Peccadillo Pictures a leading distributor of LGBT movies in the UK have just issued no 17 in their excellent series of Boys on Film collections of short movies. It is something that they really excel at, and in queerguru’s eyes these are by far the best anthologies of queer shorts that we have seen for years.
Under the banner Love Is A Drug, Peccadillo have curated nine new short films from around the globe that are aimed at making us laugh, provoking our consciences, testing our tolerances, educating, entertaining and especially making us want to fall in love.
From the nine compelling movies, which are all totally different, we chose our three favorites that are so worth watching more than just once.
ALEX AND THE HANDYMAN from the US and directed by Nicholas Colia is a cute story of a rather precocious nine-year-old boy who is used to be indulged by his mother (Hogan Gorman) who spends most of her day drinking and on the phone. Alex (Keaton Nigel Cooke) develops a crush on twenty-four-year old Jared (Aaron Luis Profumo) an out-of-work performance artist who has been employed as a handyman to do work around the house. He will stop at nothing to get Jared’s attention, and even plies him with tequila from his mother’s hoard just to get his own way.
HOLE is an award-winning film from Canada directed by Martin Edralin, and is a provocative tale of Billy (Ken Harrower) a disabled man who yearns for intimacy in a world that believes he has no right to make such demands. This shocking and moving story so perfectly addresses a subject that probably in all honestly so many of us would prefer to ignore.
SPOILERS is a charming film from the UK directed by Brendon McDonall about an accidental encounter on a plane when Felix (Tom Mumford) and Leon (James Peake) both claim the same suitcase. It turns out that they have a lot in common and decide to spend an impromptu day together. Both men are carrying baggage from their past relationships and so fear that although they seem perfect for each other it may still all end up getting hurt again.
The other movies are :
MR SUGAR DADDY Dir. Dawid Ullgren (Sweden) 13 mins. TELLIN’ DAD Dir. André D Chambers (UK) 15 mins. BOYS Dir. Eyal Resh (USA) 14 mins. HAPPY AND GAY Dir. Lorelei Pepi (USA) 10 mins. PEDRO Dir.André Santos and Marco Leão(Portugal) 24 mins. KISS ME SOFTLY Dir. Anthony Schatteman (Belgium) 16 mins.
LOVE IS THE DRUG is available on DVD in the UK , and on streaming globally from https://www.peccapics.com
“For the longest time people had me convinced there was something wrong with this music.” So goes the lament of Donna Summer — five-time Grammy winner, Rock & Roll Hall of Famer, Queen of Disco — and the latest icon to receive the stage musical treatment. In writer-director Des McAnuff’s Summer: The Donna Summer Musical, world-premiering at La Jolla Playhouse, it’s her mistreatment that’s hammered home. Men abuse, managers steal, cancer comes calling, but worst of all, her art is derided.
This retelling of Summer’s life, which reportedly is aiming for Broadway next season, not only examines an ebullient era in music but aims to give the trailblazing songstress, who died in 2012, her rightful place in pop culture. Summer was, of course, so much more than a dance-club hitmaker. A brilliant songwriter, conceptualist and riveting live performer whose vocal range was off the charts, she made deep-track concept albums — efforts that did not receive their critical due amid the 1970s disco haze.
Her catchy songs, turbulent life and billowing ball gowns are all rich source material, but this show — a quick one hour, 45 minutes without an intermission (rare for a musical) — moves almost too fast. While sprawling iconic lives can never quite be tidily summed up in such productions, a few too many milestones in Summer’s career are missing here. Adding some of them would go a long way toward helping the creative team make its point about her overlooked genius.
Despite its missteps, there is still so much to like about The Donna Summer Musical, particularly the three women portraying the title character in different phases of her life. Broadway veteran LaChanze (a Tony winner in 2006 for The Color Purple) is a marvel as the assured, rafters-raising “Diva Donna”; Ariana DeBose (an original Hamilton ensemble member, more recently of A Bronx Tale: The Musical) is both nervy and vulnerable as anguished midlife “Disco Donna”; and young Storm Lever, a real find, is a scene-stealer as “Duckling Donna.” Moments when the three sing together produce all the requisite chills.
The story traces Summer’s rise from Boston church choirs to the cast of an overseas touring company of Hair, where she becomes a curiosity among her white friends in Munich, marries young, meets producer Giorgio Moroder and starts penning seismic compositions such as the 17-minute opus “Love to Love You Baby,” which would become the blueprint for so much club music that followed.
In one remarkable late-’70s span, Summer and Moroder created seven transformative albums, three of which were double sets — making her the only recording artist in history to have three consecutive double albums reach No. 1 on Billboard‘s album chart. Even more compelling, these intricate records emulated the great rock albums of the ’60s and ’70s, telling complete stories without any of the dud filler tracks that would later become standard-issue in the post-MTV music business.
But these accomplishments are largely glossed over in the stilted narrative from librettists Colman Domingo, Robert Cary and McAnuff, who tell Summer’s story in such a rudimentary fashion, it’s as if they believe she’s a complete unknown to the audience.
And what to make of McAnuff’s decision to cast some — not all, just a few — of the male characters with female actresses, notably the pivotal role of Moroder? Perhaps it’s a nod to the “whole new world of mystery and androgyny” referenced early in the script. Or maybe he’s trying to out-Hamilton Lin-Manuel Miranda, casting way outside audience expectations. Whatever the case, it’s a needless distraction, though Mackenzie Bell as Moroder and Jenny Larouche as Norman Brokaw do acquit themselves as well as can be.
However, performances by Aaron Krohn and Jessica Rush as hustlers Neil Bogart and wife Joyce — the founder of Casablanca Records and Summer’s manager, respectively — are not as successful. Both struggle mightily with their attempts at a New York dialect, to the point where that too detracts from all the positives. Bring in a genuine New Yorker to get this right.
Adding sweet-natured uplift to the whole thing is Jared Zirilli as bassist Bruce Sudano, who becomes Summer’s second husband, standing by for every high and low. Their introduction to each other in the studio, depicted here during the joyous recording of her 1978 smash “Heaven Knows,” is pure bliss.
McAnuff’s staging is also a star, similar in feel to his groundbreaking work on Jersey Boys. Clean, post-modern sets by designer Robert Brill float in and out as if by magic; crisp projections by Sean Nieuwenhuis and dazzling costumes by Paul Tazewell complete the show’s splendid visual look. Choreographer Sergio Trujillo, another Jersey Boys alum with a host of Broadway credits, astutely conveys the excesses of the Studio 54 era with spot-on humor and precision.
The familiar hits — “Bad Girls,” “I Feel Love,” “MacArthur Park,” “No More Tears,” “Dim All the Lights,” “Hot Stuff,” “I Love You” and more — are well integrated into the plot, given sparkling orchestrations by Bill Brendle and Ron Melrose that raise the proceedings well above the standard jukebox musical.
But several great tunes are missing, notably “Spring Affair,” “Rumor Has It” and “Try Me, I Know We Can Make It,” along with mid- and late-career successes like 1989’s “This Time I Know It’s for Real” and 1999’s “I Will Go With You (Con te Partiro).” The omission of songs like these from the narrative implies that after 1983’s “She Works Hard for the Money,” Summer retreated to suburban life in Thousand Oaks, California, homeschooled her kids, painted paintings and faded from view. Not so.
And then there’s the inevitable show-closer, “Last Dance” — Paul Jabara’s Oscar-winning disco anthem, which even back in the day came with its own spectacular club mix right out of the gate. But it’s the shorter radio cut that appears to be the template here, and despite the choreographic, visual and vocal glory of this confetti-fueled number, it’s ultimately something of a letdown. Bring on the long version of this song and let the terrific dance ensemble go to town during that extended interlude!
With the life story of Tina Turner (Tina: The Musical) set for the West End in March, Cher’s biography (The Cher Show) hitting Broadway next fall and Beautiful: The Carole King Musical still running full-tilt, the competition among feminist musical-icon bios will be fierce. But Summer earned her place alongside these greats, and while this version of her life isn’t quite Broadway-ready, it has all the potential. I feel love.
Venue: La Jolla Playhouse, La Jolla, California
Cast: LaChanze, Ariana DeBose, Storm Lever, Jared Zirilli, Jessica Rush, Aaron Krohn, Anissa Felix, Drew Foster, Ari Groover, Afra Hines, Jenny Laroche, Mackenzie Bell
Director: Des McAnuff
Book: Colman Domingo, Robert Cary, Des McAnuff
Songs: Donna Summer, Giorgio Moroder, Paul Jabara and others
Set designer: Robert Brill
Costume designer: Paul Tazewell
Lighting designer: Howell Binkley
Sound designer: Gareth Owen
Projections designer: Sean Nieuwenhuis
Orchestrations: Bill Brendle & Ron Melrose
Music director: Victoria Theodore
Music supervisor: Ron Melrose
Choreographer: Sergio Trujillo
Presented by La Jolla Playhouse
Stephen Cone has been building a pretty strong reputation as a writer/director with contemplative LGBT-themed films such as Henry Gamble’s Birthday Party and The Wise Kids. Indeed, New York’s prestigious Museum Of The Moving Image has just finished the ‘Talk About the Passion: Stephen Cone’s First Act’ season, which featured a selection of his film, including his latest, Princess Cyd.
The titular Cyd (Jessie Pinnick) is a 16-year-old who lives with her depressed single father. For the summer she goes to visit her novelist aunt, Miranda (Rebecca Spence), which will both get her away from her dad for a few weeks, and allow her to catch up with her mom’s side of the family, who she hasn’t had a lot of contact with since her mother’s death.
As Cyd and Miranda bond and butt heads over their shared history and Miranda’s books, Cyd also realises she has a freedom she’s never had before. She meets Katie (Malic White), who offers her an unexpected friendship that begins to develop into a romance. However, Cyd is still learning about herself, which causes her to challenge Miranda in ways her aunt didn’t expect, as well as get herself into situations where she has less control than they think.
As they feel each other out, and Cyd starts to explore her sexuality, aunt and niece both finds themselves looking at things in different ways and, sometimes clumsily, working their way towards a new understanding.
Princess Cyd is a quiet film that takes time and space to allow the characters to breath. It generally avoids histrionics and instead lets people evolve, realising that a small change in perspective can be quite profound. Miranda is reserved and academic, a woman whose life is as much lived through the characters in her books as it is in real life. Into that world comes the chaotic force of a teenager – and one who soon announces she doesn’t read – who makes her realise the things she may be missing. Conversely Cyd comes to appreciate some of the order and ritual of Miranda’s life.
It’s also nice that while film convention might make you think that Miranda and Cyd would butt heads over the teen getting a girlfriend, Miranda doesn’t care about the gender of niece’s partner. Instead it allows them to gently press one another or where they are in the world and how they look at intimacy, as well as considering ideas of gender being both performance of the internal and not matching people’s stereotypes.
Hovering in the background of all this Cyd’s mother. While what happened to her isn’t revealed until relatively late into the movie, it informs the film and gives an interesting cross-generational echo between Miranda who was once a teenager alongside Cyd’s mom, and the teenage Cyd who’s grown up without her mother around.
Some will find it all a little too quiet and lacking in incident, and there are also those who may find it difficult to relate to the very middle-class milieu of a lot of it (even when Cyd is hanging out with the androgynous Katie and her friends, it’s all seen through quite middle-class eyes). However, those willing to allow the movie the space the breath and to contemplate its characters and their situation, will find it surprisingly rewarding.
The nominees for the 75th annual Golden Globe Awards were announced this morning Presenters Alfre Woodard, Garrett Hedlund, Kristen Bell and Sharon Stone revealed the newly minted honorees from film and television at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, California.
Tonya Harding pulled off the triple axel, but will Margot Robbie take home gold for her performance in “I, Tonya”? Or will Emma Stone build upon her awards momentum from last year and game, set, match the competition as Billie Jean King in “Battle of the Sexes”? Critically celebrated films like “Get Out,” “Call Me By Your Name” and “Dunkirk” are also expected to be recognized
On the TV side, HBO’s not-so-limited series “Big Little Lies” could dominate in its categories after a nearly clean Emmys sweep earlier this year. The Globes are also likely to recognize Elisabeth Moss and the rest of “The Handmaid’s Tale” after a stellar (and terrifying) debut season on Hulu. Of course, as always, expect to bow down to “The Crown.”
The Globes, which honor the best in both movies and television, will air Jan. 7 on NBC, hosted by Seth Meyers.
FILM
Best Motion Picture, Drama
“Call Me By Your Name”
“The Shape of Water”
“Dunkirk”
“The Post”
“Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri”
Best Motion Picture, Musical, or Comedy
“Get Out”
“Lady Bird”
“The Disaster Artist”
“I, Tonya”
“The Greatest Showman”
Best Performance By an Actress in a Motion Picture, Drama
For a couple of years duelling biopics of Tom Of Finland were in the works, but this is the one that finally made it to the screen. The life of Touko Laaksonen is certainly an interesting subject to take on, and there are many ways it could have been done. The route they’ve gone down is to make a fairly traditional, prestige biopic, which is perhaps an unexpected choice for a man who made his name for outsider homoerotic art that defied conventions of both sexuality and class.
The film follows the life of Laaksonen, picking up his tale just after he has been discharged from the Finnish Army following the Second World War (the movie rather bypasses Finland complicated position in the conflict, other than that it was hell for the soldiers and also helped set off Touko’s love of Nazi uniforms). While he had encounters with men in the Army, in post-War Finland, being gay is still about furtive and dark meetings in order to avoid society’s rampant homophobia.
His situation isn’t helped by the fact his judgemental sister, colleague and roommate, Kaija (Jessica Grabowsky), doesn’t know he’s gay and doesn’t want to. Tom begins a secret, long-term relationship with another roommate, Veli (Lauri Tilkanen), but while needing to stay deeply closeted in his own life, he begins trying to find an audience for his stylised, homoerotic image of enormously well-endowed, uniformed men and motorcyclists.
The growing success of his imagery – done under what becomes his brand name, Tom Of Finland – leads him beyond Finland, initially to Berlin, before discovering the ‘anything goes’ world of 1970s California.
It’s an entertaining and well told tale from award-winning director Dome Karukoski. The film has a nice eye for style and history, and keeps the viewer pulled in as it illuminates the life behind the iconic imagery. However, other than some surface observations, those hoping to learn more about exactly what it is about Laaksonen’s imagery that caught the gay imagination and continues to appeal today (despite the proliferation of far more explicit imagery), may be a little disappointed.
That’s because rather than exploring the artistry, it’s more interested in cementing the position of the artist. Indeed, there are moments when the film gets a close to being a filmic essay arguing Laaksonen’s position as a key figure in gay liberation, and not just a guy who drew some prurient pictures decades ago. That’s fair enough, but occasionally it takes this a little too far by pretty much suggesting the whole of gay liberation was down to Tom Of Finland. Indeed, the whole section of the movie after Tom first goes to America doesn’t feel quite as disciplined or satisfying as what went before. That’s partly due to the fact at the start of the movie character underpins everything, which ensures emotional involvement in the prejudice and difficulties Touko face. However, later Laaksonen becomes increasingly secondary to the points the film is trying to make about him and his art.
Even that could have been okay, as he is an interesting case study in how the meaning of the art and the artist can be different things – especially as he ‘hid’ behind a pseudonym – but the movie doesn’t fully address that. Similarly, despite being about the seeming disparity between the closeted life Laaksonen had to lead and the open eroticism of his art, the movie itself is sometimes a little coy about the sexual side of Touko’s life, especially his interest in different fetishes and S&M.
The film will probably seem suitably risqué to straight audiences, but gay viewers may feel it’s slightly holding back. Indeed, there’s are argument to be made about whether this film is essentially about the gentrification of an artist whose entire raison d’etre was about the fact that what he drew was so far from the gentry in terms of subject, style and class. Indeed, the movie’s frame of reference ultimately turns him into an oddly establishment type figure.
There are undoubtedly things that are problematic about its rather traditional/mainstream take on its subject matter. Admittedly, dealing with those problems would have probably made it even more of a niche film than it already is, but it leaves a movie that is interesting and entertaining, but feels like its missing some key aspects of its subject. It also gets a little messy in its desire to show that ‘Tom’ was important and not just a footnote in gay history.
Overall Verdict: Well worth a watch and undoubtedly entertaining, even if the prestige biopic format means many key aspects of its subject fall by the wayside.
SAN FRANCISCO FILM CRITICS CIRCLE Announces 2017 Award Nominees Winners Announced via Twitter on Sunday, December 10
The San Francisco Film Critics Circle (SFFCC) announced today the nominees in all categories for their 2017 Awards. Members have combed through the year’s best films to decide on the nominees in each category.
The circle, comprised of critics from across the Bay Area and Northern California, will meet Sunday, December 10 in San Francisco to decide the winners. Winners will be announced starting at 12:15PM PST on the official SFFCC Twitter account @SFFCC or https://twitter.com/sffcc.
Nominees in each category are below:
Best Picture
CALL ME BY YOUR NAME
THE FLORIDA PROJECT
GET OUT
THE SHAPE OF WATER
THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI
Best Director
Sean Baker – THE FLORIDA PROJECT
Guillermo del Toro – THE SHAPE OF WATER
Greta Gerwig – LADY BIRD
Christopher Nolan – DUNKIRK
Jordan Peele – GET OUT
Best Actor
Timothee Chalamet – CALL ME BY YOUR NAME
James Franco – THE DISASTER ARTIST
Daniel Kaluuya – GET OUT
Gary Oldman – DARKEST HOUR
Andy Serkis – WAR FOR THE PLANET OF THE APES
Best Actress
Annette Bening – FILM STARS DON’T DIE IN LIVERPOOL
Sally Hawkins – THE SHAPE OF WATER
Frances McDormand – THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI
Margot Robbie – I, TONYA
Saoirse Ronan – LADY BIRD
Best Supporting Actor
Willem Dafoe – THE FLORIDA PROJECT
Armie Hammer – CALL ME BY YOUR NAME
Richard Jenkins – THE SHAPE OF WATER
Sam Rockwell – THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI
Michael Stuhlbarg – CALL ME BY YOUR NAME
Best Supporting Actress
Holly Hunter – THE BIG SICK
Allison Janney – I, TONYA
Melissa Leo – NOVITIATE
Lesley Manville – PHANTOM THREAD
Laurie Metcalf – LADY BIRD
Best Foreign Language Film
BPM
A FANTASTIC WOMAN
FRANTZ
IN THE FADE
THE SQUARE
Best Animated Feature
THE BREADWINNER
COCO
THE LEGO BATMAN MOVIE
LOVING VINCENT
YOUR NAME
Best Documentary
BRIMSTONE & GLORY
CITY OF GHOSTS
DAWSON CITY: FROZEN TIME
FACES PLACES
JANE
Best Cinematography
BLADE RUNNER 2049 – Roger Deakins
DUNKIRK – Hoyte van Hoytema
THE FLORIDA PROJECT – Alexis Zabe
THE SHAPE OF WATER – Dan Laustsen
WONDER WHEEL – Vittorio Storaro
Best Production design
BLADE RUNNER 2049 – Dennis Gassner
DUNKIRK – Nathan Crowley
PHANTOM THREAD – Mark Tildesley
THE SHAPE OF WATER – Paul D. Austerberry
WONDERSTRUCK – Mark Friedberg
Best Editing
BABY DRIVER – Paul Machliss and Jonathan Amos
BLADE RUNNER 2049 – Joe Walker
DUNKIRK – Lee Smith
THE POST – Michael Kahn
THE SHAPE OF WATER – Sidney Wolinsky
Best Screenplay (original)
THE BIG SICK – Kumail Nanjiani and Emily V. Gordon
GET OUT – Jordan Peele
LADY BIRD – Greta Gerwig
THE SHAPE OF WATER – Guillermo Del Toro and Vanessa Taylor
THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI – Martin McDonagh
Best Screenplay (adapted)
THE DISASTER ARTIST – Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber
CALL ME BY YOUR NAME – James Ivory
MOLLY’S GAME – Aaron Sorkin
MUDBOUND – Dee Rees and Virgil Williams
WONDERSTRUCK – Brian Selznick
Best Original Score
BLADE RUNNER 2049 – Hans Zimmer and Benjamin Wallfisch
DUNKIRK – Hans Zimmer
PHANTOM THREAD – Jonny Greenwood
THE SHAPE OF WATER – Alexandre Desplat
WAR FOR THE PLANET OF THE APES – Michael Giacchino
Special Citation (for that underappreciated indie gem)
BRIMSTONE & GLORY
COLUMBUS
THE OTHER KIDS
About the San Francisco Film Critics Circle (SFFCC)
Founded in 2002, the San Francisco Film Critics Circle is comprised of critics from around the Greater Bay Area. Its members include film journalists from the San Francisco Chronicle, the San Jose Mercury News, the East Bay Times, SF Weekly, the East Bay Express, the San Jose Metro, Palo Alto Weekly, the San Francisco Examiner, Variety, KCBS, KGO, KSJS, Radio Sausalito, The Wrap and more.
Director and Producer Bryan Singer is the latest of Hollywood elite to be accused of sexual misconduct. On Thursday, a lawsuit was filed in Seattle against Singer accusing him of raping a 17 year-old male on a yacht in 2003.
Cesar Sanchez-Guzman alleges that Singer forced the then 17 year-old to have oral sex with the director, before Singer penetrated him anally. The lawsuit states that Singer met Sanchez-Guzman at a party on a yacht owned by tech investor Lester Waters.
According to the suit, Singer gave Sanchez-Guzman a tour of the yacht before “Singer lured Cesar into a room, shut the door and demanded that Cesar perform oral sex. When Plaintiff refused, Bryan Singer forced him into acts of oral and anal sex.”
The lawsuit claims Sanchez-Guzman did not know who Singer was at the time, but later in the evening, Singer promised that he could help Sanchez-Guzman launch an acting career if he would stay silent about the incident.
“He then told Cesar no one would believe him if he ever reported the incident, and that he could hire people who are capable of ruining someone’s reputation,” the lawsuit states.
Singer responded to the lawsuit, denying the accusations. His statement references a 2014 lawsuit for similar reasons by Michael Egan, who accused Singer of drugging and raping him after they met at a Hollywood party.
It was one of many the many parties allegedly attended by Singer thrown by convicted sex offender Marc Collins-Rector. After evidence suggested the claims were false, Egan withdrew his lawsuit. Egan later pled guilty to investment fraud, a plea used as ammunition in Singer’s statement
Yet, Egan was not the only person to accuse Singer of sexual misconduct in the past. Also in 2014, Singer was accused of another sexual assault by an anonymous British minor. That lawsuit was also withdrawn.
The earliest allegations against Singer date back to a 1998 lawsuit alleging that Singer forced young extras to strip naked for a shower sequence in his film “Apt Pupil.” That case was also dismissed.
Singer’s behavior again under question in the 2014 documentary, “An Open Secret.” Featuring Egan and focusing on Collins-Rector, the film references Singer, without speaking directly about any detailed accounts.
After a limited release, the producers of “An Open Secret” sought commercial distribution, only to find no takers. “We got zero Hollywood offers to distribute the film. Not even one. Literally no offers for any price whatsoever,” said financier Gabe Hoffman earlier this year. After the Harvey Weinstein saga began, the filmmakers released the documentary on Vimeo.
Even before Thursday’s filing, there were signs that all was not well for Singer. Three days prior to the suit, he was fired as director of “Bohemian Rhapsody,” the Freddy Mercury biopic. Reportedly, he was frequently absent from set and stopped showing up all together after Thanksgiving. The production had to shut down while he was away. Singer claimed he was caring for a sick parent only after he was fired.
On Monday, Singer’s long-time publicist, Simon Halls, told the Washington Post that he was no longer representing him without explanation.
It all brings to a head a long-brewing campaign of whispers and suspicions. Many in media at many levels assumed that, at some point, Singer would be swept up in the tide of allegations against powerful men in the entertainment industry, that the past suits and accusations would resurface. They just didn’t know when or from what angle. Many in the in gay community have also spoken quietly or openly about Singer in similar ways.
Indeed, Singer himself had already become part of the conversation thanks to his own statements. When asked by TMZ on Friday whether or not he’d ever work with past collaborator Kevin Spacey again after this year’s revelations surfaced about the actors assault of actor Anthony Rapp, Singer said it would depend on the project. Singer worked with Spacey on “Superman Returns” and “The Usual Suspects,” the film that won the actor an Oscar and the director improved standing in Hollywood.
Subsequently, “The Usual Suspects” co-star Gabriel Byrne has claimed that production on the film was held up due to Spacey’s sexual misconduct toward a younger actor.
Singer is currently still serving as producer in X-Men related film and television franchises and has been announced as executive producer and director of an upcoming television series, “World War III,” and his film “Broadway 4D” is still slated for release in 2018.
The status of these and other projects must now be considered in jeopardy. Much like Spacey, no one is rushing to Singer’s defense after years of whispers. It’s not too hard to imagine that his treatment following Thursday’s news will mirror that given to the actor as well.
Saturday December 16 @ 8 pm. Occidental Center for the Arts. Guitar VirtuosoPeppino D’Agostino ! Internationally renowned finger picking acoustic guitarist, composer and master teacher D’Agostino will present a dynamic 8 pm concert covering his original classical, folk, Irish, Italian, Brazilian, flamenco and jazz compositions as well as holiday music. Don’t miss this warm and engaging award-winning performer as he brings his mesmerizing virtuosity to OCA’s acoustic sweet spot for the fourth holiday season! $25 General. Fine Refreshments available. Art Gallery open for viewing and gifts. Accessible to people with disabilities. OCA is a non profit arts center staffed by volunteers. www.occidentalcenterforthearts.org; 707-874-9392.
Watching Desert Hearts it’s difficult not to feel a little frustrated. That’s not because of anything in the movie itself. It’s because even 32 year later it still feels so exceptional. A film with a female director and screenwriter – and based on a novel by a woman – is still an unusual thing. A film that’s about the lives of women and not just how they relate to men, is still an unusual thing. A movie that treats lesbian love as a serious thing and isn’t framed by tragedy, is still an unusual thing.
It shouldn’t be that way, but Desert Hearts retains a very special position as one of those incredibly rare movies by women, that doesn’t feel like it’s been co-opted either by the influence of men, or by a need to please the male viewer.
Based on Jane Rule’s 1964 debut novel, Desert Of The Heart, the film follows the uptight Professor Vivian Bell (Helen Shaver), who arrives in Nevada from New York in order to get a divorce. Her marriage has simply run its course and she has decided she needs a fresh start, but in order to get the divorce, she needs to establish residence in the desert state.
Life on a ranch in Nevada is very different to where Vivian came from, and it also brings her intro the sphere of the younger Cay (Patricia Charbonneau), who’s about as close to an out and proud lesbian as its possible to get in the 1960s American west. Cay begins to develop feelings for the New York academic, but for Vivian, admitting she feels something too will need her to open up far more than she is used to.
Desert Hearts is a beautiful love story that’s carefully told and which pulls the audience in as it slowly allows its uptight and cerebral central character to unfold against the background of gambling and ranches that are far different to her city life. Director Donna Deitch has said the genesis of the film was her desire to make a lesbian-themed movie that wasn’t framed by tragedy. She succeeded admirably, instead creating something that takes women, their feelings and their sexuality seriously. It does it in an emotionally grounded and affecting way, and you can certainly understand why it became an instant lesbian classic the moment it was released.
As noted above, it’s also still exceptionally rare, not just smashing the Bechdel Test, but completely reversing things to how they typically are in movies. For example, the male characters are largely adjuncts to help illuminate the women’s stories rather than the other way around. There are several nice, subtle moments where male characters come in and act in dominant, privileged, patriarchal ways (even if they’re not aware that’s what they’re doing), but the movie literally never shifts focus from the women, which allows them to retain the power.
This Criterion release presents a great new HD master of the film, alongside some very worthwhile special features. Desert Hearts super-fan Jane Lynch interviews director Donna Deitch in one of them, where they explore where the film came from and the impact it had. There are also featurettes with new interviews with the main actresses, as well as some of the crew. It’s worth watching all of these features, as each person has a slightly different perspective. If nothing else it gives some interesting insights into the intense and rather famous sex scene between Cay and Vivian, which is still a masterclass in how to shoot women making love in a way that’s erotic and sensual, but never feels like it’s been co-opted by the male gaze.
It’s been a great year for gay-themed movies at the Independent Spirit Awards – the gongs giving out shortly before the Oscars, which acnowledge and celebrate those film made by and released outside the Hollywood studio system. Leading the pack is the acclaimed Call Me By Your Name, Luca Guadagnino’s movie about two young men falling in love in italy in the early 1980s.
It scored six nominations, including Best Feature, Best Director, Best Cinematography, Best Editing, Best Male Lead (Timothee Chalamet) and Best Supporting Male (Armie Hammer).
The Independent Spirit Awards used to largely be a way to celebrate movies that were ignored by the Oscars, for the past few years the winners have been the same (five of the last six Indie Spirit Best Feature winners have also picked up the Best Picture Oscar). That suggest Call Me By Your Name has just taken a big step closer to Academy Award success.
It wasn’t the only gay-themed movie picking up nominations, as Beach Rats was nominated for Best Cinematography and Best Male Lead for the excellent Harris Dickinson. The much loved and praised French movie BPM (Beats Per Minute), about the rise of the activist organisation ACT UP in the early days of the AIDS crisis, is nominated for Best International Feature.
Away from the gay front, other films being giving love include Jordan Peele’s hit Get Out, and Good Time, starring Robert Pattinson, which both scored five nominations. Lady Bird and The Rider meanwhile got four apiece.
Take a look at all the nominations below.
BEST FEATURE
Call Me By Your Name
The Florida Project
Get Out
Lady Bird
The Rider
BEST FIRST FEATURE
Columbus
Ingrid Goes West
Menashe
Oh Lucy!
Patti Cake$
JOHN CASSAVETES AWARD (Given to the best feature made for under $500,000)
Dayveon
A Ghost Story
Life and nothing more
Most Beautiful Island
The Transfiguration
BEST DIRECTOR
Sean Baker, The Florida Project
Jonas Carpignano, A Ciambra
Luca Guadagnino, Call Me By Your Name
Jordan Peele, Get Out
Benny and Josh Safdie, Good Time
Chloe Zhao, The Rider
BEST SCREENPLAY
Greta Gerwig, Lady Bird
Azazel Jacobs, The Lovers
Martin McDonagh, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Jordan Peele, Get Out
Mike White, Beatriz at Dinner
BEST FIRST SCREENPLAY
Kris Avedisian (Story by Kyle Espeleta, Jesse Wakeman), Donald Cried
Emily V. Gordon, Kumail Nanjiani, The Big Sick
Ingrid Jungermann, Women Who Kill
Kogonada, Columbus
David Branson Smith, Matt Spicer, Ingrid Goes West
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Thimios Bakatakis, The Killing of a Sacred Deer
Elisha Christian, Columbus
Hélène Louvart, Beach Rats
Sayombhu Mukdeeprom, Call Me by Your Name
Joshua James Richards, The Rider
BEST EDITING
Ronald Bronstein, Benny Safdie, Good Time
Walter Fasano, Call Me by Your Name
Alex O’Flinn, The Rider
Gregory Plotkin, Get Out
Tatiana S. Riegel, I, Tonya
BEST FEMALE LEAD
Salma Hayek, Beatriz at Dinner
Frances McDormand, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Margot Robbie, I, Tonya
Saoirse Ronan, Lady Bird
Shinobu Terajima, Oh Lucy!
Regina Williams, Life and nothing more
BEST MALE LEAD
Timothée Chalamet, Call Me by Your Name
Harris Dickinson, Beach Rats
James Franco, The Disaster Artist
Daniel Kaluuya, Get Out
Robert Pattinson, Good Time
BEST SUPPORTING FEMALE
Holly Hunter, The Big Sick
Allison Janney, I, Tonya
Laurie Metcalf, Lady Bird
Lois Smith, Marjorie Prime
Taliah Lennice Webster, Good Time
BEST SUPPORTING MALE
Nnamdi Asomugha, Crown Heights
Armie Hammer, Call Me by Your Name
Barry Keoghan, The Killing of a Sacred Deer
Sam Rockwell, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Benny Safdie, Good Time
ROBERT ALTMAN AWARD – Given to one film’s director, casting director and ensemble cast
Mudbound
Director: Dee Rees
Casting Directors: Billy Hopkins, Ashley Ingram
Ensemble Cast: Jonathan Banks, Mary J. Blige, Jason Clarke, Garrett Hedlund, Jason Mitchell, Rob Morgan, Carey Mulligan
BEST DOCUMENTARY
The Departure, Lana Wilson
Faces Places, Agnés Varda, JR
Last Men in Aleppo, Feras Fayyad
Motherland, Ramona S. Diaz
Quest, Jonathan Olshefski
BEST INTERNATIONAL FILM
BPM (Beats Per Minute)
A Fantastic Woman
I Am Not a Witch
Lady Macbeth
Loveless