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Movies
on Video
by
Blase DiStefano
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World
and Time Enough
Joey
comes out to his adoptive parents (the father
is far from amused) and begins a
search for his biological mom and dad. Mark’s
father dies, and because of his father’s
obsession with cathedrals, Mark begins to
build a full-scale cathedral. Together,
they are a twenty-something couple who genuinely
love each other. The lead actors are above
par, and the cinematography is gorgeous.
Available on VHS at $29.99 and DVD at $34.99.
Strand Releasing (www.strand
releasing.com) also offers: I Think
I Do (Alexis Arquette) and Boys to
Men (a collection of shorts).
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Pink
Flamingos/Female Trouble
Babs
Johnson and Dawn Davenport–in a word,
Divine. In Pink Flamingos, she’s
Babs, "The Filthiest Person Alive,"
a title she earns by eating s--t …
literally. In Female Trouble, she’s
Dawn, a mean teen who turns to a life of
crime when her parents fail to give her
cha-cha heels for Christmas! Either way,
Divine is divine, and it doesn’t hurt
that our "family" friend John
Waters directed both "classics."
Together for the first time on DVD ($29.95)
from New Line Home Entertainment. It includes
a theatrical trailer and audio commentary
by Waters. Female Trouble is also
available on VHS at $19.98. Waters’
2-DVD sets, including Hairspray/Pecker
and Polyester/Desperate Living,
have been previously released.
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Hedwig
and the Angry Inch
Winner
of the 2001 Sundance Film Festival Audience
and Best Director awards, Hedwig and
the Angry Inch is all dressed up for
the holidays. Director John Cameron Mitchell
stars as Hedwig, born a boy named Hansel
whose life’s dream is to find his "other
half." In order to marry an American
G.I. and get over the Berlin Wall to freedom,
Hedwig has a sex-change operation, which
leaves her with an "angry inch."
Great directorial debut, great music, great
movie. The Platinum Edition DVD from New
Line Home Entertainment, to be released
on December 11 at $24.98, features filmmaker
commentary, an original feature-length documentary,
deleted scenes, and much more. Get more
Hedwig at
www.get-hed.com.
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First
Run Features Is First Class
Frances
Spielman founded First Run Features in 1979 to
help advance the distribution of independent films
at a time when few distributors were willing to
take a chance with smaller, more obscure titles.
Under her guidance, First Run Features quickly
gained a reputation for theatrically releasing
controversial and daring fiction and nonfiction
films that dealt with political and social issues.
• In 1990 First Run Features created a home
video division, which offers over 350 award-winning
titles, including art house, foreign, documentary,
and children’s films, in addition to videos
of special interest to Jewish, Christian, political,
and–best of all (for OutSmart readers)–gay
and lesbian audiences. • Cheryl Dunye (The
Watermelon Woman) credited First Run Features
with creating a strong and sustained audience
for her work: "The indie market is full of
films that play New York and L.A. for two weeks,
then disappear. First Run went back to the roots.
For nearly a year my film made its way slowly
across the country, playing and building support
in smaller markets." • Here are four
recently released films from First Run Features,
just in time for the holidays:
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24
Nights
This
comedy, which covers a period from Dec.
1 to Christmas, doesn’t get interesting
until mid month. One of the best exchanges
is between the lead character’s sister
(The Sopranos’ Aida Turturro)
and a potential beau for her brother: He
says he works with manic depressives; she
says, "What a coincidence. [My brother]
is a huge Patty Duke fan."
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Waiting
All
the characters in this politically incorrect comedy
are stereotypical to the hilt, and most of them
are pretty bad actors to boot. The straight lead
character (Will Keenan) is a natural, however;
but the S&M lesbian (Kerri Kenney) gives him
a close run for the money ... and that ain’t
all she gives him. Besides, Waiting has
garnered three festival audience awards.
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New
York in the Fifties
Interesting
facts about the New York scene in the ’50s
from writers and filmmakers (Joan Didion,
Robert Redford, among many others); clips
from the ’50s are interspersed with
the interviews. It was hip to smoke and
drink excessively during that period, and
the consensus is that the assassination
of John Kennedy changed the scene.
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One
of Them/First Love and Other Pains
One
of Them is a sweet story set in the
’60s about two gay teens seriously
in the closet, not even out to each other
... yet their talk is about fashion design!
First Love and Other Pains is a love
story between a Hong Kong college student
and his tres unhappy alcoholic English
instructor ... talk about opposites attracting.
A watchable film, however.
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These
four First Run films (VHS or DVD) are $29.99 each.
To order, call 1-800-229-8575. For more information
about First Run Features, visit www.firstrunfeatures.com.
If
you have any comments about this article, please
email them to letters@outsmartmagazine.com.
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