NEWS
Local
Mind, Body & Soul
Sports
Archives
OPINION
Editorials
Letters
Columnists
Message Boards
A&E
The Gay Agenda
Calendar
Movies
Books
LIVING
Horoscopes
Comics
Classifieds
Obituaries
Salt Lake METRO
Subscribe
Advertise
Contact Us
|
 |
Feature
 A Guide to This Summer’s Gay Flicks
Queer Film Sizzles this Summer
Gay rights may be a political wedge issue between conservatives and liberals in the United States, but a plethora of new queer films this summer reveals more about the complexities and diversity of modern gay life than any right-wing sound bites.
The Advocate is praising the upcoming season as the end of a multi-year drought in queer cinema while at the same time, serious movie critics are praising the return of quality storytelling and industry insiders are amazed at the genre diversity of the upcoming films.
The summer season is kicking off with two very different films. D.E.B.S. is a spoof on women spy classics like Charlie’s Angels that is set in a boarding school with heavy lesbian storylines. Eating Out (starring Desperate Housewives’ Ryan Carnes, American Idol’s Jim Verraros, and newcomer Scott Lunsford) depicts your standard love triangle: gay boy falls for straight boy who’s pretending to be gay to get the gay guys’ best gal pal. Both movies are playing in limited release already.
Another May release, Mysterious Skin, will be coming to Salt Lake in June. Based on the novel by Scott Heim, the film follows the stories of two boys molested in their childhood. Joseph Gordon Leavitt (Third Rock From the Sun, Latter Days) plays the gay hustler who remembers all too well and Brady Corbet is the UFO-obsessed outsider trying to reconnect the dots. Michelle Trachtenberg (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) also sparkles in her role as the teenage fag hag and best friend.
Spanning twenty-four hours, Heights follows five New Yorkers challenged to choose their destiny before the sun comes up the next day. The ensemble cast in this Merchant Ivory production includes Glenn Close, James Marsden, Jesse Bradford, Isabella Rossellini, Eric Bogosian, Rufus Wainwright and more. The film begins release on June 10.
For the women, another summer movie to watch for is My Summer of Love. In the Yorkshire countryside, working-class tomboy Mona (Nathalie Press) meets the exotic, pampered Tasmin (Emily Blunt). Over the summer season, the two young women discover they have much to teach one another, and much to explore together. Begins release on June 17.
Proving that gay stories can be told across many genres effectively, HellBent is the first gay horror film to get moviegoers excited. The film follows five hot gay guys as they try to survive the wildest night of the year—Halloween in West Hollywood. The film has been screening at film festivals since last fall, but expect to see it in on DVD by June.
Another genre breakthrough is the much-anticipated Brokeback Mountain from director Ang Lee. Starring Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal, this story about two Wyoming ranch hands has already got the Hollywood gossips raving about the steamy and sexy scenes between these two heartthrob actors. Don’t get too excited yet though—the release date of our gay western flick has been pushed back from summer to December 9.
Two artistic dramas, Loggerheads and The Dying Gaul, both got their Utah debuts at the Sundance Film Festival last January, and will continue their tours of select cities and film festivals through the summer before popping up on DVD shelves.
Another Sundance story is that of the queer inclusive flick Happy Endings from director Don Roos. With an amazing cast including Lisa Kudrow, Tom Arnold, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Bobby Cannavale, Jason Ritter, David Sutcliffe, Laura Dern and more, this dark comedy will start hitting the theaters in July.
From lesbian spy spoofs to gay westerns, West Hollywood slashers to British tomboys, gritty psychological dramas about molestation or dark comedy about finding family—there really is something for everyone.
|
|
|
