Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 7, 2003)
tnhninry 7, ?nm J—> a t ) 37 F IL M ...........▼........... Two B r o ther s and Cold comfort T w o O thers TLA Releasing VD has been the salvation of nonmainstream queer cinema. Features, documentaries and even shorts that would otherwise he forgot ten after making the film festival circuit get a sec ond chance thanks to this handy medium. Richard Bell’s Two Brothers is a case in point. Made for an unbelievable $545 Canadian (about $ 350 U.S., aspiring filmmakers), this short film is an emotionally resonant story o f the intersecting lives of the title characters— one gay, one straight— after the death o f their mother. Cute Riley (Norbert Orlewicz) heads for Vancouver to stay with his even cuter hut trou bled brother Chad (Cody Cam pbell) and the latter’s girlfriend, Tohie (Karen R ae), a consum mate fag hag. Based on Bell’s one- act play, the film plumbs some strong emotions and gets extra points for a wonderful sequence in which the lovemaking o f hetero couple Chad and Tobie is intercut with similar scenes of Riley and his new lover, G avin (Kevin M ac Donald). In portraying queer and straight love as equivalent, this sequence does what society doesn’t seem able to do. T h e film introduces a few too many ele ments for its 60-m inute runtime, hut finely honed performances and a pervasive sense o f a grim past always threatening the present make this a worthy entry in the queer indie genre. Included are two documentaries about the making of the film, a director commentary and outtakes. T h e D V D ’s “two others”— accom pa nying queer shorts by Lawrence Ferher— are pretty disposable, though Cruise Control is a diverting six minutes about a hunky bar boy who dazzles Everyqueen until his face begins to twist into bizarre contortions. V egas in According to Punxsutaw ney Phil, we’re looking at six more weeks of w inter. These DVDs should help you through. by G a r y M o r r is You won’t find it on the usual maps, of course; you’ll have to rent Vegas in Space. Direct ed by Philip R. Ford and starring famed San Francisco trannies Miss X and Doris Fish (who also wrote and designed the film), this legendary drag-camp epic cobbled together between 1982 and 1992 is now available on DVD. T he film opens with a montage of gaudy images that set the tone: a tinselly galaxy, bright ly colored miniature rocket ships on strings, neon marquees and drag queens — lots of drag queens. Fish and his rocketship crew are headed for Clitoris to “save the universe" hut are forced to have sex changes before landing. (In this tranny dream world, you only have to pop a pill.) Once they arrive at the capital, Vegas (an “oasis of glamour in a universe of mediocrity"), the adventurers brave earthquakes, skyrocketing crime and the theft of the royal jewels. T he plot quickly collapses into chaos as the Misses Fish and X try to find the thieving Queen of Clitoris. A loose structure allows for plenty of amus ing scenes, such as a “traditional mid-20th cen tury lounge act” and a witty film noir parody sequence reminiscent of an old Joan Crawford movie (if you can picture Joan as an inter- galactic drag queen). T h e major influence here is the candy- colored 1958 sci-fi epic Queen o f Outer Space — along with, o f course, John Waters, whose spirit hovers over the production in the glitter walls and lime-green fleece doors as well as the actors’ screaming, declamatory style. T h e D V D has a lot of extras, including audio commentary, a teaser reel, scenes from the 1991 premiere at San Francisco’s Castro Theatre and interviews with the director and cast. S pace Troma Entertainment OSSESSIONE Image Entertainment ho wouldn’t want to go to Clitoris, an “all-girl plea sure planet" where the girls are style-drenched drag queens who patronize “black beauty markets” and hoard girlinium, “a rare crystal found only in the C av erns of G irlina”? he late Italian film director Luchino Viscon ti is rightly revered for his operatic studies of decadence among the upper crust, but homo audiences have found in him a particularly sim- patico soul. Gay imagery in his later work— Auerbach’s hopeless pursuit of the ideal in the form of a young boy in Death in Venice and Hel mut Burger’s devastating Dietrich imitation in The Damned come to mind— has become iconic in the world of queer culture. T That’s No Lady... That’s DARCELLE X V & Co. Glitz, Glamour & Comedy the driving hetero “obsession” of G in o and G iovanna (Clara Calam ai). G ino is the first of many Visconti hunks, a gorgeous, dreamy-eyed drifter lovingly surveyed— indeed practically cruised— by the camera. G io vanna is sick to death of the older fat man she married to escape poverty, so when G ino arrives she (along with certain audience members) lights up with lust. Visconti perfectly captures this mutual longing in furtive, steamy encounters barely out of view of her hubby. But some thing’s not quite right. Giovanna’s desperation is too extreme, while Gino seems too weak to resist her G ino (left) and Spagnolo exchange furtive glances and more in Luchino V isconti’s Ossessione W hat’s less known is that Visconti quietly proclaimed his queemess and the lure of the homoerotic from the very beginning of his career. This can he savored now thanks to a new DVD release of his first feature, 1942’s Ossessione. Based on U .S. novelist James M. C ain ’s The Postman Always Rings Twice, the project was passed on to Visconti by French film great Jean Renoir. Happily, Renoir’s lack of interest paid off big for Visconti and for cinema fans. This Postman almost single-handedly ushered in Italian neorealism— and didn’t stint on the homo subtext, either. No wonder the powerful Catholic Church and the Fascist censors tried to suppress it. (And, in the case of the censors, destroyed what they thought was the only nega tive; the savvy filmmaker had squirreled away a duplicate that became the basis for later prints.) Visconti was an irrepressible Marxist who could present the lives of the poor and exploit ed with enormous authority. Ossessione s wan dering hero, G ino (Massimo G irotti), travels what would become well-trod territory through the next decade— the bleak road of the “neo- real” marked by themes of impoverishment, despair, murder, sexual candor and, of course, a femme fatale who leads him far astray. But Ossessione also presents a near-queer romance that resonates almost as powerfully as and the dangers she represents. Visconti offers an unusual alternative possibili ty in the form of handsome stranger Spagnolo (Elio Mar- cuso), who subsidizes G ino’s first escape from Giovanna, offering to pay his train fare. T he two become friends and fellow travelers. Spagnolo’s homosexuality is blatantly portrayed considering the time and circumstance (Fascist Italy). T h e relationship ripples with loving glances but goes further. In one scene they’re in bed together and Spagnolo lights a cigarette, hold ing the m atch over G in o ’s face and studying it with unmistakable adoration. Visconti presents Spagnolo as an superior alternative to Giovanna, though historically the time was not right for G ino to make such a choice. Visconti would he more upfront in later films; still, there’s much electricity between these two potential male lovers. A homo subtext is far from the only lure of Ossessione. Its a wrenching study o f a doomed romantic triangle, played by a superb cast against gorgeous northern Italian locations. T h e queer icing just makes this already tasty cake that much more satisfying. J H 0k boutique in a benefit Vegas style dinner show for the “ The adult gift shop fo r lovers with good taste ” Linnton Community Center Sunday, February 16 $20 - Dinner: 6:00 PM - Show: 7:30 PM Linnton Community Center 10614 NW St. Helens Rd./US Hwy. 30 Advance tickets at: • Neighbors West/NW, 1819 NW Everett, Rm 205 • Linnton Feed & Seed, 10920 NW St Helens Rd Info: 503-286-4990 No host bar * * V * V V * V A dult G ifts & C ards L otions & P otions M assage O ils M en ’ s & W omen ’ s L ingerie S r x T oys N ovelties A dult C andies S t G ames V SH O PO N LIN E WWW.LaOUTlQUE.COM Open Mon-Sat 1720 SE 122nd Avenue • Portland OR 5 0 3 -252-2017
