Out at the Movies: "Paranoid Park" and "10,000 B.C."

Today two movies hit screens that come from very different gay directors. Though Gus van Sant and Roland Emmerich could not be more different when it comes to the types of movies they make, both have achieved phenomenal success in the film industry as out gay filmmakers.

Paranoid Park
Gus van Sant's latest film is a meditation on guilt centering a teenaged boy who accidentally kills a security guard at a trainyard and opts not to tell anyone about it. Newcomer (and Myspace-cast non-actor) Gabe Nevins stars as Alex and is in nearly every scene of the movie, and van Sant is fortunate that the kid is incredibly watchable in the role.

Despite boasting gorgeous, haunting visuals and a complex, hypnotic soundtrack (blending music and ambient sound into a highly personalized soundscape that surrounds Alex like a cocoon), the film is oddly detached and difficult to invest in. Alex is really a good guy and he means well, and it's easy to feel for the kid and his situation. But because of the gauzy, experimental feel and the lack of plot, it's not the kind of film that sticks with you long after. If you're a fan of van Sant's work, like looking at skaters (a friend on mine calls van Sant's recent string of films beginning with Elephant "diet Larry Clark"), or enjoy moody films that push the narrative envelope, definitely check it out. If not, you might be best to wait to see what the director does with Milk.

10,000 B.C.
I wasn't fortunate enough to catch a screening of the new movie from Independence Day and Day After Tomorrow director Roland Emmerich ... or maybe I was fortunate enough to miss it. From the sounds of what our Angry Puppy vloggers had to say, it's not exactly a must-see. Still, if Emmerich can be credited for one thing, it's in his great choice of leading himbos men. Who else could have made Jake Gyllenhaal an action star at that point in his career? And now he might do the same for Steven Strait, last seen being objectified to the nth degree as a teen wee-otch in the hilariously homoerotic The Covenant. My favorite detail about 10,000 B.C.? That as an early man, Steven Strait has no body hair to speak of ... despite the fact that as an actor in 2008, he most certainly does. Ah, Hollywood magic...