Outfest 2007: Gay classic "Parting Glances" restored and celebrated...
I had seen the 1986 film "Parting Glances" before but last night, when watching a restored print of the movie on the big screen at the Director's Guild of America theater in Los Angeles, it really was like seeing it for the first time. It was such a special night with "Glances" the first film to come out of the Outfest Legacy Project which is doing the all-important job of preserving LGBT films for the generations ahead to experience.
"This is my proudest moment of all my years at Outfest," the festival's Executive Director Steve Gutwillig said as he introduced the film. "I can't believe you're all here."
There was not an empty seat in the theater and this will certainly go down as one of the more memorable events of Outfest 2007.
The movie, focusing on a group of Manhattan hipsters, tells the story of Robert (John Bolger) who accepts a job assignment in Africa in order to take a break from his lover, Michael (Richard Ganoung) who is tending to the needs of his ex, Nick (Steve Buscemi), who is battling HIV. The movie follows these characters in the two days before Robert is to depart and includes a party thrown by their artist friend Joan (Kathy Kinney) that is filled with drama.
Buscemi, Ganoug, Bolger and Kinney were all present for the screening and were clearly moved to see the audience embrace this film 20 years later.
"I can't tell you what it means to see this film and to have this place so filled," Buscemi told the audience. "It's just so moving to me."
The cast paid tribute to writer-director Bill Sherwood who died in 1990 and never got to make another film after "Glances" which was his first movie and shot mainly in his apartment on a $300,000 budget. The actors even wore their own clothes.
The restored film will screened Oct. 29 at Lincoln Center and a remastered DVD is also in the works. I suggest you check it out when you can. For younger views especially, it's a reminder of the AIDS epedemic and how it shaped and ended lives of so many and you also see in 20 years how much technology has advanced: in this movie there are no cell phones, no laptop computers, no CDs!
Mostly, the movie is so well-acted and well-written (very witty - I hadn't remembered it being filled with so much wit) and filled with heart. I'm so glad I went to this event which was followed by a nice reception with some delicious cerviche and really hot bartenders...I can't believe I almost went to a screening of "I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry" instead...
Greg Hernandez has covered the entertainment industry for the Daily
News since 2001. He's considered a bit odd by some for his obsession
with box office numbers, has been known to camp out near the kitchen
at premieres for first crack at the hors d'oeurves, and Greg's never
seen a red carpet he didn't want to stroll down.
Comments
It was indeed amazign to see this new print on the big screen. Sherwood captured a specific place and time so well tat the film doesn't "date" at all. The interplay betweenBolger an Ganoug is as fresh as ever. So few films ever show what gay men are like together wehn they're being affectionate.
And Buscemi is right at the very start of his career a fucking acting genius.
Posted by: David Ehrenstein | July 17, 2007 11:01 AM
Parting Glances was the first gay movie I ever saw on the big screen, at a film fest in Louisville.
I hope that this new print makes the rounds across the country after OutFest, so other young gay men can be as affected by this moving film as I was.
Posted by: mo | July 17, 2007 01:52 PM
This has long been my favorite movie -- not just favorite GAY movie but favorite of-all-time. I was shocked once when I emailed Roger Ebert about "Parting Glances" and he had never even heard of the movie, much less seen it. I wonder if he's aware of it by now! I fell in love with Steve Buscemi during this movie and my love affair with him as never waned ;)
I regret that i missed the showing of the remastered movie at the Seattle Lesbian and Gay Film Festival a week ago.
Thanks for the article. Let us know when the DVD is coming out.
Posted by: Durwood | October 30, 2007 01:35 PM