The Angelic Conversation (1985)

An unseen woman recites 14 Shakespearean sonnets as a man silently seeks his heart's desire. The photography is stop-motion, the music is ethereal, and the scenery is often elemental with boulders and smaller rocks, the sea, smoke or fog, and a garden. The man is on an odyssey following his love. But he must first, as the sonnet says, know what conscience is. Before he can be united with his love, he must purify himself. He does so, bathing a tattooed figure and humbling himself in front of this being. He also prepares himself with water and through his journey and his meditations. Finally, he is united with his fair friend. This experimental film at first appears to be the internal fantasy of one man. In reality, the story is about the love between two gay men (acted by Paul Reynolds and Philip Williamson), seen against a backdrop of bleak industrial cityscapes or abstract landscapes. The sound of a ticking clock, and the voiceover of Shakespearean sonnets add poignancy and a sense of the brevity of life to the relationship of the two men.

If your idea of a good time is watching a bunch of men dressed in bed sheets dragging logs through a stream in slow motion, while listening to Dame Judi Dench intone Shakespeare's sonnets, you're in for a treat. Alternately, several segments take place in a cave, wherein several young men seem to be annointing another young man sitting on a throne. The symbolism is implicitly homoerotic, as is the entire subject matter of the film. Most of Shakespeare's sonnets are presumed to have been written to his young lover, Harry Wriothsley, Duke of Southampton.

"The Angelic Conversation" is an arthouse drama with its tone set by the juxtaposition of slow moving photographic images and Shakespeare's sonnets. The film consists primarily of images of homosexuality and opaque landscapes through which two men take a journey into their own desires. Furthermore, the image of two men wrestling, groping and kissing will confuse many viewers since they do not understand that these images are symbols of the attainment of True Self-Knowledge, the Twins Conjoined. They won't understand the eerie symbolism of the preparatory anointment of the tattooed man which refers to the preparation of the body for the Enthronement of the Realized Self. They won't cry in recognition of the Rising Sun on a male figure because they have not done the "wet work." And they will fail to understand the seabathing sequence as a metaphor for Baptism.

This is not a movie for the masses. But those prepared to view it will be overwhelmed by the harmony and balance of the film elements and will be deeply moved. There is a market for this kind of film, for those who are fed up with the decline in culture and education, with the stupefaction that ordinary movies provide. Director Derek Jarman described the film as: "A dream world, a world of magic and ritual, yet there are images there of the burning cars and radar systems, which remind you there is a price to be paid in order to gain this dream in the face of a world of violence." The soundtrack to the film was composed and performed by Coil (John Balance, Peter Christopherson, and Stephen Thrower), and it was released as an album of the same title.

Two of Us (1987)

Set in an era when homosexuality was still considered deviant, the story evolves around two young school boys from Brighton Beach, Matthew (Jason Rush) and Philip (Lee Whitlock). Matthew is an extremely handsome boy, a swimmer who dropped out of school and hangs around the swimming pool of the school Phil attends. They are both in love with each other. Phil starts questioning his sexuality after an initial lesson by a teacher at the beginning of the movie. He has no problem with his bisexuality and considers himself twice blessed. Phil, roughly 17, has a banal, mean-spirited girlfriend, Sharon (Jenny Jay) who realizes that something is going on between Phil and Matthew. As their relationship grows more intense, Sharon and his classmates become vindictive and aggressive.

The two friends find themselves ostracized by both friends and family. Matthew is already known as gay and Phil comes out and splits up with Sharon. Then Matthew gets attacked by unknown assailants, and his father confronts him with some gay magazines. Phil and Matthew decide to leave town by hitch hiking toward the south seaport. They call it their honeymoon. But they are still subjected to a prejudiced world. On the beach they get caught sleeping together in a small tent, then they befriend a homeless girl who finally gets caught by the law. The movie ends with Sharon coming to see them, and Phil plans to return with her. But love triumphs, Phil returns to Matthew at the beach, and they run together into the ocean.

Originally meant to be part of a series known as "Scene" intended for British students, this benchmark BBC production was seriously edited (so much so the ending turned from pro to anti gay) and was only allowed to be shown at nights on TV. Now on DVD you can see this sweet tale of a youthful homosexual romance in its original, unedited form. The British accents can be a little hard to follow at times for Americans. There is no nudity. Both boys wear underwear and swim suits in the shower and locker rooms. There is some hugging and kissing. This was made for TV (the original was edited and cut because of the times) explaining the conservatism in the movie. David Chilton and Nicholas Russell-Pavier composed the original music, Leslie Stewart wrote the script, and Roger Tonge directed.

Happy Birthday, Gemini (1980)

Francis Geminiani (Alan Rosenberg) has a romantic affair in college with Judith Hastings (Sarah Holcomb) until he drops her after a few nights of intimacy. Filled with guilt and misgivings, Francis is eventually forced to admit that he is really in love with her brother Randy (David Marshall Grant), who does not live up to his name. Randy is a wealthy, conservative Harvard student and Francis is a poor and liberal Harvard student. When Judith visits Francis during the vacation, she finds he thinks he is gay. Pressures from Judith and his macho father causes him to experience a crisis of sexual identity that destroys his 21st birthday party. This comedy-drama about coming out of the closet features Bunny Weinberger (Madeleine Kahn) as a salty, warm-hearted, and very promiscuous neighbor, and Nick Geminiani (Robert Viharo) as the outgoing father.

This film is funny and touching at times, with some good performances. The actors capture the essence of the ethnic characters they are portraying and the social condition they are living in very well. It shows the difficulty that many people face when opening up and talking about personal emotions out of fear the other person will feel differently about them. Beneath the shallow appearance of everyday life, deeper themes are at work. In a way, this film helped start the trend that picked up pace through the 1990s and one can look at it as one of the precursor "coming out" films that undoubtedly inspired some people in a positive way. Cathy Chamberlain and Rich Look composed the original music. Richard Benner wrote the screenplay based on Albert Innaurato's play "Gemini", the off-Broadway smash of the 1970's, and it loses some of its magic on the big screen. Richard Benner directed.

Coming Out Under Fire (1994)

This documentary film about homosexuality in the American military during World War II features interviews with 10 gay men and women who served in the armed forces. Phillis Abry, a radio technician in the Women's Army Corps, was able to carry on a homosexual relationship without being detected and receive an honorable discharge. Others, like Marvin Liebman, who was in the special services of the United States Army Air Corps, were identified as gay, having "psychopathic" personalities, and were discharged as undesirable. Mr. Liebman was interrogated when military censors read a letter he had written to a friend whom he addressed as "darling".

Another veteran, identified as Clark, was an Army clerk and typist who helped create a mimeographed newsletter, The Myrtle Beach Bitch. The campy publication, which was circulated privately among gay servicemen, eventually got him into trouble. He was court-martialed and served nine months in prison. He has spent years challenging his undesirable discharge status. Many of these veterans had to lie to avoid persecution from within the military ranks and prosecution from without. In the witch-hunt atmosphere that pervaded the military, people suspected of being gay were relentlessly interrogated and manipulated into identifying other homosexuals. Many were sent to psychiatric hospitals or imprisoned for months in "queer stockades." Discharged as undesirable, they often found themselves pariahs, unwelcome in their hometowns and unable to find work.

Servicemen staged drag entertainments for one another in which many of the performers were gay. As Tom Reddy, who served in the Marines, recalls: "I went in at 17 and came out at 21, and I knew I was a man. It took nerve to put on a dress and run out there in front of 500 or 1,000 of your peers that were all pretending to be so macho." These and many other personal testimonies are woven into an portrait of 1940's military life that uses Army training films, newsreels and period documents. The final exchange between Senator John Warner and Colonel Margarethe Cammermeyer regarding the implementation of the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy ends the film with a bang.

This 72 minute reflective documentary based on the book of the same name by Allan Bérubé is simplistic with a bitter undertone. There are brief flashes of humor, but it is mostly upsetting in the dark secrets that it reveals. The documentary shows not only the long tradition of gays in America's military but also their tradition of serving with distinction before meeting with betrayal. Mark Adler composed the original music. The screenplay was written by Arthur Dong and Allan Bérubé from Bérubé's book. Arthur Dong directed.

Eban & Charley (2000)

Charley (Giovanni Adrade) is turning 15. For the past year, since his mother's (Pam Munter) death, he has lived in Seaside, Oregon, with his stern military-man father (Ron Upton). During one grim Christmas break Charley meets Eban (Brent Fellows), a young-looking 29-year-old teacher, home for the holidays to see his parents after being driven from Seattle by a controversy at the school where he taught. They have things in common: both sign (Charley's mother was deaf), both play the guitar, and both are gay. As their relationship deepens during walks on the beach, singing, and talk of poetry, we see it from their point of view and also from the points of view of both of their fathers. Eban acts with complete reserve and restraint, while Charley makes the first move and proclaims that age shouldn't matter if they love each other. "What if there's nothing wrong with me?" Eban asks about an hour or so into the film. Charley's loneliness gives way to happiness when he's with Eban. When their friendship deepens into intimacy, both of their families condemn it and threaten to call the police. With tensions high, and the stakes even higher, Eban and Charley face the most dangerous decision of all, and the two have to deal with the legal and social ramifications of the relationship.

This earnest underdramatized movie depicts an affair between a 15-year-old and a 29-year-old. The actors give naturalistic performances that some viewers might find tedious and others may find refreshing. It's a good film, restrained, careful, and provocative, with pacing problems and some awkward line readings. The message is ambiguous. Is a 15-year old capable of giving consent to an intimate relationship with an adult? Should we see Eban as a dangerous predator and criminal pervert? Some of the dialogue is a bit too preachy and stagy, and some scenes seem a bit too melodramatic and contrived. Stephin Merritt of indie-pop band Magnetic Fields composed the original music. James Bolton wrote the screenplay and directed,

Fellini Satyricon (1970)

"Fellini Satyricon" is an adaptation of Petronius' classic novel about the decadence of ancient Rome circa 50 to 66 AD, during emperor Nero's reign. Federico Fellini's film was made 10 years before"Caligula", which is somewhat similar because of the same time period and location.

It follows the adventures of two male students, Encolpio (Martin Potter) and Ascilto (Hiram Keller). First they fight over the effeminate boy Gitone (Max Born) whom Ascilto sells to a playwright Vernachio (Fanfulla). An earthquake destroys their home, they meet poet Eumolpo (Salvo Rondone) and attend a banquet orgy thrown by Trimalchio (Mario Romagnoli). A widow offers her husband's corpse to her lover to replace the stolen corpse he was guarding. She says, "Better to hang a dead husband than a living lover."

Our heroes are enslaved on a ship, and Encolpio marries the old captain Lica (Alain Cuny) who is soon killed by rivals. A nobleman, supposedly Petronius (Joseph Wheeler), commits suicide and Encolpio and Ascilto tour his grand house and meet an Ethiopian slave. They next kidnap an albino hermaphrodite demi-god from the temple of Apollo. The hermaphrodite dies, causing Encolpio to become impotent. His cure is sex with a whore-priestess, which fails. He fights a minotaur (George Eastman) and survives by telling him, "I'm only a student." Sex with fat Enotea (Donyale Luna) cures his impotence. Encolpio and Ascilto are going to sail with Eumolpo to Africa, but he dies and his will stipulates that his friends must eat his corpse. Ascilto is murdered and in the end their images are transformed into an ancient fresco painting. Fellini said, "In Satyricon, I was influenced by the look of frescoes. At the end, these people, whose lives were so real to them, are now only crumbling frescoes."

Encolpio: "Ascilto... what does the poet say? Each moment presented may be your last, so fill it up until you vomit... or something such?"

The book by Gaius Petronius Arbiter has survived in fragments, so "Fellini Satyricon" is also fragmentary and less than coherent. The hallucinatory journey visually compensates for this with a parade of over-indulgent, garish, and freaky characters, settings and situations. Fellini defined his movie as, "Science Fiction of the past" and said, "There is no end. There is no beginning. There is only the infinite passion of life." He was attracted to the decadence of ancient Rome because of its rich imagery and colours. The larger than life juxtapositions of beauty and ugliness make the film a mesmerizing, grotesque, surreal, and astonishing feast for the eyes.

"Satyricon" was registered to Gian Luigi Polidoro's film, so Fellini was required to modify the title of his movie. United Artists paid over $1 million to Polidoro for the distribution rights to his version, to keep it off the market until after the release of "Fellini Satyricon".

Strangely, Fellini made a public announcement that the Beatles and Mae West (as High Priestess) would appear in the movie. He never consulted with them, and of course they are not in the film. When asked why the main actors are not Italians, Fellini replied: "Because there are no homosexual Italians."

The dialogue is Italian with some Latin. It is dubbed in, because that's the way the Italians make most of their movies. India, the world's largest maker of movies, also uses this dubbing method because of the many languages and dialects in India. "Fellini Satyricon" was only available in widescreen format due to Fellini's insistence, but I recently acquired a beautiful full screen "pan and scan" version.

The cast includes: Salvo Randone (Eumolpo), Mario Romagnoli (Trimalcione), Magali Noel (Fortunata), Capucine (Trifena), Alain Cuny (Lica), Fanfulla (Vernacchio), Danika La Loggia (Scintilla), Giuseppe Sanvitale (Abinna), Genius (Liberto Arricchito), George Eastman (Minotaur), Marcello Di Falco (Proconsole), Elisa Mainardi (Arianna), Donyale Luna (Enotea), Eugenio Mastropietro (Cinedo), Irina Maleeva (L'ancella), and many others. Writing credits are Petronius, Federico Fellini, Bernardino Zapponi, and Brunello Rondi. Music was composed by Tod Dockstader, Ilhan Mimaroglu, Nino Rota, and Andrew Rudin. Federico Fellini directed.

"Ciao, Federico!" (1971) is a behind-the-scenes documentary of the making of "Fellini Satyricon". It is fascinating to see the movie being made because many of the actors have English accents. Fellini's style and techniques as director are impressive, and he is gracious, patient, larger than life, and completely in control. Gitone plays guitar and sings a Bob Dylan song. Roman Polanski with Sharon Tate visit the outdoor set and Polanski recommends that Fellini should get "stoned" and visit Disneyland. Gideon Bachman scripted and directed.

Pixote: A Lei do Mais Fraco (1981)

Pixote (Fernando Ramos da Silva), a 10-year-old runaway boy, is arrested on the streets of São Paulo during a police round-up of homeless people. He is sent to a juvenile reformatory where the boys are only pawns in the criminal, sadistic games of the prison guards and their commander. The prison is a hellish school where Pixote sniffs glue to escape from the constant threats of abuse and rape. Pixote endures torture, degradation and corruption, and two runaways are murdered by policemen who frame Lilica (Jorge Julião), a 17-year-old transvesite hustler. Lilica's lover then conveniently also dies, with some help from the guards.

Soon after, Pixote, Lilica, and Dito (Gilberto Moura) find an opportunity to flee from the prison. They make their living by crime, which only escalates to more violence and death. First they stay at the apartment of Cristal (Tony Tornado), a former lover of Lilica, but when tensions arise they go to Rio for a cocaine drug deal. Unfortunately, they get duped by a showgirl. After some time bumming around the city, Pixote and his friends go to a club for another drug deal. While there, Pixote finds the showgirl that took their drugs and stabs her. They become pimps for the alcoholic prostitute Sueli (Marilia Pera), who is definitely past her prime. The group conspires to rob her johns, but that scheme fails when an American john fights back so they have to shoot him. In the ensuing fight, Pixote accidentally shoots Dito as well. Later, after being rejected by the mother figure of Sueli, Pixote is seen walking down a railway line with a gun in hand, away from the camera, his figure disappearing in the distance.

Though depressing and unlikeable, "Pixote" is an outraged response to the hardships suffered by millions of homeless street kids in Brazil who turn to crime to survive and are exploited by criminal gangs because of a loophole in Brazilian law which forbids the prosecution of minors. Most scandalous of all are the corrupt police officers who participate in the murder of countless street children every year, treating it as a form of "pest control". This gritty portrait of juvenile poverty and street crime in Brazil was shot in documentary fashion and used amateur actors whose real lives strongly resembled those in the film.

After completing the film, Fernando Ramos da Silva sank back into poverty and crime, and was murdered at age 19 in 1987, allegedly by police in São Paulo. His life and death was subsequently dramatized in 1996 by director Jose Joffily in "Who Killed Pixote?" (Quem Matou Pixote?), which showed that despite the outcry created by "Pixote", Brazil has done little to alleviate these conditions. John Neschling composed the music. The screenplay was written by Hector Babenco and Jorge Durán, based on the book "A infância dos mortos" (The Childhood of the Dead Ones) by José Louzeiro. Hector Babenco directed. The English title is "Pixote: The Law of the Weakest". In Portuguese with English subtitles.

Beastly Boyz (2006)

Young artist Rachel (Valerie Murphy) is murdered at her secluded lake front house by a group of seven boys. Enraged and shocked by his twin sister's senseless murder, Rachel's brother Travis (Sebastian Gacki) vows to avenge her murder and punish her killers one by one, even if it costs him his soul. Travis narrates this film and can't get his sister's voice out his head as she pleads for revenge from beyond the grave. Guided by his sister's ghostly voice that commands him to take brutal revenge, he hunts down each of the killers and punishes them in gruesome fashion. Sickened by the horror of his own murderous actions, and driven by his sister's vengeful spirit, Travis discovers a fate much worse than murder.

As Travis enacts vengeance for his sister, he seems to enjoy it. His body is a work of art, and the scene where he appears only in his shorts and tortures the equally unclad Alan (Dean Hrycan), who is tied from the rafters of a cabin, is one of the most terrifying erotic scenes ever filmed. Travis' penchant for rubbing the blade of his knife over the skin of the boys before killing them allows us to see the repressed sexual frustration of this avenger. In fact, the knife becomes a phallic symbol in this disturbing tale. After seeing the near-nude Travis get into the shower with one of his victims, the perfectly sculptured Max (Neil William Hrabowy), only to end up stabbing him, the moral of this tale of torture and revenge should be clear: supression of sexuality leads to destruction.

This homoerotic horror movie is carried by long and lingering photographic scenes and background music. There is almost no dialogue, only a few words of voice-over to give some structure. It's a near-silent, visually excessive mesmerizing cinematic poem with primal tensions, and is not for everyone. Dreamlike, disturbing, beautiful, and astonishing, with loads of visceral imagery, "Beastly Boyz" is a unique, original, and bizarre excursion into perversion. Joe Silva composed the incidental music. David Grove wrote the screenplay, and David DeCoteau directed.

Prinz in Hölleland (1993)

Political activist and good boy Stefan (Stefan Laarmann) and heroin junkie Jockel (Michael Stock) live in a wildly painted trailer on the outskirts of Berlin. They have a third lover Micha (Andreas Stadler) who both vie for the attention of. A subplot involves Micha's young son Sascha (Nils-Leevke Schmidt) and his fascination with the creepy, exhibitionistic jester Firlefanz (Wolfram Haack), whose grotesque puppets enact a gay fairy tale paralleling the relationship of Stefan and Jockel. Central to the disintegration of these characters is the bloated drug dealer Ingolf (Harry Baer), who "pulls their strings" with heroin instead of puppet wires. Stefan tries desperately to get Jockel off the drug. Jockel finds the playful Micha more accommodating of his needs. Together, the trio roam the drag bars, drug dens, and dirty streets of the city until they can escape to the countryside. The last 5 minutes of the film show Firlefanz commiting suicide by hanging himself. The ending tries to be shattering, but instead it looks phony and it never answers the questions posed by the puppets: "What does it mean?"

This tragic modern-day fairy tale follows the lives of several junkies, queers, street performers and anarchists living in squalor in a trash-strewn post-unification Berlin. With pulsating music, raunchy S & M sex, and a "fuck life" attitude, the story's main characters are two gay lovers who are about to break up. "Prinz in Hölleland" is all atmosphere, and there's lots of that. There's also plenty of exploitative nudity, gay sex, some graphic scenes of violence, and drug use. Its posturing tends to trivialize evil, and it all but glamorizes self-destruction while obscuring its social roots. Alexander Hacke composed the music. Wolfram Haack, Stefan Laarmann, and Michael Stock wrote the screenplay. This is the only feature film made by director and co-writer Michael Stock, who also co-stars. The English title is "Prince in Hell". In German with English subtitles.

The Journey of Jared Price (2000)

Blond and blue-eyed 20-year old Jared Price (Corey Spears) leaves his home in Georgia to start a new life in Southern California. With only a backpack and a few hundred dollars, he sets out on an emotional journey of self realization and sexual discovery. Stumbling through the tight quarters of a Hollywood youth hostel, he befriends Robert (Josh Jacobson) who is eager to pursue a relationship. Soon, Jared gains employment as a personal caretaker for Mrs. Haines (Rocki Craigg), a wealthy older blind woman, and falls into a deceptive relationship with her 35 year-old son Matthew (Steve Tyler). Jared and Matthew become lovers, but Jared begins to wonder if Matthew is simply taking advantage of him, and has to decide if job security is more important to him than his self-worth. Matthew is two-timing his lover with Andrew (Bryan Shyne) and has a severe case of emotional blockage. When the relationship becomes personally destructive, Jared is faced once again with the difficult task of abandoning his stability to risk his heart. Matthew's only conscience is his office assistant Kate (Gillian Harris) who warns Matthew to be true to Andrew and not to pursue Jared. But as the tryst between Matthew and Jared deepens, each of the men learns more about himself and what is actually important in life and the story ends with enlightened views of the meaning of love.

A hustler for a hostel roommate, many interesting characters, a lonely blind woman, and a lovable new best friend make "The Journey of Jared Price" an entertaining adventure. The look and feel of this movie, shot on video with hand held cameras, with sometimes bouncy and jerking motions, perfectly mimics the type of video the main character Jared is shooting. There's lots of romance and sex in this film, a cross between drama and erotica. Acting is not the best, neither is the dialogue, and the plot is predictable and condescending. Damon Intrabartolo composed the music. Shot on digital video equipment, this is the first feature film from writer and director Dustin Lance Black.