GAY FILM REVIEWS BY MICHAEL D. KLEMM

Gay Life
Magazine
Serving Canada: Toronto, Hamilton, London, Guelph, Kitchener, St. Catherines, Niagara Falls, Montreal, and USA: New York City, Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, Albany, Jamestown and Cleveland.
Home To My
Reviews Since 2008
Publisher: Duane Booth




The What, Where, & When of Gay Buffalo
Serving Western New York
Home To My Reviews
Since 1998
Publisher: Tim Moran





In Memory
Of

Mike Maffei
3/20/53 - 12/28/06

Mike was a beloved figure
in Buffalo's local folk music/coffeehouse scene. Mike lived for almost 17 years with AIDS. His activism was widely admired and to know Mike was to feel inspired.

more

Back in 1992, I discovered The Living End, Gregg Araki's demented road trip featuring two HIV+ men who flip society the bird. It recalled the agitprop of Jean Luc Godard's films; a torch passed from 60s Marxist cinema to the new wave of queer films. Warts and all, Araki's self-proclaimed "irresponsible movie" was what Jonathan Demme's compromised Philadelphia should have been. After too many years of watching gays as victims, The Living End was both a bolt of lightning and a breath of fresh air. The film has just been totally restored for its debut on DVD.

In 1994, French director Andre Techine fathered a a film of great lyrical beauty, on par with the best of Truffaut, entitled Wild Reeds. Techine's newest film, The Witnesses, is set in Paris, 1984. A sexual revolution is in full bloom when a "mysterious disease from the West" rears its ugly head. Also on the bill is a recent Spanish import entitled A Year Without Love. First-time director Anahi Berneri's edgy film, set in 1996 Buenos Aires, adds an unusual spin to what could have been just another tug-at-the-heartstrings AIDS drama by having our hero explore the local S&M scene, accepting the lash across his back as he learns to eroticize his pain.
From time to time I am going to pen an online essay about a major film that I failed to review for some reason in print. It might have been that I didn't have enough space to do a certain title justice or that I was backed up with indie screeners or - as in the case of Brokeback Mountain - I decided, when it was rushed out on DVD, that I couldn't possibly add anything to the reams that had already been written about it. I will revisit it someday, along with numerous other titles. First up is the HBO production of Tony Kushner's epic, Angels in America.