Gay Movies Move Out of the Ghetto

By Japhy Grant

After a testosterone-soaked summer, autumn has always been a good time for queer cinema. This year promises to push the boundaries of mainstream gay culture with a series of major studio releases that put complex gay characters in the middle of the lens. Gay cops crack-wise, gay cowboys fall in love, and gay bohemians burst out into song. Best of all, not a single one of them is a lonely single straight girl's wise-cracking and fashionable best friend. Now, that's progress! (Please note that all release dates are subject to change.)

SEPTEMBER

EVERYTHING IS ILLUMINATED (Sept. 16)
Starring Elijah Wood, Eugene Hutz
Written and directed by Liev Schreiber
The adaptation train continues with Schreiber's directorial debut of Jonathan Saffron Foer's hipster-lit novel about an obsessive Brooklyn man (Wood) in search of his Jewish roots in modern day Russia. Shot almost entirely in the former Soviet Republics, Wood and Hutz's characters flirt with an unspoken homoeroticism, but it's the Shoah which is the main source of passion for the characters in this film.

PROOF (Sept. 16)
Starring Gwyneth Paltrow, Anthony Hopkins, Hope Davis
Directed by John Madden
Written by David Auburn
Adapted from David Auburn's hit Broadway play, Proof follows the effects of the death of a brilliant, but disturbed mathematician (Hopkins) on his daughters (Paltrow and Davis) and an ex-student (Jake Gyllenhaal). We're just happy to see the underrated Davis get a role large enough to spotlight her talent.

FLIGHTPLAN (Sept. 23)
Starring Jodie Foster
Directed by Robert Schwentke
Written by Peter A. Dowling
Jodie Foster plays a mother whose daughter disappears mid-way through a flight from Berlin to New York. When none of the passengers or crew remembers ever seeing the girl, Foster begins to doubt her sanity in this Hitchcockian thriller.

CAPOTE (Sept. 30)
Starring Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Catherine Keener.
Directed by Bennett Miller
Written by Dan Futterman
Truman Capote is captured in all his lisping gloriousness by Phillip Seymour Hoffman. The plot follows Capote through the process of writing In Cold Blood, the world's first non-fiction novel and a story about a gruesome Kansas serial killing. The screenplay is written by Dan Futterman, who you may remember as the straight son coming home in The Birdcage.

THE PRIZE WINNER OF DEFIANCE, OHIO (Sept. 30)
Starring Julianne Moore, Woody Harrelson, Laura Dern
Written and directed by Jane Anderson
Based on the real life story of a '50s housewife who wrote jingles to support her 10 children, Julianne Moore continues to be Hollywood's go-to hausfrau for period domestic dramas. Out writer/director Anderson, making her feature directorial debut, has delighted audiences with acclaimed telefilms like The Positively True Adventures of the Alleged Texas Cheerleader-Murdering Mom and the transexual drama Normal.

ALSO:
Buffy the Vampire Slayer creator Joss Whedon's Serenity blasts off Sept. 30. If you prefer your serial killers straight-up gay, then Hellbent (Sept. 16) should quench your bloodlust, but real horrors await in the hip-hop adaptation of The Great Gatsby, G (Sept. 16). The coming out tale gets a new twist in Dorian Blues (Sept. 23) or you can just get your sex on without the angst in the French Cote d'Azur (Sept. 9).

OCTOBER

GUYS AND BALLS (Oct. 7)
Starring Dietmar Bär, Lisa Potthoff
Directed by Sherry Horman
Written by Benedikt Gollhardt
Imagine you're a gay soccer player living in Germany and all your teammates find out you're gay and start making fun of you. What do you do? Why, go off and form an all-gay soccer team to kick their homophobic asses, of course. Where's Fox and his Friends when you need them?

IN HER SHOES (Oct. 7)
Starring Cameron Diaz, Toni Collette
Directed by Curtis Hanson
Written by Susannah Grant
As much as the pairing of Cameron Diaz and Toni Collette seems like the set-up for a Designer Imposters celebrity joke, this adaptation of Jennifer Weiner's novel about a party girl clashing with her straight-laced sister looks to be pretty funny all on its own. We're not saying which actress is playing the brainless sexpot and which is playing the smart and serious one, but we'll tell you that Shirley MacLaine costars.

LOGGERHEADS (Oct. 14)
Starring Bonnie Hunt, Tess Harper, Kip Pardue
Written and directed by Tim Kirkman
Dear Jesse director Tim Kirkman plays out the story of three different dysfunctional families over the course of a Mother's Day holiday in North Carolina. Kip Pardue's performance as a man obsessed with saving turtles that falls for a guileless neighbor (Michael Kelly) has been the buzz of the festival scene. The film shows gay life outside of the world of Will & Grace, showing what life is like for those who can't escape to the gay ghetto. The film also features Bonnie Hunt as a mother unable to forget the baby she was forced to give up and Tess Harper as a preacher's wife who misses her son after he leaves because of his father's religious beliefs. Did we mention that Pardue takes our breath away?

THREE OF HEARTS: A POSTMODERN FAMILY (Oct. 19)
Directed by Susan Kaplan
This documentary, shot over the span of eight years, follows Sam Cagnina and Stephen Margolin, a gay couple who decide they want a woman in their life. Samantha Singh becomes a part of their relationship, they have sex and eventually Samantha becomes pregnant, causing tension and change. Isn't one person telling you that you don't listen to their needs enough?

KISS KISS, BANG BANG (Oct. 21)
Starring Robert Downey Jr., Val Kilmer
Written and directed by Shane Black
No, it's not the live movie adaptation of film critic Pauline Kael's book, but the directorial debut of Hollywood prodigal son Shane Black. The cynic in us wants to say that the former Lethal Weapon scribe updates the buddy-cop thriller comedy genre in the only way he knows how: Turning the black guy into a gay guy, but with shades of Raymond Carver and a good dollop of Hollywood skewering, KKBB is more than "Mel & Barney Frank's Excellent Adventure." The twist is that this story about a petty thief who poses as a movie actor (Robert Downey Jr.) and finds himself caught up in a murder investigation with a gay private detective (Val Kilmer) is not only fresh and surprising, but funny.

ALSO:
Orlando Bloom channels Cameron Crowe in Elizabethtown (Oct. 14) and Kiera Knightley channels real life model/bounty hunter Domino Harvey in Domino (Oct. 14). Zombies channel the "thumpa-thumpa" of the circuit scene in Return of the Living Dead 5: Rave to the Grave (Oct. 7) and former New York Doll (Oct. 25) Arthur Kane channels the spirit of God in a doc that follows his move from punk-rocker to Mormon.

NOVEMBER

GAY SEX IN THE '70S (Nov. 4)
Directed by Joseph F. Lovett
Actually, this documentary is about what it's like to have gay sex once you become a septuagenarian, when suddenly that leather sling doesn't look so much kinky, as comforting. No wait, it actually is about gay sex during the post-Stonewall/pre-AIDS era: a time when jeans were tight, 'ludes were cool, and all you had to worry about was catching a bad case of crabs or falling through a hole on the piers.

RENT (Nov. 23)
Starring Anthony Rapp, Rosario Dawson, Adam Pascal
Written By Jonathan Larson
Directed By Chris Columbus
The long-anticipated film version of the Pulitzer Prize-winning Broadway musical, Rent is the Hair of every 20-something gay/bi/curious kid on the planet -- and has been the subject of a ton of speculation as a result. Fans threw up their hands in despair after Spike Lee gave up the chair for Home Alone director Columbus and then cheered when he promptly hired most of the original cast. Hewing closely to the original, the film moves the action of the play firmly back into the '80s, when the AIDS epidemic was at its height, and keeps the same gritty D.I.Y. aesthetic that made the original play such a smash success. We won't mind a bit if Columbus decides to ditch the 525,600 reprises of "Seasons of Love," though.

SUMMER STORM (Nov. 4)
Starring Robert Stadlober, Kostja Ullmann
Directed by Marco Kreuzpaintner
Written by Thomas Bahmann
Imagine you're a gay crew member living in Germany and you suddenly realize that the feelings you have for your best friend are deeper than friendship. As you watch him fall for his girlfriend hard, what do you do? Why, wait until an all gay crew team shows up at the finals, of course. While the gay sports coming-out genre seems to be incredibly popular in Germany, Summer Storm is a nuanced and delicate portrayal of young sexuality reminiscent of Wild Reeds worth seeing.

JARHEAD (Nov. 4)
Starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Jamie Foxx, Peter Sarsgaard
Directed by Sam Mendes
Written by William Broyles Jr.
Another month, another Jake Gyllenhaal pic. This time he's playing real-life Marine Anthony "Swoff" Swofford in Sam Mendes' adaptation of his experiences in Desert Shield and Desert Storm-era Kuwait. That's right, the Gyllenhaal is a muscled sinewy fighting machine sweating in the hot desert. Clearly, this movie will only appeal to a very limited audience of people who have a pulse.

THE FAMILY STONE (Nov. 4)
Starring Sarah Jessica Parker, Diane Keaton, Dermot Mulroney
The Stones' cherished son Everett brings his prissy girlfriend Meredith (Parker) home for Christmas. Before he can propose, the eccentric family unites against her, prompting her to go to her sister (Claire Danes) for support, making the situation even more complicated. Tyrone Giordano plays Everett's gay brother, who is the only one in the family who doesn't despise Meredith.

ALSO:
Comedienne Sarah Silverman is thankful for God in Sarah Silverman: Jesus is Magic, and The Harry Potter franchise serves up its annual helping on Nov. 18, but we're gonna hold out for Breakfast on Pluto (Nov. 18) where Cillian Murphy leaves behind his Irish small town and becomes a transvestite cabaret singer in the '60s and '70s.

DECEMBER

BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN (Dec. 9)
Starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Heath Ledger
Written By Larry McMurtry
Directed By Ang Lee
No hype: This is the movie you've been waiting for all your life. A gay romance helmed by an A-List director starring A-List stars, Brokeback Mountain tells the epic love story between a Wyoming cowboy and a ranch hand. Set in 1963 and based on the short story by E. Annie Proulx, Brokeback Mountain focuses on a deep love between two men living in the heart if the West, and is bound to cause a massive firestorm upon its release. Fortunately, Ang Lee is no stranger to handling gay stories with a deft touch and genuine heart. His second film, The Wedding Banquet, is about a gay couple forced to hide their sexuality when one guy's parents move in. That he can now make the same kind of film with such big names and major studio support is a reason to yip-ee-i-kay-ay this holiday season.

ALSO:
Broadway's Tony-smashing comedy The Producers (Dec. 21), based on the movie The Producers is now a movie in its own right and Angels in America playwright Tony Kushner's screenplay about the aftermath of the 1972 Munich Olympics Israeli hostage crisis is directed by some hack named Steven Spielberg in Munich (Dec. 23).