Yet more
gay stuff!
>> Various notable entries at this
year’s Image&Nation

by MATTHEW HAYS

Another month, another film festival. Or so it seems right about now. My mission impossible is to avoid cynicism and see beyond the mounting stack of videotapes lying around my TV, find the quality items, and report back to you, dear reader.

Frankly, my task at this year’s landmark 15th edition of the Image&Nation Film Festival isn’t too difficult. There are a number of extremely worthwhile films and videos to catch. Here, in no scientific order, are a few of my choices.

Silas Howard and Harry Dodge emerged victorious from Sundance earlier this year, with the poignant gender buster By Hook or by Crook, made on the cheap and looking all the better for it. It’s an intense dyke version of Midnight Cowboy, with two down-and-outs making their way through an often-unfriendly world. The performances are charming and the film is full of transcendent moments. Also in the buddy vein is Gypsy 83, Todd Stephens’ exciting follow-up to his brilliant Edge of 17. Stephens’ canny portrait allows for a unique vision of outsiders looking inward.

A truly odd if not great film experience will be had watching Reflections in a Golden Eye, John Huston’s ultrastrange ’67 take on a repressed homosexual military man. Watching the cast alone is pretty weird, warped further by Huston’s atypically nutty shooting style. Marlon Brando, Elizabeth Taylor, Julie Harris and Robert Forster all appear. Speaking of weirdness, following the singalong Sound of Music sensation, we’re all about to be treated to the prospect of singing along with Grease. Yep, you read right, Grease. Now, some of you may be gagging at this, but keep in mind that director Randal Kleiser is a big fag, and that John Travolta is… well, I won’t say it here as I don’t have the money to fend off any possible lawsuits, but let’s just say this musical is fruitier than a nutcake.

Finally, Jeffrey Erbach’s eerie and intriguing directorial debut, The Nature of Nicholas, will be screening at Image&Nation after its premiere at the World Fest. I was extremely taken with this highly unusual tale of a boy obsessed with another boy and the phantom who comes between them. :

>> A guide to some of the best bets at the fest

>> Movie Listings