4 0 * 1* * M t i lanuary 7.2000
FILMS
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SUGAR &
SPICE &
EVERYTHING
NICE?
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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
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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,
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