DVD Reviews
Role/Play
I understand that good movies, or great movies, should shed wisdom … or intellectually resolve a societal misdeed … or present a revelation to ill-represented righteousness, but there is a fine line between one of these and that of plainly using a film as a personal soap box. Writer/director Rob Williams’ (Make the Yuletide Gay) newest flick, Role/Play, has plenty of, if not too much, substance — as if you are actually attending a stuffy socio-political debate on Capitol Hill for nearly an hour and a half. The only respite to the long-winded debates, here, is that they are done so in Speedos around a pool or tangled up in bed sheets.
The movie stars Steve Callahan (East Side Story) and Matthew Montgomery (Pornography: A Thriller), who are in a real-life relationship.
Graham (Callahan) is a recently Internet-outed soap opera star, and Trey (Montgomery) is a well-known West Hollywood marriage equality activist whose marriage to his long-time partner is on the road to divorce because of Trey’s infidelity. Graham and Trey’s mutual public scrutiny compels harborage at a small, private Palm Springs resort, to lick their wounds. From their first encounter poolside, Graham and Trey’s relationship sways from spats over community responsibilities to frivolous apologies aimed only to result in a roll in the hay … or in their case, “a lot of cups of coffee.”
One of Trey’s many diatribes throughout the film is the disintegration of national gay media because of it’s change to featuring more prominent straight allies to increase advertising revenue. To which Graham asks: “You’re actually blaming Kylie Minogue for gay bookstores closing?”
To buffer their many arguments are the resort’s owner Alex (David Pevsner) and the ‘invisible’ guest next door, Ricky (Brian Nolan), both who offer two-dollar, sanctimonius advice.
Callahan and Montgomery give decent performances, though Montgomery sometimes doesn’t quite know what to do with his hands. The script is uninspiring and preachy at times. Overall, Role/Play neither sheds wisdom nor resolve; it does however conjure a wonder if Callahan and Montgomery should remain a real-life couple.
Release Date: Feb. 8, $15.99,
tlavideo.com
A Marine Story
On the tail end of the repeal of the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell military policy prohibiting openly serving as a homosexual, god speed, comes writer/director Ned Farr’s drama A Marine Story. Set in a conservative, rural California town in 2008, this gritty, well-written story won a Best Feature award at the Outfest at Los Angeles film festival.
Alexandra (Dreya Weber) is a hard-nosed, unabated four-time deployee to Iraq, with a stoic demeanor and a man’s elocution: “I gotta use the head.” When her sexuality comes into question after e-mails sent from a supposed ex-girlfriend to her ranking officer, she faces a charge of Conduct Unbecoming an Officer. As a wife in a marriage of convenience, Alexandra’s only saving grace, according to the military, is proof of adultery, which outweighs the proof of homosexuality — it’s “the lesser of two evils.”
She leaves the service before the hearing, under an honorable discharge, and returns to her hometown, unsure of what to do next. When her military training kicks in and she single-handedly takes down a shoplifting couple, she apprenhensively becomes a military mentor to the 20-year old woman, Saffron (Paris Pickard). As Alexandra prepares the young woman for boot camp, she also attempts to reconcile her sexuality while fending off local homophobes and meth addicts … a new battlefield?
Weber’s performance is sound and believable as she struggles between the life she loves as a servicemember and her sexuality.
My one fault with the film is the abrupt ending, which feels like it was tacked on at the last moment.
Release Date: Mar. 15, $19.95,
wolfevideo.com
(There is a free screening of A Marine Story Feb. 14, 7 p.m., at the Tower Theatre, 876 E. 900 South.)