Last night we saw a movie on a big screen! We went to Calamigos Ranch in Malibu, which is hosting some weekend drive-in movie screenings as part of the OutFest 2020 film festival. It felt so good to get out to the movies again! We had a double-feature of Boys Shorts and Cicada. In the short films, I think my favorite shorts were See You Soon, about a long distance romance, and Last Summer With Uncle Ira, about a teen boy going off to summer camp and saying goodbye to his uncle who is dying of AIDS. Most of the offerings managed to tell engaging stories in just 10 or 15 minutes, ranging from a trans gay couple negotiating an open relationship to a black gay man unexpectedly outed in the middle of a rap battle and a romance between two differently challenged boys that takes place on a swing set. The feature film, Cicada, portrays a lovely romance that develops between two men in New York as they work their way toward healing each other’s troubled pasts. The drive-in thing worked fairly well, with only a minimum of people struggling to figure out how to keep their radios on without running down their batteries or flashing their car lights. We packed up some sandwiches from Langer’s Deli to eat in the car before the film, and we got there early to have a bit of time to explore the ranch too, which is a lovely place that does some cool things with lighting in their trees. We enjoyed it so much we booked another one for next weekend.
In the meantime, the bulk of OutFest is offered on streaming. After some fumbling with the technology (and sadly, ultimately failing to get it to work on our TV or my iPad, and resorting to watching on my computer), I enjoyed a couple of films this afternoon. The standout was one called Cowboys, set in gorgeous northwestern Montana, about a young boy trapped in a girls body and trapped by his mother’s expectations, who tries to run away with his sympathetic but troubled father. A gripping story, beautifully acted, and beautifully shot.
Seeing so many good films at the OutFest festival this year. Having it on streaming video means I’ve been able to see more films that I normally would. And they’re doing their best to recreate the festival experience. Every film has an intro, and is followed by a Zoom-taped Q&A with the writers, directors, and actors. Here are my highlights and capsule reviews.
P.S. Burn This Letter Please – a fascinating documentary that discovers nearly-lost history of drag queen life in 1950s New York. For so many queer men of that generation, if they even kept diaries or letters, they were often destroyed by scandalized families after their death. As one historian said, looking to reconstruct gay life of that era, the only records we have are arrest records. But in 2014, a whole trove of letters and photos were found in a storage locker, shedding light on that milieu. Using that as a starting point, documentarians tracked down surviving members of that clandestine social circle to find out more. This film intersperses contemporary interviews with those now in their 80s and 90s with period photos, film clips, and readings of those delightfully dishy letters to paint a vivid and poignant picture of those lives.
Three Chords and a Lie – the film follows out gay country music artist Brandon Stansell as he returns to his hometown outside Chattanooga to perform, not knowing whether any of his estranged Bible Belt family will attend. His songs draw powerfully on his experience growing up in the country and reconciling that with a gay identity. Like a good CW song, this film tugs on your heartstrings while telling its story with a good tune.
The Teacher – the film set in Taiwan in recent years investigates that nation’s struggle to acceptance of gay equality through the story of a young idealistic high school Civics teacher who becomes romantically involved with another man whose situation is much less idealistic. Their Facebook relationship status is definitely “it’s complicated”, and the complications spill over to threaten the teacher’s job.
Shiva Baby – this dark comedy has a tangential lesbian element but is thoroughly Jewish, and brings a Woody Allen like incisive lens to skewer Jewish family dynamics in 2020 (if I may bring up the great filmmaker with dubious morals). Danielle is not thrilled to be dragged by her parents to the shiva (funeral reception) of someone she barely remembers, where she’ll be grilled by everyone about her prospects for post-college employment (murky) and prospects for marriage (complicated), and her parents will work the room on her unwanted behalf. But things just go down from there for Danielle when her lesbian ex and her current sugar daddy both unexpectedly turn up. The twisted comedy is rich, and is only enhanced by tight camerawork to emphasize the “I gotta get out of here” feeling, and a sometimes screechy violin score that underscores the humorous horror.
Show Me Yours – a pilot for a potential episodic series, explores the life of a young black pastor and his white wife as he tiptoes into his gay sexuality and they tentatively explore an open marriage, a secret they’re not yet ready to confess to the congregation. It’s clever, cute, and funny, as they both go on awkward first dates and compare notes afterwards. The humor is warm and humane, allowing their conservative upbringing to create a humorous situation where the laughs are not at anyone’s expense.
Monsoon – the film follows Vietnamese-born Kit (played by the dreamy Henry Golding), who’s grown up in England and is returning to Saigon for the first time since his family fled 30 years ago. He brings his mother’s ashes, in quest to find the right spot to spread them, as well as to figure out what connection he has (or doesn’t) to his native country. He visits cousins, searches for old family homes, and has a hook-up with an American ex-pat that turns into more, while seeking some resolution. The film is beautifully shot, with many long shots (even drone shots) of Kit amidst Saigon and Hanoi scenery, and shots through windows and mirrors, visually posing the question of how Kit connects here and exposing his reflective state of mind.
The Obituary of Tunde Johnson – the film would have been interesting enough if it merely followed the rich private high school love triangle of sulkily charming Tunde (only child of wealthy erudite Nigerian parents), all-American jock Soren (whose father is a right-wing populist talk show host who doesn’t pay enough attention to his son), and beautiful blonde Marlee, who’s Tunde’s longtime bestie and Soren’s girlfriend. But all of that is stunningly and explosively juxtaposed with police violence in a way that looks ripped from today’s headlines. It adds a layer of sadness to realize that this was actually written a few years ago. The brilliant way the film is put together is in turns heart-racing, heart-stopping, and heart-breaking.
Breaking Fast – there was a void in the film world for stories of gay Arab Muslims who want to sincerely reconcile their faith and family values with their West Hollywood lifestyle, so into that breach, writer-director Mike Mosallam brings us Breaking Fast, an utterly charming Ramadan-themed rom-com. Mo, a young doctor, faces lonely iftars (the fast-breaking suppers during Ramadan) this year, since his ex-boyfriend broke up with him a year ago rather than come out to his family. But when he meets the handsome and intriguing Kal, everything could change, if Kal’s baggage and Mo’s sometimes overzealous idealism don’t get in the way. Not only a nice window into Muslim culture, but a very satisfying rom-com.
Minyan – a sweet story about a young gay man in a Russian Jewish immigrant community in 1980s Brighton Beach (New York), who with the gentle influence of his beloved grandfather, as well as a couple of elderly neighbors, comes to terms with his place in his faith and his community, at the same time as he is discovering James Baldwin and Greenwich Village. The period and cultural context feel very authentic, as are the accents. (“DOHvid, read the TOYrah, all the answers are in the book!”) A “minyan” is the quorum of ten good Jewish men required by tradition to perform the most sacred prayers and rituals, and David is needed to make the tenth in his neighborhood shul. But in a larger sense Minyan represents the importance of community, and acceptance because we need one another.
Two Eyes, the closing film of OutFest, was an extraordinarily beautiful and powerful film about crossing gender boundaries, weaving together three different stories spanning Montana 1870 to Barstow 1980 to Wyoming 2020. Each story would stand on its own, but the way they are interwoven and the unexpected threads that tie them together make the whole much more than the sum of the parts. The performances are all strong, the music that is both within and underscoring the film adds its own layer, and the magnificent scenic backdrop of the American West so aptly signifies boundless frontier.
