Hookers and Blow

(The movie poster for Transamerica before all of Daphne's scenes ended up on the cutting room floor.)

The title of this post is the perfect description of my weekend. Don't get the wrong idea, darlings. It simply encompasses a few of the themes running through the movies that Velma and I watched this weekend at Out On Film: Atlanta's GLBT Film Festival.

First up, we attended the opening night gala's Transamerica. Felicity Huffman of Desperate Housewives fame shines in the lead role as a working class tranny about to have sex reassignment surgery to become a woman. Kevin Zegers, a long-time lust of mine from his days on the short-lived soap Titans, is surprisingly convincing as the son Felicity never knew she had. If you ever wondered what that kid from the Air Bud films would look like all grown up as a coke snorting street hustler, this is the movie for you. The film, written and directed by Duncan Tucker is a real crowd pleaser. And, don't be surprised if Emmy-winner Felicity adds Oscar nominee to her resume as a result of her fabulous work here. She had several queens in the audience sitting behind us convinced that a man had actually starred in the film. However, Duncan Tucker, who was there for a Q&A after the screening, explained that he wanted to use a woman in the role in order to honor the character's journey and what she was striving to become.

Saturday afternoon, Velma and I returned to the festival to enjoy Explorations - A Boys Shorts Program. My favorite entry in this program was Gold, a tidy little thriller about an aging and blind artist who uses the eyes of a coke snorting street hustler (notice any trends here?) to continue painting. While many short films fall prey to dumbing-down their storylines and relying on broad stereotypes to get their message across in a condensed timeframe, Gold took it's time unspooling its surprisingly deep tale and developing nuanced characters. The director Armen Kazazien is clearly a talent to watch.

The audience favorite of the short programs was definitely Ryan's Life. Apparently, this gay version of The Wonder Years has been picked up as an ongoing series by the Here network. I can see why. The cast was uniformly hilarious; especially the all-too-wise grandmother of the 16-year-old gay youth that the show revolves around. If they can keep the writing as sharp as this pilot, they might actually get me to tune into a sitcom again.

To hear more about our thoughts on the festival, stop by Drag-O-Drama and listen to our latest podcast, DOD#3: Transcendental Trip.

The next film on the agenda for us is the documentary, Gay Sex in the 70's on Wednesday. I just love educational films! After all, I'm much too young to remember what gay sex was like in the 70's. Maybe I can ask my older sister Pinkie all about it.

Smooches,
Daph