Film

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“The Third One” Tells the Story of When a Nice Gay Couple Takes On a Third

 

Argentinian director’s Rodrigo Guerrero’s second feature is an insightful and charming tale about a one night stand that may change a young man’s outlook on life and love.   We first see 22 year old near-naked Fede at his laptop on a chatline talking to Franco  The conversation soon gets very intimate and graphic  and in case we don’t get where this is leading too, Guerrero has inserted some very short clips of gay porn films.  Franco is in his early 40’s and partnered and when all three men agree they like the look of how this hook-up is progressing they invite the young man over for dinner and more.
 
There is no ambiguity to the invitation and over the course of the meal, the three men chat at length about their backgrounds, their families and their lives so far. It is all very innocent and so completely friendly in such a way that it actually seems like the couple are looking to adopt the younger man rather take him to their bed and sexually ravish him.   But this is what happens once desert has been served but as the action is photographed mainly from the waist up it is more sweet and somewhat wholesome than salacious. There is a lot of grunting and groaning and smiling and then some penetration.
 
Next morning the  men leave for work and the boy leaves for college after they all say their fond farewells and promise to repeat the night very soon.  The closing credits roll as we see young grinning Fede day-dreaming in Class his mind still on the events on last night as if he had just lost his virginity. (Not true).
 
“The Third One” is cleverly-scripted, well-directed, and features wonderful performances by the actors who portray the only three characters in the movie.  It’s refreshing to watch a film that tackles it’s subject completely in such a pared down manner.  The tidy film also offers up the optimistic notion that sometimes online hook-ups can be like a fairy tale after all.
“The Third One” will be shown at Frameline 38 San Francisco International Film Festival at the Victoria Theater Saturday, June 28 at 9:15 p.m.

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“The Way He Looks” Hooks Audience with Struggles of a Blind Gay Brazilian Teen

 

The lazy summer is over and Leo and his best friend Giovana are back in High School for the new term when curly headed new boy Gabriel joins the class for the first time.  Suddenly the cosy closeness of the two old friends is threatened when Giovana discovers that the newcomer will not be her longed-for first romance, and that in fact he will usurp her major role in Leo’s life.  Leo has been blind from birth and lives with his overprotective parents in their very comfortable middle-class home in suburb of Rio, and Giovana has played the part of his ‘seeing eyes’ for years.   His mother almost suffocates him by insisting on controlling his every movement and she is reluctant to leave him alone for one single moment.

 Gabriel’s arrival seems to coincide with Leo’s quest to finally break free and see if the school-exchange problem will also accept him so that he can live and study in another country.  The news of this sends his mother into a fit, but his more amenable father is at least open to considering the idea which he tells Leo in one of the most touching of scenes in this very gentle coming of age story.

 Leo’s quest for independence is part of his journey about discovering who he really is, and he seems totally surprised when he realises that part of this is his attraction for Gabriel.  As the boys friendship grows into something much deeper, neither of them can trust their judgements in revealing their feelings to each other, even after a stolen peck on the cheek after a drunken party.

 There is nothing at all extraordinary in the plot-lines of this wee movie, but somehow it has the most endearing quality that makes it so immensely enjoyable. There is a remarkable innocence to this group of young people who all seem never to have even been kissed, and even the inclusion of Leo’s taunting by the bullies in his class has no hint of any real hatred. There are some really nice touches of humor and tenderness, none more so than when Gabriel insists that Leo learns how to dance. What does make it all so compelling is the captivating performances of the three young lead actors, particularly Ghilherme Lobo who was so pitch perfect as the blind boy.

This very cute debut feature from Brazilian writer/director Daniel Ribeiro was based on his award-winning short ‘Eu Não Quero Voltar Sozinho’ with the same actors, and has gone on to, quite rightly, win two major accolades from the Berlinale : the FIPRESCI Prize and The TEDDY for Best LGBT Feature.  It is about to hit the Film Festival circuit where it will so easily win over a lot of hearts too. Especially the closing scenes.

“The Way He Look” will be shown at Frameline 38 San Francisco International LGBT Film Festival at the Castro Theater Monday, June 23 at 6:30 p.m.

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Christina Ricci Goes Down Under in “Around The Block”

An attention-grabbing, potentially profile-elevating performance by up-and-comer Hunter Page-Lochard is the major selling point of “Around the Block,” an Aussie variation of the oft-spun scenario about an at-risk high-schooler who gets a shot at redemption through a transformative extracurricular activity. Christina Ricci claims top billing — and provides some modest marquee allure — as a transplanted American teacher determined to uplift her Sydney students by introducing them to Shakespeare. But Page-Lochard is the one more likely to earn the critical plaudits in this well-intended film.

Improbably engaged to the Down Under version of a good ol’ boy, U.S.-born Dino Chalmers (Ricci) immerses herself in what she assumes will be her happily-ever-after milieu by landing a job as English teacher in Redfern, a Sydney inner suburb, at an under-funded school on the brink of closure. It’s the sort of demanding gig that idealistic educators have been tackling in movies since the earliest flickerings of the silent era. And, true to form, Dino immediately evinces her can-do, infectiously ambitious spirit by talking the school’s borderline-burnout principal (Aussie screen icon Jack Thompson) into letting her stage a student production of “Hamlet.”

Liam Wood (Page-Lochard), a 16-year-old Aboriginal student from a hardscrabble housing project, surprises no one more than himself when he impulsively — and successfully — auditions for the lead role as the Prince of Denmark. At first, his atypical interest in a school event seems motivated entirely by his attraction to classmate and co-star Williemai (Madeleine Madden), a bright Aboriginal girl from a more upscale neighborhood. Gradually, however, first-time writer-director Sarah Spillane reveals that Liam has been inspired by the example of his Uncle Charlie, former member of a Sydney theater troupe.

Trouble is, Uncle Charlie recently met his untimely demise while collaborating with Jack (Matt Nable), Liam’s father, during a botched casino heist. Steve (Mark Coles Smith), Liam’s hot-headed, criminally inclined brother, is determined to punish the informer he holds responsible for Uncle Charlie’s death and his father’s current incarceration. And Steve fully expects Liam to assist in the violent retribution.

To her credit, Spillane doesn’t push too hard on the obvious parallels between Hamlet’s reluctance to kill his father’s murderer and Liam’s own hesitation to extract revenge. Rather, the filmmaker uses Liam’s crisis of conscience as the means to explore his deeply conflicted feelings of desire and dread, while Page-Lochard subtly and affectingly illuminates the often contradictory facets of the character. The young actor is especially effective in scenes with Ursula Yovich (who makes a memorable impact as Liam’s anxious mom), and in a key third-act interplay with Nable.

By sharp contrast, Ricci gamely struggles with clumps of hackneyed cheery-encouraging dialogue that inadvertently support another character’s dismissive suggestion that Dino is little more than a starry-eyed do-gooder who can’t help patronizing her Aboriginal students. Of course, Dino has problems of her own: Even before she distances herself from her casually racist fiance, she appears hopelessly lovesick for a beautiful shopkeeper (Andrea Demetriades) with whom she had a fling years earlier during a previous stay in Australia.

Dino’s slow-simmering sexual confusion comes to a boil, so to speak, during a rather startling scene in which the schoolteacher takes a walk on the wild side, picks up an androgynous tattooed cutie (Ruby Rose) in a lesbian bar, and proceeds to enjoy a hot and uninhibited one-night stand. Spillane’s matter-of-fact approach to presenting this steamy interlude doesn’t entirely mitigate its disruptive shock value.

Of course, the scene might have generated less of a WTF response had the overall narrative been more evenly divided between the two central characters. As it stands, however, Liam emerges so clearly as the central figure in this story that, after a certain point in the proceedings, anything not directly involving him seems like just so much distraction.

Veronika Jenet’s supple editing is a plus throughout, particularly during the climactic sequences. Other tech values are more than adequate to the task at hand.

“Around The Block” will be shown at Frameline 38 San Francisco International LGBT Film Festival at the Castro Theater Tuesday, June 24 at 9:30 p.m.  For more informayion go to:  www.frameline.org.

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Coming Out in Ecuador

An Ecuadorian coming-out film is something of a rarity in world or even gay cinema. Director Araujo’s work has much in common with previous coming-of-age films about ephebic youths on the road to self-discovery and acceptance only it happens in a country not often seen on film. Holiday is bookended by a nice visual conceit involving upside-down cityscapes and Araujo manages to include several other intriguing elements, such as the world of underground Ecuadorian metal bands or the 1999 banking crisis that’s affecting the protagonist’s family,that enhances the main storline.

The film’s set in 1999, when dreamy teenager Juan Pablo, or Juampi (Juan Manuel Arregui), is dropped off at the country home of his uncle Jorge (Peky Andino), up in the Andes. Though secluded, news of the banking crisis that was rocking the country back then filter through via television reports and hit close to home, as Juampi’s family’s involved in the scandal.

But neither the protagonist nor the movie are all that interested in the scandals flaring up in faraway Quito, with Juampi instead hanging out on his own since it seems a better alternative than spending time with uncle Jorge’s hectoring teenage sons. There’s some excitement when he helps escape a hubcap thief his own age, Juan Pablo or Juano (Diego Andres Paredes), from the clutches of his uncle’s heavies during a carnival party.

Their hesitant, slowly growing friendship forms the core of the film but despite the fact that Juano comes from a poor indigenous family and Juampi comes from a background of privilege, there’s very little in terms of overt socio-political commentary. Araujo might be suggesting that the boys see each other as equals but in the context of the film it not only feels like a missed opportunity but also means that their growing bond feels rather flat and clichéd since it lacks any kind of texture or dramatic conflict.

Juano, who seems welded to his black leather jacket except in the obligatory couple of scenes in which he must be unselfconsciously shirtless, loves metal and hard rock music and there’s a scene where the duo visit an underground concert that’s raided by the police a minute after they arrive. Like the boys’ background, Araujo similarly brings it up only to do nothing interesting with it — the idea of the underground metal scene in Ecuador as a backdrop for a teenage friendship or love story sounds rife with possibilities, none of which are explored here.

As the slightly sullen, low-key protagonists, Arregui and Paredes both certainly look the part but aren’t the strongest actors, though part of the blame has to go the screenplay which leaves their roles a tad  undeveloped. The ending, nevertheless, is quietly heartbreaking as well as liberating.

Cinematographer Magela Crosignani has some fun with the upside-down shots of Quito that open the film and that pop up again in the third act, where their origin is explained. They represent a nice visual touch that the otherwise perfunctorily shot film could have used more of. The other technical credits are acceptable for what was clearly a low-budget film.

“Holiday” will be shown at Frameline38 San Francisco International LGBT Film Festival at the Castro Theatre Friday, June 27 at 10 p.m.  Go to www.framelin.org for more information.

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“Salvation Army” Explores A Gay Morrocan Coming to Terms with His Sexuality and Immigration

Young Moroccan scribe Abdellah Taia moves into the director’s seat with the screen version of his autobiographical novel “Salvatio. ” The film delivers a straightforward, beautifully told story of a gay man negotiating family, desire and the sexual power play behind Arab-European intimacy. Thestrong pint-of-view narrative  allows access to the protaganist’s head, despite the character’s understandable distancing coldness.

While positive gay Arab protags are something of a cinematic novelty, “Salvation Army” isn’t the first to center around such a character, contrary to recent reports (Maher Sabry’s “All My Life” and Samer Daboul’s “Out Loud” are but two earlier examples). Taia’s largely autobiographical book, however, was a bold coming out, unadorned by guilt or sensationalism and directly confronting Western expectations, at least in gay circles, of Arab youth as adornments rather than equal companions. Transitioning his story to the screen, Taia retains the bare bones butsome of the warmth and insight is lost in the transition.

Young Abdellah (Said Mrini), 15, lives with his parents, five sisters and two brothers in a working-class district of Casablanca. His father has one bedroom, his older brother Slimane (Amine Ennaji) another, and the third is a burrow-like space where the warmth of his mother’s body, alongside his other siblings, provides a cocoon of reassuring intimacy. This protective physical ease contrasts with his parents’ volatile relationship, in which mutually desired sex is often a precursor to his father beating his mother (Malika El Hamaoui).

Cohabitation within this charged atmosphere is made more electric by Abdellah’s erotic longing for Slimane; meanwhile, the teen has his first sexual encounters with men. In the book Taia presents these episodes as rites of passage in which Abdellah connects to his sexuality; later, he also understands them as problematic manifestations of repression and the power dynamic imposed by older guys on younger ones. But in the film, the helmer-scripter removes any trace of gratification, shooting these scenes at a voyeuristic, emotionless distance.

Ten years later (inelegantly signaled), Abdellah (Karim Ait M’hand) is in a relationship with an older Swiss professor (Frederic Landenberg). The film’s best scene occurs at this juncture, when a prying rowboat owner showing the couple the sites near the coastal city of El Jadida tells Abdellah he’s lucky to have nabbed a rich guy. The implication of gay-for-pay is inescapable, and an uncomfortable Abdellah does nothing to dispel the interpretation, since doing it for money is acceptable whereas having same-sex emotional attachments would be “haram.”

Taia leaves unclear what Abdellah gets out of the affair, though he implies that the Swiss lover is a shortcut to obtaining a European student visa. The last section of the film takes place in Geneva, where the Salvation Army of the title temporarily provides friendly faces, meals and a roof over his head.

The detached and impassive atmosphere Taia maintains throughout, with long silent takes, is unquestionably a conscious choice, yet apart from breaking with the tone of his novel, the airlessness reflects Adellah’s hardening facade. The main actors, especially Mrini, are ciphers. A nice bit of first-person voiceover around 30 minutes in, allows us entry into Abdellah’s thoughtsand feelings. Taia places everyone against the most neutral backgrounds possible, further displaying the resonance of his characters.

Even the masterful talents of d.p. Agnes Godard add to the film’s sober, but yearning tone: A scene of the young Abdellah and his sister stomping laundry in tubs has a Proustian poetry about it. An erotic and revealing mud-bath scene appears plays with contrasting textures of mud and skin and delivers as a sensory delight.

“Salvation Army” will be shown at Frameline 38 San Francisco International LGBT Film Festival at the Victoria Theatre June 20 at 9:30 p.m. and at the Roxie Theatre June 27 at 7 p.m.  For more information go to:  www.frameline.org.

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Frameline38 Announces Opening Night, Centerpiece, and Closing Night Films of Upcoming San Francisco International LGBT Film Festival

Frameline38: the San Francisco International LGBT Film Festival has announced its Opening Night, Centerpiece, and Closing Night films for this year’s renowned showcase of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer cinema. Frameline38, the world’s first and largest LGBT film festival, will be held June 19 – 29, 2014 in San Francisco and the East Bay.

With an expected attendance of 65,000, the 11 days of Frameline38 will draw film lovers, media artists, and LGBTQ communities from the Bay Area and all across the globe to discover the best in queer cinema.

 

The complete Frameline38 program will be announced on Monday, May 19. Tickets for Opening Night, Centerpiece, and Closing Night films are now on sale to Members only.

 

OPENING NIGHT FILM

 

 

THE CASE AGAINST 8 / dirs Ben Cotner and Ryan White / USA

 

HBO presents an all-access look at the first Supreme Court case on marriage equality. Shot over five years and featuring exclusive behind-the-scenes footage, the film follows the four plaintiffs and the unlikely dream team of attorneys, Ted Olson and David Boies, as they challenge California’s Proposition 8 from San Francisco to the Supreme Court. More info & buy tickets »

 

CENTERPIECE DOCUMENTARY

 

 

TO BE TAKEI / dir Jennifer M. Kroot, editor/co-dir Bill Weber / USA

 

The stellar centerpiece documentary of Frameline38 celebrates the Star Trek legend, the marriage-equality advocate, the spokesperson for Japanese Americans imprisoned in internment camps during World War II, the Facebook phenomenon (with nearly 7 million fans), and the recipient of this year’s Frameline Award: superstar George Takei.

 

The 2014 Frameline Award will honor activist and actor George Takei for his wide-ranging and pioneering contributions to the representation of LGBTQ figures in media. More info & buy tickets »

 

CENTERPIECE NARRATIVE

 

 

LILTING / dir Hong Khaou / UK

 

Ben Whishaw and Pei-Pei Cheng shine in Hong Khaou’s debut feature. Exploring matters of grief, memory, and cultural barriers with sensitivity and emotional truth, Lilting tells the story of a Chinese mother and her son’s British lover attempting to move on after the death of their beloved. Together, they struggle to connect without a common language, as they piece together memories of a man they both loved. More info & buy tickets »

 

CLOSING NIGHT FILM

 

 

I FEEL LIKE DISCO / dir Axel Ranisch / Germany

 

Florian is a pudgy teen who loves disco and struggles with his sexuality. But his overbearing dad just doesn’t get him at all. When mom is suddenly gone, father and son must reconcile their relationship in this stellar fantasy-fueled coming-of-age dramatic comedy. More info & buy tickets »

 

The Festival’s complete program will be announced on Monday, May 19, 2014. Frameline38 screenings will take place in San Francisco at the Castro Theatre (429 Castro Street), Roxie Theater (3117 16th Street) and Victoria Theatre (2961 16th Street), and in Berkeley at Rialto Cinemas™ Elmwood (2966 College Avenue).

 

 

 

About the Festival

 

Frameline38: the 38th San Francisco International LGBT Film Festival returns to the Bay Area June 19-29, 2014, with its signature showcase of the world’s leading queer cinema. Frameline38 unites diverse communities for 11 days of innovative and socially relevant cinema. Discover emerging talents and embrace an unparalleled community of festivalgoers at the world’s oldest and largest celebration of queer cinema. Frameline38 pays tribute to LGBTQ experiences through pioneering documentaries, gripping features, delightful shorts, cinematic classics, and more. Tickets go on sale to members on Friday, May 23, and to the general public on Friday, May 30. www.frameline.org/festival

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