Queer Beacon

Hidden (Cache - 2005) - LightShed 6

Very good movie.

In Cache (that's the original French title), Daniel Auteil is the host of a round table on the public television in France.  Juliette Binoche is his wife. 

They start to get some weird videotapes that let them know they are being watched.  Creepy.  Cryptic.

Director Michael Haneke also wrote the screenplay.  He squeezed in a bit of gay content for our gay movie review.  In one scene, Daniel Auteil is editing one of the episodes of his TV show, and we hear one of the guests talk about Rimbaud.  We see that Daniel Auteil wants to cut part of the dialog to have his guest go directly to a talk about homosexuality.  Very nice.

Daniel Auteil goes sort of frontal in the movie.  We barely catch a glimpse of his tool, it's very dark in the room, but he does bare all.

Do rent this movie right now.  The DVD includes an interview with Haneke (pic on the right).  Make sure you see that too. 

The House of Sand (2005) - LightShed 5

Excellent movie. I saw it at the Seattle International Film Festival.  You can watch the trailer for this Brazilian movie here (sadly, the trailer is pretty bad and does not reflect the quality of the movie).

The House of Sand is set in the early 1900s.  Fernanda Torres' husband drags her to the middle of nowhere in the state of Maranhao, in the northern part of Brazil.  It's a beautiful place, but all they get is sand as far as the eye can see.  It appears they are running away from debt. 

Torres, in turn, drags her mom with her.  The mom is played by her real-life mom, Fernanda Montenegro.  Montenegro is the only Brazilian actresses ever to be nominated for an Oscar.  She got her nomination in 1999 for her role in Central Station (she lost to Gwyneth).  The House of Sand shows a few generations into Fernandas' family in an ingenious way (you need to watch the movie to know how).

Seu Jorge (who is also a singer -- a famous singer in Brazil) knows his way around the 'neighborhood' and helps Fernanda out with food, etc.  By the way, Seu Jorge's rendition of Life on Mars, from David Bowie, is one of the nicest songs ever, you have got to check it out.  He did it for Life Aquatic.

We had a tiny bit of content for our gay movie review. In one scene, Fernanda Torres wanders into some barracks and starts to go through the objects there.  She picks up an Eca de Queiroz book and inside it she sees a few pictures, one of the them pretty naughty.  The naughty one displays three people, two girls and a guy.  Here's the setting for the picture: the girl is laying down on the couch providing bj services to the guy, meanwhile, she has a girl down on her.  Yay!  Go lesbians / bisexuals!  The picture is barely onscreen, it's shown for just a very brief moment, but you see the two girls clearly.

Oh, and Fernanda Torres goes frontal, and we see Seu Jorge's butt.  That was a pretty hot scene.

Young Brazilian director Andrucha Waddington (pic left) is not bad looking in a scruffy way. 

This is what should be called a family movie.  Fernanda Montenegro is Fernanda Torres' mom, and Torres is married to Andrucha.

Hate Crime (2005) - LightShed 10

Very good movie.  Very easy case for a LightShed 10. 

It is a great thing that the title gives you a peek into the plot of the movie.  You will need to be prepared because the movie hits close to home.

In the movie, Seth Peterson and Brian J. Smith are nice gays, about to get married.  Chad Donella is a homophobic guy who moves in next door.  He is the son of a pastor, played by Bruce Davison.  The movie starts with a dog on a leash, running alone, and you'll be glued to your seat for the rest of the movie.  That constant state of tension that good thrillers deliver.

At first, the plot seemed straightforward, and I think that was great.  I kind of needed that simplicity because I knew I was about to get a punch in the stomach and I didn't want to worry too much about much else.  But there's more to the plot.  Interesting twists.

Now to the gay movie review.  The movie provided a great and harsh criticism of the way religious groups have kidnapped the bible and morals in the US.  The movie shows a homophobic religious group but also let us know there is a god who doesn't hate fags.  All shot in Texas.

In one scene, the gay couple looks into wedding bands and finds acceptance from the store clerk.  In another scene, Brian Smith's mom offers her own egg to the couple, she wants a grandson so badly.  I know, a little weird, but very sweet and loving.  I almost cried here.  Also,the gays are trusted enough to babysit a boy.  The gays are willing to take parenting lessons.  They get along great with other neighbors.  To top it all off, the homophobes are portrayed in a bad light.  Super yay!

I have been very glad and optimistic with the recent crop of gay movies.  Hate Crime joins Loggerheads in that rank.  The movies are very different but share the same great pace and colors (I love the greens in both movies).  Hate Crime is also serious fare, also gut wrenching (albeit for different reasons).

The couple is cute and comfortable in their skin:

The homophobe:

The movie does provide a bit of skin, but less than your usual gay film.  Great, more skin would have been unnecessary and sort of in the way of the important message of acceptance. 

I think this movie, more than any other I guess (even more than Bent), hits close to home because it's so contemporary.  Homophobia is present in various forms still today.  Very present.  Kudos for Tommy Stovall (he wrote and directed).  You guys, do hope for the movie to play in a theater near you.  Watch the trailer here.

Way to start Tommy!  I can't wait for your next flick. 

I have a few more words to say about the gay content, but they may sort of spoil part of the surprises in the movie, but I'll be far from revealing any major plot twists or the ending.  So read on or get out now and go see this movie.

Hotel (2001) - Shipwreck 4

Bad movie.  It didn't do it for me, and you think that Max Beesley's frontal AND getting banged up the ass by a strap-on lady would do the trick, right?  Think again.  Here, a bunch of misfits is gathered to make a movie in this hotel in Venice.  Strange things start to happen, like the director getting into some sort of weird coma.  All very very artsy.  You could possible like this movie if if you saw it in an art gallery; you could make those sophisticated poses and faces and gestures and all.  At home, you will not like the movie a bit.  Don't rent it.

We had quite a few gay references here.  The first was the only nice one.  That was Valeria Golino frenching another girl.  All sweet and sexy.  But then, Max gets banged by the strap-on lady, and David Schwimmer (of all people, right?) says that that was creepy.  Maybe the creepy part was that the girl who is doing the banging gives birth to twins right after the scene (ok, ok maybe that was it).  But, Lucy Liu calls Salma Hayek a lesbian like that's something bad.  All these people in the movie, doing crazy stuff.  I'm not making stuff up.  It's all there.

Happy Endings (2005) - LightShed 9

I loved this movie.  Here, a bunch of stories connects to give us a look at life in general.  Sounds boring and cliche, right?  It is awesome.  We have Maggie Gyllenhaal, Lisa Kudrow, Bobby Cannavale, David Sutcliffe, Tom Arnold, Laura Dern.  Everybody is very good.  Just in case you don't know, the term "happy ending" refers to the ending of a massage with a whore-up special (I guess it can be pretty much anything sexually related).

We have a lot of great gay content.  Jason Ritter is a teenager in the closet, Tom Arnold plays his dad (there's a little bit of an issue there, but nothing big).  Jason has a crush on Steve Coogan.  Ewww pause.  Steve Coogan's boyfriend is played by David Sutcliffe -- yeah, like that would happen in real life.  Double ewww.  Coogan is a toad.  I have been meaning to see Steve Coogan in Tristram Shandy though.  The previews look great.  Oh, and we also have a lesbian couple raising a kid.  Yay!!  Go lesbos!  Chaotic, great plot.  Get out now.  Go rent it!

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005) - No Gay Content

Nada. The movie was good (I still think the previous one was the best though).  Here Harry enters puberty, there is a lot of focus on girls, popularity, the works.  The movie felt a bit like a reality show, but it was good nonetheless.  They have so much diversity in the movie (people from everywhere, there are Indians, Chinese everything), why can't they include a gay?  Go see it anyway.

A History of Violence (2005) - LightShed 9

The gay content in the movie was very small but I believe it went a long way. The movie uncovers the real deal behind the past of Viggo Mortensen’s character. The movie is gory, but the violence is far from gratuitous and director Cronenberg really delivered a masterpiece. Kudos for Maria Bello’s performance (she plays Mortensen’s wife).

The gay content is delivered to us via Mortensen’s son, Ashton Holmes’ character. Holmes is being bullied in school for having succeed in a baseball move (accidentally it appears) and consequently embarrassed some bullies which were supposed to be good in sports. The bully calls Holmes a faggot, and Holmes reacts in a great way, showing that he is not bothered by it. He says something like “Yes, I am a faggot.” Really well done (although Holmes later beats up the bully in a very scary scene – that could have stayed out).

We are not told whether Holmes is gay (but he has a friend who is a girl – think fag-hag, and he had complained to his dad Mortensen that he is not good in sports – can anyone relate to that?).

It helps too that Holmes delivered such a great performance. Kudos to the movie, even if the gay content was so small (it would have gotten a perfect score otherwise).