Author Topic: James Franco: INTERIOR. LEATHER BAR. (2013) Now at IFC.  (Read 3227 times)

Offline Aloysius J. Gleek

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James Franco: INTERIOR. LEATHER BAR. (2013) Now at IFC.
« on: March 15, 2014, 09:29:07 pm »


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Published on Jan 3, 2013




















"Tu doives entendre je t'aime."
(and you know who I am...)


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Offline Aloysius J. Gleek

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Re: James Franco: INTERIOR. LEATHER BAR. (2013) Now at IFC.
« Reply #1 on: March 15, 2014, 09:52:03 pm »


http://lbpost.com/lgbt/2000002709-qfilms-review-travis-matthews-and-james-franco-s-interior-leather-bar#.UyT97vldXRQ

in LGBT:
QFILMS 2013

 
QFILMS REVIEW:
Travis Matthews and
James Franco's

Interior. Leather Bar.

by BRIAN ADDISON 
AUGUST 12 2013 12:15





Call it egomania stemming from James Franco's perpetual obsession with queer life, call it semi-articulate philosophy, or call it brilliant, I should make one thing clear about Mr. Franco and fellow director Travis Matthews's Interior. Leather Bar. : it is very difficult--despite Variety's vitriolic review--to dismiss the film as a stunt.

Surface level speaking, Interior is an attempt to re-create the controversial 40 minutes that was cut from William Friedkin's equally controversial Pacino-led 1980 classic Cruising. The film, which puts New York City's gay leather scene as a backdrop for a series of grisly murders, includes a scene where Pacino must go undercover and explore the scene itself--and it is here where Friedkin faced the wrath of both gay activists (calling the film homophobic) and the MPAA (who insisted that Friedkin cut the unsimulated sex scenes to avoid the death knell that was the X rating).

In actuality, the film is a deeply complex discussion that tackles (almost too many) topics: censorship, performance, sexual identity, celebrity culture, desire, fiction-versus-non-fiction, LGBTQ rights, social norms, history, pornography… The list can be as endless as it is exhaustive.

But this should have been expected.

There are two things one should realize: Firstly, Franco is a tireless academic. Since 2006, he has received a BA in English from UCLA, a MFA in creative writing from Columbia while simultaneously attending NYU's Tisch School of Arts for film, Brooklyn College for fiction writing, and Warren Wilson College for poetry, annnnd is currently a PhD student at Yale for English.

The sheer veracity of his desire to consume knowledge and produce art is something that cannot be underestimated when he decides to take on a project like Interior. It is going to be over-thought, over-analyzed, and over-projected.

Secondly, we have Matthews with Franco. The former has a very fine eye for turning porn into art (this is how he became involved with Franco: the expansion of Matthews's short film I Want Your Love into a feature-length led to it being banned in Australia after it was discovered that a portion of the film was aided by a pornography studio). And the latter, well, has a knack for mocking himself (if you haven't seen his UCLA commencement speech rejection video*, I encourage you do so ).

If you think Franco isn't going to prod at the persistent discussion in Hollywood surrounding his sexuality, isn't going to be shameless in showcasing the still-in-existence homophobia amongst Hollywooders, that he won't mock our obsession with violence over our hesitance to show gay sex… Well… I shrug.

So yes, to the Hollywood Reporter 's dejection of the film as one for "queer theory students and Francomaniacs" only, this is true, albeit only partly. The nifty mix of documenting and scripted shots--which end up leaving the viewer wondering precisely what was real (besides the copious amount of uncensored fellatio) and what wasn't--isn't anything new, but when paired with the idea that gay sex still induces severe discomfort, the film comes off as an applaudable attempt at creating beauty in queer sexuality.

And Franco is shameless in admitting this.

"I don't like the fact that I've been brought up to think a certain way," he says in the film when speaking to the very uncomfortable lead actor, Val, in between takes. "I don't like realizing that my mind has been twisted, that the world has been set up around--and what that is straight, normative kind of behavior and it's fucking instilled in my brain… [And gay sex happens] in a place that is beautiful and attractive."

In the end, can it be called excessive and ploy-like? Yes. In fact, the film's unapologetic forthrightness can provide an intellectual argument for or against all of its philosophical inquiries.

For me, however, it is hard to downsize a film that--in 60 minutes no less--deftly explores our many issues with male homosexuality from a plethora of angles. It is difficult for me to dismiss a film which so tastefully explores a by-gone era--what one actor beautifully called "the lost gay dream" of cruising--as its actors look into the camera as if the camera itself were a man they were set on getting into bed.

Franco wants you to have no expectations--including the "Franco factor." And I can assure you, despite your opinion, Interior. Leather Bar. will take you on a ride you've never quite experienced before.



* http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/ab25302c8e/james-franco-s-rejected-ucla-commencement-speech/
"Tu doives entendre je t'aime."
(and you know who I am...)


Cowboy Curtis (Laurence Fishburne)
and Pee-wee in the 1990 episode
"Camping Out"

Offline tampatalon

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Re: James Franco: INTERIOR. LEATHER BAR. (2013) Now at IFC.
« Reply #2 on: March 16, 2014, 02:16:42 pm »
Cruising sent chills down my spine. I will have to rent Interior Leather Bar and see what happens.
"Lean on me, Let our hearts beat in time, Feel strength from the hands that have held you so long. Who cares where we go on this rutted old road, In a world that may say that we're wrong."--EmmyLou Harris