DVD Shorts: July 2008

A Love to Keep
Some things never change. Set during notorious Spanish dictator Francisco Franco’s homophobic regime, Juan Carlos Claver’s acclaimed true story of lesbian teachers in love illustrates the horrific and, sadly, still-contemporary tragedy of “conversion therapy.” Painful, yet triumphant. • 2006. Originally aired as Electroshock on TV in Spain. Spanish with English subtitles. • Picture This! Home Video (www.picturethishomevideo.com). — Preview: Nancy Ford

Back Soon
Like a gay version of the Nicole Kidman vehicle Birth, the straight Gil Ramirez comes to the home of widower Logan Foster (also straight), looking to buy his house. Neither can explain one’s attraction to the other till it is revealed that Gil’s mortal coil also embodies the soul of Logan’s departed wife. (One night, Logan staggers toward Gil and makes out with him; is he sleepwalking? In a trance? Either way, it’s steamy.) • 2007. Written and directed by Rob Williams. • TLA Releasing (www.tlareleasing.com). — Review: Eric A.T. Dieckman

Love My Life
The post-anime manga craze permeates this feel-good coming-of-lesbian-age tale of a university student, her first girlfriend, and the family secrets their romance uncovers. • 2006. Directed by Kôji Kawano. Japanese with English subtitles. • Wolfe Video (www.wolfevideo.com). — Preview: Nancy Ford

The Wayward Cloud
Director Tsaï Ming-liang’s kinky, voyeuristic musical fantasy won the Berlin International Film Festival’s Alfred Bauer Prize that honors films that open “new perspectives in the art of filmmaking.” • 2005. Mandarin with English subtitles. • Strand Releasing Home Entertainment (www.strandreleasing.com). — Preview: Nancy FordThe Witnesses
Paris, 1984. For the GLBT community worldwide, the AIDS crisis has just begun to jab its frightening dagger into the hearts of the unsuspecting. Enter the free-spirited Manu, who has recently been diagnosed with the killer. Concentric circles of those involved with him must deal with the news, each in their own way. This film is full of beautiful cinematography, and some fun tunes in its ’80s soundtrack. • 2007. Co-written and directed by André Téchiné. French with English subtitles. • Strand Releasing (www.strandreleasing.com). — Review: Eric A.T. Dieckman

2 Minutes Later
Abigail (Jessica Graham) and Michael (Michael Molina), a gay and a lesbian private detective, go undercover in this thriller with a comic edge. But how do they find the killer of Michael’s photographer twin brother when they’re both so gorgeous and everyone wants to get their sleuth on with Abi and Mike? Molina doubles up the drama as both hero (the PI) and cad (the photog); in one scene he’s genuinely cruel when he forces a model to tinkle his trousers during a shoot (although in a sick way, it’s a little funny). • 2007. Written and directed by Robert Gaston. • TLA Releasing (www.tlareleasing.com). — Review:Eric A.T. Dieckman

Icons of Adventure
Icons of Adventure resurrects four Hammer classics that somehow got ignored by the World Film Registry of Essential Cinematic Masterpieces. If you have a taste for pirate movies (with killer piranha fish), you might want to begin with Pirates of Blood River (1962), starring swashbuckler Kerwin Mathews and horror icon Christopher Lee. Lee also appears in 1961’s Terror of the Tongs and 1964’s Devil-Ship Pirates. You also get 1960’s The Stranglers of Bombay. Proceed at your own risk. • Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (www.sonypictures.com/homevideo). — Review: Jack Varsi

TV on DVD
Absolutely Fabulous: Absolutely Everything
Edina (Jennifer Saunders) and Patsy (Joanna Lumley) have never been so fabulously available. Yes, darling, the entire award-winning series can be found in this box set, along with outtakes, commentary, and French & Saunders sketches. All you need is a few bottles of Stoli and Boli, and your weekend of colossally campy viewing is complete. • BBC Video (www.bbcamericashop.com). — Review: Eric A.T. Dieckman

Soap: The Complete Series
All 90 episodes of the groundbreaking, controversial soap opera spoof exhibit the wit, hilarity, and sensitivity of the series. Billy Crystal plays Jodie, one of the first homosexual characters on TV to be played with equal parts comedy and pathos. • Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (www.sonypictures.com/homevideo). — Review: Eric A.T. Dieckman

Dante’s Cove, The Complete Third Season
If you like beefy men’s buns, here’s some eye candy. Season 3 of this Queer as Folk meets Dark Shadows supernatural soap opera gets much sexier with a lot more nude hot tub and locker room scenes and, this time, a (fiery-hot) lesbian love triangle. Set six months later than season 2, a tsunami has destroyed Hotel Dante, Grace has returned (vengefully) from exile, and the bisexual Griffen is scheming for a takeover. (There’s the beginning of a scintillating bi-ménage moment with Griffen in the deleted scenes extras, three sexy people, not one body hair among them.) • Liberation Entertainment (www.libent.com). More: www.heretv.com. — Review: Eric A.T. Dieckman

The House of Venus Show: The Complete Second Season
Canada’s clever, yet makeshift GLBT sketch comedy series inches along through its second season, with a strong focus on drag queens. Some sketches, like “the heterosexual agenda,” are entertaining, but others are just too bizarre to handle. • 2006. Alluvial Filmworks (www.villagelighthouse.com). — Review: David Goldberg

Big Bow Wow: The Complete Series Uncut
The story revolves around six hip twentysomethings living in the big city. Sounds familiar, no? There really isn’t much to say about this short-lived Irish series, because it didn’t really have much to offer. • 2004. Alluvial Filmworks (www.villagelighthouse.com). — Review:David Goldberg 

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