Reviews by Herb Krohn
SGN A&E Writer
The Seattle Gay News returns with reviews of several of the films of interest to a Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender audience at this year’s 33rd Seattle International Film Festival (SIFF). We have provided reviews of films screening soon, a list of LGBT films screening in the upcoming weeks and our take on the some of the general interest films for your movie going pleasure.
For tickets or more information on the festival, including descriptions of films and events, please visit www.seattlefilm.org.
For the Bible Tells Me So
Rating: Excellent
Genre: Documentary
USA
Egyptian Theatre – Sunday June 3rd, 1:30 pm
SIFF Cinema – Monday June 4th, 6:45 pm
In 1977 singer and Florida Orange Juice spokeswoman Anita Bryant became the first noted personality in the US to rally around what has now become the central issue to the fanatical religious bigots. She whipped up a frenzy of anti-Gay hysteria in seeking repeal of the Dade County (Miami) Florida non-discrimination ordinance, leveling such charges as recruitment, child molestation, and bestiality in her quest to slam the closet door shut on LGBT Americans. This campaign was the beginning of the so called “cultural war” being waged against our community by the American Christian version of the Taliban. In a filmed appearance by Bryant in Des Moines, Iowa an activist threw an entire “fruit” pie in her face. If you have ever wanted to view a clip of this infamous defining moment in the history of the LGBT movement here is your chance.
This fascinating documentary “For the Bible Tells Me So” is a must see film that explores the history of religious extremist leaders to oppose all forward progress in the movement for equality, as well as to scapegoat LGBT people not only for political purposes, but also to raise enormous amounts of money. Through the use of historical footage of famous public pronouncements by such notables as Bryant, Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, Jimmy Swaggert and others it clearly conveys the effect of these statements has had in creating an environment that demonizes our very existence and encourages violence against us.
The filmmakers counter with interviews of many religious and political notables (Desmond Tutu, Gene Robinson and many others) who have stood firm and lead opposition to the anti-LGBT religious agenda caps off this excellent cinema documentary. In addition, they also personalize the issue with interviews with LGBT children of famous political figures as well as just plain ordinary families who are struggling with the issue of faith versus acceptance of their offspring. Director Daniel Karslake has created a moving yet personal inspirational portrait of this great divide around fundamentalist religious teachings that has impacted so many people so dramatically.
This is a must see SIFF documentary film.
Glue
Rating: Poor
Genre: Almost coming of Age
Argentina – Subtitled
It seems that it is not only is the state of LGBT filmmaking questionable in the US, is also remains below the mark in many other countries as well. This Argentinean flick centers around two young men in a sort of attempt to mimic Mexico’s 2001 film “Y tu mama’ tabien”, it falls flat on its face as a poor quality rip-off. What you get is two teenagers from dysfunctional families riding around on bikes, playing in an amateur rock band, drinking, sniffing glue, and puking in a small desert village. It’s never daylight in this poorly made film, even the scenes which are clearly shot in the bright daylight sun are filtered or toned down to near darkness, so that the audience often can’t even see what is taking place on the screen. The plot is goes nowhere, the dark footage isn’t visual, and even the sex scenes contain so little visible skin that doesn’t even provide enough to overcome the drawbacks. The poor overall production just cannot justify spending your hard earned money or your valuable time to see this one, unless you don’t value either. SIFF offers so many worthwhile flicks to see, why bother with this one??
Grimm Love
German Title: “Rohtenburg”
Also titled: “Butterfly: A Grimm Love Story”
Rating: Appalling a”BOMB”ination!!
Germany – (In English)
SIFF Cinema Theatre - Sunday June 3rd, 7:00 pm
Egyptian – Tuesday June 5th, 4:30 pm
Some stories are best untold, and some films are best unmade. This grisly disgusting cinematic rubbish is allegedly a fictionalized account of the sexual cannibalization case of 2001 in Rotenburg Germany. To summarize the factual case: 42 year old Armin Meiwes now commonly referred to as the “Rotenburg cannibal” solicited on an internet chat room for "young, well-built men aged 18 to 30 to slaughter”. Bernd Juergen Brandes, a 43 year old Berlin engineer responded and willingly submitted to being slowly butchered like an animal and eaten in a perverse and depraved sociopathic sex fantasy turned reality which was reportedly videotaped in its 10 plus hour entirety. Meiwes was eventually convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to only eight and a half years in prison. In 2006 a judge ruled the verdict and sentence was too lenient and ordered a retrial which appears to still be pending.
In early 2006 Meiwes sued the filmmakers seeking to block the exhibition of this movie. Claiming that this film gives viewers a false impression of him, he successfully won a court order which bans the screening of this film in Germany!
This movies alleged fictional storyline is told through a female master’s degree student who is fascinated by the incident, and is writing her graduate thesis by exploring how this came to happen. It recreates the lives of the “fictionalized” characters from childhood through to the actual event. The student is engaged in a supposed effort to understand what they did and why from a psychological perspective. As she investigates the subjects backgrounds by visiting their schools, and even breaking into the suspects home where the events occurred she begins to descend into madness herself, eventually acquiring and watching the videotape of the actual butchering.
If this were a well researched documentary it could have merit, or even perhaps as a sensitive docudrama that explored their lives up to the event or even afterwards. However, this disgusting graphic and allegedly “fictionalized” re-creation of the gruesome and slow agonizing murder of a consenting victim as a Gay sex fantasy come true is one of the most vile and despicable exploitations of a ghastly real life event that ever been produced. However, it appears after post-screening research that this films “fictional” portrayal of the events is in actuality almost identical to published news accounts that include very specific and unique details of the real life incident.
It is human nature to want to look at others misfortune, such as rubbernecking when driving by a terrible accident on the freeway, viewing a body in a casket at a funeral, or watching CNN after a major natural or man-made disaster. This corrupt project banks (literally) on this human flaw. What has been produced here will no doubt be defended as freedom of expression, yet this film has absolutely no artistic, creative, educational or positive social value whatsoever other than the manufacturing a profit from the shock value of the misery and depravity of others.
The mere fact that anyone would recreate this perverse twisted psychotic episode of two extremely psychologically disturbed individuals for public exhibition and profit is in and of itself vile and reprehensible. That the producers would conceive of and actually participate in a profit making film project of this overtly wanton vicious sickening event is an indictment of everything that is wrong with humanity in the world today: satisfaction of greed by exploiting a barbarous murder/suicide which was committed simply for sexual gratification. This despicable abuse of the medium of film is in reality nothing more than a deplorable portrayal of a snuff film with excellent production techniques. Does the fact that this film was made in Germany say anything about that nation’s history? Who knows? Who cares?
What is even worse is the negative connotation that this horrific movie reflects upon the LGBT community worldwide. There is no doubt as to the power of cinema upon the human psyche, film has been used and abused for propaganda as well as a strong motivational and educational tool since its development. This production in and of itself will no doubt raise awareness of this psychopathology and as a result will almost certainly influence other vulnerable and easily suggestible sociopathic degenerates to act out their debauched cannibalistic and murderous sexual fantasies by engaging in similar sordid deeds. Additionally this film has the potential to be exploited by religious extremists as graphic evidence to bolster their arguments demonizing the LGBT community as nothing more than a group of vile hedonistic sadistic sexual perverts.
This revolting psychological suspense flick is unlike anything else commercially produced, the relatives and loved ones of the victim deserve better, and so does society.
Consider contributing to the betterment of humanity by denying the producers of this exploitative nauseating repulsive idiocy a profit by spending your film-going dollars elsewhere.
The YacoubianBuilding
Rating: Excellent
Genre: Soap Opera Style Drama –
Egypt – Subtitled
This cinematically beautiful film centers around the occupants of an older stylishly designed apartment house built in the heyday of Cairo’s development as a world class city in the Middle East of the 1930’s. Today, the slowly declining building hosts a large variety of residents from the wealthy, to the fading, to the down and out who live on the old servant apartments on the roof. It’s sort of a Tales of the City soap about the intertwining lives of several of the families, in contemporary times. Yet what really makes this film a masterpiece is the evolution and depth of the characters from the beginning to the conclusion so that one of the least sympathetic individuals is revealed to be the most genuine and kindest, while the apparent hero at the start winds up being a terrorist. The Gay character and plot line takes a negative tone and end, yet the overall drama overcomes this sequence.
It is a rare glimpse of Middle Eastern filmmaking at its best, with great performances, flawless sequences, outstanding settings, and a plot that moves and holds audience interest throughout. It weaves in and out of the lives of the characters alternating between their stories with detail, with a thread that ties a relationship of all of the individuals together as it progresses. No release date has been announced, but hopefully this excellent film will be showing at a theatre near you soon.
LGBT INTEREST FILMS PLAYING THIS WEEK
Dark Blue Almost Black
Spain
Lincoln Square Theatre - Saturday June 2nd, 1:30 pm
Egyptian - Tuesday June 5th, 9:30 pm
No Regret
South Korea
Harvard Exit - Friday June 1st, 9:15 pm
Egyptian – Monday June 4th, 4:00 pm
Out at the Wedding
USA
Egyptian - Saturday June 2nd, 6:00 pm
Harvard Exit – Sunday June 3rd, 4:00 pm
Outing Riley
USA
Harvard Exit – Wednesday May 30th, 5:00 pm
Harvard Exit – Thursday May 31st, 9:30 pm
Protagonist
USA
Pacific Place – Friday June 1st, 7:00 pm
Lincoln Square – Sunday June 3rd, 1:00 pm
UPCOMING SIFF FILMS OF LGBT INTEREST
Black White + Gray
USA
Harvard Exit - Wednesday, June 13th, 7:15 pm
Egyptian – Thursday June 14th, 4:15 pm
Cthulhu
USA
Neptune Theatre - Thursday June 14th, 6:30 pm
Neptune Theatre - Sunday June 17th, 4:00 pm
Eternal Summer
Taiwan
Pacific Place – Sunday June 3rd, 9:15 pm
Lincoln Square – Thursday June 7th, 4:30 pm
Four Minutes
Germany
SIFF Cinema Theatre - Saturday June 9th, 9:30 pm
SIFF Cinema Theatre - Monday June 11th, 4:30 pm
La León
Argentina
Harvard Exit - Thursday June 14th, 5:00 pm
SIFF Cinema Theatre – Saturday June 16th, 9:30 pm
One to Another
France
Egyptian – Wednesday June 6th, 9:30 pm
Pacific Place – Sunday June 10th, 11:00 am
PolterGay
France
Egyptian – Thursday June 7th, 7:15 pm
Egyptian – Saturday June 9th, 2:00 pm
Red Without Blue
USA
Harvard Exit – Tuesday June 5th, 7:00 pm
Harvard Exit – Thursday June 7th, 4:45 pm
Shelter Me
Italy
Egyptian – Friday June 8th, 7:00 pm
Neptune Theatre – Monday June 11th, 4:30 pm
Spider Lilies
Taiwan
Pacific Place – Thursday June 7th, 7:15 pm
Harvard Exit – Tuesday June 12th, 4:30 pm
Stealth
Switzerland
Pacific Place – Tuesday June 12th, 6:30 pm
Pacific Place – Wednesday June 13th, 4:14 pm
Surveillance
United Kingdom
Egyptian – Monday June 11th, 9:30 pm
Egyptian – Tuesday June 12th, 4:30 pm
The Bubble
Israel
Egyptian – Thursday June 14th, 6:30 pm
Egyptian – Saturday June 16th, 12: 45 pm
The Man of My Life
France
Egyptian – Sunday June 10th, 4:15 pm
Egyptian – Monday June 11th, 4:15 p
Yossi & Jagger
Israel (2002)
Egyptian – Saturday June 16th, 11:00 am
Played in 2 prior SIFF’s!!
ALL SIFF FILMS REVIEWED BY SGN CRITIC
(G) = denotes films of LGBT interest
12:08 East of Bucharest - Good
2 Days in Paris - Excellent
Aachi & Ssipak - Good
After This Our Exile - Very Good
American Shopper - Good
Art of Crying, The - Excellent
Battle of Wits - Very Good
Bet Collector,The - Bomb
Big Rig - Very Good
Black Irish - Average
Born and Bred - Good
Champagne Spy, The - Very Good
Children of War - Below Average
Congorama - Good
Crazy Love - Outstanding
Crossing the Line - Very Good
Dans Paris - Average
Death at a Funeral - Very Good (G)
Doghead - Very Good
Dr. Bronner's Magic Soap - Excellent
Eagle vs Shark - Poor
Elephant and the Sea, The - Bomb
Falkenberg Farwell - Above Average
Fever of '57 - Excellent
Fish Dreams - Poor
For the Bible Tells Me So - Excellent (G)
Freeholders - Outstanding (G)
Frozen City - Good
Glue - Bomb (G)
Golden Door - Excellent
Grimm Love - Bomb (G)
Guardians Son - Average
I Don't Want to Sleep Alone - Below Average
In the Shadow of the Moon - Outstanding
Island, The - Above Average
It's Winter - Above Average
King of Kong - Excellent
La Vida Homo - Average (G)
La Vie En Rose - Outstanding
Life and Times of Yva Las Vegass - Average (G)
Life in Loops - Bomb
Manufactured Landscapes - Good
Moliere - Excellent
Murch - Very Good
Mushishi - Above Average
My Best Friend - Outstanding
Never on a Sunday - Excellent
Offscreen - Fair
Out of Time - Good
Outsourced - Excellent
Paprika - Good
Pleasant Moments - Good
Price of Sugar, The - Average
Red Road - Excellent
Rescue Dawn - Very Good
Rocket Science - Very Good
Running on Empty - Above Average
Sakuran - Above Average
Sanctuary: Lisa Gerrard - Below Average
Severance - Above Average
Singer, The - Good
Soldiers of Conscience - Good
Son of Rambo - Good
Takva - Very Good
Them - Very Good
This Is England - Below Average
Waiter - Excellent
Waiting for Happiness - Poor
Walk into the Sea, A - Average (G)
Yacoubian, The – Excellent (G)
