8
GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE
July 20, 2007
nos
Not the usual coming-of-age films
by Anthony Glassman
One of the most prominent signs that the LGBT civil rights movement was having an effect on society a few years back was the dawn of the "tender queer coming-of-age story." You know the sort of thing: Kid A and kid B are best friends, kid A is queer, and either they hook up or kid A winds up getting a girlfriend or boyfriend by the end of the film.
Follow My Voice and Wild Tigers I Have Known are not that sort of film.
This is not to say that either is a horrible, gloomy portrait of miserable children, filled with death and destruction. Well, maybe Wild Tigers, but it's kind of hard to tell. Follow My Voice is two documentaries in one. It follows the making of Wig in a Box, an album of indie rock musicians recreating the songs made famous by John Cameron Mitchell in his stage musical Hedwig and the Angry Inch, later turned into an independent cinema hit.
Queer youth are involved in two ways. First, the album is a benefit for the HetrickMartin Institute in New York, which runs Harvey Milk High School and a drop-in
center.
Second, director Katherine Linton gave video cameras to four Hetrick-Martin kids and asked them to chronicle their lives, their thoughts, their dreams and aspirations.
The result is really five stories: The making of the album, and the lives of two lesbians, one transgendered teen and one gay boy, along with all their friends.
As one might expect, the kids' lives are funny and hopeful and tragic and sad and exultant and restrained and exuberant, all crammed into teenaged form.
The album itself, barely glimpsed despite its constant presence in the film, is a wonder. Artists ranging from Cyndi Lauper (who does "Midnight Radio" with the Minus 5) to Yo La Tengo, as well as queer årtists like Rufus Wainwright, Bob Mould, SleaterKinney with the B-52s' Fred Schneider and Imperial Teen (who count among the band members Roddy Bottom, formerly of Faith No More). Polyphonic Spree, the Breeders, Robyn Hitchcock and Frank Black, among many other alternative giants, lend their talents to the project.
The DVD is being released by Wolfe Video, and was co-produced by the Sundance Channel. That sort of makes sense, since the Sundance Festival is where Hedwig became a household word, as opposed to an esoteric German name. When the film hit Sundance, Mitchell and his writing partner Stephen Trask became superstars with a great deal of clout in the entertainment business.
The CD Wig in a Box is available through most retailers, and also online at www.offrecords.com.
33
GENIUS ENTERTAINMENT
期
Logan, left, and his friend Joey share yet another surreal moment in Wild Tigers I Have Known.
From the gritty, real and relatively uplifting, let's go to the ethereal, surreal and, well, it's difficult to tell whether it's uplifting, depressing or something else entirely: Cam Archer's Wild Tigers I Have Known.
Executive-produced by Gus Van Sant, the film follows 13-year-old Logan (Malcolm Stumpf), a lonely, effeminate boy with a burgeoning crush on Rodeo (Patrick White), a popular teenager in his school.
The older Rodeo befriends Logan and pays attention to him, something Logan is only used to from his equally-outcast friend Joey.
Logan's problem lies in trying to take his friendship with the older boy to a new level, a romantic one.
Logan comes up with a desperate, almost clever ploy to connect with Rodeo on that front, calling him while claiming to be a girl named Leah. He talks dirty, engages in a little phone sex, although Rodeo quickly dismisses the calls if "Leah" doesn't want to meet him in person.
That sets up a Freudian climax in which secrets are revealed, and everything changes. It also engenders a new understanding between Logan and Joey, although there is no
sudden blossoming of romance between them.
The largest question surrounding this film is, do you have to be on LSD to understand it, or does it just help?
Symbolism, surrealism and stream of consciousness combine to turn this 2007 Independent Spirit Award-winning film into a beautiful, disjointed tale that is as lush as it is hard to follow.
The sexualization of a 13-year-old may make some people uncomfortable. There is nothing particularly overt, but watching Logan's face as he is apparently masturbating can make one feel a bit like a pedophile. The film is lush, with a vivid palette that lends it an almost hallucinatory air. While one would never recommend or condone the use of illegal chemical substances, it would be interesting to watch the film while under the influence of them.
Of course, the lions might be a little frightening at that point.
What, you ask, are lions doing in the film, especially when the title refers to tigers? At the risk of sounding cruel, you have to watch the film to find out.
шиеле
Dykes To Watch Out For ARCHIVE episode
ANGST
IN RIGHT
1987 BY ALISON BECHDEL
'KEY PLAYERS!' HMPH! MAKES EM SOUND LIKE GODDAMN FOOTBALL HEROES! LIES! CORRUPTION! HYPOCRISY!
JT'S SOFTBALL SEASON AGAIN, AND MO'S HAVING A TOUCH OF WELTSCHMERZ IN THE LAST INNING...
IT'S SO PEACEFUL
OUT HERE...
116
។
AND PEOPLE SWALLOW IT! WELL, WHAT DO I EXPECT FROM A NATION THAT EQUATES TRUTH AND BEAUTY WITH HALLMARK CARDS? A NATION OF MINDLESS CONSUMERS GOBBLING UP NATURAL RESOURCES AND LEAVING ALL THIS SHIT BEHIND!
YOU'D NEVER SUSPECT THAT SOMEWHERE POLITICAL PRISONERS ARE BEING TORTURED, PEOPLE ARE STARVING, CHEMICALS ARE SPILLING, MISSILES ARE PILING UP... NOPE! HERE IN THE HEART OF THE BEAST, EVERYTHING'S JUST HUNKY DORY!
240
I MEAN, THE GLOBAL CLIMATE IS CHANGING BECAUSE WE'VE FUCKED UP THE ENVIRONMENT SO BAD!
It was 20 years ago today. The times, they aren't a-changin'.
SOUTH AFRICA, CENTRAL AMERICA, AND THE MIDDLE EAST ARE ALL FAR AWAY. WE CAN WATCH THEM SAFELY ON THE NEWS EVERY NIGHT...
OATWIMMIAL
I WONDER WHICH WILL COME FIRST, THE NEXT ICE AGE OR NUCLEAR HOLOCAUST?
AND WHEN SOMETHING GETS TOO CLOSE TO HOME, THE NETWORKS FIND WAYS TO KEEP IT PALATABLE AND UNINFORMATIVE...
HOW CAN WE STAND HERE PLAYING SOFTBALL? IMEAN, WHAT'S THE POINT ?!?
SATWIMMIN
LIKE CALLING OLIVER NORTH AND HIS HENCHMEN 'KEY PLAYERS' IN THE IRAN CONTRA DEAL INSTEAD OF SOMETHING LESS POSITIVE LIKE CRIMINALLY INSANE HYPERMILITARY @***!* WARMONGERS!'
SMEK
WHAT A CATCH, MO!
FLOR!
THAT'S THE GAME! WE WON!
FOR A POINTLESS GAME, IT HAS
ITS MOMENTS
www.DykesToWatchOutfor.com
J
KIK
=
IS SHE FINALLY LOSING IT?
Q
BAT WIMMIN