For its 11th year, the Portland Lesbian & Gay Film
Festival sticks to its familiar, successful modus
operandi—offering up a slew of films “that are made by,
about, and [are] of interest to the lesbian, gay, bi, and trans
community.” Below are our impressions of the films we were able to
check out; for more info, see Movie Times on pg. 55, or hit plgff.org.
Brand Upon the Brain! (dir. Guy Maddin; Sat Oct 13, 7
pm, Cinema 21)—Canada’s craziest filmmaker, Guy Maddin, has
outdone himself with Brand Upon the Brain!, a silent
black-and-white film that will be performed three times in Portland,
with one showing specifically for the Lesbian & Gay Film
Festival—complete with an 11-piece orchestra, live foley artists,
and narrator Karen Black. Beautifully shot and achingly bizarre, the
film details the story of a younger version of Guy Maddin (Sullivan
Brown), who, along with a boy and girl detective (both played by
Katherine E. Scharhon), investigates strange markings that have been
appearing on children’s necks. Don’t miss this event—you’ll never
see anything else like it. COURTNEY FERGUSON
Colma: The Musical (dir. Richard Wong; Sat Oct 13, 6
pm, Hollywood Theatre)—A few miles south of San Francisco, three
recent high school graduates (played by much older actors) struggle to
get out of their vapid hometown. After a promising beginning, the
musical’s songs all start to sound alike and, eventually, become
replaced by bogs of theatrical dialogue. Can you really call it a
musical if over half isn’t set to music? WILL GARDNER
No Regret (dir. Leesong Hee-il; Mon Oct 15, 9 pm,
Cinema 21)—Anyone who sits through this film will attest to the
irony of the title—it’s hard not to regret wasting two hours of
your life on an ill-conceived, indulgent film that is both adolescently
moody and incomprehensibly violent. A (hot) rich man falls in love with
a (hot) orphan turned male prostitute, but the callboy is
understandably suspicious of his wealthy admirer. Love will win in the
end, but not before the characters prove the intensity of their
feelings with fistfights, car accidents, and, weirdly, live interment.
ALISON HALLET
The Bubble (dir. Eytan Fox; Tues Oct 16, 9 pm, Cinema
21)—A group of hip, Tel Aviv twentysomethings spend their days
working service jobs and their nights partying. All feel relatively
safe in their “bubble” of Western-influenced hipsterdom, until Jewish
Noam (Ohad Knoller) meets Ashraf (Yousef “Joe” Sweid), an Arab hottie.
A poignant, Romeo and Juliet-like love story plays out as
Arab/Israeli tensions bring the reality and futility of ongoing
prejudice to their doorstep. BRAD BUCKNER
Nina’s Heavenly Delights (dir. Pratibha Parmar; Fri
Oct 19, 7 pm, Cinema 21)—Most LGBT romantic comedies make the
mistake of being gay, gay, gay first and foremost—neglecting
critical things like character development, plot, and dialogue.
Luckily, Nina’s Heavenly Delights is several things before it’s
gay, gay, gay—it’s a food movie (Nina, played by Shelley Conn, is
a young Indian woman in Glasgow who takes over her late father’s curry
house, and enters a cooking competition in his honor), a family drama,
and a peek into the Indian culture of Scotland. Against that rich
backdrop, Nina falls for Lisa (Laura Fraser), a girl who’s dating her
brother. (P.S.—My screener copy crapped out with 25 minutes to
go. If anyone knows whether Nina [A] gets the girl or [B] wins the
competition, drop me a line!) AMY J. RUIZ
Shelter (dir. Jonah Markowitz; Sat Oct 20, 8 pm,
Cinema 21)—A young straight surfer bound for art school has
trouble coming to terms with coming out. Visually impressive surfing
sequences help make this otherwise-been-there film more tolerable.
WG
The Witnesses (dir. André
Téchiné; Sun Oct 21, 6 pm, Cinema 21)—Set in Paris
in 1984, The Witnesses provides a French take on the first
bomb-drop of HIV. Everything is très bien between Mehdi,
a strutting Algerian detective (Sami Bouajila) and Sarah (Emmanuelle
Béart), a chesty writer with postpartum depression and whopping
silicone lips—until Mehdi starts bumming 18-year-old Manu (Johan
Libéreau), who subsequently develops AIDS. It’s all pretty
iconoclastic, but the platonic relationship between Manu and his older
admirer, doctor Adrien (Michel Blanc), is where the movie really breaks
new ground: It’s actually okay for gay older men to befriend cute,
really young ones, even when their motives are confused. MATT DAVIS