Movies

Reviews...

• Doing Tme on Maple Drive
• The Sum of Us
• Trick
• Beautiful Thing
• Get Real
• Head On

Doing Time on Maple Drive This is an older one - it does back into the early nineties, from memory. You can still get it at most video stores in Australia, though of course, the older videos tend to lose some picture quality after a while and you should be prepared for the possibility of a bad hire. Stick with this movie. It has a slow start and while definately a telemovie, not a 'real' movie, the message is in there. 'Doing time on Maple Drive' explores the lives of all the members of a 'typical' American family - one where if you scratch it beneath the surface, it's a whole lot more dysfunctional than it would care to admit. Alcohol problems, overly stern and controlling father, and yes, a gay son - it's all there. As far as pulling apart the stereotypical perfect American family, it's almost a proto 'American Beauty'. In many ways I think this movie was about 5 years ahead of its time. Done anytime in the last five years, it would have had a much bigger budget, probably attracted some bigger stars and maybe been given a much larger audience. However, it doesn't lose anything in the story by being a low-budget telemovie. This was the first 'gay' movie that I saw so I guess to some degree it has a special place in my heart. However, I rewatched it only a year or so ago and it still hasn't lost any of its charm. IMDB on "Doing time on Maple Drive"

The Sum of Us An Australian movie adapted from an Australian play, this stars two of our great male actors - Jack Thompson and Russell Crowe. (Don't even talk to me about Mel Gibson. Can't act, can only punch, kick scream or run. Fascinating talent there.) Featuring a narrative, where the father, Thompson, periodically talks to the audience, this movie deal's with Crowe's search for Mr Right. He still lives with his father, but unlike what you might expect to see in a very "ocker" environment, Thompson feels nothing but love and acceptance for his son and can't understand when others don't feel the same way. This is one of those movies that doesn't have a picture-perfect ending. There are triumphs, but mixed in with those triumphs are moments of great despair. The movie follows a langrously meandering path that wraps the watcher up in the story. The accompanying sound-track is a great expose of Australian music at its best. Overall, a very good movie that endures the test of time. IMDB on "The Sum of Us"

Trick An American movie not based on a play (but feels like it), this is about a young man aspiring to be a writer of musicals, an industry that he admits is dying out. His reluctant fag hag, Tori Spelling, plays a great role (look, I'll say it now, I don't watch any of the pulp shit that Tori Spelling appears in normally) as the aspiring self-centred second-rate singer. (I say reluctant not because she disapproves but because she has little time for anyone but herself). Gabriel, after a particularly poor reception for one of his latest numbers, visits a local gay club where he is captivated by a very beautiful Go-Go dancer, Mark. (There's a lot to be captivated by in this young man. Look out for John Paul Pitoc). Eventually leaving, he meets up with Mark on the train on the way home and so begins a comedic and insightful search for somewhere that they can 'get it on'. Some fascinating characters intervene throughout the night to either help or hinder them on their journey to fulfillment. One character in particular to watch out for here is the Tori Spelling look-alike Drag Queen. Time after time, circumstances intervene to prevent a certain location or time from working for them through the night, and as one character points out, one night stands should never take this long because there's the risk of starting to know about the other person. Ultimately, this is the situation the young men find themselves in. Having learnt something about each other, what happens next? Despite this possibly sounding like a crass movie, Trick is yet another movie that leaves you feeling good. It's only opened in Australia around April 2000 and will probably not get a big mainstream release, but look out for it in small art cinemas for some time to come and see if it comes onto video. If nothing else, you can order it on DVD or Video out of the U.S. (Screw DVD regions - half of the decent stuff never even makes it out to Australia). IMDB on "Trick"

Beautiful Thing Adapted from a play (so many of the good gay movies seem to have come from a play), this is an English production about two young men living next to each other in a crowded estate. Jamie's single mother is trying to bring her son up 'proper' and provide for him a decent life, so she's constantly struggling to get her own pub to run. Ste's single father is a drunken, violent wretch who you'dd love to see mauled by dogs. (Well I'm sorry, but I would). Introduce into this a peace-loving hippy boyfriend for Jamie's mother, a Mama-Cass worshipping girl down the hallway called Leah and your typical school life, and you have a brilliant quirky mix that could have only come out of England. After a particularly violent beating, Ste ends up staying the night at Jamie's just so he is safe. Over time a young romance starts to blossum between the two - it is in essence a beautiful thing. The thing that appealed most to me about this movie is that gay romances were only just starting to come around at this time. Let's face it, most Hollywood productions have typecast gays as being 'girl hags' (strange, I thought the reverse was true?) or people riddled with terrible diseases. What an unpleasantly bad set of images to show. The music in this movie is ... different, yet entirely appropriate. Leah's music pervades the entire movie, and you can tell from it that the writer of the original play loves the Mamas and the Papas. After seeing the movie I bought the soundtrack - I doubt if I'd be in the only one in those circumstances. IMDB on "Beautiful Thing"

Get Real Another British production based on a play, this movie doesn't quite have the perfect 'feelgood' ending of Trick and Beautiful thing. Initially I was a little disappointed by this but on closer reflection, it's not a bad idea. Life is not all perfect, and sometimes the best victories come with sad prices. Many people will probably find this movie confronting due to the issue of beats. Everyone comes out differently, and one of the young men in this story chooses a way which I must admit is the way I wished I had had the courage to do for a long time after leaving High School. This is a mature movie dealing with the fact that 16 year olds have sexual appetites as well. There's an ad campaign that has run from time to time in Australian gay magazines which I am reminded of with respect to this movie. It has a picture of a young man with the captioning "I'm 17. If I have sex with a woman, my friends call me a stud. If I have sex with a man, the law calls me a criminal". Unequal age of consent laws is one of my pet hates. It only exists to please the immoral fetishes of evil right-wing conservatives who have nothing better to do with their time than think about what they consider to be sin. As Steven in the movie says "It's only love". But conservatives don't know how to love - not properly anyway. Overall then this is a confronting movie which I hope in time gets a lot of attention. Between beats, underage people having sex, and the other assorted topics in the movie, it forces you to think and see the world beneath the world. Growing up gay is one of the lonliest things that anyone can do. Loving parents can ironically do the most damage. As one character in the movie says, "Parents don't realise how much damage they do to their gay children by automatically assuming that they're heterosexual." I can agree with that for certain. IMDB on "Get Real"

Head On If you want confronting, this movie is hard to go past. Based on the book "Loaded" by Christos Tsiolkas, this movie adaptation takes you along on a wild 24 hour ride following Ari, a 19 year old son of Greek immigrants, you watch Ari do, and rebel against, a great many things. Ari does beats. He has sex just about anywhere and anyway he can get it. As long as he gets off with another guy and feels like a man at the end of it, he really doesn't care. He does drugs, just about any drugs that'll let him escape from the concerns his parents place on him, and their attitudes which could be argued are driving him to such levels of rebelling. In a lot of senses Ari is your typical teenager who is angry with life, with himself and with anyone who tries to control him. It is made more difficult for him growing up gay in the Greek community, but at the heart of it, the movie deals with youth that are angry but have no-where to focus that anger. This is not an entirely pleasant movie in places. I found some of the drug use quite confronting, but I think there's "something confronting in it for everyone". This is not to say that the movie should be avoided, but rather you should go in with an open mind and you'll probably find something delightful peering out at you. When I saw this movie the first time, there were about 3 or 4 elderly couples in the audience, and I thought for sure that they would walk out. However, they stuck with it, and it would have definately been confronting for them. Of course, you can also go in just for the perve factor. Alex Dimitriades is one of Australia's most handsome sexy young actors, and you see everything in this movie. And yes, in that scene (you'll either know about it or recognise it instantly when you finally see the movie), it's all real. There's no stunt-dick, and he really does do it, not just fakes it. Why do I know this? 'Cause he's candidly admitted it in any interview when he's asked. IMDB on "Head On"