Knight at HOME at the Movies
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Sorta gay, pretty gay and gay gay gay
You might as well just go get these three right now. Read on for a closer view after making your purchases!
You might as well just go get these three right now. Read on for a closer view after making your purchases!
Armistead Maupin, the celebrated gay writer and activist most famous for his “Tales of the
City,” was asked to give his opinion on a memoir that was about to be published in the
early 1990s. Intrigued with what he read, he asked to speak with the young author of the
manuscript – a troubled gay teenager who had suffered extreme physical and sexual
abuse. Maupin developed a telephone relationship with the young man that went on for
almost six years but it wasn’t until his partner at the time, Terry Anderson, heard the
voice that a mystery developed.
Anderson insisted that both the voice of the young man and his foster mother were one
and the same. For years after Maupin tried to discern if that was indeed the truth. He
eventually fictionalized his experience (and incorporated his breakup with Anderson as
well) into the popular book “The Night Listener.” Last fall the book was turned into a film
(also titled The Night Listener) with a script co-written by Maupin and Anderson and
starring Robin Williams as the Maupin like character, Toni Collette as the strange foster
mother and Rory Culkin as the elusive teenager. Bobby Cannavale also plays Williams’
ex-lover, the character based on Anderson and Sandra Oh has a small part as the typical
gay man’s best friend.
The resulting film isn’t quite a mystery or a thriller or a relationship picture but is rather a
bit of all of these and this blurring of genre’s seemed to confuse audiences and some
critics and the film wasn’t embraced in its theatrical release. Now Miramax is giving the
unfairly overlooked movie (it contains terrific performances by both Williams and Collette)
a DVD release that should elevate its reputation. Along with the feature they’ve included
a very interesting deleted scene that would have tipped off another twist to the story
though it’s not hard to see why the director cut it. There’s also a nice making of
featurette.
Regular readers of my column weekly in the Windy City Times or here at KATM know how
highly I think of Quinceañera, the outstanding little movie that swept Sundance and was a
hit on the festival circuit. Only two films rated higher on my yearly Top Ten List of
outstanding GLBT films. Real life partners, co-writers and directors Richard Glatzer and
Wash Westmoreland took a page from their own lives to create this compelling multi-
cultural story that focuses on two teenaged Latino cousins living with their great great
uncle in the Echo Park neighborhood of L.A. – both outcast from their families for
“cultural” sins (she’s pregnant and he’s gay). The story of these two as they eventually
find their way back to the families they are struggling with and society at large is told
within the framework of two Quinceañera’s – which are the Mexican version of a debutant’s
coming out, a Jewish girl’s bat mitzvah or a sweet sixteen party.
Sony Pictures have released a DVD version of Quinceañera that includes some
interesting behind the scenes featurettes to augment the film. There’s a nice “making
of,” a deleted scene, brief footage of the movie’s premiere in L.A., and an incisive
commentary track from Glatzer and Westmoreland and members of the cast. I also loved
the inclusion of the faux quinceañera video that’s featured in the movie. Highly
recommended.
As long predicted and anticipated Universal Studios has released a Brokeback
Mountain Collector’s Edition that helps quench the fervor for a more indepth look at
the movie. Though this 2-disc version still doesn’t quite do the trick, it’s a VAST
improvement over the bare bones edition the studio originally released. There’s still no
director’s commentary, deleted or expanded scenes but this version does include the
original LOGO TV special on the making of the movie, a nice indepth featurette on the
music for the film (the beautiful, bare bones score received the Oscar), another short
feature on director Ang Lee and a separate one on screenwriters Larry McMurtry and Diana
Ossana. There are several other short featurettes and the set also includes postcard stills
from the film and a reproduction of the “coded” postcard sent by Jake Gyllenhaal’s Jack
Twist to Heath Ledger’s Ennis Delmar that sets off the long distance, long term affair the
two men share.
Before seeing this Collector’s Edition I advised readers to wait for Universal’s next go
round but after watching it I think there’s enough here to merit the expense – especially
for those who haven’t taken the journey back to Brokeback since seeing the movie in
theatres. It’s still one of the greatest tragic love stories ever put on film and in retrospect
should have won that Best Picture Oscar over Crash. Sez me!
City,” was asked to give his opinion on a memoir that was about to be published in the
early 1990s. Intrigued with what he read, he asked to speak with the young author of the
manuscript – a troubled gay teenager who had suffered extreme physical and sexual
abuse. Maupin developed a telephone relationship with the young man that went on for
almost six years but it wasn’t until his partner at the time, Terry Anderson, heard the
voice that a mystery developed.
Anderson insisted that both the voice of the young man and his foster mother were one
and the same. For years after Maupin tried to discern if that was indeed the truth. He
eventually fictionalized his experience (and incorporated his breakup with Anderson as
well) into the popular book “The Night Listener.” Last fall the book was turned into a film
(also titled The Night Listener) with a script co-written by Maupin and Anderson and
starring Robin Williams as the Maupin like character, Toni Collette as the strange foster
mother and Rory Culkin as the elusive teenager. Bobby Cannavale also plays Williams’
ex-lover, the character based on Anderson and Sandra Oh has a small part as the typical
gay man’s best friend.
The resulting film isn’t quite a mystery or a thriller or a relationship picture but is rather a
bit of all of these and this blurring of genre’s seemed to confuse audiences and some
critics and the film wasn’t embraced in its theatrical release. Now Miramax is giving the
unfairly overlooked movie (it contains terrific performances by both Williams and Collette)
a DVD release that should elevate its reputation. Along with the feature they’ve included
a very interesting deleted scene that would have tipped off another twist to the story
though it’s not hard to see why the director cut it. There’s also a nice making of
featurette.
Regular readers of my column weekly in the Windy City Times or here at KATM know how
highly I think of Quinceañera, the outstanding little movie that swept Sundance and was a
hit on the festival circuit. Only two films rated higher on my yearly Top Ten List of
outstanding GLBT films. Real life partners, co-writers and directors Richard Glatzer and
Wash Westmoreland took a page from their own lives to create this compelling multi-
cultural story that focuses on two teenaged Latino cousins living with their great great
uncle in the Echo Park neighborhood of L.A. – both outcast from their families for
“cultural” sins (she’s pregnant and he’s gay). The story of these two as they eventually
find their way back to the families they are struggling with and society at large is told
within the framework of two Quinceañera’s – which are the Mexican version of a debutant’s
coming out, a Jewish girl’s bat mitzvah or a sweet sixteen party.
Sony Pictures have released a DVD version of Quinceañera that includes some
interesting behind the scenes featurettes to augment the film. There’s a nice “making
of,” a deleted scene, brief footage of the movie’s premiere in L.A., and an incisive
commentary track from Glatzer and Westmoreland and members of the cast. I also loved
the inclusion of the faux quinceañera video that’s featured in the movie. Highly
recommended.
As long predicted and anticipated Universal Studios has released a Brokeback
Mountain Collector’s Edition that helps quench the fervor for a more indepth look at
the movie. Though this 2-disc version still doesn’t quite do the trick, it’s a VAST
improvement over the bare bones edition the studio originally released. There’s still no
director’s commentary, deleted or expanded scenes but this version does include the
original LOGO TV special on the making of the movie, a nice indepth featurette on the
music for the film (the beautiful, bare bones score received the Oscar), another short
feature on director Ang Lee and a separate one on screenwriters Larry McMurtry and Diana
Ossana. There are several other short featurettes and the set also includes postcard stills
from the film and a reproduction of the “coded” postcard sent by Jake Gyllenhaal’s Jack
Twist to Heath Ledger’s Ennis Delmar that sets off the long distance, long term affair the
two men share.
Before seeing this Collector’s Edition I advised readers to wait for Universal’s next go
round but after watching it I think there’s enough here to merit the expense – especially
for those who haven’t taken the journey back to Brokeback since seeing the movie in
theatres. It’s still one of the greatest tragic love stories ever put on film and in retrospect
should have won that Best Picture Oscar over Crash. Sez me!
