A Year of Ta-Dah

I'm a big fan of Scissor Sisters, so I've been more than a little dismayed with their lack of popularity in the U.S. The music is bouncy and great, great fun. Totally shake-your-booty danceable. And there's some meat on those bones, too. Plus the Sisters give great show. As one of the commentators on Hurrah: A Year of Ta-Dah says so fittingly, "They put the boy in flamboyant."

Just released, Hurrah makes a fantastic case for the Sisters as great artists and greater showmen (and one woman). The DVD has two main parts. The concert at Wembley Arena is fantastic. The entire band (minus Paddy Boom) is in great form, and Jake Shears and Ana Matronic have boundless energy. The vocals are sharp and the stage show is big, bright and all sparkly...just like the sisters themselves.

The second feature on the DVD is A Year of Ta-Dah. It's a documentary about the year Scissor Sisters spent touring in support of Ta-Dah. Though not of the highest of production elements, it's compelling. The band is known for some fascinating videos, and the documentary provides behind-the-scenes footage for two of the more interesting videos.

This DVD is great fun. And to make it even better, it comes with a bonus CD of the concert. That's something every concert DVD should come with. The DVD also includes a number of special features, including all the videos from Ta-Dah.

If you don't know Scissor Sisters, this release will make you a fan. If you're already a fan, the DVD will make you more perplexed about their lack of stardom in the United States.

Best of the Year: DVD

Knowing my great affection for Sigur Ros, my friends may be wondering why Hvarf-Heim, the last double disk from SR to drop, wasn't on my best of music choices yesterday. Well, it's an amazing album, but we can't have Sigur Ros top every category, can we? The choice for the best DVD of the year is not an easy one. A film like Shortbus, which is a great film that deserves a wider audience, could have easily topped my list this year. One of the many TV Box sets, like Hex or Slings and Arrows, that are difficult to find in the U.S. might have been there, too.

But no DVD release of the year moved me or excited me the way the Sigur Ros documentary/travellog Heima has done. Sigur Ros has always had a very "visual" sound, and their videos are among my favorites ever. Heima makes the argument that Sigur Ros is a product of its geography. We learn a little more about the members of the group, about their politics, and their great affection for their homeland. But mostly we get Sigur Ros performing in the most gorgeous of settings captured by the most gorgeous photography.

The idea is a simple one. After traveling the world in support of Takk, their 2005 album that did top my list (and many others), the band decides to travel across the villages and towns of Iceland. They play churches and town halls and open fields. Many moments are simply breathtaking.

I have to go back 25 years to find a film that moved me in similar ways. In 1982, I was bowled over by the marriage of music and visual images in Koyaanisqatsi, a film that still remains among the most important I have seen. I was humbled by the incredible artistry that unfolded before me on the screen. In 2007, I had that experience again with Heima. Sigur Ros is an amazing group of musicians and Heima brought me that feeling of discovering something new and fresh all over again.

Whole New Thing

To be honest, I purchased Whole New Thing because I needed to top off my DVD order to get free shipping. It looked most interesting among the dvd's I new nothing about. Is it a great movie? No. Am I glad I got it? Most certainly.

Whole New Thing tells the story of Emerson (Aaron Webber), a 13-year-old boy sent to public school after being home schooled for all his life. Emerson deals with adjustment issues, including a wicked crush on his English teacher. Besides the marital difficulties his parents face, there's not much else that happens.

The thing is, Webber and the film do a great job of capturing the social awkwardness of a teen being thrust into his first social situation with kids his own age. His social interactions--at least in film terms--largely involved giving massages to his parents' friends. Emerson is incredibly self-confident, but not easily able to engage with those he meets. He thinks nothing of stripping naked with another 13-year-old boy for a sauna before they do math homework.

Given his history, then, it's not surprising that he connects more readily with his teacher (Daniel MacIvor), a closeted man who gets sexual release from rest-stop sex. This creates another awkward dynamic. Emerson is clearly the aggressor in this relationship. It's a crush, but it's also a crush by someone who doesn't know appropriate boundaries.

Webber is always engaging and is supported by strong players. The ending of the film is not particularly satisfying, but in a slice-of-life story, there's always more to follow. And that's okay.

Boy Culture

The DVD release of Boy Culture has got me thinking about Q. Allen Brocka's work. I like it. While most of it is almost-direct-to-video gay niche filmmaking, there's a charm and guerrilla aspect that comes perhaps from (what feels like) 5-day shoots. Boy Culture tries to take that up a notch. It's a more serious film, with stronger production values and a greater focus.

X (Derek Magyar) is a hustler who's only able to have meaningless sex when he's compensated. Sex without money must be accompanied by love, and he struggles to commit. He's clearly in love (romantically) with his roommate Andrew (Darryl Stephens) and (paternally) with his other roommate Joey (Jonathan Trent).

Brocka pulls out a host of cliche's: X can only open up to one of his tricks, an older queen who only wants to talk--at least until X wants him for more than his money. X narrates the film with the patter of a film noir detective. X struggles with a gay culture in which sex is meaningless.

But along the journey, the film develops a point of view that makes the conclusion, not only satisfying, but inevitable and real. You feel for the characters. Their journeys, however cliche they might be, seem real, because they are so familiar.

Does Boy Culture work for a non-gay audience? I'm not so sure it will. It still screams niche, not universality but there are keen insights and the pathos might speak to a broader audience. For the gay crowd, definitely worth a look!

Mel on Mile High and Damages

Can a show that has not a single likable character be good television? That's the question I've been asking myself since I finished the entire British series Mile High (39 episodes) and the first four episodes of the new Glenn Close legal drama, Damages. In both shows every character--from star to dayplayer--remains unlikable. Certainly, I prefer my drama to have characters that are troubled or morally flawed. But there's a difference between those types of characters and those where you say, "I'd never be friends with this lot. Not a one of them."

Mile High is a British series about...wait for it...flight attendants and pilots. The descriptions and many of the reviews would have you believe its Ab Fab in the sky, or something close to that. In actuality, the madcap adventures of the eight or so regular flight attendants and two pilots have dire consequences. Each character is judgmental and morally righteous, except when it comes to himself or herself.

Only four characters make it from the first episode to the last. At the end of Series 1, about half the cast is replaced with no explanation. At the end of Series 2, Part 1 there's another huge turnover, also with no closure. And the "shocking" finale--which is actually quite interesting in design--only gives us a satisfying end for two of the major characters.

The big problem with Mile High is that it takes a certain glee in how pathetic its major characters are. Will is almost every gay cliche thrown into a mix. He's a bitter, self-centered, manipulative, vindictive, sexually compulsive partyboy. Janis is a pathetic loaner who is a total bitch to cover her loneliness. Le Hann destroys every relationship she's involved in, because she is always suspecting and distrusting her partners. The show relies on tons of cliches, but never with irony or camp.

The thing is, the show held my attention for most of 39 episodes, even as I was actively hating it. Maybe it was because I constantly held out hope that someone would do something decent for honorable reasons. Maybe it was for the liberal display of naughty bits that British television does so well.

Damages also populates with a roster of unlikeable characters. Here, though, the promotional materials explain that they're complex characters. Therefore, it's okay that each is basically morally flawed (which, by the way, I generally like in a character), lying, cheating, mean, manipulative and potentially violent. Or at least willing to have others do violence on their behalf.

Damages is well written and the production values are top notch. The casting is superb, and Glennie's performance is complex and riveting. I continue to watch, but at the end of every episode I have to wonder what I see in the show.

In the end, I remain ambivalent about both shows. I'm glad to see them, but troubled and largely disengaged from them.

Dresden Dolls--Live at the Roundhouse

A quick post to recommend the new Dresden Dolls DVD release Live at the Roundhouse. It captures the fun and intensity of a Dresden Dolls concert. It includes their best music and some very interesting covers. The special guests also make for a fun couple of hours. Check out the special features, too.

OMG!! Is He Actually Reviewing Eating Out 2: Sloppy Seconds?

Eating Out was a pleasant little diversion with some excellent eye candy, warmth, a little humor and that gay guy from American Idol, Jim Verraros. Eating Out 2: Sloppy Seconds is also a pleasant little diversion with some excellent eye candy, more warmth, a little more humor and that gay guy from....

The film definitely has its appeal. The acting is mostly subpar, but Q. Allan Brocka and Phillip Bartel have put something together that is pleasantly engaging. Marc, played in the first film by Ryan Carnes is now played by Brett Chukerman. So, it did take me a good half hour to realize he was playing the same character. The nudity is just as plentiful, too.

Don't get me wrong. This is not a great film. But everyone I watched it with found it charming. Of course, any film with Mink Stole has to have some redeeming value. Brocka and Bartel are making a targeted film for a very specific audience and it more than succeeds. The in-jokes are mostly funny and the stereotypes are mostly turned on their heads.

http://www.myspace.com/eatingout2