DAY 1—It is fortunate that Beyond Chron does not provide audio links within its articles. Otherwise, long-suffering readers would be subjected to my spectacularly fake French-accented version of the old Gallic exclamation “I am distraught.”
The occasion for the gasp of aesthetic agony concerns the festival’s Opening Night film “Affinity.” Seeing an uncensored adaptation of another Sarah Waters (“Tipping The Velvet”) historical novel is always cause for joy. Having Waters herself present at that screening doubled the joy of the Opening Night event. But knowing full well that circumstances prevented me from being at the screening at the Castro Theatre that evening, what can one do except momentarily turn into a tragic Frenchman?
DAY 2—For political junkies, “The World Unseen” will be an annoyance. The beginnings of South African apartheid and Indian male privilege have rarely been portrayed in film. What insights does director Shamim Sarif bring to these subjects? The cops enforcing the apartheid laws were basically racist assholes. Indian husbands squelched Indian women’s independence because they were the ones in charge. Duhhh.
Perversely enough, Sarif’s film turned out to be highly entertaining despite its political simple mindedness and a noticeably underwritten character or two such as Amina’s father. Shots of South Africa’s occasionally beautiful countryside make a nice contrast to the human ugliness on display in the film. The viewer is occasionally reminded of the fragility of the emotional haven from apartheid provided by Amina’s Location Café.
Call me a sentimental sucker. Seeing the course of the film’s romances kept me attentive to the last frame. In 1952 South Africa, I knew the budding relationship between Amina’s black business partner and the white postmistress was doomed to failure. Yet the two actors in this storyline deluded me into believing their characters’ forbidden interracial relationship could magically survive apartheid.
What proved more suspenseful was whether Amina and Miriam’s budding lesbian relationship would come to fruition. I fell in love with Amina’s spirited personality, which enabled her to withstand the social oppression she lived with. Miriam was a beautiful rose grown in a social hothouse. I wanted to see Amina’s influence effect on the housewife and mother a spiritual escape into a wider world outside her marriage.
Sheetal Sheth (Amina) and Lisa Ray (Miriam) played beautifully off each other, whether they’re sharing secrets or offering strength to each other. Sheth’s and Ray’s performances kept me enthralled to the rolling of the credits sequence. I was even willing to forgive the sight of Amina working all day digging a garden without looking in the least sweaty or dirty by suppertime.
“Saturn In Opposition,” the other film I see that day, left me very grateful that I saw this movie with a friend. Ferzan Ozpetek’s wonderful ensemble drama concerned itself with the miracle of friendships and the need to cherish these fragile social creatures when one finds them. Lorenzo, the central spirit of the group of “Saturn”’s friends, wanted his circle of friends to stay together forever. How his friends come to realize the impossibility of that well-intentioned wish led to the film’s bittersweet heart.
The friends/improvised family at the center of Ozpetek’s film shows by example how artificial Hollywood’s idea of bringing together quirky characters in an impromptu group can be. Ozpetek doesn’t shy away from acknowledging a character’s tart tongue or destructive capacity for self-delusion. I’m sure I lost a few karma points by admitting to liking the precocious little girl who regularly terrorizes her younger brother. By the end of the film, the temptation to give friends and utter strangers a group hug nearly proved overwhelming.
DAY 3—“From Singapore To Seoul” reminded me of my last trip to the bowling alley. This collection of gay Asian shorts lacked perfect strikes, but a few pins did get knocked down with each effort. “Four Dishes” went for the understated and implied drama route. But Leon Chen’s drama worked too well. I wound up extremely puzzled about both the film’s gay content and the significance of its resolution. “Laundromat” offered friction between an over the top neurotically nerdy Asian American and his nicely musclebound lover. The film’s lesson about taking things one day at a time to make a relationship work felt neither common-sensical nor even mildly heartwarming.
“From Seoul To Soul” offered the true story of the journeys taken by a Korean-American who loses the comforts of the Mormon faith thanks to his church’s homophobia. The tale was a potentially powerful one. Yet my interest in Paul Detwiler and Michael Chen’s film slowly dissipated with a sense that it felt too protracted or that some developments (e.g. the subject’s taking up surfing) weren’t given sufficient context. “The Postcard” slickly offered a tale of mistaken flirtation. I laughed during some of its slapstick and liked its resolution. But the short was ultimately fun but forgettable.
X’Ho’s short “Allen Ginsberg Gives Great Head” had this Frameline festival’s best title. The film offered a solid look at Singapore’s sexually repressive treatment of homosexuality, and deserves merit points for speaking out on that unjust situation. However, the image permanently burned in my mind from that film had me channeling mock-ABBA exclamations. In other words, I kept on thinking “Mamma Mia! That’s one memorable hard dick (even if there are bigger ones around).”
“Cthulhu” also offered a few unforgettable images as it conveyed near-future America’s end times. The most disturbing of those images showed a bunch of people tied to poles planted on a beach at low tide. However, getting to such images required watching the rest of the movie. Director Dan Gildark failed to build a sense of onrushing doom in the earlier segments of the film. The occasional fake newscast cued me in that this near future America’s slow slide to chaos made it ideal for the return of the sinister old gods. But one too many arty blackouts sabotaged any dramatic momentum provided by the film’s source material. Emotional unease proved less of a problem than my bouts of boredom-induced sleep.
DAYS 4 & 5—No film watching occurred today. Life’s obligations prove more pressing than hibernating in a darkened movie theater.
DAY 6—“XXY” made me jealous of the Argentine film industry. Lucia Puenzo’s film sensitively captured the emotional agonies of trying to accept a life that doesn’t fit into preconceived social or sexual categories … even if that meant being treated as a freak. Hollywood and even a few Indiewood films would have gone for the “either Column A or Column B” resolution to protagonist Alex’s dilemma. Puenzo shows that if talk of respecting differences is to mean anything, it has to mean respecting differences that may make a person uncomfortable.
I didn’t need to see Alex’s penis to know that she had both female and male organs. Actress Ines Flores’ performance conveyed a personality that displayed both female and male characteristics. In Flores’ work in “XXY,” I saw the budding sexual aggressiveness of Alex and the coquettish charm that could turn a boy’s head.
The film raised necessary questions about the desirability of fixed social and sexual identities. For example, what if the supposedly altruistic desire to help a person fit into a particular societal category was actually a way to mask discomfort over acknowledging the fluidity of sexual identity? Perhaps, the film suggests, having an answer is less important than being brave enough to ask a disturbing question.
(“The World Unseen,” “Saturn In Opposition,” “From Seoul To Soul,” “Cthulhu,” and “XXY” will receive commercial video, television, or theatrical release later in the year.)
