Film Feast
Mercury Cinematheque
3-5 November

Screening the weekend prior to the official Feast opening, Film Feast has become the tantalizing entre enticing the gay culture gluttons to pig out for the rest of November. In the past twenty years, queer cinema in the United States and Canada in particular has burgeoned. Capitalizing on the wealth of product available, Feast organizers have been able to program two Film Feasts this year- and if the latest offering is any indication, a second helping may not be enough to satiate the punters.

Many of the films in this program focused on queer art forms from both an historical and contemporary perspective. In 'The Dying Gaul' Robert (Peter Sarsgaard) has a hot script that studio executive Jeffrey (Campbell Scott) desperately wants. The problem is that the central characters in the script are gay male lovers and Jeffrey also wants Robert to adapt it to fit a heterosexual couple; however he is reluctant to do so. He seduces Robert with his wealth and the empathy of his scriptwriting wife Elaine (Patricia Clarkson), but when they begin an affair, Elaine's vengeance is both devastating and swift. The film is an allegorical tug of war between profit and art, and the pretentiousness escalates with every frame- the Gaul died a dud, but fortunately the program improved thereafter.

'That Man Berlin' is an incisive 'where is he now?' documentary on 'seventies gay porn star, Peter Berlin. With a pants' package second to none, Berlin (who mostly photographed himself) became a legend with only two films 'boiling sex down to a visual trip'. However, there was a man behind the icon, one who became so narcissistic that he could only get off on another's admiration, but who later settled down into a twenty year relationship with a now deceased partner.

Featuring live performances at a festival of America's most celebrated gay comedians, 'Out Laugh' lampoons both gay America and its enemies from the religious right. Coming out becomes 'the Thanksgiving that Stephanie ruined'. Gay pride parades consist of the floats from the town's favorite bars and then 'the support groups for the addictions we got from the bars'. Standing out is the ferocious Leah Delario - the lesbian Lenny Bruce- "I hate George Bush... I hate his twins...but I'd fuck them". She is dead against gay marriage - "we don't have to get married, we can fuck, that's our perk!" The satire is sharp and reflects the siege mentality in the gay community under the Republican reign. I laughed loudly and often.

I laughed and cowered simultaneously in 'Hellbent', billed as the world's first gay slasher movie where a buffed slasher sets out to decapitate as many West Hollywood horny hunks as he can in one night. Stalking our hero, his hot new boyfriend and twinky friends at a dance party, the slasher covers their chaps and sequins in buckets of blood, culminating in a near battle to death at our hero's love nest. The film was pure trash - just like the straight versions. If only we had gay drive-ins...

Things sobered with 'Rock Bottom', a documentary on the wave of crystal meth addiction in the New York gay community. In following the stories of seven addicts, the film frankly shows both what attracts gay men to the drug and why it is so destructive. As one expert states, the drug is the perfect drug for the gay man as it simultaneously increases libido and lowers inhibition. Many users are HIV positive men with 'fear fatigue' and the drug is blamed - rightly or wrongly - for a surge in unsafe sex and infection rates. Furthermore, while the drug makes you want to have sex, it makes erections difficult and users take Viagra to compensate. All that artificial tampering with blood flow is high risk, and it was noteworthy that one audience member in the panel discussion held afterwards spoke of a friend who had not had a single erection in the five years he had been off his mixture of these drugs.

The festival concluded with two documentaries celebrating queer culture in vastly different demographics. 'Fabulous: The Story Of Queer Cinema' is a history of queer cinema in the United States. Beginning with the early films of Kenneth Anger and finishing with 'Brokeback Mountain', the film charts the development of the queer voice, both camouflaged and then liberated. 'The Best of Get Up Tucked' presented edited highlights of the C31 television show and the exploits of Adelaide's own Fifi, Rochelle and Vonni. Are the girls coming back? Stay tuned...

Mal Byrne