Reeling Lesbian & Gay Film Festival: Closing Weekend

Reeling 30 is about to disappear after ten smash days. Here's a look at a few films closing out the final weekend:

Vying for the title of my favorite film at this year's fest is the energetic and unstoppable Leave It On the Floor, a big, splashy musical that combines the coming-of-age tensions of Spring Awakening with the grit of Rent while paying tribute to Paris is Burning. Brad, a young gay, black man, gets kicked out of his house after his mother catches him looking at gay porn. Homeless and on the run, he finds himself in the underground world of ball culture and reluctantly taken in by the House of Eminence and its unflappable mother Queen Latina. The eleven original musical numbers are totally infectious as is the choreography by Beyonce's dance master Frank Gaston. Somebody pick up this film and distribute it now!

In closing night film Cho Dependent, a combination stand-up show and concert featuring songs from the Grammy-nominated album of the same name, bisexual comedian Margaret Cho is in fine form, although not at first. Cho seems subdued for about twenty minutes or so as she talks about appearing on Dancing With the Stars alongside nemesis Bristol Palin. This was her least compelling material, perhaps because her DWTS appearance is now more than a year old and the Palins aren't particularly newsworthy as we watch the GOP primary unfold. But Cho may still just be the most keen observer and ebullient fan of a sex-positive culture that we have and I laughed heartily as she talked about a past phallationship, how animal rescues are the lesbian Grindr and described her overused vagina as a "rough" neighborhood. Her impressions of her mom were ubiquitous throughout and some of them really killed. She sang just a few songs off Cho Dependent, and more than one came with a surprise guest. For a Reeling closer, Cho is a dependable bet.

The other Reeling closer Going Down in La La Land is an entry from ubiquitous festival filmmaker Casper Andreas whose previous movies include Violet Tendencies and The Big Gay Musical. In La La Land, aspiring actor Adam relocates to Los Angeles from NYC in hopes of making it as an actor and instead finds that his boyish good looks attract the attention of the porn industry. His life takes an unexpected twist after spending a night with a closeted sitcom star. Andreas might just be the most passionate chronicler of the urban gay male and for that I'm thankful, but there's a certain one-dimensionality to his characters that I find irritating. The cultural stereotype of gay men is that of the self-absorbed, sex-obsessed, materialistic inhabitant of gay ghettos like Chelsea and WeHo and Andreas's characters too often fit that mold to a T. In the end, it's hard to care about his protagonists.  

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