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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 6, 2000)
Aimee and Jaguar » ♦ ^ queens I he Broken Hearts Club Fourth film fest proves Hollywood still doesn’t like dykes by O riana G reen Chutney Popcorn Ballot Measure 9 t’s heartening that a handful of dedicated volunteers has managed for the fourth year now to present a queer film festival in Portland. Beginning Oct. 13 at Cinema 21 will be two weekends filled with some thing for almost everyone in our diverse sexual landscape. Just don’t expect to find many homegrown, middle-aged lesbians, because as usual, they’re in short sup ply. And that’s not the fault of festival organizers hut rather Hollywood greenlighters, who apparently don’t think mature lesbians like movies. Apparently, only gay men will pay $8 to see themselves larger than life. And most of the gay films that do get made in love with a woman married to a Nazi soldier. are sweet-young-thing coming-of-age films. It’s moody, sensitive, poignant and well- OK, so we’re out of the friggin’ closet, now tell acted. My only problem with it is I’ve already me a story about real life. seen my life’s allotment of Nazi movies; I don’t I’m also really pissed at director Robert Alt want to sit through any more films about man and his latest execrable flick, Dr. T and oppression that end badly. the Women, the single most misogynistic film The second film is Gendemauts, Monika I’ve seen in many years. If anyone tries to con Treut’s delightful, sometimes wacky documen vince you this is a lesbian movie, don’t waste tary about the San Francisco trans scene, focus your time or money to find out it isn’t. Les ing on people who have made or are making bians are. the punch line, a plot device devoid the chemical/physical shift from one gender to of real context or meaning. Altman is a tired another. And that other gender might not fit into any known category. Treut collects quite filmmaker grabbing at faux dykes to make his silly story seem hip. an array of examples who willingly show the sometimes gritty process of metamorphosis. And then there is the potentially interest Many other films sound promising on ing feature in a can on somebody’s shelf, Things You Can Tell Just by Looking at Her, star paper—we’ll all find out together if they’re as good as their hype. On opening night, Oct. 13, ring Calista Flockhart as a lesbian tarot reader Superman Dean Cain stars as a single gay guy in a cast full of big-name actresses. But it can’t in The Broken Hearts Club, written and direct find a distributor and is being shunted to cable television. ed by Greg Berlanti, himself a gay guy and for What’s that got to do with our film fest? Just more evidence to explain what Hollywood thinks of dykes and why the festival selections are often rather obscure. Just Out was only able to preview two films, but they were both well-made and should delight their target audiences. The first of those, Aimee and Jag uar, is a beautiful German film based on the true story of a young Jewish lesbian who falls tragically merly a writer on Dawson’s Creek. Also on the opening night bill is What's Cooking?, an ensemble piece about four diverse Los Angeles families celebrating Thanksgiving. Sparks fly as Kyra Sedgwick comes home for the holidays with her “roommate,” Julianna Margulies. Other promising- sounding features include Chutney Popcorn, about a young Indian American les bian struggling with family approval. Get Your Stuff is an edgy, indie comedy about two gay 90210 guys in search of family connections to offset their shallow lifestyle. Urbania is a dark tale about a man who is haunted by the absence of his boyfriend as he roams the streets of New York. Eban and Charley is the work of several Port landers. Produced and shot in Oregon, it promises some contro versy for its storyline involving a 29-year-old man’s courtship of a 15- ycar-old deaf boy. Another local film is, unfortunately, still time ly: Ballot Measure 9, the 1995 documentary about an earlier Oregon Citi zens Alliance effort. In addition to the features, as always, is a program of men’s and women’s short films. The festival winds up with I’m the One That I Want, a filmed ver sion of the concert Margaret Cho gave here earlier this year. ¡ n For a complete schedule of films, pick up a program or visit the Internet site wwiv.sensoryperceptions.org. Advance tickets and passes are available at In Other Words, Gai-Pied and Balloons on Broadway.
