The good, the bad and the ugly August 2011

The Good: 'The Guard':

Thursday night  I had the great pleasure of watching an Irish film called ‘The Guard’.  Billed as a comedy/thriller, It starred Brendan Gleeson and Don Cheadle and in a word was brilliant! I highly recommend it and in fact would watch it again myself. The film is filled with great acting. You know the kind, where body language and facial expressions speak volumes?  Brendan Gleeson is simply marvellous! My god I am raving about this film and why not? It is visually pleasing, is filled with great dialogue and has many funny lines which had me laughing aloud. Yes there are a few minor quibbles to be had, a few clichéd lines from the bad guys. But this film is rich in humanness and the characters have emotional depth to them. The film carries both a sense of realism as well as an air of the fantastic. Just like real life, morality is ambiguous and one good act does not necessarily lead to another. A film with a lot of heart and a lot of laughs.   

 

The bad: ‘After you died parts I – X’

The 'bad' generally refers to my poetry. During my stay in Hobart this July, I wrote a  poem in ten parts called something like 'winter is colder since you died'. After that I wrote a series of shorter pieces like this one, where the idea of 'ten parts or sections' was in used in a different way.

‘After you died, parts I – X’

Everything I write,

is a cliché.

Everything I write,

seems fake, 
untruthful.

Like I’m trying to whitewash it all.

The truth is

You’re dead.

The truth is

I love you,

I miss you

like hell.

The truth is,

neither of us were perfect.

The ugly: ‘Hey narcissist! Who me?, yes you!’  

I am always bringing things back to me, this blog, my life, events around me. Ok, not always, but often and yeah It is normal to make your life and your own things about you. However, recently I was talking to a friend about someone who was facing a lot of issues around their substance use and the violence they were perpetrating in their relationship, and I ended by reflecting back to my friend ‘how does this person have a partner and I am still single?’. My mate responded that I was being narcissistic. Maybe. Definitely. Though, perhaps I was more puzzled over the state of things. Mind you, while all things point to this person being in a pretty dysfunctional relationship…it is still a relationship and I have been without one for what seems an eternity. So this months ‘ugly’ is for me, and the narcissist within, or is that the reflectiveness of a single person within? Or am I just looking for some kind of justification? I might need to talk this through with my friend who will undoubtedly set me straight. 

Melbourne Queer Film Festival (MQFF) 2011

This year I have decided to make time to see a few films as part of the MQFF. 

Broderskab (a.k.a ‘Brotherhood’) was a Danish film I saw on Friday night at the Queer Film Festival. It was the first session in this year’s program (the festivals 21^st birthday!!). The festival director apologised upfront wondering if they should have started the festival with a more ‘upbeat’ film. After watching it, I can see what she meant. This film was dark and intense. In 2009 it won ‘Best Film’ at the Rome Film Festival. When the film was over I was left a little stunned and feeling like I needed some time to digest what has happened.  Neo-Nazis, racism, homophobia, love & consequences are words that spring to mind. An interesting film, that I am glad I saw and was still thinking about the next day.

Here is a review from the New York Times.

Saturday night, I saw 2 films back to back (people do the craziest things at film festivals…one person I spoke with was seeing 6 films in one day!!). The two I saw were ‘Sasha’ and ‘La Mission’. Interestingly both films had fathers who found it difficult to deal with their son’s homosexuality.

Sasha: This was a cute German film from 2010 about the son of a family from Bosnia/Montenegro who deals with issues around his sexuality and his mother’s expectations of his future. It had a nice balance of humour and seriousness. 

La Mission was a similar story (ie. son dealing with issues), but this was not a light film. It was a really interesting glimpse into a minority group and the laws that apply to this group. The use of violence (and the treat of violence), the image you portray (and how), sense of community, language used (a mix of boasting, threats and vagueness. e.g.  phrases such as ‘you know’, ‘and shit.’ being used instead of the specifics), highlighted the difference between someone from La Mission and someone such as myself. While these elements are universal, the way we live our lives is not. Life in the Mission District is tough, you need to be tougher. Violence and death are but a moment away. Respect is earned and can be quickly lost if you don't adhere to the groups' rules. The richness of the culture (of the migrants from The Mission district), their cultures long history, as well as the importance of family, all gave this drama depth and substance. A film that I felt was a little too long, not brilliant, but still of interest.

A side note on this film is that a dear friend that I saw it with, commented on how many, many years ago, he and his partner whilst holiday on San Francisco accidentally stumbled upon the Mission District. A concerned police officer noticed their lily-white, middle-class, gay, Aussie asses and advised them promptly on the quickest and safest way out of the district.

So, MQFF 2011.

All in all, this year’s MQFF has been interesting. I have bumped into familiar faces, had some nice conversations but, so far I have yet to see any heart warming films (heart warming for me, that is). This may change though as next week I am off to see my last film for the festival, one which I fear may be awful (it at least sounds terrible) - It’s about a fag-hag who distances herself from her gay friends so that she can finally meet a man. Sound terrible to you? But that’s the thing about these festivals, you go with friends, see things that you wouldn’t normally see and enjoy the moment, regardless of how bad the film is, it’s about the company and the experience… anyway.. this film might be just be my heart warmer!! If not, there is the festival bar afterwards and conversations to be had with familiar faces!