Knight at the Movies ARCHIVES
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Just two of the lots and lots and lots of GLBT themed viewing choices this week
Get ready to overdose on gay athletes as Gay Games VII comes to Chicago and gay cinema as well. In honor of the sporting event,
Reeling, Chicago’s gay and lesbian film festival has put together a mini fest (from July 14-23) to give the influx of expected revelers
a more overt cinematic celebration of all things queer than the tease of Johnny Depp swishing as he swashbuckles and Anne
Hathaway dodging verbal bullets from frosty boss Meryl Streep.
The fest will present a wide variety of international selections (honoring the participant countries) and a variety of genres. It goes
without saying that many of the films being screened have been written, produced or directed by out filmmakers – and that a preview
of the line-up for Reeling’s annual fest in November will be included. Aside from features, the fest will present several themed
programs of shorter works highlighted by an evening of comic shorts at the Hollywood Beach (grab your towel and beach chair). The
Rooftop Garden at Gallery 37 is another outdoor venue that will host screenings with Film Row Cinema at Columbia College, the
Claudia Cassidy Theatre at the Chicago Cultural Center, and Chicago Filmmakers as the other screening sites. The complete line-up
and ticket information is available by phoning 773-293-1447 or visiting the Reeling Film Fest site at www.reelingfilmfestival.org
Thoughts on the opening and closing night films:
Whole New Thing
13 year-old Emerson (Aaron Webber) is the precocious, home-schooled son of two free-thinking parents in Nova Scotia. As the film
opens the trio is seen lounging in the nude in their sauna and the intellectual Emerson brings this anything goes attitude with him
when his parents decide to enroll him in high school to help develop his social skills. What Emerson does is develop a crush, big
time, on Don his English teacher, who is all to glad to take Emerson’s suggestion to ditch the required text in favor of Shakespeare.
Complications ensue when Emerson, whose hormones are raging, decides that nothing is going to stop his pursuit of an encounter
with Don.
This provocative, coming of age scenario is helped by its thoughtful, unsensationalistic approach, sharply observed writing and
nuanced acting by first time feature director Amnon Buchbinder. Webber’s Emerson seems to be a benign combination of Thora
Birch’s misunderstood and contemptuous goth in Ghost World and Jason Schwartzman’s devilishly clever Max Fischer in Rushmore.
Opens the fest with a screening Friday, July 14 at 7pm at Film Row Center at Columbia College.
Be Real: Stories from Queer America
This is a fascinating and entertaining documentary that looks at the extraordinary feats of six every day GLBT individuals who have
made a difference in their respective communities. They are a gay Cadillac car dealer and his partner, embraced by an obviously
conservative faction of Miami, a gay bodybuilder who has survived cancer and created an inspirational (and oh so gay) musical stage
version of “It’s a Wonderful Life,” a female African American teaching at Columbia University and delving into the histories of
lesbians of color, a gay man returning to his religiously conservative home in Virginia for a high school reunion, a lesbian punk rock
singer who starts a carpool service to provide free night rides to protect women from rape and hate crimes in Brooklyn, and Tara
“Red” Tremmel, the explorer of gender issues who identifies as both female and male. Chicagoan Tremmel’s story will be of
obvious interest to local residents and many will be familiar with the hit Girlie-Q Burlesque show that she/he produces here. Screens
Friday, July 14 at 9:15 pm at Film Row Center at Columbia College.
Guys and Balls
This is a sort of gay version of Dodgeball. Only the sport of choice is soccer and the location is Germany. Like its American
counterpart, the film is stuffed to the gills with comedic stereotypes and situations and it’s refreshing that the stereotypes are of
straights! After Peter Frampton-lookalike Ecki’s teammates figure out he’s gay ( this on the day he’s also not been able to block the
opposing team’s winning shot ) , Ecki heads to the big city to live with his sister, sort out his gay feelings and recruit an all-gay
soccer team for a revenge match. Naturally, a cutie boyfriend is part of the mix. A decided crowd pleaser and light in tone, the film
also scores several points for gay awareness along the way. Subtitled. Closes the fest with a screening on Sunday, July 23 at 7:
30pm at Gallery 37 Roof Top Garden.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
What could be a better birthday present for a cinema loving queen like myself than the excellent documentary Fabulous! The
Story of Queer Cinema? This nifty little doc debuts on IFC on Sunday, July 16 (during a month long celebration of Queer
Cinema on IFC) just as I’ll be ringing in another year. The movie sports the usual assortment of insightful queer talking heads
(John Waters-Todd Haynes-Gus Van Sant) and adds some unusual and enlightening ones (B. Ruby Rich-Don Roos-Heather
Matarazo) to the mix – all talking about Queer Cinema, past present and future. The movie is packed with clips – everything from
Kenneth Anger’s Scorpio Rising, the masterful and sometimes overlooked Parting Glances, as well as recent additions to the canon.
This is the cinematic bookend to The Celluloid Closet – and long overdue. www.ifctv.com
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
From the fabulous to the not quite so: The Mostly Unfabulous Social Life of Ethan Green, is, sorry to say, a mostly
unfabulous and unfunny film that, after making the rounds of the film fests, is getting a theatrical run here beginning this Friday at
the Landmark Century Centre Cinema. Daniel Letterle (Camp) stars in the title role of this woefully underdone comedy. Based on the
popular gay cartoon strip, Ethan is in the midst of a relationship crisis after breaking up with his professional football player
boyfriend. Director George Bamber tries hard to squeeze laughs out of what is yet another film about West Coast narcissistic golden
boys. www.landmarktheatres.com
Reeling, Chicago’s gay and lesbian film festival has put together a mini fest (from July 14-23) to give the influx of expected revelers
a more overt cinematic celebration of all things queer than the tease of Johnny Depp swishing as he swashbuckles and Anne
Hathaway dodging verbal bullets from frosty boss Meryl Streep.
The fest will present a wide variety of international selections (honoring the participant countries) and a variety of genres. It goes
without saying that many of the films being screened have been written, produced or directed by out filmmakers – and that a preview
of the line-up for Reeling’s annual fest in November will be included. Aside from features, the fest will present several themed
programs of shorter works highlighted by an evening of comic shorts at the Hollywood Beach (grab your towel and beach chair). The
Rooftop Garden at Gallery 37 is another outdoor venue that will host screenings with Film Row Cinema at Columbia College, the
Claudia Cassidy Theatre at the Chicago Cultural Center, and Chicago Filmmakers as the other screening sites. The complete line-up
and ticket information is available by phoning 773-293-1447 or visiting the Reeling Film Fest site at www.reelingfilmfestival.org
Thoughts on the opening and closing night films:
Whole New Thing
13 year-old Emerson (Aaron Webber) is the precocious, home-schooled son of two free-thinking parents in Nova Scotia. As the film
opens the trio is seen lounging in the nude in their sauna and the intellectual Emerson brings this anything goes attitude with him
when his parents decide to enroll him in high school to help develop his social skills. What Emerson does is develop a crush, big
time, on Don his English teacher, who is all to glad to take Emerson’s suggestion to ditch the required text in favor of Shakespeare.
Complications ensue when Emerson, whose hormones are raging, decides that nothing is going to stop his pursuit of an encounter
with Don.
This provocative, coming of age scenario is helped by its thoughtful, unsensationalistic approach, sharply observed writing and
nuanced acting by first time feature director Amnon Buchbinder. Webber’s Emerson seems to be a benign combination of Thora
Birch’s misunderstood and contemptuous goth in Ghost World and Jason Schwartzman’s devilishly clever Max Fischer in Rushmore.
Opens the fest with a screening Friday, July 14 at 7pm at Film Row Center at Columbia College.
Be Real: Stories from Queer America
This is a fascinating and entertaining documentary that looks at the extraordinary feats of six every day GLBT individuals who have
made a difference in their respective communities. They are a gay Cadillac car dealer and his partner, embraced by an obviously
conservative faction of Miami, a gay bodybuilder who has survived cancer and created an inspirational (and oh so gay) musical stage
version of “It’s a Wonderful Life,” a female African American teaching at Columbia University and delving into the histories of
lesbians of color, a gay man returning to his religiously conservative home in Virginia for a high school reunion, a lesbian punk rock
singer who starts a carpool service to provide free night rides to protect women from rape and hate crimes in Brooklyn, and Tara
“Red” Tremmel, the explorer of gender issues who identifies as both female and male. Chicagoan Tremmel’s story will be of
obvious interest to local residents and many will be familiar with the hit Girlie-Q Burlesque show that she/he produces here. Screens
Friday, July 14 at 9:15 pm at Film Row Center at Columbia College.
Guys and Balls
This is a sort of gay version of Dodgeball. Only the sport of choice is soccer and the location is Germany. Like its American
counterpart, the film is stuffed to the gills with comedic stereotypes and situations and it’s refreshing that the stereotypes are of
straights! After Peter Frampton-lookalike Ecki’s teammates figure out he’s gay ( this on the day he’s also not been able to block the
opposing team’s winning shot ) , Ecki heads to the big city to live with his sister, sort out his gay feelings and recruit an all-gay
soccer team for a revenge match. Naturally, a cutie boyfriend is part of the mix. A decided crowd pleaser and light in tone, the film
also scores several points for gay awareness along the way. Subtitled. Closes the fest with a screening on Sunday, July 23 at 7:
30pm at Gallery 37 Roof Top Garden.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
What could be a better birthday present for a cinema loving queen like myself than the excellent documentary Fabulous! The
Story of Queer Cinema? This nifty little doc debuts on IFC on Sunday, July 16 (during a month long celebration of Queer
Cinema on IFC) just as I’ll be ringing in another year. The movie sports the usual assortment of insightful queer talking heads
(John Waters-Todd Haynes-Gus Van Sant) and adds some unusual and enlightening ones (B. Ruby Rich-Don Roos-Heather
Matarazo) to the mix – all talking about Queer Cinema, past present and future. The movie is packed with clips – everything from
Kenneth Anger’s Scorpio Rising, the masterful and sometimes overlooked Parting Glances, as well as recent additions to the canon.
This is the cinematic bookend to The Celluloid Closet – and long overdue. www.ifctv.com
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
From the fabulous to the not quite so: The Mostly Unfabulous Social Life of Ethan Green, is, sorry to say, a mostly
unfabulous and unfunny film that, after making the rounds of the film fests, is getting a theatrical run here beginning this Friday at
the Landmark Century Centre Cinema. Daniel Letterle (Camp) stars in the title role of this woefully underdone comedy. Based on the
popular gay cartoon strip, Ethan is in the midst of a relationship crisis after breaking up with his professional football player
boyfriend. Director George Bamber tries hard to squeeze laughs out of what is yet another film about West Coast narcissistic golden
boys. www.landmarktheatres.com
It's a Gay, Gay, Gay, Gay World:
Whole New Thing-The Mostly Unfabulous Social Life of Ethan Green
and lots more inbetween
EXPANDED EDITION of 7-12-06 Knight at the Movies/Windy City Times Column
By Richard Knight, Jr.
Whole New Thing-The Mostly Unfabulous Social Life of Ethan Green
and lots more inbetween
EXPANDED EDITION of 7-12-06 Knight at the Movies/Windy City Times Column
By Richard Knight, Jr.
