Tag: Movies

These are three short films dealing with queer refugees or migrant workers. Heartbreaking, infuriating, but also thoughtful and nuanced.

Sikat

Sikat is a Filipina live-in domestic and nanny, eagerly awaiting the arrival of her husband and son to Canada. But when they do arrive her son doesn’t even recognise her…

The intertitle at the end explains that caregivers such as Sikat have to work in the same household for at least 24 months before they can begin the process of sponsoring their families for immigration, which takes at least three more years. In practice they may be separated from their loved ones for even longer than that, since many Filipino/a workers come to Canada by way of the Middle East or Western Europe.

Das Phallometer

Not knowing the show’s theme, I thought would be something weird and kinky. I was partly right: phallometric testing is a real thing! In this darkly humorous short it is used on an Iranian refugee at the Czech Republic border to test his claim that he really is homosexual. He passes the test, and the border guards welcome him with open arms.

Incidentally, this procedure was ruled by the EU to be demeaning and a violation of human rights, and discontinued several years ago.

Boy

Boy is the story of a Filipino illegal immigrant worker, living in a big city in (I think) the Netherlands. Semi-invisibly he makes the beds and cleans the counters, safely eavesdropping on his employers’ affairs and goings-on. When they do see him, it’s mostly as a submissive piece of ass, an idealised noble poor person, or a greedy ignorant poor person always on the lookout for the next sugar daddy.

All of this is true, none of this is true. Our unnamed protagonist is far from perfect, but he’s got a sharp mind, had a genuine (non-romantic) bond with one of his employers, the only one who enjoyed talking to him, and all his spare money goes to either his parents back home or to support his boyfriend’s budding dance career. He’s a fully fleshed out individual that no one else (not his boyfriend, not even the audience) can see truly.

Boy is a quietly intense, thoughtful piece that lets us step in the shoes not only of migrant workers but of any person considered “other” by the dominant culture.

Drunktown’s Finest is writer/director Sydney Freeland’s look at life on a Navajo reservation reservation in New Mexico. It is harsh and brutally honest, but also loving and hopeful.

In the pre-show intro, Ms Freeland said that the movie was basically a coming of age story for three genders, and that sounds about right. Good girl Nizhoni, adopted by white parents but eager to find her roots; Sick Boy, waiting to ship out for the army but unable to stay out of trouble; two-spirited trans girl Felixia, dreaming of being a model while still respecting her heritage.

As a coming of age tale, the themes are about choices, recognising the consequences of your actions, and figuring out which of your dreams to hold onto. For Felixia and Sick Boy those dreams involved leaving, but in the end, maybe they found something better. Nizhoni already lived abroad but wished to reconnect with her biological family. She got exactly what she wanted and more, facing the unpleasant truth that her adopted parents had been lying to her for years.

But what I got out of the movie isn’t as trite as “stick with your people” or “follow traditions”. What I saw was a nurturing community with a culture of respect for gender variance… but also a lot of violence, homophobia, drug use and alcoholism, and people with neither solid roots nor a future to look forward to. Nothing is glossed over, and no one is pretending there are easy answers. There’s no telling where Sick Boy, Felixia and Nizhoni will go from here—but the movie’s conclusion was a new beginning rather than an end. There’s hope. There’s always hope.

Incidentally, it was an unusual (and welcome) experience for me to see see the world through another culture’s eyes, and white people as “others”: Nizhoni’s well-meaning but condescending parents; the ditzy blonde girl who (for whatever reason) tried out for a Navajo women’s calendar shoot; Felixia’s could-have-been sugar daddy on Facebook. It’s refreshing.

This movie is a feast for the eyes with gorgeous cinematography of the Dutch countryside, and equally beautiful actors, but the story itself wasn’t anything special. With some variations on a theme, this is a tale as old as time (or at least, gay liberation) that we’ve seen a hundred times before. Still, knowing how things would turn out didn’t keep me from thoroughly enjoying it.

Quiet, withdrawn Sieger has just been promoted to his high school’s higher level track team where he meets the relaxed, outgoing Marc. The two hit it off right away, though Sieger backs off after their first kiss, claiming he’s not gay. What with the intense training for an upcoming regional relay race the two end up spending a lot of time together, both on and off the track. Sieger is clearly attracted to Marc but confused about what he wants, half-heartedly double-dating a girl with his friend Stef. Marc finds out, is understandably upset, and for a while it seems even the race is in jeopardy. But all’s well that ends well, as the two make up, their school handily wins the race, and they (literally) ride off into the sunset.

Though Boys‘ tropes are, to put it gently, well-worn, I believe in this case it’s the execution that matters. It’s a very sweet and beautifully produced movie, with fine acting and directing (and the aforementioned visuals). I will mention one thing that sets it apart from similar movies, though: no big coming-out drama. In fact, no coming-out at all. During the course of the film Sieg and Marc never told anybody they were dating, or that they liked boys (though it’s possible Marc’s family already knew). Stef did put 2 and 2 together when he wasn’t macking on his girlfriend, but he never said anything until the very end, and even then it was to be quietly supportive.

Which I find fascinating. I could blame it on questionable writing—the movie was short on character development and skipped over a couple of key scenes, including Sieg and Marc’s post-race reconciliation—but one could see it as a sign of the times. Traditionally teen coming-out stories are supposed to be accompanied by huge drama, anger, disownment or tears, with the occasional bashing from local bigots. But here? Apart from Sieg’s “I’m not gay” line (which you could take in any number of ways), there’s nothing to suggest being gay would be a big deal. Are things that relaxed in the Netherlands? Awesome if true.

Boys / Jongens is not a perfect movie, but a greatly enjoyable one if you don’t mind its flaws. Come for the visuals, stay for the running tips.

A whole bunch of sexy, funny, inspiring and beautiful women’s shorts here!

Stop Calling Me Honey Bunny

Two lady rabbits (actually, women in rabbit suits) start off their relationship humping like… well, you know… but as time goes by the passion runs dry. Toys don’t cut it, and neither does role playing (and really, “hunter and prey”?). But they eventually realise they’ve gained more than they lost.

Gut-bustingly hilarious, and a sweet message at the end. Tied for favourite short so far!

Waack Revolt

Two women waack their hearts out over the decades, from 1940’s Hollywood to present day LA, paying the haters no mind. A gorgeous, catchy blend of visual genres.

(What’s waacking? I had to look it up so here you go: WaackNation)

Little Vulvah & Her Clitoral Awareness

A cute animated short of a little girl exploring the world, filled with visual metaphors for her girl parts. Not my thing, obviously, but visually quite beautiful.

Sunday / Söndag

Basking in the afterglow of their one night stand, two women start talking but discover they’re looking for very different things. An interesting little slice-of-life drama.

Sissy

What is a sissy? This short by local filmmaker Jen Crothers explores the concept of sissiness, why it’s even a thing, and how it’s an awesome thing.

Secrets & Toys

An ultra-short film of two women trying on toys for the first time. Nicely acted, an interesting plotless slice-of-life bit.

What’s What

A cute little dance number about blurring gender lines.

Orbits / Orbitas

As the world burns in nuclear war, a lone soldier in an orbital space station befriends a beautiful alien. With stunning CGI animation and a heartwarming story, this is so far tied with Stop Calling Me Honey Bunny for favourite short. The world needs more queer sci-fi!

(Oh hey, it’s available on Vimeo. Enjoy!)

Aquaporko!

A documentary about Melbourne’s queer fat femme synchronised swimming team. Lovingly produced, awesome and inspiring.

What a coincidence, I was just thinking the festival could use some bi visibility!

Appropriate Behavior is a comedy of life and love in New York. It’s hilarious, often absurd and blissfully plotless (as life is). It’s what Seinfeld would be if Seinfeld were queer and R-rated. And actually funny.

But there’s more to this movie than laughs. Even when your life seems to be going nowhere and the only thing you can focus on is how best to stalk your ex-girlfriend, you gotta keep moving forward. Even when asking a pretty lady out in front of your ex leads to you taking part in a super-awkward threesome with some snobby couple you just met at the bar (okay, the girl was nice) well, at least you tried.

And if you’re overwhelmed by teaching that film class to five year olds, have faith that it gets better. Besides, your rival teacher’s pretentiously artistic final film is clearly trying too hard; your movie about farts and zombies is a lot more fun, and actually involved the kids.

Because really, isn’t life about being honest, letting go of your doubts, and trusting others? Don’t worry too much about what people think, just do what feels good. But don’t be that hipster douche showing off his squid tattoo, he’s just creepy.

Wow, this movie turned out to be surprisingly deep. Who would have thought?

I’m honestly not sure what to make of Frauensee. It was an interesting movie, well-acted, with some nicely-explored characters and gorgeous shots of the German countryside. But there was no real plot, no resolution to the personal drama or even to the one minor side plotline. It left me feeling vaguely frustrated.

Maybe I’m approaching it from the wrong perspective. My only previous exposure to German lesbian cinema is To Faro, the 2011 VQFF’s opening gala film, and it was similar in a lot of ways: big focus on atmosphere, minimal plot that left lots of room for emotional drama but without any real character growth, and a very open-ended conclusion that wasn’t so much a dénouement as just an ending, and which left a bittersweet aftertaste. So maybe this is typical of the genre?

Rosa is a warden looking over a lake in the country, setting traps and watching for poachers. Her lover Kirsten is a high-powered architect from the big city who owns and fully renovated a house by the lake, which she comes down to on the weekend to relax. Though half the time, she’s still running her business over the phone anyway. I think in her eyes Rosa is just a part of her weekend getaways: she enjoys them but has no interest in making it full-time. Kirsten does care about Rosa but doesn’t know anything about her world, and doesn’t particularly care to.

Case in point: the one side plot involves some mysterious poacher stealing fish from Rosa’s traps. If she catches him, Rosa would have every right to ban him from the lake, but Kirsten advises her to talk with him, get his side of the story, maybe find some middle ground that could keep both of them happy. Not only does this come of as really condescending, it just reflects how out of touch Kirsten is: I’m sure in the big city it’s all about compromise and you-scratch-my-back-I’ll-scratch-yours, but in the country, it’s not okay to steal from people and damage their property.

On the weekend’s first day, Rosa catches two young college students, Evi and Olivia, stealing from her trap (because they forgot to bring enough food) and setting camp on an island that’s a nature preserve (against Rosa’s explicit instructions). Instead of throwing the book at them, Rosa joins them and then invites them back to Kirsten’s house for dinner, then allows them to stay for a few days. Evi starts to hit on Rosa almost continually whenever she thinks they’re alone, and while Rosa is kind of annoyed, she isn’t exactly saying no either. Olivia isn’t thrilled either, though she’s learned to put up with Evi’s shameless flirting.

All of their tensions and frustrations come to a boil a couple days later during a booze- and pot-fueled party at the house, where everybody spills their guts to everybody else. Nothing actually changes, though, and I don’t know if anybody has learned anything. It was all revelations that the audience and most of the characters knew anyway, the only difference is that it’s all in the open.

The last scene shows Rosa leaving for work at dawn as usual, the three other women still sleeping. But where is Rosa really headed? Is she running away from all these new revelations? Is she finally leaving Kirsten and heading off into the sunrise of a brand new life? Or doggedly going back to work just to go through this same crap over and over?

So yes, like I said, an interesting film. It didn’t really speak to me, but I did quite enjoy it, not least because of the gorgeous shots of the lake—the huge sky, the rippling water, the surrounding woods, the wind in the reeds—and the glimpse of quiet German rural life. I’m not sure if it was the best choice for a closing gala film—the last two were definitely more upbeat—but hey: a little moodiness and introspection never hurt anybody.

I Do is the first dud of the festival. It looked good on paper, and was pleasant enough to watch, but I found it preachy and uninspired, and overally very forgettable.

Ten years ago, Jack’s brother Peter was on top of the world: he’d just gotten his green card (they’re both British, having lived in the States since they were teens), and his lovely wife Mya was expecting; but later that night after a celebratory dinner he was run over by a car in full view of Jack and Mya. Since then, Jack has become a surrogate father to his niece and a quasi-husband-type-person to Mya and has focused pretty much all his emotional energies on supporting them. He used to be an avid photographer but now is employed as an assistant in a photo studio, repairing cameras and so on. He has little time for relationships, instead hooking up with fuckbuddies from time to time.

Then out of the blue, two things happen: Jack’s visa is about to run out, and due to new rules put in after 9/11 there’s no way to renew it in time. He wants to stay and help take care of Mya and Tara, but how? The only option is marriage, and that has to be to a woman. Even though same-sex marriage is legal in New York State, it is not recognised by immigration law. His sister-in-law—the first logical choice—will have no part of it, since it might lead to jail time if authorities found out the fraud. His next choice is his lesbian BFF Alison, who agrees.

Around the same time, he meets someone at a gallery showing: Mano, a suave, urbane, intellectual Spanish-American architect, and it’s love at first sight. But their budding romance is complicated by Jack’s need to maintain his straight masquerade, and his constant running off to take care of Mya.

Eventually, Alison gets spooked from repeatedly dealing with Immigrations and their questioning, and sitting home alone every night while Jack is gallivanting off with Mano, and asks for a divorce. Coincidentally, Mano has to return home to take care of his ill father. He invites Jack to move to Spain with him—they could even get married!—but Jack wants to stay in the US with Mya if he possibly can. In the end he can’t, and he accepts that he needs to live for himself instead of for Mya, so he moves to Spain to be with Mano. The end.

I think part of the problem with I Do is that it tried to shoehorn two different stories together: a political one, about gay marriage in the US; and a personal one, about Jack’s relationship with Mano and their respective family responsibilities. The rest of the problem is that neither of the stories were that engaging to begin with. The romance storyline was uninspired and by-the-numbers, and the gay-marriage storyline was clunky and preachy. I guess it tried to send a Big Message about love and how it must be respected, but it just seemed to be trying too hard.