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January 16, 2009

GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE 9

NICKEL HAPPENINGS

*Frelay Jan 16th -SquareKar Dance Party

Sunday, Jan 18th

The L Word Season 6 Premiere Party. Gosted by HRC Goveure if suggestes & inalte

*Thursday, Jan 22nd

ALL HAIL

Goddes

people fighting against a broken political system, the military-industrial complex, and a whole laundry list of very far-left political

causes.

Meanwhile, Otto begins to have visions of his life before death: a boyfriend, a butcher shop.

The question of whether Otto can return to his life or is doomed to his un-life emerges as he begins to tentatively reach out to those last vestiges of his humanity.

LaBruce has created a truly sympathetic protagonist in Otto; the audience feels for him, regardless of whether or not they really understand what he is feeling.

The director has also continued using a couple of his new and old trademarks. Throughout his career, LaBruce has integrated genuine not simulated sex into his films, going so far as to direct a full-on porn film with Skin Gang in 1999.

Otto is no exception, with an orgy wrapping the filming of Medea's movie, as well as an earlier scene that references Andy Warhol's Frankenstein. In the earlier movie, Udo Kier as the titular doctor stabs his female creature and proceeds to make use of her sexually, telling his assistant, "To know life, Otto, you have to fuck death in the gall bladder." And yes, at one point in Medea's magnum opus, one zombie schtups another in the side. It's not as gross as one would believe, given LaBruce's lack of interest in realism.

Another carryover is the exaggeration of political belief into the realm of satire, of

camp. That really reared its head in his last film, Raspberry Reich, where a leftist terrorist organization is told by their leader that, to move beyond society's heterosexism, all the attractive young men in the group must have sex with each other.

In both Raspberry Reich and in Otto, the charismatic female leader goes on and on and on about politics, to the point of comedy. Perhaps LaBruce is making the point that, instead of speaking about it, one should just do it. Perhaps he simply finds the long monologues about politics amusing.

Once the audience realizes that the political diatribes are not necessarily meant to be taken seriously and at face value, they generally find the humor as well.

On a side note, Susanne Sachẞe, who

played the terrorist leader in Raspberry Reich, plays Medea's girlfriend in Otto. Oddly enough, she is always in black and white, no matter how colorful everyone else is. It's a cute little conceit that LaBruce worked in for her.

Otto; or, Up With Dead People plays at 8:35 pm on January 29 and February 1 at the Cleveland Institute of Art Cinematheque, 11141 East Blvd. in University Circle. For more information, go to www.cia.edu/ cinematheque or call 216-421-7450.

For hose who can't make it, or who do not live in northeast Ohio, Strand Releasing will put Otto out on DVD a mere nine days later, on February 10.

*

YOU AIN'T SEEN NOTHIN' YET.

Robin Stone

BEAT

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Doors at 6, music at 8, $7 cover

Friday, Jan 23rd -Karaoke w/Jammin' Ginger

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