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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 7, 2000)
4 0 * 1* * M t i lanuary 7.2000 FILMS ••••••••••••••••••••••••••a** SUGAR & SPICE & EVERYTHING NICE? • •• ¿ i/U * y04+ HIBERNATION Huddle 'round the flickering screen A great way to survive a Northwest winter is to retreat to your cave with a stack of videos B oogie N ights f 1 were GLAAD, 1 wouldn’t hesitate to shower writer-director P.T. Anderson with awards. In both his 1997 film Boogie Nights and the current Magnolia, he’s found a promi nent place in sprawling ensemble stories for a unique, interesting, well-written gay character. These are certainly among the most human, nonpatronizing on-screen depictions of gay men I’ve seen in any film, ever. I often suffer for the instant gratification of explosions and gunshots. Instead, as the inten sity of the hostage situation mounts, he makes every character— Pacino’s desperately tom average guy, his distraught lover (Chris Saran don), each bank employee, each cop outside the building— entirely human. Audience loyal ty isn’t divided between good and bad guys; we care about everyone and remain riveted until the truly unpredictable ending. Lumet’s career has reached its nadir in the ’90s— he made A Stranger Among Us and Glo ria— hut Dog Day Afternoon is a hopeful reminder that entertainment and intelligence needn’t be mutually exclusive. — CM F emale T rouble any fans of notorious queer film director and shockmeister John Waters consider his first feature, 1973 s Pink Flamingos, to be his definitive statement. But for my money, it’s his subsequent movie Fem ale Trouble, released in 1975, that truly delineates his hilar iously twisted vision. Unlike Pink Flamingos, which seems not so much a fully realized film as a series of shocking vignettes, Fem ale Trouble follows a direct plot line: the life and times of one Dawn Daven- port. Dawn is played by 300-pound drag queen Divine, who was a perennial Waters star. The film recounts Dawn’s life as a Baltimore teen age delinquent with a foot-high beehive hair do, her stint as a grouchy single mother and, finally, her quest for fame, glamour and fortune through a life of publicity-seeking criminality. Fem ale Trouble is very nearly as filthy as Pink Flamingos, hut remains much less infamous and less widely seen. Waters’ satire reaches some great heights here, as he butchers sacred cows from Christmas to motherhood to our judicial system. If you’re in need of a hearty laugh and don’t mind setting aside, for 90 minutes or so, any morals or conscientiousness you may have, Fem ale Trouble is the video pick for you. — CM M lVLXy% (¡iih¿ M/tíc044*¿ f a /u ! UNIVERSITY PARK UNITED METHODIST CHURCH • A Reconciling Congregation 4775 N. Lombard Street • Portland • 298-7843 • Worship 10 a.m. Boogie Nights, though it doesn’t entirely live up to its hype, is definitely worth a look now that it’s available for rental. The main charac ter, pom star Dirk Diggler, is played by former Advocate cover star Mark Wahlberg. The film follows Diggler and his surrounding entourage of pomographers as their fortunes fade from the heights of the ’70s to the depths of the ’80s. In a subplot, Phillip Seymour Hoffman— who’s won well-deserved acclaim for his diverse roles in The Big Lebow ski, Happiness, and Flaw less— plays a boom-mike operator who develops a disastrous crush on Diggler. The devastating crush-confession scene in Boogie Nights is alone worth the price of the rental. Anderson not only knows how to write great characters, gay or otherwise; he’s also a compelling, original filmmaker. Rent Boogie Nights as a primer, then see how far he’s come with Magnolia, which opens in theaters in January. —■ Christopher M cQuain D og D ay A fternoon f you’re looking for proof that even main stream Hollywood cinema was more adven turous in the 1970s than most films are today, look no further than Sidney Lumet’s Dog Day Afternoon. Released in 1975 and starring a then somewhat restrained A1 Pacino, the film portrays a family man who attempts bank rob bery to pay for his male-to-female transgen- dered lovers sex change operation. Beyond its brave dismissal of the prevalent social, sexual and political mores of its time, this is simply one of the best action-caper blockbusters ever made. Lumet and screenwriter Frank Pierce entire ly avoid the concessions too commonly made by action films in which character and story I M a V ie en R ose udovic likes to wear dresses. He also enjoys applying makeup, wearing his hair long and daydreaming about marrying his schoolmate Jerome. To innocent eyes, L
