Gay Nazi porn! by MATTHEW HAYS One thing is certain: Bruce LaBruce's latest film, currently touring the international film festival circuit, is not headed to your local multiplex anytime soon. The film, which has been getting decidedly mixed, not-sure-where-we-should-stand-on-this reviews wherever it's been playing, is titled Skin Flick, and it's LaBruce's hilarious, often disturbing riff on gay porn. The film profiles several neo-Nazi skinheads. They all boink one another, but do not identify themselves as gay. In the meantime, they rough up immigrants and gays--LaBruce casts himself as one of the gay-bashing victims--and generally act loutish. But the sequences that are getting the most angry response are the ones involving a bourgeois mixed-race gay couple. When the skins break into their home, they proceed to torment and rape the black gay man, while chanting, "Fuck the monkey!" It's pretty heavy stuff, but LaBruce is fully aware of that. "Obviously, the film is provocative--I knew some would be offended." LaBruce has been surprised, however, at comparisons drawn to notorious Nazi filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl (Triumph of the Will). "There have been explicit accusations of racism. In Xtra!, the critic argued that the film is ironic, but I didn't mean it to be ironic. Rather, I meant it to be paradoxical. Neo-Nazis are nasty and dangerous, they inspire fear among gays. But they also turn us on. The film addresses this openly. Many don't want to acknowledge these impulses." LaBruce argues further that the film is a logical extension of all gay porn, which, he states, is innately fascistic. And by pushing boundaries, LaBruce says he's trying to buck the banality and conformity which permeates contemporary gay culture, reaching back to the work of such pillars of queer cinema as Andy Warhol, Kenneth Anger and John Waters (early Waters, he notes). As disturbing as some of Skin Flick is, there are also laughs to be had, and unlike the vast majority of filmmakers working today, LaBruce keeps his audience on its toes, continually making them question their ideological assumptions. I call it the Starship Troopers or Romper Stomper of gay porn. Though Skin Flick did have its Montreal premiere last fall at the Image&Nation Gay and Lesbian Film Fest, as of press time there are no plans to screen the film in Montreal. In entirely unrelated film news, the Cinémathèque québécoise--one of Montreal's most treasured cultural institutions--is presenting a series of Italian films from a master, Pietro Germi. The collection, all of which screen with English subtitles, runs from February 1-10, and features such gems as Divorce--Italian Style, The Birds, The Bees and the Italians and Alfredo, Alfredo. For those who missed it at the New Film Fest, Peter Wintonick's splendid doc Cinéma Vérité will begin screening this Friday (in its French version) at Ex-Centris, as will Mike Hoolbloom's fascinating experimental feature Panic Bodies. Both films come highly recommended--check repertory listings for showtimes. Be sure to tune into the Genies this Sunday night to support your local talent. Check it out on CBC. COMMENTS: matt_hays@babylon.montreal.qc.ca