Film
The ‘Spoiler’ is you’re going to cry
Films like these don’t play their big moments for drama, or even for laughs, to keep us involved – they play for truth
![](https://www.losangelesblade.com/content/files/2022/11/Jim-Parsons-and-Ben-Aldridge-star-in-SPOILER-ALERT-image-courtesy-Focus-Features.jpeg)
It’s been a refreshing year for LGBTQ love stories on the screen. From “Fire Island” to “Bros,” from “Crush” to “Anything’s Possible,” we’ve seen narratives that offer up hopeful and positive alternatives to the gloomy outcomes presented by movies of the past. Instead of stories that reinforce the tired trope of doomed queer romance, we’re finally seeing ourselves get the same chance at a happily-ever-after ending as everybody else.
It’s been a welcome change – but just when Hollywood finally seems to have finally figured out that all our relationships don’t have to end in tragedy, “Spoiler Alert” has come along to remind us that sometimes they still do.
Based on the best-selling memoir by Michael Ausiello (“Spoiler Alert: The Hero Dies”) and directed by Michael Showalter from a screenplay by David Marshall Grant and gay blogger/author/pundit Dan Savage, it’s the true story of a couple (Ausiello and his eventual husband, photographer Kit Cowan) who find love and build a relationship over the course of more than a decade only to face the heartbreak of Kit’s diagnosis of – and his (SPOILER ALERT, hence the title) premature passing from – a rare form of terminal cancer. Though It’s not exactly a rom-com, it does try to keep things light-hearted, and it aims for the uplift despite its foregone tragic conclusion.
That’s a tough tightrope to walk. The book, penned by veteran television and entertainment journalist Ausiello, pulled it off successfully, becoming a bestseller – and not just among queer readers – with its warts-and-all celebration of what it truly means to commit to love. After all, we may adore our fairy tale fantasies, but we all know that even a couple’s best-case scenario is guaranteed a sad ending; Ausiello’s first-person written narrative managed to get the point across that it’s all worth it, anyway.
Sometimes, though, a literary device that works on the page doesn’t translate easily to the screen, and on film, Ausiello’s “we-already-know-the-outcome” premise faces a more resistant challenge.
In the first act of the film, which details the meeting and early romance of its two lead characters (Jim Parsons and Ben Aldridge as Michael and Kit, respectively), our knowledge of the ending becomes an obstacle. This may be particularly true for more jaded viewers, who are apt to be keenly aware of the emotional payoffs being set up in advance. Heartwarming moments can easily come off as deliberate, even manufactured, and one might sense an obvious bid to force our identification with the characters in the movie’s deployment of all the standard “new gay relationship” tropes. In reading, it’s easy to personalize such universal moments through our own imaginations, which can fill in the spaces (and the faces) in a way that rings true for us. On film (this film, at least), such communally identifiable experiences run the risk of feeling manipulative: a little too perfect, a little too pat, a little too “meet-cute,“ and a little too… well, precious.
The dissonance between formulaic fantasy and genuine lived experience is sometimes made even more obtrusive by occasional flashbacks to Michael’s childhood, framed as excerpts from an imagined 90’s sitcom, which distance us further from the story – a stylistic ploy which seems intended to keep the tone of the narrative as far from tragic as possible.
When it’s time to get real, however, Showalter’s film lands on more solid ground. Once the blissful “happy-ever-after” couple-hood of the two men is established, the movie takes us into deeper, more mature – and therefore, less predictable – territory. Things don’t end up being perfect in Michael and Kit’s ostensible lover’s paradise: jealousies, self-esteem issues, and the inevitable individual growth that sometimes drives wedges between us in our relationships take their toll. As any successful long-term couple – queer or otherwise – is bound to discover, relationships take a lot of work, and seeing the two protagonists confront that seldom-told part of the story goes a long way toward making their experience more relatable for those who are looking for more than mere aspirational fantasy.
So, too, does the acting from the two leads. Parsons, who struggles against the obvious artificiality of playing against being two-decades-too-old in the film’s earlier scenes, blossoms once the story moves ahead in time to deliver an emotionally brave and affectingly authentic portrait of a man overcoming the baggage of his awkward and socially isolated youth (there’s a Smurf addiction involved, need we say more?) and finding the resilience to weather a battle for his lover’s life. Aldridge, a Brit flawlessly playing American, is perhaps even better – not that it needs to be a competition – as Kit, whose easy-going self-esteem masks a world of unresolved insecurities and makes an almost-too-good-to-be-true character endearingly real; perhaps more importantly, the emotional journey he’s tasked with portraying requires an absolute dedication to unornamented truth, and he delivers it impeccably.
It helps that the two actors, who carry most of the movie’s running time, have a convincingly natural chemistry together that gradually persuades us to invest in these characters even if we had resisted becoming invested in them before. Bolstering the emotional solidity even further is the presence of seasoned pros Sally Field and Bill Irwin as Kit’s parents, who deepen this not-as-clueless-as-they-seem pair beyond the familiar stereotype they represent and raise them above the easy sentimentality they might otherwise have carried into the story’s already-poignant mix.
These considerable advantages are enough to help us forgive the movie’s contrived expository beginnings, though its ongoing sitcom conceit for childhood flashbacks – as well as its occasional fourth-wall-breaking interruptions from Michael’s TV obsessed imagination – continue to feel a little gimmicky, especially after the plot has passed the point where such amusements are welcome or even necessary.
Still, the movie’s fortunate choice to play against its tearjerker underpinnings – such as when it undercuts a particularly histrionic scene of hospital drama by calling itself out on its own shameless nod (which any gay movie buff will surely already recognize) to an iconic moment from a cinema classic – keeps the tears which finally come from feeling as though they’ve been shamelessly manipulated out of us. It’s this quality that marks the best entries in the tearjerker genre; the thing that movies like “Terms of Endearment” and “Steel Magnolia” have in common (besides Shirley MacLaine) is their ability to lean fully into the artifice of their own weepy, sentimental style without sacrificing the sincerity of their emotional payoffs. Films like these don’t play their big moments for drama, or even for laughs, to keep us involved – they play those moments for truth. “Spoiler Alert” clearly aspires to the same standard.
It mostly succeeds, after an awkward start; though some viewers might find its quirkier narrative conceits to be an overcompensation for its weepy ending, its characters are real enough to get past all that and win us over. And though it’s hard to deny that it’s ultimately another tragic gay love story, it manages to remind us that love is worth it even when you know it’s going to end badly.
After all, just because a romance is doomed doesn’t mean it has to be a downer.
Arts & Entertainment
Netflix’s ‘Outstanding’ Documentary Reveals Queer Comedy Icons’ Impact on LGBTQ+ Rights
How Queer Comics Broke Barriers & Sparked a Comedy Revolution
![](https://www.losangelesblade.com/content/files/2024/06/Trixie-Mattel-Scott-Thompson-and-Margaret-Cho-chat-backstage-in-a-scene-from-Outstanding-A-Comedy-Revolution-image-courtesy-of-Netflix-scaled.jpg)
A Landmark in LGBTQ+ Entertainment
To say that the world of stand-up comedy has a long history of homophobia would be putting it mildly. Netflix’s new documentary “Outstanding: A Comedy Revolution” takes viewers on a journey through this complex history, highlighting both progress and ongoing challenges.
From Taboo to Triumph
Any queer person who has lived long enough to remember when Sandra Bernhard openly flirted with Madonna on “Late Night With David Letterman” — a deliciously transgressive pop culture moment remembered fondly in “Outstanding” — can also certainly recall the horrific anti-queer bigotry spouted by comics during the same era, just to get a laugh.
Filmmaker Page Hurwitz captures these moments, offering younger viewers a stark look at the past and a celebration of queer progress in entertainment. The film, shot over two years ago at “Stand Out,” a landmark performance at LA’s Greek Theatre, is now streaming on Netflix.
A Star-Studded Celebration
“Outstanding” features an impressive lineup of LGBTQ+ comedy icons, including Lily Tomlin, Sandra Bernhard, Wanda Sykes, Eddie Izzard, Rosie O’Donnell, Margaret Cho, Fortune Feimster, Todd Glass, Hannah Gadsby, Scott Thompson, Judy Gold, Bob The Drag Queen, and Joel Kim Booster. These performers have been instrumental in forging a new comedy landscape where queer comics can authentically share their experiences.
While the film celebrates progress, it also acknowledges ongoing challenges, calling out figures like Dave Chappelle for perpetuating harmful attitudes. However, the focus remains on the empowerment of queer voices in comedy.
More Than Just Laughs: A Cultural Shift
“Outstanding” is not merely a record of performances. It’s a sweeping look at the history of queer repression in American entertainment culture and the impact of LGBTQ+ comedians in changing societal attitudes. The documentary gives members of the queer community a chance to feel seen and represented.
Hurwitz builds her chronicle by letting the comics tell their own stories. Extensive interviews feature stars, commentators, writers, and scholars recalling their experiences growing up queer and seeing how LGBTQ+ people were portrayed in mainstream culture. These narratives are supplemented with clips from television and film, news footage, and performance excerpts that provide context for the rise of queer-centric comedy.
![](https://www.losangelesblade.com/content/files/2024/06/image-58-600x338.png)
‘Outstanding: A Comedy Revolution’ TRIBECA FILM FESTIVAL
From Coded Characters to Out and Proud
The film traces the evolution of LGBTQ+ representation in comedy:
- Pre-Stonewall era: Coded characters like Paul Lynde, Charles Nelson Reilly, and Rip Taylor
- 1970s: Comedians like Lily Tomlin, Robin Tyler, and Pat Harrison pushing boundaries
- AIDS era: Activist comedians like Sandra Bernhard, Scott Thompson, and Margaret Cho using humor to combat backlash
- Modern day: A diverse generation including Eddie Izzard, Wanda Sykes, Hannah Gadsby, Bob the Drag Queen, and Joel Kim Booster
Spotlight on Unsung Heroes
“Outstanding” elevates lesser-known trailblazers, particularly Robin Tyler. After becoming the first queer comic to come out publicly on national television in 1978, Tyler faced career setbacks but became a pivotal figure in LGBTQ+ rights activism.
Tyler organized and produced the first three national marches on Washington for LGBTQ+ rights, including the 1987 “mock wedding” of hundreds of queer couples — the largest act of civil disobedience by queer protesters in U.S. history. Her legacy as a queer activist warrior was firmly cemented when, alongside partner Diane Olsen, she filed the first lawsuit against California for the right to be married, leading to a seven-year legal battle that helped pave the way for nationwide marriage equality.
The Power of Visibility
Speaking to the Los Angeles Blade, Tyler reflected on her journey: “The best thing that happened to us is that we didn’t get picked up, because then we could go and be free. It takes your life away, having to live a lie. We gained our freedom and lost nothing.”
This sentiment encapsulates the documentary’s central message: without being visible, we are powerless — which is why the forces against us are so fixated on erasing us from view.
A Celebration of Community and Progress
“Outstanding” not only makes us laugh but also showcases the camaraderie among these comedic revolutionaries. United by their refusal to stay “inside the lines” drawn by a bullying profession or an intolerant culture, these performers have achieved a shared victory that extends beyond individual success to the entire queer community.
The palpable sense of camaraderie among these comedic revolutionaries — for, true to its title, Hurwitz’s documentary makes it clear that they were and are exactly that — helps to underscore the feeling that their biggest victory is a shared one, which eclipses their individual success and extends to the entire queer community.
Why “Outstanding” Matters
This Netflix documentary is more than just entertainment; it’s a vital piece of LGBTQ+ history. By illuminating the inside forces of queer comedy across the years, it offers both a celebration of progress and a reminder of the ongoing fight for equality.
A Must-Watch for Pride and Beyond
“Outstanding: A Comedy Revolution” is essential viewing for Pride Month and anyone interested in the intersection of comedy, LGBTQ+ rights, and cultural change.
It’s a testament to the power of laughter in driving social progress and a victory lap for the entire queer community. It feels like our victory lap, too.
Film
Los Angeles Times Short Docs: “Stud Country”
The Los Angeles Times Short Docs program celebrates filmmaking with a West Coast perspective presenting undiscovered stories
![](https://www.losangelesblade.com/content/files/2024/06/Stud-Country-LA-Times.jpg)
(Los Angeles Times) | LOS ANGELES – The Los Angeles Times released “Stud Country,” a short documentary about a Los Angeles-based queer country western line dancing event that was created to preserve the city’s little known 50+ year queer line dancing tradition. Despite its success and fiercely committed community, the event is set to lose its venue due to gentrification.
Directed by Lina Abascal and Alexandra Kern, the film is part of the L.A. Times Short Docs program.
Short Docs celebrates filmmaking with a West Coast perspective. We seek bold voices who break with convention and present undiscovered stories that challenge, move and inspire audiences.
Watch more Short Docs here: (Link)
WATCH:
Film
Oscar nominations: the good, the bad, and the predictable
This year’s Oscar ballot is more notable for its snubs than for its inclusions, and that doesn’t just apply to the LGBTQ+ community
![](https://www.losangelesblade.com/content/files/2024/01/2024-Academy-Awards-nominations.jpg)
BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. – 2023 was a very queer year at the movies, but you might not be able to tell that from looking at the nominations for the 96th Annual Academy Awards (aka the Oscars), which were announced early on Tuesday morning at the Motion Picture Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills.
It’s true there were a few significant nods included for queer actors and/or actors in queer roles, as well as for films which included queer characters or subject matter and/or the creatives behind them, and we don’t want to seem unappreciative of that progress, even if we suspect it might be due to the Academy’s new guideline that a film must meet at least two out of four standards of representation and inclusion to qualify for nomination, implemented this year for the first time; even so, it’s hard not to feel a bit like an afterthought when so many queer movies, performers and creators that stood out among the year’s crop of releases – many of which scored recognition from multiple other awards bodies – have been left out of the lineup.
Indeed, it can almost be said that this year’s Oscar ballot is more notable for its snubs than for its inclusions, and that doesn’t just apply to the LGBTQ+ community.
The most egregious omission, in fact, is also the most predictable: the failure of Academy voters to nominate Greta Gerwig as Best Director for her industry-shaking efforts at the helm of “Barbie,” a film which managed to jump start the big screen’s box office by bringing audiences back to theaters in droves and sent more shock waves resonating through our culture than all the year’s other movies combined.
Though the movie – which earned eight nominations in total, including acting nods for supporting players Ryan Gosling and America Ferrera – made the cut for Best Picture, and Gerwig was nominated in the Best Adapted Screenplay category (alongside partner and now-husband Noah Baumbach), her name is glaringly absent from the list of contenders.
Add to this the equally perplexing snub of Margot Robbie – who was also an Executive Producer of the film – as Best Leading Actress, and it’s difficult not to see an unspoken reprimand being delivered to two strong women for daring to shake up the industry’s status quo by building a blockbuster movie hit around an unapologetically feminist core.
Still, with its eight nods, “Barbie” – which topped our list of the Best Queer-centric Films of 2023 – made a strong showing, though other of the year’s biggest titles received more. “Oppenheimer,” Christopher Nolan’s existential epic about the creator of the atomic bomb, unsurprisingly led the pack with 13, followed by Yorgos Lanthimos’ “Poor Things” with 11 and Martin Scorsese’s “Killers of the Flower Moon” with 10. Each of these four films are competing as Best Picture – and all have a strong chance at the trophy, though “Oppenheimer” is shaping up to be a sweeping juggernaut for the season.
Also nominated in the category are Bradley Cooper’s Bernstein biopic “Maestro” and Cord Jefferson’s late-season under-the-radar satire “American Fiction,” both of which include significant queer narratives in their storylines.
Expanding on the “good news” from the Oscars announcement, the Best Actor category includes a nomination for out gay actor Colman Domingo for his star turn as the titular out gay Civil Rights hero in “Rustin,” as well as for Cooper’s performance as the bisexual Bernstein in “Maestro.” The rest of the field is made up of Cillian Murphy (“Oppenheimer”), Paul Giamatti (“The Holdovers”), and Jeffrey Wright (“American Fiction”).
Notably absent from the race is out Irish actor Andrew Scott, who was considered a strong front runner for his leading turn in out British filmmaker Andrew Haigh’s “All of Us Strangers.”
For Best Leading Actress, a nomination went to queer ally Annette Benning for playing the title role in “Nyad,” as well as to Carey Mulligan for her portrayal of Bernstein’s loyal wife in “Maestro.”
Additionally, Lily Gladstone made history by becoming the first Indigenous American to be nominated in the category for “Killers of the Flower Moon,” though she has stated in interviews that she identifies as “middle-gender”.
Rounding out the race are Sandra Hüller (“Anatomy of a Fall”) and Emma Stone (“Poor Things”); at this point, it’s probably too early to predict the winners – there are a lot of politics involved in the final stretch before the big night – but, in this category, it’s hard to imagine anyone but Stone taking the prize.
In the supporting categories, iconic out actress Jodie Foster scored for her role as the title character’s trainer and BFF in “Nyad,” and Danielle Brooks made the cut for her show-stealing performance in the queer-inclusive musical “The Color Purple”). Their competition comes from Ferrera, Emily Blunt (“Oppenheimer”), and Joyce Da’Vine Randolph (“The Holdovers”).
On the Supporting Actor side, Sterling K. Brown was nominated for playing the lead character’s recently-out gay brother in “American Fiction,” while Gosling’s masculinity-skewing performance was “Kenough” to score him a nod for “Barbie.”
The other contenders are Robert DeNiro (“Killers of the Flower Moon”), Rober Downey, Jr. (“Oppenheimer”), and Mark Ruffalo (“Poor Thiings”); look to Downey as the probable winner, but Ruffalo’s against-type turn could pull off an upset.
It would be easy to go down the list and point out all the films and people that were unexpectedly passed over for this finals round in Hollywood’s Awards Sweepstakes – the most obvious, apart from Gerwig and Robbie, are Leonardo DiCaprio’s lead performance in “Killers of the Flower Moon”), but we can’t avoid mentioning the shutout of overtly queer standout movies like “All of Us Strangers” or “Saltburn” (from filmmaker Emerald Fennell, also part of the cadre of female power players behind “Barbie”), which failed to score nods in any category despite multiple nominations and wins from other awards bodies.
Yet, looking to the positive, despite the disappointment of so many surprise omissions, there are some strong steps forward represented for the queer community in this year’s nominations, with both Domingo and Foster standing within reach of becoming the first openly queer actor to win an Oscar for playing an openly queer character.
As noted above, Gladstone could also become the first Indigenous American to win a Leading Actress trophy, and though it wouldn’t be a first, a win for either “Maestro” or “American Fiction” would add another film with strong queer storylines to the list of Oscar’s Best Pictures.
Another milestone worth mentioning: with his nomination as Best Director for “Killers of the Flower Moon,” Martin Scorcese has become the living filmmaker with the most Oscar nominations (10), and second only to William Wyler (12) for the most of all time.
That may not be a “queer” record, but it’s definitely a cool one.
For a complete list of the nominations, visit the Oscar website.
Film
Civil rights pioneer Bayard Rustin ‘was denied’ his place in history
DGA Award and five-time Tony Award winner George C. Wolfe directed the film from a script written by Julian Breece and Dustin Lance Black
![](https://www.losangelesblade.com/content/files/2023/11/Obama-speaks-at-premiere-of-RUSTIN.jpg)
By Anita Bennett | WASHINGTON – Bayard Rustin was a key figure in the Civil Rights Movement, yet he “was denied” the credit he deserved because he was gay, former President Barack Obama recently said.
Obama made the comment at a screening of the Netflix film Rustin on Nov. 10, at the inaugural HBCU First Look Film Festival — celebrating Black filmmakers and creatives.
Rustin opened the festival during a special event at the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C.
Related Story: ‘Rustin’ Trailer – Colman Domingo Ignores Threats to End Fight for Civil Rights
![Barack Obama was introduced by former first lady Michelle Obama at the HBCU First Look Film Festival on Nov. 10, 2023. (Credit: Netflix)](https://urbanhollywood411.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Barack-Obama-and-Michelle-Obama.webp)
After being introduced by former first lady Michelle Obama, the 44th president recalled his personal connection to the Civil Rights leader and said he deserved better than being snubbed by historians.
“In 2013, I had the honor of awarding Bayard Rustin the Presidential Medal of Freedom,” Obama told the audience. “For those of you who may not be aware, this is the highest civilian honor that can be conferred for people who have helped to shape our country and move it to a more perfect union.”
Rustin was the architect of the 1963 March on Washington.
The Pennsylvania native rallied people from all walks of life and pressed Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. to take part in the march. Yet Rustin was largely forgotten by historians after his death in 1987.
“It is hard to overstate Bayard Rustin’s influence on the Civil Rights Movement,” Obama said.
“He was a pioneer of freedom riders to desegregate interstate bus travel. He went on a bus in 1942 and got arrested for not sitting in the back, 20 years before the publicized freedom rides took place. That’s how far ahead he was of his time,” he added.
Obama noted that some Americans still benefit from Rustin’s work.
“This is one of the seminal figures that changed the course of American history. Without him, I might not have been president,” he said.
“For decades, Bayard Rustin was denied his rightful place in history,” Obama continued. “The main reason was because back in the ’40s and ’50s he was openly gay.”
!["Rustin" star Colman Domingo joined Obama on stage. (Credit: Netflix)](https://urbanhollywood411.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Colman-Domingo-and-Barack-Obama.webp)
The critically acclaimed biopic on Rustin’s life stars Emmy Award-winning actor Colman Domingo.
The cast also includes Chris Rock, Glynn Turman, Aml Ameen, Gus Halper, CCH Pounder, Da’Vine Joy Randolph, Johnny Ramey, Michael Potts, Lilli Kay, and Jordan-Amanda Hall, with Jeffrey Wright and Audra McDonald.
DGA Award and five-time Tony Award winner George C. Wolfe directed the film from a script written by Julian Breece and Dustin Lance Black.
The Obamas are executive producers on the film through their Higher Ground productions. The movie is produced by Academy Award winner Bruce Cohen, Higher Ground’s Tonia Davis and George C. Wolfe.
Rustin begins streaming on Netflix Nov. 17. Watch the video of Obama’s speech below:
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![](https://www.losangelesblade.com/content/files/2023/11/image-10.png)
Anita Bennett, spent years covering entertainment as an editor at The Wrap and the Los Angeles Daily News, and as a Hollywood correspondent for television network, Black News Channel (BNC). Anita is a graduate of Howard University in Washington, D.C. and lived in Europe as a Fulbright Scholar.
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The preceding piece was previously published by Urban Hollywood 411 and is republished with permission.
Urban Hollywood 411 is a destination for the latest news in urban entertainment, including industry analysis and interviews with news-makers from the film, television and media worlds. The site was founded in 2018 by award-winning journalist Anita Bennett.
Film
Some of 2023’s most hotly anticipated queer films come to AFI Fest
Bradley Cooper’s Maestro & Andrew Haigh’s All of Us Strangers lead the LGBTQ+ themed lineup at the Hollywood-based festival
![](https://www.losangelesblade.com/content/files/2023/10/TCL-Chinese-Theatres-Hollywood-Calif.jpg)
LOS ANGELES – L.A.’s most prestigious film festival returns to Hollywood’s TCL Chinese Theatres next week with a potent cinematic slate from across the world that will once again kick the movie industry’s awards season into high gear.
Running for a heady five days from October 25 to 29, AFI Fest will this year present more than 140 titles, including the official Best International Feature Oscar submissions from a whopping 20 countries. In addition to three red carpet premieres on Hollywood Boulevard, the festival will also include special screenings of a number of presumed awards contenders, including The Bikeriders (starring Austin Butler and Tom Hardy as motorcycle club honchos in ’60s Chicago).
![](https://www.losangelesblade.com/content/files/2023/10/The-Bikeriders-600x386.jpg)
AFI Fest launches this year with the October 25 red carpet world premiere of Leave the World Behind, the apocalyptic thriller from writer and director Sam Esmail (Mr. Robot) starring Julia Roberts and Ethan Hawke as a couple who rent a luxury home for a weekend with their kids, only for the bliss to be interrupted by the appearance of a man (Moonlight’s Mahershala Ali) and his daughter Ruth (Myha’la) who claim to be the home’s owners, bearing news of an impending global cyberattack that will end the world as we know it.
![](https://www.losangelesblade.com/content/files/2023/10/Leave-the-World-Behind-600x337.jpg)
Closing the festival on October 29 will be the red carpet Los Angeles premiere of Maestro, starring Bradley Cooper as composer and conductor Leonard Bernstein and Carey Mulligan as his wife, actress Felicia Montealegre. Cooper also directed the film, his follow-up on that front to 2018’s A Star is Born. Early reviews have praised the film for its complex depiction of Bernstein’s happy marriage to a woman despite his strong and active same-gender attraction, and Oscars oddsmakers have already put Cooper in contention for both Best Actor and Best Director.
![](https://www.losangelesblade.com/content/files/2023/10/Maestro-600x334.jpg)
The other very buzzy LGBTQ+ title gracing this year’s AFI Fest is Andrew Haigh’s All of Us Strangers, starring Andrew Scott as a Londoner who meets and falls for a mysterious neighbor (last year’s Best Actor Oscar nominee Paul Mescal), spawning vivid memories of his long-deceased parents (played by Claire Foy and Jamie Bell). Haigh is widely revered in the queer cinema world for directing 2011’s Weekend, one of the most highly regarded gay movies of all time. On the Oscar front, Haigh and virtually his entire All of Us Strangers cast seem to be in the running as possible contenders. The film screens on October 28, to be followed by a Q&A with Haigh.
![](https://www.losangelesblade.com/content/files/2023/10/All-of-Us-Strangers-600x396.jpg)
Another queer AFI Fest film that’s already grabbed a lot of praise at festivals around the world this year comes from France: Orlando, My Political Biography. Using Virginia Woolf’s 100-year-old novel Orlando: A Biography as a springboard, director Paul B. Preciado gathers 26 trans and non-binary people aged 8 to 70 to recite, reenact, and challenge Woolf’s celebrated text. Each embodies the character of Orlando while sharing stories about their lives and relationships to the novel. The innovative film, which took the Teddy Award for Best Documentary at this year’s Berlin International Film Festival, screens on October 27.
![](https://www.losangelesblade.com/content/files/2023/10/Orlando-My-Political-Biography-600x336.jpg)
Also defying normal structural expectations is the Greek comedy The Summer with Carmen, focusing on a film within a film as conceived by best friends Demos and Nikitas at Athens’ queer nude beach. Mining the exploits of a previous crazy summer for material, the two concoct a romantic comedy script for Nikitas’ feature directing debut. The Summer with Carmen will screen on both October 26 and 29, with a conversation with director Zacharias Mavroeidis following the latter screening.
![](https://www.losangelesblade.com/content/files/2023/10/The-Summer-with-Carmen-600x405.jpg)
From Spain comes the sensitive 20,000 Species of Bees, which explores an eight-year-old’s gender identity crisis during an uncertain summer family vacation in a sleepy Basque village. As lead character Coco, newcomer Sofía Otero received the Silver Bear for Best Leading Performance at the Berlin Film Festival earlier this year. The film screens on October 29.
![](https://www.losangelesblade.com/content/files/2023/10/20000-Species-of-Bees-600x334.jpg)
While not specifically LGBTQ+-themed, two feature-length documentaries include lesbian subjects: Going Varsity in Mariachi, which follows the various members of a high school mariachi team in southern Texas, two of whom happened to be in a girl couple; and Smoke Sauna Sisterhood, which focuses on a group of women, some lesbian, who periodically gather for sauna and sisterhood in a forest in southern Estonia.
![](https://www.losangelesblade.com/content/files/2023/10/Smoke-Sauna-Sisterhood-600x399.jpg)
This year’s guest artistic director at AFI Fest is Barbie director Greta Gerwig, who’s chosen five film classics to be part of the festival. Two of these are queer favorites: the 1979 Bob Fosse biopic All That Jazz, and Pee-wee’s Big Adventure, which actually had its world premiere at the Chinese Theatre in 1985.
As usual, a good number of the excellent short films screening at AFI Fest also have queer themes. From Belgium comes Beyond the Sea, about the last performance of an aging drag queen, while Skin (winner of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ Student Academy Award in the Alternative/Experimental category) follows a woman’s transformation as she sheds her skin to reveal her true identity; both screen on October 26 as part of Shorts Program: Live Action 1.
The next day on October 27, Shorts Program: Documentary 1 will include Merman, which focuses on nurse, leather enthusiast, and civil rights advocate Andre Chambers; and Alpha Kings, which reveals the homoerotic world of a group of young cam guys in suburban Texas. Also on October 27, Conservatory Showcase 5 will include Some Kind of Paradise, which follows a Grindr match in small-town Arkansas between a local and an actor who’s come there to shoot a film.
For more info about AFI Fest 2023 and to book tickets, go to fest.afi.com.
Film
Brilliant film documentary with the thumping power of women
The original taiko was forbidden to women. In the 20th century, individual woman artists stepped up and became masters of the artform
![](https://www.losangelesblade.com/content/files/2023/10/Taiko.jpg)
Exclusive showings of Finding Her Beat playing now and this week in Gardena
GARDENA, Calif. – It is a movie without the color pink in sight. There are no plastic boxes or beaches full of Kens. There is, however, plenty of bass pulsing music.
While artistically the parallel of the new documentary Finding Her Beat, and the summer hit Barbie, ends there, the soul of both films are in surprising lock step.
One is about an idealistic doll of a woman suddenly aware of the patriarchal oppression in the world that created her. In the other, a group of women are fully aware of the culture of men that has dominated them. In Barbie, the core character comes back to pull a pack of women together, and as a collective, demonstrate their real-world power.
Finding Her Beat, co-directed by Dawn Mikkelson & Keri Pickett, does exactly the same thing.
With a long and rich history in Japan and other parts of Asia, taiko drumming dates back to the 6th century CE. The huge drums with their resounding bass were originally used for communication, military action, theatrical accompaniment, religious ceremony, and concert performances.
Used on the battlefield to signal commands, taiko drumming motivated troops, and intimidated the enemy. Taiko drums were also used in religious ceremonies to invoke the gods and spirits, and to celebrate festivals and holidays. In the 17th century, they became popular in the kabuki theater, where they were used to create dramatic effects.
In the 20th century, taiko drumming underwent a revival, and began to be performed outside of Japan. Taiko groups were formed in the United States, Europe, and Australia, and taiko drumming became increasingly popular as a form of performance art. The unique music was used in such popular offerings such as Cirque di Sole and films like The Karate Kid.
The original taiko was forbidden to women performers. In the 20th century, individual woman artists stepped up and became masters of the artform. They had no unity with one another, however, each getting recognition in their own musical community. Until Jennifer Weir stepped in.
Finding Her Beat tells how, in the midst of a frozen Minnesota winter, Jennifer assembled the world’s greatest female taiko drummers in a bold effort to claim a cultural spotlight that has historically been reserved only for men. The rhythm revolution she created included the major rock stars from the world of taiko: Tiffany Tamaribuchi, Kaoly Asano, Chieko Kojima, and Megan Chao-Smith.
The challenge of bringing taiko divas into one exposition required thorough and grueling rehearsals. In the end, Jennifer was able to weave together their disparate voices and styles as vulnerability, pain, and joys were shared in poignant moments in the film. Bonds of friendship form as these talented women navigate through differences in culture, age, language, and performance styles. In Finding Her Beat, their story has become much larger than taiko. It becomes a story of women rising against a patriarchal backdrop, finding the power of sisterhood, and creating history through the drama of musical expression.
Through the perspective of the five main artists, Finding Her Beat explores the challenges professional marginalized gender artists face. It launches the burgeoning hope that the historic event the film presents marks the beginning of a new era of taiko. – for everyone. In silence and thundering percussion, the film organically unfolds in the lived moments of these artists.
Listen to Jennifer on the Rated LGBT Radio podcast here.
The exclusive presentation in the Los Angeles area is at the Gardena Cinema October 20-26 with a question and answer period of the showing each night with the filmmakers.
Made by a predominantly female/non-binary, largely Asian-American and LGBTQ+ filmmaking team, Finding Her Beat is made for, and best enjoyed on the big screen. Find the theatrical trailer here.
With Finding Her Beat, taiko again returns to the battlefield, this time it is not physical warfare, but against the oppression of female talent and to elevate representation effectively, and forever.
Get your tickets and further information here.
Related:
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![](https://www.losangelesblade.com/content/files/2022/05/Rob-HD-SHOT-400x600.jpg)
Rob Watson is the host of the popular Hollywood-based radio/podcast show RATED LGBT RADIO.
He is an established LGBTQ columnist and blogger having written for many top online publications including The Los Angeles Blade, The Washington Blade, Parents Magazine, the Huffington Post, LGBTQ Nation, Gay Star News, the New Civil Rights Movement, and more.
He served as Executive Editor for The Good Man Project, has appeared on MSNBC and been quoted in Business Week and Forbes Magazine.
He is CEO of Watson Writes, a marketing communications agency, and can be reached at [email protected]
Film
Trans men, butch dykes & gender-nonconforming heroes in cinema
Masc, presented by the UCLA Archive and The Andrew J. Kuehn Jr. Foundation, will be screening at UCLA’s Billy Wilder Theater Aug. 19–25, 2023
![](https://www.losangelesblade.com/content/files/2023/08/UCLA-FILM-Trans-series-e1691285755625.jpg)
LOS ANGELES – A film series being presented this month, a part of Outfest UCLA Legacy Project Screening Series, Masc spotlights a rich tapestry of stories of the courageous lives of trans men, butch lesbians, gender outlaws, and gender non-conforming rebels.
This program—co-curated by writer-archivist-filmmaker Jenni Olson and film critic Caden Mark Gardner—surveys six decades of cinema history in search of authentic, complex representations of masculine identity that exist outside the realm of cisheteronormative masculinity. Featuring tales of youth and adulthood, of obstacles and allies, this series presents multifaceted narratives of unforgettable subjects and characters.
Masc, made possible by the UCLA Archive and The Andrew J. Kuehn Jr. Foundation, will be screening at UCLA’s Billy Wilder Theater Aug. 19–25, 2023. The event and programs are free.
Billy Wilder Theater is located at 10899 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, inside the Hammer Museum.
Programs & Events
● Aug. 19, 7:30 p.m.
No Ordinary Man (2020)
Trans jazz musician Billy Tipton lived in stealth for much of his life. After his 1989 death from health complications, his trans identity was revealed and a tabloid media circus against him and his family followed. Filmmakers Chase Joynt, Aisling Chin-Yee and Amos Mac return to Tipton’s story, enlisting transmasculine performers as well as trans historians to rehabilitate and reconsider Tipton’s life story and critique how the mainstream media often misunderstands trans masculinity.
Chavela (2017)
A tremendous portrait of legendary Costa Rican-Mexican lesbian singer Chavela Vargas. The world-famous performer was a gun-toting, tequila-loving, macho butch rumored to have had dalliances with Frida Kahlo and Ava Gardner. From being the toast of Mexico City in the 1960s and ’70s to falling into obscurity in the 1980s, the film follows her return to the world stage as muse to Pedro Almodóvar — culminating in her Lifetime Achievement Award at the Grammys in 2007. Friends, colleagues and ex-lovers discuss her legacy and the film is packed with amazing archival material. A joy to watch from first frame to last.
● Aug. 20, 7:00 p.m.
Southern Comfort (2001)
This acclaimed documentary follows the story of Robert Eads, a trans man dying of ovarian cancer. While indisputably a victim of systemic transphobia and medical malfeasance from the American healthcare system, Eads’ status as a trans elder among his chosen family shows him as the beating heart of an incredibly warm and life-affirming community. Southern Comfort, named for the then Atlanta-based national trans conference, presents the common struggles and common understandings among trans men in the 1990s with clear-eyed empathy by filmmaker Kate Davis.
Vera (Brazil, 1986)
Based on the life of Brazilian poet Anderson Bigode Herzer who committed suicide at the age of 20, this intense drama tells the story of Bauer (Ana Beatriz Nogueira), a transman who navigates a difficult life in an orphanage before finding love with a young librarian, Clara (Aida Leiner). A sympathetic professor sees his talent as a poet, but Bauer (the film’s title is his deadname) is mostly alone and misunderstood — proclaiming: “I’m not what everyone thinks I am. You hear me? I’m different. I’m something else.” One of the earliest portrayals in cinema of a transmasculine character.
● Aug. 21, 7:30 p.m.
Maggots and Men (2009)
A work that conjures the old Soviet film technique and similar pastiche works by Guy Maddin, Cary Cronenwett’s spirited revisionist period film places trans masculine bodies at the radical heart of the 1921 Kronstadt Rebellion. Creatively reimagining the uprising, the story contrasts a performative theater troupe that narrates moments of the story with scenes of the rebellion against the autocracy of the Bolshevik Party. Featuring the largest cast of trans actors in a film, Maggots and Men plays with cinema and history to tell a gender defiant story that is both playful and subversive.
Pariah (2011)
Dee Rees’ tender feature debut is a rich and vulnerable queer coming of age story about an African-American butch lesbian having to face familial homophobia and the realization that the people she loves can hurt and disappoint her. Alike is a promising poet and good student who is hiding her sexual identity from her parents. When she is forced to make friends with a girl from church, she develops a serious crush that feels like the beginning of her sexual awakening and her first taste of true love. Adapted from her award-winning short, Rees’ film deftly and compassionately captures the fraught and transformative experience of a gender non-conforming adolescence.
● Aug. 24, 7:30 p.m.
Masc—The Shorts + The Aggressives
Bookended by the uplifting Pixar-esque children’s film Pete, star-studded heart-wrenching drama Vamanosand quirky comedy Monsieur le Butch — this celebration of gender non-conforming heroes also showcases a powerful batch of cinematic rarities starring the butch dykes and transmasc pioneers of the early 1990s who blazed the trail for us today (plus a rare 1960s butch home movie treat!). Followed by an onstage discussion with series co-curator Jenni Olson in conversation with special guests discussing the complex history of butch and transmasc representation on screen.
Pete (2022)
A heartwarming animated short about gender identity, Little League baseball, the people who inspire change by being themselves, and the superheroes who allow that change to happen.
7 mins. Director: Bret Parker
Adventures with Tony (1960s)
A remarkable fragment of home movie footage featuring a young butch dyke on vacation with her father in New Jersey. A rarity from the Jenni Olson Queer Film Collection at the Harvard Film Archive.
1 min. Director: unknown
Stafford’s Story (1992)
Stafford’s Story tells about an encounter at a sex club. New digital scan by UCLA Film & Television Archive as part of the Outfest UCLA Legacy Project.
3 mins. Director: Susan Muska
Max (U.S/Germany, 1992)
Pioneering transman Max Wolf Valerio talks about his life and the experience of transitioning in this groundbreaking short, one of the first portraits of a trans man on film.
20 mins. Director: Monika Treut
Ifé follows a day in the life of a Black French lesbian in San Francisco.
5 mins. Director: Lenn Keller
Trans (1994)
A playful portrait of trans man Henry. New digital scan by UCLA Film & Television Archive as part of the Outfest UCLA Legacy Project.
10 mins. Director: Sophie Constaninou
Sometimes (1994)
A concise poetic summary of butch identity — an early short by acclaimed essay filmmaker and Masc series co-curator Jenni Olson.
1 min. Director: Jenni Olson
Vámonos (2015)
Vico Ortiz (Our Flag Means Death) and Jessica Camacho (All Rise, The Flash, Watchmen) co-star in this beautiful story about what it looks like to show up as an ally for our gender non-conforming loved ones.
13 mins. Director: Marvin Lemus
When Jude ends up unexpectedly living at home in their 30s, they must deal with a lovingly opinionated Jewish mother who doesn’t quite get the whole “trans thing.”
12 mins. Director: Jude Dry
The Aggressives (2005)
Shot over the course of 1997-2004, this documentary is an incredible snapshot of a vibrant array of butches, studs, and masc folks of color from the New York City ballroom and nightlife scene who are claiming their own space and identity. The film offers profiles of six ‘Aggressives’ or ‘AGs’, including trans actor and activist Marquise Vilson, on them and as they speak about their lives, it becomes clear where language fails to fully capture each individual’s lived experience and nuanced gender identity.
● Aug. 25, 7:30 p.m.
Lifetime Guarantee: Phranc’s Adventure in Plastic (2001)
Virtually unseen for the past 20 years, this heartwarming documentary about legendary Jewish butch lesbian folk singer Phranc is an irresistible portrait of a gender non-conforming hero navigating a world of Southern California straight lady homemakers while working her way to the top as a Tupperware salesperson. The film earned acclaim and awards on the film festival circuit, including Audience Awards at Outfest and SXSW and a rave review in Variety describing Phranc as a “1950s sitcom-dad-styled androgyne hawking kitchenware to housewives.”
Shinjuku Boys ( U.K., 1995)
An amazing mid-1990s snapshot of AFAB (assigned female at birth) gender identity in Japan. Tatsu, Gaish and Kazuki pass as men and work as hosts at Tokyo’s New Marilyn Club, a nightspot where straight women spend time with the charming onabe (an expansive term that can encompass both butch lesbians and trans men). Tatsu is a trans man who lives with his girlfriend, Tomoe. Gaish is a tough-talking “in-between” heartbreaker with a string of girlfriends. And Kazuki lives with Kumi, a trans woman nightclub dancer. The suave trio speak frankly to the camera about sex, queerness, trans identity and masculinity.
Film
August at 22; film for young women who gave up their ‘Barbies’
August is the tale of a young woman thrown into a sea of relationships, their complexities and the discovery of her own identity
![](https://www.losangelesblade.com/content/files/2023/07/august-at-twentytwo_-Filmmaker-Team-Photo-e1690324437216.png)
HOLLYWOOD – Greta Gerwig’s Barbie may have bathed the world in translucent pink, but its cultural import is so much more. As protesting conservatives can attest, it pointed out that it is imaginable to conceive of a world effectively and wonderfully run by women rather than men.
While this has people like Ted Cruz and Ben Shapiro clutching their proverbial pearls (Sorry men for the non-butch reference. Sorry, not sorry.), it makes the spotlight on women “doing it for themselves” even more delightful.
Enter the new film August at twenty-two launching across on-demand and digital platforms today. This 84 minute tour-de-force was created in front and behind the camera by a talented team of queer female storytellers. Gerwig would be proud, as would Sofia Coppola and Lena Dunham.
Ted Cruz, maybe not so much, but then it is hard to imagine him having the critical thinking and thought process to handle an independent film.
August at twenty-two reflects the early twenties lives of its creators. Written by and starring Ali Edwards, it was directed by Sophia Castuera in her directorial debut.
Castuera says of the material, “Our hope is that this film transports you back to your own life at “twenty-two” just like it did for me. She’s (Cal, the protagonist) a queer woman with complex feelings for those around her. I certainly knew that feeling. And even beyond her queerness, I felt seen in Cal’s inability to separate friendships from romance and intimacy. I wanted what she craved too, and Ali’s writing succinctly touched a nerve with me, in a meaningful and confronting way. As a director, it excited me that Cal was not perfect.” She adds, “Ultimately, this story became bigger than our team could imagine. It was no longer just about telling Cal’s specific story, or making a stamp on coming-of-age and LGBTQ+ stories. While on set with a fully female-identifying crew, most of us working on our first feature, we realized something: this film was for young women and queer folks who wanted to do the very thing we managed to do in three weeks on the streets of New York’s August. We wanted to show them that they can create art that tells their unique stories in the hopes that it reaches a wider audience.”
August is the tale of a young woman thrown into a sea of relationships, their complexities and the discovery of her own identity as it is molded by her desires, priorities and expectations. Cal, played by Edwards, is a floundering actress who has to deal with the fact that her childhood soulmate, Jacob, now has a serious girlfriend. Cal’s acceptance of the new relationship veers into uncharted territory as the friendship between the two women becomes complicated and complex, challenging Cal’s focus, identity and the other relationships in her life.
To be fair, there is nothing remotely similar to the aesthetics between August and Barbie. If however, a member of their collective audiences has ever been lost, confused, seeking love, community and purpose, they might find synergy within the hearts of the protagonists of each film, albeit one plastic, and one very real.
You’ve likely already seen Barbie, so catch August today! Streaming on all on-demand platforms.
Related:
“august at twenty-two” Vudu: (Link)
“august at twenty-two” iTunes: (Link)
Trailer:
"august at twenty-two" Trailer from Lady Parts Productions on Vimeo.
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![](https://www.losangelesblade.com/content/files/2022/05/Rob-HD-SHOT-400x600.jpg)
Rob Watson is the host of the popular Hollywood-based radio/podcast show RATED LGBT RADIO.
He is an established LGBTQ columnist and blogger having written for many top online publications including The Los Angeles Blade, The Washington Blade, Parents Magazine, the Huffington Post, LGBTQ Nation, Gay Star News, the New Civil Rights Movement, and more.
He served as Executive Editor for The Good Man Project, has appeared on MSNBC and been quoted in Business Week and Forbes Magazine.
He is CEO of Watson Writes, a marketing communications agency, and can be reached at [email protected] .
Film
APLA Health hosts private screening of ‘Commitment to Life’ doc
“Commitment to Life” is a story of unwavering bravery in the face of death. It reconstructs HIV’s devastation & those who rose to fight it
![](https://www.losangelesblade.com/content/files/2023/02/APLA-Health-Commitment-to-Life-Documentary-WeHo-Times.jpg)
![](https://www.losangelesblade.com/content/files/2022/07/WeHo-Times-Logo-600x117.jpg)
By Paulo Murillo | WEST HOLLYWOOD – APLA Health hosted an exclusive private screening of the feature documentary “Commitment to Life” by Automat Pictures this past Wednesday, February 22, 2023, in the Pacific Design Center’s Silver Screen Theater.
The doc, by filmmaker Jeffrey Schwarz (“Tab Hunter Confidential,” “I Am Divine”), was fresh from a recent Santa Barbara International Film Festival (SBIFF) world premiere the previous weekend. It features lots of never-before-seen footage, a lot taken in 1980s West Hollywood.
It was a who’s who at the reception before the screening of the documentary . Persons who are featured in the film such as Jewel Thais-Williams, Co-founder, Minority AIDS Project, Bruce Vlanch, Writer and Comedian, Torie Osborn, Former Executive Director, National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, Dr. Michael Gottlieb Physician and Former APLA Board Member, and Steve Pieters, Former Field Director of AIDS Ministry, were among those in attendance.
Other familiar faces include Sheila Kuehl, former Los Angeles County Supervisor, John D’Amico, former West Hollywood Council Member and Mayor, Marc Malkin, Senior Culture & Events Editor at Variety, and LGBTQ Journalist and activist Karen Ocamb.
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The event featured a Q&A panel after the screening lead by Marc Malkin.
![](https://wehotimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/IMG_4014.jpg)
“Commitment to Life” is a story of unwavering bravery in the face of death. In the early 1980s, a young doctor at UCLA reports a strange immune disorder among gay men — the world’s first warning sign of the epidemic to come.
“Commitment to Life” documents this incredible drama — Rock Hudson and Easy-E, Elizabeth Taylor and David Geffen, the Red Ribbon and “Philadelphia,” ACT UP and AIDS Project Los Angeles — through the stories of those who lived through it
The film profiles some of the extraordinary and courageous individuals who stepped forward in a fight for survival. People like Nancy Cole, one of the founders of AIDS Project Los Angeles, who helped provide vital services in those dark early days and was one of the first women in LA to go public about having AIDS. Or Phill Wilson, who, when he and his partner Chris Brownlie were faced with their own HIV diagnosis, became full time activists, and helped defeat the notorious Prop 64, which would have placed people with HIV in internment camps.
There’s Brenda Frieberg, who when both of her sons were diagnosed with AIDS, traveled to Washington to lobby for access to drugs that could save their lives. Or Jewel Thais-Williams, owner of Catch One disco, who helped start the Minority AIDS Project to address the needs of the African American community. And in the center of the storm was AIDS Project Los Angeles, a committed group of activists who helped care for the sick and dying, while at the same time lobbied those in Hollywood to contribute to the fight. APLA brought together A-list stars like Elizabeth Taylor, who used her celebrity to advocate for people with AIDS and inspired the Hollywood community to do the same.
![](https://www.losangelesblade.com/content/files/2023/02/Karen-and-Jewel-by-Paulo-Murillo-600x450.jpg)
Using newly filmed interviews, never-before-seen clips from APLA’s gala fundraising events, rare archival footage, and long-forgotten PSAs, “Commitment to Life” reconstructs the virus’ devastating march and the city that rose to fight it. Like the virus itself, the story winds through gated communities and neighborhoods of color, government offices and university labs, hospital suites and studio sound stages to tell a story of courage and sacrifice — as well as one of discrimination and unequal treatment.
The “Commitment to Life” filmmaking team is helmed by Director & Editor Jeffrey Schwarz; Producers Aimée Flaherty, p.g.a. (“Moulin Rouge,” “Killing The Colorado”), and Jeffrey Schwarz, p.g.a.; Executive Producer Ron Sylvester (“Bystander Revolution,” “IMDb: What to Watch”); Co-Executive Producer Robert James Wood II; Co-Producer Taki Oldham; Associate Producer Michael Stabile; Executive Producer for APLA Health Craig Thompson; Supervising Producer for APLA Health Craig Bowers; Composer Allyson Newman (“Generation Q,” “The L Word”) with the participation of Gay Men’s Chorus of Los Angeles; and Cinematographer Adam Jason Finmann (“Daddy Issues,” “Dirty Cops”).
“Commitment to Life” Features Key Interviewees Featured in the Film: Jewel Thais-Williams Co-founder, Minority AIDS Project; Phill Wilson HIV/AIDS Activist; Karamo Brown “Queer Eye” Cast Member & HIV/AIDS Educator; Dr. Michael Gottlieb Physician and Former APLA Board Member; Bruce Vilanch Writer and Comedian; Jeffrey Katzenberg Former Chairman, Walt Disney Studios and APLA Board Member; Bill Misenhimer Former APLA Executive Director; Robert Contreras Co-Founder, Bienestar; Torie Osborn Former Executive Director, National Gay and Lesbian Task Force; Rev. Steve Pieters Former Field Director of AIDS Ministry, Metropolitan Community Churches; and Bamby Salcedo President, TransLatin Coalition.
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![](https://www.losangelesblade.com/content/files/2019/03/03_15_LAB_Paulo-451x600.jpg)
Paulo Murillo is Editor in Chief and Publisher of WEHO TIMES. He brings over 20 years of experience as a columnist, reporter, and photo journalist.
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The preceding article was previously published by WeHo Times and is republished with permission.
Film
“Starving for Perfection” & revisiting Karen Carpenter 40 years later
We have to wonder if now, forty years later, how the non-binary, fluidity and being one’s authentic self could have saved Karen Carpenter
![](https://www.losangelesblade.com/content/files/2023/02/KC3.jpg)
HOLLYWOOD – Tragedies take many forms. There are tragic stories of individuals who deserved a wonderful existence, who were taken obscenely early in lives full of promise. Then there are tragedies where someone with a great contribution to the world is cut down in their prime and we are deprived of a unique talent.
The tragedy of Karen Carpenter embodied both. She was “the voice” of her time, and in many ways has become established as one of the rare classic voices that will extend to all times. Her warm deep melodic tones conveyed beautiful melancholic rainy days and Mondays to top of the world euphoria, to taking us back to connect with yesterday once more. We won’t even talk about how it brought us the warmth of a holiday fire and a Merry Christmas, darling.
“Long ago, and so far away, I fell in love with you…” from Superstar, made famous by Karen Carpenter.
Her voice was so perfect that many thought it was not real, that it had been manufactured by her brother Richard’s studio magic. Fil Henley of Wings of Pegasus recently did an analysis of Karen’s voice from her live singing versus her studio vocals. He declared, “Karen’s waveforms are INSANE. When it comes to vocal accuracy and pitch… due to Karen’s accuracy, pitchwise and ability to hold a note on pitch, she is dead on. These were not autotune waveforms, in fact this was before autotune was invented… but these are the most dead on that I have seen in my life.”
Karen has been dead for exactly forty years from the effects of anorexia nervosa, but her loss still inspires intrigue around the demons that took her and silenced her for good. Speculation has fueled articles and movies ranging from a video version of her life told in Barbie dolls, to a Cynthia Gibb led Movie of the Week. In each re-examination, proverbially, “layers of the onion” get pulled back.
None have pulled as deeply as a new documentary called Karen Carpenter, Starving for Perfection, which premiered this last week at the Santa Barbara Film Festival. The documentary was produced by author Randy L. Schmidt and based on his bestselling book Little Girl Blue.
Starving takes filmgoers deep into Karen’s story in ways her life has not been discussed before. It brings fresh new perspectives and insights about her personal struggle told in her own voice through never-before released recordings and through the voices of those who knew her including Carol Burnett, Olivia Newton-John, Suzanne Somers. There are also interviews with Cynthia Gibb who portrayed her, and with Belinda Carlisle, Kristin Chenoweth, and Carnie Wilson whose own careers were inspired by Karen’s music.
The convergence of Randy Schmidt and Cynthia Gibb on the project represents a full circle moment in the documentary’s creation. The biopic in which Cynthia starred as “Karen Carpenter” was 13-year old Randy’s introduction to the Carpenters. He became obsessed with their records and music from that moment on. “I wanted to know everything because I had been born right in the middle of the Carpenters heyday and missed a lot of it first-hand,” he told me when he sat down for an LA Blade exclusive viewing of the film, and an interview on my Rated LGBT Radio podcast.
Cynthia’s insights in Starving were significant. She bore witness to Karen’s life more than just as an actress who had played her. Every dress she wore in the TV movie had been Karen’s. They filmed in the actual house where Karen died and both Richard and Karen’s parents were present during filming. The extras playing the EMTs in the movie were the actual first-responders who had been to the house on the day that Karen died.
Cynthia told of seeing the evidence of Karen’s anorexia first-hand. As she went through Karen’s closet, she saw the size differential go from garments too big, to Karen’s most recent, which were very tiny. Both Cynthia and Mitchell Anderson, who played Richard in the film, described the family dynamic to Randy. Harold and Agnes, Karen’s parents, were a constant presence on the set with Richard giving daily script revisions protecting the family’s image. Agnes laid the groundwork with the first day of production when she answered the door and spurt out at the film’s director,
“I did NOT kill my daughter.”
Starving does not let Agnes off as easy as the TV movie rendition did. While it does not accuse Agnes of murder, it paints a complex picture of a mother who promoted and completely worshipped her son. She was a mother, at the same time, who tended to disregard and undervalue her daughter and seemed driven to make Karen fit into the appropriate Richard-supporting role. No one in the family, Agnes, Richard or even Karen herself, seemed to find joy in Karen’s success in the spotlight that put Richard in a supporting role.
The film portrays Karen as having two driving desires—to earn the love of her mother, and to carve out some accomplishment and actualization on her own. She never seemed to attain either, and it was the striving for perfection to get them that may have killed her.
The family seems to have been driven by an inherited obsessive compulsive disorder complex. Agnes certainly had it, Richard exhibited it, and it may have exacerbated the weight obsession fueling Karen’s anorexia. Randy told me, “Olivia Newton John talked to me in the book about it, not the documentary. She said that when she went to Karen’s apartment that she noticed that all of the hangars were exactly a half inch apart, and everything was color coded as far as the clothing and the shoes. Everything was very OCD for Karen. She grew up with a mother who, the neighbor kids told me, would not only polish the locks, the gold brass locks on the windows, with a toothbrush, but then she would go next door and clean the windows of the house, the neighbor’s house, that faced hers. So, I mean, this was, this was a woman who dealt in control in just about every possible way. Karen saw that from the time she was born and didn’t know that it was unusual.”
Karen also seemed to be challenged by the feminine gender expectations thrust upon her. She had been a sports loving “tom-boy.” She was masculine in behavior, was a guy’s guy drummer hanging out with the band. In the early days, she crossed the stage “like a mack truck.” She literally got trained on how to present in a more feminine way. Randy stated, “I get asked this question quite often because I think nowadays people are tuned in: was she gay? … I don’t want to out anybody and didn’t want anybody to out me when I wasn’t ready so I never want to go there. What I feel comfortable talking about based upon my research with the friends of hers, that talked to me about some really intimate things, is that she was, I guess, she struggled with the expectations of femininity.” He added, ”There was this unmet expectation from Agnes, and maybe the reason she was a little disappointed in her daughter, that Karen was not the ideal 1950s, 1960s girly girl.”
We have to wonder if the deeper understanding now, forty years later, about the non-binary, fluidity and being one’s authentic self could have saved Karen Carpenter. We will never know. What we still know, and feel, is the shock of losing her. In the documentary, Olivia Newton John, in her last on-screen interview, showed that virtually no one experienced that shock more than she. She had been literally on her way to have lunch with Karen when she heard the news of Karen’s death announced on her car radio.
Karen famously sang of asking “perfection of a quite imperfect world.” Sadly, it may have been demanding perfection of herself and how others would perceive her that ended her own world.
She sang that all she knew of love was “how to live without it.”
Therein lies the biggest tragedy of all. There was so much love for her, and still is, that she seemed unable to accept, from millions of hearts completely willing to love her just the way she was, as a “tom boy”, as a full-figured human being and as a cherished talent. So, to Karen, we can only sing her song back to her… and hope she hears us.
“We love you in a place where there’s no space or time
We love you for your life, you are a friend of mine
And when your life is over, remember when we were together
We were alone and you were singing this song…”From A Song for You
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![](https://www.losangelesblade.com/content/files/2022/05/Rob-HD-SHOT-400x600.jpg)
Rob Watson is the host of the popular Hollywood-based radio/podcast show RATED LGBT RADIO.
He is an established LGBTQ columnist and blogger having written for many top online publications including Parents Magazine, the Huffington Post, LGBTQ Nation, Gay Star News, the New Civil Rights Movement, and more.
He served as Executive Editor for The Good Man Project, has appeared on MSNBC and been quoted in Business Week and Forbes Magazine.
He is CEO of Watson Writes, a marketing communications agency, and can be reached at [email protected] .
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