Rustling feathers: Gay films take look at youth

In the past couple of days I’ve read about two gay films, one new and one old, which are bound to rustle some feathers.

The first is a new film called “Another Gay Movie” from TLA Releasing and it is almost like “American Pie.” The four teen guys are just as “hormonal,” hilarious and stupid… except this time they’re gay.

This, from the Philadelphia Inquirer:

It’s graduation day at San Torum High (ha!), and four sweet boys reflect on their existential being-gay-ness and find they each lack… manhood.

So begins Another Gay Movie, which was the opening feature in the just-ended 12th Philadelphia International Gay & Lesbian Film Festival.

This likable-to-a-point romp, directed by Todd Stephens, is an unapologetic, un-P.C., in-your-face gay take on American Pie. It’s about four teen horn dogs - baseball jock Jarod (Jonathan Chase); genius nerd Griff (Mitch Morris), who yearns to be with Jarod; the good-guy-next-door Andy (Michael Carbonaro); and the swishy Nico (Jonah Blechman), a video store clerk who dreams of becoming the next Douglas Sirk.

Our pals constantly brag about having made it to first, second, and even third base with other guys.

But, as their guru and nemesis, Muffler, a loud, fat, vulgar lesbian (one of a handful of women depicted with loving misogyny), points out, none of the guys has had intercourse.

Thus, The Big Quest, which takes each guy through hilarious and raunchy situations as he misses chance after chance to snatch the ring.

A sweet but horny naif, Andy finally gets an invite to his sensitive math teacher’s house, only to learn that Mr. Puckov (Graham Norton, in a brilliant turn), regally clad in a leather harness, is a fetish hound who doesn’t mean swimming when he suggests they play “water games.”

Nico manages to get a date with Survivor winner Richard Hatch (in a great cameo), only to be rejected by that annoying fat naked guy.

And Jarod and Griff?

Well, like Pie, Stephens’ flick also believes in love triumphant. They hook up - and even snuggle.

The other film is older and foreign. TLA Releasing has just recently released it on DVD in the United States. The 1978 Danish “You Are Not Alone” also deals with gay youth, but in a more dramatic, audience-shocking way.

The American public is now used to seeing the hormonal romps of high school teens, but very rarely do we even stop to think about, much less address, issues faced by teens in middle school. Youth this age may be young, but that doesn’t mean that they are any less affected by sexuality, coming of age or growing up (which, as we all know, can be extremely painful with the added weight of growing up gay).

“You Are Not Alone” follows the lives of boys living in a boarding school under the direction of a strict, religiously uptight headmaster.

This, from the Washington Blade:

An all-male boarding school in Denmark is run by a morally righteous and uptight headmaster (Ove Sprogøe). The students seem to be between 10 and 15 years old, and, predictably, sex and rebellion are the constant subjects of conversation.

One of the school’s charges, Bo (Anders Agensø) takes a liking to Kim (Peter Bjerg), the cherubic-faced son of the headmaster. The boys form a friendship that quickly leads to physical intimacy of an indeterminate variety.

The two shower together, hold one another, paint each other up as Indians and kiss. Although it’s not clear just how far they go, Kim does become fond of joyfully saying, “Sex is wonderful.”

The boarding school seems to be a hotbed of eroticism with two other boys discovered making out in the shower and an older female chef molesting a young student in the basement. One of the troublesome students keeps pasting straight porn up on his bedroom wall and in the shared student bathrooms.

In an attempt to keep the boys on a moral track, the headmaster coaxes the children into doing a theatrical representation of the Ten Commandments. All the parents are invited to the event, but the students choose to create a video dedicated to Christ’s golden rule of loving thy neighbor as thyself.

I’m sure that both of these movies are great. “Another Gay Movie” is sure to be hilariously tear-jerking and “You Are Not Alone” should serve to be a serious look at how issues of being gay play out in the blooming of youth and growing up.

I can’t wait to see both.

Posted in Global, LGBT, LGBT Youth, Media, Sexuality, United States |