Let's Do the Time Warp Again

With a jump to the left and a step to the right, MTV has announced they are remaking the movie that defines the terms "cult film", "audience participation" and "midnight movie classic", The Rocky Horror Picture Show.

Original RHPS producer Lou Adler is heading up the remake, which will use the original story and score by Richard O'Brien, plus possibly a few songs from the original stage production ("Superheroes", "Once in a While") that were cut from the final 1975 movie. No director has been attached as of yet.

As expected, die-hard Rocky fans are up in arms (there is already an online petition protesting the new film), but I'm curious to see how they would do it ... and with a budget this time. Casting would be key, most especially for the role of Dr. Frank-N-Furter, the sweet transvestite from transsexual Transylvania immortalized on stage and screen by Tim Curry.

If I were making the decisions, I'd pick Alan Cumming for Frank; anyone who has seen his Cabaret Emcee would agree. For Brad and Janet, how about the Enchanted couple themselves, James Marsden and Amy Adams. O'Brien could be Riff Raff again if he's up to it; if not, perhaps Raúl Esparza from the 2000 Broadway revival. His co-star, Dick Cavett, would return as the Criminologist, while Magenta and Columbia could be the totally Wicked pairing of Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenoweth. As in the stage RHS, Eddie and Dr. Scott would be played by the same person: Jack Black. And as for Frank's ultimate creation, Rocky himself? Why, Cheyenne Jackson of course; he is the perfect man and, as luck would have it, he has played the role before.

Hopes are for a Halloween 2009 release, so we'll likely hear more soon.

UPDATE: In a curious development, Richard O'Brien claims no connection to -- or support of -- this remake. Additionally, although it at first appeared to be a theatrical release, new reports are indicating that it will be aired on television, which may effect the casting (in other words, strike out Marsden, Adams and Black from my dream cast ... sigh).

Say Hello to Ciao

On the heels of its Best Feature win at this year's Philadelphia International Gay & Lesbian Film Festival, the critically acclaimed Ciao has been picked up for distribution by here! Films/Regent Releasing.

Dubbed the "best gay movie of the year" by AfterElton.com, Ciao will be released in select theaters this fall.

Reverend's Reviews: No Regrets for No Regret

A few years back, out filmmaker Todd Haynes paid a well-received tribute to the films of Douglas Sirk with his Far from Heaven. Sirk was known for his soapy stories and glossy style, exemplified by such 1950's productions as Magnificent Obsession, All That Heaven Allows and Imitation of Life. Haynes created a picture- and style-perfect replica but with a contemporary, overtly gay sensibility, with Dennis Quaid playing the closeted gay husband of oblivious housewife Julianne Moore.

South Korean writer-director Leesong Hee-il has gone Sirk and Haynes one better with his No Regret. This excellent drama was actually filmed before Brokeback Mountain and the gay-themed The King and the Clown became enormous hits in South Korea and made GLBT topics more palatable there. Now recognized as the first true gay film in Korean Cinema, it is finally being released stateside this Friday in Los Angeles and New York by here! Films/Regent Releasing.

No Regret is, according to production notes, "plotted in a style similar to what has become known as 'hostess movies'--which deal with ambitious young women who come to the big city of Seoul only to end up working as prostitutes." Here, attractive male orphan Sumin (a great performance by straight actor Lee Young-hoon) moves to Seoul immediately following his 18th birthday and mandatory ejection from the orphanage. After losing menial jobs in a factory and restaurant due to his quick temper, he is hired as an exotic dancer at an underground gay club.

Sumin attracts the attention of many, but no one is more smitten by him than Jaemin (popular Korean television actor Lee Han). The son of a Korean conglomerate's wealthy vice-president, Jaemin is secretly gay and engaged to a woman. His falling for Sumin creates all manner of personal and public drama.

Much of No Regret, in true Sirk style, has the main characters denying and/or dancing around their true motivations and feelings. There is also considerable critique of Korean social and class distinctions, which is in keeping with the Sirk tradition. Indeed, director Hee-il is quoted regarding the inspiration behind his film, "Through the love of two men, I wanted to explore the themes of desire and class."

Fortunately, No Regret doesn't end as tragically as many of Sirk's melodramas did. Full of lovely, intimate moments between its various players and providing a unique travelogue of modern South Korea, I recommend No Regret to any adults, GLBT or otherwise, in the mood for a timeless romance.

Watch the No Regret trailer here.

UPDATE: No Regret is now available on DVDfrom Amazon.com.

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

Canvas to Remain Blank

In a MySpace bulletin posted by film director/ screenwriter Chuck Griffith this morning, he states that the production of his Shifting the Canvas that we reported on previously has been halted due to financing problems. He writes, in a post titled "We Are Dead":

"So, with the economy the way it is, it appears that this film may not get made ... We have a letter of intent to distribute the film from over three distributors ... Cheyenne Jackson as the lead, Scott Thompson, Margaret Cho and Alan Cumming, and it wasn't enough."

In hopes of raising more financing, he has posted the script on the website of his production company, Roaring Leo Productions. Let's hope some luck comes his way, as this sounds like a worthwhile story to tell.

In addition to the actors mentioned, Christian Campbell (Trick), Matthew Montgomery (Socket), Will Wikle (Another Gay Sequel: Gays Gone Wild) and Gedde Watanabe (Sixteen Candles) were cast in the drama, described as a story "about art, family, longing, failure, and renewal".

Best of the Fests: Philadelphia 2008

2008's Philadelphia International Gay & Lesbian Film Festival came to a close last night. Best Feature winners were the sexy drama Ciao (watch the trailer here) and Stewart Wade's dramedy Tru Loved (Jury and Audience Awards, respectively).

Other winners including the fest's closing night feature, Were the World Mine, and the documentaries black./womyn.: conversations with lesbians of African descent, Squeezebox! and Polymath, or the Life and Opinions of Samuel R. Delany, Gentleman.

Tru Gets Some Love

Congratulations to Stewart Wade and the cast of crew of Tru Loved: the recent Outfest fave has been picked up for distribution by here! Films/Regent Releasing for theatrical release this fall.

The comedy/drama, about a high school girl setting up her school's first Gay-Straight Alliance, stars Jasmine Guy, Jane Lynch, Alec Mapa, Nichelle Nichols, Bruce Vilanch and Marcia Wallace.

The Latest on DVD: Here Comes the Spider-Woman

Long absent from DVD, the gay-themed indie classic Kiss of the Spider Womanis now available in an Amazon.com exclusive two-disc collector's edition on both standard DVDand Blu-ray.Included in the set is the feature-length documentary Tangled Web: Making Kiss of the Spider Woman.

The 1985 film, based on the Manuel Puig novel, was nominated for four Academy Awards, including Best Picture. William Hurt won the Best Actor Oscar, the first for an openly gay character.

Check out the Latest on DVD widgets located in the sidebar for more of this week's new DVD releases available today from Amazon.com.

Reverend's Report from Outfest: Awards Night

Drag queen Momma, wannabe drag queen Janice Dickinson, and out actors T.R. Knight, Craig Chester and Rex Lee were on hand in Los Angeles last night to present the "Outie" Awards at the official conclusion of Outfest 2008. Here are the winners:

Audience Awards:

• Outstanding US Dramatic Feature: Hamlet 2 (directed and co-written by Andrew Fleming)
• Outstanding Documentary Feature: A Place to Live (directed by Carolyn Coal)
• Outstanding First US Dramatic Feature: Watercolors (directed and written by David Oliveras)
• Outstanding Soundtrack: Hamlet 2 (Rock Me, Sexy Jesus!)
• Outstanding Narrative Short: I'm Jin-Young (directed by Lee Sung Eun)
• Outstanding Documentary Short: La Corona (directed by Amanda Micheli and Isabel Vega)

Grand Jury Awards:

• "Heineken Red Star" Award: Were the World Mine (directed by Thomas Gustafson) -- See review below.
• Outstanding International Documentary Feature: Sex Positive (directed by Daryl Wein)
• Outstanding International Dramatic Feature: XXY (directed and written by Lucia Puenzo)
• Outstanding Narrative Short Film: Countertransference (directed by Madeleine Olnek)
• Outstanding Documentary Short Film: La Corona
• Outstanding Actor in a Feature Film: Tye Olson in Watercolors
• Outstanding Actress in a Feature Film: Nicole Bilderback in The New Twenty
• Outstanding Screenwriting: James Bolton for Dream Boy

Special Programming Awards:

• For Freedom: Football Under Cover (directed by Ayat Najafi and David Assmann)
• For Artistic Achievement: Wild Combination: A Portrait of Arthur Russell (directed by Matt Wolf)
• For Emerging Talent: Dave O'Brien, director of Equality U

The awards presentation was immediately followed by the Los Angeles premiere of Were the World Mine. This gay musical riff on all things Shakespeare, but especially A Midsummer Night's Dream, is imperfect but enjoyable. Director/co-writer (with Cory James Krueckeberg) Gustafson actually expanded his previous short film Fairies into this feature. I think the short is the better movie, as the feature becomes heavy-handed in its literalism. But Gustafson assembled a talented young cast -- including Tanner Cohen and Robin Williams' daughter, Zelda Williams -- for the feature and, with a larger budget to play with, made it visually ravishing. (Watch the trailer here.)

Outfest will conclude tonight with the Los Angeles premiere of Tru Loved, a new film by Stewart Wade (Coffee Date). It's a hot ticket and ... I couldn't get one, so this concludes my day-by-day coverage of Outfest 2008. However, many more movies and filmmakers made an impression during the fest than one can adequately survey in a mere week and a half. I'll continue to post reviews and interviews in the weeks and months to come.

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

Reverend's Report from Outfest: Another Gay Sequel

There are only three movies during the course of my lifetime that I've deemed so wretched I walked out of the theater before they ended. The first was Message from Space, a Japanese Star Wars rip-off from 1978. I was only ten years old, but I knew it was crap. The next was The New Adventures of Pippi Longstocking in 1988, which I labeled celluloid child abuse.

I just saw the third movie, as much of it as I could bear anyway, last night at Outfest. It is Another Gay Sequel: Gays Gone Wild. I made it through most of the movie but had enough when it reached the climactic "Gays Gone Wild" competition orgy, which is no more than an excuse to show people having sex. My partner had bailed from the screening ten minutes earlier, and a number of other attendees departed prematurely with us.

The film is written and directed by the not-untalented Todd Stephens, who made the very good Edge of Seventeen and Gypsy 83 as well as this disaster's predecessor, Another Gay Movie. While I enjoyed the original, a clever GLBT riff on straight teen comedies like Porky's and American Pie, it hardly demanded a sequel.

It was such a hit, though, that every gay business currently in existence seemingly funded the sequel. An additional orgy of product placement runs throughout the movie, with video companies, lubes, condoms, websites, underwear and travel agencies all prominently displayed.

Stephens was on hand to introduce the Outfest screening. To be fair, he told the packed house up front that the film wasn't yet finished, and the need for additional editing and color-correction was evident while watching it. However, the only way Another Gay Sequel could yet end up a good movie would be to destroy the negative/digital master, re-think and re-write the script, re-cast the movie (Stephens should especially reduce blogger Perez Hilton's supporting role into a one-scene cameo, if he is to participate at all), and create something that doesn't offend the same audience it is pandering to.

It isn't just that the film is outrageously graphic in its depiction of sex, bodily functions and even violence. It's that it isn't really a spoof or good-natured satire like Another Gay Movie was, and instead becomes a derogatory depiction of the GLBT community. The sequel features distorted and either heavy-handed or not-very-funny-to-begin-with takes on reality TV competitions, venereal disease, fetishes, Catholicism, penis size, sexual positions and incest. It also claims to endorse monogamous GLBT relationships while simultaneously indulging in three-ways, bathhouse sex and anonymous encounters.

The funniest moment in the film is actually its smartest: a brief, barbed comment that RuPaul (who looks good and manages to emerge from the wreckage around him unscathed) makes about gay people taking over historically black neighborhoods. Oh, how I wish the script had more such moments tinged with truth rather than dominated by caricature.

I don't offend easily but I was offended, obviously, by Another Gay Sequel: Gays Gone Wild. If this represents the current high point of GLBT cinema in terms of artistic response to a predecessor's success, the number of companies endorsing it and the wide theatrical release (relatively speaking, for an GLBT film) it will receive later this summer, then it is a definite setback.

UPDATE: Another Gay Sequel: Gays Gone Wild is now available on DVDfrom Amazon.com.

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

Reverend's Report from Outfest: Gay Muslims & Porn Stars

In the tradition of Trembling Before G-d and For the Bible Tells Me So, which have screened at Outfests past, comes this year's documentary centerpiece of the festival, A Jihad for Love. Those earlier films explored, respectively, Jewish and Christian attitudes toward homosexuality. A Jihad for Love, produced by Sandi DuBowski (who made Trembling Before G-d) and directed by Parvez Sharma, turns the lens on the experiences of GLBT Muslims.

What the film reveals is by turns disturbing, encouraging, horrifying and hopeful. Some Muslim leaders and predominantly-Muslim countries speak unapologetically of their desire to behead, burn, hang or otherwise execute gay men and lesbian women in their midst. They cite a small number of passages in the Qur'an (or Koran) as authorizing such punishment for homosexual behavior. A Jihad for Love partly focuses on the effort of four gay citizens of one hostile country, Iran, to immigrate to Canada.

However, the documentary reveals that other Muslim leaders and countries are more tolerant. They appreciate the spiritual struggle, or jihad, that virtually all GLBT people undergo in reconciling their personhood with their faith. Just as not all Christian or Jewish communities condemn GLBT people, and some openly welcome them, neither do all adherents of Islam.

Watching the powerful A Jihad for Love as a gay American, I couldn't help but be thankful for the considerable acceptance we've found and advances toward equality that have been made in the US as opposed to many other nations, Muslim or otherwise. Globally, we still have a long way to go.

Turning from the sacred to the profane, Outfest also premiered Wrangler: Anatomy of an Icon, about 1970's gay porn icon Jack Wrangler. Born into a successful Hollywood family, Wrangler set out to become a legitimate actor. Both attractive and talented, he found himself in demand as a model, which soon led to modeling for gay publications, which then led to appearing in gay adult films. He subsequently became the most popular gay porn star of his time.

But Wrangler's success didn't end with gay porn. He was one of the few openly gay actors to cross over to straight porn and become equally popular. In time, he retired from adult films and became a sought-after theatre actor/director. Most surprisingly, he fell in love with and married a woman, singer Margaret Whiting. He did so without renouncing his homosexuality, which confused and angered more than a few of his fans.

Since Wrangler's film success was before my time, I wasn't familiar with him and so found Wrangler: Anatomy of an Icon fascinating as well as entertaining. Well-directed by Jeffrey Schwarz and featuring interviews with both Wrangler and his wife, the film re-enforces the truth that when it comes to sexuality, career success and, most significantly, love, there is little that is black and white.

Watch the trailers here: A Jihand for Love and Wrangler: Anatomy of an Icon.

UPDATE: A Jihad for Loveand Wrangler: Anatomy of an Iconare now available on DVD from Amazon.com.

See NSFW pictures of Jack Wrangler in The Back Room.

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

Reverend's Report from Outfest: Loving Otto

I've long had a fascination with zombies. Neither completely dead nor completely alive, they terrify and intrigue in countless ways, consciously and subconsciously. George A. Romero's series of movies about a contemporary attack of the living dead has been going strong for forty years now but I felt his latest, an attempt at a "reboot" entitled Diary of the Dead, was lifeless (pardon the pun).

It's time for a new approach to the zombie mythos, and gay filmmaker Bruce LaBruce (Hustler White, Super 8½) has answered the call with his outrageous Otto; or, Up with Dead People. An official entry at this year's Sundance Film Festival, it also screens this week at Outfest.

Otto (charmingly portrayed by Jey Crisfar), recently risen from the dead, is discovered by underground filmmaker Medea Yarn (the very funny Katharina Klewinghaus). She has been long at work on her magnum opus, a pornographic attack on the political establishment that has defeated past zombie insurrections entitled Up with Dead People. As one character says, "Medea's underground movies put her on the map ... if the underground has a map."

Medea is taken with Otto, even though she refuses to believe he is an actual zombie, and turns her camera on him in an effort to uncover his past. In the process, she details the emergence of "a new wave of gay zombies" which the horrified populace terms "the Purple Peril."

Otto; or Up with Dead People is a movie within a movie within a movie that takes the zombie genre in welcome new directions. It is a clever satire, a sexy gay romance, and a traditionally gory horror flick all at once. There's also a theological critique of the religious right's response to the AIDS crisis thrown in. LaBruce employs what could be termed "zombie vision" and "zombie audio" in what is, to my knowledge, the first cinematic attempt to gain a zombie's literal point of view.

I loved Otto, even though (or perhaps because) it is one of the stranger films to be shown at Outfest this year. It's likely too graphic to receive a wide theatrical release but it definitely has the ingredients to make it a cult success. Something tells me Otto's rise is just beginning. (Watch the NSFW trailer here.)

UPDATE: Otto; or, Up with Dead People is now available on DVDfrom Amazon.com.

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

Reverend's Report from Outfest: Remembering Derek

The late British writer-director Derek Jarman wasn't known for subtlety. Prior to his death in 1994 from AIDS-related complications, he had taken an unapologetically gay, often erotic approach to such historical subjects as Caravaggio, Edward II, William Shakespeare and various queens of England. We should also be grateful to Jarman for highlighting actress Tilda Swinton in nearly all of his films, leading to her current status as a GLBT favorite and recent Oscar winner.

Jarman sparked international controversy with his first feature, Sebastiane. His all-male, nearly all-nude depiction of the final days of early Christian martyr St. Sebastian manages to both titillate and provoke. Sebastiane, originally released in 1976, will be receiving a special screening at Outfest this Saturday night. It is also available on DVDfrom Kino Video.

Little is known about the historical St. Sebastian other than that he was a Roman soldier ultimately put to death for his Christian faith when Christianity was still illegal. Artistic depictions of Sebastian's athletic young body, clad in a minimal loincloth and pierced with arrows, have similarly excited and repulsed the devout for centuries.

Jarman's imagined biography actually caused a riot upon its premiere at an Italian film festival. Religious conservatives were furious that the filmmaker would situate the beloved saint in a homosexual hothouse atmosphere. They seem to have missed the point, however, that Sebastiane (played by truly beautiful Leonardo Treviglio) remains resolute in his faith despite constant abuse and temptation by the fellow soldiers charged with his execution.

Also, while modern filmgoers may be under the impression that Mel Gibson was the first director to make a movie completely in Latin with his 2004 The Passion of the Christ, it was actually Jarman who first did so with Sebastiane. Of course, the anti-gay Gibson likely hasn't seen Jarman's homoerotic historical epic ... or at least hasn't admitted to it.

If you've never seen Sebastiane, I can't recommend it highly enough as both a pioneering work in gay cinema and a serious study of religious faith under persecution. I also recommend his films The Garden and Edward II for the same reasons.

A new documentary about Jarman, simply titled Derek and written by Swinton, is making its debut at Outfest this week. I hope to see it by festival's end.

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

Sonny and Sal, Together Again

Then and now.

Dog Day Afternoon, a new play based on the events that inspired Sidney Lumet's Academy Award winning film, makes its world premiere tonight at the Studio Theatre at Theatre Row Theatres in Manhattan.

If anything, the actors cast in the roles played by John Cazale and Al Pacino in the film sure have the right look. "Attica! Attica!"

The Latest on DVD: Chance Encounter

Remember all those 80's teen comedies by the likes of John Hughes? Well, imagine a long-lost gay entry in that genre and you have The Curiosity of Chance,on DVD today.

Tad Hilgenbrink stars as the title character, the Ferris Bueller-type new kid at school who finds it's hard to fit "in" when he's "out". This fest fave (written and directed by Russell P. Marleau), with its cute actors, retro songs and a drag queen or two, looks like a fun romp, a pinker Pretty in Pink, if you will.

Check out the Latest on DVD widgets located in the sidebar for more of this week's new DVD releases available today from Amazon.com.

Reverend's Report from Outfest: Trinidad

Who knew that a small, predominantly Catholic town in Colorado is also one of the world's leading providers of gender-reassignment surgeries? Thanks to the new documentary Trinidad, which made its debut Friday night at Outfest, the community is about to become considerably better known.

Since 1969, men who have long felt they were meant to be women and, to a lesser extent, women who've felt they should have been born male have been flocking to Trinidad, Colorado. It was in 1969 that the first such surgery was performed there in, of all places, a Catholic hospital. The doctor who did the surgery (and thousands since then) had to petition the Vatican for permission. The Vatican said yes, which may shock people in light of the Church's current, less-than-supportive climate. The approval wasn't so unusual, though, in the immediate wake of the Second Vatican Council, which ushered in an all too brief period of liberalism in the Catholic Church.

Many of those who have undergone gender-reassignment surgery in Trinidad (the name is Spanish for "Trinity," also interesting to Catholics like myself) have subsequently opted to stay in the town, which has resulted in one of the highest per capita populations of transgender people in the US. While the documentary reveals that not all of the locals are pleased with this, many more of the locals have been supportive and hospitable.

Trinidad, the movie (directed by P.J. Raval and Jay Hodges), succeeds at shedding significant light on a largely unknown true-life subject in an effort to develop greater understanding, as the best documentaries do. It also illustrates how powerfully a community can change lives for the better when the majority of its diverse constituents -- families, businesses, churches, etc. -- are united in that goal. Trinidad inspires, both as a municipality and as a documentary. (Watch a clip from Trinidad here.)

More than 20 documentary features are screening at Outfest this week. I'll have reviews of several of them later this week, including the anticipated A Jihad for Love and Wrangler: Anatomy of an Icon.

UPDATE: Trinidad is now available on DVD from Amazon.com.

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

Reverend's Report from Outfest: A Gorgeous Weekend

Outfest 2008's first weekend is ending with several films drawing attention not only for their storylines but also for their visual style. Clearly, although a GLBT film may have a minimal budget, that doesn't mean it has to be ugly to look at.

Last month, I criticized applying the term "gay surfer movie" to the DVD release Shelter, implying that it risked being identified as the only gay surfer movie out there. Little did I expect another to emerge so quickly! Newcastle is a gorgeous movie, full of gorgeous guys, gorgeous gals, gorgeous Australian beaches, and gorgeous photography. It focuses on three brothers longing for success as competitive surfers, although one of them is secretly, primarily longing for his first gay romance.

During a weekend-long surf trip, secrets are revealed and tragedy strikes. In the wake of these developments, the characters come to better terms with themselves and with one another. Great performances from its teenaged cast, thoughtful writing and direction by first-timer Dan Castle, and Richard Michalak's exceptional cinematography are all commendable. Newcastle is scheduled for theatrical release this October. (Watch the trailer here.)

The Way I See Things is of a decidedly less linear, more metaphysical bent, but is also very good and stylistically noteworthy. The film's quintuple-threat star, Brian Pera (he also wrote, directed, produced and co-edited it), plays Otto, who is still grieving the unexpected death of his partner one year earlier. His friend, Rob (the talented Jonathan Ashford, who also performs multiple roles) kidnaps him and takes him on a road trip in an effort to help Otto get over the loss.

Suffice to say, Rob's plan doesn't work very well. Otto ends up escaping from him and falls in with a quasi-cult. The commune members, intent on their leader's goal to help them "separate the 'I' from the 'me'," take Otto in but also grow increasingly suspicious as to whether he's fully investing himself in the process. But it is also at the commune that Otto falls in love with a member who looks identical to his former partner. Has he been reincarnated? Did he even really die? Has Otto somehow resurrected his partner in order to properly say good-bye? Has Otto lost his mind completely?

To accentuate Otto's journey to potential recovery through the metaphysical, Pera and the film's director of photography, Ryan Parker, utilize both black and white and color photography. Exactly how it applies to each scene and what happens at the end of The Way I See Things are open to debate, but they certainly got the Outfest crowd talking. Pera, who is also a novelist, is a talent to watch. (Clips for the movie can be seen on the movie's MySpace page.)

Finally, The Lost Coast has gained positive notices for its dark, sometimes spooky visual style. It's appropriate, since the story takes place on a Halloween night in San Francisco. I didn't find the film's script as compelling as some, since it depicts the meanderings of some generally directionless twenty-somethings.

Jasper, Mark and Lily have been friends since their days together in high school. Mark still harbors a crush on Jasper, with whom he used to fool around. However, Jasper has since declared his heterosexuality and is about to get married. Before the night is over, Mark seems intent on making Jasper change his mind.

In the meantime, the trio (with another friend they bump into in the Castro) tries to score drugs, goes to the dullest gay party ever, finds a dead body, and confronts various unresolved issues among them. While the performances are good and writer-director Gabriel Fleming also displays talent, The Lost Coast feels a lot longer than its 74-minute running time. (Watch the trailer here.)

UPDATE: The Lost Coastand Newcastleare now available on DVD from Amazon.com.

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

Reverend's Report from Outfest: Love My Life

One of the most exciting developments in GLBT cinema the last few years has been the growing number of Asian films dealing with subjects of interest to our community. Countries where the mere mention of homosexuality has historically been taboo -- Japan, China, Korea and Thailand, among others -- are suddenly turning out GLBT movies by the dozens. This is good news not only for reasons of artistic diversity but political and cultural tolerance.

Outfest 2008 is debuting several of the latest productions from Asian filmmakers, including Drifting Flowers, by Spider Lilies writer-director Zero Chou, and The Love of Siam. First up, though, is Koji Kawano’s Love My Life, which is premiering tonight.

Adapted from a popular Japanese manga by Ebine Yamaji, Love My Life is a very good romantic comedy about a teenage lesbian’s coming of age. Its plot and style recalled for me such 1980’s John Hughes comedies as Sixteen Candles and Pretty in Pink, and its peppy song score by the pop-rock band Noodles cements the comparison.

Ichiko (funny and cute Rei Yoshii) takes her girlfriend, Eri (played by Asami Imajuku), home to meet her widowed father, thereby announcing her homosexuality to him. But Ichiko’s father has a surprising announcement for her: he and her late mother were both gay! Ichiko first struggles to come to terms with this news, and later with Eri’s withdrawal from her. But don’t worry: true to the spirit of Molly Ringwald, everything ends up sunnily for the best.

If you are interested in seeing Love My Life but can’t make it to Los Angeles for Outfest, don’t fret: the film is being released on DVDby Wolfe Video on July 15. Whether you are lesbian or gay, Asian or Latino, its story is, as the best stories always are, universal.

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

Best of the Fests: Philadelphia Gay & Lesbian Film Festival

Along with Outfest on the west coast, another GLBT film festival begins this week on the east coast: The 14th Philadelphia International Gay & Lesbian Film Festival.

Tonight, the opening night screening will be the eastern premiere of Another Gay Sequel: Gays Gone Wild, Todd Stephens' follow-up to the raunchy (and hilarious) Another Gay Movie. Like its predecessor, the Gay Sequel features a host of queer cult cameos, from the fabulousness of The Lady Bunny, Amanda Lepore and RuPaul to the hottness of Brent Corrigan, Colton Ford and Michael Lucas.

The musical fantasia Were the World Mine closes the festival on July 22. Other events scheduled include special awards for Jane Lynch and Alec Mapa and a screening of the queerish classic, John Schlesinger’s Oscar winning Midnight Cowboy.

UPDATE: Check out Philadelphia City Paper's complete coverage of the fest, including reviews, an interview with Jane Lynch and a profile of author Samuel R. Delany, the subject of the documentary The Polymath, The Life and Opinions of Samuel Delaney, Gentleman.

Reverend's Interview from Outfest: Ready? OK!

My early fave movie being shown at the 26th Los Angeles Gay & Lesbian Film Festival, a.k.a. Outfest, is the perfectly delightful Ready? OK! This GLBT must-see, written and directed by James Vasquez, premieres at Outfest this Friday.

Its plot centers on young Josh, a fifth-grader who desperately wants to join the all-girl cheer squad at his Catholic school. Carrie Preston (who also co-produced the film) plays Josh’s loving but often flummoxed mother, Andy, and Michael Emerson plays their gay neighbor, Charlie. He is so unconditionally supportive of Josh that, when the students are required to dress as their favorite religious figure for Halloween, Charlie makes the boy’s dream costume: Maria Von Trapp!

It amazes me that Emerson and Preston aren’t yet household names, especially in gay circles. Emerson made his mark off-Broadway in 1997-1998, giving an extraordinary performance as Oscar Wilde in the acclaimed Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde (which I was privileged to see). Preston, Emerson’s real-life wife, was (around the same time) stealing the show every night in the play Straight-Jacket, as a naïve secretary tricked into marrying a closeted gay actor in 1950’s Hollywood. Preston and Emerson co-starred in the enjoyable 2004 film adaptation of Straight-Jacket, in which the two give more assured and memorable performances than the lead actors did.

Both have made guest appearances over the years in such popular TV series as Law & Order, Desperate Housewives, Sex and the City, The X-Files and Arrested Development, and Emerson won a 2001 Emmy for his role on The Practice. Preston has had supporting parts in GLBT favorites Transamerica (playing Bree’s/Felicity Huffman’s sister), My Best Friend’s Wedding and the campy remake of The Stepford Wives. They remain the kind of actors whose faces we readily recognize, yet we don’t recall their names.

I believe that’s about to change. Over the last two seasons, Emerson has caused a stir on the hit TV show Lost as Ben Linus, leader of the mysterious Others and chief keeper of the island’s many secrets. And Preston has several high-profile movies awaiting release: Woody Allen’s Vicky Cristina Barcelona; Duplicity, by Michael Clayton writer-director Tony Gilroy; and the film version of the Broadway smash Doubt, acting alongside Meryl Streep and Phillip Seymour Hoffman.

I had the pleasure of speaking with Preston and Emerson about their work on Ready? OK! But first, let me get a couple of things out of the way for my fellow Lost fans: yes, it was cool and a little creepy to hear the voice of Ben coming through my telephone and, no, he doesn’t know where Ben moved the island to at the climax of the recent season finale.

CC: What drew you both to Ready? OK!?
Preston: James (Vasquez) and I were at Julliard together. When he first started talking about a germ of an idea he had about a little boy who wants to be a cheerleader, I really wanted to develop a character who showed the mother’s/parent’s coming-out process.
Emerson: I’m friends with James and I like his aesthetic, his artistic mission of showing social outsiders but not in a glamorized or sexualized way.

CC: The “gay neighbor” character in movies and on TV has become something of a cliché. Did you have concerns about playing such a role in this film?
Emerson: I liked Charlie’s drollery and humanity. The gay neighbor is a type that’s out there, but I thought Charlie’s peacefulness and quiet centeredness set him apart.

CC: There’s a lovely scene in the film between the two of you, where Charlie is fitting a dress on Andy. Does being married to each other add something different to acting together?
Preston: Yes. James, Michael and I talked a lot about that scene and how it should be the scene where Andy breaks apart. It was made easier and meant much more to play it looking into the eyes of my partner of thirteen years.
Emerson: It did make the scene easier to play and added to my character’s serenity. We know and trust each other. Interestingly, the role of Charlie was bigger and more detailed in earlier drafts of the script, but much of it was deemed excessive and unnecessary as we developed it. It seemed appropriate for the character to become simpler.

CC: The young actor who plays Josh, 10-year old Lurie Poston, is great in Ready? OK! What was it like for each of you to act with him?
Preston: We got really lucky with him. We saw 30-40 boys in Los Angeles and Lurie was really the only choice. He’s really natural and was so easy to work with.
Emerson: You always approach working with children with a little trepidation. A lot of the time, a great performance by a child can be attributed to a great director. But Lurie was so natural and so easy to work with.

CC: You’ve both done a number of GLBT-oriented projects. Is this an area or audience of particular interest to you? What draws you to such films and plays?
Preston: For me, I feel that these are the stories that are still finding their way to the screen and to a general audience. With our production company, Daisy 3, we are trying to make movies you can show to parents and others who aren’t LGBT themselves.
Emerson: It just happens to have worked out that way with the roles I find interesting and my artistic circle. And it might be that my “skill set” inclines me toward roles where I kind of float along or play characters who skirt gender norms and expectations. I also love to play comedy, and parts where I have a few comedic zingers as in such films as Straight-Jacket and Ready? OK!

CC: Does either or both of you have a particular message you’d like to send to the GLBT community?
Preston: Try not to label anybody, whether in terms of sexual orientation, politics, et cetera. In this film, Josh simply is, and it falls to his mother to accept him for who he is.
Emerson: I’d just like everybody to try to break formulas and formulaic thinking. There’s too much of that out there.

CC: What are your plans for Ready? OK! beyond Outfest?
Preston: We are in talks with distributors regarding a potential theatrical release, but we don’t have delusions of grandeur because it is a small film. At the very least, it will get a DVD release.

So, dear readers, get ready for Ready? OK! (watch the trailer here), in theaters and/or on DVD soon.

UPDATE: Ready? OK! is now available on DVDfrom Amazon.com.

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

Best of the Fests: Outfest in LA

Outfest, the 26th Los Angeles Gay & Lesbian Film Festival, kicks off today.

Laurie Lynd’s Breakfast with Scot, recently picked up for distribution this fall by here! Films/Regency Releasing, will be the opening night feature, while Stewart Wade’s Tru Loved will close the fest on July 21. In between, over 200 GLBT-themed films will be presented, plus Donna Deitch, director of the landmark Desert Hearts, will receive the "2008 Outfest Achievement Award".

Out in Hollywood's Greg Hernandez has been counting down to the event by highlighting some of the films that will be screened at the fest, including the aforementioned Tru Loved, plus Charlie David's Mulligans, The New Twenty, Ready? OK!, Whirlwind and Chad Allen in the latest "Donald Strachey Mystery", On the Other Hand Death.

Most exciting for all of us here at Movie Dearest, our own west coast critic, Chris Carpenter, will be checking in throughout the run of the festival with a series of breaking Reverend's Reviews, and perhaps an interview or two. So be sure to check back here for all the latest from Outfest!