Three movies at Cinemateket:
'Cruising' by William Friedkin with Al Pacino as a policeman who works under cover in gay circles, like gay bars etc.
There has been a series of murders on gay men and he tries to find the murderer.
Gradually this assignment changes him as a person and the relationship with his girlfriend becomes somewhat strained.
He also becomes more and more ambivalent concerning his own sexuality and feels more and more inclined to use violence.
Gay people and organisations in the USA protested when the film was released in 1980.
They found the description of gay people with S & M preferences and a lot of violent and promiscuous behavior to biased.
I'm (Gunnar) inclined to agree as gay people in this movie are described in a very one-sided way, arranging people's behaviour after their sexual preferences.
Of course people with this kind of preferences exist, both among homo-hetero- and bisexuals and there is nothing strange about this, as long as you enjoy 'the game' but just focusing on one distinct behaviour tend to increase the prejudices against non-heterosexuals, not least in a country as USA.
Sometimes we find the opposite. In order to defend the rights of homo- bi- and transsexuals (among others), some people tend to define - not least homosexual men - not as individuals with individual traits but as a group of persons, all with a higher moral, being kinder and more gentle than e.g. heterosexal men and this is of course not true and also counterproductive.
In short: This film was a bit to tendentious.
'The Boys in the Band' (Friedkin) is also a movie about gay men.
If 'Cruising' was biased in direction towards the violent aspects, this film takes on a - for certain heterosexuals - more acceptable portrayal of gay men.
A birthday party becomes the scene for settlements between the different pairs and as one part in this film we see the main character's - Michael - friend from school who all of a sudden visits Michael and the ongoing party.
He is conservative concerning sexual behavior and life and is not aware of that Michael is gay.
Michael first wants to hide it but this doesn't work out well. He then tries to show that the 'straight' friend underneath the surface also is gay but that he not yet has 'come out from the closet'.
Michael is also on a personnel level wrestling with his own sexuality as it contradicts his catholic belief.
In this film we find a lot of clichés too: The pantywaist gay men swirling around, flirting constantly.
It's obviously hard to depict homosexual men without these clichés.
'Screaming Mimi' by Gerd Oswald is Anita Ekbergs irst leading rôle and judging from her acting it should maybe have been her last. However, if so, she had never been given the chance to act in La Dolce Vita!
Her character is thrown in to a deep trauma after her dog is killed by a patient from a psychiatric ward.
She is taken to a psychiatric hospital and a psychologist takes care of her in a way that goes beyond his obligations towards patients.
He is in love with her and he gradually takes advantage of her vulnerable situation and makes her more and more dependant on him.
She starts to work as a dancer with the psychologist as her 'manager'.
A journalist becomes interested in her and the relationship with the 'manager' after a murder on a young woman and an attempt to murder Ekbergs rôle character.
It's not only Anita Ekbergs acting that leaves a lot to be desired. The actor creating the role as a psychiatric patient, killing the dog of Ekbergs character, is also exaggerated, creating a plagiary, corresponding to some people's idea's of a patient in a psychiatric ward.
A lot have to be blamed on the director.
Aurore laughed a great deal during the film and this was probably not intended by the director.
His aim was to make a thriller. He didn't quite succeed.
'Cruising' by William Friedkin with Al Pacino as a policeman who works under cover in gay circles, like gay bars etc.
There has been a series of murders on gay men and he tries to find the murderer.
Gradually this assignment changes him as a person and the relationship with his girlfriend becomes somewhat strained.
He also becomes more and more ambivalent concerning his own sexuality and feels more and more inclined to use violence.
Gay people and organisations in the USA protested when the film was released in 1980.
They found the description of gay people with S & M preferences and a lot of violent and promiscuous behavior to biased.
I'm (Gunnar) inclined to agree as gay people in this movie are described in a very one-sided way, arranging people's behaviour after their sexual preferences.
Of course people with this kind of preferences exist, both among homo-hetero- and bisexuals and there is nothing strange about this, as long as you enjoy 'the game' but just focusing on one distinct behaviour tend to increase the prejudices against non-heterosexuals, not least in a country as USA.
Sometimes we find the opposite. In order to defend the rights of homo- bi- and transsexuals (among others), some people tend to define - not least homosexual men - not as individuals with individual traits but as a group of persons, all with a higher moral, being kinder and more gentle than e.g. heterosexal men and this is of course not true and also counterproductive.
In short: This film was a bit to tendentious.
'The Boys in the Band' (Friedkin) is also a movie about gay men.
If 'Cruising' was biased in direction towards the violent aspects, this film takes on a - for certain heterosexuals - more acceptable portrayal of gay men.
A birthday party becomes the scene for settlements between the different pairs and as one part in this film we see the main character's - Michael - friend from school who all of a sudden visits Michael and the ongoing party.
He is conservative concerning sexual behavior and life and is not aware of that Michael is gay.
Michael first wants to hide it but this doesn't work out well. He then tries to show that the 'straight' friend underneath the surface also is gay but that he not yet has 'come out from the closet'.
Michael is also on a personnel level wrestling with his own sexuality as it contradicts his catholic belief.
In this film we find a lot of clichés too: The pantywaist gay men swirling around, flirting constantly.
It's obviously hard to depict homosexual men without these clichés.
'Screaming Mimi' by Gerd Oswald is Anita Ekbergs irst leading rôle and judging from her acting it should maybe have been her last. However, if so, she had never been given the chance to act in La Dolce Vita!
Her character is thrown in to a deep trauma after her dog is killed by a patient from a psychiatric ward.
She is taken to a psychiatric hospital and a psychologist takes care of her in a way that goes beyond his obligations towards patients.
He is in love with her and he gradually takes advantage of her vulnerable situation and makes her more and more dependant on him.
She starts to work as a dancer with the psychologist as her 'manager'.
A journalist becomes interested in her and the relationship with the 'manager' after a murder on a young woman and an attempt to murder Ekbergs rôle character.
It's not only Anita Ekbergs acting that leaves a lot to be desired. The actor creating the role as a psychiatric patient, killing the dog of Ekbergs character, is also exaggerated, creating a plagiary, corresponding to some people's idea's of a patient in a psychiatric ward.
A lot have to be blamed on the director.
Aurore laughed a great deal during the film and this was probably not intended by the director.
His aim was to make a thriller. He didn't quite succeed.
2 comments:
I don't agree with Gunnar regarding the sexuality of Allan in "The Boys in the Band". Allan is straight. He might have left his wife and went to New York to escape his daily life. Michael wants to believe that he is gay, because most of the gay men think everyone is gay (underneath). But Allan is NOT gay and rings his wife to declare his true love. Michael is gay though he did not want to be (catholic problematic) and cannot accept that Allan, who has had the same education than he, is straight.
I fully agree with Aurore but I wasn't totally clear on that point in my resumé. Allan is not gay and when he gets the opportunity to call someone he loves, Michael hopes and thinks this is a friend from school that Michael suggest Allan has had a relationship with. It's not - it's Allans wife!
Post a Comment