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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (March 21, 2003)
march 2 1 .2 0 0 3 FILM ............▼............ They like us! They really, really like us! J u s t Oufc’s guide to the queerest awards show ever by J im R adosta o wonder the gays love the Oscars: Once a I 11 year, the awards supply an addictive combination of ego (remember Julia Roberts’ embarrassing upstaging of Denzel Washington last year?), fashion (two words: Halle Berry) and fame (what will Michael Rob M arshall (left) and Pedro Almodovar are two of the three gay men Mtxire tell 1 billion competing for Best D irector during the 75th annual Academy Awards, people if Bowling/or airing live at 5 :3 0 p.m. M arch 23 on ABC Columbine wins Best Documentary Feature?) Now more than ever, we really have some behind Chicago won’t be spotted on the red carpet. thing to get excited about. This year’s nom i The late Bob Fosse wrote the 1975 musical that nees include several openly gay filmmakers and inspired this film, which succeeded at the remark queer characters galore. able task of transferring a vaudevillian stage show to the silver screen—and revived a genre that has Let’s take a look at the five nominees for Best Picture and figure out which one deserves not received Best Picture accolades since 1972 , (Fosse’s Cabaret). It’s got my vote. our endorsement: • The Pianist: N ot much queer content in this Holocaust drama— unless you consider ; o what about the other 23 categories? Aim statutory-rapist director Roman Polanski to he : your gaydar in this direction: a “sexual minority." Regardless, his comeback • Best Director: Believe it or not, gay film is easily the most respectable of the hunch, men are the sexual majority in this category, hut viewers should remember that this category with Daldry and Marshall facing Pedro Almod honors cinematic achievement, not compe ovar (Talk to Her). I’m pulling for Polanski, tence. In other words, size matters. mainly because I want to see whether the fugi • Qangs of N ew York: Was America really tive risks arrest by showing up for the ceremony. “horn in the streets”? O r was this opportunistic • Best Original Screenplay: Let’s see, marketing campaign orchestrated by Miramax Almodovar? Perhaps V Tu Mamá También, a honcho Harvey W einstein to cash in on post- rare honest portrayal of sexual flexibility 9/11 patriotism? Gangs seems to be the odd between two young men? No contest: This mxl, included just to appease M artin Scorsese belongs to Portland’s own Todd Haynes for his for continually getting the shaft from his peers. absorbing melodrama Far from Heaven. Sure, Gaxlfellas deserved the gold more than • Best Adapted Screenplay: Condon, who Kevin Costner’s Dances with Wolves, hut that prevailed in this category four years ago for doesn’t change the fact that a victory here Gods and Monsters, stands a gtxxl chance of would he nothing more than a Pity Oscar. winning again for his immaculate adaptation of • The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers: Chicago. As a writer, though, 1 feel obliged to Queer audiences appreciated gay fave Ian support Charlie Kaufman for audaciously McKellen’s triumphant resurrection as the wizard inserting himself—and his fictitious twin Gandalf as well as the unmistakable homoerotic brother— as the lead characters in Adaptation. subtext between FrcxJo (Elijah Wcxxl) and Sam • Best Actress: Kidman is up against Salma (Sean Astin). Unfortunately, part two of the trilo Hayek s impressive performance as bisexual gy based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s classic fantasy novels painter Frida Kahlo in Frida, but without a doubt stands little chance of taking home the trophy. the winner should be Mcxjre, who played anoth Check back next year, when the academy had er depressed ’50s housewife in Far from Heaven. better recognize the finale, The Return of the King. • Best Supporting Actor: Harris is the only • The Hours: Gay uberproducer Scott gay presence in this category. Sadly, the academy Rudin is the power broker behind this adapta overlooked Dennis Quaid’s powerful perform tion of gay author Michael C unningham ’s novel ance as a closeted gay man in Far from Heaven. directed by identifies-as-gay-but-is-married-to-a- • Best Animated Film: The queer here is woman filmmaker Stephen Daldry. The ensem Dean DeBlois (Lilo & Stitch), but because of an ble cast, meanwhile, is a queer wonderland: academy rule that allows only one name per bisexual writer Virginia Woolf (Nicole Kidman), nominee, co-director Chris Sanders is the listed who killed herself in 1941; a depressed ’50s filmmaker. Either way, the clear standout is housewife (Julianne M m re) who plants one on Hayao Miyazaki’s Sptnted Away. the lips of her neighbor (Toni Collette); and a • Best Foreign Film: Although the Dutch mcxlem-day lesbian (Meryl Streep) who cares gay-themed comedy Zus & Zo is in the tun deeply for a poet dying of AIDS (Ed Harris) but ning, Oscar ignored 2002’s other big queer feels detached from her lover (Allison Janney). musical: gay director François Ozon’s 8 Women. Does it get any gayer than this? This snub couldn’t have anything to do with • Chicago: In answer to that last question, yes America’s newfound disgust of France, could it? it does. This film was produced by Martin • Best Original Song: Theater queens will Richards with, among others, out executive pro be rooting for "I Move O n ,’’ written especially ducers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron. Director Rob for Chicago by the legendary composing team of Marshall and scribe Bill Grndon also y e gay, and John Kander and Fred Ebb. However, as much as for Richard Gere and Queen Latifah— well, let’s as I hate to admit it, Eminem earned the glory not go there. But the most important gay figure for “Lose Yourself’ from 8 Mile. J H M S m i» ] D i o i m XvV Apoll« o M e d i a i a '■ /*«• •'•a.««-, »/rtf i ' a fu » V-&KNY4 <i. * :W ARTISAN L N T t H T A I N M f c ^ T ' STARTS FRIDAY, MARCH 21ST * 5 0 f c .C l« t t S C E fU R Y THEATRES REGAL C R E W S B2ND AVENUE CENTURY E A S T P 0 R T 16 CITY CENTER «JOrSSe-’ t a 333; 77MOCIO REGAL C H E W S CASCADE ” .l 16 ¡KStKS-TEU. * 3 * 1 CM YKS 12 REGA l C R E W S EVERGREEN PARKWAY 13 «B5 6S-TEL F A » .Y THEATRES LLOYD M A LLS «9555-701. REGAL '.'A S M S FtG A L C M Y K S OAK G R O V E S ¡5C3i 653-9999-' ;5C3> 22S-S£53*46Z4 ACGH C M Y K S REGAL C KtMAS REGAL C M Y K S REGAL C H EW S REGAL C M Y K S REGALC AEMAS CINEMA 99 DIVISION STREET 13 HILLTOP 9 MOVIES ON TV SHERW OOD 10 TIGARD CINEMAS W m t-T R l (ACGtGSS T E li * » 5 5 5 T E .. » 0 : 5 5 5 -tll 800 5=3 T E L . «& S S 5 -T U STARK STREET JWijSS-TiU. * IW N . "What would it be like to stop mourning for nature? To live in the natural world, to savor it and cherish it, even to use it as all living beings must, without feeling that everything w as terribly wrong? "I wonder what would it be like to live in my own body without shame; to live in my own land, without the sen se that nature is already lost. Don’t you wonder too? "This is a book w elcom ing nature into the midst of daily life. It’s here, I w ant to say—nature is—and w e ’re it. Fresh w ildness working in us and around us all the tim e, playful, exuberant, surprising." W EVERY BOOK OF GAY BIOTICA ALW AYS H STOCK! PÀRÀDIS! WI LD “One of the first books of gay male nature writing!” D a v id O a t e s reads from his new book < @ > Pacific Kouros. Photo book of rugged, bearded, tattooed, stogie-smoking men! $45. ( @ ) WThick Inches. I wonder what these sto Paradise Wild: Reimagining American Nature ries are about? R o p e ? Knockwurst? $13. <@> XXX playing cards. Read 'em and, well, not weep exactly— tho fluid may be shed. . $10. T h re e Frien d s C o ffe e H o u s e 2 0 1 SE 12th at Ash St. DOWNTOWN @ 927 SW OAK - 226-8141 S a tu rd a y M a rc h 29th • 5:00 W IL S 0 N V U E 9
