Drive-by Shootings (Capsule reviews of films at Frameline 39)

I hope to add more fleshed-out reviews with pictures, links, and all the belles and whiss-holes, but for now here are my quick impressions of the films I've seen at Frameline 39. I'm posting these reviews in alphabetical order by film title.

All about e: The main character, Elmira, or "e" for short, is the most popular dance club deejay in Sydney, but she's a closeted Lebanese as well as a closeted lesbian. Through a mix-up, she and her gay best friend/legal husband Matt find a duffel bag full of cash, so they run off into the countryside, pursued by the club owner who notices that his $50,000 is missing. Fine performances and technical work, but I found the story unsatisfying. The central character comes across as a selfish, immature narcissist with little reason for anyone to be her friend or lover. Also, the story stitches together a love story, a crime caper, and a road trip movie without really doing justice to any of the three facets. The main character's transformation on the road trip feels more like flipping a light switch than a meaningful story arc. However, it bears mention that the women in the audience seemed to like it rather more than I did, so I'll give it a Recommended rating, with the caveat that it has limited crossover appeal.

Ascendance: The Angels of Change Documentary: Children's Hospital in Los Angeles provides healthcare services and group support for young gender non-conforming people and people of transgender identity. As a fundraiser, they produce a calendar and have a runway fashion show. We get to meet Bamby Salcedo, the program coordinator, and several of the young people in the show as they rehearse. It's an inspiring glimpse of some people blossoming as their authentic selves with a little support. Highly recommended.

Beautiful Something: Over the course of a single night, we follow the intertwined wanderings of four gay men in Philadelphia out for a bit of fun or a feeling of connection or perhaps even both. The characters all start off disconnected, having (or seeking to have) almost impersonal sex, and watching from the audience I felt an invisible wall between me and the characters, but gradually they open up to each other and to the audience, moving from nearly anonymous physical intimacy towards deeper personal rapport in a satisfying arc, with plenty of cute guys to provide eye candy on the journey. Highly recommended.

Beira-Mar (see Seashore)

Butterfly (see Mariposa) (not to be confused with the short film Butterfly in Frameline38)

Do I Sound Gay: Filmmaker David Thorpe feels self-conscious that his voice "sounds gay," so he sets out to learn how to sound less gay, but also to explore what that means, both in terms of the nuts and bolts of phoneme variations and speech melodies and in terms of the psychological associations it  involves. He talks to a speech therapist and an accent coach, and also interviews celebrities ranging from George Takei to David Sedaris, plus an Ohio teen who was beaten up at school and an expert on Paul Lynde. The documentary is both funny and thought-provoking, which is an outstanding combination. MUST SEE. Available on cable On Demand beginning July 10, and opening at the Landmark Opera Plaza July 24.

Float: (short film that screened before Peace of Mind) (no dialogue) Sam Berliner filmed several transgender and genderqueer people moving through the water naked. It's a beautiful celebration of the feeling of freedom of being yourself, with the water and the nakedness evoking all manner of metaphors. Highly recommended.

From this Day Forward: Imagine that you're a woman, and you and your husband have two school-age daughters, when your husband decides to begin the transition to living full-time as a transwoman. Would your marriage survive? Marcia Shattuck has stayed in her marriage to Trisha (né Michael), to the amazement of their now grown children, and daughter Sharon Shattuck has made this documentary. Sharon and her sister get the opportunity to ask some of the unspoken questions from their childhood and to reconnect with Trisha. It's a remarkable story of love and commitment, as well as an exceptional story of one individual's navigation of the gender landscape, illustrated in part by her own wonderful paintings. At one point, Trisha says, "I don't think I'm the perfect example of a transgender individual." Had she said "transgender woman," I might not argue, but I would say that she is a perfect example of a transgender individual. She has charted her own path, with a few concessions for her marriage's sake, but without fundamentally compromising her authenticity. MUST SEE.

Health Class: (short screened before From this Day Forward) A cute short film in which a young man (probably twentysomething) confronts his sex ed teacher about the inadequacy of the curriculum, especially for gay boys. The class focused on the mechanics of sperm-meets-egg, leaving out entirely the part about boy-meets-boy, let alone non-procreative sex. They trade horror stories about sexual experiences gone wrong because of their own and their partners' ignorance, and come to realize that sex ed doesn't do a very good job of preparing anyone for the reality of sex. Highly recommended.

Mariposa (Butterfly): (in Spanish, with English subtitles) I accidentally saw this film twice, because I didn't realize (nor realise) that the film that Frameline billed as Mariposa is the same film that Inside Out billed as Butterfly. (Mariposa is Spanish for butterfly, but also a slang term for queer, without the aggressive connotation of words like maricón/faggot.) As it turns out, though, the second viewing made much more sense than the first, in part thanks to a tip from the introduction at the Frameline screening: the film follows the same set of four characters (plus one more added later) along two "parallel universe" timelines. Pay attention to the young men's facial hair and the young women's hair style and color to keep track of which timeline you're on, as the film jumps back and forth with little or no warning. Even so, though, for those of us in the audience who are not sufficiently fluent in Spanish to follow along without reading the subtitles, it took a lot of effort to follow what was going on. An Argentinian friend tells me that there were subtle shifts in their speech mannerisms that underlined the two separate tracks and marked them as being of slightly different socioeconomic class. Recommended for native speakers, but too confusing for me to recommend it to a general audience. (Note: director Marco Berger also made Ausente/Absent (Frameline 35) and Plan B (Frameline 34), both of which I liked.)

Peace of Mind: A documentary about a remarkable artist, Flo McGarrell, who moved from the United States to the artists' colony of Jacmel, Haiti, and became director of the FOSAJ art center. Flo was an open transman, and encouraged LGBTQ artists to come to Jacmel and to FOSAJ, sometimes creating friction with the straight artists who felt intimidated by the visible presence of queers. Unfortunately, Flo's life was cut short by the earthquake of 2010-01-12, but this film gives us an insight into his personal life and his work, including how the work carries on after his death, also exploring issues of racial and educational privilege and other social issues interwoven in the story. There's a wonderful quote near the beginning of the film that says a lot about Flo as a person: "Everything she was as a child persisted into his adult life, and I think that's rare." Highly recommended.

Portrait of a Serial Monogamist: I wasn't able to get a ticket in Toronto, where it was the closing night film for Inside Out, but I was able to catch up here in San Francisco. Elsie, the title character, is in her 40's, a nice Jewish girl who moves from one steady relationship to another with fluid ease. When she breaks off a relationship with Robyn, a friend challenges Elsie to stay single for five whole months rather than jumping right into a rebound. There are a good many laugh lines, mostly playing on the tropes and clichés of lesbian dramas, but, while I recognized many of the cues, I didn't find them as resonant as the target audience clearly did. Recommended; highly recommended for fans of lesbian drama.

Seashore (Beira-Mar): (in Brazilian Portuguese, with English subtitles) Martin goes to the hometown of his father's estranged family to pay his respects after his grandfather dies. His best friend Tomaz tags along for the road trip to the seaside town, but seems less interested than Martin in meeting girls. Tomaz has been afraid to come out to Martin, but over the course of the trip, as it becomes obvious, Martin finally asks Tomaz, and then asks him what it feels like to kiss a guy. It's a cute and visually pleasing film, with some layers to the story and with fine performances from the exquisitely photogenic lead actors. Highly recommended.

Seed Money: The Chuck Holmes Story: Chuck Holmes was the founder of Falcon, the first major gay porn company in the United States. His films were known for a reliable aesthetic: beautiful scenery and beautiful young men with hairless chests, clean and clean-cut collegiate types. He saw making gay porn as an important facet of gay liberation, but never felt truly accepted by gay society because of the stigma attached to being a pornographer. He began to get involved in politics and activism in the early 1990's, in part because he saw his business in jeopardy if the Republicans held the White House for a fourth term of Reagan-Bush, but politicians were reluctant to be seen with him. This documentary covers both the establishment of his film empire and his work with the Clinton campaign, the Human Rights Campaign, and other causes. It's interesting, not least for the interview with Jeff Stryker, who is surprisingly articulate if you've only seen his early appearances in front of the camera. MUST SEE for gay men, highly recommended for all audiences (though you might want the version without the clips from Falcon films, blurred though the explicit parts are).

Stuff: Deb and Trisha have been together for 14 years and have two kids. Trisha is a dentist, busy with work and also dealing with her mother, five years after her father's death. Deb handles the bulk of the work of raising the kids, but feels increasing distance from Trisha, who shuts down Deb's attempts to support her through the situation with her mother by saying simply, "You don't understand!" Then Jamie comes into the picture, the single mother of a classmate of Deb and Trisha's younger daughter. Jamie is training to be a tattoo artist, and she and Deb grow closer over the course of several playdates with the kids. How will Deb and Trisha's relationship weather the coming storm?  Stuff is an in-depth treatment of the complicated interrelationship among its characters, but Trisha doesn't open up to the camera much more than to her mother or her wife, the older daughter is a poorly drawn character, and Trisha's mother spends most of the movie as a one-dimensional crabby old lady. Recommended; highly recommended for lesbian audiences.

The Summer of Sangailė: (in Lithuanian, with English subtitles) Sangailė is 17 years old, staying with her parents at their vacation home in the country and going to a local aerobatics show, where she meets Auste. The two are different in many important ways, but it's a case of opposites attract, and they spend more time with each other, opening up in ways that Sangailė especially hasn't with anyone in a very long time, particularly about her cutting herself. (Note that the scenes involving self-harm are suggestive rather than explicit; in particular, you don't see the sharps actually break the skin.) It's a serious coming-of-age story, beautifully filmed. Highly recommended.

Together Forever: (short that screened with Portrait of a Serial Monogamist) A lesbian couple seeks to create the perfect moment for a proposal. Very well done, and a teaser for a feature-length film, Brides to Be, currently in development. Highly recommended.

Two 4 One: Adam gets a call from his former lesbian lover Miriam (Adam is a transman, by the way), who is desperate for someone to help her with the process of artificial insemination. The mail-order sperm has arrived and won't keep, so Adam reluctantly re-enters the mælstrom of the relationship that ended when he came out as transgender. One thing leads to another, and Adam winds up pregnant, making his determination to distance himself from Miriam more complicated, and also complicating his situation at his new job in a very "dudebro" construction engineering company. There are some good laughs, but also some nuanced insights. Adam is a fully fleshed out character, with his transition only one facet of his life. MUST SEE.

A Woman Like Me: A filmmaker learns that she has terminal metastatic breast cancer, so she reacts in a typically filmmaker-ish fashion: let's make a film about this. She begins writing a fictionalized rendering of the events, with a version of herself who has a somewhat sunnier disposition and prognosis, but comes to realize that the fictional film would better serve as a framework for a documentary about her actual process. She is very open and vulnerable in showing the process of coming to terms with her impending mortality, and the husband and young daughter she will leave behind. We go with her to doctors and New Age healers, as she explores all of her treatment options and works to keep a positive attitude and a sense of humor in the face of death. MUST SEE.

The Yes Men are Revolting: The Yes Men are a duo of prankster activists, known for posing as representatives of corporations and government agencies to shed light on the deplorable policies of the real entities they caricature. We see some of the behind-the-scenes work, complicated by the fact that one of the Yes Men, Mike Bonanno, is married with two kids and moved to Scotland, but they carry on, taking their activism to Uganda, Canada, and the global Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen. Mike's partner-in-funny-business Andy Bichlbaum, wonders how to carry on with Mike's attention divided, and also openly wonders whether the Yes Men's style of activism can really make a difference on a worldwide scale. This documentary is both wonderfully enjoyable and viscerally inspiring that small actions, multiplied around the world by people power, can push the agenda of real change. MUST SEE.

Notes for the East Bay

Monday through Thursday of this week, Frameline 39 will be screening a total of 16 programs in the East Bay, at the Elmwood Theatre in Berkeley and the Piedmont Theatre in Oakland. It looks to me like the programs at the Elmwood are the stronger set, overall, but there are some good choices at either venue.

On Monday, June 22, Jenni Olson's The Royal Road is playing at 7:00 at the Elmwood. It's a quiet, contemplative documentary about El Camino Real and the history of Spanish colonization of California, interwoven with a fictional (but partly autobiographical) personal story of relationships up and down the California coast, all told through the voiceover narration of footage almost devoid of human activity. If you want explosions and chase scenes, wait for Terminator Genisys next month, but if you want a tranquil yet thought-provoking meditation, check out The Royal Road.

At 9:30 at the Elmwood is The Yes Men are Revolting, a documentary about political pranksters trying to make the world a better place. It's inspiring, hilarious, and definitely a must see.

Meanwhile, at the Piedmont, the 7:00 show is Stories of Our Lives, an anthology of short films from Kenya about homophobia. I haven't had the opportunity to screen it in advance, but it sounds like a compelling program. The 9:00 show is the beautiful Venezuelan lesbian drama Liz in September, which is also a must see, although it conflicts directly with Yes Men. For my money, pick either theatre and go for both shows.

On Tuesday, the Elmwood hosts two films I haven't seen yet, but that sound interesting. Welcome to this House, Elizabeth Bishop is a documentary about the subject of Frameline 37's Reaching for the Moon. Love Island (Otok Ijubavi) is a lesbian love story set in the former Yugoslavia. Meanwhile, the Piedmont has the shorts program Realness & Revelations and the feature film Margarita, with a Straw, which I found disappointing. I'd pick the Elmwood for Tuesday.

On Wednesday, the Elmwood has the must-see documentary El Canto del Colibrí about Latino immigrant fathers' paths to acceptance of their LGBT children, and Sworn Virgin (Vergine giurata), a drama about a tomboy who grows up in Albania to live as a man, but then moves to Italy, where gender roles are less rigid, and begins to explore a more authentic identity. I haven't seen it yet, but it sounds interesting. Meanwhile, the Piedmont has an "Aussie crime caper" called All about E and episodes 6–10 of Dyke Central, a local web series set in the East Bay. El Canto is my pick for Wednesday, especially for Latin@ LGBT folks whose parents are less than accepting, but East Bay lesbians and their friends will probably have a great time at Dyke Central.

Finally, Thursday at the Elmwood features sports documentary Game Face and the Canadian transgender romcom Two 4 One. The Piedmont has a Thai documentary about what translates approximately to butch and femme lesbians, Visible Silence, and François Ozon's new feature The New Girlfriend. Having made the mistake of watching a couple of Ozon's previous films, I will never watch anything with his name on it again. Two 4 One is definitely my pick of the four, with Visible Silence the runner-up, but I'm definitely biased against both sports documentaries and François Ozon. There's enough of a gap between the screenings that you could even do Visible Silence at 7:00 at the Piedmont and Two 4 One at 9:30 at the Elmwood, certainly if you have a car.

I am Michael

It's an almost impossible juggling act for a proudly gay director to make a balanced, unbiased film about a self-made ex-gay who says that gays will go to hell unless they take God's true path of heterosexuality. "I am Michael" portrays its subject with gentle compassion, and yet leaves you with the unmistakable impression that he's a narcissist with at least a couple of screws loose. James Franco captures the inner turmoil and quest for peace of a man struggling to reconcile diametrically opposed facets of his life, while Zachary Quinto & Charlie Carver as his ex-lovers both wish for Michael to find happiness and reject his newfound anti-gay dogma. The film opens a conversation about gay identity, Christian identity, and the attempt to find an intersection, but doesn't try to wrap up neatly packaged answers in 100 minutes. Highly recommended.

[links and pretty pictures and such will be added when I get the chance, probably after the festival ends]

Frameline39 Advance Reviews

Here are quick summary reviews of films I've seen that will be appearing at the #Frameline39 festival beginning tomorrow. The reviews are listed in order by the screening time. If I am able to add more to this list, I will indicate the new additions with a bullet • before the title.

Thursday, June 18

A Escondidas (Hidden Away), 10:00p Castro (see also 6/26): MUST SEE! A Spanish boy and a Moroccan immigrant boy bond over water polo. You can feel Rafa's intense longing for Ibra and the conflict he feels with his racist coach and teammates. It's a good story and a well-made film.

Friday, June 19

Thirst & Desire (shorts), 1:30p Castro: Highly recommended. The program starts with four strong shorts, including one with the voice of Zachary Quinto (Spock in the rebooted Star Trek movies). The last two shorts I was less impressed with. Definitely worth seeing, but don't feel bad if you need to leave a little early.

Liz en septiembre (Liz in September), 7:00p Castro (see also 6/22): MUST SEE! Beautiful lesbian drama, based on the play Last Summer at Bluefish Cove, re-set in Venezuela. In Spanish with English subtitles.

• Naz & Maalik, 7:00 Victoria (see also 6/22): Highly recommended. Naz and Maalik are two black Muslim teenagers living in Brooklyn, New York, hanging out, hawking lottery tickets, candy, and other items on the streets and subways to make a little money, and secretly more than just friends. They come under FBI surveillance following a chance encounter with a shady cop, ruining their afternoon and threatening to throw open their closet doors to their families and friends. The dialogue is mostly mundane, but the action illuminates the cross-currents between Islamophobia, racism, and homophobia in post-9/11 America.

Those People, 9:30p Castro: MUST SEE! Charlie, a young Jewish painter, has struggled with his unrequited love for his friend Sebastian (the son of a character who sounds a lot like Bernie Madoff), but then he meets a Lebanese pianist named Tim. (If the names Charles and Sebastian ring a bell, yes, it's an homage to Brideshead Revisited.) It's excellent, subtle, and nuanced, with laugh-out-loud moments and a real sense of Charlie's inner conflict, without wallowing in angst or self-pity.

Saturday, June 20

Fun in Boys Shorts (shorts), 11:00a Castro (see also 6/28): MUST SEE! The first five of this year's FIBS are all top-notch, but the sixth, One Year Lease, is the weakest of the eight, and the last two are only so-so.

• Olya's Love, 11:00a Roxie: Highly recommended. Two infectiously effervescent young Moscow lesbians keep up the fight against Vladimir Putain's anti-gay "propaganda" laws. We get to see their private lives and their public activism. Very well made. In Russian with English subtitles. (I was not able to screen the short Victory Day that precedes the feature documentary.)

Fun in Girls Shorts (shorts), 1:30p Castro (see also 6/28): Recommended. This year's FIGS are a little more of a mixed bag. The third film, 11 Life Lessons from an Awesome Old Dyke, is the stand-out, and they're all at least pretty good. (Note: Playing with Balls was not available for early review, and the review copy of Carina was corrupted.)

El canto del colibrí, 1:30p Roxie (see also 6/24): MUST SEE! Latino immigrant fathers of LGBT children discuss their paths to acceptance. The parents had varying levels of challenges, particularly cultural expectations of machismo and the attitude of the Catholic church towards LGBT people, but all of them eventually embraced their children. This film is especially recommended for LGBT Latinos whose families are less accepting, but it is an emotionally moving tribute to the power of love, for all audiences. In Spanish with English subtitles. The title translates as "The song of the hummingbird." (A short film, Mamis: A Family Portrait, accompanies the screening, but was not available for early review.)

Tab Hunter Confidential, 4:00p Castro: MUST SEE! Tab Hunter was a "boy next door" type with a pretty face, but he could also sing, ride horses, and (eventually) act. He was outed by his former manager to protect another client by the name of Rock Hudson, and he also had a relationship with Anthony Perkins. There are far more facets to this intriguing life than you'd guess from the pin-ups of the 1950's teen magazines.

• Dyke Central episodes 6–10, 4:00p Victoria (see also 6/24): I didn't get a chance to see episodes 6–10, but on the strength of episodes 1–5 last year, I'll recommend the next installment. Episode 1 was a bit of a "diamond in the rough," but already by episode 5 it had gotten noticeably more polished, so fans should be pleased if the new batch is truly "better than ever."

How to Win at Checkers (Every Time), 7:00 p Castro: Highly recommended. Thailand has a military draft lottery for 21-year-olds. We meet Oat, about to have his own lottery day, and flash back to when he was 11 and his openly gay brother Ek faced the same requirement. Ek was dating the son of an influential local figure in the black market; his boyfriend Jai was protected by his father, but Ek had no such option. The bond between the brothers (orphans living at the time on the margins of Bangkok with their aunt and cousin) comes across on the screen, as does Oat's desperate determination to keep Ek safe.

Sunday, June 21

That's Not Us, 6:30p Castro: Highly recommended. Three couples (one lesbian, one gay, and one straight) celebrate the end of summer on Fire Island, sharing a cottage together. Each relationship is experiencing its own unique challenges: the lesbians have stopped having sex (making listening to the straight couple going at it at every opportunity, especially awkward); the straight couple have a competitive streak that sometimes gets in the way of real intimacy; and the gay couple are standing at a fork in the road as one of them considers going away to grad school. Several other tidbits get thrown into the soup for a romantic comedy with some notable insights.

Monday, June 22

• Naz & Maalik, 4:15p Castro (see 6/19 above)

Liz en Septiembre (Liz in September), 9:00p Piedmont (see 6/19 above)

Tuesday, June 23

En la gama de los grises (In the Grayscale), 7:00p Victoria (see also 6/28): Highly recommended. A coming out story that's not set in a school! Bruno is a 35-year-old architect, married with a son, but he's feeling the need for some time apart to rethink his life. Through his work, Bruno meets Fer, and they both feel a strong connection, in terms of both intellectual compatibility and physical desire. As the story unfolds, we see Bruno try to come to terms with a life not in sharp black and white, but in shades of gray.

Guidance, 9:30p Castro: MUST SEE! David Gold is a washed-up former Canadian child TV star, running out of options to get enough money to pay the rent and/or buy more liquor. He decides to take on a serious acting challenge: pretending to be qualified to be a high school guidance counselor. He finds a school desperate enough not to verify his identity, leading to what I can only describe as Degrassi on acid. Very funny, and yet it also manages to sneak in some insight into the psyches of teenagers and grown-ups who still act like teens.

Margarita, with a Straw, 9:30p Piedmont (see also 6/27): Not recommended. I watched the first half of this film in Toronto, right up to the point where they introduced the pivotal character, but the first half moved so slowly I couldn't be bothered to stay until the end.

Wednesday, June 24

The Amina Profile, 4:00p Castro: Recommended. Just as the "Arab Spring" of 2011 was gearing up, a blog called "A Gay Girl in Damascus" went viral, until people began asking real questions about "Amina," the blogger. This documentary explores the story, including with a woman who believed she had a real relationship with Amina. It's a wild story, one that I find especially compelling as an occasional political blogger, but the documentary just didn't draw me in as much as I hoped.

El canto del colibrí, 7:00 Elmwood (see 6/20 above)

• Dyke Central, 9:30 Piedmont (see 6/20 above)

Thursday, June 25

Eisenstein in Guanajuato, 6:30p Castro: MUST SEE! Sergei Eisenstein (Сергей Михайлович Эйзенштейн) was a world-famous film director in the early years of the Soviet Union. In 1930, Eisenstein traveled to Mexico to make a film, financed with the help of Upton Sinclair. Eisenstein in Guanajuato is a surrealistic look at this episode in his life, and particularly his relationship with his Mexican guide. To sum it up in five words: Weird, weird, weird, sexy, WEIRD.

To Russia with Love, 7:00p Victoria: MUST SEE! The 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, presented gay athletes with a dilemma. Vladimir Putain had pushed through increasingly aggressive anti-gay legislation in the name of protecting the children. The Olympics have traditionally valued inclusiveness, but also frowned upon any sort of political expression in the games. So what is a gay athlete to do in Putin's Sochi? A documentary crew went along with Johnny Weir, Billie Jean King, Greg Louganis, and others, as they tried to balance conflicting imperatives. We also get to meet some of the Russian gay activists who hoped for international support against their oppression. Weir is fabulous, even as he tries to remain apolitical, but we see his thinking begin to shift through the course of the filming.

Friday, June 26

Worldly Affairs (shorts), 4:00p Castro: Highly recommended. I was only able to review three of the four shorts in this program, but they're all strong films, so definitely recommended.

A Escondidas (Hidden Away), 7:00p Victoria, (see 6/18 above)

54: the Director's Cut, 9:00p Castro: MUST SEE! Whether or not you saw the 1998 theatrical release of 54, you should see the director's cut. The distributor forced changes to water down the gayness, the sexiness, and the drug use, but the director has managed to restore much of the footage to create a far more interesting film.

Saturday, June 27

Margarita, with a Straw, 6:30p Roxie (see 6/23 above)

Sunday, June 28

Fun in Girls Shorts, 11:00a Castro, (see 6/20 above)

Fun in Boys Shorts, 1:30p Castro (see 6/20 above)

En la gama de los grises (In the Grayscale), 4:00p Castro (see 6/23 above)