Television

THANK YOUR LUCKY STARZ!

Kathy Bates and Rupert Everett exude Unconditional Love

Grace Beasley (Kathy Bates) is a seemingly happy housewife, who swoons over singer Victor Fox (Jonathan Pryce, pictured above, left). When her husband Max (Dan Aykroyd) leaves her after 25 years of marriage because he’s tired of playing it safe, Grace pursues her dream of seeing Fox in person. But to her surprise and horror, Fox is murdered.

The “playing-it-safe” Grace stops playing it safe. She immediately books a flight to England for Fox’s funeral (on the flight, she sits next to Julie Andrews, who plays herself in a fabulously funny cameo).

Once in the U.K., Grace meets Fox’s “valet” Dirk Simpson (Rupert Everett, pictured above, right) and Fox’s relatives (one of whom is played to purse-lipped perfection by Lynn Redgrave). Though she is shunned by all, Grace marches on and eventually befriends Dirk, who is still grieving the loss of Fox, his lover.

Grace returns, with Dirk, to her home in Chicago; and with Grace’s daughter-in-law (Meredith Eaton, who steals every scene she’s in), the unlikely threesome embark on a search for Fox’s killer.

Directed by P.J. Hogan (My Best Friend’s Wedding), Unconditional Love has a good script, a great cast, and massive doses of humor (and there are appearances by Sally Jessy Raphael and Barry Manilow!).

Premieres on Starz! on Saturday, August 2, at 8 p.m., with subsequent plays throughout the month. For a complete schedule, visit www.starzmovies.com. —Blase DiStefano

FOLLOW THE AUSTIN GAY FRESHMAN

This 10-episode half-hour documentary Showtime Original Series follows the lives of a group of students (one of whom is gay) attending the University of Texas at Austin. Film crews follow a dozen incoming freshmen around the clock. Additionally, the freshmen are given their own video cameras so that they can record video diaries of their lives both on campus and off, thus collaborating in the process.

Neil is openly gay but confused. He considers having sex with a woman because he likes her so much and because he is very uncomfortable around gay men. It should be interesting to follow his growth.

R.J. Cutler, the Emmy Award-winning executive producer and director of American High, is directing and executive producing Freshman Diaries.

Premieres on Showtime, August 31, 10 p.m. —BD

DEBRA DOES DOC

Searching for Debra Winger is a documentary from first-time director Rosanna Arquette, whose acting credits include After Hours and Desperately Seeking Susan. The film explores the difficult balance between motherhood and career that actresses face, as well as Hollywood’s fascination with youth and image.

Debra Winger was one of the most successful actresses of her generation, following Oscar-nominated roles in Terms of Endearment, An Officer and a Gentleman, and Shadowlands. She astonished the film industry when she decided, at age 40, to retire at the height of her career, to spend more time with her family and not succumb to the pressures of Hollywood to maintain a youthful appearance. She was looking for balance in her life and was unwilling to fight for the very few roles that Hollywood creates for women.

Winger’s story prompted Arquette, a well-known actress herself, to interview Winger and many other successful actresses about the pressures and drawbacks of working in the film industry. Among those interviewed are Sharon Stone, Meg Ryan, Holly Hunter, Jane Fonda, Vanessa Redgrave, Frances McDormand, Theresa Russell, Ally Sheedy, Teri Garr, Whoopi Goldberg, Melanie Griffith, Charlotte Rampling, Salma Hayek, Gwyneth Paltrow, Patricia Arquette, and many others

Though there’s nothing gay about this great documentary, you’ve gotta see all these wonderful actresses, some interviewed in groups, others individually. And seeing Debra Winger again is a joy

Premieres on Showtime, August 18, 7 p.m. —BD

FUNDAMENTALISTS, FAMILIES, & DYSFUNCTION ON PBS

What happens when fundamentalist Christian parents have children who are homosexual? Family Fundamentals, having its national broadcast premiere on public television’s P.O.V. series, is filmmaker Arthur Dong’s personal attempt to answer that explosive question. Armed with a digital camera, Dong takes viewers into the private and public lives of three families who have responded to gay offspring by actively opposing homosexuality. Family Fundamentals is a battlefield report from America’s profound and disquieting culture war over gay issues.

Susan Jester is the lesbian daughter of Kathleen Bremner, a Pentecostal church leader who responded to her daughter’s coming out by forming a Christian parents’ ministry and organizing the San Diego Christian Trauma and Sexuality Conferences. In collaboration with such groups as Exodus and Focus on the Family, Bremner promotes faith and “reparative therapy” as a cure for homosexuality. She is not shy about expressing her views of homosexuality, and in exhorting her daughter, who is conversely outspoken in support of gay civil rights, to repent.

Brett Mathews, a former Air Force First Lieutenant discharged for his homosexual orientation, is the son of a Mormon bishop in rural Erda, Utah. Mathews’ family reacts to his coming out by sending him a steady stream of letters calling on him to change. His grandmother’s remarriage brings a challenge and a crisis as Mathews returns to his boyhood home for the first time since declaring his homosexuality. His family, which had agreed to participate in the film, abruptly changes its mind after one day of shooting and withdraws.

Brian Bennett’s story reveals a different kind of family—and an even more surprising chain of events. From 1977 to 1989, Bennett served as chief of staff, campaign manager, and legislative aide to former California Congressman Bob Dornan—one of the nation’s harshest and most vocal opponents to gay rights. So close was Bennett to Dornan, with whom he shared a Catholic upbringing and political views on everything except his closeted homosexuality, that Bennett became a virtual member of the Dornan family. He lived with them for six years, calling Dornan by the family nickname, “Poppy.” When Bennett came out in 1997, their close relationship was abruptly terminated and he was left to struggle with the contradictions of being a gay Republican and of still loving a father figure who rejected him for his sexual orientation.

Arthur Dong’s Family Fundamentals makes it broadcast premiere on Tuesday, August 26, at 10 p.m. on PBS. —Troy Carrington

SUNDANCE CHANNEL ASKS, “WHY PAY TWO RENTS?”

Remy Weber’s moving short documentary (Why Pay Two Rents?, 2001) celebrates the 40-year relationship—both in business and domestically—of Stan Selub and Paul Miller, who for many years ran a fabled Greenwich Village antique shop. Together, as well as in revealing separate interviews, they chart their partnership and the political and cultural changes they have witnessed during the past four decades.

Winner of Best Documentary award at the Athens International Film and Video Festival.

Airs on Sundance Channel, August 14 at 5:30 p.m. Repeat airings: 15th, 4 a.m.; 18th, 11 a.m.; and 27th, 6 a.m.

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