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.

Sebastiane (1976)

Filmed entirely in vulgar Latin, this experimental film recounts the life of Sebastian (Leonardo Treviglio), a puritanical but beautiful Christian soldier in the Roman Imperial troops who is martyred when he refuses the homosexual advances of pagan Captain Severus (Barney James). It depicts the 4th century Roman soldier, who was later canonized as Saint Sebastian, as a revered gay icon. The film balances a cinéma vérité depiction of the everyday life of common soldiers and a visionary exploration of one man's defiant growth in faith, even as it subtly questions the nature it. But the film takes some liberties with the historical Sebastian, who was never exiled to a remote outpost, and was supposedly not killed by arrows. Emperor Diocletian (Robert Medley) ordered him killed with a second execution and he was clubbed to death. Historical facts are only a backdrop, serving the filmmakers' intention of presenting the other well known aspect of Sebastian's claim to fame: his link to homoeroticism and sadomasochism. How this relation came about historically is unclear. Some stories have it that Sebastian was homosexual himself. Others that he had to refuse the emperor's advances on the grounds of his Christian faith.

When this film was released, it was the only English-made film to have required English subtitles. "Sebastiane" works brilliantly on many levels: cinematic, psychological, spiritual, aesthetic, and political. The vividness and authenticity of the ancient world it depicts is striking. Despite an over-the-top prologue at the decadent court of Diocletian, and its strategic use of famous Renaissance paintings of St. Sebastian in the final scene, this film feels like a lived experience. Shot on location in Sardinia, every well-worn costume and dusty prop seems genuine. This film deals with some complex themes, as important now as 1,700 years ago, including the meaning of spirituality, the place of sexuality in life, and the contradictory nature of reality. Brian Eno composed the music, and Derek Jarman wrote the screenplay and directed this self-indulgent debut feature.

Une Amour Ataire (2006)

"Une Amour Ataire" tells the story of Sara Morgenstern (Louise Monot) and Jean (Jérémie Renier), close friends from childhood who meet again years later during the Nazi occupation of Paris. Sara, who is Jewish, sees her parents and sister killed by the Gestapo after being double-crossed by someone who was paid to safeguard them, and seeks out Jean, the only other person she knows in Paris. Jean, now in his late 20's, works for his family-owned laundry business, and is secretly in a four year relationship with his boyfriend Phillipe (Bruno Todeschini), who is involved in the French underground. The gay couple must keep their relationship a secret for fear of persecution. Phillipe gets Sara a new identity, and Jean gets her a job in the laundry. When Jean's brother Jacques (Nicolas Gob) is released from prison on a smuggling charge, he is attracted to Sara, and first sees Jean as competition for her affections. When he finds out that Jean is gay, he arranges for one of his smuggler contacts to have him detained for an evening by the police, then get released due to his "connections", thinking that would make both Jean and Sara indebted to him. This backfires when Jean's sexuality becomes known, and Sara watches in horror as her homosexual protector is sent off to prison and eventually a Nazi concentration camp as a tragic result of a bad decision made by Jacques. Things start to fall apart at home.

This highly emotional and engrossing film is about family, friends and love, at a time in history when there was little else one could depend on. There is little actual violence in the film, yet the sense of danger is ever present. The violence that is portrayed is graphic and and based on actual events documented by survivors of the gay holocaust. An expertly crafted movie, the cinematography is excellent, and well acted by a talented cast. It's a bit melodramatic, with a multi-layered complex twisting plot. Charles Court composed the music. Pascale Fontanille and Samantha Mazeras wrote the screenplay. Directed by Christian Fauré. The English title is "A Love to Hide". In French with English subtitles.

När alla vet (1995)

16-year-old Sebastian (Hampus Björck) has good parents and a great circle of friends, is doing well in school, has good looks, and leads a happy life -- or at least that is what everyone thinks. Secretly, he has been brooding for some time over the fact that he is in love with his best friend, hunky Ulf (Nicolai Cleve Broch). One evening, after some playful frolicking around with Ulf, Sebastian kisses Ulf, who does not like it. Being sexually rejected in this way throws Sebastian into an even deeper depression about his sexuality. He refuses to discuss it with his parents and only after a long talk with a female friend of his, who is also in love with Ulf and guesses correctly what Sebastian's problem could be, he opens up to his family and friends, only to find that it is not problematic to them. Even the coming out to Ulf, which he anticipated to be very painful, turns out to be not so bad and takes a comical turn when Ulf admits to having had a homosexual experience himself some time ago. In the end, basically nothing has changed, except that Sebastian no longer has to live a secret life and can concentrate on being happy, having fun with his friends, and finding a real boyfriend.

Film critics usually dismiss "När alla vet" as escapist gay youth fare that does not address any deeper issues. However, the film is about the coming out process, which is not exactly easy. Hansi Mandoki, Petter Vennerød, and Svend Wam wrote the screenplay derived from Per Knutsen's novel "Svart Cayal". Svend Wam directed. The English title is "Sebastian". In Norwegian and Swedish with English subtitles.

Harry & Max (2004)

Harry (Bryce Johnson) is a 23 year-old former boy band idol who is helping his younger brother Max (Cole Williams), aged 16, follow in his footsteps. Although Harry is at the end of his career, Max is just starting his. Harry seems to be primarily heterosexual, whereas Max is primarily gay and has come to terms with his sexuality. They detour on their way to a Japanese concert tour for a long-promised camping adventure. Their trip begins on a note of camaraderie but quickly turns serious as old wounds resurface, forcing them to come to terms with their dysfunctional past: Harry's drinking problems, his disconnection from the family, and most of all his relationship with Max and the emotional dependency that keeps them from moving into adulthood. During the camping trip, matters are further complicated by the resumption of an incestuous affair between the brothers. The fallout from this further muddles both their lives, as they attempt to understand their feelings for each other and to protect each other in a world in which everybody, including their own mother (Michelle Phillips), seems to want to take advantage of them for financial gain.

This movie doesn't have very good production values. The camera is jerky, the sound is uneven, and the acting is not the best. Homosexual incestuous romantic scenes may make you cringe. Michael Tubbs composed the music, and Christopher Munch wrote the screenplay and directed.

In the Gloaming (1997)

Danny (Robert Sean Leonard), a gay man in his 20s with AIDS, returns to his suburban family to die. Always close to his mother Janet (Glenn Close), they share moments of openness that tend to shut out Danny's father Martin (David Strathairn) and his sister Anne (Bridget Fonda). They live a privileged upper-class existence in a grand house, but Martin is a stiff workaholic and Janet is a bored woman numbed by her insular life. Anne is a cold complaining yuppie with a razor sharp iciness. The emotionally repressed family allows years of pent-up tensions, resentment, and insecurities to explode to the surface. The film moves quickly through Danny's final months, which are monitored by live-in nurse Myrna (Whoopi Goldberg) in a small role that isn't much more than a cameo. This movie is not another attack on suburban life, but a look at an intensely loving relationship between Danny and his mother. They reminisce, cry, and make jokes, and Janet's renewed bond with Danny makes her realize what she's been missing.

The theme of the movie is that Janet comes to life as Danny dies. "Gloaming" is a Scottish term for the hazy, glowing time of day just as the sun begins to set. The title comes from the popular 1877 song "In the Gloaming" by Annie Fortescue Harrison and Meta Orred. This acclaimed made-for-cable drama marks the directorial debut of actor Christopher Reeve. It was filmed in Westchester, New York. Dave Grusin composed the music. Will Scheffer wrote the screenplay from Alice Elliott Dark's 1993 "New Yorker" short story.