CockRing Casanova

Mark James

It just keeps getting better — Frameline 32.

The last week of June in San Francisco is always special, but the Frameline festival this year was almost too good to be true. There was a bittersweet note in the departure of Festival cofounder Michael Lumpkin, the low-key impresario behind much of what makes this festival. But if it’s time to go, no better timing than alongside this year’s crop of extraordinary entries. A few standouts:

“Wrangler”
The gay adult industry thrives to this day, more so as the Internet and increasing acceptance of sexuality among younger gays provides the industry so many directions to take and new fans to reach. But through the lens of time the scope gets much narrower, back to the days when a small community of earnest and talented men took what had been a seedy business and brought it out of the closet: Call it Gay Porn Lib. Right in the thick of it all was a guy who transformed himself from a wispy stage actor into super-hunk porn star by sheer force of will and superb timing.

This documentary follows Jack Wrangler from his boyhood in Los Angeles right up to today and — here’s the money shot — the quiet married life he shares with the mid-20th century singing diva Margaret Whiting. By the end of the film it comes as no surprise that a guy who overcame his worries about pleasing others and decided to live a life that would please himself might just choose to settle down with an older straight woman who just so happens to love him. Every minute of this chronicle of his life is at once gripping, funny, heartbreaking and ultimately inspiring, for no particular reason other than the whimsy, wit and honesty of the life the film explores. Find it, see it and enjoy it. We sure did.

“Fun in Boys’ Shorts.” This year’s “Boys’ Shorts,” nine in all, were a real treat. There was not a single repeat in the set — all the material was new — and each film, with the exception of one, had the audience roaring with pleasure.

There is the ostracized and ultimately triumphant protagonist of the hilarious “Bongo Bong.” The budding bad girl (and her beleaguered victims) in Babysitting Andy.” The short “Hirsute” explores the idea of how people evolve and what they accomplish over time — for better or worse — and in the process provides one of the great unexpected comedy/horror moments in the history of film.

“Silver Road” was the only disappointment, but the guys in it are so easy on the eye that it glides by without ruining the mood.

My runner-up favorite is “Pat’s First Kiss,” a deftly executed, knowing cartoon about a gay lad’s first foray into sex. In this year’s great theme — the meaning of same-sex marriage — we have “Over-Stuff,” a poignant, funny short about a couple’s trip to the thrift store. Next, from Spain, is the arresting “In the High School,” a unusually frank and brilliantly funny look into the often-misrepresented subject of how horny young guys can be.

“Screening Party” is a very L.A. story about a bunch of friends who get together to spoof the film “Pretty Woman.”

But the best is the last: The fabulous “The Window” is a visual poem about the things men do in their apartment windows. It has a really great money shot, too. With any luck, you’ll be able to find these on YouTube, if not on DVD.

“Call Me Troy”
Maybe the best storytelling of any film this year is, in fact, a documentary by Scott Bloom about Troy Perry, the founder of the Metropolitan Community Church. This guy has lived free and in the glow of spiritual devotion since before most of us were born, and the telling of his story (mostly in the first person but with the help of a really entertaining cast of cohorts) is so comprehensive and so rich in its scope that you are left feeling as though you lived alongside the man. And what a life it has been. Coming out under the most unlikely conditions, fighting for gay rights when it took real courage to do so, living a sexual and spiritual life without apology. It’s all here, the good, bad and oh-so-very ugly. But no moment in the film is funnier than the good reverend’s tale about being served Florida orange juice during the Anita Bryant era aboard a cross-country flight. It makes you love the idea of air travel all over again.

“Pageant”
In Ron Davis and Stewart Halpern’s excellent and awe-inspiring documentary, the great American phenomenon of Southern drag is finally given its due. If you didn’t grow up gay in the South, you missed a lot. Some good, some not so good. But the drag shows in that region are the best to be found anywhere. For this tribute to the art, the setting is Memphis and the 34th annual Miss Gay America. The subjects are five drag queens who rely entirely on their craft to compete. And what a competition it is. This film, of any at the festival, had the audience going from the opening frame to the last.

Get the in-depth review of “Another Gay Sequel: Gays Gone Wild” by clicking here. (link to the full review).

Watch the trailers now:
“Wrangler“
“Call Me Troy“
“Pageant“

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