Now playing or opening soon
The Holy Girl (now
playing, limited): When a man who brushes up
against teenage Amalia sexually in public starts to
date her mother, Amalia decides he must be
saved--apparently, by placing herself in tempting
proximity to him again and again. There's a
hint of lesbian subtext. Executive-produced by Pedro
and Agustin Almodovar (among others). (Fine
Line) Queer Quotient: 2
Mysterious Skin
(now playing): (Tartan USA/TLA) Queer Quotient: 9
Mad Hot Ballroom
(now playing, limited): This crowd-pleaser about
the thousands of New York City fourth- and
fifth-graders who take part in an intensely competitive
ballroom competition--sort of a
Spellbound with music--is great fun. The
finale might have been scripted by Hollywood.
(Paramount Classics) Queer Quotient: 2
Ma Mere (May
13, New York City, Los Angeles): Isabelle Huppert
plays a widow who decides to introduce her 17-year-old
son (Louis Garrel, The Dreamers) into the
pleasures of sex via her old girlfriend, and then her new
girlfriend, and then a little group orgy with some
sadomasochism on the side. Rated NC-17.
(TLA) Queer Quotient: 8
Fixing Frank (May
20, Los Angeles): Out actor Dan Butler
(Fraiser) stars as Dr. Arthur Apsey, a
whip-smart psychologist who specializes in
"reparative therapy" for gays. Frank (Andrew
Elvis Miller) is posing as a patient to try to expose
Apsey as a fraud, but it's soon devilishly
unclear who is using whom. Queer Quotient: 9
Julie Johnson (May
25, limited): Lili Taylor plays a wife and mom
who takes a night class in computer science and finds
she has a real gift--not to mention a real
attraction to her best pal (Courtney Love). Shot five years
ago. (Regent) Queer Quotient: 7
Saving Face (May
27, limited): Out writer-director Alice Wu's festival
favorite is a low-key charmer about a Chinese-American
lesbian (Michelle Krusiec) and her sternly traditional
widowed mother (Joan Chen). Mom's authority
falters when she shows up pregnant and refuses to say who
the father is. (Sony Pictures Classics)
Queer Quotient: 8
June
High Tension (June
3): Classic '70s slasher films are given
an intelligent but tense update with this French
horror film set in a deserted farmhouse. When high
schooler Marie spies on pal Alexia in the shower, you know
the boogeyman can't be far away. (Lions
Gate) Queer Quotient: 6
Lords of Dogtown
(June 3): Hot dudes abound in this fictionalized
yarn about the California surfers who turned
skateboarding into the coolest sport in the country. With
Johnny Knoxville and Heath Ledger in supporting roles.
(Columbia TriStar) Queer Quotient: 2
The Adventures of Shark
Boy & Lava Girl (June 10): Queer
kids will easily identify with this 3-D family film from
writer-director Robert Rodriguez (Sin City, Spy
Kids)--the story of a 10-year-old loner who spends
the summer alone with his imaginary friends.
(Dimension/Columbia TriStar) Queer Quotient: 2
(for that title alone)
Heights (June 10,
limited): (Sony Pictures Classics)
Queer Quotient: 5
Mr. and Mrs. Smith
(June 10): A married couple--both secretly
professional assassins--are bored with their
life until each gets an assignment to kill the other.
Not queer, but it's got Brad Pitt for the guys and
Angelina Jolie for the gals. (20th Century Fox)
Queer Quotient: 1
Batman Begins
(June 17): The Dark Knight has always had a
homoerotic undercurrent--and Joel
Schumacher's Batman & Robin proved
that "under" is where it should stay. This
reimagining of Batman's early years stars
Christian Bale as the comic-book hero. 'Nuff
said. (Warner Bros.) Queer Quotient: 2
My Summer of Love
(June 17): (Focus) Queer Quotient: 10
Bewitched (June
24): Only a John Waters could come close to the
queer quotient of TV's Bewitched, thanks
to Paul Lynde, Dick Sargent, and the imperious Agnes
Moorehead. This movie has a game cast--Nicole
Kidman, Will Ferrell, Shirley MacLaine as Endora, and
Amy Sedaris as nosy neighbor Gladys Kravitz--and a
very meta plot, about the filming of a
Bewitched remake in which they've
unintentionally cast a real witch, but the camp factor
seems low. (Columbia) Queer Quotient: 3
Herbie: Fully
Loaded (June 24): (Buena Vista)
Queer Quotient: 5
Rize (June
24): Legendary out photographer David LaChapelle
focuses his video camera on the dance craze called
"krumping." None of the African-American
subjects comes out, but the street choreography is
exhilarating--and may go further into the mainstream
than vogueing. (Lions Gate) Queer Quotient: 1
Tropical Malady (June
29, limited): This arty Thai
critics' favorite delicately limns the growing
affection between a relatively worldly soldier and the
younger farm boy he romances. Then the movie literally
stops and begins anew, retelling a mythic tale about a
wild beast and the hunter who must kill it or be
devoured by it. (Strand) Queer Quotient: 4
July
Fantastic Four (July
8): More comic-book queer subtext, this time in
the form of an alternative family: the Thing, Mr.
Fantastic, the Invisible Woman, and the Human Torch.
(20th Century Fox) Queer Quotient: 3
Charlie and the Chocolate
Factory (July 15): Out screenwriter
John August reportedly insists he'd never seen the
Gene Wilder version before adapting the Roald Dahl classic
into a new vehicle for director Tim Burton, starring
Johnny Depp and Freddie Highmore (Finding
Neverland) as Charlie. In previews, Depp's
Anna Wintour look makes pirate Jack Sparrow seem positively
butch. (Warner Bros.) Queer Quotient: 4
Happy Endings (July 15,
limited): Writer-director Don Roos returns to the
loopy comic terrain of The Opposite of Sex with this
freewheeling comedy. Steve Coogan plays the unwitting
father of Lisa Kudrow's
child--he's now teamed with his lover (David
Sutcliffe) in a fight with lesbian friends who may be
hiding the fact that the men's sperm donation
actually was successful. Then it gets really crazy.
(Lions Gate) Queer Quotient: 8
Three Dancing Slaves
(July 22, New York City, Los Angeles):
Gael Morel (the pillow-lipped star of Wild
Reeds) cowrites and directs this erotic French story of
three brothers. The middle child thinks he might be
attracted to older ex-con Christophe, and the youngest
knows he's attracted to his best friend. All
shot in the most deliriously sexy style since Beau
Travail. (TLA) Queer Quotient: 8
The Reception (July 29, limited):
Parallel Sons director John G. Young returns with a
look at a dysfunctional couple putting together a
party to celebrate their daughter's marriage.
When groom and father-in-law become sexually
embroiled, there's bound to be some awkwardness at
the punch bowl. (Strand) Queer Quotient: 8
Ethan Mao (July, New
York City, Los Angeles): Quentin
Lee's third film combines the tragic characters of
Thomas Hardy and the love-drunk figures of Kar Wai
Wong in a thriller modeled on Hitchcock. Its hustler
hero, with his drug-dealing boyfriend, impulsively
takes his own family hostage overnight while trying to
reclaim his belongings. (Margin) Queer
Quotient: 9
August and after
Formula 17 (August, New
York City, Los Angeles): This swoony
romantic comedy with a gay spin that became a box-office hit
in Taiwan. Seventeen-year-old sweetheart Tien heads to the
big city of Taipei for the summer and immediately
catches the eye of the biggest playboy heartthrob in
town. It's all very innocent, so don't
expect anything more explicit than the latest issue of
Tiger Beat. (Strand) Queer
Quotient: 7
The Dukes of Hazzard
(August 5): Not gay and yet extremely gay. Now a
new generation can yee-haw it up with Bo (Seann
William Scott), Luke (Johnny Knoxville), and Daisy
(Jessica Simpson). With Burt Reynolds as Boss Hogg. (Warner
Bros.) Queer Quotient: 2
Valiant (August
19): Rupert Everett is one of the voices in this
all-star cast of actors giving wing to an animated
tale about the derring-do of British carrier pigeons
during World War II. (Buena Vista) Queer
Quotient: 2
Asylum (August 19,
limited): Sir Ian McKellen is the voice of reason
in this drama set in an insane asylum, with Natasha
Richardson as the wife of the new head who quickly
finds herself falling for one of the inmates. (Paramount
Classics) Queer Quotient: 2
Hardcore (August, New
York City, Los Angeles): Two runaway
teenage girl prostitutes in Greece find shelter and
tenderness in each other's arms--and revenge in
a series of brutal murders. Don't expect a
happy ending. (Strand) Queer Quotient: 8
Dorian Blues (September
2; New York City, Los Angeles): This fest
fave follows the neurotic adventures of gay teen Dorian
(Michael McMillian), who comes out to his parents with
deflating results. Undeterred, he heads to New York,
where his Woody Allen-ish dreams of being a
writer smack up against reality. (TLA) Queer
Quotient: 9
Cote d'Azur
(September 9, New York City, Los Angeles):
The codirectors of The Adventures of Felix
return with a frothy comedy that would set even
Kinsey's head spinning. During a family seaside
holiday the teenage son is bonded tight to his best
friend, who is in love with him, while Mom and Dad have
their own secrets. Then the son's pal meets a
hot plumber in the dunes, and things get really
farcical. (Strand) Queer Quotient: 10