Cinematheque offers a spring basket of LGBT films
April 6, 2001 GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE 13
Taboo (Gohatto)
By Anthony Glassman
April has always been a month of rebirth. In the spirit of the season, the Cleveland Cinematheque has four films showing this month illustrating the renaissance of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender characters in film.
Taboo (Gohatto)
From Japanese director Nagisa Oshima comes this mesmerizing tale of love among samurai in feudal Japan.
In the nineteenth century, Japan was still in the Middle Ages, with warring shogun battling for control of ever-greater sections of the archipelago, while pondering the question of whether or not they should open their borders to visitors from the West.
Set against this backdrop comes Taboo, a story of the trials that an elite force of samurai must face when a brilliant, beautiful warrior comes into their midst.
Ryuhei Matsuda plays the almost androgynous Sozaburo Kano, who attracts the desire of his compatriots like starving dogs to sirloin steaks. His fellow samurai Hyozo Tashiro (Tadanobu Asano) wins his affections, but jealousies between the two and among the other members of their militia begin to unravel the fabric of their unit. Watching it all, and unsure of his own
The Specials
You liked the movie Mystery Men, didn't you?
Of course you did (if you saw it).
The Specials is another, more independent movie in that vein. The title refers to the superhero group the Specials, the sixth or seventh best team in the United States. Leading the team is the Strobe (Thomas Hayden Church), who believes God gave him his powers to fight crime, and his wife Ms. Indestructible (Paget Brewster). Backing them up are, among others, the Weevil (Rob Lowe), whose father, the original Weevil, was the first gay superhero. Also on the team is Power Chick (In Living Color's Kelly Coffield), a lesbian superhero who was on the cover of Out magazine, according to the film.
The entire film takes place in the course of a day or two. There is no action, few special effects, but a massive amount of humor. The entire team is falling apart; they're sick of each other, they're sick of their lowly status, and they worry that the world might not need the Specials.
As the team self-destructs, the narrative is interspersed with "interview" segments with various members of the group, mostly stabbing each other in the back or worrying about their costumes.
The film is far funnier than Mystery Men, which itself was hilar-
ity personified. Where
feminist activist mom already knew, but as an exotic dancer. This is the most emotional part of this enthralling documentary.
This movie succeeds on so many levels, it's almost hard to keep track of specific reasons why it is a great flick.
On one hand, it gives us a look at the faces behind the G-strings, if that's not too much of a mixed metaphor. On the other, it also establishes a link between the feminist ideal of a woman's control over her body and her ability to use it as she pleases, without exploitation. Is a stripper being exploited by the men for whom she dances, or is she
MM depended on spe-
The Specials
feelings in the matter, is Captain Toshizo Hijikata (action film legend Beat Takeshi, Takeshi Kitano). His paternal instincts are constantly battling with his own feelings of jealousy, spurred by the realization that his commander is in love with Kano.
Beautifully filmed and intriguingly written, the story is based on actual events. By the time these things happened in 1865, Western morality had infiltrated Japan, and Christianity's proscriptions against homosexuality had taken hold. The film examines the views of the Japanese of the era on the subject, ranging from grudging acceptance to complete scorn.
Oshima, who directed the classic In the Realm of the Senses, does justice to his legend with this film, and it is a wonderful way to spend an evening.
Taboo will be shown from April 6 to 8. The showings will be at 9:30 on Friday, 7:30 on Saturday and 9:20 on Sunday.
熊雞粥
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cial effects and all-star
villains, this film relies
on character and dia-
logue, both of which it
has in spades.
Will the team come together? Will the Weevil join the corporate-sponsored Crusaders? Will Amok (Jamie Kennedy) get laid? These questions and more will be answered
at the two screenings of the movie, 7 pm on Thursday, April 19, and 10:05 on Friday, April 20.
Live Nude Girls Unite!
.
What happens when exotic dancers get tired of being exploited by their bosses and decide to show their brains and moxie as much as their bodies? They unionize, of
course.
Julia Query, a good Jewish lesbian from New York, and Vicky Funari follow the women of the Lusty Lady in San Francisco in their battle to get a union shop, fair wages, sick days, and an end to race-based scheduling.
Query, a stripper and stand-up comedian, leads her fellow dancers as well as chronicling their fight, which takes months. The film also delves into the issue of coming out to her mother, not as a lesbian, which her
Live Nude Girls Unite!
exploiting them, taking their money without giving of herself except that which is seen?
Last, the issue of parental expectations is explored. Query's mother has worked for decades to make the lives of prostitutes safer and healthier, creating outreach programs to get women off the street if they want, giving out condoms and safer sex instruction if they don't. However, she has trouble accepting the fact that her daughter is showing her body for money, and has difficulty in separating strippers from prostitutes, another topic examined in the movie.
Query and Funari delve into the unionization of the dancers with wit and warmth that is almost alarmingly endearing, and, were it a more commercial film, it could probably be described as the "feel-good film of the year."
The film will play Friday and Saturday, April 20 and 21. Friday it shows at 7 pm, Saturday at 8:35.
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