Mediocre movie. But, if you consider the movie was made for under $250,000 and was shot in 18 days, you have to agree that it can't get any better than this.
In the movie, Dan Futterman is always close to or barely dodging urban myths, including a kidney thief (in this case, being gay saved his life), a lady who dries up a dog in the microwave, that kind of crap. Yes, Dan is gay in the movie. Alan Cumming cameos as a queen friend who is in bad health.
Just in case you didn't know, Dan is super talented in real life (he wrote the screenplay for Capote). I think he should stick to writing, he is okay as an actor but his screenplay writing abilities are far better. Oh, he also played a gay in Enough, the movie where J.Lo fights back. He was super nice in that movie, helping out an abused big ass-ed friend.
Now to our gay movie review. Dan picks up a bisexual guy in a bar, they argue over who should bottom. Silly.
Dan has a nice relationship with a straight bartender, played by Josh Hamilton. That alone would have been enough to cast a positive light on the gays. But there's more. I'll have to really spoil the movie to keep discussing though.
So read on or rent the movie (just don't expect much). There is quite a bit of skin, and everybody is pretty hot. There's even a very fast frontal from the guy without the kidney. This was just spooky though.
Hate Crime is a better example of a movie dealing with the same issue Urbania deals with: what to do after a terrible hate crime. In both movies a gay is brutally killed because he is gay. In Urbania though, you will only know about the hate crime aspect towards the end of the movie.
Towards the end of Urbania, you learn that the whole movie is about Dan going through the tragic loss of his boyfriend, played by Matt Keeslar:
Matt dies in a hate crime committed in front of Dan. Awful. We don't know this until the end, but throughout the movie Dan is actually hunting down the perpetrator, played by Samuel Ball. Dan pretends to be attracted to Samuel's character, even as Samuel slurs against everybody, uses the N and F words, the works. I was upset that Dan was just sitting by and watching Samuel be a racist and a homophobe. I would have given the movie a low shipwreck rating for portraying a gay guy infatuated with that kind of criminal. But it turns out it was all for revenge purposes. I am not for revenge of course, but that was the way in which Dan's character chose to deal with the loss of his boyfriend.
The hate crime happens when Dan and Matt are walking down the street. They are holding hands and the camera focus repeatedly on that. Like that's what gave them away for the homophobes to single them out and attack them. Really scary, I can't help but think of it every time I hold my hubby's hand. Sad sad world :-(
Once again, the homophobe hides his own sexual arousal for other men. Near the end of the movie, when Dan is about to kill the homophobe, the homophobe gets a boner, and Dan takes notice. Pretty sick, right? Right when his life is being threatened he gets a boner. Just sick.
;-)
Posted by: Queer Beacon | Aug 13, 2007 at 06:56 PM
I think that the reviewer of this movie was simply bored or otherwise interested at the time (s)he watched the movie. The movie is simply brilliant, well-tuned intellectually and emotionally, and it gives a different outlook at gay life than mainstream gay cinema. I had not known about the time- and budget-limitations of the movie when I watched it; but it left an unerasable mark in my memory. Dan makes a great part in the movie, and the part is well-wrought. Actually the entire movie seems full-fledged and despite the skin-patrol-kind-of-review I found it extremely neutral sex-wise and really touching. I recommend this movie to anyone who comes across it in rentals or by way of friends.
Posted by: octavian | Aug 13, 2007 at 06:42 PM
I went to college with Dan Futterman, and he is a real talent. I don't especially like this movie but I really respect his work. I applaud him for making courageous decisions about the parts that he plays and the issues that he deals with in his work. Great work Dan! Roar Lions Roar!!!
Posted by: Dan | May 05, 2006 at 11:43 PM
Call me madcap...but I thought this movie was brilliant.
Posted by: Myackie | May 02, 2006 at 03:09 PM
I agree.
Posted by: Queer Beacon | May 02, 2006 at 09:29 AM
One of the most depressing movies of all time.
Posted by: Victor | May 02, 2006 at 08:46 AM