Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 17, 2003)
▼ Sip D’ V in e J i o It's good to be king ...not y o u r stuffy wine »hop.. C R Y S T A L ’S GAT & LESBIAN SPINE-TING LING HALLOWEEN BASH!!!!! Re I ax with friends while enjoying N W wine» bij the taste, glass, and bottle N ovice» welcome. QJnique picnic ¿vgift items Two great performances highlight cluh kid biopic by -O p e n — Don’t miss this Ghoulish Costume Party! You’ll never know who’s behind the mask! Fun Door Prizes! Costume Contests! Full Service Bar! And Non-Smoking Dance Floor! T u e s -^ u n l2-3pm - f'ri ¿v 5 a t ‘til 9p m L o o k for us next to the bridee in M * »to ric M u ltn o m a h V'H aee 7&&7 5 W G a p ito l f 1wi), Portland, O K 977*9 JO V?77-WINE. (?+<>) I Write ms Dais: October 31, 2003 Tims: 9:00p-1:30a Location: Portland Motro Club (formorly PPAA) 618SE Aldor Co von $7.00 ju s tn ia Welcomes letters Tickots Available at: It’s M y Ploasur* Corner of Sandy Blvd. A NE 64th 503-280-8080 Or Touchstone Coffee 7631 NE Glisan 503-262-7613 Letters must be oaompanied by a phone number for verification purposes. Anonymous letters and letters without sufficient contact information www.justout.com will not be published. CME PRODUCTIONS ell, certainly, we’ve all been waiting with hated breath for little Macaulay Culkin’s comeback, but who’d have m i ever thought it would be in one of the most hotly talked-ahout queer films of the year! What better way to hurst into grown-up movies than as a queeny, murderous, drag-addled New York cluh king/ Way to go, Macaulay. Popular opinion makes fun of the pixx little Home Alone chap in a big vyay. I mean, this situa tion is rather rich for abuse, isn’t it? Rut I disagree with them. Yes, I may stand alone, hut stand 1 do: Macaulay Culkin is kick-ass in Patty Monster. This lively if heavily flawed film, which makes its Portland dehut O ct. 17 at the Les bian &. Gay Film Festival before opening at Cinema 21 on O ct. 24, is based on the true-life drama of Michael Alig, the late ’80s/early ’90s “king of the cluh kids.” Club kids were in famous in the New York night scene for their wacky, underground parties, excessive dnig use and extravagant costumes. Eventually, bisexual M ichael’s fantasy world comes crashing down after a vicious murder he brags about to his friend and m en tor James St. James (Seth G reen, in the film’s best performance). Party Monster is based on the book Disco W Precious moments 2 Gy Hz Performative Arts presents I Enteractive £ SECo;D .ANNUAL■ Language festival He’s here, he’s queer, he’s Italian—holy cannoli! by J im 30 OCT - 29 NOV David Eckard performs Friday 07 N O V _hall st. gallery 630 SE 3rd Ave. Look for listings in Just Out, Full Calendars around town, & 2 Gyrlz hotline #503.234.4950 | www.2gyrlz.org/festival Special thanks to our Q ueer friendly sponsors: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ¡U S ir m m Equity Foundation, Th e Heathman Hotel, Just O u t, hip C H IC K S do W IN E , and Th e M ark Spencer Hotel R adosta efore I slam on this movie, it’s only fair that I disclose a pre existing condition: 1 can’t stand precious films that exaggerate cultural stereotypes in the gixxl-natured pursuit of “comedy." T he French had their moment in the criminally Oscar- All hell breaks loose when nominated Chocolat, family in Mambo Itidiano Portuguese people were portrayed in Passitmada, and then there’s My Big Fat G reek Wediling, the template that all other wannabes will follow. Queer cinema has had its share of these cutesy groan-inducers, too: The Broken Hearts Club and Big Eden immediately come to mind. Well, now it s my turn. As a gay Sicilian, I should’ve been delighted to see my peeps on the big screen in Mambo Italiano, which opens O ct. 24. Perhaps 1 entered the wrong theater, because I didn’t recognize much of anybody or anything on display here. Tire film revolves around Angelo (Luke Kirby), an aspiring writer raised in Montreal hy a zany clan of immigrants who end conversa tions hy slapping each other on the head. (T h at’s a spicy meatball!) Maria and G ino (Ginette Reno and Paul Sorvino) expect Angelo and his sister, Anna (Claudia Fern), to live at home until they get married— or until they die. So when Angelo B Come Out and Engage performance, music, & visual arts throughout Portland! L isa B radshaw Bloodbath, penned by none other than St. James ("th e original cluh kid”) at the sug gestion o f the film ’s gay directors, Fenton Bailey and Macaulay C ulkin pulls off Randy Barhato costumed queen in Party ( T he Eyes o f Mores ter Tammy F aye), who also made a documentary about the incidents. Although the film Imks beautiful— a testa ment to having been produced by Killer Films (Hedung and the Angry Inch, Far from Heaven) and to the use of 25 of the original cluh kids in their own costumes— it’s a hit of a directorial mess. Railey and Barhato seem to want to make audiences sympathetic to Michael, hut that, as well as immersing you into the world of the cluh kids, is a tall order, and the film fails at both. Its attempts at sptxtf often work when Culkin and G reen are onscreen, hut other times are an embarrassment, as are Natasha Lyonne and Dylan M cDerm ott as way-too- eamest cluh owners. T he only reason to see the film is the ir repressible performances of Culkin and G reen— trading quips (“I’m getting away with murder; you’re just jealous!”) and bitchy ltxiks in a constant love-hate relationship, desperate ’ for money, success, fame and glamour. decides to move in with his childhtxxl buddy Nino (Peter Miller), the ultra- traditional family flips out. (Mamma mia!) You can only imagine how things escalate when Ange lo reveals that he’s taken Nino as his lover. An upstand Angelo comes out to his ing cop, Nino freaks out when co-workers clue in, and his mom rries to convert him hy hixtking him up with a hig-haired slut. Meanwhile, Angelo inches out of the closet hy volunteering as an operator at a gay hot line. (Captsce?) M am bo Italiano was directed hy Emile Gaudreault, who co-wrote the script with Steve Galluccio, on whose play the film was based. Their characters, for the most part, are extremely likable, especially Anna, a couch- surfing therapy junkie who switches shrinks after each visit. And Sorvino gives a strong performance as the conservative dad who eventually accepts his gay son. (Grazie!) Still. 1 have a hard time finding the humor in homophobia. If this film had found a consistent tone between the dark humor and the marshmal low fluff, it might have worked. Instead, the end ing is so abmpt and dubious (Nino makes an unfortunate decision that seems highly improba ble for an urbanite in 2 0 0 )), not even the most eager-to-be-pleased crowd will leave satisfied. IH
