who discovers the men’s relationship. The film is a startlingly frank and compassionate work, even by today’s slightly more enlightened standards, co-written by then-renowned sexologist Magnus Hirschfeld as a protest against Germany’s anti-gay Paragraph 175.

Approximately 40 minutes of film fragments were discovered in Russia a few years ago. Purchased by the UCLA Archive and lovingly restored by the Legacy Project (with descriptive title cards filling in for the missing footage), it made its debut at the Orpheum with live Wurlitzer organ accompaniment before 1,000 enraptured attendees who couldn’t stop talking about the film’s impact at the lively after party. The current version is naturally somewhat stilted, as it is missing large chunks of exposition, but its historical and cultural relevance can’t be denied. With any luck, the missing footage will yet be found; after all, the silent sci-fi epic Metropolis was believed to be as complete as it would ever be in a truncated 90-minute version until its missing hour was discovered four years ago in South America. Outfest and UCLA will soon be re-introducing Different from the Others to the world via theatrical exhibitions and student screenings.


The annual Legacy Awards event also recognizes one or more contemporary filmmakers whose work has advanced positive portrayals of the LGBT community and its members. This year’s Visionary Award honorees were film, television and Broadway producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron. Their achievements include the Oscar-winning movie version of Chicago as well as the 2007 stage-to-screen transfer Hairspray, both film versions of Footloose, yhe made-for-TV movies Serving in Silence: The Margarethe Cammermeyer Story and Life with Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows, the current NBC series Smash, and the recent Broadway revivals of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying and Promises, Promises.

Out actors Michael Urie (Partners, Ugly Betty) and Sean Hayes (Will & Grace) as well as gay-for-pay Glee star Darren Criss, all veterans of Meron’s and Zadan’s stage productions, were on hand to fete the pair. Urie opened the presentation in hilarious style with his unsolicited audition to be the next Academy Awards host (Zadan and Meron are producing the 2013 show), while Criss performed a rousing, same-sex version of the song “Happy To Keep His Dinner Warm” from How to Succeed. Criss and Hayes both spoke personally, sincerely and gratefully of their relationships with Zadan and Meron. It was definitely a night to be remembered.

Frank Oz’s 1986 movie musical Little Shop of Horrors isn’t as significant a cinematic achievement as Different from the Others, but it is an enjoyable romp featuring a stellar comedy cast that includes Rick Moranis, Steve Martin, Bill Murray and the late John Candy, among others. Adapted from the 1982 off-Broadway stage success written by Howard Ashman and Alan Menken (who went on to score Disney’s animated modern classics The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast and Aladdin prior to Ashman’s premature death from AIDS) which was itself inspired by Roger Corman’s ultra-low budget 1960 movie, Little Shop of Horrors spins a bizarre tale of Skid Row-set love, sado-masochism and an invasion by alien, man-eating plants.

The stage version has a memorably dark finale that was expanded on by Ashman and Menken and shot by Oz. However, test audiences hated the original ending in which the hero (Moranis) and his girlfriend (the delectable Ellen Greene) are eaten by the vicious “Mean Green Mother from Outer Space,” Audrey II. Oz was forced to shoot a happier ending and the original version was locked away in a Warner Bros. vault save for a brief, black and white DVD release in the 1990’s.

Fans — myself included — who have been clamoring the last 26 years for Oz’s original version don’t have to wait any longer: the restored, full-color director’s cut of Little Shop of Horrors was just released on Blu-raylast week. The extended, 20-minute ending is very different, even from the stage version, but it blends in seamlessly and is well worth seeing and comparing to the earlier incarnations. It actually goes overboard with the elaborate visual effects now depicting an army of giant Audrey II’s destroying various US cities.

Most welcome though are an additional appearance and song by the musical’s African-American “Greek chorus,” who simply disappeared from the final quarter of the 1986 theatrical release until its second-to-last shot; a genuinely moving reprise of the signature song “Somewhere That’s Green,” performed by the aptly-named Greene as she is dying; and a sinister appearance by character actor Paul Dooley, who was cut entirely from the re-shot version and replaced by the decidedly less-sinister Jim Belushi.

The Blu-ray includes a booklet and numerous extras that relate the movie musical’s tortured history. Oz & Co. can now rest, and all but the most die-hard devotees of the 1986 theatrical version (which is also included on the Blu-ray) can rejoice.

Reverend’s Ratings:
Different from the Others: B+
Little Shop of Horrors Director’s Cut: A-

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

Reverend’s Report: Outfest 2012

Out Glee actor and newly-published children’s book authorChris Colfer brought this year’s 10-day long Outfest festivities in Hollywood to a close Sunday night with the premiere of Struck by Lightning. Colfer not only headlines the comedy but wrote its screenplay, his first. Talk about multi-talented!

By Outfest’s end, several movies had implanted themselves in my consciousness as among the very best that not only Outfest but contemporary GLBT cinema has to offer. These are in addition to a handful of films I was able to preview and acclaim before the fest began (see Reverend’s 2012 Outfest Preview). The standout for me was Matthew Mishory’s Joshua Tree 1951: A Portrait of James Dean, which is notable both for its provocative depiction of an unquestionably bisexual, pre-celebrity Dean and its gorgeous, primarily black-and-white visual style. The mostly speculative bio was photographed by Michael Marius Pessah, who was designated one of Outfest 2012’s “Five to Watch” before the fest began. Also, actor James Preston gives an arresting performance as Dean.
 

A close second for me was Ira Sachs' already highly acclaimed Keep the Lights On, The film won raves at Sundance and the Berlin Film Festival's Teddy Award earlier this year, and it walked away with two of Outfest's most prestigious awards (please find a complete list of Outfest award winners in the comments section below). This authentic, semi-autobiographical saga of two lovers struggling with drug addiction and other challenges over the course of their nine-year relationship is, by turns, heartbreaking and hopeful. Thure Lindhardt and Zachary Booth are exquisite as the on again, off again pair. Keep the Lights On is shaping up to be the gay-interest movie of 2012 and is scheduled for theatrical release beginning in September.

I was thrilled to not only catch That's What She Said, the feature directorial debut of actress Carrie Preston (True Blood, Ready? OK!, Straight-Jacket), but to finally meet Preston after four years of phone interviews and e-mail exchanges. Her hilarious, NYC-set dramedy about female BFFs and their travails boasts a superb turn by Anne Heche, truly the best performance I've yet seen her give. While cut from the same raunchy girl-power cloth as recent hits Bridesmaids and Friends with Kids, That's What She Said has a truer, warmer heart than either of it predecessors.

A reader commented here recently on my interview with Sassy Pants star Haley Joel Osment that it's good to see filmmakers using more average looking/less physically perfect actors in gay-themed films. This was true of several Outfest entries but perhaps most significantly in I Want Your Love. Writer-director Travis Mathews enlisted a full complement of everyday physical types for this thoughtful drama of gay maturity, and they all engage in graphic, non-simulated sex. It's striking, even shocking, but ultimately moving.

As usual, a number of fine documentaries were screened at Outfest, including the highly-touted Vito, Love Free or Die (about out Episcopal bishop Gene Robinson) and How to Survive a Plague. Of those I saw, I was most impressed and informed by United in Anger: A History of ACT UP by Jim Hubbard. While it gets a little long and repetitive in detailing the 25-year history of the pioneering organization, the doc provides valuable insights into the initial years of the AIDS epidemic, the US government's inability/unwillingness to respond effectively, and ACT UP's leadership and often volatile tactics.

All in all, Outfest's 30th anniversary lineup was one of its best to date. Here's to 30+ more years of spotlighting the finest in GLBT cinema.

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

Reverend's Interview: Haley Joel Osment, From “I See Dead People” to “I Play Gay People”

When he was the ripe old age of 11, actor Haley Joel Osment was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor as the traumatized, ghost-plagued child in The Sixth Sense.  Soon after, he was acting for Steven Spielberg as an android yearning to be human in the Oscar-nominated sci-fi adventure A.I. Artificial Intelligence.  Other prominent roles followed in Pay It Forward and Secondhand Lions.  Then he entered college and essentially disappeared, by choice, from the public eye.

Today, Haley Osment (he drops the “Joel” in casual conversation, and has also been dubbed “HaJo” by some press wags) is back in a big way… and playing gay.  The 24-year old sports earrings, piercings and cutoff short-shorts in writer-director Coley Sohn’s debut feature, Sassy Pants.  He plays Chip, a flamboyant bartender who is also the much younger boyfriend of the heroine’s gay father.  This funny but heartfelt dramedy will screen at Outfest on Saturday, July 14th.

Osment recently spoke with me from Toronto, where he is filming I’ll Follow You Down with gay actor Victor Garber (Godspell, Titanic), Gillian Anderson (The X-Files) and Rufus Sewell (the current Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter).  Osment is straight but clearly not concerned about that being his primary defining characteristic.

CC:  In Sassy Pants, you are sporting a very different look.  Was this your first time wearing Daisy Dukes?

HJO: Yes, it was. (Laughs)  It was a lightning-fast shoot and I showed up a few days into it.  We had a lot of fun putting this character’s look together.

CC:  What was it about this character or script that attracted you?

HJO: I read it just a week before.  They called me on a whim and asked if I would do it.  I loved the kaleidoscope, the spectrum of characters in the film.

CC:  Did you have any gay influences or models for the character?

HJO: I think we all wanted to avoid Chip being based on any one person.  However, there is an online database of hairstyles we looked at to help determine his look (laughs).

CC: What was fame at an early age like for you?

HJO: I remember it very well and really enjoyed it.  (Osment’s first big-screen appearance was actually as the title character’s son in Forrest Gump, Oscar's Best Picture of 1994.)  It had its material benefits, but I mostly enjoyed the work and the chance to look at great scripts.  That still guides me in the acting choices I make.

CC: Do you have a favorite role or film to date?

HJO: It’s hard to choose a favorite, but as an experience A.I. really stands out.  It was months of prep and shooting, learning to film underwater, and of course working with Spielberg from Stanley Kubrick’s original story.

CC: What are you working on now?

HJO: Well, I’m set to do Wake the Dead (an update of the Frankenstein story in which he’ll play a college-aged mad scientist) later this year, and may squeeze in two other films this summer.  I definitely want to do more theatre (Osment co-starred with John Leguizamo in a 2008 Broadway revival of David Mamet’s American Buffalo and majored in theatre at NYU).

CC: Are you planning to attend the Outfest screening of Sassy Pants?

HJO: I’m going to try to get there.  I know there are a couple of fests (the film’s writer-director) Coley is trying to get me to.

So, dear readers, if you want to potentially meet the Oscar-nominated star of several of the most successful films of the last 18 years, plan to see Sassy Pants this weekend.

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

Reverend's Previw: Outfest at 30

In 1982, the Rubik’s Cube was all the rage, E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial was the #1 movie, and Madonna’s career was just beginning.  It was also the year a group of GLBT volunteers at UCLA first organized what would become Outfest, the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Film Festival.  That initial event featured a mere three films: Taxi Zum Klo, Making Love and the lesser-known Queen of Sheba Meets the Atom Man.

Outfest 2012, which is set to take place July 12th-22nd, will celebrate the global growth of GLBT-themed films over the last three decades with special anniversary screenings of those movies as well as the Los Angeles premieres of 147 productions from 24 countries.  Outfest is today the oldest of the many annual film festivals in LA and the leading GLBT festival in the US.

“In this 30th anniversary year, it is remarkable to see the evolution of queer storytelling,” said Outfest’s Executive Director, Kirsten Schaffer.  ”Outfest began with just three films, and now we are screening nearly 150 high-quality movies that represent the rich diversity of our community; stories that contribute to changing culture and attitudes about LGBT people.”  Several of the most prominent queer filmmakers of the last thirty years — including Gregg Araki (The Living End), Rose Troche (Go Fish) and Tommy O’Haver (Billy’s Hollywood Screen Kiss) — will be feted during a special “Directors Tell All” program on July 15th.

Opening night gala events on Thursday, July 12th will include the LA premiere of the excellent documentary Vito, about author/historian Vito Russo of The Celluloid Closet fame, as well as presentation of the 16th annual Outfest Achievement Award to John Waters.  Waters needs little introduction as the writer-director of such contemporary classics as Pink Flamingos, Female Trouble, Polyester, Hairspray, Pecker (my personal favorite), A Dirty Shame and, of course, Serial Mom.

For me, Outfest wouldn’t be complete each year without its Sing-Along Musical night at Hollywood’s Ford Amphitheater.  This year’s selection, largely in tribute to Waters, is the 2007 musical version of Hairspray starring John Travolta, Michelle Pfeiffer, Christopher Walken, Queen Latifah and Zac Efron.  It will be held the evening of Thursday, July 19th.  Attendees are encouraged to dress in costume as characters from the film and, naturally, to sing along.

Other movies being shown during Outfest 2012 that I have seen in advance and recommend highly include: Sassy Pants (see my interview with one of its stars, Oscar nominee Haley Joel Osment, later this week); the International Centerpiece film Young & Wild; local filmmaker Aurora Guerrero’s lesbian romance Mosquita y Mari; the sweet Slamdance Film Festival award-winner Heavy Girls, from Germany; the Swedish girl-on-girl tale Kiss Me; Stud Life, from Great Britain; and Katherine Brooks’ Facebook expose, Face 2 Face.  For a complete listing of films or to purchase tickets for screenings and related events, please visit the Outfest website or call (213) 480-7065.

Quentin Lee is another prominent queer filmmaker who has been featured at Outfest several times.  The director of such Asian-fusion movies as Drift and The People I’ve Slept With is back this year with White Frog, a moving family drama that incorporates homosexuality, conservative Christianity and Asperger’s Syndrome.  It boasts a great cast that includes Glee’s Harry Shum Jr., out actor BD Wong, the lovely Joan Chen (The Last Emperor; Lust, Caution) and, in a potentially star-making performance, Boo Boo Stewart (The Twilight Saga).  The Hong Kong-born Lee took time out just prior to starting work on a new film, provocatively titled Chink, to speak with me about White Frog.

“Reaction to the film has been really good,” Lee reported.  “We’ve played one festival so far (the San Francisco International Asian American Film Fest); kids, in particular, really loved the movie.”

The central story in White Frog is about two brothers (Shum and Stewart) afflicted by what others may perceive as “handicaps” who are being raised by fundamentalist Christian parents (Wong and Chen).  When tragedy strikes, one of them must stand up to defend his brother’s honor and become the man he is meant to be.

The screenplay, written by Ellie Wen but shepherded by Tony Award-winning playwright and producer David Henry Hwang, found its way to Lee via Facebook.  “What happened was a year and a half ago, the writer contacted me on Facebook and said, ‘Hey, I’d love for you to direct this!’  It was very personal for them, the story of someone they knew who died and hadn’t been able to come out.  I liked too that it was about two generations and multi-cultural.”

In the film, a traditional story is related of a young frog that is encased in a coconut and emerges completely white (hence the movie’s title).  When asked about this, Lee responded: “We were thinking, ‘Was the white frog something good or is it something bad?’  We decided it was a metaphor for how parents raise and form their children.”

White Frog makes a number of nods to the New Testament and traditional Christian themes of rebirth and resurrection.  Lee shared about his own diverse religious background: “My father was an atheist; I went to Protestant schools and have a Christian background but am not particularly religious.  I hope the movie encourages discussion and debate about Christian conservatism.”

What Lee did not know while he was immersed in pre-production on White Frog was that his own sister was struggling with Asperger’s Syndrome.  She was diagnosed just two weeks before cameras rolled.  While “totally coincidental,” according to Lee, it brought an unexpected resonance and heft to the project.

“I hope the film sparks more discussion among younger people about both homosexuality and Asperger’s, these controversial topics,” Lee said.

White Frog will screen at Outfest on July 21st.

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

Reverend's Report: When Film Festivals Collide

Most people think it's fun and semi-glamorous being a film critic, and it can be. A film critic's job, however, becomes about as challenging as a job can get when covering not just one film festival but two — while also serving as a programmer for a third festival — simultaneously. Such was my lot from late May through July 17, when I provided advance coverage for and attended the Los Angeles Film Festival and Outfest, the 29th Los Angeles Gay & Lesbian Film Festival, while reviewing submissions for this September's Long Beach Q Film Festival. All in all, I've been subjected to over 300 mostly independent, primarily GLBT-interest shorts and features in 60 days, an average of 5 films per day. And this isn't even my full-time job!

Outfest 2011 came to a close with the LA premiere of The Perfect Family, starring Kathleen Turner as the conservative Catholic mother of a lesbian daughter. On the same day she is nominated for the "Catholic Woman of the Year" award, Mom learns that her daughter and daughter's partner are planning to get married. Out actor Richard Chamberlain plays the local monsignor, and Sharon Lawrence has a great turn as Turner's co-nominee/nemesis. While the film is chiefly a drama, it has its comedic moments and I couldn't help but picture Turner at times as her Serial Mom character and wish she'd make an obscene crank call or two to Lawrence, which only made the movie funnier for me. The Perfect Family doesn't get all the Catholic details right but still presents the church's rituals and parish politics more seriously than most movies. Rating: B

Religious themes were big this year, with several significant entries in both the LA Film Fest (including Vera Farmiga's haunting Higher Ground) and Outfest. The Wise Kids, featured at the latter, is a lovely, teen coming-of-age story that avoids most of the clichés we've come to expect of that genre. Writer-director Stephen Cone (who also plays a closeted, married church leader in the film) won the festival's Grand Jury Award for Outstanding Screenwriting, and the movie was awarded the Grand Jury prize for Outstanding US Dramatic Feature. Its no-name cast is excellent and I was also impressed by the ethereal music score by Mikhail Fiksel.  Rating: B+

Mangus!, by Ash Christian of Fat Girls fame, is a John Waters-type farce that even includes a cameo by Waters (as Jesus, no less). The title character is the latest in a line of family members who have performed the starring role in Jesus Christ Spectacular, a local stage tradition begun when the producers couldn't afford the rights to Jesus Christ Superstar. It's inconsequential, frequently trashy stuff but benefits from a great supporting cast that includes Leslie Jordan, Jennifer Coolidge and Heather Matarazzo. Rating: C

While the standout film for me at both the LA Film Festival and Outfest was the joyous urban ball-musical Leave It On the Floor (which has also been selected to screen at our Long Beach festival), there were a number of other movies shown during Outfest that particularly impressed and/or touched me. These include the documentaries Carol Channing: Larger Than Life and We Were Here. Carol Channing arguably ranks second only to Betty White in the category of 90-year old entertainment legends. The original Dolly Levi in the Broadway cast of Hello, Dolly! as well as an Oscar nominee for her loopy performance in the 1967 movie musical Thoroughly Modern Millie ("Raspberries!") continues to make talk show and fundraising appearances. Channing is also the subject and frequent narrator of this wonderfully informative documentary that explores her illustrious stage career, her upbringing in San Francisco, and the history behind her current marriage of 10 years to her Junior High sweetheart. It can be faulted somewhat for only viewing Channing through admiring, rose-colored glasses, but then I suppose anyone who disparages the endearingly cheery star does so at their own peril. Rating: A-

We Were Here, meanwhile, is a riveting reflection on the initial, devastating impact of the AIDS epidemic on San Francisco's gay community. Don't watch it without a box of tissues handy; my partner had to console me when I broke down at least twice while watching the movie, which I very rarely do. The film won the Audience Award for Outstanding Documentary Feature at Outfest and is scheduled to be released theatrically this September. Rating: B+

Weekend, which won the Outfest Grand Jury Award for Outstanding International Dramatic Feature, is getting a great reception among gay men wherever it shows. It will be released in US theatres starting this October. Written, directed and even edited by Andrew Haigh (Greek Pete), it follows two gay men over the course of 48 hours following their initial, Friday night meeting. Well-written and insightful, I don't think we've seen a gay-themed film this purely romantic and ultimately affecting since Brokeback Mountain. Lead actors Tom Cullen and Chris New have undeniable chemistry and give great, vulnerable performances. Unfortunately, I was put off by the characters' considerable drug use in the film. Getting high on marijuana and cocaine during the early stages of courting is hardly a healthy foundation for a long-lasting relationship. This is the only aspect in which Weekend felt false to me. Still, it's highly recommended. Rating: B+

Romeos is a standout among an unusually high number of transgender-interest submissions at all three film festivals I've been a part of this summer. While Tomboy (which had its US premiere at the LA Film Festival) is in my opinion the best among them (although some are arguing Tomboy is a lesbian-themed story rather than a trans-interest one), I also like this German production a lot. A male-appearing but secretly transgender young adult captures the eye and, eventually, the heart of a very hot gay boy. As false appearances and stereotypical expectations are gradually removed, the two forge a genuinely pioneering romance; well worth seeing. Rating: B+

Quite possibly the most ambitious production screening at Outfest was Woman's Picture. This evocation of/tribute to traditional women's genre films merely represents the first three segments of what is intended to be a 10-year film project masterminded by the highly intelligent and talented Brian Pera (The Way I See Things). Pera, looking Kevin Bacon-esque, co-stars alongside trans actress Calpernia Addams in the first part, "Ingrid." Singer Amy Lavere and the wonderful Anne Magnuson head up the other two, initial chapters. Woman's Picture, which Pera calls an homage to his grandmothers in the press notes, is a bit over-long and self-indulgent at times but it is also stylistically fascinating and beautifully shot by Ryan Parker. Given the film's presumably low budget, Pera deserves props for his economic technique, at least. Rating: B

Other award-winning movies screened during Outfest are Circumstance (Audience Award for Outstanding First US Dramatic Feature and Grand Jury Award for Outstanding Actress, Nikohl Boosheri; it also won the Audience Award at January's Sundance Film Festival and will be released theatrically at the end of August); the ingenious Shakespeare update Private Romeo, which won the Grand Jury Award for Outstanding Actor for its entire, all-male cast; and Tom Tykwer's bisexual-themed 3, which garnered Outfest's 2011 Audience Award for Outstanding Dramatic Feature Film.

The last two months have provided me a wonderful cinematic workout, but I'm ready for a celluloid-free vacation... right after I see the final chapter in the Harry Potter saga and Captain America, that is...

Report by Rev. Chris Carpenter, resident film critic of Movie Dearest and the Blade California.

Reverend's Interview: Alan Brown Gives Shakespeare a Gay Twist with Private Romeo

There have been contemporary adaptations of Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare's tragic saga of star-crossed young lovers from feuding families, notably Baz Luhrmann's 1995 movie version starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes. There has even been a prior all-male stage version, the off-Broadway hit R & J. But Alan Brown's Private Romeo is the first film to combine a contemporary setting of the play with an all-male cast.  The film will screen this Friday as part of this year's Outfest, the Los Angeles Gay & Lesbian Film Festival.

In a recent phone conversation with the New York-based director, I asked Brown what were his sources of inspiration. "I lived in Japan for 8 years and taught my last two years there at a university using Franco Zeffirelli's (1968 film) Romeo and Juliet," Brown replied. "The Japanese love Shakespeare, but I also used the AIDS drama Longtime Companion and would have my students write plays based on those two movies. That's when I first made the connection between Romeo and Juliet and gay issues."

Brown had also seen R & J during its New York run, and was approached by the producers who held the rights to direct a film adaptation of it. That project failed to materialize, and Brown had moved on to studying soldiers' issues during the Iraq War. He met openly gay serviceman Daniel Choi and was inspired by the many stories he heard from GLBT troops. They served as fodder for Brown's 2007 film, Superheroes.

Growing calls for the repeal of the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy as well as increasing incidents of bullying of GLBT young people ultimately led Brown to make Private Romeo. "I will feel good about the repeal of DADT when they implement it," the filmmaker says. "When Bush was re-elected in 2004, I felt like a lot of people I knew were depressed and felt we were powerless."

Brown continued, "I asked myself 'How can I contribute as a filmmaker to this issue?' I felt like what I learned then was 'Tend to your own garden,' so I made Superheroes and now Private Romeo." Most of Brown's new film was shot at the Maritime College of SUNI in the Bronx. Interestingly, some of it was filmed at a Catholic boys' high school on Long Island, which welcomed the production after a nearby public school withdrew their permission to shoot on campus due to a football hazing incident there.

Apart from his childhood years in Scranton, Pennsylvania ("I grew up Jewish in a very Catholic city," he said) and the time he spent in Japan, Brown is a longtime New Yorker. He started out as a journalist before deciding to pursue filmmaking full time. Brown has been partnered for 20 years with a Japanese man who works in the art world.

Brown had been planning to return to Japan to make what was supposed to be his next movie, Audrey Hepburn's Neck, based on his novel. Production has been postponed in the wake of the recent earthquake and tsunami that has devastated the country. "The story is set in Japan and is about cross-cultural, heterosexual sexual obsession," according to Brown, "but (the main male character's) best friend is a gay American in Japan who only dates Japanese men."

In the meantime, Brown has developed a music film, The Park. It will feature a large cast of diverse characters, some of them gay, who converge for a music festival in New York's Prospect Park. "It is Altman-esque, with overlapping stories all taking place in one day," Brown says. Shooting is to begin in October.

As one of a growing number of filmmakers dedicated to telling GLBTQ stories, Alan Brown and his Private Romeo represent Outfest at its best.

UPDATE: The US distribution rights for Private Romeo have been acquired by Wolfe Video. The film will be released theatrically this Fall in partnership with The Film Collaborative and debut on DVD/VOD in 2012.

Interview by Rev. Chris Carpenter, resident film critic of Movie Dearest and the Blade California.

Reverend's Preview: Outfest 2011

Dolly Parton hasn't appeared on the big screen in nearly 20 years but she will be a dominant figure at this month's Outfest, the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Film Festival. The singer-actress-GLBTQ ally appears in not one but two films that will be screened during the event that runs July 7-17 at various locations throughout LA, Santa Monica and Hollywood. Pornographic zombies, lesbian rockers, Kathleen Turner as a seemingly-perfect housewife and mother nominated for the "Catholic Woman of the Year Award," and yet another chapter in the Eating Out series are also among the tasty offerings on this year's menu.

Now in its 29th year, making it one of the longest-running film festivals of any kind in the US, Outfest annually presents the best of new and classic, independent GLBTQ movies. Six gala screenings will be featured in addition to more than 100 features and shorts. "This year's selection of galas represent some of the most acclaimed and thematically diverse films of the year," according to Kirsten Schaffer, Outfest's Executive Director.

Is this the C***sucker residence?
The 2011 Opening Night Gala will kick off with the presentation of the 15th Annual Outfest Achievement Award to Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato. Once the acclaimed directors of such eye-opening documentaries as Party Monster, The Eyes of Tammy Faye, 101 Rent Boys and the recent Becoming Chaz have been honored, the feature Gun Hill Road will be shown. It stars Esai Morales (Rapa Nui, Caprica) as a recently released parolee who comes home to discover his teenage son is transgender. The drama's great cast also includes Judy Reyes of TV's Scrubs and impressive newcomer Harmony Santana as Michael/Vanessa (look for an interview with Santana here next week). A spectacular Opening Night after-party will follow Gun Hill Road.

Outfest's Closing Night Gala at the Ford Amphitheatre on July 17 will showcase The Perfect Family, which recently had its world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York. Jason Ritter, Emily Deschanel, Sharon Lawrence and out actor Richard Chamberlain (as a Catholic monsignor) co-star with Kathleen Turner in this drama-comedy about the collision of traditional values and modern reality within a Catholic household. It marks the feature film debut of director Anne Renton. The Closing Night after-party will be celebrated at Hollywood's classic Roosevelt Hotel.

Between these "bookends," other gala screenings will be held: Circumstance, a contemporary story set in ultra-conservative Iran about the forbidden love between two teenage girls that won the Audience Award at this year's Sundance Film Festival; Weekend, a well-written, affecting drama by British filmmaker Andrew Haigh (Greek Pete), in which the relationship between two men grows from a one-night stand to something more complex and significant; the documentary Hit So Hard, about rock musician Patty Schemel; and 3, the latest stylish movie by mainstream German director Tom Tykwer (Run Lola Run), who now explores the topic of sexual fluidity.

Dolly Parton will take the cinematic spotlight during Outfest 2011 on two occasions (and is making her live performance debut at the Hollywood Bowl this month as well). The traditional "Sing-Along" movie musical event on July 13 will be 1982's The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas. The fact-based hit stars Parton as a beloved madam, Miss Mona, who with the local sheriff (a crooning Burt Reynolds) squares off against a religious crusader (the late Dom DeLuise) determined to shut her brothel down. It contains such classic songs as "I Will Always Love You," "Hard Candy Christmas" and "A Li'l Ol' Bitty Country Place." Of note, the movie was helmed by gay director Colin Higgins, who sadly died of AIDS complications not long after its original release.

Then, on July 16, Parton will be seen in the wonderful documentary Hollywood to Dollywood. The country-western queen is the lifelong object of affection of two gay twin brothers, Gary and Larry Lane, who rent a mobile home and set out on a road trip to hand-deliver a screenplay they've written to Parton at her Tennessee amusement park. Their resulting film serves as a loving tribute to her as well as an opportunity to see the twins' industry friends, which include gay faves Leslie Jordan, Beth Grant and Chad Allen.

A few other must-see movies at this year's Outfest I was able to preview are:

- Leave It On the Floor, a spectacular musical-on-a-budget by director Sheldon Larry and screenwriter/lyricist Glenn Gaylord. Set in Los Angeles, it focuses on local "dynasties" of GLBT young people who perform in weekly drag balls. It combines elements of the 1991 documentary Paris is Burning as well as Dreamgirls, and features the best dance number set in a bowling alley since Grease 2 (and I am counting the lane-shaking sequences in The Big Lebowski and Across the Universe)! The movie's recent world premiere at the LA Film Festival sold out quickly, so don't wait to buy tickets.

- Private Romeo, an ingenious transplanting of Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet to a modern, all-male military academy. Alan Brown (watch for an interview with him later this week) directs an attractive and talented cast, who utilize the original text and gender references but also add an unexpected twist or two.

- I Am, which explores GLBTQ life in India. This insightful, award-winning documentary was inspired by director Sonali Gulati's personal efforts to bring closure to her relationship with her deceased mother. Along the way, we are introduced to numerous out Indians including prince-turned-political-activist Manvendra Singh Gohil, who was famously but tragically disowned by his royal family after he revealed he was gay.

Not as good but still recommended:

- Longhorns, the latest comedy from the producers of BearCity and Fruit Fly. Set in the 1980's, it evokes such gotta-lose-my-virginity titles of the time as Porky's and Risky Business — but with a gay sensibility — to often-hilarious effect. The hot, funny cast includes local boys Dylan Vox and Kevin Held.

- August, a beautifully filmed and scored tale of romantic entanglement. Following his return to LA after several years in Europe, a man reunites with his former partner despite his ex's new relationship with a sexy immigrant. The movie's writer-director, Eldar Rapaport, is designated by Outfest as one of "4 in Focus" filmmakers to pay particular attention to.

- The Green, a timely story about a gay high school teacher in Connecticut who is accused of having a sexual relationship with a male student. It features excellent performances by name actors Jason Butler Harner, Cheyenne Jackson of Glee and Broadway fame, Ileanna Douglas, Karen Young and, as a lesbian attorney, Julia Ormond.

For certain, shall we say unusual tastes, this year's Outfest will include L.A. Zombie, a new porn-horror epic by provocateur Bruce LaBruce. Adult superstar François Sagat plays the possibly schizophrenic, possibly undead title role. Graphic and gory but chock-full of hot men, the movie is likely to give new meaning to the term "raising the dead"!

For the full Outfest 2011 festival schedule and to purchase passes or tickets, visit the fest's official website.

Preview by Rev. Chris Carpenter, resident film critic of Movie Dearest and the Blade California.

Reverend’s Previews: Outfest 2010 Celebrates GLBT Diversity

This year’s Outfest, the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Film Festival, will boast 60 GLBT-themed feature films and 87 shorts from 23 different countries. The 28th edition of the oldest film festival in LA and the leading GLBT festival in the US will run July 8th-18.

Having had the opportunity to preview a number of the movies to be shown, I can attest that this year’s Outfest selections are generally more thoughtful and of higher quality than those I saw the past two years. As Outfest’s Executive Director, Kirsten Schaffer, rightly proclaimed, “This year’s incredible line-up celebrates all of the forward-thinking artists that push the boundaries for LGBT rights and equality.”

One such artist was the poet Allen Ginsberg, who is the subject of the Outfest Opening Night Gala film, Howl (the movie also opened the prestigious Sundance Film Festival earlier this year). James Franco of the Spider-Man series plays Ginsberg. Howl is the first dramatic feature from veteran documentarians Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman, who made The Times of Harvey Milk and The Celluloid Closet among several acclaimed prior films.

The opening night festivities will kick-off at 8:00 PM on July 8 with a special presentation of the annual Outfest Achievement Award to lesbian actress Jane Lynch. Currently enjoying huge success as the domineering cheerleading coach, Sue Sylvester, on the Fox TV series Glee, Lynch has also given memorable performances in such diverse films as The 40 Year Old Virgin, Best in Show and last year’s Julie & Julia.

Each year, Outfest features a foreign film as its International Dramatic Centerpiece. Contracorriente (or Undertow) will be this year’s selection on July 13. It is set in an exotic Peruvian fishing village where love between two men is forbidden. The film was a rare gay-themed winner of the Sundance Film Festival’s World Cinema Audience Award in January.

There are too many movies that I’d recommend to list here, but a few highlights are:

The Topp Twins: Untouchable Girls, an insightful and thoroughly enjoyable documentary about New Zealand’s legendary yodeling lesbian twins. Jools and Lynda Topp have been performing together since the 1970’s, and were pivotal figures in the 1986 passage of their country’s pioneering gay rights bill. If you want to learn the hysterical punchline to the twins’ joke, “Why can’t lesbians wear make-up when they go to Weight Watchers?,” see the movie!

Grown Up Movie Star, written and directed by the talented Adriana Maggs, is a smart, observant study of a teenage girl in rural Canada’s coming of age. Living with her closeted gay father doesn’t make things any easier for her. The movie also benefits from an excellent cast (newcomer Tatiana Maslany is a revelation as the teen, Ruby) and great, naturalistic — if dysfunctional — family rapport.

Children of God utilizes overlapping storylines and characters in its expose of closeted homosexuality and religious hypocrisy in the Bahamas. An attractive, interracial gay couple run afoul of the local fundamentalist pastor, who at one point privately sums up the motivation behind his anti-gay campaign thusly: “You have to give people something to hate; it brings them together.” The film is also worth seeing for its beautiful photography of sun-bathed, seaside locales.

Forever’s Gonna Start Tonight, with its title taken from Bonnie Tyler’s hit song of the 80’s, “Total Eclipse of the Heart,” is an admirably unsentimental documentary that turns its lens on 75-year old, transgendered drag performer Vicki Marlane. Still performing today after 59 years as a drag artist at Aunt Charlie’s in San Francisco, Marlane speaks candidly of her upbringing, legal run-ins, ill-fated love affairs and addictions. Marlane and the film’s producer-director, Michelle Lawler, are scheduled to appear at the Outfest screening.

Role/Play, the latest from Rob Williams, director of past gay hits Back Soon and Make the Yuletide Gay. It is a smart and sexy account of what might happen if a closeted gay soap opera star (hunky Steve Callahan) and an outspoken gay activist with marriage troubles (Matthew Montgomery, Callahan’s real-life partner) were to meet at a Palm Springs resort.

A Marine Story is timely to say the least, what with the current debate over revoking the US military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy. Based on actual events, the film focuses on a recently-discharged lesbian (a dramatically and physically strong performance by Dreya Weber) who discovers her troubles are just beginning once she returns to her hometown. Written, directed and even edited — all very well — by Ned Farr.

Standouts among the numerous recommended short films to be shown during Outfest are the cute and funny Go Go Reject, which features the adorable Heath Daniels as a stripper hopeful who is labeled as too skinny but who isn’t going to take “No” for an answer; Last Address, an unusual, quietly devastating travelogue of the final residences inhabited by New York City-based artists who died of AIDS; and Public Relations, an upbeat romantic-comedy in which two female personal assistants meet and fall in love.

For me, Outfest wouldn’t be complete each year without its Sing-Along Musical night at the Ford Amphitheater. The 2010 winner of the annual online vote by Outfest fans is Grease 2, the campy 1982 sequel to Grease. Hardly as well-received as its predecessor, Grease 2 is still entertaining and somewhat underrated. It stars Michelle Pfeiffer in her first big-screen lead role, as well as then-pretty Maxwell Caulfield, a then-hot Adrian Zmed and Judy Garland’s daughter, Lorna Luft. What’s not to enjoy? It will screen at 8:30 PM on July 15. Feel free to dress as a T-Bird or Pink Lady!

The hilarious-sounding new comedy Spork will wrap up Outfest during the Closing Night Gala on July 18. For a complete listing of films or to purchase tickets for screenings and related events, please visit the Outfest website or call (213) 480-7065.

Preview by Rev. Chris Carpenter, resident film critic of Movie Dearest and the Orange County and Long Beach Blade.