80866295
With a wide selection of 107 films (including 52 shorts, 13 documentaries, and 42 narrative features), the Philadelphia QFest returns this year for its 18th run, promising “12 days of LGBT cinematic magic.” Indeed, there are some titles imbued with the power to transport, and keenly capable of dramatically conjuring their core viewers’ experiences. But not every film is magical, and it behooves any fest-goer to have some background on what amounts to a rather mercurial slate.
One should certainly attend the centerpiece screening of “I Do,” if only to catch the bestowal of the fest’s Rising Star Award on actor/writer/producer David W. Ross (“Quinceañera”). Other safe bets include “Facing Mirrors,” the first transgendered film from Iran; “Jack and Diane,” a 2012 indie with Juno Temple and Riley Keough; “Mommy is Coming,” a button-pushing comedy set in Berlin; and “The Marriage,” a touching documentary about a Uruguayan septuagenarian and his transgendered wife.
But as has been the case in every year prior, the QFest (formerly the Philadelphia International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival) presents a largely contradictory chunk of entertainment, which alternately boasts queer tales with true depth of feeling, and perpetuates stereotypes that broadly paint the queer community as one of folly, gratuity, and uncontrolled libidos. Historically, it makes perfect sense that queer cinema would be rife with stories of risqué escapades and carefree behavior, as the very existence of the genre marks a certain sexual liberation. But one should hope that LGBT storytelling has reached a point where it needn’t let past oppression influence its quality, or render it any less vital or substantial than that of the hetero mainstream. Because, with each passing year, queer culture claims a larger piece of that mainstream, increasing visibility and immersion, and it ought to be able to prove itself worthy of more than fleeting pleasures. That’d be something to celebrate.
So go ahead and skip opening-night selection “Elliot Loves,” which uses the Freudian premise of a young Latino’s (Quentin Araujo) relationship with his mom (Elena Goode) as an excuse to drop him into bed with as many men as possible. Elliot just wants to be loved, see, and his assumption that it lies between the sheets of everyone he meets is spawned by a youth of rejection and insecurity. If the mother-son portion were more than just a beard for the bow-chick-a-wow-wow, writer/director Terracino might have actually had something here. Sadly, he favors horny fabulosity, and his simultaneous condemnation of gay-nightlife clichés is precisely the type of irony queer film doesn’t need.
A far better choice is the lovable dramedy “Nate & Margaret,” which puts its own bittersweet spin on “Harold & Maude” as it tells the platonic love story of a 19-year-old film student (Tyler Ross) and his 52-year-old, stand-up-comic neighbor (Natalie West). A half-closeted gay innocent and an ostensibly asexual, borderline spinster, these two outcasts share a bond that speaks to the unexplained power of impromptu friendships — the kind that can pop up unexpectedly between unlikely like-minded folks, and then last forever. Kudos to debut director Nathan Adloff and his co-writer, Justin D. M. Palmer, for ably sidestepping genre potholes and peppering formula with humanism.
Expanded from an equally racy short, Travis Matthews’s unapologetically explicit “I Want Your Love” is sure to be one of QFest’s most buzzed-about titles, as the sexual encounters among its male stars aren’t just real, they’re vividly pornographic. Produced by the gay porn studio NakedSword, the film is being billed as “a groundbreaking American indie,” and it’s netted approval from major names like John Cameron Mitchell. Alas, the second-coming of “Shortbus” this movie is not. As its first half unfolds, it proves significantly more artful than one might expect, with exquisite-looking establishing shots and naturalistic acting. But as the non-event of one man’s (Wayne Bumb) move from San Francisco to the Midwest steadily approaches, the film descends into hyper-sexual senselessness posing as arty poetry, and in its audacity unwittingly insists that sex is priority one.
On the other hand, Ira Sachs’ highly personal drama “Keep the Lights On” utilizes its sexual elements to fiercely communicate a mood and a place, telling the near-epic tale of two volatile lovers in 1990s New York. Decidedly cold but undeniably poignant, the movie announces lead star Thure Lindhardt as an exciting, ferocious talent, and it keenly gives the actor room to honestly and organically live inside a scene. Admittedly, “Keep the Lights On” continues another unfortunate queer -film trend, which insists that LGBT cinema must be defined by pain, tragedy and loss. The difference is, Sachs’ latest is drawn from his own experiences, and rather than kowtow to tropes, it charts the hurt and tumult of a microcosm, and, perhaps in effect, a generation.
The most beautiful film in the festival might just be “Joshua Tree, 1951: A Portrait of James Dean,” which debut director Matthew Mishory opted to shoot in shimmering black and white. Overcoming knee-jerk charges of arthouse pretension, cinematographer Michael Marius Pessah captures frame after glorious frame, from the scan of a California desert to the unbroken survey of a hedonistic, highly evocative pool party. Exploring the rumor-encircled sexuality of its subject (James Preston) in his pre-stardom days, Mishory’s script could use a rewrite or three, but it nevertheless develops into a curious, quasi-elliptical beast, conveyed in a matter that effectively calls to mind the movies of its era.
Only a tangentially gay story, “Sassy Pants” is really about a sheltered teen (the endearing Ashley Rickards) whose home-schooling at the hands of her zanily overprotective mom (Anna Gunn) results in an all-too-familiar rebellion. Fleeing her homeland to live with her gay father (Diedrich Bader), our heroine, Bethany, finds progressive inspiration from dad’s fun-loving houseboy (Haley Joel Osment). Drawing attention for its inclusion of the “Sixth Sense” star, “Sassy Pants” comes off as merely a stunt film, but it’s more than that. If you must seek noncommittal frivolity at QFest, this is where to find it.
The 18th Philadelphia QFest runs through July 23.
Contact the South Philly Review at editor@southphillyreview.com.
80866315
80866305
