review of the filmfestival 2003
2006 2005 2004 2002 2001

this year's "verzaubert" queer filmfestival took place from 11/26/03 to 12/03/03, as usual at the residenz-cinemas, kaiser-wilhelm-ring 30-32. we (that's my friend matthias and me) visited the festival over the whole week, with ticket prices of 8,00 eur per film not a quite cheap entertainment. cologne offered two sneak previews (which were not shown at the other festival locations as berlin, frankfurt, munich): "was nützt die liebe in gedanken?" and "the dreamers", both worth seeing, find out more below.

we 11/26/03 08:30pm residenz 1 opening - yossi & jagger - israel 2002, 67', original version with german subtitles

the story portrays the love affair of two israeli officers in a remote army base at the snow covered israeli-lebanese border. the pic on the left with the trio in the snow must have been taken during a shooting break, the film is about the homosexual love of two characters, only. yossi (the guy on the left of the pic), the commanding officer of the military unit, is in secret love with yagger (the guy in the middle on the pic), one of his corporals. yagger rather had their relationship openly gay and in a civilian way "a night in a hotel bed, like hollywood", but he can't have that kind of stuff with yossi. it strikes that almost all of the soldiers (including two females) are longing for a civilian life, love and workday outside the army. this is the real message of the film (it's not about homosexual revolution within the army) and likely expresses what the majority of the israeli audience is thinking: they are tired of endless war. a well-arranged "small" film with a charming yehuda levi as yagger.

homepage: www.yossiandjagger.com

order "yossi & yagger" dvd at amazon.com (ntsc, region 1)
order "yossi & yagger" dvd at amazon.de (pal, region 2)

fr 11/28/03 03:15pm residenz 2 - the gift - usa 2003, 62', english original version (afterwards shorts)

a "gift giver" is a hiv positive man who gives the gift of hiv infection. a "bug chaser" is a hiv negative man who deliberately becomes infected with hiv. a film dealing with barebacking and the consequences. beforehand: this is not the overdue big and sharp film about the issue. significantly so far only women dare to deal with this gay men topic, as the italian directer laura muscurdin did in 2001 with "days / giorni" and now louise hogarth with "the gift". are their male collegues too afraid of negative publicity and thus rather do the 1001. coming out story than touch this topic? "the gift" is a docu of solid craftsmanship which manages to illuminate the phenomena barebacking by arranging interviews of well chosen dialog partners: doug, the young gay from the countryside, who came to san francisco, got hiv infected during bb parties and now regrets it (actually, i think, he's a little bit toooo weepy in the film), barebacker kenboy who is infected as well but does not regret anything, the boss of the "dungeon" leather bar ("after a party with 150 guys we find about 3 condomes, that's it."), a hiv-negative doctor who lost his hiv-positive friend (this dialog partner is one of the strongest in the film), a group of middle-aged men who - all of them being hiv-positive and handicapped - survived the big death wave of the 80s and discuss how to turn today's new breed of careless gays to rational behaviour. i have no idea.

homepage: www.thegiftdocumentary.org

fr 11/28/03 05:15pm residenz 2 - beyond vanilla - usa 2002, 92', original version

another docu. the catalogue praised this film as a voyeuristic tour into the world of leather & fetish, actually it is a rather dull arrangement of way too many dialog partners who more or less all say the same. too many of the male and almost all of the female dialog partners have been casted from the "freak area" (porno, prostitution, female sex "scientists"), i wonder whether this eases the average heterosexual american's approach towards s&m. which, according to director claes lilija (who was present at the festival) is one of the intentions of the film. from point of craftsmenship not very convincing either (the background noises on the audio track are rather disturbing), in my opinion the worst film of the festival.

homepage: www.beyondvanilla.net

order "beyond vanilla" dvd at amazon.com (ntsc, region 1)

fr 11/28/03 07:30pm residenz 1 - before night falls - usa 2000, 135', spanish original version with german subtitles

this award-winning, visually exciting cinematographic adaptation of the life of the brilliant cuban writer reinaldo arenas is a touching proof of the freeing power of art. director julian schnabel manages to bring the sensuous havanna of the 60s back to life showing us luscious and attractive pictures. great cinema. thanks to the limitation on a centre issue, reinaldo's homosexuality and the repressions under the castro regime, this biography is more easily "digested" than other biographies. by the way: johnny depp ("pirates of the caribbean") appears in two minor roles one of them being delicious!

homepage: www.finelinefeatures.com

order "before night..." dvd at amazon.com (ntsc, region 1)
order "before night..." dvd at amazon.de (pal, region 2)
reinaldo arenas "before night falls" at amazon.com

fr 11/28/03 09:45pm residenz 1 - gay propaganda night - internationale shorts 134' + break, original versions

this year's shorts night was mainly feeded with french, british and irish films, most of them being well done. "how do i tell my parents?" the irish film "dream kitchen" (1999) shows the perfect coming out in front of the perfect parents in the perfect kitchen, quite amusing. "e-mail express" (2002) (see pic with the hot butts), one of two german contributions, tells us what happens when your own nude selfpic accidentally finds it's way into your company's mail system. the second german film "null null" (2001) shows the encounter of a butch macho with a smart banker in a totally rotten restroom. in "far west" (france 2003) ricky, a parasian city fag, has to visit his grandfather on the countryside. grandpa is running a farm with cows, chickens and a cute farmhand. one day later ricky's queer gogo-dancer friends (pic on the right) appear and push the farm idyll to perfection. in "judas at mitnight" (united kingdom 2003) john finds a magic ring which allows him to turn himself into the sex phantasies of his dream men. "paradisco" (france 2002) takes the 40years old nicolas and his young one night stand lover francois back to the 70s, when nicolas was as young as francois today and the new year's eve night 1979 was celebrated in his apartment. (pic in the midst). former friends and former feelings reappear. impressive film.

sa 11/29/03 07:30pm residenz 1 - bad boys - a true story - finland 2003, 120', finnish original version with english subtitles

not quite a gay film, but the finnish country boys are just to sweet to miss them: otto, matti, ilkka and eero are brothers, living in a house without electricity and tv, neither smoking nor drinking, being controlled by a despotic father (deliciously played by peter franzén). when their father is put away into a mental institution, the boys are forced to manage on their own and make their living by committing dozends of robberies ... with 800.000 visitors in finland this was the most successful finnish film ever. i would say: amusing film, without depth.

sa 11/29/03 09:45pm residenz 1 - elephant - usa 2003, 81', english original version

i can't tell you too much about the contents of the film otherwise it will not be worth seeing any more. it is not a gay film. the first two thirds of the film show the every day life at an american college, thanks to a very skillful camera work this is not boring for one second. i noticed the excellent infrastructure at the college on one hand and the college crowd dealing with each other in a rather shallow way on the other hand. maybe this is the director's (gus van sant) only serious attempt to find an explanation for the nightmare that follows: the amok run of two pupils entering the college building with firearms. very shattering, but a well done film.

order "elephant" dvd at amazon.com (ntsc, region 1)
order "elephant" dvd at amazon.de (pal, region 2)

su 11/30/03 05:15pm residenz 2 - road to love - france 2001, 70', french original version with english subtitles

karim is a handsome french-algerian sociology student living with his girlfriend in paris. researching for a class project on the egyptian town siwa (where men were allowed to marry one another) karim approaches the topic "homosexuality and islam"... and meets the attractive arab farid. this is a "small" coming-out film (sometimes you see the technical insufficiencies of the dv camera) which nevertheless turns out to be great performance since dialogues and presence of the actors are so convincing that partially you don't have the feeling to watch a film: you have the feeling to witness real life! that's what makes this film so charming, it is a pleasure to watch it.

order "road to..." dvd at amazon.com (ntsc, region 1)

su 30.11.03 07:30pm residenz 1 - sneak/preview was nuetzt die liebe in gedanken - deutschland 2003, originalfassung

the first sneak preview of the filmfestival: director achim von borries staged a true event, the "steglitzer pupil's tragedy" of 1927, with august diehl and daniel bruehl ("goodbye lenin!") having the leading roles: guenther and paul enjoy life to the full and without compromise - and so is their expectation towards love. together with guenther's sister hilde they spend the weekend in a summer cottage on the countryside. paul is fascinated by the girl and falls for her. but hilde has several amours, one of them being hans, guenther's former lover. when hans surprisingly meets the group at the summerhouse, he initiates a roller coaster of emotions which soon looses control. the scenes are carefully arranged, the atmosphere at the summer cottage has been captured with overwhelming pictures, you "feel" the 20s (as they may have been for the young and rich people being full of relish). dialogues remind you a little bit of thomas mann, they fit for the time yet appear to be a little bit shop-soiled. what is really missing are actors with erotic charme: hilde shows the depth of a hussy, hans has the sex appeal of a hustler (this may both fit for the roles). but daniel bruehl as the lover paul remains somewhat colorless, and august diehl as guenther shows lots of "kinski style" madness yet almost none eroticism. this really does harm the film which remains somewhat noncommital and is soon forgotten.

starting at german cinemas 02/12/2004. homepage: www.liebe-in-gedanken.de

su 11/30/03 09:45pm residenz 1 - bulgarian lovers - spain 2002, 96', spanish original version with english subtitles

daniel is a 40-year-old successful aristocratic lawyer, who frequents madrid's gay bars on the look out for handsome men. he meets kryil, a stunning 23-year-old bulgarian immigrant, and quickly falls madly in love. a love that puts his career and personal safety at risk... which however does not stop our daniel from engaging himself to the limit for this turbulent affair. the film is an ironic description of the numerous attempts of gay "mid-aged" men to win young lovers, which a guy of my age (born 1959) enjoys very much (both the attempts and the film). at the end there is the self ironic realization that a little money, lots of wrecked nerves and passion were involved, but hardly love. fast moving film with an intelligent sense of humour.

trailer (windows media, realmedia)

order "bulgarian..." dvd at amazon.com (ntsc, region 1)

mo 12/01/03 05:15pm residenz 2 - luster - usa 2001, 90', english original version

jackson, a cute, lanky, blue-eyed poet with a day job in an l.a. record store, falls for billy whom he met at an orgy the other night. but billy's not into him, he is in love with sunny, a musician into sm... and there is much more amusing confusion. i was surprised that there is a lifestyle beyond commerce, consumption, money which seems to work in a way or another, and that in l.a.! the term "independent scene" was not familiar to me, so far. most of the time the film is rather turbulent, however comes to a thoughtful end with jackson in an impressive finale.

order "luster" dvd at amazon.com (ntsc, region 1)
available at amazon-uk (pal, regioncode free)

tu 12/02/03 07:30pm residenz 2 - love forbidden - france 2002, 96', french original version with english subtitles

bruce is a young french sreenwriter who has won a scholarship enabling him to spend a year at rome's villa medici. here he meets mateo who stirs feelings in him that he has not felt before. the little frenchman is a giant romanticist and it's a pleasure to listen to him when he is a little bit drunken and philosophizes about love. unfortunately his feelings are not answered by matteo. matteo does not seem to be capable of any deeper emotions at all which is also experianced by a female fellow student of bruce. apart from some disturbing accessory parts (why mention "aids" in the film when it has zero relevance for the plot?) the film manages to convince by it's elegant, lightly melancholic atmosphere (the unfortunate love story is cleverly woven with dark pics of the antique rome) and a tough finale.

order "love forbidden" dvd at amazon.com (ntsc, region 1)

tu 12/02/03 09:45pm residenz 1 - the dreamers - united kingdom / france / italy 2003, 119', english original version

the second sneak preview of this year's festival: the italian director bernardo bertolucci (born 1940) is one of the grand masters ("last tango in paris" 1972, "the last emperor" 1987) and now made with "the dreamers", a surprisingly young film, another masterpiece: the tumultous political landscape of paris in 1968 is the backdrop as three young cineastes are drawn together through their passion for film. the american matthew (starring michael pitt, "murder by numbers") meets the twins theo and isabelle during a demo in front of a parisian cinema. their father is a famous poet. the twins invite matthew for dinner, the invitation for dinner becomes an invitation for staying. the parents leave cheques and good whishes and move to their summer cottage in the countryside. isabelle, theo, matthew remain in the parisian luxury appartment and have it as their own. initial cineastic discussions (keaton vs. chaplin) soon lead to playing "games" (imitating film classics and letting the others guess what film it was) with tough "punishment" for the looser. it doesn't take too long until sexuality gets involved, at the latest it's clear now that this is none of the usual triangles. the film shows overwhelming pictures. it's intelligent, thrilling, amusing, fearless, refreshingly provocative and highly erotic. so erotic, that the filmmakers had to do some censorship for prude bush-america and cut out 2 minutes of the film. likely the scene where you can see michael pitt's dick (a good piece, actually). the acting performance of michael pitt (matthew), eva green (isabelle) and louis garrel (theo) is supreme, it is one of the merits of the actors that the film's pictures remain in your brain like being chiselled into it. from the first to the last minute an enjoyment!

homepage: www.the-dreamers.com   trailer (quicktime, realmedia).

order "the dreamers" dvd at amazon.com (ntsc, region 1)

we 12/03/03 07:30pm, residenz 1 - mambo italiano - canada 2003, 93', english original version

the film takes place in the italien quarter of montreal, so to speak "little italy" in canada: when angelo leaves his parents' house to get a place of his own, together with his childhood buddy nino, this seems to be okay for his parents. their relief is short lived as they find out that nino and angelo are more than just roommates, they're (gasp) lovers! all hell breaks loose! the boys must be shown the right path to acceptable behaviour. the battlefield is cleared, and "tutta la famiglia" goes to war! "turbulent family comedy, in the gay italian version" so says the festival catalogue. it should read "turbulent family comedy in the way canadian film makers believe the reaction of italian parents to their son's homosexuality might be". at least "classic europe's" italy is way further (both in society and in film making) and stopped doing that kind of films years ago. "mambo italiano" really serves every italy cliche you may think of. this, however, works quite well: the film has wit and temperament, especially luke kirby as angelo is doing a good piece of acting. alltogether entertaining tumulto, but that's obviously what you like? the cinema was sold out.

order "mambo italiano" dvd at amazon.com (ntsc, region 1)

standing out is bertolucci's "the dreamers", you should keep that in mind for your 2004 unmissables!

and a hint for the filmfestival: don't go for the "gay propaganda night" shorts - rather inform yourself in the catalogue or on the organisers' website or at gaykoeln.com and then attend a "real" full length film! i swear this is the better way of watching gay cinema!

many thanks to matthias who was with me during the whole festival and kept my temper high in the film breaks. cologne's next "verzaubert" queer filmfestival will be at the beginning of december 2004, of course gaykoeln.com will cover this event, as we always did.

andreas