Friday, April 6 - Thursday, April 12 GYPSY BOYS
It's finally here! Fresh from its success at gay and lesbian festivals around the world, Gypsy Boys returns to its hometown for its World Theatrical Premiere! Dennis Harvey, in the Bay Guardian, sez: "Sort of Groove goes to the Stud, Brian Shepp's local feature is a breezy look at the lives of some young, gorgeous, variably slutty, and invariably high lads orbiting around the Castro and its clubland satellites. The large ensemble of cuties is divided into two camps: those Looking for Love and those Looking for Lube. Naturally the former lot are hopelessly stuck on the flighty representatives of the latter category. Gypsy Boys is good fun nicely handled: a colorful, fast-paced, affectionate and funny insiders look at a whole sceneful of Peter Pans in full flight!" Now, imagine how George Cukor might have done The Women with all gay men (with a sidelong glance at Tales of the City) and you'll be prepared. The film bursts with local actors whom you've undoubtedly seen cruising the Castro, with stand-out performances from Adam Gavner and Alberto Rosas. Written and directed by Brian Shepp. In Color. 35mm. 103 mins. 2000. World Theatrical Premiere. NIGHTLY at 7:00 and 9:15; SAT, SUN, WED matinees at 2:00 and 4:30. Director and cast members in person opening night!
Friday, April 13 - Thursday, April 19
WADD WADD: The Life and Times of John C. Holmes
In the history of adult cinema no mane is better known than that of John C. Holmes. WADD is a documentary that explores the many facets of the life and world of this pop-culture icon. From his childhood in rural Ohio to his death from AIDS, this film unravels the myths surrounding Holmes and lays bare the darker side of his persona. The film is told through the recollections of those people Holmes left permanent marks on. His first wife of 19 years, who married him when he was still under age, and that no one in the porn world knew existed. His 15 year-old mistress, who he pimped for drugs and money; the police detectives who investigated the murder in which Holmes was the primary suspect; a multitude of fellow adult actors and actresses, as well as historians, friends an filmmakers. The reinvention of self, the rags to riches and ultimate self-destruction could be reduced to cliché, but when sex, drugs, a sociopathic mind and a 13-inch penis are thrown in, the story is far from cliché. Produced and directed by Cass Paley. In Color. 110 mins. 2000. WEST COAST THEATRICAL PREMIERE! NIGHTLY at 7:00 and 9:30; SAT, SUN, WED matinees at 2:00 and 4:30.
The Life and Times of John C. Wadd
Friday, April 20 - Thursday, April 26
Night Waltz:
The Music of Paul Bowles
Local filmmaker Owsley Brown's splendid new documentary peers into the fascinating world of Paul Bowles; author, expatriate and spiritual forefather of the Beat generation, concentrating on Bowles's music, an important part of the man's career that's usually glossed over. Throughout the 1930s and '40s-long before moving to Tangier and establishing himself as a novelist with The Sheltering Sky-Bowles was a key part of New York's musical avant garde. He wrote short, deceptively simple compositions that often accompanied cutting edge plays, ballets and films. Bowles scored many of Tennessee Williams's greatest successes, as well as a number of productions for Orson Welles and John Houseman. In interview footage shot just before Bowles's death in 1999, he discusses the makings of his own musical career; an isolated childhood; a revelation upon hearing Stravinsky's Firebird at age 12; a brief visit to Paris and the salon of Gertrude Stein; study under the tutelage of Aaron Copland. But the real heart of the film is the music itself-try to imagine a combination of Erik Satie, Stravinsky and American jazz. It's a generous sampling of songs, nocturnes and piano pieces set to a series of beautifully rendered "visual essays"-vintage footage culled from the work of the late independent filmmaker Rudy Burckhardt, which serves as the perfect visual counterpart to Bowles's charmingly modern sounds. Edited by Nathaniel Dorsky. Directed by Owsley Brown. In Color and B&W. 16mm. 80 mins. 2000. USA. West Coast Theatrical Premiere! NIGHTLY at 6:00, 8:00 and 10:00; SAT, SUN, WED matinees at 2:00 and 4:00.
Check out the offical website at Nightwaltz.com
Friday, April 27 - Sunday, May 6
Midnights Only: Friday, May 11, Saturday, May 12
Three days after Baise-moi opened in Paris cinemas, it was yanked from the screens and slapped with an X-rating (porno), confining it to exhibition in sex shops. An adaptation of Virginie Despantes' best-selling 1995 novel, Baise-moi has blasted open once again the old debate about pornography, violence, female sexuality and the division between words (where graphic representation is apparently acceptable) and cinematic images. The plot is a twisted spin on the Thelma and Louise formula: two women on the road. One of them has been toughened by her vagabond life, and the other violently raped. But they aren't fleeing anything in particular; aimless and pissed off, they're just hanging out. As they fall into friendship, Baise-moi sends the women on a bender of anarchic and amoral "GRAPHIC, HARDCORE, the most ungussied expression of
female sexual rage ever thrown up on the screen!"
--ENERTAINMENT WEEKLY " THREE STARS! Baise-moi earns its place as the most shocking movie to play these parts since Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer. Directed with energy and verve…. Baise-moi is a tough film to sit through, but it deserves a look-see by discerning, open-minded adults in the mood for something risky and different. "THREE STARS! We can get excited that the adult grenre has received such an invigorating jump start! -- Jeffrey M. Anderson, San Francisco Examiner "It's already been banned in France-which takes some doing.
Baise-Moi is a genuinely primitive mongrel movie: equal parts
exploitation flick, art film and porn video. The floodgates may be
about to open on a new breed of film, and for this Baise-Moi may
be remembered perhaps even more than Blair Witch or anything
done by Lars von Trier."-Gavin Smith, FILM COMMENT "BAISE MOI should be seen because it's a challenging, important
film, both politically and aesthetically."-KAY ARMATAGE, Toronto
International Film Festival & Professor of Women's
Studies and Cinema Studies at Univ. Toronto. "Fully cocked mankillers-on-the-road movie Baise-Moi may just be
too hot for France!"-Susan Gerhard, SAN FRANCISCO BAY GUARDIAN "An unflinchingly graphic onslaught of sucking, fucking and
shooting!"-SAN FRANCISCO WEEKLY "Baise-Moi plays a risky game with the audience in alternating
hardcore sex scenes with violence. It's hard not to feel voyeuristic,
even complicit in what transpires on screen. The film's ability to
foster this complicity in the viewer makes it a disturbing but
worthwhile ride."-Gary Morris, Bay Area Reporter (San Francisco) "Thelma & Louise meets hardcore porn…the film succeeds far better than
others of its kind, such as Romance and Lies. Baise-Moi breaks new ground
simply by showing hardcore sex within a standard pulp story. It will be the
center of discussion for some time."-SAN FRANCSICO EXAMINER "Several hundred people watched BAISE MOI at the (Toronto) Festival this
September. Some of them were appalled by the film, and certainly might have felt
that certain images went "too far." These people left the theater in shock, just as
others left the theater excited, moved, or completely neutral. All these people were
trusted with making up their own minds. This is how civilized, democratic societies
work."-ATOM EGOYAN, director of "The Sweet Hereafter" "BAISE MOI may be just too hot for France...or too violent, or maybe too pronographic, or just too female..." -- Susan Gehard, S.F. Bay Guardian.
fucking and killing. The lead actors come from the porn trade and visceral, unquestionably real sexual acts are central to the narrative. But Baise-moi adds guns, as they avenge themselves against anything socially or economically dominant, anything that wipes out or asphyxiates. And although mainstream cinematic violence apparently enjoys no limits, the specifically vengeful killings in this film seem to be cause for scandal when combined with women and sex. Marking a new frontier of realist representation of women's transgressive psycho-sexuality, Baise-moi is an audacious and challenging film. Not just a provocation, it is a revolt-against Puritanism, against the hypocrisy of public morality, against the prevailing order of tasteful aesthetics, against efforts to contain excess. Baise-moi is in your face-abrasive, gritty and disturbing. Starring Raffaella Anderson, Karen Bach. Written and directed by Virginie Despentes and Coralie Trinh Thi. In Color. 35mm. 76 mins. 2000. France. In French, with English subtitles. U.S. THEATRICAL PREMIERE! NIGHTLY at 6:00, 8:00 and 10:00; SAT, SUN and WED matinees at 2:00 and 4:00. NOTE: THIS FILM CONTAINS PROLONGED SEX SCENES OF AN EXPLICIT NATURE AND SCENES OF GRAPHIC VIOLENCE WHICH SOME VIEWERS MAY FIND SHOCKING AND DISTURBING. Check out the website at baisemoithemovie.com.
-- Glenn Lovell, San Jose Mercury News.
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