Filmes de Interés Gay

'Seres extravagantes'
(Odd People Out) . .

This film is an episodic look at the life of Cuban poet and novelist, Reinaldo Arenas (1943-1990), from his childhood in Oriente, province in Cuba to his death in New York City. As a young teen he joins Castro's rebels convinced of the merits of the revolution. By 1964, he is in Havana. He meets the wealthy Pepe, an early lover; a love-hate relationship between them lasts for years.

As the reality of the consequences of the revolution become evident his support for the revolution disappears. His openly gay behavior is a way to spite the government. His writing and homosexuality get him into trouble and he spends two years in prison, writing letters for other inmates and smuggling out a novel. He befriends Lázaro Gomes Garriles, with whom he lives stateless and in poverty in Manhattan after leaving Cuba in the Mariel boat-lift. When asked why he writes, he cheerfully replies, "Revenge."

Film Information: 'Before Night Falls'

Web: Cast, Bios and Additional Information at IMDb
Director: Julian Schnabel
Writers: Reynaldo Arenas (memoir), Cunningham O'Keffe (screenplay)
Credits: Full Cast, Crew & Credits
Runtime: 133 min
Genre: Biography | Drama
Awards: Nominated for Oscar. Another 11 wins & 15 nominations
Spoken Languages: Spanish, English, Russian, French
Subtitled in: English

'Seres extravagantes (Odd People Out) . .



I am that angry and lonely child of always
that throw you the insult of that angry child of always
and warns you:
if hypocritically you pat me on the head
I would take that opportunity to steal you r wallet

I am that child of always
before the panorama of imminent terror,
imminent leprosy, imminent fleas,
of offenses and the imminent crime.

I am that repulsive child that improvises a bed
out of an old cardboard box and waits,
certain that you will accompany me.

~Reinaldo Arenas

"...shatter the nation's
brutalizing silence on
matters of sexual
and racial difference."

Marlon Riggs’ 1989 semi-documentary film Tongues Untied seeks, in its author's words to, "...shatter the nation's brutalizing silence on matters of sexual and racial difference." The film blends documentary footage with personal account and fiction in an attempt to depict the specificity of black gay identity.

The "silence" referred to throughout the film is that of black gay men who are unable to express themselves because of the prejudices of white and black heterosexual society. The narrative structure of Tongues Untied is both interesting and unconventional. Besides including documentary footage detailing North American black gay culture Riggs also tells of his own experiences as a gay man. These include the realizing of his sexual identity and of coping with the deaths of many of his friends to AIDS.

Other elements within the film include footage of the civil rights movement and clips of Eddie Murphy performing a homophobic stand-up routine. At the time of its release the film was considered controversial because of its frank portrayal of gay sexuality. At the time Presidential candidate Pat Buchanan cited Tongues Untied as an example of how President Bush was using taxpayer's money to fund "pornographic art". In his defense Riggs stated that, "Implicit in the much overworked rhetoric of community standards is the assumption of only one central community (patriarchal, heterosexual and usually white) and only one overarching cultural standard ditto."

Film Information: 'Tongues Untied'

Web: Cast, Bios and Additional Details at IMDb
Director: Marlon Riggs
Writer: Marlon Riggs
Credits: Full Cast, Crew & Credits
Genre: Documentary
Awards: 3 wins
Runtime: 55 min
Spoken Language: English

Film Files: 'Tongues Untied'

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Web: Listening to the Heartbeat: Interview with Marlon Riggs (Opens in new tab)

This interview was conducted by Chuck Kleinhans in Oakland CA in November 1989, with Marlon Riggs shortly after the premiere of Riggs' TONGUES UNTIED at the American Film Institute Video Festival. The interview was prepared in written form by Julia Lesage.

Web: Marlon Riggs bio at the Museum of Broadcast Communications (Opens in new tab)
.

"Physicality dominates
the film, from the opening
shots of the pair entwined
naked on a bed like lovers . . "

Described by Aleksandr Sukorov as "the incarnation of a fairytale", Father and Son is the amazingly mysterious second installment in the director's planned trilogy about family relationships (the first was Mother and Son). It charts the relationship between a man (Andrei Shchetinin) and his offspring (Aleksei Nejmyshev) who live on the top floor of an old house. The father is a veteran of some unspecified war; the son of an army recruit. The spend their days gazing into each other's eyes and talking about their dead wife and mother.

Dissecting the bond between them - a bond that has as much to do with fiercely macho competition as love - Sukorov mythologises the father as a strong, immovable figure who must be dispatched in order for the son to flourish. Physicality dominates the film, from the opening shots of the pair entwined naked on a bed like lovers, to the boy's hand-to-hand combat classes which Sukorov shoots in long takes as transfixed by the rough and tumble of male bodies.

After the breathtaking pomp and circumstance of Russian Ark, Father And Son is full of intimate moments. Shot through yellow filters, the cinematography basks in the golden glow of a setting sun. The frame seems distorted, while the sets (shot in Lisbon for Russia) are deliberately artificial and stage-like. Most striking of all, the soundtrack is looped and layered with a series of unsettling effects, making it as rich and diffuse as the film itself.

"DREAMILY SEDUCTIVE... PROFOUNDLY DISTURBING"

Underlying it all is a religious allegory. "A father's love crucifies. A loving son lets himself be crucified," whispers the dad as he explains the joys of submitting to authority. Yet as it links paternalism, militarism, and nationalism, this achingly beautiful film proves dreamily seductive but also profoundly disturbing.

Andy Warhol...
a kind of LaBrea Tarpit
for a vivid and talented
collection of oddballs . .

Andy Warhol was a phenomenon who warrants a lot of explaining: a completely colorless mega-star celebrity, and a kind of LaBrea Tarpit for a vivid and talented collection of oddballs in the New York scene.

He fostered their continued degeneration into weird lifestyles and heavy drug use; and at the same time acted as their mentor, agent, and sponsor.

One artist who came to be part of Warhol's "scene" was Jean Michel Basquiat, an antisocial street-bum who went from writing graffiti on alley walls to being the toast of New York City's art world.

This film biography chronicles the progression of Basquiat (Jeffrey Wright) and his progression from living in cardboard boxes to penthouses, his romances, his drug use, and his death in 1988 at age 27.

Along the way, he never stopped detesting the rich, including art agent Bruno Bischofberger (Dennis Hopper), and he never lost his naivete. Warhol (David Bowie) picks up some of the pieces as Basquiat lurches through the art scene. Cameo appearances by Tatum O'Neal and Courtney Love add spice to this interesting film.

Film Information: 'Basquiat'

Web: Cast, Bios and Additional Details at IMDb
Director: Julian Schnabel
Writers: Lech Majewski (story) and John F. Bowe (short story)
Credits: Full Cast, Crew & Credits
Genre: Biography|Drama
Awards: 2 wins & 3 nominations
Runtime: 108 min
Spoken Languages: English|Spanish

Download Film Files: 'Basquiat'

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Andy Warhol & Jean-Michel Basquiat in 1986



'Basquiat' Soundtrack:

Few film soundtracks capture the essence or personality of their subject matter as beautifully as the collection of songs culled from Basquiat. Jean Michel Basquiat's charisma was based in the many facets of his character and his art, and there's a song here for a good portion of his ever-changing moods. "Public Image," by PiL is a cynical sneer matching Basquiat's own disillusionment over his fame. The inclusion of the undulating rap/funk masterpiece "White Lines" by Grandmaster Flash, plays almost like a cautionary tale, while the hopelessness of Joy Division's "These Days" seems like a theme for the bleak emotional state the painter sometimes experienced. There are, of course, songs that reflect the period of Basquiat's rise from the '70s until his untimely death in the '80s. --Steve Gdula

Soundtrack Files: 'Basquiat' mp3's

01-Public Image by Public Image Ltd
02-It's All Over Now Baby Blue by Van Morrison
03-I'm Not In Love by The Toadies
04-Is That All There Is by PJ Harvey
05-White Lines-by Grandmaster Flash & Melle Mel
06-Rise by Tripping Daisy
07-These Days by Joy Division
08-She Is Dancing by Brian Kelly
09-Tom Traubert's Blues by Tom Waits
10-A Small Plot of Land by David Bowie
11-Summer In Siam by Pogues
12-The Last Song I'll Ever Sing by Gavin Friday
13-Hallelujah by John Cale
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