“At one point [the industry] was really vibrant because every single gay film being made was brave – it was a political act and a statement,” says film director David Kittredge at the Brisbane Queer Film Festival. “I think that along the way, some people have realised that you can make money off good-looking guys on screen without their shirts, to the point where [narrative driven films] get some push backs from festivals who are in it for the money and not for the cinema. They just wanted an excuse to have an after-party.”
What? Lies:
For the record, Kittredge directed the film Pornography: A Thriller, a film about porn in which shirtless men in bed, shirtless men on stage, shirtless men strapped onto tables, naked men in adult video booths, naked men in showers, naked men running down hallways, and naked men in coitous appear.
Not that we’re saying it’s bad!
How about we take this to the next level?
Our newsletter is like a refreshing cocktail (or mocktail) of LGBTQ+ entertainment and pop culture, served up with a side of eye-candy.
D'oh, The Magnificent
No, gay films went to hell when they became stuck in repeating the same stories over and over again . I joke there are only 6 gay stories: a) the coming out story b) the romantic comedy c) AIDS related story etc. The point is that in the 90s all these gay stories were new. Now, they are just derivatives of derivatives.
Cam
D’Oh, you forgot about the guy that helps his straight friend find the right girl by having the straight guy pretend to be gay….siiiiiiigh.
Game
Financed by Here! and Logo, played in a loop on cable.
fredo777
lol these comments are so on-the-money
Frank
The best gay cinema isn’t being made here in the states, recently, but foreign offerings are strong. Think Bear Cub, Chuecatown, and Japan Japan, to name a few.
fredo777
@Frank: Hell yeah. I haven’t seen Japan Japan, but thought Chuecatown + Bear Cub were fantastic films.
D'oh, The Magnificent
Euro films can SOMETIMES be better, but they have the standard Euro cliches as well. If you see enough of them, you start to notice.
This is not to say that there are no good gay movies even within the cliche story lines in America and Europe. Certainly, Shelter from a few years back was a good movie amongst the normally crappy American coming out stories. Not perfect, but above the pack of crap. But then again, part of the reason is that the story had more to it than gay boy comes out.
I look forward to the day when a movie about a gay character can be about more than someone being gay, and someone doesn’t ask as some of my friends ask “how is this a gay movie?” But, that’s another article other than this one.
To end on a positive note: The best gay characters around right now are happening on TV whether on Caprica or Tara or Modern Family or Southland etc. because although they are gay characters and that’s they are so much more.
JR
Does everyone seem to forget what great reviews ‘A Single Man’ got??? Please stop generalizing… It makes Gay Baby Jesus cry… If you all wanna improve things then take that cock outta your mouth and or butt & do something brilliant instead of bitch about how things are in the shitter for fuck sake!!!
Scott E.
I think there needs to be more integration of straights and gays. Mainstream media shows stereotypical gays and gay media shows the same thing but in larger quantities. I think gay movies need more things considered masculine involved. That’s probably the reason why I liked “Shelter” so much. It didn’t have the same femmy gay looking to get laid [i.e. Another Gay Movie (which sucked btw)] and the characters weren’t obsessed with fashion.
I think gay media and popular media need to abandon the stereotypes and coming out stories. They just get tiring. Plus, anything created by Regent/Here media is bound to be bad acting. Just take a look at Meltdown or Solar Flare (failed attempts to stray away from the usual gay themed movies).
BobaLou
Has anyone been to the movies lately? It’s not just gay cinema that sucks. . .Sandra Bullock for “Best Actress” anyone? The entire industry churns out crap for the masses. There are maybe. . .MAYBE. . .5 good films a year. Unfortunately, I never seem to catch them. . .I only manage to go to the garbage like “Alice in Wonderland.”
D'oh, The Magnificent
@JR: We are talking about the state of gay cinema generally, and your response is to ask us to not speak of the general state because you can think of an exception. Do you see a problem here?
D'oh, The Magnificent
@BobaLou: Yes, but generally speaking as many bad movies are made each year, there really are some truly excellent movies made each year.
There is no gay versions of Hurt Locker (although due to DADT one might ask why not?) Or District 9 (given the gay audience for sci fi one might ask why not?). Comparatively speaking that’s just not the case with gay cinema that people are greenlighting the projects much less screening them in theatres
Lady Ga-Gasp
The Another Gay Movie franchise is clever (especially the 1st), liberating, and entertaining. All gay movies don’t have to be filled with tinkly piano music and pathos. There are plenty of great ones at the festivals every year. The problem is that the releasing companies are near death or horribly misguided or both, and the number of theaters that show these films is way too small. I’m amazed at how logo and Here! are filled with bad shows, and meanwhile great indy gay films sink into obscurity, often being hard to find even for rental (though Blockbuster even and Netflix try to do a reasonable job of it.
In summary, the post is about an interesting topic, but is not up to the level of conversation required of said topic.
MissLaWanda
this is all so racist.
Anthony in Nashville
Modern gay films are too formulaic. One of the reasons I joined Netflix was to view films that aren’t carried locally, but most leave much to be desired.
Foreign films seem to have better storylines and acting, even if I have to read the dialogue. For example, I recently watched Born In 68 and that was one of the best movies I’ve seen in a long time, if not 100% gay-themed.
hardmannyc
This guy is full of it. These no-budget indie gay films don’t cost anything to make but they also don’t make a dime. Not a dime. They have no theatrical window, except for a paid week at the Quad and maybe a West LA or San Francisco tiny theater, then it’s straight to here! or Logo, which don’t pay anything, and rental-only DVDs.
Daniel
The key is to make a film where the story is so interesting, engaging, and fresh that straight audiences don’t care, or better yet actually enjoy, that the main character happens to be gay. Straights outnumber gays 9 to 1 so getting straights to plop down into seats will make you more money while at the same time entertaining gay audiences, which also adds to the money. And with the money comes more resources to produce more great films with great stories and interesting gay protagonists.
Damian
I loved Another Gay Movie!..Yes I know it was stupid, and cheesy but you know it’s going to be (just look at the DVD covers!). Queer cinema doesn’t always have to be depressing or AIDS related or “movie of the week”-ish, it can be just fun. Another Gay Movie (both of’em), Eating Out (All 3)yeas they were both campy and all bums-n-cock jokes but it was intended to be that way.
John-Michael
US Gay movies= 3 Mill $ of tickets, 3 weeks in theaters, and 3 of your friends will see.
D'oh, The Magnificent
@Daniel: The problem with gay movies is that no one is doing this. They are either doing art house films like A Single Man or event indiewood like Milk. Both are great, but they are not designed to prove that quality gay films can make money. Now, the fact that Milk did in fact make 50 mil world wide or Brokeback Mountain grossed over 200 mil is great, but to gain those resources you need a lot more movies making that kind of money. It does not necessarily have to have a cross over appeal (see Tyler Perry movies for African American audiences), but it does need to do something that’s going to attract an audience whether stars attached (another factor), cross over appeal like a District 9 or Paranormal Activity or something. It can’t just be some coming out story that 1) every gay person has seen before and 2) Other audiences are not necessarily interested in seeing with the exception of some straight middle class women with a fetish for it.
SSCHIEFRSHA
@Frank: Agreed, the best Lavender plots are often imported. Germany makes good ones, so does France.
romeo
South America has produced some good gay themed thrillers, gangsters on the lam and such. Very macho. In the ones I’ve seen everybody pretty much winds up shot all to hell by the end, but they’re well produced and edgy. They have heat, unlike a lot of the stuff produced in America for us.
JR
@ D’oh, The Magnificent – don’t condescend to me! I have been a avid film buff for as long as I can remember and I am aware that cinema attends to the trends of the society it caters to. If Gay Cinema is inherently flawed, then maybe it only suggests that the culture that it is reflecting is as well. If things have the depth and breadth of baloney, then it is up to us to put out stories worth telling in the cultural forums that are at our disposal… not to gasp and throw our arms up in disgust!
First off, what is it that gays are desperate to see??? Admittedly, I have watched Logo and have just as quickly turned it off because the programing that is on there doesn’t hold my attention and does not move me for the most part. Are we just as happy with low-budget porn as we are with ‘Hedwig’, ‘Brokeback Mountain’, ‘Midnight Cowboy’, ‘The Adventures of Priscilla’, ‘Notes On A Scandal’, ‘Gods And Monsters’, ‘Far From Heaven’, ‘Beautiful Thing’, ‘Trick’, ‘My Beautiful Laundrette’, “Summer Storm’, ‘Rocky Horror Picture Show’, “Sordid Lives’, ‘Shortbus’, ‘The Wedding Banquette’, ‘My Own Private Idaho’, ‘Philadelphia’, ‘Jeffrey’, ‘Love! Valour! Compassion!’, ‘Trans America’, ‘Victor Victoria’, ‘Bad Education’, ‘Cabaret’, and yes ‘A Single Man’… not to mention the many ‘straight’ movies that would not have seen the light of day if not for the creative talents of gay men and women??? And just because I came up with one example in a previous posting doesn’t mean that there aren’t dozens of critical works either out or in the wings waiting for release that have not had something to do with us as a culture… it’s just because you have not ventured outside of your own short-sidedness to see that there IS more talent in our community than would fit on the head of a pin, you pinhead!!!
So, if being entertained and enlightened is what you want then support the arts and stop bitching about how you aren’t being sufficiently entertained!!!
So bring it, you uncultured slob!!!!
D'oh, The Magnificent
@JR: Thanks for sharing. You are the greatest. I get it.
RLS
Young gay white guy falls in love. Rinse, lather, repeat. This is what ALL gay movies are and it’s soooooooooooo boring.
D'oh, The Magnificent
@RLS: Forgot middle class. They almost always are 99 percent upper middle class. Otherwise exactly right.
Curtis Jensen
there are several hundred films of all themes released each year, and maybe if we are really lucky about 20 or so that ultimately worth really remembering, no matter what the theme, budget, cast of country of origin. It doesn’t necessarily surprise me that Queer film suffers from the same lack of quality that film has always experienced. I think each year we get about the same percentage of quality Queer films coming out of our festival circuit.
We also tell the same kind of stories because those are the shared experiences that most impacted our lives, and film is usually a personal expression.
Yeah Another Gay Sequel sucked ass, but it’s in line with the broad comic offerings for mainstream audiences, if just a wee bit tackier. We do need a Gay Judd Apatow though…