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FILM
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Mutantphobia!
X2
pits the homo superiors against the ’phobes
by
A ndy M a n gels
A
s a father
looks on
speechless
at his son
who has just
come out, the
concerned moth
er leans over and
asks the dreaded
question: "Honey,
have you ever
tried not being a
mutant V'
Welcome
back to the world
of the X-Men, in
which mutants
are feared, perse
cuted and legis
Ian McKellen is downright villainous in X 2 : X-Men United
lated against. But
as X2: X-Men United shows, it’s not a good idea
T he first film dealt much more overtly
to try to bash those who can bash back.
with the parallels between gays and mutants,
The first X-Men film in 2000 introduced
but X2 is still pretty gayesque, both in the
viewers to the comic book-based milieu classi script and among the actors and production
team.
fied as homo superior. Most o f them look like
normal human beings, but they have extra
McKellen is gay, while Cumming is bisexual
powers that set them apart; some of them use
and Romijn-Stamos recently admitted to previ
their powers for good, while others, of course,
ous relationships with women. Behind the
use them to advance more sinister agendas.
scenes, director Bryan Singer has long been
Whereas X-Men dealt with a mutantphobic
speculated as gay in the press (an issue he
U.S. senator trying to pass legislation to regis
chooses not to address), while editor/composer
ter all mutants, X2 showcases a more dire
John Ottman is openly gay.
threat when Gen. William Stryker (Brian Cox)
Beyond its ties to the gay community, is
makes a military strike against the private
X2 a worthy sequel? Yes, indeed. Perhaps
citadel for mutant teens: Professor Charles
because he’s unfettered with having to fully
Xaviers Academy for Gifted Students.
explain the concept of mutants as in the first
The various members o f the X-Men team
film, Singer is able to open up the playing
scramble to protect themselves, regroup and
field and delve into both more action and
stop Stryker’s evil plan. Hunky wild man
more characterization.
Wolverine (the delectable Hugh Jackman) and
A s the Superman and Superman II films
three mutant teens are in one group, but one
are both considered classic examples of how
of the teens (Shawn Ashmore as Ice Man)
to do a comic book film and its sequel
doesn’t find much solace from his family after
“right,” the mantle now goes to X-Men and
he “comes out” to them about being a mutant.
X2. Moviegoers should love seeing the char
Villains M agneto (Sir Ian M cKellen) and
acters strap on their black leather once
again, and queer viewers will get a surrogate
shape-changer Mystique (Rebecca Romijn-
thrill from seeing a few mutantphobes get
Stam os) must join with Storm (H alle Berry),
ting their due. J H
Jean Grey (Famke Janssen) and newcomer
Nightcrawler (Alan Cum m ing) to infiltrate
A ndy M angels is the author of the new hook
Stryker’s Alaskan ha.se. Meanwhile, Cyclops
Animation on DVD: The Ultimate Guide.
(James Marsden) and Professor Xavier
Bom with no earlobes, he is considered,
(Patrick Stewart) are being mind-controlled
I technically, a mutant.
to stop their colleagues.
T he P erfect S on
Wolfe Video
T
he dreary “AIDS
drama” of the late
1980s and ’90s
resurfaces with The
Perfect Son. Leonard
Farlinger directed this
first feature supposedly
to honor his brother
who died of AIDS, but
his sibling may be rolling in his grave at this
anemic, retrograde film.
Conservative, closeted gay lawyer Ryan
(Colm Feore) meets up with his estranged
brother, hunky junkie Theo (David Cubitt),
fresh out of rehab. Theo learns of Ryan’s
promiscuous homosexuality and allegedly
declining health due to AIDS. (I say allegedly
because, despite the film’s insistence on Ryan’s
illness and his histrionics, he’s the picture of
rosy health, jogging on the beach, sprinting up
and down stairs. In other scenes, he balefully
drags an IV around and pukes his guts out, all
the while looking gym-trim.)
The film is much more interested in the rise
of Theo from clueless wreck to devoted
boyfriend, expectant father and, presumably,
inheritor of Ryan’s substantial estate. Ryan
performs the traditional queer role of self-
sacrificing vehicle for a straight man’s personal
growth, thoughtfully taking his bow and leav
ing the stage at just the right moment.
The DVD includes a commentary by Far
linger and Feore, a separate musical score and a
behind-the-scenes featurette.
— Gary M orris
K eep the R iver
on Y our
R ight
New Video
Group
*he subtitle of
Keep the
River on Your
Right is “A Mod
em Cannibal
Tale,” but per
haps “Cannibal
Queen” might
have been more
appropriate. Not
that the star and
subject, gay
painter and
anthropologist
35
There was no shortage of boyfriends in the 1950s Peruvian jungle,
according to Tobias Schneebaum in Keep the River on Your Right
m
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w iA iw .h a v e n c o ffe e .c o m
Tobias Schneebaum,
is really a cannibal.
During a foray into
Peru during the 1950s,
he did sample a morsel
of human flesh after a
murderous raid by the
tribe with whom he
was living. (And no, it
didn't taste like chick
en; it was more like
pork, according to
Schneebaum.)
This intermittently intriguing, sometimes
tedious documentary shows the artist and
globetrotter, now in his late 70s, returning to
the scenes of his “crime": Papua New
Guinea— where he lived with, was adopted by
and had boyfriends among the natives— and
Peru, where the infamous event occurred.
Schneebaum is a charismatic personality—
an unapologetic eccentric whose reunion with
old friends and lovers after four decades is quite
moving. Scandalous clips show him on ’60s talk
television explaining his adventures to shocked
host and guests. There are amusing scenes where
the impish Schneebaum lectures boatfuls of
bourgeois travelers on tribal art and customs;
during a slide show he pointedly indicates,
“These men are lovers, these men are lovers,
these men are lovers."
Still, the documentary is ultimately as lan
guid and aimless as Schneebaum’s quest for
“something” that is never really defined.
Extras on the DVD include photo galleries,
samples of the subject’s excellent art and
biographies of the participants.
— g m jm
tues sat
5 930
230 0463
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