Okay, so how do I put this...hmmm...I always plan for the worst and yet garner small hopes for better than that. Every year it does seem Frameline's festival always lives up and down to my expectations and so far this year is no exception. Yeah, yeah, I bitch, I moan, why bother to go and spend all the money (one show was $15! this year and not even in 3D). But as I previously stated I do like to see representations of me as a mo' on the big screen and I feel, however misguided, that I need to support these burgeoning filmmakers in hopes that if not this effort, then one down the line will be a passable, maybe okay, possibly good, better than average, or even dare I say great movie. This year so far all I can say is eh...nothing really outstanding, quite a few not good and some down right crap.
First up was The Green, a light hearted romp about a teacher accused of molesting one of his students! Okay, not so light, but ugh, it wasn't good. I think it had good intentions but just went off the rails and ended oddly and confusingly (I won't spoil it just in case you want to see it). Strangely enough the movie was co-written by Paul Marcarelli that guy who used to be in the Verizon commercials saying "Can you hear me know?" Turns out I heard him and didn't really care what he had to say. The movie also had Illeana Douglas and Cheyenne Jackson but still couldn't be saved. Then was The Night Watch which was a BBC production based on a book by famous British lesbian writer Sarah Waters. Because it had good backers, the quality was very good, though I had hope there would be more of gay male quotient in the movie, like it was in the book, it was mostly about 3 women. It was like a PBS adaptation but with boobies and various other female nudity. I'm sure a fair number of the mostly male audience were a little taken aback when one walked across the screen full on naked. Probably the first time some of them at seen something like, up close and 20 feet tall, I'm sure they may be traumatized for a while.
Next up was Fun In Boys Shorts have 4 good ones to start including an hilarious Norwegian musical one about a boy who makes out with a bald guy and the fact he has no hair is what upsets his parents. The last 4 were not good, they should have reversed the order in order to leave things on a high note. August was something I wanted to like but it fell into the trap of most indie films and was just too slow, boring, long panning shots of nothing with music playing and boring, did I say that already? A guy in a relationship is confronted with his feelings when an old ex shows up. Isn't that like an everyday occurrence for gay boys? Of course they did a 3 way, but sadly not enough frontal male nudity to save this film.
Sunday was Coming Out a collection of wait for it...coming out stories. Yeah, I should have skipped these, was hoping for better. Everyones coming out experience was crappy, what up with that?! Maybe it was just me, but I didn't care for any of these. The night time showing was Judas Kiss and how do I describe this, I'm not sure I can, I suggest you click the link and read it. But just to warn you of a possible ick factor (though maybe not to you) the lead ends up having sex with his younger self. Did you catch that? It only made moderate sense in the movie too. But the whole cast, literally, plus director, writer and producers were there and props to them for being gung ho about their endeavor. It wasn't an awful movie, some may find it mildly entertaining and at least the cast was pretty to look at and it didn't look like someone shot it on their iPhone.
The last I had was a bisexual movie, Three, it was German and by the same guy who made Run, Lola, Run
--Tom Tykwer. I hated the first hour of this movie. It was very German, by that I mean odd, weird, off-kilter, exasperating, confusing, straight people having sex (where's the bi stuff) and then stupid sub-titles that were white--which was the background color of many shots. Did nobody notice this? But just when I was ready to walk out (the theatre was hot and stuffy--its got no AC) 2 guys finally hooked up and yes it was integral to the plot and the pacing evened out and was moderately funny in parts. That's about as close to a recommendation as I can give you. What can I say, after 12 years of festival going you'd think I wouldn't be so picky but, well, I am.
Alas, with 3 more to go I still have hope...so we'll see.
Answer to last posts trivia question: why SF's Frameline of course--35 years.
This posts trivia question: Where was and what was the name of the oldest movie theatre in the US?
First up was The Green, a light hearted romp about a teacher accused of molesting one of his students! Okay, not so light, but ugh, it wasn't good. I think it had good intentions but just went off the rails and ended oddly and confusingly (I won't spoil it just in case you want to see it). Strangely enough the movie was co-written by Paul Marcarelli that guy who used to be in the Verizon commercials saying "Can you hear me know?" Turns out I heard him and didn't really care what he had to say. The movie also had Illeana Douglas and Cheyenne Jackson but still couldn't be saved. Then was The Night Watch which was a BBC production based on a book by famous British lesbian writer Sarah Waters. Because it had good backers, the quality was very good, though I had hope there would be more of gay male quotient in the movie, like it was in the book, it was mostly about 3 women. It was like a PBS adaptation but with boobies and various other female nudity. I'm sure a fair number of the mostly male audience were a little taken aback when one walked across the screen full on naked. Probably the first time some of them at seen something like, up close and 20 feet tall, I'm sure they may be traumatized for a while.
Next up was Fun In Boys Shorts have 4 good ones to start including an hilarious Norwegian musical one about a boy who makes out with a bald guy and the fact he has no hair is what upsets his parents. The last 4 were not good, they should have reversed the order in order to leave things on a high note. August was something I wanted to like but it fell into the trap of most indie films and was just too slow, boring, long panning shots of nothing with music playing and boring, did I say that already? A guy in a relationship is confronted with his feelings when an old ex shows up. Isn't that like an everyday occurrence for gay boys? Of course they did a 3 way, but sadly not enough frontal male nudity to save this film.
Sunday was Coming Out a collection of wait for it...coming out stories. Yeah, I should have skipped these, was hoping for better. Everyones coming out experience was crappy, what up with that?! Maybe it was just me, but I didn't care for any of these. The night time showing was Judas Kiss and how do I describe this, I'm not sure I can, I suggest you click the link and read it. But just to warn you of a possible ick factor (though maybe not to you) the lead ends up having sex with his younger self. Did you catch that? It only made moderate sense in the movie too. But the whole cast, literally, plus director, writer and producers were there and props to them for being gung ho about their endeavor. It wasn't an awful movie, some may find it mildly entertaining and at least the cast was pretty to look at and it didn't look like someone shot it on their iPhone.
The last I had was a bisexual movie, Three, it was German and by the same guy who made Run, Lola, Run
--Tom Tykwer. I hated the first hour of this movie. It was very German, by that I mean odd, weird, off-kilter, exasperating, confusing, straight people having sex (where's the bi stuff) and then stupid sub-titles that were white--which was the background color of many shots. Did nobody notice this? But just when I was ready to walk out (the theatre was hot and stuffy--its got no AC) 2 guys finally hooked up and yes it was integral to the plot and the pacing evened out and was moderately funny in parts. That's about as close to a recommendation as I can give you. What can I say, after 12 years of festival going you'd think I wouldn't be so picky but, well, I am. Alas, with 3 more to go I still have hope...so we'll see.
The ceiling of the Castro Theatre
Answer to last posts trivia question: why SF's Frameline of course--35 years.
This posts trivia question: Where was and what was the name of the oldest movie theatre in the US?
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