A New Day

Last night I was depressed, this morning I can't stop thinking about how hot it would be if Liza Minnelli forced me to have sex with her (like she'd have to FORCE me) and how saddened I am to hear about favorite Law & Order franchise hottie Vincent D'Onorfio's mental and physical breakdown on the set following Bush's reelection.

And I'm also thinking more about Tarnation (see yesterday's post). A Southern Gothic narrative and queer a la Tennessee Williams but ramped up for the MTV generation, replete with hip soundtrack, haunting score, and 80s pop tv references. The film's strength lies in its Southern setting, where a family breaksdown in a dislocated setting, minds and bodies rot in the heat and a young queer boy escapes by cross-dressing and putting on testimonials in front of his camera, pretending to be abused southern housewives. The movie lost me when the narrator moves to New York and does New York things like starring in friends' film school projects, eating donuts, kissing his cute Spanish boyfriend, and dressing in thick vintage hipster coats.

One voice-over struck me...the young director whispers into a microphone or camera that he's gay, he's always had gay thoughts. It reminds me a particular moment in my own life. I didn't have a film camera growing up, but I had my journal, my diary I would write in constantly. I once wrote in it that I was gay, I had feelings for boys, and I had sex with boys. I was fourteen maybe. I wrote the words down in French because I feared that my mother might be reading my journal in secret, and she didn't know French. Actually putting that down had a profound affect on my identity. I could hear it in the young director's voice as well--as he whispered to himself "I am gay..." you could not mistake the gravity in his voice, signalling a very important transition underway. Brillant. Mothers, go out and by your kids digital video cameras today!

Off to Chicago for the weekend...

Posted by jason at November 11, 2024 10:33 AM