As an example of the dangers of crossing languages, this year’s inaugural gay movie award at Cannes is to be called the Queer Palm; an unfortunate title for anyone offended by the notion that being gay equals a limp wrist.
On the plus side, there’s some promising gay themed movies and shorts showing at this month’s film festival which the organisers of this unofficial award – recognising a movie for its contribution to lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender themes – might consider.
Gay movie wunderkind Xavier Dolan is back to split opinion again with his latest directing effort. Hot on the heels of I Killed My Mother comes Heartbeats (Les Amours Imaginaires), starring Xavier himself as the gay third of a sexy, young ménage à trois.
Still only 21, French-Canadian Dolan appears to have matured creatively since his last movie and the trailer looks cool and chic in a very Français way.
Also showing in the ‘Un Certain Regard’ section at Cannes is Lodge Kerrigan’s Rebecca H. (Return to the Dogs), which is rumoured to be about Jefferson Airplane singer and psychedelic 60′s swinger, Grace Slick’s relationship with a female groupie.
Cult gay director Gregg Araki is showing his new movie, Kaboom. With a title like that and the description, “a wild and sex-drenched horror-comedy thriller,” don’t expect anything too subtle with this True Blood-esque tale of a bisexual college freshman (Thomas Dekker) in small town who witnesses a murder, or does he?…
Araki’s track record (Mysterious Skin, Totally F***ed Up, The Living End) has made him an important figure in gay cinema and this one is definitely worth checking out, especially if it sees him treading sci-fi/fantasy territory.
And finally (for now) no gay movie award contention would be complete without a James Franco project. His third short movie as director might not have the naked basketball players of The Feast of Stephen, but it still centres around a gay character, this time a gentlemen’s clothing store assistant. The Clerk’s Tale is based upon a poem of the same name by Spencer Reece.
Winner of The Queer Palm will be announced on 22 May.
