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GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE April 9, 1999
eveningsout
Homecoming tale with Ohio angle opens Wexner series
by Kaizaad Kotwal
Columbus--In conjunction with Ohio State University's Office of Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual Student Services, the Wexner Center is presenting its second annual Gay and Lesbian Film-Video series.
The first in the series is Out of Season, a film with many Ohio connections. Produced and directed by Jeanette L. Buck, Out of Season started out as her thesis project at
Paul Oremland's Like it Is
Ohio University where she studied with Croatian film maker Rajko Grlic and playwright Vincent Cardinal. Screenwriter and COproducer Kim McNabb is an Ohio University alum and director of photography Ed Talavera is a professor at the same institution.
The film follows Micki to Cape May, N.J., where she goes to take care of her dying
uncle. But Micki is also running away from a photography career and her ex-lover. Uncle Charlie has plans to introduce his niece to Roberta, an older woman, in the hopes that the two women will settle down together. This is a coming-home tale with some unusual twists and characters along the way.
The film is at times touching, without getting cliché. Out of Season is clearly a labor of love for Buck and her team. Like many movies
made outside of the Hollywood loop, Out of Season
and the goodwill of people. Interestingly, Ohio is increasingly giving rise to filmmakers who are trying to bring a bit of celluloid magic to the heartland.
The next film in the series is made across the ocean in England and produced by Strand Releasing and the BBC. Love is the Devil: Study for a Portrait of Francis Bacon also has more established stars than Out of Season's fresh faces. Derek Jacobi stars as the tormented and intense painter and Daniel
Craig stars as his longtime lover and artistic muse. Tilda Swinton from the gender-bending film Orlando also stars. Jacobi, very much under appreciated in the U.S., like lan McKellen and Rupert Everett, is also an out star from the British Isles. Jacobi's last great performance was as Alan Turing in the film version of the play, Breaking The Code. Turing was the man responsible for the modern notion of artificial intelligence, who was persecuted for being gay and eventually committed suicide.
was made on tight budgets Love is the Devil
Bacon and Dyer's coming together is unusual to say the least. While trying to burgle Bacon's apartment Dyer falls through the studio's skylight. What starts as a bizarre introduction ends with a tragic and pathetic parting of ways. Dyer self destructs as he tries to acclamate himself to Bacon's bourgeois circles.
At the bottom of this biopic, Love is the Devil is a tale of class struggle, something that England has always been mired in and
something England has unsuccessfully tried to convince the world doesn't ex-
Out of Season, produced and directed
by Ohio native Jeanette L. Buck.
ist. It is a boy meets boy tale with the tragedy emerging from the fact that class does determine whether love will succeed or not.
Technically this film is breathtaking. The visuals of the film capture the colors, the lighting, the brush strokes and the essence of Bacon's style without becoming intrusive or overbearing.
The last in the Wexner series is Paul Oremland's Like it Is. Set in England as well, this film is in the tradition of Beautiful Thing. However, Like it Is is grittier and less saccharine. The protagonist here is Craig, a 21 year old lad who makes his living from illegal bare-knuckle fights in a world that is harsh, bloody and Darwinistic. In this world of machismo, naked bravado and incessant testosterone, Craig fights hardest with the fact that he is gay.
Like Bacon and Dyer's meeting, Craig has a chance meeting with a Londoner, Matt, and both their lives are changed irrevocably. Here again, class is an issue. England's dominant cinematic theme in
the last few decades has emerged as a clash within the pernicious class system. Matt, a city boy, despite his cynicism and his obsession with success and ambition, finds himself falling in love with Craig. From the industrial town of Blackpool, Craig is a fish out of water, and feels that his roots betray his simplicity and naïveté.
Steve Bell, an amateur, prize winning boxer is brilliant as Craig. Ian Rose as Matt is equally wonderful. And Roger Daltry, of the Who, plays a vicious and interfering music mogul.
This is an exceptional collection of films and one only wishes that there were more selections beiong offered. Out of Season plays on Friday, April 16, Love is the Devil will be screened on Friday, April 23 and Like it Is will be featured on Wednesday, April 28. All shows are at 7:00p.m. at the Wexner Center. For tickets and more information call 614-292-3535. ✓
Kaizaad Kotwal is a Chronicle contributing writer in Columbus.
Two gay films get high marks at Cleveland festival
FRIDAY & SATURDAY
Dance! Dance! Dance! With DJ Christian
MONDAY: Peel Tournament!
2 Tables in the Gameroom.
10pm sharp. $25 eash to winner.
(from Deepwater Records)
TUESDAY: WEDNESDAY:
THURSDAY:
Strippers Show Night!
Wear-as-you-dare
Strippers,
leather night in the
Strippars,
With Andria Michaels
Falcon's Nest. Eagle
Strippers!
| & DJ Rockin' Ronnie | dence party with DJ
Chris Arthur.
SUNDAY Sandusky Stan's Ten Dance
from 6-9 pm. Danse with DJ Mike Lowry starting at 10pm., Strippere at 11pm.
THE EAGLE
THE FALCONS NEST £307_MARISON • GLEVELAND OF ®216-231-4064
A gay man wishes for his dream lover in 24 Nights.
by Dawn E. Leach
Cleveland-Two gay films won accolades at this year's Cleveland International Film Festival.
Of the six films featured in the "Ten Percent Cinema" portion of the festival-a section devoted to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender subjects-two of them were among the ten films ranked highest by audience members.
The Ten Percent film that fared best was 24 Nights, about a gay man and his Christmas wish to find his dream lover. Festival-goers ranked 24 Nights second out of 80 films for the Roxanne T. Mueller audience choice award. 24 Nights also was awarded Best American Independent Feature.
Get Real, a British film about first love between two boys in a private high school, took the third highest number of audience votes for the Mueller award.