FILM
Trembling Before G-d
andi Dubowski s film is a must-see, if only
because it admirably and thoroughly resists
the documentary filmmakers temptation to
didacticism. No, Trembling
Before G-d (in Orthodox.Jewish
law, one isn’t permitted to write
the word “God”) is a true docu
mentary, objectively and dispas
sionately recording the thoughts
and experiences of its subjects and
their often unsatisfying hut reso
nantly authentic lives.
The film follows several Ortho
dox Jews who are tom between
their homosexuality and their
devotion to a fundamentalist reli
gion—one that’s interpreted strict
ly and with resounding finality by
the culture in which they were
raised. Any nonheterosexual ori
entation is inherently sinful.
Dubowski found a remarkable
diversity of cases in a community
that presents a united front to the outside world.
Among the more hopeful stories is that of a
young London man whose parents sent him off
to Israel to rid him of his homosexuality, only to
see him flourish in Jerusalem’s gay community.
Then there’s an elderly gentleman from
New York who came to embrace his homosex
uality later in life and whose charming crack
pot eccentricities are loudly, happily defiant.
Since most influential Orthodox leaders see
S
Passionate lives
When religion is your a rt and a rt is your religion
It’s that clear depiction of struggle
that makes Trembling Before G-d so
indelible, even profound. It’s easy for out
siders to vehemently reject beliefs we
might see as repressive or manipulative.
Dubowski’s film shows just how difficult,
complicated and contradictory it is when
an individual’s sexuality conflicts with
deeply held, very genuine religious
beliefs. W hich is more valuable, and
which can he sacrificed?
Trembling’s eminently empathetic
subjects draw their own sometimes dis
heartening, sometimes moving, always
truly felt conclusions.
— Christopher McQuain
Old Testament sexual prohibitions as judg
ments to he applied today as they were thou
sands of years ago, however, there’s more than
sufficient pain in many of these people’s lives.
It’s hard not to feel anguished while witnessing
a devoted lesbian couple— who won’t allow the
camera to capture their faces— tentatively ver
balizing their anxiety that “the beautiful life
we’ve created (together) won’t he able to be
brought into the next world.”
Refreshingly, Adventures o f Felix
does not hit you over the head with
“messages," yet messages seep into
your brain nonetheless: that gay Arabs
have more to worry about than some
others; that France is not necessarily
as progressive as we think; and the
popular notion (yet still fresh here)
that family is collected, not bom.
Out on Video
Adventures of Felix
his completely charming French
import from Olivier Ducastel and
Jacques Martineau follows a hap
pily partnered and adorable young gay
man (Sami Bouajila) on an impulsive
journey to Marseilles to find his birth father,
who he has never seen. Along the way, much
o f Felix is revealed: His dark skin is of Arab
descent, which apparently comes from his
absent father. T he pills he pops are for HIV.
Because Felix’s jaunt is on foot, it takes a while
to travel the some 500 miles, particularly by his
mles of “no large cities." This makes for endless
opportunities to meet a bizarre and memorable
cast of eccentrics. Unfortunately, two of them are
men preparing to dump a dead body late at night;
when they see Felix, the poor boy must spend a
portion of his trip watching his back.
T
— LB
The Monkey's Mask
W
hat starts out as a taught and sexy erotic
thriller ends up a mess.
The Monkey's Mask stars Susie Porter
as Australian dyke private eye Jill Fitzpatrick,
hired to investigate the brutal murder o f a
young, bohemian wannabe poet in Sydney.
O ne o f Jill’s first stops is the girl's college poetry
class, where she meets steamy professor Diana
Maitland, portrayed by Kelly McGillis.
W hen this film debuted at festivals across
ffU tr i d . *
H o n o r e d D ign ity
M e m o r ia l rM P r o v id e r s
C a ld w e ll's C o lo n ia l C h a p e l
2 0 N E 14th A v e • P o rtla n d . O R 9 7 2 3 2
(503) 232-4111
R o s s H o lly w o o d C h a p e l
4 7 3 3 N E T h o m p s o n • P o rtla n d . O R 9 7 2 1 3
(503) 281-1800
(503)659-1184
the country last year, the press were quick to
trounce M cGillis for how old and bad she
looks. O n the contrary, she’s aged into an allur
ing femme fatale, perfectly molding the
teacher/student sexual tension between her and
the 20-something investigator. (And between
her and the murdered girl, too, perhaps?)
T he movie begins with a sultry and gritty
film noir appeal, particularly Jill’s catchy voice
over puns, recollecting the old gumshoe clas
sics. Sadly, silly plot devices continue to get in
the way of a promising story about the obses
sive power relationship between two women
who might be at opposite legal ends and the
wild sex that ensues.
Desperate to be involved in multiple stories
and places at once and looking chic while
doing it, the movie loses its way, becoming a
confrising collage of whodunit artifice. By the
time all the lesbians in the audience are offend
ed by Jill’s uncharacteristic attraction to Profes
sor Diana’s super-creepy husband, you’re pretty
much beyond caring about the whole thing.
— LB
— Lisa Bradshaw
jn
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largely responsible for the modem slam
poetry movement in the United States.
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T r em b lin g B efore G - d phys through
April 11 at Hollywood Theatre,
4122 N .E. Sandy Blvd. Cad 503-281-4215 for
times. The director wiU attend a special screening
2 p.m. April 7 followed by a reception.
O ne of the founders of the Nuyorican Poets
Cafe in New York City, where the spoken word
form was bom , he lived hard and died young,
as witnessed in this rapid-paced but intimate
biographical portrait of the tragically self
destructive bisexual writer.
Filmmakers couldn’t have chosen better
than Benjam in Bratt as the lead. T h e hunky
Law & Order alum is extraordinarily c o n
vincing as “M ikey” Pinero, who we see in the
beginning o f the film impressing his c e ll
mates with his particular brand o f prose. H e’s
an addict o f a seemingly endless amount of
substances, w hich, com bined with theft and
some random violence, keep him in a c o n
stantly perilous state with police and
acquaintances alike.
Even as Mikey becomes the most influential ,
poet of his generation and the toast of New
York’s theater community with the Obie
Award-winning play Short Eyes about a child
molester in prison, it becomes clear that not
even his closest friends can trust him not to rip
them off or use them for his own selfish means.
T h e eventually homeless and drunken bard of
the east side can ’t even trust himself from
undermining all the work that leads him to
success and the love o f his life (a woman, radi
antly portrayed by Talisa Soto).
Unfortunately, writer/director Leon Ichaso
insists on a couple of tired stereotypes. Every
woman in the film is either a Madonna (most
notably Mikey s mother, played to saintly per
fection by Rita Moreno, a great actress we
never see enough of, if you ask me) or a Jezebel
(most notably Mikey s girlfriend, who, in case
we don’t quite get it, announces she is his “per
sonal whore”). Only the belief that this is prob
ably the way Mikey actually viewed all women
makes these portrayals palatable, and that is
only if we allow Ichaso the luxury o f assuming
that’s his first-person intent.
Also troubling is a subtle suggestion that
the sexual abuse by Mikey s father caused a
sexual confusion as the young man grew into
adulthood. Did this abuse cause bisexual
attractions? Please.
T he ending begins to become more of a cele
bration of all things Pinero rather than the suc
cessful study of the conflicts within a man who
is essentially a strung-out junkie loser— but also
a brilliant writer and orator— and the confusion
this causes the people around him. However, the
final scenes with a voice-over of the strikingly
honest Pinero piece “A Lower East Side Poem”
is so goddamn beautiful it’s hard to argue with.
A t the end o f the day, the film is worth
it. Pinero is a visual and auditory feast.
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