JUNE 21, 1996 GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE

EVENINGS OUT

Sex, violence, and a Japanese cowboy to hit Wexner screen

by Tamara Murphy

Among the June film events happening at Wexner Center for the Arts in Columbus are a lighthearted "western," complete with a Japanese burger-flipping cowboy, and a searing and deeply controversial depiction of post-AIDS gay psychology.

Showing on Friday and Saturday, June 21-22, Tokyo Cowboy focuses on the adventures of a Japanese immigrant, No Ogowa, who heads for British Columbia in search of the "wild west."

The West that Ogawa (Hiromoto Ida) finds is wilder than he could have imagined. His childhood penpal Kate (Christianne Hirt), the original inspiration for his cowboy fantasies, has grown up to be a lesbian artist. Having long since traded the frontier for the wilds of the big city, Kate is returning to her childhood home with her lover, Shellie (Janne Mortel), to face both her own frustrations and her mother's (Anna Ferguson) expectations.

Filmmaker Kathy Garneau has been praised for her exploration of the gender, racial, and ethnic tensions she finds in her native British Columbia. The story is cleverly told, with the narrative storyline in-

terspersed with black

and white scenes, depicting archetypal mo-

ments in the classic American western, as No uses his western fantasies to frame his understanding of the environment and its conflicts. Garneau's

first feature film is peppered with the colorful crop of side characters you'd expect to find in a small town. Their departures, as well as an offbeat and authentic. rhythm add warmth and humor to Tokyo Cowboy, whose lighthearted style nonetheless carries the weight of some big issues.

Far from lighthearted is Todd Verow's Frisk, which plays Thursday

through Saturday, June 27-29, at 7 pm. Based

JAMES DWYER

Michael Stock (Uhrs) gives Michael Gunther (Dennis) the information he seeks in Todd Verow's Frisk.

on Dennis Cooper's novel, Frisk focuses on Dennis (Michael Gunther), and his in-

No Ogua (Hiromoto Ida, right) and his childhood penpal Kate (Christine Hirt) in Tokyo Cowboy.

creasing fascination with a sexuality that is deeply entrenched in images of death. Described as having grown up "swimming in a flood of psychic and sensual violence"-a compendium of images from a sex and violencesaturated society, the characters in Frisk are motivated by pornography, by slasher movies, the evening news, even "Tom and Jerry" cartoons.

Juxtaposing imagery of unsettling beauty and violence, and blurring the line between violence, death and sex, Frisk addresses the language of sexual compulsion and the cannibalism of an existence where rape happens every four minutes, where children are murdered on television, and gay bashing happens on every street corner.

The center of this exploration are a series of five photographs, which function like Rorschach inkblots. The terrifyingly erotic compositions of shadow and disembodied limbs reappear throughout the film, taking on different meaning with each representation. It is the effect of these photographs on the lives of the film's characters that form the premise for the film.

Frisk is a constant challenge to what we know and expect of ourselves, our culture, our sexuality, and our response. Is there a monster in you? Be prepared. Frisk intends to unveil it.

The Wexner Center for the Arts, on the campus of Ohio State University, is located at North High Street at 15th Ave. Call 614-292-0330 for tickets or information on upcoming events.

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