Posted by: BoyScoutKevin
« on: July 16, 2009, 11:12:19 PM »"Gay films let me express solidarity with the outsider". Ken in The Times 24 Jun 2009
Ken talks about the Pout Film Festival of queer cinema at the ICA and Curzon Soho cinemas during London Pride Week to 6 Jul 2009. Ken talks of watching gay films with his favourite gay T-shirt “If time and space are curved, where do all the straight people come from?” The festival includes classic and recent gay films and documentaries including Before Stonewall, The Celluloid Closet, The Killing of Sister George and Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?
But Ken has drawn up his own “mini DVD festival”
To Die For (or Heaven’s a Drag): "utter trash, but a British cult classic"
Longtime Companion: "moving, powerful and as good as film-making gets... puts a discerning and human face on the Aids tragedy".
Chuck and Buck: "this tale of the divergent life paths of boyhood friends is full of surprises... holds the attention with fantastic performances and writing".
Almost Normal: "gay professor gets transported back in time to his youthful high-school self, except that it’s an alternate reality where everyone is gay... The plot twists keep coming".
After Stonewall: “an eloquent documentary, the sequel to Before Stonewall…”
Gone But Not Forgotten: “too slow, but intriguing” A man with amnesia develops a relationship with another man, but then the wife turns up.
The Lost Language of Cranes: “moving, flawless, painful portrait of a marriage in breakdown and a son’s coming out. Exquisite writing”. The director is John Schlesinger.
Flawless: “an inspiring, well-acted tragicomic tale about a homophobic ex-cop forced by a stroke to accept therapeutic singing lessons from his outrageous drag-queen neighbour”. With Robert DeNiro and Philip Seymour Hoffman.
But Ken says, his favourite “gay-friendly” films are…The Music Lovers, Women in Love and The Rainbow.
Actually, while I myself am not gay, that is one of the things that attracted me to Ken's films. His willingness to do films with a gay theme. Actually, I think he's done more gay themed films than most gay directors.
And while I don't have the complete article in front of me, I'd like to correct something I remember him saying. Sort of him saying that Sharon Stone's character in "Basic Instinct" was a lesbian. The character may have had some lesbian moments in the film, but the character was not a lesbian. The character was bisexual. Which Ken ought to know, having so many bisexual--both male and female--characters in his own films.
And I'd like to say, why is the film festival not showing any of Ken's films, such as "The Music Lovers?"