aGLIFF Polari 2012 Dispatch: 'Cloudburst' and 'Zombadings'

The newly-rebranded aGLIFF Polari film festival kicked off Wednesday evening at the Stateside Theatre with an introduction from Film Programming Director Curran Nault, who explained his philosophy of diversity and inclusiveness in the programming selections this year. He then presented Queer Youth Media Project student Valentina Weatherspoon, who showed two short films she made: Not My Type and Sick Kids, both of which were under 2 minutes and showed great potential for a first-time filmmaker. A third short, an experimental piece called A Place for Us, left the audience bemused before the opening-night feature, Cloudburst (pictured above).

Cloudburst, directed by Thom Fitzgerald, stars Olympia Dukakis and Brenda Fricker as Stella and Dot, a lesbian couple in their seventies who have been together for over 30 years. A health scare prompts Dot's granddaughter to trick the blind old woman into signing a power of attorney, and then forcibly removes her to be placed in a nursing home. Stubborn and rightfully upset, Stella sneaks Dot out, and they decide to go to Canada where they can be legally married. They encounter Prentice (Ryan Doucette), a twentysomething modern dancer hitchhiking north to see his dying mother, and develop an unusual relationship with him.

This is unquestionably a vehicle for Dukakis, who is playing a role unique in her career. Stella is tough as nails and always ready for a fight. Never letting down her defenses, she doesn't appear to have a soft side, even when alone with Dot. Abrasive, stubborn, and vulgar, Stella is difficult to like. The role is important, however, as the heart of a unique story about two people whom society doesn't care about, a story that until recently couldn't be told.

Filled with rich landscapes and strong performances, Cloudburst is a strong if quirky movie. It approaches serious life-altering problems with a light heart but always treats its characters with respect. Difficult though Stella is to like, it is impossible to watch without feeling strong emotion, making Cloudburst a rewarding experience.

The second night of Polari took me around the globe to the Philippines for a film as campy as Cloudburst was serious. Remington and the Curse of the Zombadings (pictured above) is a hilarious coming-of-age transvestite zombie spoof that would work great as a Weird Wednesday entry at Alamo Drafthouse. It begins when young Remington, a petulant child, runs around town obsessed with calling people gay. In a graveyard, he runs into a fierce drag queen voodoo shaman who curses Remington to grow up and become gay himself.

Cut to ten years later, and Remington finds that although he is falling in love with a new girl in town, he begins to receive nightly visits from a faceless attacker who turns him night by night, piece by piece, into a gay man. As he begins to fall for his best friend, Remington must get help to remove the curse, but complicating matters is an unknown murderer who is using a homo-seeking gaydar gun to find and kill all the gays in town. And then those victims begin to rise as zombies.

Remington and the Zombadings is one of the most bizarrely funny comedies I've seen, poking fun at stereotypes and homophobia at the same time. Campy but smart, it's a fresh and freaky mashup of two genres that rarely play well together.