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Staring at a film festival roster can be daunting and disheartening, whether you’re an out-and-proud movie buff or simply a little curious. So many titles, so many genres, so many overlapping showtimes. What to choose? With its programming seeming to steadily increase in quality (a reflection, one should hope, of the increasing quality of LGBT films at large), the Philadelphia QFest has arguably become harder to navigate than ever. Back for its 16th year, the 12-day movie marathon, which runs from July 8 to 19 at the Ritz Theatres in Old City, boasts 125 docs, shorts and narrative features from more than 25 countries.
In addition to the opening night films, “Elena Undone” and “You Can’t Have it All,” and the closing night selection, the locally-tied “Flight of the Cardinal,” the QFest 2010 lineup includes “I Killed My Mother,” the celebrated, painterly debut of French filmmaker Xavier Dolan; “La Mission,” a Latino family drama with Benjamin Bratt; “Straight & Butch,” a documentary about a highly unique calendar project featuring local celebrity Butch Cordora; and “The Secret Diaries of Miss Anne Lister,” a BBC period piece profiling a woman whom many consider to be the first modern lesbian.
With such a generous helping of attractive choices, even the smallest bit of guidance can be a godsend. Here’s a rundown of five of the festival’s hottest tickets, and how worthy they are of taking up precious space on your QFest dance card.
“Howl”
Surely one of the most high-profile and buzzed-about movies in the fest, the Sundance selection “Howl” stars James Franco as the iconoclastic poet Allen Ginsberg, who in 1956 famously penned the controversial poem from which the title gets its name. Co-starring a bevy of reliable talents including David Strathairn, Jeff Daniels, Mary-Louise Parker and Jon Hamm, the film consists of three intertwined parts: Franco’s reenactments of Ginsberg interviews, the obscenity trial that followed the publication of his sexually explicit work and hallucinatory, computer-animated renderings of the poem’s searing words. Fresh from his role as Harvey Milk’s lover in Gus Van Sant’s “Milk,” Franco beefs up his résumé, portraying another key figure in America’s gay history. But neither his fine turn nor those of the other actors can quite eclipse what a wasted opportunity “Howl” is. The essence of the life and times of Ginsberg is very thinly conveyed, and the animation, at once too literal and too abstract, is all wrong, morphing the proceedings into a sort of music-video, post-bohemian experiment. One leaves with the sense that directors and co-writers Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman desperately wanted to make this movie but didn’t know how, something to which the oddly short running time attests.
“Ticked-Off Trannies with Knives”
Don’t let the title fool you. “Ticked-Off Trannies with Knives” is a deeply felt character study that explores the richly complex emotions of … oh, I’m kidding. This B-movie button-pusher is precisely the sensationalist camp-fest it sets out to be, with acting, writing and technique that’s about as awesomely bad as it gets. Blatantly riffing on Tarantino-style revenge fantasies and the grindhouse aesthetic, “TOTWK” follows a group of tube-dress-wearing transsexuals who are violently bashed, then exact bloody vengeance on their attackers.
The film caused a stir when it screened at the Tribeca Film Festival in March, angering GLAAD representatives for its “negative portrayal” of transgender women. But if there’s anything truly offensive, it’s the wince-inducing gore, or maybe the failed attempt to also recreate Tarantino’s trademark chattiness. Still, those walking into this movie knowing what they’re in for won’t be disappointed. It’s the best worst movie I’ve seen in a while.
“Eyes Wide Open”
Forget QFest, the expertly minimalistic Israeli film “Eyes Wide Open” is one of the better movies of 2010, period. Focusing on the slow-boiling, forbidden romance of a married butcher and a 20-something drifter living in an Orthodox Jerusalem community, this engrossing heartbreaker uses pacing, performance and shrewd restraint to make the most of every dramatic moment. Both lead actors are extraordinary, especially Zohar Strauss, who turns underplaying into high art as the tortured butcher, conveying oceans of feeling with simple body language.
Directed by talent-to-watch Haim Tabakman, “Eyes Wide Open” is triumphantly visual in the telling, with sparse dialogue and the evocation of a mood in every image. The religiously rigid setting is firmly established, and intimate scenes between the two men reach “Brokeback Mountain” levels of caged-up fervor. It’s a work of art, executed with amazing grace.
“Edie & Thea: A Very Long Engagement”
Standing as a testament to the power of enduring love, the hour-long documentary “Edie & Thea” is the sort of film that belongs at a festival like QFest, which is why it’s played at LGBT fests all across the country. Hugely endearing and at times quite poignant, it charts the more than 40-year relationship of Edie Windsor and Thea Spyer, a lesbian couple about to finally tie the knot in their 70s.
It’s a pity the actual filmmaking is barely better than home-movie, amateur quality, as directors Susan Muska and Gréta Ólafsdottir use little care in the staging, shooting and editing of their footage (included is a lifetime of pictures from shutterbugs Edie and Thea, and the photographic compositions put the newly filmed portions to shame). Featuring milestones both personal and cultural, this is a story that deserved to be told, and it deserved a better vessel. It ultimately paints a portrait not of two lives, but of one, lived together.
“Children of God”
The slightly nagging familiarity of “Children of God,” which features a handful of characters finding their humanity against a backdrop of bigotry, is almost completely overshadowed by the truthfulness of its sentiments, the solidity of its acting, the avoidance of outright cliché and the rare beauty of its Bahamian setting. Concerned mainly with the interracial coupling of a reclusive white artist and a dynamic black musician, this accomplished debut feature from writer/director Kareem Mortimer is supremely watchable, and largely sidesteps the preachiness that comes with the territory of its religion-infused narrative.
Soaked in sun, the film presents an environment rarely seen in the cinema, captured with glistening cinematography by Ian Bloom. One fears the melodramatic worst when it’s realized Mortimer is ultimately going for tragedy, but even potential schmaltz is made into a thing of beauty. “Children of God” delivers. No QFest itinerary should be without it.
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