Movies on DVD/VHS

by Troy Carrington

WATCHING YOU

Award-winning Short Films from Around the World Explore the Humor and Drama of Modern Lesbian Culture

The five award winners on Watching You:

1. Watching You. A lesbian’s hobby—photographing a captivating woman neighbor—causes trouble with her jealous girlfriend. In addition to winning Best Lesbian Short Film at the Philadelphia Lesbian & Gay Film Festival, Watching You has won awards in Berlin, Paris, Fresno, and Bologna. Directed by Stephanie Abramovich, Israel, 32 min.

2. 4 PM. Humorous tale of a one-night stand that goes terribly wrong. 4 PM won awards from gay and lesbian film festivals from around the world, including Seattle, Austin, Berlin, Melbourne, Barcelona, and Paris. Directed by Sam Backhurst, UK, 14 min.

3. Bare. A hot one-night stand ignites a whole neighborhood of passion and romance. Winner of Best International Short at the Brussels International Film Festival. Directed by Deborah Strutt, Australia, 9 min.

4. Interviews with My Girlfriend. A very particular single woman screens future prospects in a hilarious interview process. Interviews won the awards for Best Comedy and Audience Award at the planetout.com/HBO Short Movie awards, as well as top awards from gay and lesbian film festivals in Paris, Austin, Philadelphia, Bologna, and Toronto. Directed by Cassandra Nicolaou, Canada, 13 min.

5. Dear Emily. Sara recalls the drama of her senior year and an intense schoolgirl crush. Winner of the IFFCON Pitch Contest. Directed by Katherine Brooks, USA, 7 min.

The VHS edition will include a bonus short, The Ten Rules: A Lesbian Survival Guide, which takes a look at the pitfalls and pratfalls that happen when your friends aren’t just your friends—they’re also your dating pool. Directed by Lee Friedlander, USA, 28 min.

The DVD edition will include the six shorts listed above, plus two additional bonus titles. In Traveling Companion, an upcoming trip to romantic Italy persuades a travel writer to tempt fate and place an ad for a traveling companion. Directed by Paula Goldberg, USA, 20 min. In Double Entente, erotic tension builds when stressed-out Vanessa tries to meet her gorgeous lover Dulcie for an after-work cocktail. Will she settle for a stranger’s touch? Directed by Jacquie Lawrence, UK, 15 min.

DVD and VHS available June 24 from Wolfe Video (www.wolfevideo.com) or by calling 1-800-GET-WOLFE.

Seven Groundbreaking Gay Films Released to Coincide with Gay Pride Month

Bent, The Hanging Garden, Jeffrey, My Beautiful Laundrette, The Sum of Us, Wigstock, and a special edition of It’s My Party will all be available on DVD from MGM Home Entertainment on June 3. MGM Home Entertainment controls the home video and DVD rights to the largest modern library of filmed entertainment in the world. The company manages worldwide home video and DVD distribution rights to United Artists and current MGM Pictures theatrical releases, as well as titles from Orion, Goldwyn, and PolyGram libraries, totaling nearly 4,000 films. For more info about MGM Entertainment, visit www.mgmhomevideo.com.

1. It’s My Party

Eric Roberts gives a “touching, urgent performance” (San Francisco Chronicle) as Nick, a man whose three-year battle with AIDS is about to come to a close. Rather than face debilitation, he chooses to end his life, but not before throwing the greatest farewell party of all time. The cast includes Lee Grant, Marlee Matlin, Margaret Cho, Gregory Harrison, Olivia Newton-John, Bronson Pinchot, George Segal, and Roddy McDowall. Featured on the DVD: a candid interview with the writer/director Randal Kleiser, also featuring Roberts, Harrison, and the producers; 15 deleted and extended scenes; a behind-the-scenes featurette highlighting “The Kiss” scene, a photo gallery of 100; and much more.

2. Bent

Max (Clive Owen) is a handsome young man who, after a fateful tryst with a German soldier, is forced to run for his life. Pursued and captured, Max is placed in a concentration camp, where he pretends to be Jewish because gays are the lowest form of human beings in the eyes of the Nazis. But it takes a forbidden relationship with an openly gay prisoner (Lothaire Bluteau) to teach Max that without the love of another, life is not worth living. Costars Ian McKellen and Mick Jagger.

3. The Hanging Garden

Ten years have passed since William (Chris Leavins) last visited his hometown. Now trim, attractive, and as headstrong as he once was sullen, he is ready to face his dysfunctional family. But when the visit conjures up a haunting reality long since buried, William must accept that his appearance has been the least of the changes in his and his family’s lives since the day he left.

4. Jeffrey

Disenchanted with the not-so-romantic side of safe sex, sweet, single, and obsessive Jeffrey (Steven Weber) vows to become completely celibate. No sooner has he sworn off sex than he meets hunky, sensitive Steve (Michael T. Weiss). Just as passion starts to ignite, Steve reveals some earth-shattering information, leaving Jeffrey to choose between losing the man of his dreams or taking a risk on what just might be true love. Costars Patrick Stewart.

5. My Beautiful Laundrette

My Beautiful Laundrette tells the story of Omar (Saeed Jaffrey), a bright-eyed Pakistani teenager who wants to make something of himself while living on the dole with his alcoholic father in a shabby South London flat. Daniel Day-Lewis plays Omar’s lover Johnny. As Omar’s papa drowns deeper in vodka and self-pity, Omar turns to his unscrupulous wheeling-and-dealing Uncle Nasser to show him the key to success. When Nasser hires Omar as manager of a seedy, dilapidated Laundromat, Omar is forced to choose between running a squeaky-clean establishment or conducting some very dirty business.

6. The Sum of Us

Harry Mitchell (Jack Thompson) has a problem with his gay son Jeff (Russell Crowe) . . . Harry thinks he’s playing it way too straight! With a loving push out of the nest and into the gay bars of Sydney, he becomes his son’s biggest cheerleader. But it’s Harry’s secret romance with an attractive but judgmental divorcée that puts father and son at odds and prompts them to discover that acceptance is a two-way street.

7. Wigstock

Outrageous, outlandish, and totally out of the closet, Wigstock is a heavily mascaraed look at New York’s most extravagant celebration of drag. This uninhibited look at the annual Wigstock Festival takes you behind the scenes—and into the dressing rooms—for an uproarious play-by-play of the self-proclaimed “Super Bowl of drag”! With RuPaul, Lypsinka, Crystal Waters, The “Lady” Bunny, Deee-Lite, Alexis Arquette, Jackie Beat, John Kelly, Debbie Harry, and the Dueling (Tallulah) Bankheads, Wigstock is a dazzling musical celebration of life, love, and lipstick.

MORE MOVIES ON DVD/VHS

Get Your Stuff

Phil (Cameron Watson) is a respected psychotherapist and couples counselor. Eric (Anthony Meindl) is a successful attorney. They have lots of friends, tons of money, and host pool parties complete with appropriately flamboyant friends. Phil and Eric are anxiously waiting to adopt a baby. In the interim, their friend Gloria (Kimberly Scott), a resourceful child services case worker, talks them into taking in two juvenile delinquent brothers (Grady Hutt and Blayn Barbosa) who turn out to be foul-mouthed, liquor-cabinet-raiding terrors. Originally, she assures them that “it’s just for one night.” As one night stretches into many, the “father-son” conflicts escalate. Things become even more complicated when the alcoholic, prostitute, junkie mama (Elaine Hendrix) arrives on the scene to retrieve her kids—until she sees the mansion and the open bar. What results is a lively and touching comedy that explores what we think love looks like and the unlikely places we find family. DVD and VHS now available from Culture Q Connection (www.cultureqconnection.com).

The New Women

Lisa LaStrada (cult superstar Mary Woronov of Eating Raoul and Death Race 2000) is a recovering alcoholic with a philandering husband and a bitch for a sister. After a mysterious apocalyptic rainstorm puts all the men in the world into comas (with a sexy sci-fi twist), society plunges into chaos. Acerbic Lisa and her friends seek out Elysium, a new society rumored to be made by women for women. On the road, they find their path blocked by new-age hippy chicks and angry lady bikers. Will they make it to safety, or are they chasing a dream? Watch out—you are entering no man’s land. DVD and VHS now available from Culture Q Connection (www.cultureqconnection.com).

Ibiza Dream

Ibiza Dream, the enticing, erotic-tinged film from the new Spanish generation filmmaker Igor Fioravanti, examines the lives of three people, friends since childhood, who live and play on the beautiful island of Ibiza, Spain, famous for its wild nightlife and pulsating rhythms. Carlos (Paco Marin) is filled with a lust for freedom. He wants to live, experiment, and indulge without limits or taboos. Chica (Adriana Domínguez), not satisfied with the limitations of her lifestyle, realizes she must take her life into her own hands to find it worth living. Nacho (Adrià Collado), returning from India, attempts to apply his newfound spiritual enlightenment to his everyday existence. Although the three friends differ in many ways, they all allow a dream of freedom that their magical island once embodied for them. Ibiza Dream, an official selection in the 2002 Berlin Film Festival, is in Spanish with English subtitles. DVD and VHS now available from Strand Releasing (www.strandreleasing.com).

La Répétition

La Répétition, the latest film from writer/director Catherine Corsini, features complex and riveting performances from the dazzling Emmanuelle Béart (8 Women, Mission: Impossible) as Nathalie, and Pascale Bussières (When Night Is Falling) as Louise, two professional women who rekindle their friendship after a tumultuous breakup. Meeting by chance after a decade apart, Louise insinuated herself into Nathalie’s life and lives vicariously through her. The two become embroiled in an erotic and emotional codependency that fuels their passion, but ultimately tears them apart. The French title La Répétition (Replay in English) contains a double meaning that relates not only to a play rehearsal but a repetition compulsion in which Louise grows increasingly obsessed with Nathalie, endlessly attempting to recreate the adolescent bond with her childhood girlfriend only to experience rejection. La Répétition, an official selection at the Cannes Film Festival, is in French with English subtitles. DVD and VHS now available from Strand Releasing (www.strandreleasing.com).

Gay Games VI: Under New Skies

In November 2002, 12,000 athletes from every corner of the globe came to Sydney, Australia, to play hard and to party hard. Join them as they take you into the heart of the world’s most inclusive sporting event. Share their elation, exhilaration, and joy as we uncover what it means to participate in the Gay Games. This two-disc, five-hour DVD will help you experience the magic of this memorable event even if you weren’t there. It is the most comprehensive coverage of the Gay Games in history. Includes opening press conference with k.d. lang, 24 sports featurettes, 16 slide shows with over 500 photos of sports, the opening and closing ceremonies, parties, and more. DVD available June 24 from Wolfe Video (www.wolfevideo.com) or by calling 1-800-GET-WOLFE.

Those Who Walk in Darkness

Hot off the heels of releasing the hit animated Sistas ’N the City DVD, Urban Entertainment gears up for the release of the urban anime sci-fi movie Those Who Walk in Darkness, which was inspired by the hit animated web series of the same name. The animated movie revolves around the character Soledad, who is voiced by hip-hop’s Grammy-winning, fashion-forward Queen Bee Lil’ Kim. Soledad is a female super-cop living in futuristic Los Angeles that has become home to people with amazing genetic structures—giving them powers that make them frighteningly superior to normal humans. The writer/ creator is screenwriter/novelist John Ridley, who wrote Three Kings (George Clooney, Ice Cube, and Mark Wahlberg). DVD and VHS available June 3 from Urban Entertainment.

About Schmidt

“Warren Schmidt (Jack Nicholson) is about to experience a bittersweet slice of life. Newly retired, he and his wife Helen have big plans to see America—but an unexpected twist changes everything. Now Schmidt is determined to stop his daughter’s (Hope Davis) wedding to an underachieving waterbed salesman (Dermot Mulroney). From meeting the groom’s eccentric parents to sponsoring a Tanzanian foster child, Schmidt sets off on his mission … and gets lost along the road to self-discovery.” That was the synopsis on the DVD cover. What the synopsis doesn’t mention is Kathy Bates. Though there’s nothing gay about Kathy Bates’s character (she plays Mulroney’s mother) or the film, for that matter, when seeing the film in the theater, the audience clapped when she revealed her nude body. There was a general glee of seeing a real body on the big screen. As my lesbian friend who was with me said, “Gravity is having its marvelous effect.” So, you can watch the film because it’s a good film, but you’ve got the added attraction of Bates’s wonderful ampleness. DVD and VHS available June 3 from New Line Home Entertainment (www.newline.com). —Blase DiStefano

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