London Lesbian & Gay Film Festival 2009

Saturday, March 28, highlights

Schedule and synopses from the LLGFF website

Dolls

This debut feature from Karin Babinská is a beautifully made and poignant coming of age tale, about three best friends from high school embarking on their last summer together before going their separate ways at summer's end. Iska, struggling to understand her burgeoning sexuality and why she feels different from other girls, has been forced to join her little brother Vojta at a summer camp for athletes. Whilst he can back flip and somersault like a pro, the timid Iska can barely hold her own against a punch bag. When her two friends, flirtatious Karolína and homely Vendula, turn up to whisk her away to Holland for summer jobs there’s only one problem: Vojta insists on coming along with them. Before they even leave the camp tensions mount between the trio, with Karolína and Vendula competing for the attentions of a macho security guard and Iska looking on longingly at the pretty Karolína, her secret crush getting harder to conceal from her friend. The road trip begins to deteriorate when Vendula risks going off on her own, and the affection Karolína was so eager to give Iska when it suited her purposes is callously taken away. Teetering on the brink of adulthood, trying to discover and understand who they are, each young woman takes a step closer to growing up and finding their place in the world. For anyone who has harboured a secret love, remembers the agony and ecstasy of discovering their sexuality, and had teenage friends you just couldn’t live without, Dolls is the perfect embodiment of that time and those feelings. A richly layered and ultimately uplifting film. Emma Smart

I Could Go On Singing

A rare chance to see Judy's last film in which she plays singer Jenny Bowman, a character not a million miles away from the real Judy. It's a tour de force performance, even more compelling when one tries to discern where Judy ends and the neurotic lonely Jenny begins.

In London for a week long engagement at the Palladium Jenny looks up her old flame David Donne (a perfectly cast Dirk Bogarde) whose adopted son Matt is actually the boy Jenny gave up years ago. She's back to see her son and whisks him away from boarding school for a few magical days in London. In true melodramatic style things unravel quickly and Jenny is forced once more to make a heartbreaking choice.

As a swansong for the gay icon you couldn't ask for more, this is Judy's finest hour.

Patrik 1.5

Göran and Sven are a happily married couple. Living in the picturesque suburbs of Sweden, they just need one last thing to make their domestic bliss complete – a baby. When the prospect of adoption looks unlikely, they almost give up hope, until they receive an unexpected letter announcing they are to be given a child. Unfortunately for Göran and Sven, a typo means the one and a half year old baby they are expecting turns out to be a 15-year-old homophobic tearaway named Patrik. Full of witty perceptions on suburban life, director Ella Lemhagen handles the material with an immaculate eye for detail and a sly visual humour, resulting in a more discerning and thought-provoking experience than the original set up might first imply. Effortlessly finding the balance between comedy and drama, Patrik 1.5 is a joyful and unashamedly feel-good treat. Michael Blyth

Twice a Man

Twice A Man is a fragmented re-imagining of the Greek myth of Hippolytus, who was killed after rejecting the advances of his stepmother. Markopoulos' vision transposes the legend to 1960s New York and has its main character abandon his mother for an elder man. Employing sensuous use of colour, the film radicalised narrative construction with its mosaic of 'thought images' that shift tenses and compress time.

One of the touchstones of independent filmmaking, Twice A Man was made in the same remarkable milieu as Scorpio Rising and Flaming Creatures by a filmmaker named ‘the American avant-garde cinema's supreme erotic poet' by its key critic P. Adams Sitney.

"Lucky Dip"

Powerful narrative shorts with a broad appeal.

The Postcard
Korea 2007. Dir Josh Kim. 15min.
Sending anonymous declarations of love on a postcard seemed like a good idea to hook the postman.

Wrestling
Iceland 2007. Dir Grímur Hákonarson. 21min.
A pair of wrestlers grapple with desire and each other.

The Chef's Letter
UK 2007. Dir Sybil Mair. 15min.
A chef is overwhelmed by unrequited love.

Three Summers (above)
Denmark 2006. Dir Carlos Oliveira. 28min.
Three summer holidays reveal three stages in a relationship for Jorgen and Thomas.

The Devil's Cleavage

As a companion piece to the documentary on the Kuchar Brothers It Came from Kuchar, the LLGFF presents a special late-night screening of George Kuchar’s celebrated cult classic, The Devil’s Cleavage. An influence to filmmakers such as John Waters and Guy Maddin – as well as amateurs everywhere – The Devil’s Cleavage is Kuchar’s delightfully anarchic, hilarious, and low-budget feature tribute to his favorite commercial genre, the 1940s and 1950s Hollywood melodrama. Mocking a vast array of cinematic references, the master of camp excess takes on the weepie! Kuchar’s eccentric collection of friends and film misfits star in the film, including the late gay filmmaker (and Kuchar's Thundercrack! collaborator) Curt McDowell as Frank. Unavailable on DVD and rarely screened in cinemas, this is a London event not to be missed! Kyle Stephan

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