Skip to main contentHistory is chock-full of life lessons. One that sticks to my mind right now is that when the shit hits the fan, a darkened movie theater is a fabulous place to hide temporarily. Lucky for us then, the Fifth Annual Lesbian, Gay, Bi, Trans Film Festival continues on.
An exciting and eclectic mishmash of queer cinema, both from here and overseas, it's a reaffirmation in times like these that we need to celebrate as much diversity as possible. And that's what you get with this two-week festival. Not only do you see uncircumcised French penises (Come Undone), but you also get plenty of mainstream stars, such as Courtney Love (Julie Johnson) and D.B. Sweeney (The Weekend), pulling double duty as homos.
The LGBT Festival also offers a diverse collection of shorts, experimental and documentary films, along with some of the best feature films to play in Portland in months. (BB)
The Monkey's Mask (7 pm Friday, Sept. 21) The festival kicks off with this Australian thriller about a private detective (Susie Porter) trying to solve the murder of a poetry student. The investigation leads to a professor (Kelly McGillis) who was involved with the student, and into a tangled web of seduction, sex and poetry. (DW)
All Over the Guy (9 pm Friday, Sept. 21) A wacky romantic comedy about two unlikely lovers--Tom (Richard Ruccolo), a dysfunctional alcoholic and Eli (Dan Bucatinsky, who also wrote the screenplay), a self-doubting romantic--who have been brought together by their straight friends. (DW)
Sordid Lives (1:45 pm Saturday, Sept. 22) A loving celebration of trailer-park culture starring Olivia Newton-John as a barfly and Leslie Jordon as an institutionalized transvestite who dresses up like Tammy Wynette. (DW)
Experimental Shorts (4 pm Saturday, Sept. 22) Ten experimental shorts, as varied in their subject matter as in their style and presentation. Skin Ache, a soundtrack pop songs over a montage of images that includes shots of an unheard phone conversation, is a thoughtful (if a bit panicky) look at the physical boundaries of a long-distance relationship. Among the more serious shorts are Cookie Hopkins, 1976, the story of a drag queen's memories; Need + Want, a series of interviews with lesbians discussing questions of sexual awakening and fantasy; and an untitled work-in-progress by Erica Hill, a 17-year-old, gay, small-town southerner who turns the camera on herself to vent and explain. On the lighter side--at least in terms of presentation--you can see a vulva blowing a bubble (Blowing Bubbles), your everyday girl-on-girl-on-girl porn sequence getting very sticky (Pussy Buffet), a rock video about zippers (Zipped) and the very special attraction of one man to white dudes (Adoring Caucasian). (EL)
Julie Johnson (7 pm Saturday, Sept. 22) Lili Taylor and Courtney Love co-star as a pair of unhappy New Jersey housewives who flee their marriages in search of better lives and find comfort in each others arms. (DW)
Come Undone (9:30 pm Saturday, Sept. 22) Being a French gay boy is a complex affair of the heart. Inherited family pressures that frown upon open acts of homosexuality are paired with a culture that borders on effeminate and continues to encourage young men to dance together; it's hard to cruise the turbulent waters of friendship, love and lust unharmed. Set in an out-of-the-way beach town, director Sébastien Lifshitz's dreamy and voyeuristically direct approach to the story of two 18-year-old boys far away from bright lights of the Paris begins sluggishly enough, but picks up steam heat when it starts to show Mathieu (Jérémie Elkaïm) and Cédric (Stéphane Rideau of Wild Reeds) sharing more private moments--and parts. (BB)
O Fantasma (11:30 pm Saturday, Sept. 22) A Portuguese film about a garbage collector who wades through both trash and men as he journeys into the world of S&M and fetishism. (DW)
Southern Comfort (5 pm Sunday, Sept. 23) Winner of the Sundance Grand Jury Prize, this documentary examines the life Robert Eads, a terminally ill man who was born a woman. (DW)
Trembling Before G_d (7 pm Sunday, Sept. 23) For most casual outside observers of Judaism, the idea of being gay and Jewish doesn't seem to be much of a problem. There are all sorts of sects that allow lesbian and gay Jews to practice openly or even lead congregations as rabbis. But what's not examined as closely is the effect on homosexuals raised in the ultra-Orthodox or Hasidic sects, where there's a fundamentalist biblical bias against homosexuality. Trembling Before G_d delves into this world and shows the downright despair very religious gay Jews deal with after being practically excommunicated. The documentary's director, Sandi Simcha Dubowski, does a good job showing why it's not so easy to, say, downgrade to another sect that would welcome sexualities of all sorts; in this case, it's because of a deeply religious community and level of commitment to the Talmud that cannot be replicated. This is a fascinating view into an often overlooked world. (CBB)
Big Eden (9:30 pm Sunday, Sept. 23) Ayre Gross stars as a successful New York artist who returns to his childhood home in Montana, where he confronts his past and explores his future. (DW)
The Weekend (7 pm Monday, Sept. 24) Want to see how the other half lives? Then this is a flick for you. The "other" here refers to the rich half of the Western queer world. You know the type: self-indulgent, attractive white boys who are unable to control the urge to read Ayn Rand while wearing seersucker shorts with no panties. These same queer men take weekend vacations away from the big city to outrageously expensive upstate New York cottage-style mansions, where they can wallow in the grief of days gone by with fag hags and other women of various states of mind. That's the gist of this unseasoned slumpfest. Appearances by Gena Rowlands, Deborah Kara Unger and, yes, Brooke Shields are wasted on poor writing and even worse lighting. But D.B. Sweeney's ass does have enough screen time to make this bitchfest worthy of at least one freeze frame. (BB)
Huge (9:15 pm Monday, Sept. 24) A collection of shorts by New York directors commissioned to interpret the word "huge." (DW)
Boy's Shorts (7 pm Tuesday, Sept. 25) Another collection of six short films, including Chopstick Bloody Chopstick, described as "homogore slasher flick meets experimental identity tape." (DW)
The Fluffer (9:15 pm Tuesday, Sept. 25) Welcome to the world of gay porn, where aspiring filmmaker Sean (Michael Cunio) starts out as a cameraman and ends up as a "fluffer," the person who performs fellatio on male actors to get them hard before their scenes. (DW)
Girl's Shorts (7 pm Wednesday, Sept. 26) Six shorts, including the lesbian-coming-out Home for Christmas and the bank heist film Cache. (DW)
Adventures of Felix (9 pm Wednesday, Sept. 26) Charming tale of a young Frenchman named Felix, who decides to take a road trip across France to find the father he's never known. Leaving behind his lover, Felix sets out hitchhiking across the country on a journey of self-discovery. Along the way he confronts violence and love, and creates a whole new family for himself. (DW)
Desi's Looking for a New Girl (7 pm Friday, Sept. 28) Comedy about a Latina lesbian obsessed with helping her recently dumped friend find a soulmate. (DW)
L.I.E. (9 pm Friday, Sept. 28) Coming of age about a young suburban boy who begins to find himself, and in the process explores the desires that burn within him. (DW)
Drift (2 pm Saturday, Sept. 29) After meeting someone he feels completed connected with at a party, a young man ends his three-year relationship and embarks on a journey that explores different possibilities of love. (DW)
The Perfect Son (4 pm Saturday, Sept. 29) An emotionally devastating tale of two estranged brothers who come together after the death of their father. Theo is a wayward drug addict who can't seem to get his life together despite multiple trips to rehab, while Ryan, the picture-perfect older brother, is a homosexual dying of AIDS. As the end of Ryan's life draws closer, the two brothers develop a new relationship, with Theo finding a new sense of purpose in caring for his sibling. (DW)
Web Cam Boys (7 pm Saturday, Sept. 29) Take a behind-the-scenes look at the men who play out their lives for all to see on the Internet. This revealing documentary focuses on a group of men who bare all on the Web, and bare even more for the camera as they talk about who they are and where they come from. (DW)
Iron Ladies (9:30 pm Saturday, Sept. 29) Hilarious and inspirational, this film from Thailand is based on the true story of all-male volleyball team the Iron Ladies, made up mostly of queens, transvestites and transsexuals, that went on to compete in the Thai National Volleyball Championships. The object of ridicule and prejudice, the Iron Ladies fight to prove themselves as serious competitors worthy of respect in this classic tale of underdogs and misfits. (DW)
Cinema 21, 616 NW 21st Ave., 223-4515
The Fifth Annual Gala will be held at the Fez Ballroom and include live entertainment, DJs, dancing, food, no-host bar and door prizes.
General Admission: $7. Experimental Shorts: $5. Half Pass (admission to 11 programs and the Fifth Anniversary Gala): $55. Full Pass (admission to all 22 programs and the Fifth Anniversary Gala): $90. Platinum Pass (Full Pass benefits plus private opening-night reception and reserved seating): $150. Passes can be reserved at www.sensoryperceptions.org .
WWeek 2015