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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (March 6, 1998)
march 6.1998 * Just out 21 H U H IH R FRIENDS And the winner is... ® Licensed to Kill Arthur Dong’s film on imprisoned men who have killed gay men, makes for uncom fortable but important viewing. He interviews the often charming men in jail and allows them to recount their own stories and feelings. For anyone who wants to understand the vis ceral nature of homophobia. Continued from page 19 the film. S Mimi Rogers, for Weapons of M ass Distraction Rogers is totally believable in this H BO production as a high society wife who started out as a Russian peasant...boy! Having been molested by his father, he turns to a life of male prostitution, transvestitism and, ultimate ly, transsexualism. Most Incidental Use of a Qay Character ® Event Horizon Blink during this horror/sci-fi yam and you’ll miss, during one particularly gruesome scene, one of the devilish monsters taking an astronaut from the rear. One mystery solved: There is at least bisexuality in hell. And the winner is... ® The Lady Chablis, for Midnight in the Qarden of Qood and Evil One of the most original Hollywood char- Best Openly Lesbian Actress in Hollywood ® Anne Heche Joey Lauren Adams (left) and Dwight Ewell in Chasing A my The dreamy Duval is first encountered jerk ing off in the shower to psychedelic fantasies of both women and men, and he almost ends up with the man of his dreams. Rachel True plays his girlfriend, who also has the hots for Beverly Hills, 90210 star Kathleen Robertson. And the w inner is ... ® Ewan McGregor, for T he Pillow Book The nearly ubiquitous McGregor plays a British translator living in Japan who is lover to both an older man and calligraphy devotee Vivian Wu. T he Lady Chablis acters of the year, this black, middle-aged drag queen and nightclub entertainer (playing her self) boldly struts her stuff among the citizens of Savannah with a theatrical devil-may-care flippancy. She steals the show, but does she ever get into John Cusack’s pants? S In the Gloaming A young man (Robert Sean Leonard) in his final months living with A ID S returns to reconcile with his estranged family. This drama, Christopher Reeves’ directorial debut, is at its best when focusing on Leonard and his mother (G lenn Close). ® Rupert Everett And the w inner is ... Like Heche, Everett is on the verge of becoming a leading actor who is also openly This widely-praised H BO miniseries about life inside a maximum-security penitentiary features full frontal nudity, a candidly casual attitude toward gay sex and male rape, and Lee Tergesen as a convicted drunk driver (guilty of killing a young girl) who becomes the heroin- snorting, forced cross-dressing “prison bitch” of his white supremacist cell mate. S MURDER and murder Independent filmmaker Yvonne Rainer directs and stars in this drama-documentary that explores both a relationship between two older women as well as the problem of breast cancer, which affects them both. Rainer appears shirtless, herself one who has had breast cancer. A challenging, experimental look at lesbian sexuality, aging and disease. S Stanley Tucci, for The Daytrippers Read no further if you haven’t seen the film but intend to. This wonderful low-budget sleeper follows an excitable family clan’s city wide search to discover whether husband Tucci is having an affair. He is, and it ain’t with a woman. Stephen Bogardus (left) and Jason Alexander in Love! Valour! Com passion! S Douglas Spain, for Star Maps Adroitly mixing toughness and vulnerabili ty, Spain plays a Mexican American teenager who works for his father’s prostitution business and has no problem getting it on with both men and women. Unfortunately, his real sexu ality is never explored in this bold story of hus tling, family turmoil and young dreams. S Rachel True and James Duval, for Nowhere gay- Although he’s been acting for years, he first caught Hollywood’s attention with his role in My Best Friend’s Wedding. If he and Heche find success in straight roles, who knows who else might come out? The “ Full M onty” Aw ard (They’re all winners!) ® The Pillow Book This entertaining documentary takes a lighthearted, informative look into 60 years of British film history and how the industry “han dled” the subject of homosexuality. S Hide and Seek ® Love! Valour! Compassion! Su Friedrich has fashioned a remarkable assemblage of what it was like to grow up a les- There are several lakeside scenes where we are offered a look at the chiseled body and perky appendage of Randy Becker, as Ramon. S Sting, for Gentlemen Don’t Eat Poets Sting plays a menacing bisexual butler who drives his wife to the bottle, an entranced Alan Bates into a wheelchair, and his secret male lover into his grave in this little-seen thriller. Rupert G raves in Different for Qirls Ewan McGregor sports a tan, blond hair, a curvaceous body and an impressively large member for all the film-going public to see in this Peter Greenaway film. His nude scenes are far from discreet glimpses: He’s proud of what he’s got and languidly allows us to admire. S A Bit of Scarlet S The entire cast of Crash Best Openly Qay Actor in Hollywood ®Oz t>feu»CHtoy: fciiCKuAt CAmtetn: David Cronenberg’s dispassionate parable on urban alienation and sexuality features James Spader and Elias Koteas as “perfectly straight” guys who take their friendship/rivalry a step further. N ot to be outdone, there is some better girl-on-girl action when paraplegic Rosanna Arquette gets it on with ice queen Holly Hunter. Garry Marshall and Faye Dunaway co-star. Could it be anyone else? Happily, her very public romance with Ellen DeGeneres so far has not hurt her career. Heche s prodigious output in 1997 includes playing a presidential adviser in Wag the Dog, Johnny Depp’s long- suffering wife in Donnie Brasco, a scientist in Volcano, and a backwoods woman in I Know What You Did Last Summer. ® Boogie Nights Qc<t JtltviiioH While we all know that the foot-long dong that Mark Wahlberg displays in the final scene is only a prosthetic, it did not stop thousands of size queens from swooning with delight. Fib*: S Breaking the Surface: The Greg Louganis Story Diving champion Louganis’ life story unfolds tepidly in this chronological account. We see the him suffer through family crisis as well as the trauma of sexual self-identification. S TWilight of the Golds Hunk Brendan Fraser is surprisingly affect ing as the gay son who becomes embroiled in his family’s moral problem— whether his sister (Jennifer Beals) should continue with her pregnancy after it is determined that the child will be predisposed toward homosexuality. Robert Shepard (left) and Arthur Dong on the set of Licensed to Kill bian in 1950s and 60s America. She mixes interviews with older women, who recount memories concerning their emerging sexuality, with a mock documentary of a 12-year-old girl’s nascent same-sex attractions. The “ Em ory” Aw ard for Film Q ueen of the Year (In honor of C liff Gorm an’s portrayal in 1970’s The Boys m the Band) ® Craig Chester, for K iss Me, Quido Sporting a platinum mane, skin-tight hot pants and an impressive array of shoes, Chester’s Terry is the epitome of theatrical gay wit. He’s biting, catty and bitchy (but only when provoked), all in all a delightful charac ter who provides most of the humor in the film. Is this a disquieting stereotype, or an on-
