When/If you post a comment (and I hope you will!), be sure to put in a URL --- even if you just use mine (http://alan.batie.org/) --- if you don't, your email address will get put in as a link on your name, and you'll suddenly find yourself on Spam Central. Not my doing, I promise you! They scan websites for embedded email addresses. You've been warned --- I really don't wish spam on anyone (well, ok, maybe the spammers themselves)!
Finally, if you want to be notified when I post the this blog, signup on the lemmings mailing list.
Tonight, I started with Gaydar: Boys' Shorts II, the ninth outing for me in the Portland Lesbian and Gay Film Festival. This was another, and much better than the first, collection of short films, also on digital projection.
This Car Up was one of the experimental styled shorts that worked, and quite well, thankfully. The basic story is office worker expecting delivery, bike messenger boy making delivery, see each other, are attracted, but have no reason to talk and don't, but can't stop thinking about each other.
A nice, simple, romance, but what sets it apart is that you see it in four sections: office worker activity in the lower left, bike messenger activity in the lower right, and over each is a section showing what they're each actually thinking. The premise is how chance affects our lives, and love lives in particular, so the sections showing what each is thinking are each divided up into 3 segments side by side spinning like slot machine wheels. This worked really well and you completely get the story with the barest minimum of dialogue. For a short, I have to give this 9 out of 10.
On their mutual 70th birthday, a straight best friend of a gay man decides to give his friend everything he's ever wanted for his birthday. Things don't quite go as planned in an amusing little short. 7 out of 10.
Leon and Noel are twin brothers (it dawned on me for the first time in the opening credits that Leon is Noel backwards). Leon -> Abi -> Noel form a classic love triangle with the interesting twist that Leon and Noel are twins, and Noel finally comes out in a rather amusing way. It was good up till this point, and then they must have run out of money or hit a time limit of some sort, as shortly after this, they start an interesting plot development that has a lot of potential, and suddenly it's wrapped up Deus Ex Machina and it's over. For this, 6 out of 10.
But wait, there's more: the audio was so bad, it was impossible to make out much of the dialogue. I'm inclined to give them the benefit of the doubt and assume it was a local technical problem, except the showing was digital, and none of the other shorts had the problem. If it really was a bad production mix, I have to downgrade it to a 4.
Very straight carpenter is having fantasy dreams about being naked and about to have sex with another man. He's upset and confused, and confides in his co-worker, who must be a *very* good friend (I personally can't imagine someone like that admitting to those dreams to anyone). There is a bit of a twist at the end that's amusing, if a bit confusing. I suppose it gives you something to think about, but I didn't believe most of it and what there was to think about wasn't that interesting. 6 for being mildly amusing.
There seems to be no IMDB entry for this very confusing mess. This is one of those "experimental" pieces that doesn't work. The one redeeming part is that there is one bit of narration at the end that pulls a message out of the thing, so I'll give it a 5.
An odd little piece about a squash player who develops an obsession with the skirt a female squash player is wearing. Strange, and never really went anywhere: I can only give it a 4.
Things picked up nicely again with this fun little short: an average joe in a gay bar tries to pick up a gorgeous hunk, only to be squelched pretty rudely. In the men's room shortly thereafter, what must be his Fairy Godmother gives him a ring that lets him change into the object of his selected target's dreams. What follows is a very funny commentary on the variety of sexual interests people have, with a moderately predictable ending. Stay through the credits though --- the disclaimers at the end are very funny too. Also, be careful not to miss a short bit that shows the couple from Judas Kiss --- apparently in the same bar at the same time for their big scene. 7 out of 10.
Every gay man has talked about their "gaydar", wishing they had one so they didn't have to waste time chasing cute straight boys they have no chance with. In this movie, that wish comes true. While funny, if a little stereotypical, and complete in its own right, it leaves a some key things unanswered. The star and co-producer, Terry Ray, was at the showing, and said that one of those questions in particular would be answered in a feature length version in the planning stages. There is a cat in the movie that's almost worth the price of admission alone. I'll give it a 7, just.
My overall impression was that this collection of shorts was much better than the previous collection. I think giving the previous one a 7 may have been a little generous, given the real stinkers in it, since that's all I can justify this collection with given the number of mediocre ones in it. On the other hand, the ones that were good were really good, and none of them were real stinkers, so I could be talked into giving it an 8.
Posted by abatie at October 17, 2003 01:46 AM