Queer Review: Brokeback Mountain

Brokeback Mountain
Director: Ang Lee
Writers: Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana. Based upon a short story by Annie Proulx.
Cast: Heath Ledger, Jake Gyllenhaal, Randy Quaid, Michelle Williams, Anne Hathaway

Brokeback Mountain was, and remains to this day, one of the most talked about and well known queer movies to have been released in the past decade, if not of all time. It was "the" gay movie the year it was released and the one that probably everyone has heard about. In addition to serious academic discussion, Ang Lee's movie has provoked protests, been parody, censored, praised, and critiqued. Just about everyone who saw it had something to say.

At the time Brokeback Mountain was released, it was seen as a sign of better tidings to come for movies with LGBTQIA characters. Unfortunately, that never happened. The death of independent cinema along with Hollywood becoming increasingly risk averse, means that there have been increasingly smaller of number of movies being released that include queer characters. Or at least that's what it feels like to me. The golden age of queer cinema, which I would argue started in the late 90's, also ended at approximately the same time Brokeback Mountain was released. By the way, I am not arguing that Brokeback Mountain was in any way the cause of such decline, as there were many, many other mitigating factors.

The plot of Brokeback Mountain is fairly straightforward, with only a couple of wrinkles to keep things interesting. Two sheep herders, Ennis Del Mar (Heath Ledger) and Jack Twist (Jake Gyllenhaal), are hired by Joe Aguirre (Randy Quaid) to herd sheep on on a route that will take them across Brokeback Mountain. Herding sheep means that the Ennis and Jack are by themselves for long stretches of time. Eventually, they become physically intimate and a passionate love develops between them. After the job is done, the two continue to see each other, even though they both get married and have kids.

The "fishing trips" Jack and Ennis go on after they get back from the mountain, are of the sort where no fish are brought back, a fact that does not escape Ennis's borderline homophobic wife Alma (Michelle Williams). Jack's wife Lureen (Ann Hathaway) is aware that there is something strange going on between her husband and Ennis, but does not seem to know or care about the details. The main conflict revolves around Jack and Ennis'confused feelings for each other and the societal constraints that keep them apart.

Ultimately, the element that makes Brokeback Mountain notable is the fact that it features two highly masculine queers. Both Ennis and Jack are macho drinking, fighting, spitting, through and through cowboys. The main characters extreme masculinity can be seen as the main source of controversy directed at the movie. The homophobic were up in arms at the portrayal of two queers as normal, rough and tumble men. Queer critics complained about the portrayal of two queers as normal, rough and tumble men marginalized more effeminate queers. My take is that it's important that portrayals of GLBTQIA's from all walks of life, temperaments, and personalities and the importance therefore of Brokeback Mountain is portraying the sort of queer individuals who do not often get seen in movies and other media.

In terms of quality, Brokeback Mountain is extraordinarily well made and Ang Lee directs with the sure hand of a veteran. The cinematography is at times breathtaking. There is also a well edited section near the end of the movie where one character is describing how another character died and the audience is shown how the actual events differ from the events being described. On the acting front, Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal both give brilliant performances and are well supported by an able cast.

Overall, in spite of all the attention the film has received, it is not the greatest queer film of all time, it is not even one of the greatest queer films. The early sections take a little too long to develop, as well as being a bit too predictable. The film is not even all that groundbreaking, this is a standard romance story of which thousands of straight versions already exist. Comparison's could be made between the plot of Brokeback Mountain and Romeo and Juliet where the protagonist lovers have to choose between each other and the pressures placed upon them by societal expectations.

In spite of these drawbacks, Brokeback Mountain is still a good enough movie to recommend. The end sequences in particular pack a powerful emotional punch that few movies can exceed or even match.

Queer Review: Saint of 9/11

Saint of 9/11
Director: Glenn Holsten
Narrated by Ian McKellen

The Saint of 9/11 tells the story of Father Mychal Judge, a Catholic priest and a member of the Franciscan Order of Friars Minor, who was killed in the World Trade Center attacks on September 11th, 2001. This documentary shows all aspects of Father Mychal Judge's life and emphasis his outreach to the poor, homeless, recovering alcoholics, and those living with AIDS/HIV. Judge was a chaplain to the New York City Fire Department and was at the World Trade Center site when it collapsed giving aid to the rescue workers and the injured.

Notably, Father Judge supported the LGBTQA organization Dignity, even after after it had been banned by many diocesan churches. Furthermore, Judge himself identified himself as gay to many of his close friends and associates, although he remained celibate and closeted to the larger public.

Glenn Holsten's documentary about Father Mychal Judge shows the friar to be a man full of life and compassion for all. While Father Judge clearly loved all people and there can be no doubt that he was among the truly faithful, the greatest strength of Saint of 9/11 is that it makes every attempt to humanize Judge. There is no attempt to white wash Judge's life. For instance, we are shown Judge's struggles with alcoholism during the 1970's and the film does not shy away from addressing his sexual orientation and the reasons behind why he remained in the closet.

On the whole, Saint of 9/11 contains more then enough compelling material to warrant a recommendation and Father Mychal Judge's story is clearly one that should by known by all.

Queer Review: Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil (1997)

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil
Director: Clint Eastwood
Writer: John Lee Hancock based upon the novel by John Berendt
Cast: John Cusack, Kevin Spacey, Jack Thompson, Irma P. Hall, Lady Chablis, Jude Law, Alison Eastwood, Paul Hipp, Geoffrey Lewis

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil is a slow moving character study, that is if we consider the place of Savannah, Georgia to be a character in of itself. The movie is based upon the book of the same title by John Berendt, which tells the story of his experiences in the town during a high profile murder investigation.

Jim Williams (Kevin Spacey) is a wealthy and closeted gay man, whose annual high profile Christmas party is being covered by John Kelso (John Cusack) for a magazine article that Kelso was commissioned to write. Shortly before Kelso was planning to fly back to New York, a shocking event in the form of Williams shooting and killing his young lover Billy Hanson (Jude Law) - makes Kelso decide to stay and investigate these events in the hopes of writing a book. Williams claims that he acted in self defense, but that does not prevent a murder trial from commencing where Williams sexual orientation could sway a jury towards rendering a guilty verdict.

While John Kelso aids Williams defense teams, he meets and gets to know Savannah's colorful cast of characters. There's Lady Chablis (played by herself) a flamboyant female transgendered performer, Minerva (Irma P. Hall) a mysterious Voodoo practitioner, Joe Odom (Paul Hipp) a high class squatter, and Luther Driggers (Geoffrey Lewis) a man who keeps flies as pets and carries a bottle that he claims contains enough poison to kill everyone in Savannah. Kelso also meets and woos Mandy Nicholls (Alison Eastwood) a character not found in the novel.

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil moves slowly, arguably too slowly at times. Eastwood directs with a steady hand, establishing a moody atmosphere and capably depicts the colorful cast of characters. The film's stumbling block comes in the final third when the plot gets dragged down with the details of Williams trial. The film's strongest sections are where Kelso meets and gets to know Savannah's colorful citizenry. Once the grand jury has delivered the indictment, the film becomes moribund in familiar movie trial tropes and trivial details.

Acting wise, Lady Chablis is a standout, providing a memorably sassy performance. Kevin Spacey is also very good playing a rich Southern dandy with a subtle flamboyance and just the right amount of ambiguity. John Cusack tends to have trouble distinguishing himself amongst the more colorful cast, but that is not a problem as the role does not require him to do much. His character is mostly a witness to the events and it is not until later on in the proceedings that he becomes directly involved.

Overall, I feel confident recommending Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil in spite of the flawed later sections as it does not entirely obscure the films strengths. This is a pleasant movie with interesting characters and that also touches upon some deeper themes.

Queer Review: The Naked Civil Servant

The Naked Civil Servant (1975)
Writer: Philip Mackie (Based upon the book by Quentin Crisp)
Cast: John Hurt, Stanley Lebor, Liz Gebhardt, Patricia Hodge, John Rhys-Davies

The Naked Civil Servant tells the story of Quentin Crisp, an early British homosexual who refused to live the closeted life of his contemporaries. Crisp, it should be noted, gave a whole new meaning to the term "flaming queen" and for this, he was frequently beaten, intimidated, and even arrested. In 1968 he published a memoir of his life The Naked Civil Servant, which became the basis of this movie, which was produced for British television.

Crisp (John Hurt) came from a conservative family and he made his early living as a male prostitute. Eventually, he became a nude model for an art school, which is where the title comes from, as Crisp once said that being a nude model is a lot like being a civil servant, except one is naked. Personality wise, Crisp was extremely narcissistic and effeminate. The movie presents even his friends as merely existing in his shadow, as many of them are not even given names, merely labels such as "art student". Crisp reminded me a lot of Oscar Wilde, another early gay British icon, in that both were quite quotable and pithy.

The Naked Civil Servant presents Crisp as something of a gay activist, although this was not entirely the case. The real Crisp opposed gay rights, feeling that homosexuality was a perversion, a point of view that had probably been drilled into him from a very young age. However, he also showed a great deal of courage in refusing to be forced into any sort of closet and that is what makes him notable. Even other gay men refused to associate with Crisp, for fear that doing so would reveal publicly their sexual orientation in a time and place where homosexuality was illegal.

This all made Crisp a complete outsider. He states repeatedly that he does not believe in love, although he is frequently shown to be more compassionate then the average person. He lived by a set of rules that forced him to ignore most people in public (unless they demanded an answer from him), which resulted in further isolating him from the rest of society.

John Hurt is given the hard role of portraying a lead character who is not altogether likable and he manages to give a fascinating performance nonetheless. The rest of the cast is solid, but ultimately exists in Hurt's shadow. The script also does a good job of showcasing many of Crisp's witty statements and presenting his droll (some might say cynical) perspective on humanity.

Ultimately, this is an entirely intriguing and worthwhile movie. I highly recommend it for anyone with an interest in historical gay individuals or anyone, period.

Queer Review: Outing Riley

Outing Riley
Director: Pete Jones
Writer: Pete Jones
Cast: Pete Jones, Nathan Fillion, Stoney Westmoreland, Dev Kennedy, Julie R. Pearl, Michael McDonald

Outing Riley appears to be the loving pet project of Director/Writer/Star Pete Jones. At times, it succeeds at being a well made homage to a Catholic family and at other times it flounders. Also, I do have to wonder how much Pete Jones had based this movie on his own family.

Bobby Riley (Pete Jones) is gay but has not come out to the male members of his Irish Catholic clan. His sister Maggie (Julie R. Pearl) knows, but his older brothers Luke (Nathan Fillion), Connor (Stoney Westmoreland), Jack (Dev Kennedy), are blissfully unaware. Bobby's boyfriend Andy (Michael McDonald) is also getting fed up with his procrastination, eventually leaving Bobby halfway through the film.

The film opens with the family gathered to mourn the passing of their father. We are shown in this scene a typical (some might say stereotypical) Catholic family, with incredibly strong internal ties. When Bobby eventually caves into the pressure and shows his brothers a slide show of him and Andy, they take it badly, as was expected.

The film's strongest aspect comes from it's creation of an entirely believable Irish Catholic family. Kudos to the cast for managing to pull that off. I also appreciated the more creative storytelling techniques Pete Jones employees, such as the frequent breaking of the four wall. Jones even goes so far as to consult a member of the film-making crew during a moment of crisis. It's almost as if Jones was trying to "out" his movie for being a movie.

The weakest part here is the hackneyed "coming out" plot. Coming out of the closet is a familiar experience for many queers. However, while it is an easy enough experience to relate to, I would argue that the evidence here is that the "coming out" trope is not a strong or compelling enough of a story to sustain an entire movie.

While Jones manages to create a high energy production and a believable family, the flaws too often show through for me to give Outing Riley a wholehearted recommendation.

Queer Review: Transamerica

Transamerica (2005)
Director: Duncan Tucker
Cast: Felicity Huffman, Kevin Zegers, Fionnula Flanagan, Burt Young, Elizabeth Peña

Transamerica is your basic road trip movie in which the main character happens to be a Male-to-Female transgender woman. It is by no means a terrible movie, simply a rather not terribly good one. The biggest problem is the slow pacing.

Here is what happens. Bree (Felicity Huffman) is a week away from the surgery that will finalize her transformation into a biological woman. A surprise comes when she receives a phone call from her long lost son, Toby (Kevin Zegers) who needs to be bailed out of jail. At the urging of her therapist (Elizabeth Peña), she reluctantly flies to New York City to pay Toby's bail. Pretending to be from the Church of the Potential Father, she eventually consents to drive Toby to Los Angelos, where he intends to become a porn actor. The bulk of the movie consists of Bree and Toby as they make their way from NYC to LA. On the way they are forced by circumstances to make a detour to meet Bree's parents (Fionnula Flanagan and Burt Young).

On the whole, Transamerica is a movie of inconsistent quality. Felicity Huffman gives a non-flashy performance that should have gotten wider attention than it did. There is also some interesting underdeveloped thematic material. Also, I have to say the movie deserves some credit for not going completely out of it's way to avoid controversy. The biggest flaw, as I mentioned earlier, is the pacing. At times I found myself wishing things would pick up or that the movie would at least find something worthwhile to say.

At the end of the day, a mediocre movie is a mediocre movie. Transamerica while showing some promise, unfortunately fails to capitalize on it.

Queer Review: Chick Comics

First there was Homosexuality: Legitimate Alternative Deathstyle by Dick Hafer. In modern times, anti-queer comic lovers can get there fix from Chick Publications by Jack T. Chick, which is just beyond words. The comic takes place in the sort of world where the Homosexual Menace is Trying to Take Over the World and Everyone Is In On It. There are gay cops who beat up innocent Christian, the media engages in shameless gay propaganda, and "blood terrorism" can be engaged in by any gay man who gives blood.

I would also like to point out that most of the extreme propaganda the comic is actually, I think somewhat dangerous, particularly in regards to the misinformation contained within the comics regarding AIDS.

Lets break down the three comics listed under "Homosexuality".

Sin City (2001)
The comic starts out with a man protesting a gay pride parade while holding a sign stating "Homosexuality is a Sin" while a bear leather-man urges the float he's standing on to run over the protester. Fortunately, some obviously gay cops (they all have pierced ears) intervene to protect the pride parade and start beating up the anti-gay protester, while shouting "You Devil! Nobody stops my parade".

Later, while lying in a hospital bed, recovering from his sound thrashing, he's told that he's being charged with a hate crime for interfering with the parade. The man (now identified as Malcolm) is also told that the charges will be dropped if he changes and becomes less hateful and bigoted.

The prosecuter introduces him to Reverend Ray who claims to be gay and is presented with a demon/ghost looking creature named Zanah hanging out on his shoulder. Reverend Ray of course tries to make inroads in changing Malcolm into a loving Christian.

After a bit of a struggle, in which one of Malcolm friends shows up to recite a highly stylized version of the story of Sodom and Gomorrah, Reverend Ray finds himself breaking down and admitting that Malcolm was right all along and then begging God for salvation.

And the Moral of the Story is: Getting the stuffing beat out of you by gay cops is a great way to win converts for Jesus. No really! The world would clearly be a much better place if fundamentalists just let themselves get beat up more often!

Doom Town (1991)
This one starts out at a pro-gay rally. The speakers at the rally impresses upon the crowd and media the importance of funding for AIDS research and suggest that if not enough funding is received, all gay men should donate blood.

In spite of the fact that not all gay men have AIDS and that the Red Cross started testing blood donations for AIDS in 1985, this is considered "blood terrorism", "cold blooded Murder" and would guarantee that the blood supply of the country would become infected with AIDS. Clearly, this is because of the satanic evilness that exists in homosexual's blood that is so powerful, it can not only fool the Red Cross's tests, it can also infect blood donations from people who aren't gay.

A lone man named Charlie who was watching the rally prays to God for the ability to speak to someone. When he's asked what he thinks of the rally by another individual, Charlie launches into a rather detailed telling of Sodom and Gomorrah. This one includes the rather lovely image of a large hair man saying to a small child "it's that time again".

At the end of the telling of Sodom of Gomorrah, the person listening to Charlie breaks down and converts to Christianity while begging God for forgiveness.

And the Moral of the Story: Homosexual blood is dangerous and powerful, but not as powerful as some good old Sodom and Gomorrah.

Uninvited (2011)
This story is about a group of gay men suffering from AIDS in a group home and Nurse Clara, who is attending to them. The men and Nurse Clara argue over how AIDS was started. This argument results in Clara telling the men about how when she was 6 years old she suffered a brutal rape and nearly died. Afterwards, she claimed that she nearly became a lesbian but was only saved by God's love.

Clara then asks the men if any of them had been molested as children and they all admit that they were. Nurse Clara then tells the men the story of Sodom and Gomarrah as apparently there are never enough tellings of Sodom and Gomarrah to go around for everyone.

After telling the story, two of the men allow themselves to be saved, while another two soundly reject Jesus and "die in their sins". The next day Nurse Clara declares that homosexuals have been trying to create another Sodom and Gomarrah here today in America.

And the moral of the story is: If you're raped or sexually molested as a child, your choices are either to become an AIDS infected Lesbian/Homosexual OR to ask for, and accept, the eternal love and salvation that only God and Jesus can provide.
This is the same God by the way who:
-Destroyed entire cities and countries in flame and brimstone
-Let loose plague and disease (AIDS) as punishment for sexual deviancy
-Let loose some other plagues of gnats, flies, frogs, a river turning to blood, diseased livestock, boils, locusts, darkness, *and* killed the firstborns of an entire nation, all because the leader of that nation would not free some slaves
-Flooded the entire world killing everyone but the few people who happened to have been within walking distance of the only Arc that could withstand the flood.
Yep, that all sounds like the sorts of actions a loving and forgiving God would regularly partake in.