Video Blogs
TV Shows:
Find Articles On:
Who's onlineThere are currently 43 members and 1506 guests online.
|
New on DVD: A glittering, gay "Pageant" plus British comedy and vintage chills
Glamour and gourmet cuisine get their close-ups in this week's new gay DVDs, while the best of the Brit-coms help fill out the rest of the New Releases shelf. Read on for more!
Pageant introduces us to the 52 men who, without hormones or surgical augmentation, drag it up each year to compete in the Miss Gay America pageant. A hit at film festivals around the country, this documentary takes us backstage to see each contestant's support team and the love, sweat and wigs involved with winning this extremely competitive contest.
Fans of Pedro Almodóvar will recognize several cast members in the new comedy Chef's Special, starting with Talk to Her's Javier Cámara, who stars here as an overstressed chef who finds himself the unwilling guardian of his two children after his wife—marriage was an unsuccessful side road on his path to coming out—passes away. When a sexy Argentine soccer player moves in down the hall, the chef and his female best pal (Lola Dueñas of Volver and the upcoming Broken Embraces) find themselves vying for his attention.
Speaking of Spain, Iberian filmmaker Carlos Saura continues his series of documentaries on the world of dance with Fados, a look at the passionate Portugese style. Caetano Veloso is one of several major musicians on hand; if you're a fan of dance on film, Saura's movies are indispensable.
It's a great week for TV comedy collections—two of the best British sitcoms ever made are featured in the souped-up box sets Fawlty Towers: The Complete Collection Remastered and Black Adder Remastered: The Ultimate Edition. And if you were annoyed that the only DVD set for The Larry Sanders Show took a "best of" approach rather than a completist one, at least you can now include It's Garry Shandling's Show: The Complete Series in your collection.
Another reliable source of laughs for me was the melodramatic goings-on over at Showtime's The L Word. (I was never a huge fan of Queer as Folk, since I knew what they were getting wrong about gay life; since I'm not a lesbian, though, I felt free to enjoy the looniness of The L Word without having a stake in whether or not the show was true to life.) The lesbian soap's truncated Final Season, which never bothered to solve the whole "Who Killed Jenny Schechter?" mystery, debuts on DVD this week, and just in time for the holidays, the L-lover in your life will doubtless be thrilled at the prospect of unwrapping The Complete Series Pack.
And while we're on the subject of the holidays, Halloween is nearly upon us. Kick it old-school with The William Castle Collection, celebrating the chilling movies and shameless showmanship of the man who gave us such classics as The Tingler and Homicidal. (If you know the twist of the latter movie, don't spoil it for your friends until they see it.) This new five-disc set includes eight Castle chillers as well as the new documentary Spine Tingler! The William Castle Story, directed by gay documentarian Jeffrey Schwarz (Wrangler: Anatomy of an Icon, Starz's upcoming Sex and the Cinema).
Madonna continues her ventures on the other side of the camera with the documentary I Am Because We Are, about the more than one million children in Malawi who have been orphaned by the nation's AIDS epidemic. The writer-producer used her substantial clout to get heavy hitters like Bill Clinton and Archbishop Desmond Tutu to share their thoughts on camera.
Finally, our Title of the Week just has to be the 1973 made-for-TV movie Satan's School for Girls. Those of us who grew up in the '70s were all damaged in one way or another by the dark and horrifying stuff they used to get away with on network TV, from Bad Ronald and Born Innocent to Karen Black and that damn doll in Trilogy of Terror. Satan's features a doozy of a cast, including future Charlie's Angels stars Kate Jackson and Cheryl Ladd, Dynasty's Lloyd Bochner, cult queen Pamela Franklin and veteran character actors Roy Thinnes and Jo Van Fleet. Worth a look; just make sure you don't get the defanged 2000 remake (starring Shannen Doherty) by mistake. Submitted by on Tue, 2009-10-20 11:49. |
 Recent Comments
Recent blog posts
|
Welcome to AfterElton.com!
- Login
- Join Now!
News, Reviews & Commentary on Gay and Bisexual Men in Entertainment and the Media
You can watch Satan's School
Satan's School For Girls on DVD?
Chef's Special is a must miss
CHEF's SPECIAL is another example of a gay themed Spanish film where the gay characters are shallow, stupid and hateful and the women hysterical, shrewish and unnecessary to the plot. There's not one likeable character in this film, and the film has not one moment of believability. It's all so contrived and insulting to the audience. I lost count of the number of jokes made about los maricones. Just because a film is a "gay" film does not give it the right to be as consistently anti-gay as this film. It's as if the filmmakers say, "We can tell as many gay jokes as possible because we give a happy ending to the gay character." Pathetic. IT reminded me of the ghastly REINAS from a few years back.
*shudder*
Degrees of suckitude-- CHEF'S SPECIAL and REINAS
Any film featuring Argentine
Any film featuring Argentine soccer players is a plus in my book. ;-)
Chef's Special
I realize I'm a bit late with this, but I just finished watching Chef's Special and I have to say that I laughed out-loud throughout the film. I didn't find it offensive in the least--because, first, all the characters were extreme stereotypes and, second, because the actors filled them with empathy--though they could have played them as simple clowns, the actors played them as genuine people, albeit caught up in slapstick situations. The movie made it clear that being gay wasn't something shameful--indeed, the relationship between Maxi and Horacio is presented as a GOOD thing, especially for Maxi's children. (Also, even though Horacio sleeps with a woman, he still ends up with the guy; besides, why is it such a crime for a gay man to slip up once and sleep with a woman? Is our gay card revoked if that happens?)
Plus, Benjamìn Vicuña is absolutely gorgeous.
I'm fed up with gay characters sleeping with females.
I'm glad you enjoyed the film, but the film you describe is not the one I saw because I saw nothing genuine about any of the characters and the acting was so overwrought that I was embarrassed for the actors. We do agree about Benjamin Vicuña.
As for gay men sleeping with women, I don't want to see it. I have no interest in seeing another film where a gay man has sex with or kisses a woman. I've had my fill. If it were an occasional occurence, it would be okay, but the gay men having sex with, making out with, or passionately kissing a woman is so prominent that I can't take it anymore. Even in a film like MAKE THE YULETIDE GAY, there's a full on kiss, and grabbing of the crotch between the woman and the man, but there's barely a kiss between the two boyfriends (allegedly) so much in love. I've seen so many films and television shows just like this. I've often wondered if the filmmakers include this because they grew up with DYNASTY where the "gay" man (Steven) only had sex with women after a certain point.
Yes, a gay man who sleeps with a woman should have his gay card revoked. He should be sent to gay reprogramming. He should be shunned as a lesson to all other gay men who would dare to follow that same path. And he should be forced to watch REINAS as the ultimate punishment.
Ok
I'm tired of getting shortchanged by "gay" films.
Not sure what is so disturbing about my post unless you took my last paragraph seriously. I assumed I didn't need emoticons.
I find it disturbing how female characters are used in gay films. If the gay themed is Spanish, the women must be absolute shrews who are trying to bed or humiliate the gay men. If the film is American, it's the shrewish, obnoxious friend of gay who either gets in the way of the gay lovers having sex or just makes a complete nuisance of herself. You then have the films that are advertised as gay, but the intimacy and the sex is between the "gay" man and a woman. In the latter case, the defenders of those films tell me to pick up on the subtext because the love between the men is beyond affection and sex. Yes, I know these things happen in real life, but why are these the only things they choose to show in films? There are so many other ways to depict gay romance/love/sex so why choose the above? Out of the last 8 gay themed films I watched, only one did not correspond to the above. That's an 87.5% average.
Mr. Duralde made similar comments to my complaints in his review of DARE. I'll excerpt one part:
"...the gay guy here at least gets a little action out of the straight dude, but once again we have a story where the straight boy and the girl get most of the erotic heat, with the underserved lonely homo added as something of an appendage."
I'm tired of getting shortchanged by "gay" films. I'm tired of gay sexuality being minimised, ignored, erased, mitigated, etc. in films aimed specifically at the gay audience. It's bad enough when it's a predominantly hetero movie, but it's worse when it's supposedly a gay themed filmed marked for gays and then some gays defend these films because we should be grateful for any scraps given to us. Just like some people are angry that another armageddon movie wins at the box office, I've had my fill of these kinds of gay films.
We must not be watching the same films
I'm curious to know what those last 8 films you watched were. I don't see these constant characteristics that you talk about, but, then, I'm a bit more selective and don't watch every gay film released--I'll scan the reviews and comments at IMDb and elsewhere to see how others reacted to the film before deciding whether I want to see it. (However, if it features a favorite actor or actress or is directed by a filmmaker I admire or is based on a book or play that I am familiar with, I'll be more inclined to see the film.)
The last few gay-themed movies/DVDs I've watched include not only Chef's Special but also Broken Sky, The Best Way to Walk, Saturn in Opposition, The Country Teacher, Ludwig, and Were the World Mine. My least favorite of these was Were the World Mine, because it represents so much about bad gay cinema that frustrates me: badly written, badly acted, badly directed, badly edited, etc. Before I watched Chef's Special, I tried to watch 3-Day Weekend but gave up after only 10 minutes because it was so dreadfully written, acted and directed; at the very least, Chef's Special, despite what one may think of it, had a professional quality to it that made it watchable.
Unquestionably, the best film among these was Broken Sky, a magnificently directed, acted and photographed tale of young love, a Resnais film with a gay sensibility transported to Mexico City; it's one of the best films, gay or straight, that I've ever seen in my life.
Interestingly, the only two films among these that included, if remotely, the tropes that you dislike where The Best Way to Walk and The Country Teacher, and in both cases, the woman a) wasn't a shrew out to get the gay man and b) the relationship between the gay man and the woman was integral to the overarching theme and story. The Best Way to Walk is about internalized homophobia and the cruelty that results from it, while The Country Teacher was about nature and community (admittedly, the latter film falls apart in the third act due to some unnecessary melodrama, but the acting remains superlative throughout).
(By the way, it's worth pointing out that in Chef's Special, the woman throws herself at Horacio not knowing that he is gay; when she finds out the truth, she makes it clear that Horacio and Maxi get together, even going to Horacio at the TV studio, where she gives a great speech about "once you find love, which comes along so rarely, don't let it slip away"--leading to Horacio hilariously, and defiantly, coming out on national TV.)
Oh, and as for the latest armageddon, end of the world film topping the box-office, well, I don't have a problem with it; what I have a problem is, and this is especially true for 2012, is the lack of inclusion for gay men/women in such films--these projects are invariably ensemble pieces (of sorts) that, in an attempt to reach as much of the world's audience as possible, includes a multi-cultural cast--2012 features not only John Cusack and Amanda Peet, but also Chiwetel Ejiofor, Thandie Newton, Jimi Mistry, Johann Urb, etc., as pivotal characters. But no gay characters. That director/writer Roland Emmerich himself is gay, this is troubling. Why couldn't he have included a heroic gay soldier that helps save people? Or make Tom McCarthy's character Amanda Peet's gay brother instead of her boyfriend?
Emoticons are vital in a forum; I wasn't sure whether you were being serious or sarcastic, and without vocal inflections it's even more difficult. :-)
Recent "gay" films
To get CHEF'S SPECIAL out of the way, what difference does it make if the woman knew/didn't know he was gay? She was still an unlikeable shrew and the film followed the same pattern of a gay man sleeping with a woman for no reason. Would the film work without the shrew woman? Yes. I might have actually enjoyed some it. Or why make her obnoxious and shrill? As it is, it's on my list of the worst films I've seen this year.
Checking with IMDB doesn't always work because some of these films are not well known and they don't get much response from IMDB users. As for gay THEMED films I've recently seen, here is my list of recent gay film rentals:
CHEF'S SPECIAL, VEREDA TROPICAL (which I stopped watching halfway through), BURNT MONEY (a rewatch due to being told I was missing subtext), CHUECATOWN, JUST A QUESTION OF LOVE, BORN IN 68, JOHAN, MA SAISON SUPER 8, 3-DAY WEEKEND (and I also lasted about 10 minutes), TIME TO LEAVE (a rewatch), and YOU'LL GET OVER IT. I also saw MAKE THE YULETIDE GAY and EATING OUT 3 mainly because I was so annoyed by Maine that I had a brief moment where I was determined to see anything gay regardless of quality. That moment has passed. The percentage would be higher if I included those two films which I didn't as I knew what I was in for in terms of quality. Leaving aside VT and 3DW, that's 9 out of 11 films.
I own THE COUNTRY TEACHER as I subscribe to film movement, but I have not seen it. It's still in the shrinkwrap. BROKEN SKY sounds familiar, and I rated it three stars on Netflix, but I don't remember it.
Of the films you mention
I've not seen Vereda Tropical, Chuecatown, Johan, Ma Saison Super 8, You'll Get Over It, Make the Yultide Gay or any of the Eating Out films. (I hadn't even heard of Vereda Tropical, Johan or Ma Saison Super 8.) I lasted only a half hour of both Burnt Money and Born in 68 before giving up. I like Just a Question of Love and LOVE Time to Leave (though I can see your argument in this film; it's just the performance of Melvil Poupaud is so terrific and the ending so devastating that I forgave the rather silly subplot about the woman).
One movie I watched recently that I forgot to mention was Fashion Victims, an amusing German comedy about a traveling salesman, his gay son and his rival--the son and the rival have an affair. It's not a great film, but well-done (why do foreigners seem to make professional-looking films about gay topics, but Americans make really cheap-looking productions? Odd, that.)
I'll be interested to see your reaction to The Country Teacher; like with Time to Leave, there's a pivotal plot development that's controversial for many viewers, though it doesn't involve a woman. I didn't like this plot development, as it sent the story into melodrama....
I use IMDb not so much for the user comments, but for links to external reviews, which I find to be a bit more helpful; Netflix is better for user comments, since there are usually more to be found (and they always run the gamut from love to hate--but at least they explain, rationally, why they loved or hated the film).
The William Castle Collection
Castle produced it --
but it belongs to Paramount.
"I'm tired of getting shortchanged by "gay" films. I'm tired of gay sexuality being minimised, ignored, erased, mitigated, etc. in films aimed specifically at the gay audience."
SING OUT LOUISE!
Indie gay films aim for the lowest common demoniator these days. Silly unfunny comedies are the rule. But that's the way it is for everything. Serious films about straights are few and far between. Most of the time we're (ill) served tired fantasies -- films that cater to preconcieved notions of what we suppsoedly want rather than take any risk whatsoever.
PAGEANT (Documentary); response to Mr. Ehrenstein
re: PAGEANT
I was fascinated by this film. There's a very interesting relationship between a "straight" man and a gay man who performs in drag. They fly around together, sleep in the same bed, and the "straight man" says that the gay man would be his ideal mate if he were gay. Due to my sceptical nature, I don't buy a straight man flying all over the country just to choreograph a dance number for his "friend." Are there men that selfless who don't act based upon how they can get sex?
MR. Ehrenstein, you describe most of the gay themed films I've seen. They slap a half naked picture on the dvd cover and they sell these films to the gay audience even if there is no real gay content. I stopped watching gay themed (or advertised as gay) films because I was tired of feeling duped and insulted. These companies feel that gay men should be happy with the the meagrest of scraps.