Father Geek just received this 4th report from the velvet & leather innermost chambers of the AUSTIN GAY & LESBIAN INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL, and Dorothy Parker and her good friend Nikki...
Nikki Finn again letting you know all the ins and outs of the Austin Gay and Lesbian Film Festival (aGLIFF). Today's installment first is the unusual film Showboy (dir. Lindy Heymann & Christian Taylor 2002 USA 93 min.). It shows a documentary crew as they follow Christian, a writer / producer on the set of the HBO series Six Feet Under. Things turn upside down when Christian is unexpectedly fired from the job while on a remote Las Vegas shoot, and he just decides to stay there and try to find work. In alternating painful and funny scenes, we watch as he tries to follow his bliss by auditioning and changing himself from the bookish producer into a Las Vegas showboy. Let me tell you right here that I sat through the campy yet awful Showgirls (1995) the other day (as someone's ill fated scheme to prove that it was indeed the greatest film ever made) and Showboy has more heart, fun and is much, much sexier! In this universe we actually care about the characters instead of wanting them vaporize forever in a Seigfried and Roy stunt gone horribly wrong. We not only follow Christian, but get wrapped up in the lives of his friends and also the filmmakers, desperately seeking some resolution to their story. The illusionists Seigfried & Roy are featured in the film as well as a quick cameo by Whoopie Goldberg.
A small short shown before the film was The Moment After (dir. Gerald McCullouch 2002 USA 13 min.) in which the lead, Tracey is marking his birthday with a huge party thrown by friends and aquaintances. As watch the events unfold he has flashbacks of meeting with and often fighting with them in the past. While it is a bit heavy handed, the ultimate message is to live your life without regrets and not to ever give up hope.
Another short was Two Big Fags (dir. Randy Eisenberg 2002 USA 4 min.). The dialog was the perfect staccato of teenage girls as these two bitchy queens talked about and trashed the events in their lives from their jobs to the then upcoming Madonna concert. It's a quick satirical look into New York City gay life, and funny because we've all known people like them.
Finally the documentary When Boys Fly (dir. Stewart Halpern, Lenid Rolov & Kevin Weiler 2001 USA 62 min.). This film started out as an advertisement online asking gay men interested in attending Miami's White (Circuit) Party to join a kind of Gay Real World and have all their expenses paid if they would allow themselves to be filmed and interviewed during their stay. Circuit Parties to the uninitiated are dance events where drug use is rampant, rules don't apply and relationships are made to be broken. In the film we follow 5 main characters. Tone is a young man with an addiction problem who swears he'll never use again. He comes across like a wired yappy dog that your great-aunt had. Todd is a selfish 35 year old who has recently come out and is reliving his adolescence by dating very young guys: Jon, 21, who he claims to be his *soul-mate* and Jason, his ex, who is along as a friend. Finally we have Brandon, a straight-laced college student who seems to be very together except for his many fears and misconceptions of what it means to be gay and his obvious oedipal problems. The story, which the director had at first meant to be a insight to the party culture and it's effects on newbies, became a strong anti-drug commentary, showing the stupidity and consequences of those that feel they have to get high to have fun.
