A unique little film opens this week in NYC and LA that is definitely worth checking out if you're in either city and are looking for a reprieve from the junk cramming the multiplexes lately. Winner of the Berlin Film Festival's Teddy Award (Best Gay and Lesbian Film), The Amazing Truth About Queen Raquela is a brisk and colorful half-documentary, half-fairytale that follows a Filipino "ladyboy" named Raquela Rios as she looks for love and a better life.

Raquela, a transgender prostitute in her home country, eventually turns to Internet porn to make the money she needs to escape to a better life ... in Iceland. Will her online romance with an American porn mogul lead to her dream of moving to Paris? 

Raquela Rios as herself

I saw Raquela recently and while I found it a bit troubling, its quasi-documentary approach and its subject are fascinating, and the film has stuck with me. If you want to learn more, check out the trailer after the jump.

Also opening this weekend are two films that aren't in-and-of themselves gay, but that come from two of our most acclaimed gay creatives. Choke, based on the cheerfully disgusting novel by gay author Chuck Palahniuk (Fight Club), stars Sam Rockwell as a sex addict who fakes choking bouts in fancy restaurants to guilt people into supporting him financially. And that's just the beginning. Word is the film version (adapted and directed by Old Christine cutie Clark Gregg, of all people!) is madcap fun ... but if it remains true to the novel, get ready for some serious gross-out moments.

And then there's Towelhead, the troubled directorial debut of Alan Ball (Six Feet Under, American Beauty, True Blood), which debuted years ago as Nothing Is Private before going back underground for some retooling and a new title (taken from the novel on which it is based). The story of a young Arab-American girl's sexual awakening (partly at the hands of an adult neighbor, played by Aaron Eckhart) is reportedly at turns shockingly funny and deeply disturbing. Gay-fave Toni Collette (Muriel's Wedding) also appears as another neighbor. 

Rene Fris at the Shear Genius finale party
(for as much as we pick on him, boyfriend can take a mean photo)

In a continued effort to bring you all that is important in the world of gay entertainment and ensure that you are being spoon-fed images of gorgeous, commoditized manflesh, we present the newly-minted AfterElton Briefs. Following the usual assortment of carefully-selected news items, interested readers can find a refreshing pic of a hot man in underwear after the jump. Yes, we're serious.

• Gay Six Feet Under mastermind Alan Ball is taking some heat for the title of his feature directorial debut, Towelhead, and points to his experience being at the receiving end of anti-gay language to support the title. Naturally, the critics reply, "Hey, that's my dog," force Ball to smoke crack, and threaten to set him on fire.

• Brit comedian Steve Coogan (of Hamlet 2 and Tropic Thunder) is introducing a new character to his live stand-up set: a gay rent-boy who has had his name legally changed to Keanu Reeves. Says Coogan, "He has very, very modern hair, wears low-cut jeans and scarves and he stares and tries to look pale and interesting. He's normally on something and is a compulsive liar." It's like he KNOWS me!

• Hurricane Gus may eradicate gay New Orleans party Southern Decadence for the second time in three years. Maybe they should rename it Southern Wetness and just roll with it?

• Above, from our newsy sib site, 365Gay: Protesters marched through Denver shouting and carrying anti-gay banners. In the end, police arrested two people.

• And this is just kind of cute: a straight men's guide to getting hit on by gay guys. Favorite line: "The reason that we're looking at you like that is because we're judging you."

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