In the Name of

Polish star Andrzej Chyra plays priest Adam, unusually hip and good-looking for a man of god, in Malgorzata Szumowska’s pensive character study, In the Name of. The film explores a loaded (if somewhat dated) issue—homosexuality and pedophilia in the Catholic Church—that would be a veritable minefield for most directors, but is handled gracefully by Szumowska.

Father Adam is great at his job—mentoring and supervising a group of delinquent boys to keep them out of deeper trouble. The problem is, he’s in deep trouble himself as he’s unable to shake his sinful, sexual gravitation toward one of the boys, a near mute wild child (think Ally Sheedy in The Breakfast Club, but even dirtier and more violent.) Sobbing and beside himself, he vents to his sister online, “I’m not a pedophile. I’m a faggot.”

Steeped in melodrama and angst, In the Name of takes its time, revealing bits and pieces of Adam’s psyche artfully and with a degree of understanding and acceptance. Sunlight gently spills over the lush Polish landscape majestically, softly, as if to say God’s eye loves and forgives all. Szumowska similarly casts no judgment on his troubled characters, the key to the film’s success.

RATING: 8

GBF

After nearly 15 years, Darren Stein follows up 1999’s Jawbreaker with GBF, a plastic, mildly funny, but surprisingly touching and sweet high school clique-drama. When geeky introvert Tanner (Michael J. Willett) is accidentally outed to the school by his BFF, the more colorful but still closeted Brent (Paul Iocano), Tanner gets even by outing him to his homo-ignorant mother (Megan Mullally, in uncharacteristically underwhelming form.) Feelings are bruised badly, and the buddies split. The three most popular girls in school (uninspired archetypes every one) anoint Tanner—the sole out kid in school—as their GBF (Gay Best Friend), while Brent resentfully watches from the social outcast sidelines. Tanner struggles to get comfortable in his new role as the school’s “it” kid, all the while coming to terms with being “out and proud.”

The script, written by newcomer George Northy, grasps at the teen comedy glory of Mean Girls, Easy A, and even Clueless, but falls short with lingo that’s sorely lacking style and eloquence. “This is an A and gay conversation, so kindly C your next Tuesday out of it!” Huh? Painfully contrived lines like these are in abundance and stink up the joint.

GBF’s shining star is easily the character of Tanner who, unlike the rest of the cast, is multi-dimensional and avoids nearly every gay stereotype in the book—he’s not into fashion, he reads comic books, and he’s not into theater. He’s played brilliantly by Willett, whose performance carries an authenticity absent in his co-stars. He talks like a real person, looks like a real person, and shows compassion like a real person. The juxtaposition of his (and to an extent, Iocano’s) heartfelt performance to the rest of the casts’ broad, shallow ones may have been intentionally aiming for the satirical, but it ultimately feels clunky and uneven.

There are some genuinely cute moments to be found in GBF, and the sweet central relationship between Willett and Iocano saves it from mediocrity, but unfunny writing and a forgettable supporting cast weigh everything down.

RATING: 6

LGBTQ cinema will get the bright spotlight it very much deserves at Frameline37, the oldest, most respected queer cinema showcase in the world. The festival runs from June 20-30 in San Francisco at the Castro Theatre, Roxie Theater, and Victoria Theater, and in Berkeley at Rialto Cinemas.

Queer cinema is ever-growing, and the issues, questions, and cultures explored in its films are key to promoting acceptance, understanding, and education about the LGBTQ community. There are far too few queer representatives in film, and Frameline helps to change the landscape. It’s also going to be a hell of a lot of fun, with films from across the globe in every genre, from drama to comedy to action to documentary.

Here are a few of the films I’m looking forward to watching at the festival:

Concussion

The festival’s opening night film is the sexy, introspective debut feature of director/writer Stacie Passon, Concussion. Robin Weigert plays a 40-something lesbian stay-at-home mom who finds her cushy suburban life to be unsatisfying, both emotionally and sexually. After getting clocked on the head with a baseball by her son, her motivation to liberate herself from the doldrums of home life is amplified. She starts a project renovating a loft in the city, and an opportunity comes along that allows her to do something she’s never done before—pay for sex. Feeling sexy for the first time in ages, she goes even further by jumping to the other side, becoming a call girl herself. Still, at home her family waits. It’s always great to see a female-dominated cast, and Concussion looks to be a stirring exploration of sexual depravity and suburban melancholy.

GBF

One can get a little emotionally drained at film festivals, shuffling from one life-affirming, gut-wrenching, tear-jerking indie flick to another. I don’t expect this to be the case at Frameline37, mostly due to the number of fun, gaytastic features like Hot Guys With Guns, The Gayanator, and this, director Darren Stein’s GBF, a high school comedy about gay BFF’s Brent and Tanner planning their epically glittery and homo-tacular coming out. Stein’s track record isn’t exactly glowing—his most notable film is 1999’s camp-trash Jawbreaker, which was absolutely destroyed by the critics—but honestly, I don’t care. I’m going into GBF (Gay Best Friend) looking to laugh my ass off so hard I spill my popcorn.

C.O.G.

Jonathan Groff stars as a cocksure city boy who travels from Connecticut to Oregon to get his hands dirty (for the first time) on an apple farm in C.O.G., the very first screen adaptation of a David Sedaris short story. Finally! Director Kyle Patrick Alvarez’s follow-up to his critically acclaimed debut Easier With Practice, C.O.G. has all the trappings of a typical indie flick—a lonely protagonist with a weird job in a small, church-going town, lots of pretty landscape shots, eccentric white people—but with the promise Alvarez showed in his debut, C.O.G. is likely to be another indie treasure.

The Campaign

Same-sex couples won the right to marry in California in 2008, but had their rights yanked away from them later that year in November when Proposition 8—a state constitutional amendment that states only a man and woman can marry—passed. The Campaign takes a close look at the fervent battle against Prop 8 by gay rights activists and supporters. The film also examines the history of the fight for gay rights from the ‘60s to now. Prop 8 has recently been challenged as unconstitutional, and the Supreme Court is reviewing Prop 8 at the time of this writing. The Supreme Court was expected to make a decision on gay marriage this past Monday. Their decision is now expected to be announced on Thursday, opening night of the festival. It’s hard to think of a time this film would be more relevant.

In the Name Of

In the Name Of is a Polish film about a priest wrestling with his homosexuality. One would think the premise would result in a scandalous, high-drama film, but from what I’ve heard, the film takes a disciplined approach. It won the Teddy award at the Berlin Film Festival for best LGBT feature and has been receiving a lot of praise for its beautiful cinematography. It’ll be interesting to see the controversial issue of church and homosexuality explored by Malgowska Szumowska, an Eastern European director.