AndyMangels.com: JUST OUT Information

The Revolution Will Be Digitized: DVD Films Are Expanding the Gay and Lesbian Film World      Hollywood studios and independent film companies are increasingly targeting gay and lesbian consumers, upping the number of queer characters on television and in films. As a result, there are an increasing number of choices at the video store. And now, a new technology that can add even more queer content to the viewing experience is catching on in homo households: DVD movies and players.

     Teri Inman, lesbian co-owner of Portland-based electronics store Stereotypes, says she sees "more lesbians buying them than gay men," though both groups are buying DVDs more than heterosexual shoppers. Although her store has only carried DVD players for a year, it now offers five models.

     "I would imagine within the next year, it will probably go to 10," says Inman, who notes that the players range in price from $149 to $1,200.

     Though the first DVD players were released in Japan in late 1996, the majority of discs and players have been released within the last year. Currently, more than 100 gay-and-lesbian-themed DVDs are available on the market, with more released each month.

     So, what is a DVD? The acronym stands for digital versatile disc, and it's a CD-sized silver or gold disc that stores video and audio images that can be played back in an unprecedented crisp fashion.

     "Like CDs are to music, DVDs are to films," says Ron Rich, publisher of the quarterly DVD Guide. "It basically has replaced what was the highest quality home video device [the laserdisc]. It is clearly the best medium for appreciating home video entertainment."

     What makes DVDs so special? An improvement over VHS video, the picture and audio are recorded digitally, which results in almost crystal-clear images and sound. Additionally, most DVDs present the film in "widescreen" format (meaning that you see it the way you would in a theater) instead of using the half-the-picture-is-missing "pan and scan" method of preparing films for video and television.

     Most DVDs also feature a lot of extras, including director and star audio commentaries that can be played over the film, isolated music scores, outtakes, uncensored footage, behind-the-scenes clips, alternate endings, music videos, foreign language subtitles and more.

     "I didn't know what I was missing before I got my DVD player," enthuses Rick Spencer, owner of Portland's Gai-Pied bookstore. "My partner likes the letterboxed aspect of the films, and I like the quality of the picture, as well as the behind-the-scenes supplements."

     Spencer's store carries about 40 DVDs for rental, mostly gay male-oriented, though he has a few women's titles, and more available to order. He notes that the DVDs, which generally carry a lower price than videos, "sell more than they rent, but the rentals are really starting to pick up." Gai-Pied also sells and rents a line of adult-oriented erotic DVDs, some of which offer the option of multiple camera angles!

     When Mike Clark, owner of Movie Madness, opened his Southeast Portland video store 10 years ago, he initially had 20 queer titles; that number has risen to somewhere between 400 and 500 videos and a growing group of DVDs. Although his store mainly has the more popular titles on DVD, Clark notes that he is "beefing them up.… As they become available, I will get them." He sees that DVD will be "broadening and expanding and becoming something of the future that a lot of people will be turning over to."

     So what's out there, and what are the extras? This is the first installment of reviews of DVDs with a Q quotient.

Relax... It's Just Sex
     This film follows multiple couples-straight, lesbian and gay-as well as a gay man looking for Mr. Right, a bisexual woman unsure of what she wants, and a gay man just diagnosed with AIDS. An incredible movie, Relax…It's Just Sex starts out quite funny, but toward the middle of the film something bone-chilling and shocking happens, altering all expectations. The ensemble cast dissects everything from monogamy to spirituality, from revenge to the government's involvement in the AIDS crisis. This is a lot of ground to cover in one story, but it is done superbly. Ultimately uplifting and tremendously well-acted, this film will make you cheer, cry and truly think.

     The DVD is the unrated director's cut and features bonus footage and outtakes.

Better Than Chocolate
     A pixyish young lesbian bookstore clerk meets the girl of her dreams, but her mother and brother have just arrived to live with her in a borrowed loft. While the two women keep their affair uncomfortably quiet, a transgendered woman struggles to love the butch dyke bookstore owner, who is having her own battles with Canadian customs. Gorgeously filmed and warmly funny, this film from British Columbia hits all the right notes, including an erotic body-painting session and a too-real confrontation between an angry lesbian and the transgendered woman.

     The DVD version of Better Than Chocolate features a commentary track and the director's cut of the film.

Happy, Texas
     Two convicts break out of prison and hijack the motor home-and identities-of a pair of gay guys who produce children's beauty pageants. Unfortunately, once they reach Happy, Texas, they must fulfill their roles or face getting caught. This incredibly funny comedy may sound anti-gay, but Happy, Texas constantly plays with the idea that the two men are gaining acceptance from rednecks just by being out. And William H. Macy, as the town's sheriff, has his own coming out to do in scenes that will break your heart and make you cheer.

     With director's commentary, music videos, a making-of featurette, outtakes, plus interviews, this DVD gets a strong recommendation.

Like It Is
     A bare-knuckle fighter from Blackpool comes to London to explore his feelings, and he soon gets involved with an ambitious club promoter and record producer. The two young men defy the odds against them in their relationship-vastly different backgrounds, back-biting friends and no-refusal offers-but the boxer's struggle with his own identity threatens to destroy him. Roger Daltrey of the Who plays a wickedly bitchy role as a club owner in this daring British film, which revels in contrasting grime and poverty with drugs and dance clubs.

     For the DVD, the cast is interviewed and so is the director, who reveals that the film is based on sexual escapades in his own past.

Bound
     The team behind The Matrix also created this oh-so-stylish thriller about a tough female ex-con (Gina Gershon) who gets involved with the mistress (Jennifer Tilly) of a powerful mobster (Joe Pantoliano). The two women must learn to trust each other to pull off a dangerous scheme to steal $2 million in mob money, but deadly complications arise.

     Not for the prudish, the unrated DVD version of Bound includes a few seconds more of the steamy sex scene between the two female leads, as well as revealing audio commentary from the two directors and Pantoliano-and famed bisexual author Susie Bright.

Defying Gravity
     Griff is a popular frat guy who has a big secret: He's in love with ex-frat brother Pete. As Griff struggles to come to grips with his queer identity, Pete is gay-bashed and Griff must make some tough decisions. Will his best friend stand by him or dump him when he finds out the truth? This coming-out film deals solely with friendships-family takes a very secondary role-and although we might feel we've seen it (or lived it) before, it's well-acted and worth a look.

     A special isolated soundtrack on the DVD version of Defying Gravity allows you to play the film's music while a pictorial side show scrolls by on the screen.

Peach, A Bitter Song, Lavender Limelight
     Xena fans will want to track down this gem to see star Lucy Lawless in two short films: first as a butch tow truck driver attracted to a Maori woman, then as a Greek nurse who administers to a young girl (no lesbian subplot here, though). A bonus on this disk is Lavender Limelight, a documentary featuring interviews with seven lesbian filmmakers.

     Peach and A Bitter Song are available on video as two different tapes, but they're nicely paired on DVD.

Rites of Passage
     Del and his son DJ arrive at their cabin in the woods to find youngest sibling Campbell already there. Campbell and Del have a strained relationship due to Del's actions against Campbell's recently deceased lover, but the tension is ratcheted higher when two escaped convicts raid the house-and Campbell finds in one of them his new father figure! For me, the familial conflicts rang both familiar and fresh at the same time, and the cast is excellent.

     The DVD extra is a commentary track by the director and by the star (Jason Behr, teen heartthrob from Roswell) that reveals how the film arose from the director's own conflicts with his father.

The Watermelon Woman
     African American lesbian Cheryl Dunye wrote, directed and stars in this engrossing documentary about her character's search for "the Watermelon Woman," an obscure black actress from the 1930s. When she finds out the actress had a white woman for her lover, reality begins blending with her project-she's dating a white woman herself-and the documentary veers off on a new course. Dunye uses a remarkable variety of filming techniques in this sassy and funny film, but the biggest surprise is reserved for the end of the film and the final credits. Very cool!

     The DVD includes a short interview with Dunye.

     Andy Mangels is a longtime Portland entertainment writer with three books and hundreds of comic books and magazine articles to his credit. You can write to him at andy@andymangels.com.