Art School Confidential (2006) - LightShed 7

Good movie.  I expected much more, but it was good.

In Art School Confidential, Max Minghella is a young artist who wants to make it big in the art world, he goes to a prestigious art school in New York and learns that the art world is way tougher than he thought.  Having talent is the least of his concerns -- he really has to learn how to "suck cock and lick ass" as a fellow artist, played by Jim Broadbent, explains. 

To make things crazier, there's a serial killer on the loose.

The great cast also included hottie Matt Keeslar (who played a gay character in Urbania), John Malkovich, and Angelica Huston.

We had tons of gay content, peppered throughout the entire movie.  Not all was positive though.

Here are some highlights from the gay content in the movie:

Early in the movie we see a butch girl with a backpack that carried an equal sign from the Human Rights Campaign, that was nice, even if she wasn't a lesbian.

Max Minghella has a roommate, played by Nick Swardson, who was obviously conflicted with his sexuality (you kinda get that from the trailer).  He is quite effeminate and he goes out of his way to say he misses his girlfriend right off the bat.

Two street punks call Max and his classmate, played by Joel Moore, faggots.  The punks say they make a cute couple in an offensive way, but Joel just shrugs and actually puts his arms around Max, not minding at all if he looks gay or not.  Excellent.

When Max tells his parents about a girlfriend (played by Sophia Myles) the parents hug each other in relief and happiness.  This was supposed to be funny but it's just offensive. Max's sister even spells out to Max that the reason why their parents are hugging is because they are happy to know Max is "not a homo."  I know that is probably the truth today and most parents would still be all happy and relieved to learn their kid is not gay, but that is sad.  Dianne Keaton in The Family Stone and Jack Thompson in The Sum of Us are just two great examples of how parents should behave with their gay kids.

Later on, we learn that Max's girlfriend (Sophia) had a lesbian affair with an artist.  The artist run into the new couple and she is all angry and crazy, but that's not a big deal.  Max acts naturally and don't even mention the fact (that his girlfriend had a lesbian affair).  So, that was nice. 

But when Sophia is alone, the artist tells her that she can crawl back to her when she is done with men, and kisses her on the lips.  Sophia dismisses her former lesbian lover by rolling her eyes and we can see Sophia was sort of embarrassed by her, so that was not so hot.

  Jim Broadbent plays a failed artist whose first advice to Max is to learn how to be good at cock sucking and ass licking.  Initially you think that Jim is actually making a pass on Max, but that's not the case.  Still, it was kind of a bad use of "cock sucking" and "ass licking" I thought.

I got major gay vibes from John Malkovich's character, but I'm not going there...

Oh, and there's a scene in which a male model poses for an art class.  The model is fugly but he is quite an exhibitionist -- and we see his sizable tool clearly and for quite a long screen time.

I will discuss two other incidents, one positive and one negative but they will spoil a bit of the movie.  Read on or go see Art School Confidential. [SPOILER AHEAD]

Later in the movie we learn that Matt Keeslar is actually a cop working undercover in the art school, trying to get information on the serial killer.  In one scene we see Matt at home and two of his fellow cops go visit him.  When the cops arrive at Matt's house, Matt is dressed in a preppy way (if I remember correctly, he had a Polo shirt and slacks on), and one of the cops tells Matt Keeslar that he "does not need to dress like a fruitcake" when he is not at work.  Not hot.

But we can end our gay movie review on a pretty good note.  Nick Swardson, Max's roommate (remember he played a funny weirdo in the homophobic movie The Benchwarmers?), comes out to Max and Max has no problem at all with it.  Nick is all nervous of course, but he says it: "I'm gay."  It's a no brainer for Max.  Go Max.

So, with all the good and not so good light for the gays in the movie, I do believe the balance was positive.

Comments

[Ricardo]

Well, I guess I have no words to express my gratitude, QB...
(Sorry, but I'm still under the effect of having just watched the last episode of «Six Feet Under». Most powerful and unbelievably moving...)
Thank you very much!

[Queer Beacon]

Speaking of Jensen Ackles, check out a few nice pics here:
http://www.bentblog.com/art26151008.htm

I like the beard...

[Ricardo, Lisbon, Portugal]

I do appreciate your kindness, QB aka Augusto (or vice-versa), but I just went on writing here because I felt some good vibes around. Other blogs are really strange or unpolite or arrogant.
It feels really nice here.
So keep up with the good work!
Força!

[Queer Beacon]

Hey Ricardo. I never saw Supernatural, but I certainly remember Jensen from Smallville and Dawson's Creek. He is hot.

Thanks for your comments. I love and read every single one of them.

[Ricardo, Lisbon, Portugal]

O Lord, Matt Keeslar... Does QB want us all to go desperately crazy?
Btw, is there «something» we guys could know about another hottie we've been watching here in Europe these last few weeks on TV? I hope he'll show up soon on the screens! (Yes, I know, this is called suspense...) The serie is Supernatural (not my cup of tea anyway), and the boy's name is JENSEN ACKLES! (Have you ever contemplated anything so beautiful? Not handsome, beautifuuulll!...)
I like the new banner very much, especially the pic on the left...
Enjoy the weekend!