Tuesday, May 27, 2014
Heterohomopanic
The idea of best straight friends, male, trying out gay sex as an "art project" is pretty freaky.
At least, they are pushing the edge compared to other projects that might qualify for the Portland Ore, Artfest. But it is Portland so I don't know.
It does make for a good seriocomic film as demonstrated by
with Mark Duplass and Joshua Leonard as the two terminally awkward and cringe making men.
What begins as a challenging idea ends in a welter of embarrassment and, for males the ultimate shame, the inability to perform.
How a straight guy would even want to try gay sex after all the baiting and cruelty is a sort of mega jump ahead of the zeitgeist. Which is what makes it both shocking and funny.
The director is Lynn Shelton, female, and she does not hesitate to subject these guys to extreme undermining of their macho poses.
The premise is a precarious one but the actors, Duplass and Leonard, as well as other members of the cast, carry the thing off with verve and compassion. It is not a freak show and is, somehow, not at all homophobic.
In fact it is rather kind to innocent straight dudes as well. It is not a feminist manifesto.
The laughs are soft and gentle. This could have been one of those not funny "comedies" that play with sexuality for laughs. There is a lot of compassion.
Duplass is a master of the cluelessness and innocence of this character. He thinks himself a wise sophisticate and, as it turns out, he is pure bush league.
The women, especially his wife, are great too. Shocked but not freaked, an important distinction, Alycia Delmore carries the serious side which is necessary for all good comedy to work. She is the straight man/woman. Excellent.
This is very good film. A 4 out of Netflix5.
Incidentally it doesn't even come close to being a "gay film". This guy is so straight you can hear him creak. But I used the "label" anyway in case someday someone wants to see two straight guys set down on earth to be gay without a clue as to what they are supposed to be doing. Of course, the sex, which they cannot do at all, is the whole point so they are, indeed, pointless.
