GAYLETTER

If you are one of our loyal readers, you’ve probably already heard about the amazing film series Dirty Looks and you probably love it as much as we do. This time around they’re bringing us two amazing screenings taking place on the roof of MoMA PS1. Even more exciting both the filmmakers will be in attendance. Abigail Child will be screening her film Mayhem (1987) and “videomaker and former director of Squeaky Wheel Film and Video Coalition in Buffalo” Julie Zando will show her film Uh-Oh! (1994). The two filmmakers are both focused on showing alternatives to the conventional portrayals of female sexuality in cinema. I haven’t seen these films yet, but at this point I really trust Bradford Nordeen’s taste in film. Here is what he had to say about the night: “both directors subvert genre or Hollywood filmmaking via feminist means. Uh-Oh! is a lesbian remake of Pauline Reage’s Story of O and one uses classical film montage in a distinctly feminist capacity...Also, they’ll be screened in a room that contains a Richard Serra floor inlay — about as masculine a sculptor as ever, so it counteracts that in a tasty way.” I’m sold!  —Abi

Here’s a fabulous opportunity to see the closing night film of Lincoln Center’s NewFest, NY’s premiere LGBT film festival, and go to the after party all for $30! The featured film is called ‘Test,’ set in 1985 in San Francisco’s modern dance scene at the onset of the AIDS crisis when, “...headlines threatened a gay quarantine, when nobody knew how the disease spread, when dancers were afraid to touch each other because they might get it from sweat.” The film won the Grand Jury Prize for Outstanding Narrative and Screenwriting at the 2013 Outfest LA. Noted choreographer Cidra Bell worked out the plentiful and dynamic dance sequences that incorporate members of the San Francisco and Joffrey Ballets. There’s a smooth skinned blonde hottie as the lead and plenty of bare chested men — all the elements are in place for a stellar pic and wonderful night out in the city.  —Gayletter

You may have seen the trailer for the new film Adore starring Naomi Watts and Robin Wright as two mothers, and childhood best friends, who fall in love with each other’s 20-year-old sons. It’s quite dramatic. In the theatre I first saw the trailer in people actually gasped. While Adore’s subject matter may be “provocative” and “shocking” I came away from the film less scandalized and more mildly titillated. Although I was impressed at how well Robin Wright can pull off an Aussie accent. Set in an unnamed beachside paradise in Northern New South Wales, Adore is like the ultimate ad campaign for Tourism Australia. Filled with countless shots of the glistening young men surfing, swimming, showering, sun bathing, it’ll definitely make you wanna book your next vacay downunder. The problem with the film is that the nature shots and man candy are almost more interesting than the story. It’s told over 10 years, yet neither the sons or the moms seem to age (and here I was thinking sun speeds up the aging process?). Not a lot happens. The story is told almost exclusively through the eyes of the 4 characters making it seem a little small. But that’s not to say you shouldn’t go see it, it’s still miles ahead of most of the crap at the movies this weekend. Plus there’s this really hot scene where the boys fight each other in the ocean. Yum.  —tom

Yes we know GAYLETTER is getting Almodóvar-centric this month. As one of the punks lamenting his lack of drug money exclaims after a bump of nail varnish in ‘Labyrinth of Passion’: “¡que overdose!” We’ve already recommended Almodóvar’s latest, so now it’s time for a campy classic. Dirty Looks and Bidoun (one of my favorite magazines, covering art and culture from the Middle East) are screening Labyrinth of Passion — an exemplary Almodóvar absurdest work set against the backdrop of both the exile of the Iranian royal family after the revolution of 1979 and the Movida Madrileña (the punk/queer/art movement in Madrid after the end of Franco’s dictatorship). The film has everything you could want: an opening scene of crotch-watching on the Rastro, gay Persian royalty, gay Persian terrorists, gay Spanish art-punks, a nymphomaniac named Sexilia, and her Lacanian psychoanalyst who is trying really hard to fuck Sexilia’s dad, and an expert on artificial insemination who is bored by sex. The film excels in its stylish portrayal of Madrid’s hedonistic 80’s counter-culture and climaxes in an airport scene that foreshadows ‘Women on the Verge’… and ‘I’m So Excited’. The screening is at an authentic Spanish restaurant, so order some patatas bravas and una jarra de vino for context. Oh, and keep an eye out for a young Antonio Banderas.  —Patrick

I always try to fly Virgin whenever I get the chance. The seats are (somewhat) comfortable, the mood lighting is calming, and you can IM that cute guy in the aisle in front of you. I expect to have a campy experience every time I fly Virgin, but I’m always disappointed. There was this one time though, when the cabin attendant announced that our luggage would be located at “carousel B for Beyonce.” That satisfied my thirst for camp, but not as much as the new Almodóvar comedy ‘I’m So Excited.’ The film depicts a trio of gay flight attendants doing their best to distract passengers (with plenty of sex and drugs) from the various problems occurring behind the scenes. From what I’ve read the story is a subtle satire of Spanish politics, which if you’re Spanish I’m sure you’ll totally pick up. For the rest of us it’s just a super campy, fun romp. It features all the familiar Almodóvar faces (quick cameos from Penelope Cruz and Antonio Banderas) as well as the Pointer Sister’s song that inspired the film’s title. The film made me wish that flying was always as much fun as it is in the movie, or at least as gay as it is in the movie.  —Gayletter

Do NOT miss GAY Night at the L.E.S* Film Festival, presented by Logo TV. First up is an intoxicating short doco called ‘The Needle’ (6PM) that really blew my mind. It’s about an endearing 50 something queen (Jose) who runs an improvised cosmetics clinic out of his disheveled apartment in San Juan, PR. Jose shoots up half of the LGBT community with botox, or god knows what, including two entertaining trannie hustlers, Kelly and Maybelline, who figure heavily in the plot. Lots of wigs, makeups, needles and hot messes, trust, you’ll love it. Next up is ‘The Go Doc Project,’ (8PM) a wall to wall “sexcapade” that stars hottie Matthew Camp and GAYLETTER friend and stud Tanner Cohen. Tanner plays a recent college grad who masterminds a plan to shoot a documentary about NYC’s nightlife to meet the go-go boy of his dreams... The filming goes as planned, an affair ensues and fucking abounds. I loved this flick. OK, enough said, buy your ticket now cuz I heard the night is almost sold out.  —Gayletter