THEGAYUK

Author: Tim Baros

  • FILM REVIEW | Pasolini, Controversial film about the late Gay Italian Film Director

    Director Abel Ferrera brings us the few days in the life of gay Italian film director Pier Paolo Pasolini in his new film simply titled ‘Pasolini.’ ★★★★

    Ferrera, who last year gave us the gripping, scandalous, controversial and excellent film Welcome to New York (which was inspired by the case of Dominique Strauss-Khan (DSK), the former chairman of the IMF), presents us a film where Ferrara imagines and then reconstructs the last days in the life of Pasolini.

    Pasolini was an extremely controversial film director. His films combined themes of religion and sex, his own personal views on topics such as abortion, displaying in your face bacchanals that left little to the imagination. His last film – titled Salo, or the 120 Days of Sodom – depicted children subjected to violence, sexual depravity, and horrific murder – making Pasolini an extremely hated, or genius, figure. In Pasolini, Willem Dafoe doesn’t so much imitate or play Pasolini in the film, but he inhabits the actions and thoughts of him. And Ferrara, in putting this film together, spoke to Pasolini’s relatives and friends to gather the memories and thoughts of a man who would wind up being killed by a rent boy at the age of 53 in Italy.

    Pasolini is not so much an actual biography of the last days of Pasolini’s life, it’s more of a combination of the actual events that took place coupled with scenes from an unmade Pasolini film, a film that he was actually working on when he died. So we have Ferrara inhabiting the shoes of Pasolini and bringing to life scenes from the film that Pasolini never made – Porno-Teo-Kolossai – coupled with the events from the last days of his life which included meetings to discuss his new film, in his home with his mom and assistant and various friends, and to finally, his pickup of a male rent boy that would result in his death. It’s a very realistic film. Ferrara uses the actual locations of the real life events and also uses Pasolini’s personal objects and clothes in the film. This, coupled with Dafoe’s performance, gives us a documentary style production that is rich in it’s storytelling. Dafoe gives a fantastic performance inhabiting Pasolini’s world, right down to the language (some of this film is in Italian, and not every part of it has subtitles), to the glasses that he wears, to the clothing, to the way he carries himself. Like Gerard Depardieu who perfectly inhabited the role of DSK, Dafoe convincingly inhabits the role here. Even down to the final scene in the film, where Pasolini has sex with the rent boy and ends up being badly beaten, and run over by his own car. It’s a brutal death for a man who didn’t deserve to die that way. His murder on a beach on the outskirts of Rome on November 2, 1972 is still an open case despite the conviction of the rentboy that he picked up that night. It would be bit more fascinating if a filmmaker can make a film about Pasolini’s life – that would be a much more well-deserved tribute.

     

    Available to buy on AMAZON

    by Tim Baros

  • THEATRE REVIEW | Dusty, Arrives In London With A Thud

    A new musical about Dusty Springfield arrives in the West End – with a thud. ★★

    There’s something just not right with ‘Dusty,’ which is playing at the Charing Cross Theatre. Could it be the singing? Could it be the acting? Could it be the directing and script? Could it be that it’s multi-media theme just doesn’t work?

    I think it’s all of the above. Let’s start with that multi-media mularcky. The producers are calling this show a ‘Fusion Musical’ which means that the show is a combination of Alison Arnopp performing as Dusty mixed in with videos of the actual Dusty Springfield singing from her various television appearances (American Bandstand – 1964, The Ed Sullivan Show – 1965 and 1968, the Dusty TV series on the BBC – 1966 and 1967, Morecambe & Wise Show – 1970, plus others).

    Twenty video clips are included in the show, and while a few are cleverly done as holograms, it’s unfortunate that these video clips are much better than any live singing that’s performed. And it’s quite funny because the audience claps at the video clips, like they’re actually seeing Dusty live! And it’s not fair to have Arnopp’s voice competing with Springfield’s in the videos.

    And the acting and singing? Well, it’s OK. Arnopp is credible as Dusty. Sure she can sing, and sure she can dress like her, and she definitely can act, but Arnopp is a far cry from the real Dusty. And the wigs she wears? They’re a bit over the top – not her fault, but in a few scenes she looks a bit like a drag queen.

    A bit better is Francesca Jackson as Dusty’s friend Nancy Jones. She’s just as pretty as Dusty yet it’s Dusty who becomes rich and famous, however Jackson is a fine singer in her own right. And Whitney White owns the stage in her short bit as Martha Reeves. She’s bound to a huge star in the West End in a few years time. But Arnopp’s singing is a far cry from any other biography musical that’s currently playing in the West End (think ‘Memphis’ where Beverly Knight wows them every night at the Shaftsbury Theatre and Katie Brayben who brings Carole King to life every night in ‘Beautiful’). The rest of the ensemble are quite good, energetic and vibrant, and I also couldn’t help but notice that they are all very young.

    I’ll have to pin the blame on the direction and the script. Both by Chris Cowey, who used to be a producer on Top of the Pops. It’s not what you had hoped to expect from a musical tribute show to a British legend. Yes, Dusty Springfield is considered a legend, in her heyday and even today. She scored an incredible 18 singles on the Billboard Hot 100 from 1964 to 1970 – her peak years. She was a cultural icon of the 1960s and was one of the best-selling UK singers in that decade. She’s been inducted into the US Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the UK Music Hall of Fame, and was awarded on OBE. Yet, all this doesn’t seem to matter in the show ‘Dusty.’

    It presents Dusty in flashbacks, with Dusty’s life story told by Nancy to a presenter for the television show ‘Talk of the Town.’ It’s a device that doesn’t quite work. And her sexuality is handled a bit clumsily on the show. She was a Lesbian, and in the show she has a minor relationship with a woman who lives in Los Angeles, but it’s a part of the show that appears to be thrown in at the last minute, and before you know it the relationship is over. It’s an acknowledgement of her sexuality but it’s too quick and not enough.

    ‘Dusty’ opened on 25 May 2015, and had it’s official press night this week. It took 14 weeks for the production team to get this show done as they wanted it. However, another few weeks of additional tweaking won’t really save this production. And they left out any mention of her last hit, which became one of her biggest – What Have I Done to Deserve This – sung with the Pet Shop Boys. It’s a song that past and current generations are familiar with. Instead of ‘Dusty’ being a celebration of her and her career, it’s more like a minor tribute to a woman who deserves to be remembered in a bigger and better show.

    Performance Times:- Tuesday to Saturday at 7:30pm, Wednesdays & Thursdays at 2:30pm and Saturdays at 3pm

    Run time approx. 2 hours.

    Until November 21. Tickets: 08444 930650; charingcrosstheatre.co.uk

  • FILM REVIEW | Monsters, Dark Continent, Beautifully Chilling

    The highly successful 2010 film ‘Monsters’ saw the arrival of giant tentacled monsters to Earth. It’s sequel ‘Monsters: Dark Continent’ has five army men in a Middle East war zone who are attempting to deal with an insurgency, and dealing with these monsters as well. It’s explosive and shattering.

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  • Harvey Fierstein Backs Southwark Show Casa Valentina

    Harvey Fierstein, the theatre genius who brought us Torch Song Trilogy and La Cage aux Folles, is the man behind two productions opening concurrently in London.

    Kinky Boots, a musical version of the 2005 film, (which everyone’s heard about and dying to see) opens next week at the Adelphi Theatre. And his other new show, Casa Valentina, is at the Southwark Playhouse with previews beginning Sept. 10th. And like Kinky, Casa Valentina comes direct from Broadway where it was nominated for four Tony Awards.

    It’s a story about the lives of several men who escape their humdrum Manhattan lives (and summer heat) and head on the weekends to the Catskill mountains. Not only are they escaping the summer heat, they are also escaping from their lives.

    You see, these men like to dress as women. And in Casa Valentina, they leave their family and friends behind and become their inner selves. And in this first look at the production, we see some of the cast getting transformed into their costumes.

    Expect a full review of the show next week!

    Casa Valentina is currently playing at the Southwark Playhouse.

  • FILM REVIEW | American Ultra

    Take a bit of a James Bond movie, another part from Cheech & Chong, and mix it up with elements of the recent film ‘Spy’ and out comes the new movie ‘American Ultra.’

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  • Barbra Streisand is coming back to London

    Well, it’s not the real Barbra Streisand but the world’s most famous Barbra Streisand impersonator – Steven Brinberg.

    Brinberg is returning to the lush surroundings of Brasserie Zedel’s Crazy Coqs cabaret room with his show titled ‘Simply Barbra celebrates Funny Girl’ to coincide with the 40th release of the film ‘Funny Lady.’

    Steven has been acclaimed for his vocal performance of Barbra Streisand for over a decade around the world. He has also appeared in numerous concerts with the late Marvin Hamlisch, released two CD’s, appeared in films such as ‘Camp’ and ‘Boys Live,’ and has also appeared in a concert version of ‘Funny Girl’ on Broadway, with Whoopi Goldberg and Kristin Chenoweth.

    Tickets for ‘Simply Barbra celebrates Funny Girl,’ which is running from Tuesday September 15 to Saturday September 19th, can be bought here

  • THEATRE REVIEW | The Clinic, Kings Head Theatre

    What happens when you go to a clinic? Well, if you’ve been taking drugs and having lots of unsafe sex, then you might be more likely be HIV+. The new play “The Clinic” explores this scenario, and so much more.

    Not so much a play but more of a health education lesson, “The Clinic” is produced by David Stuart, the Lead Substance Use Advisor at 56 Dean Street (a London sexual health clinic based in the heart of Soho), and written by Patrick Cash (writer for QX Magazine).

    We are introduced to characters that we may recognize and identify with, portrayed by a cast of London scenesters. DJ Stewart Who plays a sexual health advisor at the clinic; he used to be a drug addicted party animal but now he dispenses HIV advice and results to men much younger than him.

    Then there’s the wealthy businessman (Matthew Hodson) who enjoys sex with young men and thinks that he can buy them his love and affection. He’s also in HIV denial.

    Zacharian Fletcher is the confused young man, an extreme party boy who likes to go clubbing and take drugs, not necessarily in that order. He’s also into chillouts (orgies). And he’s got HIV. He meets (via Grinder) Damien Killen’s character, a young respectable guy who seems to have a good head on his shoulders, is handsome with a good body, who came to London only to somehow become HIV+. He feels like he’s no longer desired but now damaged.

    Then there’s Shirley (Pretty Miss Cairo). She runs a Vauxhall beauty clinic which acts as a sanctuary for the drugged out boys when the clubs close.

    These characters may not be real people, but they are composites of characters that Cash met and interviewed after 56 Dean Street commissioned him to write this play. He interviewed not just the people who work at the clinic but some of the patients as well.

    It’s a bare bones production, played in the very warm King’s Head Theatre in Angel (take a bottle of water with you, and a hand fan). And the cast should be admired for taking part in this play. It’s difficult at times to hear some of the dialogue (Stewart Who seems to be muttering his words while Fletcher is so soft-spoken I could hardly hear him at all), but Hodson (who is perfect as the villian), Miss Cairo and Killeen more than make up for the play’s faults.

    And as you enter the theatre before the play starts, you are given a glossary of terms referred to in the play. There were several words in the glossary that I had never heard of before, so I did learn something new by going to see the play ‘The Clinic.’

    It’s a perfect setting for a gay play, a place where we’ve all been to.

    ‘The Clinic’ is now playing at the Kings Head Theatre in London until August 29th.

    To buy tickets, please click here:

     

  • FILM REVIEW | Pressure

    Four men are tasked with fixing an oil pipeline hundreds of feet below the ocean’s surface in the Somali Basin but quickly run into trouble in the new suspense thriller ‘Pressure.’

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  • FILM REVIEW | I Am Chris Farley

    American Comedian Chris Farley was only 33 when he died of a cocaine and morphine overdose a few days before Christmas in Chicago in 1997.

    The new documentary I am Chris Farley tells his rapid ascent to stardom and his even quicker descent to a life of alcohol and drugs, and eventually to an early death.

    ‘I am Chris Farley’s’ was made in conjunction with the estate of Chris Farley, so the producers had access to all of the relevant people in Chris’s life, including his family, friends, and fellow comedians and television co-stars. From his days as an unknown comic at Chicago’s Second City Theatre (where lots of famous comics got their start), from where he was plucked to be on the popular NBC sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live (SNL) for five seasons, to eventually following the path of former SNL’ers to star in movies.

    Chris’s brother Kevin Farley (who is also a producer of the film, and is also a comedian) reminisces about his brother Chris during his stand up comedy act. Kevin then talks about their lives growing up in Madison, Wisconsin, where they had a normal life, with a father who gave his boys a lot of freedom. Kevin talks about Chris’s life in high school and college and laughs about the way in which Chris would throw himself to the ground and do pushups to impress women. While Chris did graduate from college and worked for a time for his father at the Scotch Oil Company in Madison, he didn’t get his professional start in comedy until he joined Ark Improv Theatre in Madison. It was clear then that Chris was the stand out star, footage from his shows display a comedic style that surpassed his costars. Even when he went on to be part of Chicago’s Second City Theatre, his on stage presence was larger than life. But it wasn’t until he got to SNL that he was able to display his true comedic talent, with the aid of professional comedy writers in an intense weekly live television show setting.

    Farley was a member during one of SNL’s peak times, and his fellow cast members included Adam Sandler, Mike Myers and David Spade. Not only did Chris outshine and outperform his fellow cast members, he was the one who provided the huge laughs on the show, whether in his role as ‘motivational speaker,’ to a skit where he auditions for Chippendales alongside host Patrick Swayze (in which Farley takes off his top to reveal a huge belly), to any role that he was given, Chris was truly the funny man. But according to the people who knew him, he was also a softee, a very sincere guy who would take a liking to everyone, and everyone would take a liking to him. SNL creator and Executive Producer Lorne Michaels talks, at length, about how he mentored Chris in his early days of being on the show. Myers talks about the times they spent together on the set and how Chris was the nicest and most sincere guy there. But it’s David Spade who brings the best of the memories of Chris in the film – they both started at SNL at the same time, so they shared the incredible feeling of being first-timers on the historic television show. Spade mentions many funny moments he and Farley shared together on the set, including the many times when Chris would walk into his shower at work, stark naked (with his penis tucked in) and proceed to give Spade a huge hug – Spade says this was just the kind of man Chris was. Spade and Farley would eventually break out of television and into films. And after they were released from their SNL contracts in 1995, they made the films Tommy Boy and Black Sheep, both critically panned but made lots of money. But in between these films, Farley’s personal life was not as shiny as his professional life.

    Drug and alcohol problems led him to rehab an astonishing 17 times. Michaels was instrumental in trying to help Farley overcome his habit, but it was a demon that Farley was unable to kick, which led to his premature death where he was found on a linoleum floor in his apartment in Chicago. Eerily enough, John Belushi, another overweight comedian who got his start at SNL and became a huge movie star (Ghostbusters, The Blues Brothers), also died at the age of 33, of a cocaine and heroin overdose, in 1982.

    I am Chris Farley is a best of Chris Farley documentary that shows the best of his professional work. We are also treated to his spot on the David Letterman Show where he bounds onto the stage, making sure you knew he was in the room, his hair all over his face, clenching his fists, and then in true Chris Farley fashion, falling over backwards in his chair.

    While the documentary doesn’t really explain why Farley got involved in alcohol and drugs in the first place (perhaps no one knew), it’s a very good tribute to a celebrity who died way before his expiry date.

    “There’s a category of people who I’ve worked with who are infuriatingly talented’ – Michaels says – “and Farley was one of them.”

    I Am Chris Farley is now available to buy on Blu-Ray and DVD.

     

  • FILM REVIEW | Elephant Song

    ★★★★ | Elephant Song

    At only 26 years old, French-Canadian Xavier Dolan already has five films under his directorial belt, all of which have been well received and critically acclaimed. In addition, he’s acted in 12 films, including the just released Elephant Song.

    In 2009, Dolan directed, produced, starred and wrote J’ai Tué Ma Mére (I Killed My Mother), a semi-autobiographical story about him as a young gay man at odds with his mother, and wrote the script when he was at the tender age of 17. It won 3 awards at the Cannes Film Festival. The next year he wrote, directed, produced and starred (again) in Les Amours Imaginaires (Heartbeats), a story about three close friends who are involved in a love triangle. In 2012 Dolan continued his string of emotional and heartfelt films by writing and directing Laurence Anyways. At 168 minutes, it was an ambitious project for the young director to do, it was about the struggle of a straight man who, over the course of ten years, transitions from male to female, and how it affects the relationship with his lover (with amazing performances by Melvil Poupajd and Suzanne Clément). Laurence Anyways won many awards, including two Cannes Film Festival Awards (the Queer Palm Award and Best Actress for Clément). Lawrence Anyways was also nominated for ten Canadian Screen Awards (winning two), and more importantly, at the Toronto International Film Festival, it won Best Canadian Feature film. Not bad for a local boy.

    2013 is when Dolan wore multiple hats in a film. In Tom á la Ferme (Tom at the Farm), Dolan, who wrote, produced, directed and starred, plays Tom, a young man who works in an advertising agency and travels to the Canadian countryside for the funeral of his 25-year-old boyfriend. The problem is that the grieving mother did not know that her son was gay, so she accepts Tom as his friend in the hopes that he can tell her all about her dead son’s life. Meanwhile, the deceased’s brother, 30-year-old Francis (an amazing Pierre-Yves Cardinal), knew that his brother gay but could never really accept it. Conflict, anguish, thought provoking moments, anger, love, and acceptance follow. More acclaim followed Dolan when Mommy was released in 2015. It stars French Canadian actress Anne Dorval who is a widowed mother overwhelmed by her teenage son (Antoine Olivier Pilon – a relevation) and his attention deficit disorder. Dolan wrote, produced and directed Mommy, and it won the Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival and won nine Canadian Screen Awards, including Best Motion Picture.

    In the newly released Elephant Song, Dolan, who co-stars along with Bruce Greenwood and Catherine Keneer, plays Michael, a psychologically unwell young man in a mental institution who may or may not have had something to do with the disappearance of his psychiatrist. So it’s up to Greenwood’s Dr. Greene to interview Michael to try to get to the bottom of his colleague’s disappearance. During the interrogation, Michael plays mind games with Dr. Greene, alluding to the fact that he knows where his psychiatrist is but is not quite yet ready to tell. Michael is clearly a very disturbed young man, his very famous opera singer mother all but ignored him, and the one time he spent with his father was when he took him elephant hunting, with the boy Michael crying over his father’s killing of an elephant. And Michael alludes to a sexual relationship that he is having with his psychiatrist, so it’s up to Dr. Greene to take what Michael is saying with a grain of salt. Even the head nurse, Susan Peterson (Keneer), warns Dr. Greene to keep his distance from Michael. It’s a film that at its centrepiece is Dolan, who is perfect as Michael, very good looking yet very mischevious, you don’t know whether you want to hug him or to run away from him. And the film revisits the themes of homosexuality and the lack of acceptance so common in Dolan’s films.

    What’s next for Dolan besides conquering the world? He just finished shooting ‘It’s Only the End of the World,’ about a young man who returns home after 12 years to announce his impending death to his family. It stars Marion Cotillard and Vincent Cassel. Dolan will also be shooting his first film in the United States, to be titled The Death and Life of John F. Donovan, in 2016. It’s a fictional story about an actor who is famous for playing a Marvel-style superhero whose life and career are turned upside-down when his private correspondence with an 11-year-old fan is exposed and made to look indecent by a villainous gossip columnist. This one stars Hollywood heavyweights Kit Harrington, Jessica Chastain, and Susan Sarandon. If his previous films are anything to go by, these new films (and his future films) will be eagerly anticipated and will be must sees.

  • FILM REVIEW | Magic Mike XXL

    The Kings of Tampa are back! The men, strippers from the 2012 film Magic Mike, return with a sequel – Magic Mike XXL – and they are back with a bang!

    Magic Mike XXL reunites Channing Tatum, Joe Manganiello, Matt Bomer and the rest of the cast from the hit film about male strippers and picks up the story three years later after Mike has left the world of stripping. He’s got his own furniture business but it’s not doing too well. So when the former Kings of Tampa look him up on the way to a stripper convention in Myrtle Beach, North Carolina, Mike (Tatum) can’t resist the pull to go back to stripping, and to reunite with his buddies. So what takes place is a male stripper road movie with scenes that allow all of the men to display their fine physical goods.

    And these scenes are hot. In one, reminiscent of Jennifer Beal’s dance scene in the film Flashdance, with sparks flying all around, Mike does the same in his garage, a freestyle solo that proves he’s still got it. Once on the road, we are treated to the men’s misadventures, to be voyeurs in their exhibitionism, with a front row seat. First stop, a gay bar in Jacksonville where the drag queen emcee asks members of the audience if they want to participate in an amateur strip contest. Of course our men enter and wow the crowd. After, they find themselves at a beach party, where Mike has an encounter with Zoe (Amber Heard), who takes his picture while he is urinating.

    Big Dick (Manganiello) get his big showy number when he performs, on the spot, for a shocked but very lucky female gas station attendant. You’ll never look at a bag of Cheetos the same way again.

    A stop at private club Domina, Mike’s pre-Tampa stomping ground, transforms the movie into a breathtaking and intensely sexual film. You see, Domina’s female customers are treated to in-your-face male strip shows, and these strip shows are like ones you’ve never ever seen before on film. It’s here that Mike re-encounters Rome (Jada Pinkett Smith) the proprietress, and a woman from his past.
    It you’re out of breath at this point (trust me, you will be) there’s lots more. The men wind up at the home of Nancy (Andie MacDowell), a recently divorced sexy and flirtatious woman in her early 50s, and the rapport between Nancy and her female friends and the men is very palpable, very real, you can cut the sexual tension between the men and the women with a knife.
    It’s at the Myrtle Beach stripper convention where the film comes to a climax. Each man gets to perform his own unique dance, for a room full of ladies, and perform they do. Tatum strips all the way down to a shiny jockstrap, while the other men do their own special routines, one which includes chocolate sauce and whipped cream, and another one involves a sling. Various ladies from the audience are lucky enough to be chosen as part of the act. And Tatum chooses Zoe to be in his act, performing on her on stage in every position imaginable.
    Directed by the same man who directed the campy Liberace film “Behind the Candelabra,” Gregory Jacobs brings a stylised nuance to Magic Mike XXL, where the long dance scenes take a life of their own. And the male stars of this film really put themselves out there, hell, they’ve all got the bodies, so why not? And for the female actresses who were chosen to be performed on in various scenes of this film, we can assume they were not just acting, but were also extremely enjoying themselves. So will you.