aGLIFF 2011, Dispatch #5: Pounding Ground to Going Down

I must start my coverage of my second half of aGLIFF by correcting a grievous omission in my coverage of the first half. Hollywood to Dollywood screened along with two notable shorts. The first of these was a mind-blowing three minutes of J-Pop music video meant to explore ideas of body image and gender identification. DOKKA DOKKA (Pounding Ground) is viewable on YouTube and worth a watch. The second of the two shorts was an intriguing and contemplative piece. Tu E Eu presented a couple's argument and breakup over the phone, but the conversation was repeated by different pairs of varying races and genders. As they argued about their parents' refusal to accept their choice of partner, viewers are left to reflect based on their own assumptions about the participants.

Moving on, the weekend encompassed the bulk of the festival. Because of traffic and Austin's new extended parking meter hours, I avoided Friday Night's activities at the Paramount which included the centerpiece film Mangus and a dance party on the Paramount stage. Saturday, however, kept me busy. My selections overlapped quite a bit with those Don covered in Dispatch #4, starting with Buffering.

A mindless sex romp with a lot of brains under the covers, Buffering provided a lot of laughs while exploring the life cycle of an amateur porn site. It laughs away serious issues of debt and relationship trouble with sex in front of a nanny cam and a kinky-yet-wise adult shopkeeper. Showing with it was Morning Before, a pleasant short wherein a couple meets at a party, goes home together, and spends all night talking ... only to find when they wake there is more to each of them than expected. Putting aside their differences and focusing on the shared loves they explored the previous night, they set up their first date.

Midday Saturday I took in Holding Hands, an excellent documentary of the aftereffects of a gay-bashing attack on a young Australian couple. Awful as the attack was, it was only the beginning as the couple (Shane and Craig) have to deal with medical issues, the psychological trauma, and an apathetic police force. Holding Hands screened with Caught, a short re-enactment based on a real incident where an Ohio police hidden-camera sting in 1962 netted almost 70 arrests for sodomy in a park restroom in one month. The point of Caught isn't entirely clear, though it seems to condemn the police.

Saturday night concluded with Longhorns, a coming-of-age comedy that misses a few beats and hits others. As Don said, the Full Monty gag was repetitious, but the heart of the film was a more serious story about learning to accept and be comfortable with sexuality. If some of the more frivolous elements were removed, this had the potential to be something worthy of the name "Brokeback Prairie."

Screening with Longhorns was 10,000 Hearts, a fantastic short about a boy bullied by his sister into helping her campaign for her prom theme. When he makes a new friend that appreciates his artistic talent, he rebels and starts his own campaign.

Sunday began with a couple of shorts from actor/comedian Tom Lenk, pictured above right  and at left. Hello Caller, which also played SXSW this year, was a riotous short involving a woman bent on suicide and the operator she calls for help. The dialogue of Lenk's other short is best represented by the title: A Slightly Exaggerated Reenactment of an Actual Voicemail I Left for Tim Gunn.

After the two Tom Lenk shorts, I saw a sexy, moody fantasy about a failed writer given a chance to meddle in his own past. Stars Richard Harmon and Sean Paul Lockhart were at the fest to show off Judas Kiss, directed by J.T. Tepnapa and written by Tepnapa and Carlos Pedraza.

Drawing from The Twilight Zone, Judas Kiss was equal parts drama and mystery with an air of magic that brought to mind previous festival hit Were the World Mine. Harmon and Lockhart, who are in the top photo, spent the afternoon hanging out in the Alamo Drafthouse lobby mixing with fans. I spoke with Lockhart, who appears in a segment of Adam Green's upcoming anthology Chillerama, which with some luck may be a secret screening this year at Fantastic Fest.

After an hour or two with Tom Lenk's hilarious one-man autobiographical show Nerdgasm, and a freaky spoof of chat roulette GaySharktank.com, I closed the fest with Going Down in La-La Land. Swedish writer and director Casper Andreas has brought other films to the festival, starting with Slutty Summer in 2004. His latest features very high production values (he mentioned shooting with Red cameras during the Q&A) resulting in a slick package, and the content of the film is worthy of that package.

A touching story about a boy, his best friend, and their dreams of stardom, Going Down includes cameos from Bruce Vilanch, Alec Mapa, and the Petite Flower and Empress of Elvis Impersonators, Judy Tenuta. Stars Matthew Ludwinski and Michael Medico were not on hand, but Andreas and star Allison Lane held a lively Q&A and gave out DVDs to several lucky fans.

[Photo credit: Mike Saulters. All rights reserved.]