Tuesday, January 08, 2008

Queer Lounge Events

Here are some cut-and-paste highlights of a few of the homo-friendly set to debut at next week's Sundance Film Festival. (There are more than 40 total.) I wonder what Frank Anthony Polito thinks of "The Mysteries of Pittsburgh" still being lumped together with the other gay films ...

  • "Sunshine Cleaning" -- Emily Blunt ("The Devil Wears Prada") stars as a professional crime-scene cleaner who develops an unhealthy obsession with a blood bank technician played by Mary Lynn Rajskub ("24," "Punch-Drunk Love").

  • "The Mysteries of Pittsburgh" -- In this adaptation of Michael Chabon’s celebrated coming-of-age novel, an aimless college grad finds himself in a bisexual love triangle with reckless rich kids played by Peter Sarsgaard and Sienna Miller.

  • "The Guitar" -- Given only months to live, mousey Mel (Saffron Burrows on "Boston Legal") maxes out her credit cards and pursues her wildest fantasies -- including a steamy fling with a pizza delivery girl played by Paz de la Huerta. This is the directing debut of Park City scion Amy Redford (yes, that Redford).

  • "Pretty Bird" -- Along the ill-fated path to inventing a rocket-powered belt, collaborators Billy Crudup, Paul Giamatti, and Denis O'Hare stumble through fraud charges, a kidnapping, and a murder –- and by movie’s end, at least one of them staggers out of the closet.

  • "Savage Grace" -- Director Tom Kalin ("Swoon") was among the maverick queer filmmakers whose careers were launched in Park City in the 1990s. Sixteen years later he’s back, treating festival-goers to Julianne Moore as an unabashed social climber whose attempts to "cure" her son's homosexuality meet with tragic results.

  • "Otto, Or Up With Dead People" -- Director Bruce LaBruce ("Hustler White") returns with this film about a gay zombie.

    Learn more at the Queer Lounge.
  • 1 comment:

    Frank Anthony Polito said...

    Well, I'll tell you what Frank Anthony Polito thinks...

    He thinks that any fan of the novel that put Michael Chabon on the literary map should NOT waste his/her time (or spend their hard-earned $$) seeing Rawson Marshall Thurber of DODGEBALL fame's so-called adaptation of MYSTERIES OF PITTSBURGH.

    If you're hearing this for the first time let me be the one to tell you that MOP the film is NOTHING like the classic book of the same name... Except for the name, and the characters, and the fact that it's set in Pittsburgh.

    RMT has taken it upon himself to CUT the one truly gay character from Chabon's novel, Arthur Lecomte. Anyone who's read the book knows this is totally ludicrous! (Yes, I said "ludicrous"!)

    Arhur is not only the most interesting character in the book, he's the catalyst for the entire story! Without him, Art Bechstein would never meet glmour girl, Phlox Lombardi or anyone else in the story!

    Of course, RMT has reduced Phlox's character to Art's "sometimes girlfriend" so what does it matter now?

    And you wanna know what else RMT has done? He's made Cleveland Arning into a bisexual who sleeps with anything that moves--including our protag Art Bechstein, and turned Jane--only in about 30% of the book--Bellwether into the film's leading lady!

    Why, I ask you, WHY?! Was the fact that MOP is a New York Times Bestselling book not good enough? Did RMT really feel he needed to "fix" the story?

    If anyone's seen RMT, he's a bit of a Frat Boy (Yes, I called him a "Frat Boy"!) My guess is that it was his humble opinion that Hollywood would not allow him to make the movie with the original plot--a guy falling in love with a 100% gay guy. (Even Ennis in BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN was bisexual!)

    What's even more disappointing is that Michael Chabon signed off on the RMT changes...

    Seems to me he's trying to get away from his past gay-days, as we all know MOP is "semi-autobiographical" and Chabon's a happily wed husband/father these days.

    Don't get me wrong... I'm not saying RMT's version won't make for an entertaining film. But don't go in expecting to see a familiar story, 'cause you ain't gonna get it!

    Anyone wanting to read the script, drop me a line: bechstein[at]yahoo[dot]com

    And join the official MOP Film Boycott