Defying Gravity (1997)

College student John "Griff" Griffith (Daniel Chilson) is active in his fraternity and lives in the frat house. He shares a bunk in the same room with his best friend Todd Bentley (Niklaus Lange), Mathew "Doogie" McDougal (Seabass Diamond), and his pledge Stewart "Stewy" Hanson (Matt Steveley). Another of his fraternity brothers, Pete Bradley (Don Handfield), has moved out of the house into a house he shares with other students. Griff and Pete have a secret sexual relationship, but Griff's close-knit fraternity life puts a strain on it. Griff is satisfied with the arrangement, but Pete is not. Pete wants them to date as a romantic couple, and one night he gets Griff to agree to go on a date with him. The date at a gay coffeehouse bothers Griff, who leaves. The next day Griff and his fraternity brothers are shocked to learn that Pete has been viciously attacked and is comatose in the local hospital. Griff is in a daze, ignoring his friends, classwork, and fraternity responsibilities. Eventually Griff learns that Doogie and Stewy are the culprits, and they are taken away in handcuffs by the police. Griff moves into Pete's place, who fully recovers. In the final scene, which follows during the credits, Pete is seen reading in bed with Griff. This independent gay-themed romantic drama was filmed in 13 days, mostly with a cast of first-time actors. It is John Keitel's first film as writer and director.

The Times of Harvey Milk (1984)

This documentary is about the political career of Harvey Milk, who was San Francisco's first openly gay Supervisor. The film was produced after Milk's death on November 27, 1978 using interviews, documentary footage, news reports, and archival footage. Milk is posthumously credited as the lead. Other politicians including San Francisco mayor George Moscone (who was assassinated with Milk), and Moscone's successor and now United States Senator Dianne Feinstein appear in archival footage. The movie opens with Feinstein announcing to the media that Moscone and Milk had been assassinated by Dan White. The film, sometimes humorous, at times tragic, documents the rise of Milk from a neighborhood activist to becoming a symbol of gay political achievement with his successful efforts to represent San Francisco's gay community, through to his assassination at San Francisco's city hall, the city's reaction to the assassinations, and the Dan White trial and aftermath. Everything is documented with extensive news film and personal recollections. Ironically, the same election that brought Milk to the Board of City Supervisors of San Francisco also elected the man who killed him, former police officer and fireman Supervisor Dan White. His lawyers convinced the jury that White's judgment was impaired by depression and junk food, resulting in a conviction for manslaughter instead of murder--a verdict that prompted riots. Also featured in the film is then-schoolteacher Tom Ammiano, who has been a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors since 1994, and was recently elected to the California State Assembly. Harvey Milk was the first openly gay elected official in the USA.

An informative, stylish, and compelling documentary, this film on DVD looks rich and new, due to UCLA's preservation processes. In addition to the film, the DVD brings you a second disc with special features, from interviews with the film makers, to a 25th anniversary update of the Milk legacy by those who knew him best. The film won an Oscar for best documentary film in 1985, and was awarded Special Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival, among other awards. It was directed by Rob Epstein and Richard Schmiechen, who died from AIDS several years after the completion of this film.

Was nützt die Liebe in Gedanken (2006)

Paul Krantz (Daniel Bruhl) and his friend Günther Scheller (August Dieh) are high school students in Berlin who have just one thing in common: their desire to live life to the full, and die when it has reached its peak. Set in the Weimar Republic, Germany in 1927, it is the posthumous account of their suicide pact and murderous plot. Poet Paul comes from a working-class background, while Günther is a wealthy playboy. They take a weekend trip to Günther's family summerhouse, where his bohemian sister Hilde (Anna Maria Mühe) is staying. Paul is attracted to her and they share an intimate weekend before Hilde returns to the city to meet up with Hans (Thure Lindhardt), a former lover of her brother's. Meanwhile, the boys make a pact that when they no longer feel any love, they will end their lives and take with them those who have stolen their love. This sets the stage for a weekend of love, debauchery, and betrayal, as Paul and Günther throw a wild party during which true loyalties are revealed. They must decide whether to take the ultimate step in life: death. Their friends arrive and an all night party begins. Hans can't resist joining the party, although he knows Günther has never really gotten over him. High on music and Absinthe, emotions and desires mix with jealousies, and a deadly idea grows in Günther's head: if we are not loved, we must take the ones we love with us.

Based on true events (the Steglitzer Schülertragödie), director Achim von Borries tells the story well at a slow pace, and obtained good performances from an excellent cast. Daniel Bruhl's work is particularly good. The movie is presented in its original German with subtitles, and although the picture quality is very good, it's obviously a low budget art house picture. This somewhat melancholy film has the English title "Love In Thoughts".

To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything (1995)

Noxeema Jackson (Wesley Snipes) and Vida Boheme Patrick Swayze) enter a "drag queen of the year" contest in NYC. They win a trip to Hollywood to take part in a bigger national drag queen contest. Before they depart, Vida persuades Noxeema to take along the inexperienced "drag princess" Chi-Chi Rodriguez (Leguizamo). They trade in their airplane tickets to buy a stylish 1967 Cadillac convertible and the three of them drive to LA. While on the road they are pulled over by homophobic and racist Sheriff Dollard (Chris Penn), who tries to rape Vida. He discovers Vida is not female, and in the confrontation, Dollard is knocked unconscious. Their car breaks down and Bobby Ray (Jason London) gives them a ride, and they take refuge in a bed & breakfast owned by Carol Ann (Stockard Channing) and her abusive car repairman husband, Virgil (Arliss Howard).

The trio remain trapped in the town of Snydersville for the weekend as they wait for the replacement part for their car to arrive. While there, they are confronted by the town's small-mindedness, although none of it centers around their gender as everyone believes them to be female. Chi-Chi is nearly gang raped by a group of roughnecks, but is saved by Bobby Ray. Meanwhile, Sheriff Dollard is ridiculed by his colleagues, who believe he was beaten up by a woman. He goes in search of the drag queens with a list of places to look entitled "Places for Homos", which reads: (1) flower shops, (2) ballet schools, (3) flight attendants' lounges, (4) restaurants for brunch, and (5) antique shops. The three queens overhear Virgil giving Carol Ann a beating, so Vida beats up Virgil and throws him out of the house. The next day Virgil runs into Sherrif Dollard and they realize the newcomers are the same people Dollard has been searching for. They head back to Snydersville and Dollard insists the townspeople turn over the drag queens.

The townspeople, who now realize the true gender of their new friends, begin to protect them. One by one they step up and confront Dollard, each one claiming to be a drag queen. Dollard is humiliated and flees. The annual "Strawberry Social" event commences with everybody dressed in vibrant red outfits for the party. Shortly after, Carol Ann repairs their car and the ladies are finally able to leave Snydersville, though by now they are slightly saddened to leave behind their new friends. They eventually make it to LA where Chi-Chi, after having received many tips from Vida and Noxeema during their ordeal, wins the title of Drag Queen of the Year. The crown is presented by Julie Newmar.

The film's complete title refers to an autographed photo of Julie Newmar that the trio carries with them on their journey. Also known as, "To Wong Fu With Love from Julie Newmar", it's obviously similar to "The Adventures of Priscilla". It was written by Douglas Carter Beane and directed by Beeban Kidron.

Everyone (2004)

Ryan (Matt Fentiman) and Grant (Mark Hildreth) are a perfect gay couple in Vancouver, Canada. Completely devoted to each other and ready for marriage, all signs point to a long and loving relationship for the grooms. They are having a small ceremony in their backyard, and they've invited their families. When the happy pair start fighting over what to call it, it's not an auspicious sign. The guests arrive for their intimate backyard ceremony, and Ryan and Grant are forced to deal with everyone's children, infidelity, and mourning problems. They begin to wonder whether marriage is an option worth considering at all. From betrayal to overbearing parents to bitter resentment, and a mysterious guest who seems to have an eye for one of the grooms, it will take a lot of luck for Ryan and Grant's ceremony to be a success. We see that all people, gay and straight, have issues. Some of the issues are resolved, others are not. Those who like films neatly tied up at the end will not be too pleased about this. "Everyone" is quite good, with subtle humour throughout, it moves at a good pace, and uses dramatic pauses to great effect. Music for the film is very good. Winner of the award for Best Canadian Film at the Montreal Film Festival, it was written and directed by Bill Marchant.

Total Eclipse (1995)

In 1871, Paul Verlaine (David Thewlis), a successful poet, invites boy prodigy Arthur Rimbaud (Leonardo DiCaprio) to live with him and his young pregnant wife, Mathiltde Maute (Romane Bohringer), in her wealthy father's home in Paris. The wild, eccentric Rimbaud displays no manners or decency whatever, scandalizing Verlaine's pretentious, bourgeois in-laws. Rimbaud's uncouth behavior disrupts the household as well as the society of French poets, but Verlaine finds the youth fascinating. Drunk with absinthe and filled with resentment, Verlaine abuses Mathiltde. Verlaine is seduced by the 16-year-old Rimbaud's physical body as well as by his unique originality and creative mind. He and Rimbaud become gay lovers and abandon Mathiltde. There are reconciliations and partings with Mathiltde and partings and reconciliations with Rimbaud, until in 1873 the sad climax arrives in Brussels. An enraged and practically insane Verlaine shoots and wounds Rimbaud, and is sentenced to prison for sodomy and attempted murder. In prison, Verlaine converts to Christianity. Upon release he meets Rimbaud in Germany, seeking to revive the relationship. However, the two men part, never to meet again. Bitterly renouncing literature in any form, Rimbaud travels the world alone, finally settling in Abyssinia (modern day Ethiopia) to run a "trading post". There he has a mistress and possibly a young boy-lover. A tumor in his right knee forces him back to France where his leg is amputated. But the cancer spreads and he dies at the age of 37. Rimbaud's sister says her brother had accepted confession from a priest before he died, so only the censored versions of his poetry should survive. Verlaine pretends to agree but tears up her card after she leaves. Later, Verlaine, drinking absinthe to which he has become addicted, sees a vision of Rimbaud that expresses the love and respect Verlaine has earned.

Based on letters and poems, this film presents a historically accurate account of the passionate and violent relationship between two 19th century French poets at a time of great creativity for both of them. The most powerful thing about this movie is the fascinating on-screen chemistry between DiCaprio and Thewlis, though individually their performances are rather bland. Audacious, demanding and provocative, it doesn't deal with the actual poetry of the men enough. The photography is stunning. Screenwriter Christopher Hampton, a Rimbaud scholar at Oxford adapted "Total Eclipse" from his 1967 play, and said the story is a "means of posing a number of questions around a central puzzle, namely, what does it mean to be a writer? What could one reasonably hope to achieve? What were the pleasures and torments and what, if any, the responsibilities? Might one change the world, or would it prove beyond one's abilities even to change oneself?" Agnieszka Holland directed.

Hey, Happy (2001)

In the not-so-distant future, a variety of environmental disasters have led to the final collapse of Western civilization. Society as we know it may have been lost, but sex and dancing are still in style in this funny post-apocalyptic satire. Sexually ambiguous hipster Ricky G. (Johnny Simone) leads an encampment of rave kids who have created a makeshift city on the outskirts of Winnipeg, Canada. One of the community's leading citizens is DJ Sabu (Jérémie Yuen), whose sexual appetite has led him on a mission to seduce 2,000 men before a looming flood destroys the village. Sabu is close enough to hitting the magic number to have chosen the special man he wants to be Mister 2,000--Happy (Craig Aftanas), an attractive but socially gauche and paranoid UFO-ologist who is able to communicate with alien life forms. Happy works at a pig-slaughtering factory, and routinely inhales industrial waste so that he can hear strange alien voices warning him of the end of the world. He is told that if he gives himself to Sabu, the aliens will take him with them. His romantic encounters with Sabu lend moments of tenderness and affection to the film, plus a bit of serenity in the midst of the surrounding madness. However, Sabu has a rival for Happy's affections--evil body-modification advocate and hair stylist Spanky O'Neil (Clayton Godson), who tries to foil Sabu's plans by abducting Happy. Spanky is a twisted male version of the Wicked Witch of the West. The action unfolds at a series of raves on an old garbage hill in an industrial landscape populated with characters right out of a John Waters movie. They have names like Dildo Queen and Magnolia Thunderpussy.

This authentic, tripped-out rave movie doesn't make much sense. It's an amazingly sexy, experimental, trippy, explosive, psychedelic ride, unique and hilariously bizarre. But it's also kind of weird, a conceptual nightmare, absolutely outrageous in a daring and progressive kind of exploitation movie that offers little to the mainstream public, but does represents an important niche in the cinema world. "Hey, Happy" was shot in 16mm Cinemascope with expansive views of the prairies around Winnipeg, and its railroads. The design is striking, and the colors vivid against the bleak post-industrial, pre-apocalyptic locations. The music score is varied and the story is a good blend of dystopian science fiction, sadism, and romance. Noam Gonick directed this Canadian film.

Uomini Uomini Uomini (1995)

This film chronicles 6 months in the lives of four middle-aged homosexual friends, each of whom is a neurotic wreck. The film opens in a gay disco with very hunky Italian Go-Go boys and moves on through the lives of each of the men. As we watch the problems plaguing them, we also see their sense of humor, as they spur each other to perform outrageous pranks and sexual games. They love, suffer, fight, are good or bad, and are generous or envious. All four characters are shown as lonely, pathetic, predatory, misogynistic and incapable of sustaining an intimate long-term relationship--but they laugh at the cards that life has dealt them. Sandro (Massimo Ghini) is a television producer who discovered his homosexuality after having started a family. Dado (Alessandro Haber) is a successful orthopedic surgeon. Tony (Leo Gullotta) is a women's tailor who lives with his possessive mother. And Vittorio (Christian De Sica) is an architect in love with an associate who is about to be wed. Together, the four men party through Rome, sharing adventures, practical jokes, and some disappointments. There is a sobering and frightening climax with a very handsome, naive, and vulnerable straight young man.

The movie is intelligent and mature, yet full of young-at-heart lust and desire, as well as pain and pathos. All four actors give excellent performances, lending depth to their characters and making them sympathetic. Sandro, the most macho of the group, is particularly intense. Yet as good as the actors are, they cannot compensate for a gag-driven script that is predictable, with gay stereotypes. Basically, the film is a series of vignettes in which the characters' growth is substantially limited. Yet it is an entertaining, enjoyable movie, despite its lack of continuity. Christian De Sica's direction is almost perfect, making one to wonder what level of success he might attain with a decent screenplay. De Sica wrote the screenplay. The English title is "Men or Not Men".

Garçon Stupide (2004)

20 year-old Loïc (Pierre Chatagny) works in a chocolate factory outside Bulle, Switzerland by day and spends his after hours in Lausanne pursuing one-night stands with older gays contacted on the Internet, day after day, night after night. He has a hard time differentiating desire from pleasure, friendship from sex, and admiration from success. By filling his life with meaningless sexual encounters for extra cash he can block out the fact that he's unhappy. Loïc has delusions of grandeur, vague dreams of doing something big, but can't figure out what or how. For example, he imagines he's a good photographer because he takes pictures with the built-in camera of his cellular phone. In Lausanne, Marie (Natacha Koutchoumov), a childhood friend who works as a museum guard, provides Loïc with a place to stay after his urban flings. Marie isn't judgemental, and refuses to be a mother, big sister, or a nurse to him. Then one day he meets Lionel (Lionel Baier), who pulls aside the curtain of anonymity and seems more interested in Loïc's life than his body. Loïc arrives at one of the most crucial crossroads of his life and begins to take notice of Marie and himself. His journey to self awareness is told through a series of episodic events, including the suicide of his best friend, his growing infatuation with a local soccer player, a car accident and subsequent hospitalisation that reunites him with his parents. He says, "You can be interested in someone without wanting to fuck them." At the end of the film he realizes that he can be his own person and he recites a list of things he will never do in order to fit in and belong. He won't be a stupid boy anymore.

Overall this coming-of-age drama is an an exceptional film with good acting, a great soundtrack, unique camera angles and film styles, a wonderful story, and it is well-directed. Director Lionel Baier shares the writing credits with Laurent Guido and based this film on his own experiences. With rave reviews from the New York Times, Variety, and the L.A. Times "Garcon Stupide" tells a realistic story of sexual awakening. This French/Swiss film is in French with English subtitles

Violet's Visit (1995)

Australian girl Violet (Rebecca Smart) is weary of her single mother's wild romantic life, filled with boyfriends old and new. When Violet's mom introduces her to the latest "dad", she runs away from her boring small hometown in search of her estranged father she has never met. The fiesty 15 year-old prefers the nickname "Scooter" and believes he lives in Sydney with his new wife. In fact he is in a gay relationship with his long-time lover. With his address given to her by her grandmother, she turns up on his doorstep to surprise him. Gym owner Alec (Graham Harvey) and lawyer Pete (David Franklin), a pleasant pair of well-buffed, domestically partnered gays are very shocked! The three negotiate a "La Cage aux Folles" relationship with humor and sensitivity. This inevitably leads to changes and readjustments all round as Alec gets to know the daughter he never wanted and hardly knows. After agreeing that Violet can stay on a trial basis, the boys soon realize that having a teenager around the house is not easy for two gay men whose sole previous family was a pair love birds. Violet finds the gay world of her father heady but also confusing. Scooter takes to the streets. Her long absence only brings the couple together in a new appreciation for the importance of family and their mutual love for Scooter. The way in which the story is resolved is predictable but genuinely warm and tender.

This sweet Australian film is well paced, and never makes the error of going over the top in its depiction of Scooter's plight or the way gay people are portrayed. All of the male actors are handsome and so comfortable in their roles that their sexuality is simply an aside. Graham, Franklin, and Smart give excellent performances and their screen presence is realistic and warm. One aspect of the film that may present a problem for non-Australian viewers is that the Aussie accents are so thick that the dialogue at times is indecipherable. But that also adds to the flavor of this significant film. It was written by Andrew Creagh and Barry Lowe based on a story by Richard Turner, who also directed.