This Gaudy Gilded Stage

Last night, PJ and I went out to dinner and a movie with friends. We decided to see Diva, a 1981 French movie that was playing in our art house theater. None of us really knew what to expect, but we knew that the film had been well reviewed, so we decided to give it a try.

Diva is about Jules, played by Frédéric Andréi. Jules is a delivery man in Paris who loves soprano Cynthia Hawkins, played by Wilhelmenia Fernandez, who refuses to make a recording of her performances. Jules, however, creates an illicit recording of each of her concerts for his own private enjoyment. In the opening sequence, he also steals her dress, also for his private, though not so alone, enjoyment. While dealing with the ramifications of his piracy, he also accidentally becomes embroiled in an international prostitution/drug ring when a prostitute slips a taped confession/accusation into his mailbag. While Taiwanese “businessmen” and the international crime lord begin pursuing Jules, he is befriended by a pair of bohemian artists who may hold the solution to all of his problems, if they don’t sell him and his tapes to the highest bidder. In between chase sequences, Jules has time to court his favorite diva, who becomes intrigued by his obsession with her.

Here’s the trailer:

While our two friends and Paul were less than impressed by Diva, I loved it. (I temporarily took back that statement, but after thinking more about the film, I’ve decided that I’m back to loving it.)

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Last week, PJ and I watched Boy’s Life 6, a dvd of four short gay films: “Bugcrush,” “Doorman,” “Davy & Stu,” and “Heartland.” All four of the films have something to recommend them, but the best–by far– is the first, “Bugcrush.”

“Bugcrush” is about a high school kid named Ben, played by Josh Caras (pictured here), who immediately becomes fascinated with the new, mysterious guy at school, Grant, played by Donald Cumming. When Grant invites Ben over to his house one evening, the mysterious becomes increasingly suspenseful and terrifying.

This 37-minute short film was directed by Carter Smith and is based on a short story by Scott Treleaven. I really like what he does with this movie. As the film progresses, the video and audio sometimes become non-synchronous. In other works, you hear what’s happening before you see it. This really adds to the suspense. Ultimately, this is an unsettling movie, but it’s really well done.

You can watch “Bugcrush” on Logo Online. I highly recommend it. The film also has a really great website. It’s worth a visit too.

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Last night, PJ and I watched Fögi Is a Bastard, a 1999 French movie about a 15-year-old boy named Beni who meets and falls in love with Fögi, the lead singer of a rock band. Here’s the trailer:

The movie stars Vincent Branchet as Beni, who starts the movie as a shy, innocent kid who simply has a crush on his idol. Once Fögi, played by Frédéric Andrau, seduces him, however, the two begin a downward spiral of sex, drugs, and rock-and-roll that may ultimately cost them their lives. (Does that sound like it comes from the back-of-the-dvd?)

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A couple of weeks ago, PJ and I watched The Houseboy, a 2007 movie written and directed by Spencer Schilly. It stars Nick May as Ricky, a young gay man who is romantically involved with a couple. As the movie begins, it is immediately clear that one member of the couple is very much interested in maintaining the threesome while the other partner is not.

The film’s plot follows Ricky as he house sits for the two men when they go away for Christmas holiday (he has his own apartment and doesn’t live with them).  He takes care of the rabbits, fish, and cats (sometimes), meets another gay guy his own age whose family lives in the neighborhood, and invites random strangers back to the apartment for drugs and sex. Here’s the trailer:

As the trailer suggests, Ricky is kind of lost. His life is full of drugs and sex, so much so that he’s lost touch with anything else. He’s in a relationship that isn’t going to last, and he doesn’t know how to relate to other gay men apart from sex.

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I posted my comments on Mamma Mia a few weeks ago, but PJ and I have also seen several other films at the theater this summer that I haven’t had time to review yet. So, I thought that I would sit down and write one post to catch up. To organize my post, I’ll move from my least favorite to my favorite.

5. X-Files: I Want to Believe

PJ and I began what was then our friendship watching X-Files together almost every Friday night back in 1994 and 95. I will therefore always have a soft spot for the early years of the series (i.e., before it got so hopelessly bogged down in its “mythology”). Consequently, I was really looking forward to seeing the new movie and to finding out what Agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully have been up to.

Some of X-Files: I Want to Believe fulfilled my expectations. I like what’s happened between Scully and Mulder. I also like that each is still having a crisis of faith — Scully in God and the Catholic Church and Mulder in the paranormal. Gillian Anderson is particularly good at conveying Scully’s dilemmas and issues.

Unfortunately, however, the plot of the movie is just ludicrous. The moment that it became laughably bad was when Scully conducts her research into stem cells as a cure for a rare brain disease on google. She literally goes from googling “stem cells” to operating on a kid, inserting stem cells into his brain. What’s more, she does this in a Catholic hospital. It gets worse from there, including one plot twist that is needlessly homophobic. The “x-file” in the film is just stupid and ultimately insulting to the franchise’s fans.

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Yesterday, PJ and I saw Mamma Mia! starring Meryl Streep, Pierce Brosnan, Amanda Seyfried, Colin Firth, Julie Walters, Christine Baranski, and Dominic Cooper. We were really looking forward to seeing it, since we love Streep and the trailer looks fun. We’ve never seen the stage musical, so we didn’t really know what to expect, however.

Streep plays Donna, who manages a crumbling hotel on a small Greek Island. Her daughter Sophie (Seyfried) is about to get married to Sky (Cooper), but Sophie would like to know who her father is before she marries. There are three possibilities, so she invites all three to the wedding on the (mistaken) belief that she will sense which one is her father as soon as she sees him. When they arrive and Sophie of course has no idea which one is it, mayhem ensues.

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PJ and I recently watched Back Soon, a gay supernatural romance about two straight men who suddenly become attracted to one another. Here’s the trailer:

Windham Beacham plays Logan, a recently widowed man who hasn’t been able to put his life back together since his wife’s death in a drunk driving accident. In an effort to make a change, he puts their house up for sale. Matthew Montgomery plays Gil, who has been inexplicably drawn to Logan’s house for the better part of the past year; he makes an offer on the house as soon as the for sale sign goes up. As Logan moves out and Gil moves in, the two men become friends and increasingly drawn together. Eventually, the two otherwise straight men even sleep together. The rest of the movie explores the aftermath of this night together. Throughout the movie, the ghost/spirit of Logan’s dead wife also makes appearances, guiding the two men together.

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A couple of weeks ago, I started watching Young American Bodies, an internet series about a group of Chicago friends, their lives and loves. I wrote about it here. This “episodic web series” is produced and directed by Joe Swanberg and Kris Williams. I love the series, so PJ and I started watching Swanberg’s films.

The first one we watched was also his first feature, Kissing on the Mouth (2005). Here’s a ten-minute preview I found on YouTube:

This actually gives a rather lengthy taste of the film without giving away all of the best bits or too much plot, such as there is.

The movie is about another group of friends in Chicago. In this case, Ellen, played by Kate Winterich, has started sleeping with her ex-boyfriend again, much to her friends’ displeasure. Foremost among these is her roommate Patrick, played by Swanberg. The ex, played by Kevin Pittman, wants to be more than Ellen’s secret sex partner; he wants a relationship. In the meantime, Patrick is keeping a secret of his own, which irritates Ellen, who has nothing better to do than snoop through his things until she finds out what he’s up to.

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