GAY MOVIE REVIEW: Stranger by the Lake

Jeff & I had a ‘date night’ this past weekend & opted for a movie. There was a really sexy-sounding one playing at the Laemmle in Pasadena, so we saw that one: 

Stranger by the Lake

PLOT: This French film takes place in the summer at a nude cruising spot for men, tucked away on the shores of a lake. Franck falls in love with Michel. But one evening, after wandering around a little too late, Franck spots Michel holding a ‘trick’ underwater, drowning him in the lake.  Despite this, Franck continues to see Michel.  Their relationship becomes strained when the trick’s body is found a few days later & the police start questioning them both about what they know.

REVIEW:  First of all, I think I should mention that there’s a lot of full-frontal male nudity in this movie; it’s set at a nude beach, after all. There’s also several (hot) sex scenes & all that, so it pretty much delivers in that area. Both Jeff & I thought it was done extremely well, but couldn’t figure out the ‘point’ of the movie until the next day. At first we assumed it was a ‘cautionary tale’ of the dangers of anonymous sex but that doesn’t hold a lot of water because Franck *does* know who Michel is and stays with him anyway. Later, Jeff told me that the way it ends (Franck, hiding from a murderous Michel, finally comes out of hiding & starts calling for him – FADE TO BLACK) tells him that “Franck is so afraid of loneliness that he would rather call out to ‘his killer’ than be alone” which coincides better with some of the other character’s storylines in the movie (there is a an older guy that Franck befriends who doesn’t swim or sleep around in the film; he just sits there watching everyone else, probably because he’s looking for a friend more than sex).

On the downside, the film also has no soundtrack, making it a bit boring. And the ending is a little abrupt, which left us wanting more of a resolution. But otherwise I found this an interesting, yet subtle, film to watch. 

Here’s the trailer!  

GAY MOVIE REVIEW - Beyond the Walls

Had a few hours to kill (over the past week), so I figured I would watch a movie.  This one had some sexy-looking actors looked interesting (and I remember seeing it on the Outfest line-up last year), so…..!

Beyond The Walls 

PLOT: The French film follows Paulo, a young pianist, who meets Ilir, a double-bass player originally from Albania. It's love at first sight. Paulo is soon confronted by his girlfriend, Anka, & finds himself out on the street. Paulo moves in with Ilir, despite his misgivings. One day, when Paulo promises that he will love Ilir for the rest of his life, Ilir leaves the city and doesn't return. A few days later, Paulo finds out that Ilir is in jail, and the two lovers embark on an heart-breaking relationship.

REVIEW:  Considering that the crux of the movie is how Paulo & Ilir react to their ‘long-distance’ relationship, the first hour of this movie seems almost unnecessary. But I’m guessing that the director included it to show fragile & co-dependent their relationship (or Paulo) is. In fact, the movie doesn’t really tell us a lot about Ilir; it focuses more on Paulo & how he handles the role-reversal of having to provide & protect Ilir (with money & other things he can use for trade) in prison. In the end, Paulo finds a new provider and runs into (a weaker, more needy) Ilir once more. But Ilir’s attempts to reconnect fall short & Paulo leaves him behind after he (Ilir) fails to get back what they once had.

The ending of Paulo & Ilir’s relationship makes Paulo seem rather cruel & almost a leech who sucked Ilir dry, leaving him when he couldn’t provide anymore. Anyway, here is the trailer: 

 

The Russo Test

Look out film makers!  There's a new "film test" for critics to evaluate films with!  It's called "The Russo Test" and is based off of (almost identical to, in fact) "the Bechdel test" - named after cartoonist, Alison Bechdel.  

The Bechdel Test, for those you who aren't familiar with it, asks three simple questions as a kind of test to see how well female characters are portrayed in movies & literature these days:  

1.  Are there at least two women in this movie?  

2.  Do these two women ever talk to each other?  

3.  About anything other than a man? 

The Russo Test, similarly, asks if a movie meet the following criteria:  

1.  The film should have at least one LGBT character.  

2.  That character must not be defined as "the gay one."  (IE they are made up of the same sort of unique character traits commonly used to differentiate straight characters from each other).  

3.  He/she must be tied significantly into the plot.  (They're not there just to provide 'colorful commentary', or set-up a punchline; this character should matter).  

It was established by GLAAD earlier this year as part of a project to see how well-represented the LGBT community has been portrayed in the mainstream media (big blockbuster type movies, etc.) last year.  

Anyway, just thought I would post about it here since I happen to watch (& review) a lot of gay movies.  I found out about it through an article that was linked on IMDB (Here's the article).  

Of course, other than "God loves Uganda", I haven't really wanted to post any of the movies I've recently watched.  Some of them have been bad (see below), and the rest have just been "okay".  

(too lazy to link these; you can find them all on imdb or netflix instant) 

• The Men next door
• Morgan
• Bad Boy Street
• Ethan Mao (pretty bad)
• Clapham Junction
• Yossi & Jagger
• 29^th & Gay (pretty bad)
• Gayby 

None of these are 'big studio' movies, though.  

Think of a couple of big-studio movies you've seen in the last year that had a gay character.  Did they pass the Russo test?