Afternoon Greg: Spending my evenings at Outfest

Another afternoon blogging from LA’s Farmers Market.

I’m kind of sluggish from being out until near midnight after another Outfest double feature last night – this time at the Fairfax theater on Beverly.

It’s just a city block from my house but I was running late so I drove and parked at the CBS lot. It’s free but beware: after 9 p.m. you have to walk through the Beverly gate to retreive your car because the Faiurfax entrance gets locked. A large group of us learned this the hard way last night.

The movies I saw were a mixed bag last night. The first, the romantic comedy-drama Mr. Right was a lovely ensemble piece about a group of friends in the gay London enclave of SoHo and their love lives. It was really good! An attractive and talented cast and it had the feel of a studio film.

The film was written by David Morris and directed by his sister Jacqui Morris who attended the packed screening.

Jacqui told the audience after the market that her brother, who is gay, “knew there was a gap in the market for a gay film showing gay people having the same problems as anybody else – being gay was secondary. The biggest compliment that we’ve been getting … is that you actually do forget that the characters are gay. That’s what we set out to do.”

The siblings’ had never made a film before. Their backgrounds were in casting and in art direction but they had trouble finding investors for their movie. Still, they were undetered.

“We thought if we don’t put our hands in our pockets and fund it ourselves, we’re never going to do it so we sold our business and made Mr. Right,” she said.

Very inspiring!

**** I was joined by my pal Trevor Daley for the second film, the documentary College Boys Live. I have to admit that there were several points that I felt like walking out. It’s not that the film was not well-made, it was just that I found the subject – a group of young guys who live in  a house in front of a webcam 24-7 – very depressing.

They live rent-free with their only obligation being spending at least two hours a day live-chatting with members and, oh yeah, it’s also suggested that they be in the nude for the last half hour of that chat.

The guys who they focus on – troublemaker J.C., heartbreaker Tim and freshly out-of-the-closet Chuck – are from bad homes and really seem just a step away from making porn or living on the streets. By spending time with them, you see the product of drig addict or homophobic parents who leave these kids with no self-esteem and few coping mechanisms.

I found Zac, the man who runs the site and the house, to be particularly loathsome because in the documentary, he tries to come off as someone who is trying to help these boys make a better life for themselves when all he is doing ins exploiting them and making money off of them.

And don’t even get me started of the super-creepy Charlie, one of the online members who moves to Florida and ends up being a frequent visitor to the house. He is one of the creepiest people I’ve ever seen and I told Trevor I was afraid I would have nightmares about him!

TONIGHT’S OUTFEST SCHEDULE: I can heartily recommend tonight’s US Dramatic Centerpiece screening at DGA 1: Mississippi Damned. I’ve seen it and it is so well-written and well-acted and uncompromising.

Director Tina Mabry’s film tracks the monumental struggles of an African-American family over a span of several years as they get stuck in addiction, poverty and abuse. You will root for the character of Leigh who is musically gifted and dreams of getting away from the family to pursue her dreams.

I was very moved by this film.

I’m planning another double-header at the Fairfax kicking off at 7:15 p.m. with Make the Yuletide Gay which stars Adamo Ruggiero of TV’s Degrassi: The Next Generation. I’m very excited to see this movie with an audience. Last night I ran into Matthew Montgomery, one of the film’s producers and his boyfriend Steve Callahan who has a small role in the film and told them that I had a preview screener but my DVD player is not working properly so I was unable to watch it. Now I’m glad I waited.

Following Yuletide, I’ll stya put for the 9:45 p.m. screening of Lucky Bastard – a dark and provocative tale of seduction gone wrong.