The Hanging Garden (1997)

25 year-old Sweet William (Chris Leavins), a once fat and self-hating teen, ran away from home at age 15. Basically his only other alternative was suicide. Ten years later he returns to attend his sister Rosemary's (Kerry Fox) wedding. He's happy with his new life, a well-adjusted gay man with a partner, steady work, and a trim body. Haunted by his past miserable adolescence, being back at home revives all of his awful memories: overeating because it's the one thing nobody can stop him from doing; being hit by his drunken and abusive father Whiskey Mac (Peter MacNeill); and his mother arranging for him to have sex with a woman while she sat in the next room. As a gay, obese teenager (played by Troy Veinotte), William was caught having sex with his bisexual friend Fletcher (Joel S. Keller) in the garden by his grandmother when he was 15. Rosemary is marrying Fletcher. In the movie, both the adult and teen-age William, hanging as a fresh corpse in the garden, interact. In the version of reality where William dies, his family members cannot shed their memories of his death, whereas in the other version William is haunted by memories of his father's abuse and is unable to reconcile with him. Also, a new family member Violet (Christine Dunsworth) is revealed to have been fathered by William, because William's mother Iris (Seana McKenna) took him to a prostitute in an attempt to "cure" his homosexuality. In the garden where he may or may not have made a tragic decision as a teen, past and present mingle, the eyes of statues move, and everything drips with rain. The story is a surrealistic mix of fantasy (he commits suicide) and reality (he leaves and starts a new life). William must take care of his drunken father and then help organize a search for his missing mother. Interestingly, Fletcher, who's rejection almost led to William's suicide, is now very attracted to the handsome and sexy former childhood friend.

This darkly comic melodrama is about Sweet William and his family, in which everyone is named after a plant. The film is convoluted, contrived, and confusing, but enjoyable and entertaining, with subtle acting performances. With the background of Celtic music combined with beautiful camera work, the image of a garden as the family and a flower as an individual is nicely done. John Roby composed the music, and Thom Fitzgerald wrote the script and directed.

Partners (1982)

After a series of murders in the LA gay community, straight police sergeant Benson (Ryan O'Neal) is assigned to the case. He is ordered to go undercover as half of a gay couple. The other partner is officer Kerwin (John Hurt), a mousy police clerk everyone in the department knows is gay, although he thinks he's closeted. Benson is horrified at the thought, while Kerwin is shy, apprehensive, and would prefer to work in the office. In order to be noticed they have to be flamboyant enough to attract attention which Benson finds disturbing. The couple adopt their homosexual disguises, which include a lavender Volkswagen, a lavender jogging outfit for Kerwin, and lots of tight-fitting jeans and tank tops for Benson. They set up housekeeping in an apartment house filled with gays. At first, Benson's slovenly ways annoy Kerwin, whose sexual orientation and prissy manners are a source of annoyance for Benson. The film derives much of its humor from Benson's discomfort with homosexuality and his stereotypical ideas of "gay behaviour". Benson must tolerate the passes of aging queens and play the role of hustler in an effort to obtain information. Kerwin instructs Benson in the tricks of the trade, much of which is foreign even to him. Most of the time he putters around their apartment, cooking gourmet meals, emptying ashtrays, and looking grief-stricken when Benson brings home a woman to sleep with. We are shown the evolution of Benson's attitudes toward Kerwin and gay people in general. As the pair close in on the murderer, Kerwin reveals himself to be a far more capable cop than Benson assumes him to be.

This movie was made long before the openness of the the gay community and may seem somewhat simplistic in the way it deals with the subject, but that is part of what makes it so funny. It is respectful of both sides, and allows us to see what stereotyping is capable of leading to. Film critic Rex Reed wrote in the New York Post: "Hollywood's latest crime against humanity in general and homosexuals in particular is a dumb creepshow called "Partners"--stupid, tasteless and homophobic, this sleazy, superficial film implies that gay cops can't be trusted to work with straight cops because they might fall in love with them." Georges Delerue composed the music, Francis Veber wrote the screenplay, and James Burrows directed.