I'm wrapping up my third day at Outfest but before I head home, wanted to tell you about some off-the-charts terrific short films that screened this morning under the title of "Boys Shorts." The photo at right is from "Kali Ma" which is one of the funniest shorts I've ever seen at this festival. A high school student of Indian descent is bullied by the kid at school he has a crush on. The bully writes stuff wit an ink marker on the kids neck and when his mother finds out, she marches over to the kid's house in a rage. She turns into Rambo and teaches blonde bully a lesson he won't soon forget. My God, this was so terrific. Director Soman Chainami, a film student at NYU, deserves major kudos for this 15-minute masterpiece.
And just a brilliant in a different way was the 20 minute gem "I Hate Musicals" directed by Stewart Schill. It's about a work-obsessed guy who works for a cuthroat insurance company that puts the bottom line ahead of humanity. He has a big presentation and tries to get out of attending the opening night of his actress-fiancee's new musical. He ends up going but his cell phone goes off during her big finale. Later, he tells her that she was good but that he hate's musicals and always will. The next morning, he wakes up and he cannot talk - he can only sing. This is where things take off to glorious heights. The musical numbers are so hilarious (there are three in all) and you see how his inability to talk and only sing changes the guy's life. Schill told me after the screening that he plans to make the short into a full-length feature. That is great to hear!
There were six shorts in all and the sexiest was "Heartland," a sweet story about a New Yorker who is forced to go back home and help out on his dad's farm for awhile. He and the hunky farmhand, who is raising his younger siblings after the death of their mother, strike up a friendship that ends up being more. Their kiss in the pick-up is better than Heath and Jake in "Brokeback Mountain." The 12-minute short was directed by Mark Christopher who directed the feature film "54" about the famed Studio 54. That movie starred Ryan Phillipee, Salma Hayak, Mike Meyers and Neve Campbell among others. Much was cut from the film for theatrical release and it is my hope that a more extended version will be released on DVD.
Anyway, the other shorts were "Serene Hunter" which was very explicit sexually - almost pornographic - and "Solace" about an interesting online hook-up. Then there was "The Saddest Boy in the World" which had this incredible dark humor going for it as the 9-year-old kid endures one indignity after another. So much so that it is just comic, but also sad. What was unfortunate is that the 14 minute short begins and ends with the kid preparing to hang himself in his room. Since one of the community sponsors of the "Boys Shorts" program was The Tevor Project, which runs suicide prevention hotlines for LGBT and questioning youths, it made the film less funny to me that it might have been if I hadn't a short time earlier heard the Trevor Project presentation.
And then there was the feature film "The Picture of Dorian Gray" which is a contemporary retelling of the classic novel by Oscar Wilde. It's now based in NYC in the art world of the 1990s and fully enacts the homoeroticism that was only hinted at in earlier versions. The actor who plays Dorian (David Gallagher) is unbelievably good looking and he is terrific in the role. Director Duncan Roy displays some terrific filmmaking techniques but his storytelling is an absolute mess. I focused hard and still didn't know what the hell was going on half the time. I left the theater very annoyed by the whole thing.
Also saw the Alexis Arquette documentary "She's My Brother" and will write about it tomorrow and also share an interview I had with Alexis after the screening...
Until tomorrow...