ABCs at the Movies: The Doubles Round!

[oilgun]

From PlanetOut.com: A mystical exploration of Mexican history, this lushly photographed film by the famous gay director Sergei Eisenstein languished uncompleted until the mid-1980s when his former editor Grigory Alexandrov finally completed the project as the director intended (complete with homoeroticized imagery of Mexican youths).

[Lynne]

From Netflix:
This provocative and insightful film documents three years in the lives of identical twins Mark and Alex Farley as they come to terms not only with their homosexuality, but also with Alex's decision to physically change his gender. Haunted by a troubled past --including divorced parents, discrimination and a joint suicide attempt -- the brothers struggle to affirm their identity and learn what it means to be a family outside of traditional norms.

[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=egVybLHDHwI[/youtube]

[southendmd]

IMDb:  Fascinating remembrance of a unique artist who could seemingly change his sex at will, and also was a talented playwright and performer. Recalls the Warhol era in New York City which saw wide artistic experimentation in art, underground theater, and experimental film. The film includes archival film and video shot in the late sixties and early seventies and hundreds of photographs. Most interesting is the look inside the apartments of about two dozen interviewees in New York and Hollywood, including obscure artists and people like Lily Tomlin and Harvey Fierstein. The stories told by Jackie's surviving friends and colleagues are priceless - and hilarious! Bravo to Highberger for capturing and sharing them with us!

[oilgun]

==aside==
I hope I'm not offending anyone with this but what's the difference between SEX and GENDER?  The way I understand it is SEX is biological (XX=woman, XY=man) and GENDER is a social construct and therefore subjective.  If this is correct, is it right to say that it's impossible to change one's sex, only one's gender?  I've always had difficulty understanding Transexualism.  I can't help but see sex-change operations and hormone therapies as self-mutilation in order to fit a patriarchal society's expectations.  

[southendmd]

=reply=
I agree that the IMDb reviewer should have said "...artist who could seemingly change his gender at will".

As for the whole "trans" issue, that's for another (lengthy) thread!

[Fran]

From IMDb:  Having seen virtually every gay-themed film that has ever been made and having received A+ grades in all the film studies courses that I took in college, I would like to weigh in on the excellent unique first effort that is "The Trip," written and directed by very talented newcomer Miles Swain. You already know the basic plotline, timeline and substance of "The Trip" if you have read IMDB's information. My overarching impression of this film is that it feels real and from the heart as it shows us the relationship between two very different gay men as they age through the '70s and '80s, living their lives both together and apart amidst the ongoing struggle for equal rights for gay persons. They say opposites attract, and that is very true here for lead characters Larry and Alan who clearly grow to love each other very much. The focus of this film is on the complete persons who are Alan and Larry, not just their sex life, as in so many gay-themed films. Although AIDS unfortunately affects their lives, it does not affect their enduring love, and the director has rightly said that "This is not an AIDS film." It is a delightful, moving, comedy/drama/historical record with universal themes of trusting the power of a faithful love, the importance of honesty and courage, and being true to yourself in the face of a world seemingly always against you.

[oilgun]

From PlanetOut.com: Curiously transported to the present day, a group of dead lesbian and gay artists, including Sergei Eisenstein, Frida Kahlo, Langston Hughes, and Yukio Mishima, find themselves guests in the home of Toronto sculptors Frances Loring and Florence Wyle. They have been mysteriously summoned to Ontario to research the systematic policing of public washroom sex. These artists of wildly differing temperaments embark upon their research with flamboyance and aplomb, examining not only the subject at hand, but their own sexual identities. Each night, one of the six--joined by Wilde man Dorian Gray--delivers a riotous lecture on some aspect of the issue. Toronto artist Greyson's audacious film, which could be subtitled If Only Heads Could Talk, makes a shambles of filmic expectations. The lectures themselves--"A Social History of the Public Washroom" one night, "Washroom Sex Texts," the next--are mini-parodies, taking some facet of film discourse and knocking it off kilter. But in Urinal, the formal is firmly embraced by a fiery brand of political urgency. With an irreverence for historical propriety and a story structure that doesn't discriminate between burlesque, surrealist tableaux, and bitter fact, Greyson employs a mad pastiche to confound straight narrative, as he seeks a solution to gay harassment.

[southendmd]

IMDb:  Michael is avoiding phone calls regarding his dear friend and former lover Chris who is dying back in America. While trying to write, he is disturbed by the noisy surfers next door as they get ready for a weekend away of surf. C.K., one of the surfers, remains behind to surf the local beach. At the beach cafe for lunch with his old friend Angus, Michael again avoids discussing Chris back in America. Angus catches Michael watching C.K. on the beach and teases him but Michael denies any interest in the surfer. Left on his own, Michael watches C.K. catch a series of waves. After a big wave and a wipe out, C.K. disappears in the surf. Michael looses site of C.K. until he sees him on the beach taking off his wetsuit before he heads back home. Michael remains on the beach then makes his way home. Once inside his house, Michael sees C.K. walking towards him on his way to the living room where he makes himself at home. Michael does not know why the surfer is in his house but before the night is over he will discover more about himself than he may have been ready for.

[Fran]

aka Xi yan



From IMDb:  To satisfy his nagging parents, a gay landlord and a female tenant agree to a marriage of convenience, but his parents arrive to visit and things get out of hand.

[southendmd]

IMDb:  If you had a love-potion, who would you make fall madly in love with you? Timothy, prone to escaping his dismal high school reality through dazzling musical daydreams, gets to answer that question in a very real way. After his eccentric teacher casts him as Puck in A Midsummer Night's Dream, he stumbles upon a recipe hidden within the script to create the play's magical, purple love-pansy. Armed with the pansy, Timothy's fading spirit soars as he puckishly imposes a new reality by turning much of his narrow-minded town gay, beginning with the rugby-jock of his dreams. Ensnaring family, friends and enemies in this heart-wrenching chaos, Timothy forces them to walk a mile in his musical shoes. The course of true love never did run smooth, but by the end of this moving musical comedy of errors based on director Tom Gustafson's prolific award-winning short film, Fairies, the bumpy ride comes to a heartfelt conclusion. With vibrant imagery, a first-rate ensemble cast and innovative music rivaling the best of pop/ rock and contemporary Broadway, Were the World Mine attempts to push modern gay cinema and musical film beyond expectation.

[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EC_Q44P8_m4[/youtube]