Splendor (1999)

Splendor (1999)

Director: Gregg Araki
Scenario: Gregg Araki, Jill Cargerman
Genre: Comedy
Country: UK, USA
Year: 1999
Duration: 93 min
Rating:

Actors: Kathleen Robertson, Johnathon Schaech, Matt Keeslar, Kelly Macdonald, Eric Mabius, Dan Gatto, Linda Kim, Audrey Ruttan, Nathan Bexton, Amy Stevens, Adam Carolla, Julie Millett, Jenica Bergere, Paige Dunn, Emile Hamaty

Description:

Teenage trilogija Greg Arakija (Totally F***ed Up, The Doom Generation, and Nowhere) je već predstavljena na ovom blogu, te sa filmom Mysterious Skin (2004) i The Living End (1992) čini zaokruženu sliku Arakijevog rada.
Ovaj film se definitivno nemože svrstati u Gay Themed Movie no bez obzira na to na ovom blogu se našao zahvaljujući  "nenamjerno i ničim izazvanom homoerotičnošću " dvojice sjajnih glumaca Jonathan Schaecha i Matt Keeslara.
Veronika (Kathleen Robertson) na jednoj zabavi povodom noći vještica upoznaje Abela (Jonathan Schaech) koji od nje na jedan šarmantan način uspjeva da izmami broj telefona. Nakon toga upoznaje Zeda (Matt Keeslar) sa kojim polupijano završava u krevet. Ujutro kad se probudila šokirano je gledala u Zedovu jutarnju erekciju i čudila se sama sebi odkud ovaj lik u mom krevetu.
Iako joj se Zed dopao ženska znatiželja joj nije dozvolila da propusti sasvim drugačijeg a opet seksipilnog Abela (Jonathan Schaech).
I tako upada u vezu sa dva muškaraca, medjusobno toliko različitih ali dopunjujućih.
Ništa neobično da Veronika nije odlučila da im sve kaže i upozna ih. I tako nastaje savršena trojka koja ko zna šta sve radi noću u krevetu. Simpatičan mi je bio poljubac između Abela i Zeda.

Ova romantična komedija će vam zasigurno prijati nakon nedeljnog ručka, alako ne očekujete gomilu seksi scena. Toga u ovom Arakijevom filmu nema.
Mene je podsjetio na ednu davnu vezu sa jednim momkom i njegovom djevojkom. Ispočetka je ja sam bio samo njegov momak, a ona njegova djevojka. Kad bi se desilo da naš voljeni nije sa njom ili samnom družio sam se sa njom. Ispade da smo se jednima drugima dopali te je u meni probidila jak heteroseksualni nagon. I tako priča je tekla ko u filmu. Radnim danima je moja guza bila "zloupotrebljavana" od mog super momka, a vikendom sam gledao da ugrabim trenutak kako bih ga uvalio u savršenu pičkicu njegove cure.
Sve je funkcionisalo savršeno dok on nije odlučio da njoj kaže za nas. Imali su seks te subote i nakon toga je dijalog tekao ovako:

Naš momak: - Ja i on se volimo
Ona: - I ja ga volim, a znam da on voli i mene i tebe!
Naš momak: - Ali mi se volimo i onako... znaš
Ona : Kako ... misliš ... onako
Naš momak: - Da baš tako

Pauza 5 minuta  pa onda:

ona: A ko koga ? Mislim znaš...
Naš momak laže: Mi to ne radimo, samo pušenje , poljupci i to
Ona: Moram ti priznati , on super radi i to drugo!
Naš momak: Misliš vas dvoje ste...
Ona: Mislim da se mi svi međusobno volimo! Mi smo savršena trojka!

Nakon što me je sutradan nekako osvetnički izjebao ispričao mi je da joj je rekao i kako je tekao tok razgovora!

Left to Right: Jonathan Schaech, Kathleen Robertson, and Matt Keeslar in Gregg Araki's Splendor

23 year old aspiring actress who wears more lipstick than a circus clown goes to punk club and falls in love-at-first-sight with two guys. Soon they all move in together and have three-ways every night--it's a fornicator's dream come true!. . .but the dream turns into a nightmare when the chick gets pregnant (now that's a real surprise plot twist!) and realizes her two bed mates would make less-than-ideal co-fathers. Sure, they are fun to live and fornicate with, but these guys don't even have jobs! What kind of life will her baby have ? Then the chick meets this bland but responsible guy. She doesn't love him, but he's stable and would be a good provider. So she dumps her two lovers and agrees to marry Mr. Bland-But-Dependable (now that's a real surprise plot twist!). But, guess what? Right as the chick is about to say "I do," the two lover boys crash the wedding and rescue the chick from a loveless marriage (now that's a real surprise plot twist!). They all three go back to shacking up and raising the baby (which, in a real surprise plot twist, turns out to be two babies! Twins! Imagine that! How clever!). I guess this was supposed to be some sort of screwball comedy about how complicated young people's lives can become in this so-very-post-modern-world, but. . .it's not funny (though it is boring) and the script isn't fresh (though the acting is terrible). You wonder how the mediocrity who wrote and directed this *movie* ever fooled enough people to pony up the five million or so it took to make this frisbee. . .that con job must have used up all his creative energy. *

by Scott Tobias April 19, 2002

Unburdened by the heavy nihilism that dogged his so-called "Teenage Apocalypse Trilogy" (Totally F***ed Up, The Doom Generation, and Nowhere), Gregg Araki's Splendor is his brightest, most tolerable work to date, a day-glo romantic fantasy that sweetly considers the long-term possibilities of a drunken three-way. A camp reworking of Noel Coward's bohemian farce Design For Living, the film stars Beverly Hills 90210's Kathleen Robertson as an aspiring actress and self-described "good girl" drawn to two polar  opposites at a Halloween rave: Johnathon Schaech, a bespectacled (and thus sensitive) freelance rock critic, and Matt Keeslar, a neanderthal drummer for a sub-par punk band. Robertson falls for her competing lovers equally, but rather than choose between them, she allows both to move in and share her affections. This sort of premise would normally bring out Araki the obnoxious provocateur, but Splendor instead carries a bubbly, inconsequential tone that marks a surprising and welcome change of pace. While Araki's self-conscious dialogue still pounds with leaden irony, he continues to make great strides as an avant-garde stylist, painting the film's appealing surfaces with bold splashes of primary colors, eye-popping artificial sets, and a hypnotic art-pop sound design. Were he to invest the story with the same conviction, Splendor might have been the blissful, forward-thinking modern romance he intended. But for all his gifts, Araki is paralyzed by cool self-awareness, caught in the impossible position of trying to make this trio emotionally resonate while snickering at the Three's Company phoniness of it all. Love stories require some measure of earnestness and heart, but Araki seems to have deposited his on the beach in The Living End, and hasn't recovered it since.

Wilby Wonderful (2004)

Saturday Night at the Baths (1975)

Director: David Buckley
Scenario: Franklin Khedouri, David Buckley
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Year: 1975
Duration: 75 min (DVD version)
Rating: 6.9/10

Actors: Robert Aberdeen, Ellen Sheppard, Don Scotti, Steve Ostrow, Phillip Owens, Jane Olivor, Janie Olivor, R. Douglas Brautigham, Paul Ott, Paul Vanase, Caleb Stone, J.C. Gaynor, Pedro Valentine, Toyia, Josh Palace

Description:
An (almost) charmless mess! Rent it, don't buy it..., 5 October 2006
3/10
Author: plum-blossom from West Oakland, CA

While watching this I was faced with conflicting thoughts. I was a young man in NYC in the 70's, and had discovered the fabled Continental Baths a year previous to when this was released. The Continental was a ground-breaking establishment - up until then the majority of the bathhouses were Mafia-run, filthy, run-down and unsafe, and then Steve Ostrow took over the decayed health club in the basement of the Hotel Ansonia and turned it into a true pleasure palace - with original art (I remember a series of wicked Tomi Ungerer drawings and some early Plexiglass sculptures), great lighting, music, a juice bar - and a private elevator up to the roof sun deck. For me, just coming out, it was an exhilarating and liberating space to be in, where I could freely express my sexuality and begin to meet the rest of the community (that I'd barely knew existed).
So to see the few interior shots, and the shots of Greenwich Village as it looked in the 1970's was a treat - as was seeing a bunch of skinny men with so-so bodies and remembering that we didn't have to face the Gym Facists back then - it was enough of a wonder to just be young and queer.
On the other hand, the film is a shapeless mess, with a thin plot and an abrupt ending that I found infuriatingly simplistic and weak. Some of the acting's decent, (there's also an eerie Judy Garland turn by Caleb Stone and an all too brief glimpse of Jane Olivor performing), but the film feels partly like a pitch for the Continental (no surprise, as Steve Ostrow is listed as a producer and appears in a few scenes as well).

 

The best review what i read is Here ( http://www.filmcritic.com )

Zus & zo (2001)

Zus & zo (2001)

Director: Paula van der Oest
Scenario: Paula van der Oest
Genre: Comedy, Fantasy, Romance
Country: Netherlands
Year: 2001
Duration: 100 min
Rating: 6.5/10

 

Actors: Sylvia Poorta, Anneke Blok, Monic Hendrickx, Jacob Derwig, Halina Reijn, Jaap Spijkers, Theu Boermans, Antje Boermans, Pieter Embrechts, Annet Nieuwenhuyzen, Jorge Do Collo, Mike Reus, Marisa Van Eyle, Tijn Docter, Harpert Michielsen

Description:

VARIETY.COM
By EDDIE COCKRELL

About as vigorous and intricate as a glossy romantic comedy can get without collapsing under the weight of its own merriment, "Zus & Zo" is a complicated confection in which three sisters scheme to prevent their gay brother from inheriting the seaside vacation home of their childhood. Convoluted plot aside, universally understandable feel-good nature of proceedings indicate action up and down the family tree, from fests to arthouses to cable to video.

Using Chekhov's play about the trio of scheming siblings as a broad jumping-off point, pic sets up three very messy lives. Sometimes narrator Sonja (Monic Hendrickx) is a writer whose priapic husband, Hugo (Theu Boermans), perpetually worried about his health, is having an affair with Sonja's sister, Wanda (Anneke Blok), an artist collecting sperm samples for an elaborately interactive exhibit. Eldest sister Michelle (Sylvia Poorta) yearns to escape her life with long-suffering husband Jan (Jaap Spijkers) and an assortment of multicultural adopted kids.
All three sisters see the answers to their prayers in the form of the spacious, spectacular seaside home of their childhood, an idyllic retreat north of Lisbon. But their convoluted machinations come screeching to a halt when their brother, Nino (Jacob Derwig), previously thought to have been involved with TV chef Felix Delicious (Pieter Embrechts), announces that he's about to be married to the bubbly Bo (Halina Reijn) -- thereby invoking a clause in their parents' will that allows him to inherit the property. 
Bulk of pic involves the various schemes hatched by the siblings against Nino, Bo and each other, culminating in a surprise wedding, a really surprising birth, and a not entirely unexpected surgical procedure.
With all these narrative balls in the air, helmer Paula van der Oest brings a whimsical vigor to her over-plotted script, tempering a madcap -- if often overbearing -- vibe with an ingratiating lustiness. Cast is enthusiastic if somewhat mannered, with Boermans stealing the show via a wide-eyed bundle of tics and twitches as the perpetually bewildered Hugo.
Tech credits are pro, with crisp lensing of d.p. Bert Pot (operator of the subjective camera in Robert Jan Westdijk's distinctive 1996 thriller "Little Sister") burnishing the overall gloss. Original Dutch title is pun on phrase "this and that" or "so-so," as "zus" also means "sister." Claiming "we never really found the one that does it," shingle is currently sifting through some 400 suggested English lingo titles gathered via a write-in competish during recent Toronto fest.
Camera (color), Bert Pot; editor, Sander Vos; music, Fons Merkies; production designer, Harry Ammerlaan; sound (Dolby Digital), Ben Zijlstra, Mark Glynne, Michel Schopping. Reviewed at Toronto Film Festival (Contemporary World Cinema), Sept. 15, 2001. Running time: 105 MIN.

Nighthawks (1978)

Nighthawks (1978)

Director: Ron Peck
Scenario: Paul Hallam, Ron Peck
Genre: Drama
Country: UK
Year: 1978
Duration: 113 min
Rating: 6.7/10

My rating: 1/10

Actors: Ken Robertson, Tony Westrope, Rachel Nicholas James, Maureen Dolan, Stuart Craig Turton, Clive Peters, Robert Merrick, Frank Dilbert, Peter Radmall, John Angel, Norman Bateson, Philip Beckett, Ernest Brightmore, Derek Jarman

Description:
http://www.avclub.com
by Scott Tobias

As one of the first commercially regarded features to emerge from London's gay underground in the '70s, Ron Peck and Paul Hallam's remarkable 1978 film Nighthawks had to tread a thin line between challenging public misconceptions and presenting an accurate portrait of the gay community. To pull off such a politically loaded project without compromise is almost impossible; for a recent example, look no further than the first mainstream AIDS drama, 1993's Philadelphia, which lost credibility with its guarded speeches and meaningful shoulder-squeezing.

Nighthawks sidesteps these pitfalls by focusing on the double life of Ken Robertson, a closeted geography teacher, as he navigates through the straight and gay worlds. At night, he descends on the few gay bars and discos, nursing a pint of beer while anxiously scanning the dance floor until someone catches his eye. Since bars and discos, by nature, encourage one-night stands over long-term relationships, Robertson's frequent sexual encounters become routine and dissatisfying. With intimacy and compassion, Peck and Hallam explore the romantic dilemmas of marginalization, using a minuscule budget and few locations to show the suffocating limits of homosexual life.

Twelve years after Nighthawks was released and subsequently hailed as a landmark in gay cinema, Peck returned to direct a fascinating companion piece, 1990's Strip Jack Naked. Ostensibly a "making-of" documentary, this loose assembly of outtakes, photographs, sketches, film clips, and newsreel footage evolves into a far more ambitious and personal history of gay culture in England. Tracing back to his adolescence, Peck begins with a riveting account of his peculiar attraction to the same sex, well before homosexuality was decriminalized in 1967, and goes on to explain how the gay community continued to flourish, even in the grim moral climate of the Thatcher Era. Nighthawks was his snapshot of the movement; Strip Jack Naked shows the full album.

Quemar las naves (2007)

Quemar las naves (2007)

Director: Francisco Franco
Scenario: Francisco Franco, María Renée Prudencio
Genre: Drama
Country: Mexico
Year: 2007
Duration: 100 min
Rating: 7.4/10
Subtitle: English

Actors: Irene Azuela, Juan Carlos Barreto, Bernardo Benítez, Ricardo Blume, Diana Bracho, Pablo Bracho, Juan Costa, Alberto Estrella, Jose Carlos Fermat, Aida López, Roberto Luna, Claudette Maillé, Ángel Onésimo Nevares, Úrsula Pruneda, Jessica Segura, Ramón Valdés

Description:

Ovih dana sam se bas bacio na posao tako da bas i nemam nesto mnogo vremena za filmove. A narednih desetak dana necu biti doma tako da će blog biti malo zapstavljen. Uostalom ima već dosta matirijala na njemu. Pretvorio se nekako u neki spisak filmova sa gay tematikom. Za linkove se i dalje morate pobrinuti na drugim blogovima i sajtovima. Imate spisak nekih meni najomiljenijih sa lijeve strane bloga pa potražite sta vam treba.

Quemar las naves (2007) se može svrstati u coming out priču mladog Sebastiana koji živi sa sestrom i majkom koja umire od raka. Njegova sestra Helena prinuđena da ostaje kući i brine se o majci dok on ide u strogu katoličku školu te ipak ima vremena i za izlaske sa drugovima. Sebastian osječa da ga privlače zgodni drugari, a posebno nekonvencionalni Juan sa kojim razvija jaku emocionalnu vezu koja će ga dovesti do njegovog prvog seksualnog iskustva. Na njegovu sreći ili nesreću ( zavisno od toga ko kako gleda na to) za njegovu vezu sa Juanom saznaju i njegova sestra i ostali drugovi u školi.
Već sam pominjao u blogu kako odvajanje od roditeljskih stega može dovesti do osjećaja slobode. Iako potrešen gubitkom majke,  pred Sebastianom se otvara put koji ga vodi u samostalan i nesputan život.Sebastianova stremljenja i želje najbolje razumije sestra, koja iako je teško prihvatila njegovu homoseksualnost, zna da mora da ga pusti da otplovi svojim vodama.

Quemar las naves se nemože svrstati u jeftine filmska ostvarenja, dobra gluma puna emocija, snažna muzika, izuzetna fotografija i lijepa priča će vas zasigurno prikovati uz ekran.

Mene je podsjetio na jednog druga koji je stalno bježao od kuće. Jedno vrijeme je stalno dolazio kod mene dok su moji bili na poslu pa smo se stalno zavlačili u jedan veliki plakar ili u podrumu zgrade u kojemu smo eksperimentisali sve ono što smo gledali u tada teško dostupnim porno časopisima. To je trajalo jedno dvije godine dok nije došlo vrijeme da svako nastavi svojim putem.

VARIETY.COM
By ROBERT KOEHLER
A son, a daughter and their dying mother are caught between desire, death and yearnings for the future in the remarkably pungent "Burn the Bridges." Theater-trained helmer and co-writer Francisco Franco makes the leap into features with striking confidence, coming up with one of the few superior dramas in recent Mexican filmmaking. Top prizes nabbed at Morelia fest set up the pic for a prestigious local profile, which could translate into fair B.O. on its April 4 release, while global fest interest should be fast and furious.
Unlike several recent family-based Mexican films which took risks with high-wire strategies (from the lassitude of "Turtle Family" to the hyper-strained absurdities of "Bad Habits"), "Burn the Bridges" passes every dramatic test it sets up, pulling off fine surprises when things could have gone terribly south.
Siblings Helena (Irene Azuela) and Sebastian (Angel Onesimo Nevarez) develop the hots for each other while caring for their dying, cancer-ridden mom, former pop singer Eugenia (Claudette Maille). Add in the family's snooping maid Chaya (Aida Lopez); the awkward homoerotic impulses Sebastian feels for the new boy at school, Juan (Bernardo Benitez); and the familiar tropes of a sprawling bourgeois manse on the edge of decay and the oppressive atmosphere of Sebastian's Catholic-run school, and the film would seem awash in cliches and narrative minefields.
Instead, Franco and screenwriter Maria Renee Prudencio find a groove early on that keeps the film hopping with the unexpected, hinging everything on the volatile emotions of a pair of teens on the precipice of major life changes. A fascinating tension results from how 19-year-old Helena, the eldest, must stay at home, while Sebastian, who's still in school, is free to roam and possibly connect with a companion -- even a potentially dangerous character like Juan. Helena stews in the old house (rendered as a perfect place for eavesdropping by Lizette Ponce's ingenious production design) while he plays, and hidden jealousies between the pair explode in the pic's second half, after mom dies and the fate of the house is unsure.
At this point, "Burn the Bridges" taps into a new energy source, ushering in a fresh set of problems involving rich kid Ismael (Ramon Valdes) -- who also has repressed desires for Sebastian -- and young Aurora (Jessica Segura) -- who rents a room in the house.
Though it never pushes its tone toward overt black comedy, pic carries strong reverberations from the earliest and latest films of Marco Bellocchio -- the wild nature of family units, the powerful position held by the youngest male and the urge for freedom in a heavy Catholic atmosphere, all captured with vibrant and brawny cinematic technique.
Franco elicits amazing perfs from his generally young cast, with Azuela and Nevarez vividly capturing teen dizziness, creative impulses and sexual indecisiveness. Benitez, Valdes and Segura keep the film operating on a giddy and highly engaging level.
Lenser Alejandro Giacoman's subdued use of color is just one of the film's subtle strokes. Locations in the lovely northern burg of Zacatecas are highly original and refreshing.

 

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