As Luck Would Have It

Swiss director Lorenzo Gabriele takes a stab at screwball comedy in As Luck Would Have It, a pleasantly amusing tale of a gay man coming to terms with his sexuality. What distinguishes Gabriele's films from the myriad of likeminded coming-out flicks featuring teenagers is its protagonist, Jean-Pierre (Jean-Claude Brialy), a middle-aged university professor whose safely closeted lifestyle is upended when he is ordered by Swiss law to be the legal guardian to 17-year-old trouble-making orphan Antoine (Julien Bravo). After petitioning the court to get out of his parental duties, Jean-Pierre's scheme backfires when his life comes under investigation and he is forced to pass himself off as straight. Easier said than done. The script is somewhat rote (with an ending far too pat for its own good), but the performances (especially by Brialy and the radiant Sabine Haudepin as wife Alice) are uniformly strong, and the film's realistic depiction of a mature protagonist is a refreshing change of pace. -- Ken Knox

Live 8

Although recent dreck like Cheaper by the Dozen 2 might convince you otherwise, not all sequels are insidious and unnecessary. In 2005, 20 years after Sir Bob Geldof's monumental Live Aid concerts on both sides of the pond raised millions of dollars for his Band Aid Trust charity (which offers relief of hunger and poverty in Africa), he put together a sequel of sorts called Live 8. This past July 2, Geldof staged an even more ambitious series of globe-spanning concerts by the world's greatest performers. The concert opens, appropriately, with Paul McCartney joined by U2 singing the rousing "It was twenty years ago today..." lyrics from "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band," and while it's easy to hurl hyperbolic labels like "the concert of the century" and "the show that rocked the world" on the concerts, the Live 8 lineup was truly staggering. There's something for every musical taste with legendary acts like Pink Floyd, Elton John, and Stevie Wonder performing alongside queer bands like Pet Shop Boys and Scissor Sisters, as well as gay faves like Madonna, Robbie Williams, and Sarah McLachlan. The four-disc set contains three discs of live footage taken from the shows staged in London and Philadelphia plus highlights from the seven other events staged across the world, and the fourth features exclusive extras like a never-before-seen documentary filmed at Hyde Park, Bjork's set in Tokyo, and films by the Who and Travis. If you still need more incentive to purchase it -- money raised from DVD sales will also go to the Band Aid Trust. -- Jeremy Kinser