DVDs

Leaving Metropolis

Winner of the Audience Award at the Sydney Gay & Lesbian Film Festival, Leaving Metropolis (2002) is the film version of Brad Fraser’s hit play Poor Super Man, which Time magazine called one of the top 10 plays of 1994. • Leaving Metropolis charts the story of David (Troy Ruptash), a successful artist hunting for his lost muse by masquerading as a waiter. He soon finds in Matt (Vince Corazza), a married restaurant owner who finds himself surprisingly drawn to David. Their chemistry inspires a series of erotic paintings featuring a very nude Matt, and the two begin a torrid taboo affair. David’s best friends—Shannon (Thom Allison), a transgendered woman living with AIDS, and Kryla (Lynda Boyd), an acerbic newspaper columnist—try to cushion the inevitable explosion and keep their little family together. • Leaving Metropolis is the debut feature from Brad Fraser, a writer/producer for Showtime’s Queer as Folk, who previously wrote the script for Denys Arcand’s acclaimed Love and Human Remains. According to Fraser, Leaving Metropolis and the play it is based upon is an “unofficial sequel” to Love and Human Remains, in which the part of David was played by Thomas Gibson. “The character of David is revisited at a later time in his life,” says Fraser. “But this story doesn’t pick up the other characters from the movie. It’s more of a spiritual sequel.” • From Wolfe Video (www.wolfevideo.com or 1-800-GET-WOLFE). —Troy Carrington

Yossi & Jagger

Yossi & Jagger portrays the tragic structure of life for young Israelis today. The film presents an enchanting ensemble of young men and women who, in this time of their lives, were supposed to dance, study, and love. Instead, due to mandatory army service and the complicated situation in the region, they have to devote their most beautiful years to their country, to be soldiers, to kill and get killed. • Specifically, it is the story of two men: They are commanders, they are in love, and they try to find a place of their own in an oppressing and rigid system, which sends them to defend a cause they do not necessarily believe in. • Yossi & Jagger is directed by acclaimed Israeli filmmaker Eytan Fox; Yossi is portrayed by Ohad Knoller, winner of the best actor prize at the Tribeca Film Festival, and Jagger is played by Israeli superstar Yehuda Levi. • From Strand Releasing (www.strandreleasing.com). —TC

Xena, Warrior Princess, Season Three

Never quite the fanatical Xena, Warrior Princess devotee that millions were, I was nonetheless an appreciative fan. When the season three DVD collection was released, I was curious—would Xena have the same wicked charm? Would the lesbian subtext still seem sexy? Could Lucy Lawless and her cohorts compete with Buffy the Vampire Slayer and the host of hobbits that have Xena fans have since graduated to? • Three minutes into the first episode, the answer was a resounding yes, yes, yes! • Not just for die-hard fans, Xena, Warrior Princess, Season Three definitely deserves a long, leisurely viewing. In costume, if possible. • As with the two previous DVD season collections, Xena, Season Three is very nicely packaged. The package includes over 1,000 minutes of footage on eight DVDs, a CD-ROM with 22 episodes, recently discovered never-televised scenes, a retrospective, and an alternative cut version of the season’s story highlight “Sacrifice I & II.” There are also the usual extras like cast and crew interviews, trivia, restored scenes, bloopers and outtakes, behind-the-scenes glimpses, and glorious artwork all wrapped in a beautiful accordion holder that stretches out almost three feet long. • Bloopers include Xena having to adjust the wobbly rubber fish that she has her hands stuck in (from the famous “fisting fish’ scene) and an assortment of giggle fits that hit the cast after long days on the set. —Olivia Flores Alvarez

Under the Tuscan Sun

Based on the No. 1 New York Times best-selling book, Under the Tuscan Sun follows San Francisco writer Frances Mayes (Diane Lane) to Italy as her best friend (Sandra Oh), who is lesbian, offers her a special gift—10 days in Tuscany. It just so happens that the gift is a gay tour. No matter that she is the only straight person on the tour, because once there, she is captivated by its beauty and warmth, and impulsively buys an aging, but very charming villa. Fully embracing new friends and local color, she finds herself immersed in a life-changing adventure filled with enough unexpected surprises, laughter, friendship, and romance to restore her new home—and her belief in second chances. • From Touchstone Home Entertainment —Suzie Lynde

I Will Survive

I Will Survive (1999, Spanish with English subtitles) centers on Marga (Emma Suárez), an attractive woman in her 30s, whose life is suddenly turned upside down when her boyfriend is killed while she is pregnant, and her best friend steals her job. • Yet Marga is a survivor. She invites a good-natured but lonely Cuban woman (Mirta Ibarra) to move in and care for her newborn. After a long job search, she gets hired at a video store and eventually buys it. To make life complete, when a handsome young man enters the store and smiles at her, she thinks she has found a new love. • There’s only one problem with Iñagui (Juan Diego Botto)—he’s gay. If Marga can face down death, pregnancy, and betrayal, overcoming a boyfriend’s homosexuality should be a cinch. The two decide to give the relationship a try, and a genuine love grows between them, until Iñagui’s ex-boyfriend suddenly returns to the picture. How these two loveable but lonely people try to build a life outside the expected norms is at the heart of I Will Survive. • From TLA Releasing (www.tlavideo.com). —SL

Km.0 (Kilometer 0)

Fourteen very different people experience a breathtaking series of chance meetings, missed connections, and mistaken identities. • The action begins on one very hot summer evening in the very center of Madrid—a stone marker called Km. 0 in the plaza Puerta del Sol. There, at 6 p.m., several couples arrange to meet: an aspiring filmmaker from the country and an actress who will let him stay with her; a timid bureaucrat and a low-rent prostitute whom he has hired to release him from his virginity before his wedding; a gay flamenco dancer and a mysterious man who have flirted on the Internet; and a frustrated matron and a rugged male escort she has hired as comfort from her husband’s neglect. • Added to the mix is the escort’s roommate, a lonely gay man looking for love; a café waiter whose dreams are mocked by his gorgeous but self-absorbed girlfriend; her teenaged sister who has her own plans for the hapless boyfriend; a theatrical director who literally runs into his would-be next leading lady; and an emotionally stilted policeman still yearning for a long-lost childhood sweetheart. Whew! • Everyone meets someone, but not whom they expect, and by the end of the night, lives are changed, plans are made, and loves are found. • From TLA Releasing (www.tlavideo.com). —SL

Circuit

The “circuit” is a series of extravagant dance parties held as fundraisers for AIDS and gay organizations. While praised by some for the monies they raise and the community bonds they build, they are also criticized for the indiscriminate sex and drug abuse that come with them. Circuit (2001) explores both sides of the debate. • Circuit’s central character is John (Jonathan Wade Drahos), a gay midwestern policeman who moves to Los Angeles to experience life openly. At his first party he meets Hector (Andre Khabazzi), an aging gay hustler who is intrigued by his naiveté and introduces him to the circuit scene. Initially, John is attracted to the freedom that circuit parties offer, but he increasingly loses himself in its excesses. Finally, he must face reality at the biggest circuit event of the year, the Palm Springs White Party. • The DVD includes 31 deleted scenes, behind-the-scenes footage, commentary by director Dirk Shafer, and much more. • From TLA Releasing (www.tlavideo.com). —TC

When Boys Fly

This 2002 documentary by Stewart Halpern and Lenid Rolov follows four men and their friends as they navigate their way through the White Party. • According to Rolov, “We both shared close friends who had intense feelings about the circuit world. They either described the circuit as a close-knit family of highly motivated people who loved to play hard on the weekend or demonized it as nothing more than shallow, drugged-out gym rats devoid of intelligence and humor. We thought it would be fascinating to explore the reasons behind such intense feelings and the stories inherent in a world most of society knew nothing about. • The four men: Tone, 21, an extroverted party boy with a serious substance abuse problem; Brandon, 23, a conservative circuit neophyte who is looking for a sense of community as a gay man; Todd, 35, a circuit regular who wants to recapture the thrills of youth that he missed while in the closet; and Jon, 19, Todd’s boyfriend, who is still searching for his identity as an adult gay man. • The cameras follow these four men and their friends as they experience the full range of experiences within the circuit scene, from creating new friendships to suffering drug overdoses. • From TLA Releasing (www.tlavideo.com). —TC

The Einstein of Sex: The Life and Work of Dr. Magnus Hirschfeld

The Einstein of Sex (1999, German with English subtitles) traces the career of Magnus Hirschfeld (1865–1935), a gay, Jewish, Socialist German who became world-famous at the turn of the 20th century for turning the study of sexuality into a science and for championing gay civil rights, only to have his life’s work literally burned to the ground by the Nazis. • The film opens with Hirschfeld (Kai Schuhmann) as a medical student, rebelling against the homophobic diatribes of his professor. In 1897, Hirschfeld—now with his own medical practice—established the first organization to fight for gay civil rights, to the opposition of even some other homosexual advocates. • Rosa von Praunheim (who recently turned 60) describes The Einstein of Sex as “my most conventional film,” taking a traditional chronological approach to Hirschfeld’s career. Yet it bears the indelible stamp of von Praunheim, with its vivid cinematography, its unapologetic celebration of the male nude, and its unequivocal advocacy of gay and drag culture. • In one of the film’s most delightful moments, Hirschfeld takes the chief of the government’s secret police on a Dante-esque tour of Berlin’s underground gay clubs and drag parties to demonstrate that they are no threat to the state. The scene of the chief dancing and flirting with drag queens is quintessential von Praunheim. • In 1920, the older Hirschfeld (Friedel von Wangenheim) achieves his life’s dream with the foundation of the first research center for homosexuality and other sexual studies. Eventually, the rise of National Socialism would force him into exile. After a lecture in the U.S., reporters dubbed him “the Einstein of Sex,” to which he replied that Einstein should be “the Hirschfeld of Physics.” • Von Praunheim made The Einstein of Sex “conventional” to introduce the man he calls “the grandfather of gay emancipation” to the widest audience possible. “Not many people know about him,” he says. “They think gay power started with the Stonewall Riots. I did the film to inform the public that there was already a gay hero at the end of the 19th century.” • From TLA Releasing (www.tlavideo.com). —TC

Happy Birthday

Described by director Yen Tan as a “collage of events” and “a mirror to examine ourselves,” Happy Birthday (black and white, 2002) is extraordinary on many fonts, including the diversity of its story lines. The film reflects a multiculturism within the gay community that is rarely seen on film. The characters include an overweight gay man whose success as a diet pill telemarketer belies his shame and isolation; an ex-gay minister who preaches conversion therapy by day and watches gay porn at night; a lesbian who seeks solace over a breakup by trying to revive an unrequited college crush; a young Taiwanese lesbian who must hide her identity from her visiting old-world mother; and a gay Pakistani whose possible deportation could threaten his life and who must rely on his lover’s porn work to pay his legal bills. • Born in Malaysia and a graduate of Drake University, Tan made Happy Birthday in his hometown of Dallas with a cast of local actors. “It was difficult to find actors who were willing to play gay roles. This is Texas, after all, but it’s still ironic, considering the film deals with ignorance and homophobia.” • From TLA Releasing (www.tlavideo.com). —SL

Regular Guys

In the tradition of Maybe, Maybe Not, another German sex comedy about a straight man who finds himself in a gay world, Regular Guys (1996, German with English subtitles) is an outgrowth of director Rolf Silber’s experiences living as the “token straight man” in a gay group house. • The film stars popular German film and television star Christoph M. Ohrt as Christoph, a macho cop who discovers his girlfriend in bed with another man, only to be thrown out of their apartment. The next morning he finds himself in an alcoholic stupor and in bed with a total stranger, gay car mechanic Edgar (Peter Bergmann) . . . and they’re both naked. With nowhere else to go, he moves in with the gay man, who quickly falls in love with him, to the amusement of everyone at his police station. Life gets even more complicated when a beautiful but tough woman (Carin C. Tietze) joins Christoph’s team that’s investigating a car theft ring, and he discovers that Edgar may be involved in the thefts. • From TLA Releasing (www.tlavideo.com). —TC

Duplex

Young and vibrant New Yorkers Alex (Ben Stiller) and Nancy (Drew Barrymore) have just found the perfect place to settle down and share a bright future. But their new home comes with a permanent fixture they didn’t expect: an obnoxious elderly tenant who won’t move out and refuses to die. Pushed to the edge of insanity as their dream home turns into a nightmare, it’s only a matter of time before Alex and Nancy begin to entertain some truly sinister solutions to their problem. So what’s gay about Duplex? Well, so as not to spoil it, let’s just say you’ll see it when you see it. • Duplex also features Harvey Fierstein, Swoosie Kurtz, Justin Theroux, James Remar, Wallace Shawn, and Maya Rudolph. Directed by Danny DeVito. • From Miramax Home Entertainment (www.miramax.com or www.video.com). —SL

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