The London Gay and Lesbian Film Festival

Well my lovely BF got me tickets to see a few of the films (3 in all) at this years fest. We missed the fourth due to a fire at Waterloo and therefore not being able to make it to the cinema in time. Plus they had loads of special treats like All Night Musical, which I am just finding out about. My musical hating hubby must have kept that secret.

The festival was well organized, and LOADS of movies available to see. Such ashame we are still in post Christmas saving mode otherwise we would have seen everything.

I do not understand the appeal of "Paranoid Park". I am not into the skating culture, I am one of those old scares people who thinks it is dangerous and just too noisy. However I understand how people can enjoy the feeling of danger from having your entire body at the mercy of a plank of wood with wheels.
Gus Van Sant likes his young men. During this film I noticed how he lovingly caressed them with his camera. Close ups on baby fat cover boys-soon-to-be-men. Innocent cupid lips on bodies awaking with sexuality. It is an interesting study of teenage boys, even though I wished he would stop these semi erotic close ups and get on with the story. The story is about a young skater-boy who tries to deal with the consequences of accidentally killing a security guard while train jumping.
He is also dealing with the divorce of his parents. It is never said but you get the feeling his father is gay, which adds to his burdens.
The cast is unknown, and it really does not help pep up the slow and rather dull story that is unfolding before my barely awake eyes.

But the bf really liked it. C

Thankfully we got to see "XXY". The story of an intersexed teenager struggling to find their identity while in living in solitude with family in Uruguay. When a Plastic Surgeon who is a friend of the family comes with his wife and teenage son, things get a little more complicated.

I will not go on and on about how wonderful this film was as it serves no other point than to let you know I liked it. By now you already know I like it a lot. It is sensitively handled from beginning to end. This film, however, is so much more than the movie about a 15-year-old hermaphrodite, it is the story of that difficult time in a teenagers life, and how their views of their parents can change, and how a parent can either accept their child, or not (the latter is one of the most crushing scenes I have seen). It was just a shame that the audience felt the need to laugh to cover their own discomfort.

The director Lucia Puenzo handles the drama and the humor of the story gently. She allows the actors and the scenery to meld and feel organic in their co-inhabitance and even when the camera is in full close up, you can feel her respectful distance. B+

"Show Business: the Road to Broadway" was fun. However I personally would have loved to have seen a more in depth account of just how hard it is to put such a show together. Perhaps if they had decided to concentrate more on the difficulty of bringing a show to Broadway I would have enjoyed it more.

The film focused on the behind the scenes of Wicked, Caroline or Change, Avenue Q and Taboo and how they were all poised to be the big musicals of the year and hopefully compete for the Tony award.
this would work so well if aimed at movies, but there is so much more time taken to bring a big show to Broadway than it is to make a film. So much time and money is invested, and people sacrifice their lives for sometimes very little. The film just skimmed over the surface. That was such a pity, especially with productions like Taboo and Caroline, or Change which deserved to have their profile raised a little.

B-