DVDs
Compiled by Blase DiStefano

Torch Song Trilogy
Harvey Fierstein wrote and stars in this groundbreaking film adaptation of his smash Tony Award-winning play Torch Song Trilogy. In this sometimes-humorous but always-poignant story, Fierstein plays Arnold, a female impersonator and nightclub singer who must learn to deal not only with his unaccepting mother (Anne Bancroft), but also with the three loves of his life—his first lover Ed (Brian Kerwin); Alan, the lover he lost, played by multiple Tony Award-winner Matthew Broderick; and David (Eddie Castrodad), the boy he wants to adopt. • Fierstein provides an audio commentary to discuss his roles as both actor and writer in this film and how the film’s themes are “as current as today’s New York Times.” • 1988. Directed by Paul Bogart. • From New Line Home Entertainment (www.newline.com).

Before Stonewall
The Emmy Award-winning Before Stonewall pries open the closet door, setting free the dramatic story of the sometimes-horrifying public and private existences experienced by gay and lesbian Americans since the 1920s. Revealing and often humorous, this widely acclaimed 1984 film, narrated by Rita Mae Brown, relives the emotionally charged sparking of today’s gay rights movement, from the events that led to the fevered 1969 Stonewall Riots to many other milestones in the brave fight for acceptance. Before Stonewall lets you experience the fascinating and unforgettable, decade-by-decade history of homosexuality in America through eye-opening historical footage and amazing interviews with those who lived through an often brutal closeted history. Features Allen Ginsberg, Audre Lorde, Harry Hay, Barbara Gittings, and more. • From First Run Features (www.firstrunfeatures.com).

Monster
Director Patty Jenkins (Independent Spirit Award winner for Best First Feature) burrows deep beneath the tabloid headlines of a man-hating serial killer to unearth a love story blossoming among the horrors and pathologies of two misfits—Aileen Wuornos (Charlize Theron), a drifter prostitute who kills her johns, and Selby Wall (Christina Ricci), a girl who’s sent by her parents to live with an aunt to “cure” her homosexuality. After a chance encounter, their love flourishes, while their financial situation becomes desperate. Wuornos continues prostituting to keep the relationship alive. This fuels a deadly rage, unleashed in a string of lurid killings, and turns her into a monster. • Theron won both an Oscar and Golden Globe as Best Actress for her eerie portrayal of Wuornos in this 2003 film. • From Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment (www.sonypictures.com). • Also available as a stand-alone release or as part of a 2-pack with Monster is the documentary Aileen: Life and Death of a Serial Killer from director Nick Broomfield. This searing, in-depth, up-close-and-personal documentary is the second film from Broomfield on the life and final days of Wuornos, America’s first female serial killer. Included on the DVD are Wuornos’s last interviews before her execution.

Die Mommie Die
In a performance that earned him the Special Jury Prize for Acting at the 2003 Sundance Film Festival, openly gay Charles Busch stars as fallen pop diva Angela Arden, a heroine in the grand tradition of Hollywood’s formidable females: tough yet tender, ruthless yet seductive, extremely warped yet oddly sympathetic. Die Mommie Die! wittily evokes classic Hollywood genres, notably the “women’s pictures” of the 1940s to 1960s and the glossy suspense melodramas of the 1960s. • 2003. Written by Busch and directed by Mark Rucker, Die Mommie Die! also stars Frances Conroy (Six Feet Under), Natasha Lyonne (But I’m a Cheerleader, If These Walls Could Talk 2), and Jason Priestley (Love and Death on Long Island, Common Ground). • From Sundance Channel Home Entertainment (www.sundancechannel.com).

Love! Valour! Compassion!
Multiple Emmy and Golden Globe-nominee and Tony Award-winner Jason Alexander joins the original off-Broadway cast for the film adaptation of Terrence McNally’s Tony Award-winning play Love! Valour! Compassion! (Best Play, 1995). Eight gay men spend three summer holiday weekends together at a rural country house. What transpires is a tender, humorous, and poignant story about love, valour, and compassion among friends. In this 1997 film version, John Glover resumes his Tony Award-winning performance as a pair of twin brothers and re-joins other original cast members Stephen Spinella, Justin Kirk, Randy Becker, John Benjamin Hickey, and Stephen Bogardus. • Directed by Joe Mantello. • From New Line Home Entertainment (www.newline.com).

The Incredibly True Adventure of Two Girls in Love
Winner of the Outstanding Independent Film Award at the 1996 GLAAD (Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation) Media Awards, The Incredibly True Adventure of Two Girls in Love tells the story of Randy (Laurel Holloman) and Evie (Nicole Parker), two high school girls from the opposite sides of the tracks. From the clothes they wear and the friends they associate with to their economic backgrounds and their tastes in music, they have almost nothing in common. After a chance encounter, the two girls become inseparable friends. As their friendship blossoms into something greater, will their love be strong enough to overcome their own differences and stand up to the negativity of family and friends? • 1995. Written and directed by Maria Maggenti, who provides a commentary track. • From New Line Home Entertainment (www.newline.com).

Three of Hearts
Kelly Lynch stars as heartbroken nurse Connie, who has just been dumped by her girlfriend Ellen (Sherilyn Fenn). Determined to win back Ellen’s love, Connie enlists the services of a down-on-his-luck male escort named Joe (William Baldwin) to woo Ellen and ultimately break her heart, forcing her back into Connie’s loving and awaiting arms. Will Connie’s scheming and manipulation work to her advantage, or will her plan backfire, igniting unforseen passions between Joe and Ellen? Not everything is as it seems in this romantic comedy. Joe Pantoliano costars. Included on the DVD is an alternate ending not seen in theaters. • 1993. Directed by Yurek Bogayevicz. • From New Line Home Entertainment (www.newline.com).

Son Frère (His Brother)
Thomas (Bruno Todeschini) and Luc (Eric Caravaca) are brothers. Thomas is straight; Luc is gay. Unable to accept his brother’s homosexuality, Thomas distances himself. When Thomas contracts a terminal illness, he intrudes into Luc’s contented life and asks him to be his caretaker. Luc begrudgingly sacrifices his lover, his job, and his comfortable life to care for his dying brother. Through the rounds of doctors and the demanding challenges of catastrophic illness, the brothers are forced to examine the meaning of their existence and their powerlessness in the face of impending doom. They return to their childhood home on the beach, reconnect with their past, and ultimately forge a new and vital relationship. • 2003, French with English subtitles. Directed by Patrice Chéreau. • From Strand Releasing (www.strandreleasing.com).

The Embalmer
Peppino (Ernesto Mahieux), a taxidermist who stashes contraband in corpses for the Mafia, may be undersized, but he shouldn’t be underestimated. After he persuades the handsome Valerio (Valerio Foglia Manzillo), a waiter of heroic proportions, to be his well-paid assistant, he shows his new protégé a good time by hiring prostitutes to entertain them both. But Peppino’s eyes are not on the girls . . . and Valerio’s new girlfriend Deborah (Elisabetta Rocchetti) knows it. The battle for Valerio’s affections is about to take a deadly turn. • Director Matteo Garrone started with a simple question: How does a man who isn’t especially rich or goodlooking seduce a young, handsome man who doesn’t happen to be homosexual? The well-crafted screenplay keeps the audience wondering why the tall and beautiful Valerio stays with the crafty, diminutive, and possibly dangerous Peppino. • 2002, Italian with English subtitles. • From First Run Features (www.firstrunfeatures.com).

9 Dead Gay Guys
Politically incorrect and offensively funny, this satire employs the most outrageous clichés and hilarious stereotypes as it follows two straight lads as fellate their way in search of a rumored stash of money. • Irishman Kenny (Glen Mulhern) joins best friend Bryon (Brendan Mackey) in London in search of “legitimate, lucrative work,” and soon the two young men are turning tricks at the local gay bar, servicing queers and UFOs (ugly fat old men) to subsidize their alcohol consumption. Soon, the Queen (Michael Praed), a local gay legend known for the size of his appendage, is dead, and rumors start about his lover, an Orthodex Jew, and a hidden stash of money. Scheming to get their hands on the loot, the Irish duo embarks on a journey that leads to a series of far-fetched comic deaths. Along the way, the two young men start questioning their own sexuality and if there really might be love without money. • 2002, UK. Written and directed by Lab Ky Mo. • From TLA Releasing (www.tlareleasing.com).

Issues 101
College freshman Joe Phillips (Michael Rozman) is new to school when he mistakes a rush invitation as a come-on from a cute fraternity brother. He’s no less confused after a hazing ritual between him and his “big brother” Christian (Dennis W. Rittenhouse Jr.) takes an intense and intimate turn. After Joe sets Christian “straight” about his sexual interests, Christian confesses that he himself is straight . . . but with issues. • A twisted love triangle forms when the confused Christian turns a romantic weekend getaway with his girlfriend into a double-date, inviting along his gay sibling Michael (Jeff Sublett) and “little brother” Joe. Trouble starts when Michael and Joe hit it off and Christian is left to face his own issues, straight or otherwise. • 2002. Written and directed by John Lincoln. • From Culture Q Connection (Ariztical Entertainment, www.artiztical.com). For more info: www.issues101.com.

Straight Right
Caleb Johnson (Brent Smith) is a young boxer training for an important fight that could catapult him into the big time when he witnesses a chilling act of abuse that rips open his own repressed memories of childhood violence. Everything he cares about in life is put at risk when he decides to take matters, and the law, into his own hands. Will his marriage, career, and future survive his fight for right? Will he? Director P. David Ebersole’s taut noir examines the moral ambiguity that separates hero from villain and vengeance from violence. • 2000. • From Ariztical Entertainment (www.ariztical.com).

Ben & Arthur
Arthur Sailes (Sam Mraovich, also director and writer) wants desperately to be married, while his lover Ben Sheets (Jamie Brett Gabel) doesn’t see the need and is happy with the way things are. Arthur’s brother Victor (Michael Haboush) is a major obstacle to his plans: a religious fanatic obsessed with saving his brother from a sinful lifestyle. Just as Ben and Arthur finally start making progress with their wedding plans, Victor shows up with sin on his mind and a gun in his hand. • 2002. • From Culture Q Connection (Ariztical Entertainment, www.artiztical.com).

BOXED GAYS
The Best of Gay Britain
• Like It Is
A refreshingly enjoyable and upbeat look at gay life, Like It Is takes us into the world of gay nightclubs and the music industry of London. A young ultra-cool record producer has an encounter with a country lad who makes his money through illegal bare-fisted boxing, changing both their lives as they try to negotiate their relationship through the pretense of London’s cutting-edge nightlife. The Who’s Roger Daltry costars. • 1998. Directed by Paul Oremland.
• Boyfriends
A queer Big Chill. A British counterpart to Love! Valour! Compassion! This is a “witty, wise, romantic comedy” (L.A. Times) with a freewheeling sexual attitude and comedic sensitivity. Six men staying together is a cottage on the beach—three couples at varying stages of their relationships—find themselves in various situations that define modern gay relationships. • 1996. Written and directed by Tom Hunsinger and Neil Hunter.
• The Wolves of Kromer
The Wolves of Kromer tells the story of a small village in the English countryside where two handsome young wolves (James Layton and Lee Williams)—outcasts considered dangerous to their society—meet and fall in love. Narrated by British pop icon Boy George, Wolves is a tale of young male love fighting the hypocrisy of older generations, combined with an old-fashioned Agatha Christie murder mystery. • 1998. Directed by Will Gould.
The boxed set is from First Run Features (www.firstrunfeatures.com).

BOXED LESBIANS
The Lesbian Romance Collection
• Butterfly Kiss
Eunice (Amanda Plummer) and Miriam (Saskis Reeves) are a pair of unlikely lovers on a lethal road trip through Britain. Eunice, an unpredictable social outcast, meets Miriam, a beautiful-yet-withdrawn gas station attendant, and before long, the two are on the road and in love. Even when Eunice starts murdering horny truckers and pesky salesmen, Miriam believes she can save her friend. The question is, can Miriam make Eunice good before Eunice makes Miriam bad? • 1995. Directed by Michael Winterbottom
• Peach, A Bitter Song, and Lavender Limelight
Featuring the Amazonian star of Xena: Warrior Princess as you’ve never seen her before, Peach (1995) stars Lucy Lawless as a sexy tow-truck driver attracted to a young Maori woman. In A Bitter Song (1990), she plays a kind nurse who helps a troubled young girl. • The DVD also includes the hour-long documentary Lavender Limelight: Lesbians in Film, which goes behind the scenes with candid interviews of America’s most successful lesbian directors.
• The Watermelon Woman
Cheryl Dunye’s debut feature (1996) is as controversial as it is sexy and funny. Dunye’s character (Cheryl) is a twenty-something black lesbian working as a clerk in a video store while struggling to make a documentary about Fae Richards, an obscure black actress from the 1930s. She is surprised to discover that Richards (known popularly as “the watermelon woman”) had a white lesbian lover. At the same time, Cheryl falls in love with a very cute white customer (Guinevere Turner) at the video store.
The boxed set is from First Run Features (www.firstrunfeatures.com).

First Run Features Creates a Community
First Run Features has been distributing controversial and daring independent fiction and nonfiction films for 25 years and remains one of the largest independent theatrical and home video distributors in the United States. As a way of curating this eclectic collection, First Run Features has created a “Community” section on their website, which highlights certain themes in their catalog. The Spring 2004 section is dedicated to the topic of “Love, Sex and Marriage” with an emphasis on the current national debate over the issue of same-sex marriage. The site features a film series, director interviews, links, and a forum section that includes a history of marriage in the U.S. as well as a page that encourages readers to write to congress to express their opinions about the proposed constitutional amendment. To access First Run Features’ Community page, go to http://firstrunfeatures.com/community.html.

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