This highly personal film documents part of the journey that Chaz Bono takes to become a transgendered man. He is remarkably brave, strikingly honest and an extremely likable person who allows the cameras to record the crucial steps of taking the necessary hormones and then having the vital breast surgery and how all of this effects … Continue reading
Almost 40 years ago before our TV screens were over-run with excessive trivial drivel that, without a single hint of irony, is called Reality TV, there were The Louds, ‘An American Family’. Documentary filmmaker Craig Gilbert had seduced this seemingly near perfect nuclear family into allowing his film crew to set up cameras all around their … Continue reading
Episode One of Gentleman Jack treads a fine line. Is it to be a tale about a deliciously butch Prince(ss) Charming who is brave enough to ignore social conventions and seek out true love? Or is it a less attractive story of a pushy and privileged land-owning heir who gets to do most of … Continue reading
The prolific gay filmmakers Fenton Bailey & Randy Barbato start this latest documentary of theirs on the celebrated and controversial photographer Robert Mapplethorpe in 1989 with the scene of the right wing Republican Senator Jesse Helms angrily pleading with the Senate to stop the public funding of the latest Mapplethorpe Exhibition. The fact it didn’t actually receive any monies … Continue reading
Filmmaker Stephen Kijak’s excellent documentary on Hollywood heartthrob Rock Hudson should serve as a blueprint for other documentaries that focus on a subject’s very private life. His finely balanced portrayal of one of Hollywood’s great leading men is a respectful account of the star’s closeted public life without resorting to the usual negative sensationalism. … Continue reading