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Reviews
Henry Gamble's Birthday Party (2015)
Great character study but plot less
If you're looking to see a lot of character actors do some great work, this is the film for you. This movie has more characters and subplots than "The Poseidon Adventure." The opening scene with birthday boy Henry Gamble and his BFF Gabe seems promising for the first 2 minutes, but then goes nowhere. And even though he's the title character, we'll see less and less of Henry as the film drags on. Most of the characters are likable enough, but we don't spend enough time with any of them to care. There's probably a message about intolerance or unconditional love here, but its lost in a cacophony of clichés: "God love everyone: criminals, addicts, gays ... " or something to that effect. The actors and crew turn in a beautiful piece of work, but the script seems to have been written by a committee intent on being all things to all people. Too bad because the premise is fresh and interesting.
Defying Gravity (1997)
One of my all-time favorites
I can't believe it's been almost 20 years since I saw this film (from a Super 16 print) in a dingy little San Francisco theater. It only played for a week and I went to see it again almost every night. No, it's not "Star Wars" but at that time gay cinema was dominated by depressing AIDS-related tragedies and horrible stereotypical gay caricatures. "Defying Gravity" was one of the first full length films to show us a fairly ordinary guy who just happens to like other guys. Candidly, I was always put off by the gay bashing plot point, but I'll cut the writer some slack for needing an strong dramatic element to move the characters from point A to B. Sadly, only a short time after this film was released the real life Matthew Shepard murder occurred. I know it's easy to find fault with these low budget affairs that have to be shot in two weeks with no rehearsal and no more than two takes. But if you know anything about film making, you really have to respect the entire cast and crew for pulling off anything remotely entertaining under these conditions. It's a shame Daniel Chilson didn't make any more films after this. He created a character that was immediately likable. I just saw a big budget gay film this weekend where I didn't care about any of the main characters, even after 90 minutes.
Is It Just Me? (2010)
Delightful Gay Date Film
"Is it Just Me?" is a question probably 9 out of 10 gay men ask themselves at one time or another, so the title immediately speaks to a lot of us. The film doesn't try to be anything more than what it is: an entertaining, 90 minute, feel good, date film. What's most remarkable here is the film steers clear of the worst of the gay cinema clichés. Yes, one of the characters is a go-go boy and there is an older gay man whose character adopts some stereotypically effeminate attributes, but the two principals are very much "regular guys." Also remarkably, the film succeeds with four very likable main characters and no real villain. The protagonist is the mistaken identity element. Now, some will say our hero could have resolved the confusion sooner, but if we accept that he suffers from a chronic case of low self esteem the plot is entirely credible. "Is it Just Me?" suffers the usual problems of a rushed (12-day shoot), low budget affair. It's overly talky. The two principals could have had more screen time alone with their thoughts and emotions. This would have eliminated the need for some of the cringy, "After School Special" dialogue, but this isn't a deal breaker. The real test of one of these films is: do you want to see more of these characters when the final scene fades to black? And I'd love to see a sequel, 10 years later.
Lazy Eye (2016)
Strong opening fizzles out in the second half
Dean is having a midlife crisis. He hates his job and sees too little of his traveling boyfriend when an old flame reconnects after 15 years. The first Act is pleasing, with very snappy dialogue between Dean and his working partner Mel. As we transition into Act 2, Dean goes off to his cabin-like second home in remote Joshua Tree (outside of Palm Springs). The early scenes are delightfully cinematic and devoid of excessive dialogue but when the old flame arrives to visit, the film makes an unhappy transition to a radio play, with too much dialogue and too little action. The first few minutes with the ex-lover provide a few humorous lines, but the tone quickly becomes darker and most of the humor is lost at this point. The last half of the film begins to drag and follows the familiar plot line of the midlife crisis/seven year inch genre -- films like "eCupid" and "Bedrooms & Hallways" with the same prescribed ending. The film is beautifully lit and photographed, and all of the cast turn-in first-rate performances, but the weak second half of the script won't encourage repeated viewings.
A Friend of Dorothy (1994)
Groundbreaking at the time
Raoul O'Connell's "A Friend of Dorothy" was part of a trilogy of short subjects (mostly student films) that were released by Strand Releasing as a theatrical feature under the "Boys Life" title in 1994. Although these films suffer from their small budgets, this feature was groundbreaking for its day and led to a series of these compilation releases over the years by Strand and others.
Up to this point in time gay cinema presented only tragic themes -- yes, including the supposedly upbeat "Boys in the Band." If you wanted to see an comedic gay "date film" you'd have to settle for a mainstream "chick flick." "Boys Life" and "A Friend of Dorothy" in particular, was the first gay-themed romantic comedy with a happy ending -- no mention of drug or alcohol abuse, deadly disease, death by hate crime, suicide or the milder but still tragic story of coming out to parents with a strong sexual orientation prejudice.
Admittedly, this first attempt at removing the obligatory death and self-loathing elements from gay cinema makes these little films seem a bit anticlimactic or, at least, old fashioned -- like a formulaic Judy Garland/Mickey Rooney classic from the 1940s.
Nevertheless, the considerable success of "Boys Life" eventually gave others the permission they needed to make more ambitious, feature length romantic gay comedies like "Billy's Hollywood Screen Kiss" (1998, which introduced "Will & Grace" co-star Sean Hayes) and "Trick" (1999).
One interesting factoid: Winston's love interest at the conclusion of "A Friend of Dorothy" is real- life Barbara Streisand impersonator Steven Brinberg. He also does Judy Garland and a very convincing Julie Andrews -- it takes a lot of talent to pull that one off.