The Boys in the Band (1970) - Friedkin and Crowley's groundbreaking gay birthday party movie

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Curiosity-inspiring poster for William Friedkin's The Boys in the Band

The Boys in the Band isn't a musical, as its posters declare, nor a film about a band. It is a daring and taboo-breaking stage adaptation of Mart Crowley's (The Men From the Boys (2002)) off-Broadway play by master director William Friedkin (The Exorcist (1973)).

Michael and Donald are preparing for the party they are throwing in Michael's New York apartment for their mutual friend Harold's birthday, when an old college chum makes a tearful surprise-call to Michael. And soon, while the party of colorful 'queens' are having a ball, the perplexing, homophobic 'ghost of the past' friend arrives on the doorstep.

The revelatory evening and night that follows in Boys in the Band is structurally reminiscent of such films as Key Largo (1948), Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958) and The Breakfast Club (1985) in that it feels like a heightened everyday drama, concept-driven around the idea of the evening of discoveries and confessions in a single location. We may call it the 'pot-boiler'-grip.
Forgetting this somewhat unnatural narrative device, Crowley's script contains poignant dialog and zingers en masse. There are several truly funny moments, mostly stemming from the original characters and the unparalleled performers: The film reutilizes all of the stage players, and it is hard to pick out who to highlight, because they all do an exceptional job, but here goes:
Cliff Gorman (Ghost Dog (1999)) is incredible as Emory, who gets compared to a chicken wing in one hilarious scene in the film. Peter White (Thirteen Days (2000)) is superb as the straight stranger, who maybe isn't so straight when it all comes down to it. Robert La Tourneaux (Pilgrimage (1972)) is well-playing and eye-candy as Harold's present cowboy. And finally, Leonard Frey (Tattoo (1981)) is legendary as birthday boy Harold, though his character's slithering sarcasm becomes, I think, a bit too rash at times.

The details:

Friedkin was only in the first stage of his film directing career with Boys in the Band, but already his talent is obvious. Besides handling a big theater ensemble who could have easily run away with 'his' film, he achieves making a great movie, which in its look and technical side is clearly not merely filmed theater.
This amusing and melancholic drama-comedy is renowned as one of the first major American movies to deal with homosexuality in an open fashion, and I found that, looking past the campy humor and aged references, the characters still feel real and truthful today. The self-flagellation and -hatred apparent in several of them has luckily lessened for most adult homosexuals in today's world, but the film in a way only attains higher value since things have (thankfully) changed since its making.
The despair is tangible below the frail surface, but the liveliness of the characters and performers and Friedkin's sure direction prevents The Boys in the Band from ever becoming a downer. At its finest, it is a moving portrait of human beings. It is often thought-provoking and has an ending that definitely sits with you after it has left the screen.

Watch the original trailer for the film here

Cost: Reportedly 5.5 mil. $ (although it seems very high)
Box office: 3.5 mil. $ (North American rentals only)
= Uncertainty
[Though the film is considered a cult classic in gay cinema today, besides a great film, it was received more coolly and even with disdain by some critics at its premiere. Due to its subject matter, it only played big cities in the States.]

What do you think of The Boys in the Band?
Other early gay-themed films that you want to recommend?

Laurence Anyways (2012) - First Dolan blunder is an epic-length drag

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Immersive and stylish, the blushing poster for Xavier Dolan's Laurence Anyways

Laurence and his girlfriend Fred are madly in love, when he confides to her that he is a transsexual, and that he wants to become a woman. In the following years, Laurence accordingly changes his identity, but SPOILER loses his job and Fred.

Laurence features bold acting, and both leads give themselves 100 %: Melvin Poupard (A Summer's Tale (1996)) and Suzanne Clément (Mommy (2014)), who is especially emotional throughout, - overly so, in fact, as continual huffing, puffing, screaming and crying ultimately alienates.
The two fight a lot in the film, and French-Canadian writer-director whiz-kid Xavier Dolan (I Killed My Mother (2009)) holds his scenes for long, - sometimes for so long that I lost my sense of the film's structure. - Which is too long.
Laurence offers beautiful episodes and lovely music choices (Cyndi Lauper, Visage and The Cure among others) and true panache for the 1980's period in which it takes place, especially in an incredible party scene.
Transsexualism is a difficult subject for a film, and Laurence Anyways will possibly appeal most to real-life transsexuals. The film seems self-indulgent (with a 161 minute playtime) and searching in an incomplete sort of way. Furthermore, I didn't understand the ending: Did Laurence not change everything to live as he wanted, - SPOILER but then only to return to be male for Fred again?!?
Laurence Anyways is Dolan's first weak film.

Watch the trailer for Laurence Anyways with English subtitles here

Cost: Unknown
Box office: Unknown
= Uncertainty
[Produced by French MK2 Productions and Canadian Lyla Films, Laurence received acclaim at Cannes 2012, where Clément won Un Certain Regard Best Actress, and the film also won the Queer Palm Award and later for Best Canadian Feature at the 2012 Toronto Film Festival. Its cost and box office results are unreported.]

What do you think of Laurence Anyways?
Other film/s about being a transsexual that you want to recommend?

Keep The Lights On (2012) or, In Love With a Drug Addict

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+ Best LGBT Movie of the Year

This warm poster perfectly encapsulates the intimate space which is recreated in Ira Sachs' Keep the Lights On

A gay, Danish documentary film-maker in New York finds love, but unfortunately this love comes with a drug addiction, which becomes a serious test for their subsequent relationship.

Aesthetically beautiful from the memorable paintings during the title credits across most of the well-shot scenes, by cinematographer Thimios Bakatakis (Dogtooth (2009)), often with decreased contrast which softens the edges and increases the intimate feel already inherent in the story.
This is a deeply fantastic film, very relatable and with exceptional acting by both leads: Thure Lindhardt (Into the Wild (2007)) and Zachary Booth (The Beaver (2011)).
Based on personal experiences with a drug addict boyfriend, this deep-felt excursion ends up being a moving experience and one of the year's finest films as well as one of the best gay love movies in a long time. It is directed by Memphis-born Ira Sachs (Married Life (2007)).
Keep the Lights On uses several songs from Arthur Russell and makes his This Is How We Walk On the Moon its unofficial theme, which it maybe overuses just a bit.

Related posts:

Ira Sachs: Top 10: Best drug-themed movies reviewed by Film Excess to date
Love Is Strange (2014) - Great performances in roaming, should-have-been-better movie
2012 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED V]
2012 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV
2012 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2012 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]  

Watch the trailer here

Cost: Unknown:
Box office: 0.2 mil. $ (US only)
= Uncertainty
[Keep the Lights On won the Teddy Award for Best Feature at the Berlin Film Festival in 2012 and was met with critical praise almost everywhere. However, its cost and its box office results outside the US are unreported.]

What do you think of Keep the Lights On?
Any gay love movie/s that you want to recommend?

The Keeper of Lost Causes/Kvinden i Buret (2013) or, Grumpy and Ethnic Find a Woman in a Pressure Chamber

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Nikolaj Lie Kaas and Fares Fares stare down at Denmark's underbelly on this heavily animated poster for Mikkel Nørgaard's The Keeper of Lost Causes

A rebel murder detective gets send down into the basement of the police HQ with some old, unsolved cases and a friendly immigrant cop, and they go after a case of a woman who has been missing for 5 years, who is said to have committed suicide.

Keeper is a dead movie, an exercise in form and fixed ideas, nurtured out of the European film support system as a Danish-Swedish-German co-production. It hasn't an ounce of personality behind it, no soul or meaning or ideas; The Keeper of Lost Causes is sheer Nordic noir surface.
Nikolaj Lie Kaas (The Green Butchers/De Grønne Slagtere (2003)) and Fares Fares (Jalla! Jalla! (2000)) are agreeable as the two partners, and technically, Keeper is a neat film.
But the script, written by Nikolaj Arcel (A Royal Affair/En Kongelig Affære (2012)), based on the first 'Department Q' crime novel by bestselling Jussi Adler-Olsen (Fasandræberne (2008)), ends prematurely, and the psychology, which 'explains' the killer's motivation, is wholly unconvincing and almost ridiculous. In addition, the cage of the film's title (the original Danish title translates to The Woman in the Cage) turns out to be a pressure chamber, which is not a cage, really, and the scenes in there aren't dramatically exciting in any way.
The Keeper of Lost Causes is, in short, a bad film.
It is directed by Mikkel Nørgaard (Klown/Klovn - the Movie (2010)). 

Related posts:

2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED V]
2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV]
2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]  
2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]

Watch the trailer with English subtitles here

Cost: 6.6 mil. $ (39 mil. Danish kr.)
Box office: Unknown
= Unknown
[Keeper did get more than 700,000 to buy tickets for it in Denmark alone, but, reportedly, more than half of them through Biografklub Danmark (a cinema club), meaning that they only paid half prize. Though the number makes it a success in the Danish context, it is most likely still a financial failure due to its relatively high budget.]

What do you think of The Keeper of Lost Causes?
If you have seen the sequel, Fasandræberne (2014) (in Danish cinemas right now), how was it?

The Hunt/Jagten (2012) - Vinterberg's strongest film since 1998 is a reversed Celebration

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Mads Mikkelsen and the effect of 'the others' on the chilling poster for Thomas Vinterberg's The Hunt

QUICK REVIEW:

Our hero Oscar is a kindergarten caretaker in the village where he lives, and he is just about to get his teenage son back from his vindictive ex-wife, when a little girl tells the kindergarten manager a story, which comes to drastically change his life.

Getting into the story here, we know where it is heading; The Hunt is the kind of movie that feels somewhat like tripping and falling down a rocky mountain in slow-motion. - It just goes downhill pretty much for the whole film.
But with the help of a generally good script, - co-written by director Thomas Vinterberg (The Celebration (1998)) and Tobias Lindholm (A Hijacking (2012)), - and fine performances, this steady downwards motion avoids growing dull or overly depressing. - Although it is not a film most people will find themselves coming back to for a second watch.
Mads Mikkelsen (The Salvation (2014)) plays Oscar, the man who gets side-tracked in his little rural world, and he shows us all the emotions connected to this perfectly. Susse Wold (Matador (1978-81)) is eminent as his boss; and Thomas Bo Larsen (Pusher (1996)) is good as his best friend.
However, there is one scene, which was a fly in the soup for me: SPOILER The church scene, in which Oscar makes a big, loud and even violent scene during Christmas Mass. I lost sympathy for him in the scene, and I didn't think it was needed to go overboard like that. It's just too much. Also, the particulars concerning the prayer and the priest are obviously written by people unfamiliar with the rituals, and who also seem to be driven by their own prejudices of the churchly realm. This is disappointing.
The ending of the film is on first look pretty good. But on further thought, what does it really imply? SPOILER That despite the fact that Oscar is found innocent of the charges and is taken back into the community, he will always feel hunted? This seems to be it. It goes contrary to the scenes preceding it, and I don't quite buy it. I also don't want to feel bad for the strong male hero in perpetuity, somehow.
Still, The Hunt is a good Danish film and Oscar-contender for the Best Foreign Film Oscar in 2014, which it lost to Paolo Sorrentino's masterpiece The Great Beauty (2013).
It is curious that this arguably Vinterberg's greatest film since he erupted internationally with the Dogme-masterpiece The Celebration/Festen (1998) is also a film that deals with child sex abuse. - However, The Hunt presents, in a way, the exact reversed situation of The Celebration: There the awful truth was shushed away and hidden for ages as a taboo, while in The Hunt, a viral lie of an imagined sexual abuse becomes the basis of a mass hysteria.
Vinterberg is at the moment putting his last touches on a remake starring Carey Mulligan, Far From the Maddening Crowd (2015).

Susse Wold and Annika Wedderkopp in Thomas Vinterberg's The Hunt

Watch the excellent trailer here

Cost: 3.5 mil. $
Box office: 16.7 mil. $
= Big hit
[Strongly supported by The Hunt's win in Cannes '12, where it also had its world premiere, for Best Lead Actor (Mikkelsen), it enjoyed nice runs, particularly in countries like the Netherlands and its originating Denmark.]

What do you think of The Hunt?

Kids (1995) - Larry Clark's power-punch debut

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A great poster for Larry Clark's Kids

In Kids, we follow a group of very unsupervised New York kids and teens over the course of just over a day, as they indulge in the different activities that make up their lives. These activities include thieving, violence, sex, drug-taking and talking, mostly about sex.

The film takes its time in getting us into the environment, before the suspense element gets introduced: SPOILER One of the girls learns that she has gotten HIV from the only boy she has ever been with, and we then follow her despairing journey to try to find the boy and stop him from infecting another young girl. Cross-cutting between the dark and lonely place where she finds herself, and the boy's routine advances to a young teenage girl is quite effective and terrible.
It seems clear from especially the first half hour of Kids that the film finds these juveniles charming in a way; worthy of our attention, and, despite their many flaws, not deserving of an unloving movie in their name.
Different audiences will feel that different parts of Kids is transgressive: The kids disobey so many basic rules of social conduct and are provocative and crude, but also the curiosity that the film allows its audiences in lingering in sex-related conversations between its young actors that often don't have any direct connection to the plot is provocative, and some have said lascivious (and even worse things.) I did feel voyeuristic at times, watching these scenes, but, more importantly, I didn't 'get enough' or reach a state where I had gotten tired of them; (appropriately, Kids is held at a tight 91 minute playtime.) The voyeuristic quality of this look inside the lives of some kids in a major metropolis just makes the experience all the more troubling. 
One can discard Kids and its characters with a swift justification that they are abominable, and certainly their behavior is very, very bad, (but, importantly, is presented unexcused by the film-makers, as especially SPOILER the shocking violent scene cements), but one must wonder and ask where the parenting generation is in their lives. And I laid most of my 'blame' for all the troubles presented in Kids at the doorsteps of these neglecting parents. In the film, we in fact only meet one parent, and she is a home-mother "without a cent to [my] name", simultaneously chain-smoking and breast-feeding her newest creation.

The details:

Kids' gritty guerrilla-style of film-making is accompanied by a great, contemporary soundtrack and four fine lead actors, who are all debuting. Especially Chloë Sevigny (Boys Don't Cry (1999)) is incredible as Jennie, and so are the two boys, Leo Fitzpatrick (Storytelling (2001)) and Justin Pierce (A Brother's Kiss (1997)), who plays Casper and very much was the kind of lost skateboarding kid of the streets that he portrays in the film. Pierce had run-ins with the law and drugs and tragically hanged himself in his hotel room in the Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas in 2000 at age 25.
Kids is a forceful, great debut film for all involved, although its production does raise questions: Scenes like the one in the picture below where four minors are smoking weed would be interesting to read about, but I can find no such information.

Are these kids actually smoking weed and getting high in Larry Clark's Kids, or how was this scene achieved? If you know, shoot a comment about it

The film in itself doesn't glorify the troubled kids, in my opinion, but it successfully portrays the moral vacuum that they lead their random lives in, and it doesn't make many adult audiences ever want to bring up a family in New York I suppose.
It was written by a just 18 year-old Harmony Korine, who debuted as a director with Gummo (1997), and is directed by Vietnam veteran Larry Clark (Ken Park (2002)), who with Kids succeeded with one of the most controversial and strong debuts of a film director in recent American history.

Related post:

Larry Clark: Top 10: Best drug-themed movies reviewed by Film Excess to date

Watch the punky trailer here

Cost: 1.5 mil. $
Box office: 20.4 mil. $
= Huge hit
[Miramax bought the worldwide distribution rights for this small, independent film for 3.5 mil. $. As the film got an NC-17-rating, Bob and Harvey Weinstein, owners of Miramax, had to buy the film back from their company due to Miramax's rule to not release NC-17-rated films, although the film was eventually released unrated in the US. Under another company name, Shining Excalibur Films, Kids went on to enjoy a warm reception both domestically (7.4 mil. $) and abroad, and the Weinsteins are said to have profited as much as 2 mil. $ each from their distribution of Kids.]

What do you think of Kids?
Any information on its making is very welcome

John Dies at the End (2012) - Tempting drug-induced horror-fantasy-comedy sees you zoning out ...

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The retro-styled, gritty, disorganized poster for Don Coscarelli's John Dies at the End

QUICK REVIEW:

A young guy and his good friend discover a new drug called soy sauce, which allows you to see and do things that otherwise aren't possible.

John Dies at the End is a grotesque and far-far-out acid-trip, which unfortunately looks a lot more funny in its trailer, than it really is. The film seems as though it was written by two guys, who were high on grass and sometimes LSD and simply kept all the movie-ideas that they got.
Reason or a comprehensible plot is lost pretty fast here in this obscure, weird, structurally flat and exhaustingly maniacal film. It doesn't help that the lead, John's friend, is played insanely irritatingly by Chase Williamson (The Guest (2014)), who mostly delivers varied versions of the same 'intense' look throughout the lunacies.
I was sporadically amused at the drug/horror/fantasy/comedy-insanity, and the amount of work involved in making this (for a reported just 6-figure budget) fart-in-the-sky has to be respected. But it is, essentially, a bad film.
John Dies at the End is the latest from psych-out film-maker Don Coscarelli, the man behind the Phantasm movies (1979-98) and other weird (like John Dies at the End), but better films like Bubba Ho-Tep (2002). He is in post with the fifth and final Phantasm film at the moment, which he has co-written, (and is directed by David Hartman), and he is still looking for financing for his Bubba Nosferatu: Curse of the She-Vampires. (!)

Related review:

Don Coscarelli: Bubba Ho-Tep (2002) or, Old Elvis & Black JFK vs. the Soul-eating Mummy!

Another appropriately trippy poster for Don Coscarelli's John Dies at the End

Watch the awesome trailer here

Cost: Unknown, but reportedly just six figures (100,000-999,000 $)
Box office: 0.1 mil. $
= Big flop
[John Dies at the End was never out on more than 19 screens in the US and is a niche product if ever there was one. It has, reportedly, found a cult following, but hasn't turned this into gold in any way, despite considerable attention for its insanity.]

What do you think of John Dies at the End?
And of Coscarelli's other films?

Gravity (2013) or, Survival in Space: The Ride

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+ Best Science Fiction Movie of the Year + Best Poster of the Year

The anxiety-provoking poster for Alfonso Cuarón's Gravity

Out in space, a routine reparation gets altered completely by a sudden waste storm, which necessitates that the two surviving astronauts fight for their lives with all the powers that they can muster.

Gravity is at times wildly exciting and stunningly beautiful visually, and in other periods slightly dull, because we solely follow the two main characters in space.
One line spoken in the 3rd act, where Sandra Bullock (Speed (1994)) SPOILER wants a deceased George Clooney (The Descendants (2011)) to talk to her dead daughter, isn't delivered credibly, and it looks like Bullock simply doesn't like the line, (which also is bad.) Generally, however, both stars are very good in this space survival thriller.
Gravity is an unusual and extraordinary film effects-wise, but it runs on a rather thin plot and is almost devoid of themes. It really is more of a ride than a film.
A nice bit of trivia is the fact that the end, which is really nice and among the best things in the film, was shot SPOILER at Lake Powell in Arizona, where the landing in Planet of the Apes (1968) was also filmed.
Gravity was co-written (together with his son Jonás Cuarón, who is filming his second film as director at the moment, Desierto (2014)) and directed by fine Mexican film-maker Alfonso Cuarón, who impressed Film Excess even more (film-quality-wise) with his great science fiction movie Children of Men (2006).

Related posts:

2013 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED VI]
2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED V]
2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV]
2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]  
2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]

A still from the devastating 'waste storm' that escalates the problems for our two heroes in Alfonso Cuarón's Gravity

Watch the exciting trailer here

Cost: 100 mil. $
Box office: 716.3 mil. $
= Huge hit
[Gravity had a fantastical theatrical run; stayed in #1 in the US for three weeks and made a lot of its earnings from 3D and IMAX showings. Bullock was paid partially in a net gross percentage that reportedly made her as much as 80 mil. $, one of the biggest actor salaries ever for any single film. Gravity was also a huge Oscar contender with 10 nominations; it won 7: Best Director, Editing, Score, Cinematography, Effects, Sound Editing and Sound Mixing.]

What do you think of Gravity?
Agree or disagree with Film Excess?
Let your opinion be heard

Fading Gigolo (2013) - Turturro's pleasant turn as a high-end NY prostitute

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The humorous, lush poster for John Turturro's Fading Gigolo

QUICK REVIEW:

In an economical fix, the aging guy Mo gets an idea for how he and his good, younger pal can make some easy bucks: He is going to rent him out as a prostitute.

Fading Gigolo is a cozy time and an enjoyable film that contains some fine reflections on sex and attraction as well as some very photogenic actresses. The Jewish element of the story became a bit heavy at some point for me, a gentile, and it is possible to zone out at times, but over-all, Fading Gigolo is a fine little film.
Woody Allen, writer-director-star John Turturro's (Barton Fink (1991)) co-star in the film, heard about the project at his barber, whom he shares with Turturro.
This is not Turturro's first film as a filmmaker: Actually he debuted way back in 1992 with the drama Mac, which he co-wrote, directed and played the lead in.

Related review:

John Turturro: Barton Fink (1991) or, The Writer's Hell (actor)
 

Sharon Stone is one of the sexy women in John Turturro's Fading Gigolo

This poster presents the film as if it was a Woody Allen movie

And this one more as a sensual, erotic film

Watch the trailer here

Cost: 30 mil. $
Box office: 13.3 mil. $
= Huge flop
[Fading Gigolo might have suffered some from its confused marketing (see posters above) and mixed reviews, but its main problem clearly is that it was made way too expensively: It isn't surprising that a sex comedy by Turturro, not a director-name that draws crowds, with heavy Jewish plot-points, doesn't make more than 13.3 mil. $ But, on the other hand, it is a wonder that someone produced that film for 30 and not 5 or 10 mil. $.]

What do you think of Fading Gigolo?
If you have seen other films directed by John Turturro, how were they?

Enough Said (2013) or, The Southern California Mix-Up

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+ Best Los Angeles Movie of the Year 

Understandably selling itself on the sheer lovability of its stars, Nicole Holofcener's Enough Said

Our very sweet single mother/masseuse heroine meets a new client/friend and a charming man at the same party. The problem presents itself only too soon: The two used to be married.

Enough Said is a very warm and welcome romcom drama: Julia Louis-Dreyfus (Seinfeld (1990-98)) is really good in it and manages to keep our sympathy as her character treads into deeper and deeper waters. - She plays especially with her big eyes and eyebrows to a degree that is worthy of a Disney character. Co-starring James Gandolfini (The Sopranos (1999-07)), in one of his last roles, is cozy, honest and fun as Albert. It is welcome to see Catherine Keener (Begin Again (2013)) in a different kind of part for her as a very annoying woman here. And Toni Collette (Muriel's Wedding (1994)) and Ben Falcone (Bad Words (2013)) are good as the friends, whose marriage you DON'T want to have.
This is not the largest story, but it is served with tenderness, insight and some hilarious dialog. And thanks to the two extraordinary leads Enough Said becomes a work with that special Holofcener magic.
Enough Said is written and directed by Nicole Holofcener (Six Feet Under (2003-04)), and it marks the greatest success in her career so far. She has most recently written a crime drama, Every Secret Thing (2014), starring Elizabeth Banks, which premiered at Tribeca in April but curiously doesn't have a release date yet.

Related posts:

2013 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED VI]
2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED V]
2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV]
2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]  
2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]

James Gandolfini feels like a good friend you wish you knew personally, in Nicole Holofcener's Enough Said

 Watch the trailer here

Cost: 8 mil. $
Box office: 25.2 mil. $
= Box office success
[Enough Said opened very small in just 4 theaters, where it made a remarkable 60.000 $ per screen, boosting it for a good nationwide US run, where it made most of its earnings (17.2 mil. $).] 

How did you like Enough Said?