When homosexual, schizophrenic meet

Struggling to live on the fringe

By Donna Chernin "Outrageous" is a unique film, to put

it mildly.

The story concerns the struggles of a homosexual hairdresser (Craig Russell) to become a professional female impersonator. Into his already complicated life suddenly pops a young woman (Hollis McLaren) who has just fled from the mental institution where she has lived for eight years.

The struggles of the hairdresser are then meshed with the struggles of this girl, a diagnosed schizophrenic, trying to squelch her rampant hallucinations so she can lead a sane life in the outside world.

She thinks she will accomplish this transition by becoming pregnant,even though she is unmarried, because by having a baby she will prove that she is really alive and will thwart the "evil bone crushers" who wish to destroy her.

"Outrageous" turns on the touching, platonic relationship that develops between these two lonely individuals. Here are two misfits who are misunderstood by most of the normal world but who possess a genuine devotion for each other.

The hairdresser, more than the girl,

recognizes the importance of individuality

and even craziness and the sad choice he believes most people make to lead routine lives devoid of dazzle and courage.

While the girl desperately works to suppress her uniqueness, the hairdresser batttles to express his. Still, they have an uncommon understanding of each other's needs and vulnerabilities.

Several scenes in the film, particularly those near the conclusion, feature Russell in the height of his drag act. The performer particularly shines in his impersonations of such female luminaries as

Mae West, Carol Channing, Bette Davis and Judy Garland.

While these are certainly outstanding impersonations, a problern with the performances here, and. with much of the movie itself, is that you don't know whether to laugh during the act of this man in drag or to cry. Instead, you wind up feeling vaguely uncomfortable throughout most of the story.

The same applies to the plight of this tormented girl. She is given a splendid portrayal by Miss McLaren, with just the right shrillness to her voice, feverish hand gestures and sultry innocence.

Yet, she is such a sad creature, so valiantly trying to keep the lid tight and the voices out, and is so removed from reality that instead of being entertained or enlightened the audience is steeped in pity.

It is as if "Outrageous" approaches life too much to really be art.

Yet there is no question that this Canadian film (English language) is a well done venture by both the cast and writer-director Richard Benner. It is playing at the Cedar-Lee for a limited engagement and has enjoyed a cult fol-

lowing of sorts in New York and Boston.

““Outrageous” does offer an interesting portrait of the inside life of a subculture of contemporary society.

Although gays, may be frequently maligned by an insensitive majority, many of the frienships they form are close and meaningful.

Also, the film fortunately concludes on an upbeat, if heavy-handed, note, in which the hairdresser tries to convince his dejected girlfriend that, "You'll never be normal, but you are special, and you can have a helluva good time. You have a

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In Review

healthy sense of craziness, darling; make it work for you."

Not bad advice perhaps, but one senses that the characters in "Outrageous" will always sadly lie on the fringe and will never be fully accepted except within the perimeter of their own limited circle.