MQFF eXtra Festival Report 2: Pitch Perfect Programming
From October 4th to 6th, inside Melbourne’s wonderful Cinema Nova, the inaugural MQFF eXtra took place, highlighting some of the best LGBTQ films from around the world. Some were 2019 favourites such as the Kristen Stewart and Chloë Sevigny vehicle, Lizzie. Others like the opening night movie, Pain and Glory, were yet to be released films, that are sure to become future favourites.
Pedro Almodovar’s film is the Spanish director at his most personal, and perhaps also his best. The Antonio Banderas performance at the centre of Pain and Glory, as an aging director struggling with professional and private problems, is certainly one of his best. It’s one of the great central performances of the year, and thankfully the film around it matches it. This piece of Spanish magic kicked off the festivities and for next three nights and two days they didn’t let up.
The Documentaries Take Centre Stage
On the Saturday the two shorts programmes, Guy on Guy Shorts and Girl on Girl Shorts were screened for the public. I reviewed some of the wonderful inclusions in these programmes in Report 1.
Hidden in the Guy on Guy shorts collection was the heart-warming documentary short Rick, about a gay, deaf adult porn actor. It’s a fascinating insight into a world many know little about, and we get such a unique view through the eyes of Rick. It’s a tale of liberation, about a man finding freedom and a form of expression through porn. There is no judgement in the camera. Rick is shot like a sports star training and then a musician getting ready for a gig, helping to normalise something that is too often dismissed by the general public. Rick is genuinely a lovely little short, shot with such care and attention.
In its companion programme, Girl on Girl Shorts, was A Great Ride, a charming short documentary that shines a light on different groups of lesbians across America growing old together. The women have found love and companionship in the communities they have built. Some have even set out to create their own utopian paradise away from society. It’s a film about people whose stories very rarely get heard, despite the fact they’ve often got the most stories to tell of anyone. It’s a worthy topic, and a film worthy of it.
The festival continued its strong non-fiction showing with the feature documentary, Seahorse. The film follows trans man Freddie McConnell’s journey as he attempts to become a parent. Director Jeanie Finlay was given seemingly unparalleled access to McConnell’s life, and delves deep into the journey that Freddie is on. There is nothing hidden here, this is a document of the truth laid bare. The deep complexities of Freddie’s story are never shied away from. It really is quite remarkable in its honesty.
It is a fascinating story handled with great nuance by director Finlay, that just highlights the incredible bravery and courage of the man at the centre of it all.
A Family Connection
Sunday’s festivities kicked off with another documentary, this time Netflix’s Circus of Books. The film tells the story of Karen and Barry Mason, the married Jewish couple who have been running the iconic gay porn store, Circus of Books, for more than 35 years. The film director is in fact the pair’s daughter Rachel Mason, and it benefits greatly from this family dynamic.
Both Karen and Barry are interviewed as are their adult children, friends and employees. It really helps that the duo at the heart of it are such likeable and interesting people. Their characters really shine through in the film, and they are a constant source of humour and emotion. We also hear the story of their own son’s experience coming out to his parents and the anxieties he still felt despite their profession. The complexities of Karen’s orthodox Jewish faith and her reaction to her son’s sexuality are handled extremely well in the film.
Director Rachel Mason does a great job in general of giving enough time to each of the many threads of the documentary. For instance, Mason does well to portray the importance the store began to garner in the gay community at the time, with first-hand accounts of many customers who enjoyed the delights of the store and the friendships they made through it.
These experiences are intersected with the couple’s journey, through a crackdown in the Reagan era and the 90s AIDS epidemic, right up to the current state of the business as it enters its final days. It’s a complete and utterly compelling history told succinctly in one brilliant, and at times, hilarious, film.
Like so many of the stories on show at the festival, the personal nature of Circus of Books, really helps to elevate it from something good, to something great. This is definitely one to seek out.
Teenage Turmoil
The penultimate film of the festival was Giant Little Ones, the story of two best friends since childhood, Franky (Josh Wiggins) and Ballas (Darren Mann), who are left to question their relationship after an intimate experience on the night of Franky’s 17thbirthday.
This Canadian coming of age drama doesn’t get off to the best start. The first ten minutes are too disjointed, with the editing scattershot and the thudding score unbearable. The story threatens to tip quickly into tele-movie theatrics. However, all of the sudden, the film takes a breath and reconsiders its course, and from then on Giant Little Ones is an enjoyable, if not exactly brilliant, teenage tale.
The visuals are nothing spectacular, but the acting helps lift the film up somewhat, especially with the introduction of the always fantastic Kyle MacLachlan as Franky’s gay father, Ray. The young cast at the heart of the film are solid too, with Wiggins, Mann, and Taylor Hickson as Ballas’ younger sister Natasha, as particular standouts.
Writer and director Keith Behrman has tried his hardest to lead the story away from the obvious and clichéd path here, and for the most part succeeds. The issues that the different characters face are dealt with genuinely and carefully, successfully avoiding soap opera hysterics.
Giant Little Ones doesn’t exactly break the mould, but it certainly takes steps in that direction. Teenage audiences will likely find a lot to connect to in these characters, and in that way, the film has done its job.
A Short, Sweet Success
As Sunday drew to a close, the festival ended on a high note, with the immense Portrait of a Lady on Fire. It was a real showstopper that brought the house down. A great choice to close the festival. Read my full review of Céline Sciamma’s masterpiece here.
This festival was essentially an experiment by the team behind the MQFF, testing the water to garner the public’s reaction. It’s safe to say that it seriously paid off. The team orchestrated an eclectic programme, a perfect brew of big hitters and charming indies, and as a result the screenings were abuzz with expectation and often filled to the brim. Roll on the 30thedition of the Melbourne Queer Film Festival in 2020.
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