Queer Cinema From Around the Globe

By Chris Carpenter
chris@gayblade.com

Summer traditionally is a time to travel. If you aren’t able to get away this year, a number of LGBTQ theatrical and DVD releases from different countries may provide a perfect, armchair-travel escape.
The Girl Who Played With Fire is the second Swedish adaptation — following the successful The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo —of Stieg Larsson’s bestselling Millennium trilogy. The sequel depicts the continuing adventures of crusading journalist Mikael Blomkvist (Michael Nykvist) and the brilliant, abused and vengeful computer hacker Lisbeth Salander (Noomi Rapace). Separated for two years, they set out together via cyberspace to take down a ruthless sex trafficker and his cronies. Salander remains fiercely bisexual, and the sequel features a steamy tryst between her and her best friend, Miriam Wu.
Daniel Alfredson takes the reins from Dragon Tattoo director Niels Arden Oplev for the sequel, although Oplev had a better handle on the technological dimensions of the story. While the first film had a slightly more engrossing plot, with a decades-old unsolved mystery as its driving force, Fire essentially is two hours of waiting for a “will they or won’t they” physical reunion between Salander and Blomkvist.  Still, it is an effective cinematic take on a book series that has challenging things to say about women and men, sexuality, abuse and power. 
The movie ends with a cliffhanger that presumably will be resolved in the third and final film, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest, which is scheduled for theatrical release this October.
Men for Sale (Breaking Glass Pictures) is an eye-opening, hard-hitting documentary that’s set for DVD release on Aug. 31. Respected filmmaker Rodrigue Jean spent a year following 11 male, sex workers in Montreal, Canada. Through candid interviews with his subjects, Jean exposes a uniform, vicious cycle of childhood neglect, abuse, drug addiction and prostitution. Some of the men started having sex for money when they were as young as 12, usually after they started abusing drugs.
The revelations in Men for Sale become repetitious within its lengthy 145-minute running time, but this serves to underscore the tragic trap in which these men are caught. Although most of the men are in their 20s and identify as heterosexual, one is a 40-something gay man who began appearing in several porn films from the age of 16. The majority of self-professed, straight subjects bolster their masculinity on camera by saying they refuse to engage in anal intercourse. However, one of them tells Jean bluntly that this simply isn’t true. The film makes clear that, when desperate enough is the need to get high in an effort to ease the pain of a sad childhood, moral and physical taboos are easily shed.
Also of note is one sex worker’s observation of his numerous political clients. “The guys who pass laws against [homosexuality] are the ones who come looking for us at night,” he said.  Even in more liberal Canada, sexual hypocrisy is alive and well.
If you’re looking for something more upbeat on your cinematic world tour, Spinnin’, a Spanish film out of DVD this month, is a thoroughly enjoyable “dramedy” that won the Best Feature Film award at the Barcelona Gay & Lesbian International Film Festival. Spinnin’ opens with the love-at-first-sight meeting between two men, Garate and Omar (Alejandro Tous and Olav Fernandez, respectively), and recounts their subsequent efforts to find a surrogate mother so they can father a child.
The process doesn’t go as easily as the couple had hoped, but they gain important insights and new friends in the process. While stylized and erratically edited, Spinnin’ is a rainbow-hued movie that also takes on such topics as Star Wars, soccer, HIV/AIDS and God’s sexuality. The film is well directed and written by the talented and inspiring Eusebio Pastrana, who has been described as a “rising auteur.” Also inspiring are the numerous moments of physical, sexual and emotional intimacy in the film.  
Lastly, I would feel remiss if I didn’t mention Brazil’s From Beginning to End, even though it isn’t yet scheduled for release in the United States due to its controversial plot. Shown during Outfest 2010, it is the crowd-pleasing, heartwarming, love story of two brothers in love — with each other. Moving, challenging and sexy, this film should be on your radar when you’re looking for your next international film fix.