Dustin Lance Black Interview

Over at Slant Magazine, I talked politics and film with Dustin Lance Black, the world's youngest-looking 37-year-old, and an increasingly vital figure in gay culture.

Read the full interview HERE.

Reviews: 'Circumstance,' 'Higher Ground,' 'Rise of the Planet of the Apes' and 'The Tree'

These reviews previously appeared in the September 2011 issue of ICON Magazine. They have been republished with permission.

Circumstance
2.5 stars (out of 5)

Circumstance has the right title, and that's no compliment. Rather than actually working to create true drama, this Audience Award-winning Sundance favorite, about a pair of gorgeous lesbian teens (Nikohl Boosheri and Sarah Kazemy) in modern-day Iran, mopes around amidst the built-in intolerance of its setting, as if that were sufficient conflict for a compelling feature film. The result is an increasingly plodding piece of indulgent, false provocation, with handsomely shot, but emotionally flat, depictions of the couple's impossible dreams standing in for scenes of substance. Debut filmmaker Maryam Keshavarz incorporates an ominous male character (Reza Sixo Safai) to represent the oppressive government's ever-watchful eye, but his development is so spotty (addict? religious zealot? crybaby?) that the metaphor is basically for naught. Circumstance works best when stripped of its failed ambitions, and embraced as a shallow gay club film about sexual awakening. It's the sort of movie some curious Muslim girl will catch on a lonely Saturday night, taking from it the inspiration to better free her mind. And, you know, every culture needs at least one of those.

Higher Ground
3.5 stars (out of 5)

Vera Farmiga, easily one of our finest working actresses, settles into the director's chair for Higher Ground, an arthouse adaptation of This Dark World: A Story of Faith Found and Lost, Carolyn Briggs's memoir about life in a Christian commune. Pushing herself to a level of intensity no other filmmaker has perhaps had the guts to, Farmiga is stellar in front of the camera, as is her sister, Taissa, who plays her character as a teen. Behind the lens, though, the Oscar nominee lacks that same assuredness, crowding her palette with ambiguous flourishes and struggling to establish a coherent point of view. Her general message of balance and broad-mindedness is ultimately received, but her heroine, a curious progressive ostracized for her doubts, has muddled motivations and a cloudy identity (for example, her love of literature comes and goes as the script sees fit). Commendably exploratory in nature, Higher Ground is a must for anyone fascinated by the psychology of religion, but there's no getting around it: for a movie about finding one's voice, it could surely use a clearer one of its own.

Rise of the Planet of the Apes
3 stars (out of 5)

A shoo-in for a visual effects Oscar nomination, Rise of the Planet of the Apes is well worth seeing if only for its CG bravado, a mesmerizing blend of expertly-directed action sequences and the cutting-edge latest in motion-capture magic (Andy Serkis handily steals the show as Caesar, the super-smart – and alarmingly soulful – Che Guevara of apes). But don't dare trust the folks who hail this excessively plot-driven, fall-of-man prequel as one of the year's best films. Virtually every scene with the primates – who revolt after serving as lab rats for brain-boosting Alzheimer's drugs – is inspired and affecting, but those with flesh-and-blood actors have all the weight of a windswept furball. Emotionally vacant to boot, stars like James Franco and Freida Pinto are helpless against a spoon-feeding script, which offers cautionary, tsk-tsk parallels too obvious to praise. It's a sign of serious ineptitude that the scale is so drastically tipped: no one needed the humans to be hollow in order to carry out the movie's mission; we'd have still rooted for the apes.

The Tree
2.5 stars (out of 5)

Everything that made writer/director Julie Bertuccelli's 2003 debut, Since Otar Left, a near-masterful revelation (the dangers of prolonged and dishonest grief, hugely meaningful compositions) are downgraded in The Tree, an Australia-set, English-language follow-up with a central metaphor so hulking you can't wait for it to topple. When Peter (Aden Young) dies from a heart attack and leaves his wife, Dawn (Charlotte Gainsbourg), and their four children to fend for themselves, daughter Simone (newcomer Morgana Davies) decides that his soul has been reincarnated in the massive fig tree that sits in the family's yard. Drought-stricken roots begin to damage the house's plumbing, and the more Dawn and company come to accept their loss, the more the tree – and nature itself – literally invades the home. You can see where this is going, but the film does not relent, and though it's beautifully made (the tree is one helluva camera subject), Bertuccelli saves precious little grace for her narrative. The highlight is Gainsbourg, who with this and Antichrist has gotten bone-deep devastation down to a kind of harrowing science.

QFest Preview 2011

The 17th Philadelphia QFest (nee the Philadelphia International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival) is now underway, its selection of work from 80-plus filmmakers and actors stretching through July 18. The lineup is, as always, a very eclectic mix.

My QFest Preview is now online at SouthPhillyReview.com. CLICK HERE to read it!


And for further reading, have a look at my QFest coverage from 2010 and 2008.

'Beginners' Review

Ewan McGregor keeps up his gay-friendly filmography, and Christopher Plummer all but cements a spot in the Suporting Actor race in "Beginners," Mike Mills great, if not perfect, new dramedy based on his own experience with his dad. I stress the "not perfect" bit because the film is so sublime, its few flaws are especially glaring.

But no matter. This is predominantly soulful, beautiful stuff, rife with visual and emotional high notes. Read more about what it made me feel in my full review, now online at SouthPhillyReview.com. CLICK HERE.

Musing over Thomas Dekker

I'm super pleased to share a new piece I've written about Thomas Dekker, the dreamy rising star of Gregg Araki's "Kaboom" and HBO's upcoming "Cinema Verite." I look at Dekker's offbeat career path, but mainly how he falls in with the rest of Araki's angsty dark-haired muses.

The article is now posted over at The House Next Door, the official blog of Slant Magazine (hooray!).

I hope you'll give it a read. CLICK HERE.

Best Supportive Activist

'I Love You Phillip Morris' Review

I only just "liked"  this long-delayed gay crime comedy, which largely pleases then starts to test your patience. But I sure did love Phillip Morris himself, played by an impossibly endearing Ewan McGregor. Best Supporting Actor nomination?  If only.

Read my mixed review of "I Love You Phillp Morris," now online at SouthPhillyReview.com. CLICK HERE.

'The Kids Are All Right' Review

Now here's a movie well worth your 11 bucks. Lisa Cholodenko's "The Kids Are All Right" is a vital film, and a funny, emotional and deeply honest one at that. Don't wait.


Read my review, now online at SouthPhillyReview.com. CLICK HERE.

Philadelphia QFest 2010

I think this is my fifth Philly QFest (formerly the Philadelphia International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival), and I can safely declare the selections get better with each passing year. As I mention in my new preview article, such is presumably, and hopefully, indicative of the bettering of gay films in general.

"Children of God"

Read my QFest Preview, now online at SouthPhillyReview.com. CLICK HERE.

Gay Jews in Love

Have you seen "Eyes Wide Open?" It's this extraordinary, beautifully minimalistic Israeli film about a married father of two who works as a butcher in an Orthodox town in Jerusalem, then falls -- hard -- for a hunky young drifter who winds up staying in his shop. I'm aware of the film because I'm doing preview coverage of the Philadelphia QFest, which kicks off Thursday. "Eyes" screened at Cannes in 2009 and saw extremely limited release in February, but slipped right past my radar. It's a work of art, and one of the better movies of 2010.


There need to be more filmmakers like Haim Tabakman, who makes his feature debut and shows what a quality gay film is supposed to look like (sorry, I'm pretty anti the sexed-up stuff that's passed as good gay cinema over the last decade or so). "Eyes" is executed with amazing grace, told in primarily visual terms, and bolstered by performances that are more about body language than spoken conviction (though that is flawless, too). As Aaron the butcher, Zohar Strauss wears a sea of emotion on his face, which reflects the conflict between his religious beliefs and his carnal desires. It's not your typical closeted performance; it's remarkably shaded.

Tabakman's technique is sneaky in its greatness. The filmmaking style isn't showy, and the realization of how immersed you are in this little world is alarming, as are the rather brilliant compositions sprinkled throughout. (One shot, involving a bus, a reflection, and a group of guys on a sidewalk, actually made me gasp.) And the way in which the sexual tension is stretched out like a frail rubber band, waiting -- dying-- to snap, is crazy intense. For these reasons (and for stupidly obvious reasons), the film has earned comparisons to "Brokeback Mountain." It's a worthy cousin.