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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (March 21, 1997)
20 ▼ m arch 2 1 , 1997 ▼ ju s t out C ontuiued from previous pave who, after being caught cruising by the police, comes out to everyone in a rollicking musical number in Kids in the Hall: Brain Candy. B est I ndependently M ade L esbian F i m C osta B rava (Marta Balletbô-Coll, director) A breezy love story set in Barcelona and fea turing two attractive women who play a romantic game of cat-and-mouse. Funny, with a great end ing. R obin W illiams , who is surprisingly low-key while still being both funny and poignant as Armand Goldman, the gay nightclub owner in The Birdcage. E verything R elative (Sharon Pollack, direc tor) A lesbian Big Chill in which a group of diverse women descend on a country house to relive old times and rekindle still-smoldering passions. B est L esbian C haracter m a H ollywood F ilm L ili T aylor , who is ominously real as Valerie Solanas, the increasingly psychotic revolution ary-wannabe who shoots her “tormentor,” Andy Warhol, in / Shot Andy Warhol. Not a good les bian role model, but at least a complex one. J ennifer T illy and G ina G ershon , who redefine lesbian sexuality on screen as well as offering the queer public two gutsy heroines in Bound. The two women are slinkily beautiful, the sex scenes are incredibly hot, and the fact that the queers don’t get killed off (a standard approach by Hollywood) makes it a must-see by both les bians and gay men. A manda P lummer , in a role that makes Valerie Solanas seem like a nun in comparison, is disquietingly memorable in Butterfly Kiss, in which she plays a woman on the run, searching for the one woman who showed her love and compassion. B est T ransgendered /T ranssexual C haracter m a H ollywood F l m I nn T rouble (Cristina Rey, director) A comedy set in a rambling house, but this time the women are younger, wilder and much funnier than in Everything Relative. T he M idwife ’ s T ale (Megan Siler, director) An ambitious drama set in medieval times that deftly explores the forbidden love between a noblewoman and a midwife. Kids in the Hall: Brain Candv (Scott Thompson is second from riaht B est F oreign L anguage F ilm P eter R uhring , as a British map maker in The English Patient who begins an affair with a handsome young Moroccan. He finds his first gay relationship “natural.” N icholas B ell , in Shine. Armin Mueller- Stahl wonders why his son’s piano teacher (Bell) isn’t married; the teacher is later seen attending concerts with another man. A ndrew M c C arthy , in Mulholland Falls. He plays a sleazy but not offensive gay character in this Chinatown rip-off. ines the fragile relationships within a group of young gay men. At times hilariously painful, knowingly funny and unflinchingly on-target. M an of the Y ear (Dirk Shafer, director) The finely sculpted Shafer both directs and stars in this faux-documentary about a Playgirl model and sex symbol (for women) who desper ately wants to come out. S tonewall (Nigel Finch, director) This fictionalized account of the events that led up to the Stonewall riots makes for a tuneful, fun and rousing good time. And not a bad history les son as well. N athan L ane , as the diva Albert, a quivering mass of sequined hysteria who teaches his lover, “son,” and the in-laws what love and family val ues are all about, in The Birdcage. Lane is a scream and saves the comedy from any possibili ty of being offensive. B est S upportmg L esbian C haracter in a H ollywood F ilm S tephen D or it , as Warhol superstar Candy Darling in / Shot Andy Warhol. His transforma tion into the dreamy blonde with a willowy voice and naive Hollywood dreams is startling. J ennifer D undas , as the openly lesbian daughter of Diane Keaton in the comedy The First Wives Club. She is seen as attractive, togeth er and assertive, even when Mom and her female cronies visit her at a lesbian bar. R u P aul , who returns as Mrs. Cummings, the school guidance counselor who sets her girls on the right path in the underappreciated comedy A Very Brady Sequel. You go, girl! Q ueen L atifah , as Cleo, a gun-toting lesbian, in the female action film Set It Off. She is seen as a brash, tequila-swilling butch who boldly kisses her beautiful lover in front of all. T he D oom G eneration (Gregg Araki, director) Araki’s self-styled “heterosexual film” is far from it— homoeroticism oozes from nearly every scene. A rough and sexy ride through the Southwest. P am G rier , who plays Hershey, a former col league of Snake (Kurt Russell) who now is a renegade transsexual gang leader, in Escape from LA. Her voice was altered to sound more mascu line. S woosie K urtz and K elly P reston , as a pair of lefty, prochoice lesbian activists who kid nap the pregnant-but-wavering Laura Dem in Citizen Ruth, a dark comedy about abortion. B eautiful T hing (Hettie MacDonald, director) This incredibly true-to-life story of two male teenagers who fall in love is refreshingly roman tic and makes for a buoyant good time. B est S upporting G ay M a le C haracter in a H ollywood F ilm H arry L ennie (as the uptight Randall) and I saiah W ashington (as former Marine Kyle), in Spike Lee’s Get on the Bus. The two are lovers on their way to the Million Man March. C harlayne W oodard , as a lesbian under cover cop in An Eye fo r an Eye. B est I ndependently M ade G ay M a le F ilm B oyfriends (Neil Hunter and Tom Hunsinger, co-directors) This vastly entertaining British drama exam F risk (Todd Verow, director) You won’t find a more controversial gay- themed film than this tale of sexual experimenta tion, self-hate, S/M, murder and teen love. Generation X never looked so sick! S ubstance of F ire (Daniel Sullivan, director) This drama about a family’s struggles within its publishing firm features Tony Goldwyn as the gay son who, with his writer-lover (Timothy Hutton) in tow, attempts to resurrect the faltering business. T he S tar M aker (Italy—Giuseppe Tomatore, director) From the director of Cinema Paradiso comes this dark story of a roving talent scout who uses people’s vanity to his advantage. One of his vic tims is a gay man who aspires to being a star. L es V oleurs (T hieves ) (France— André Téchiné, director) Catherine Deneuve creates a fascinating les bian character—a hard-living grandmother and philosophy professor who falls hopelessly in love with a much younger woman. Their bathtub scene is tenderly romantic and a wee bit erotic. A ntonia ’ s L ine (Netherlands— Marleen Gorris, director) Els Dottermans plays an artist and the lesbian daughter of an intense matriarch who feels that men are needed in their lives. The daughter has a finely drawn relationship with another woman. C elestial C lockwork (France/Venezuela— Fina Torres, director) An exuberant, fanciful comedy that features Adriadna Gil as a woman who spurns conven tional marriage for a bohemian life in Paris, where she finds'love in the arms of a wacky woman and a green card in the arms of a cheerful gay man. T alk of the T own (Germany— Rainer Kaufman, director) Several wonderfully-drawn gay characters provide some not-always-helpful assistance for a woman who desperately wants to find a man. Finding a better collection of gay men in one “mainstream” film would be quite difficult. Rest “ easy” w ith our v e ry visible means o f support. zu SeMUnA ‘gotten*' Even if you’re still in the planning stage, our realtors and certified tax consultant will provide the facts and the support that you need to get you through home selection, loan applications, inspections and appraisals, to closing on the home of your dreams. 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