Reeling Lesbian & Gay Film Festival: Weekend Picks

Reeling's biggest weekend includes several dozen films and you won't be able to see them all. Here's a glimpse at a handful of films I was able to catch in advance, so you can choose wisely.

I couldn't, for the life of me, digest Codependent Lesbian Space Alien Seeks Same (Fri 4, 7pm), a strange B-movie parody about female aliens from the planet Zots who come to earth to have their hearts broken in order to save their planet from environmental ruin. The film leans heavily on the too-familiar "fish out of water" premise that recalls an episode of Mork & Mindy, but there was some darling, off-beat banter between two guys from the agency hired to keep track of extra-terrestials.

Mangus! (Fri 4, 7:15pm) is a campy, albeit likeable feature about a scrawny teenager determined to play the role of Jesus in his school's production of Jesus Christ Spectacular. The film plays constant tribute to John Waters (who has a cameo as Christ himself) with its assemblage of white trash characters (including Jennifer Coolidge and out actor Heather Matarazzo as his mother and sister respectively), outrageous plot points and lowbrow humor. It's a fairly trivial effort, but it's fun nevertheless.

The title Hannah and the Hasbian (Fri 4, 9:15pm) is somewhat misleading in that it reduces one of three leads to that of her sexual orientation when in reality, this lovely little Aussie import is about so much more. Set entirely in a flat shared by three roommates (Hannah looks like it may have had its origins as a theatrical piece), the film focuses on title character Hannah, her ex-girlfriend Breigh (who decides she's now into men) and their dingbat, man-crazy third roommate. I laughed out loud a bunch of times and there's lots of little nuggets of goodness including the way in which each woman manages legitimate insights except when it comes to figuring out their own relationship shortcomings. The film jumps back and forth in time telling both the story of Hannah and Breigh's courtship and how each woman is handling the breakup. It's a gorgeous film to look at both in terms of art direction and casting (all three leads are knockouts and the movie is bathed in gorgeous light throughout) and I would consider this one of my early Reeling favorites.

Finally, for Friday I also checked out the Italian entry Loose Cannons (Fri 4, 9pm), about a prodigal son who returns to his small town after living an out life as a writer in Rome. His plans to sidestep obligations to take over the family's pasta business are thwarted when his older brother beats him to the punch by coming out to the family over dinner and being expelled by a homophobic father. The film is beautiful in its depiction of Italian scenery, food and the ties that bind and while not a standout entry, it's enjoyable nonetheless.

Saturday's lineup includes The Green (Sat 5, 5pm), a story about a gay man wrongly accused of sexually harassing one of his male students while simultaneously harboring a secret (hint: think George Michael) he's kept hidden from his longtime boyfriend Cheyenne Jackson (who is smoking hot). The film treads heavily on Hollywood cliches (the janitor at the school is creepy, the entire town succumbs to fear and turns its back on the couple), but it's great to see both Ileana Douglas and Julia Ormond (as a lesbian lawyer) in supporting roles.

Also on Saturday is the documentary Wish Me Away (Sat 5, 7pm) about the coming-out process of country singer Chely Wright. On the one hand, Wright's coming out has its fair share of tear-jerk moments including her failure to pray away the gay as a little girl and convincing herself she must not be saying the prayer correctly, But I enjoyed the film more as a cautionary tale about the toll that fame exacts on the private lives of celebrities. This isn't to say the film doesn't have its weak spots, but a better 90-minute It Gets Better video for queer youth stuck in the Bible belt I can't imagine.

I had the opportunity to meet former Chicago actor Adrian Gonzalez and tell him how much I enjoyed August (Sat 5, 9:15pm), a thrilling love triangle set in Los Angeles during an unprecedented summer heat wave. While the premise reads like another helping of queer film fest eye candy, August is a legitimately tense film about relationships, timing and broken hearts. All three leads are outstanding (keep your eye on Daniel Dugan) and the Mariachi-inspired soundtrack rachets up the tension. I loved it.

Sunday has a couple of outstanding entries, including the U.K. entry The Night Watch (Sun 6, 1pm), a post-war drama about a love triangle between three women that also includes a plot line about an imprisoned gay man and also a straight couple. Based on the novel by out scribe Sarah Waters and told in reverse chronological order, it's a gorgeous film about a group of people trying to put their lives together after the horrors of World War II and plays like a nail-biting melodrama. I would've loved for this to be a miniseries.

Documentary Centerpiece We Were Here (Sun 6, 3pm) paints a portrait of a quintet of survivors of the AIDS crisis as it swept the city of San Francisco in the eighties and took down men in their prime in a matter of weeks and days. The film has so many emotional centers that it's hard to pick just one; its impact as both a slice of LGBT history and a cautionary tale for a new generation of queer youth facing skyrocketing infection rates shouldn't be understated. It's a great film.

Finally, I enjoyed the fascinating but incomplete Kink Crusaders (Sun 6, 9pm), a brief portrait of the International Mr. Leather contest held annually in Chicago. In truth, the life and times of IML founder Chuck Renslow deserves a much closer examination than what Crusaders offers, which instead plays like a behind-the-scenes look at a beauty pageant for kinky men. Still, its voyeuristic glimpse into the world of BDSM is engrossing, especially when it turns its lens on two spirited Asian women who've stopped by the vaunted leather market for shock value.

For more tickets, showtimes and venue information visit reelingfilmfestival.org.