Sean Penn and James Franco in a scene from ‘Milk,’ the most high-profile gay film since 2005’s ‘Brokeback Mountain.’ (Photo by Phil Bray/Focus Features).
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Can 'Milk' Prevail?
Gay biopic faces strong competition - and homophobia in Hollywood - as Oscars near
With one notable exception, gay films in this fall’s lineup are more of the “gay-interest” variety than stories about lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender people. That said, there are still some notable oddities and curiosities to keep gay movie fans in the multiplexes.
September’s pretty bleak. Even gay fans of the Harry Potter franchise (who were thrilled at the revelation from series’ author J.K. Rowling about sage Professor Albus Dumbledore being gay) will have to wait until July after Warner Brothers decided to bump the film because of the already grim financial projections for next year’s traditional blockbuster season.
Old-school queens regardless of age should be wary of an upcoming remake of the 1939 camp classic, “The Women.” Diane English, who has no directing experience and has worked mostly as a writer for the TV series “Murphy Brown,” writes and directs. If that’s not enough to give pause, the cast can’t hold a candle to the 1939 assemblage who turned the film into a camp delight. The Norma Shearer role has gone to Meg Ryan as a woman whose no-good husband cheats on her with Eva Mendes (Joan Crawford in the first film).
In the 20th-century version, the heroine’s attempt to regain her husband leads to one of the greatest bitch fests ever captured on celluloid. But according to Entertainment Weekly, the new incarnation is decidedly less catty (and dare we say less fun).
Ryan is quoted as saying, “It’s a story about female friendship.” Let’s hope English doesn’t turn the snappy story into a saccharin, gutless bore. It opens Sept. 12.
Atlanta sees the release of Alan Ball’s “Towelhead,” which played last year’s Sundance Film Festival. Ball, the gay writer and director known for “American Beauty” and HBO’s “Six Feet Under,” heads this film about a young Arab-American girl who goes to live with her strict father. Full of raging adolescent hormones, she begins a sexual awakening that involves at least one inappropriate older man. Toni Collette and Aaron Eckhart are some of the bigger names attached to the film, and Summer Bishil takes the leading role. It opens Sept. 19.
OCTOBER PICKS UP the pace, starting with “Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist.” Michael Cera (“Juno”) plays the only straight guy in a queer band. He ends up falling for a girl (Kat Dennings) during a romp through Manhattan. Look for it Oct. 3.
Sundance Film Festival entry “Breakfast With Scot” is October’s shining star. A very queeny 11-year-old ends up living with his gay uncles, one of whom (Tom Cavanagh) is a TV sportscaster and former professional hockey player. Mr. Straight-Acting is confronted with his own sissy-phobia when the boy turns out to love musicals and a pink poodle belt.
This could be the movie that gays not only have been waiting for, but need. As the culture slides into more mainstream acceptance, subtle layers of homophobia (internal and external) come to the forefront as they do in this likely enlightening and charming film opening Oct. 10.
Rather than “The Women,” this fall’s true woman-power film could be “The Secret Life of Bees,” based on the best-selling and much-loved book of the same title. Dakota Fanning stars as a Southern girl who escapes her abusive father with their maid (Jennifer Hudson). Set in 1964, racial tensions are perilously high, but the disparate pair ends up at a house and bee farm owned by three African-American sisters: Alicia Keys, Sophie Okonedo and Queen Latifah. It opens Oct. 17.
Curious fans young and old will probably see “Filth and Wisdom,” Madonna’s directorial debut. The story follows an eclectic and eccentric group of friends in London, each trying to eke out another day in their bizarre and often hilarious lives. Gogol Bordello’s Eugene Hutz is the protagonist who spanks men for money. The film opens Oct. 17.
THE REAL MUST-CATCH THIS SEASON could be “Milk,” the film about Harvey Milk, the first openly gay man elected to political office in a major city. Fellow San Francisco City Supervisor Dan White assassinated him in 1978. Both Milk and his lover are played by straight actors (Sean Penn and James Franco, respectively), but there’s high hope for a truly queer read on this historic figure. Gay director Gus Van Sant is at the helm.
Unlike fiction-based films by straight artists that end in tragedy, this movie’s story is true, shocking, and rings all-too-familiar in its discrimination. The film is already generating Oscar buzz. It opens Nov. 26.
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