Homophilic cinema

The 11th annual Mezipatra Queer Cinema Festival begins in Prague this week with a decided emphasis on high art, featuring notable dancers, graphic artists, experimental filmmakers and classic films from famous auteurs. The festival promotes multigenre off-program films as well as a formal competition category, documentaries and special events. Festival Director Aleš Rumpel explains the focus on high art provides an opportunity to mix the rarified and the low brow, allowing attendees to "mix the seemingly inconsistent," as Rumpel puts it, "and overturn the values of high and low." The following films are a sample cross-section of what Mezipatra has to offer. 

Patrik, Age, 1.5 Sweden, 2008. Ella Lemhagen, director. Gustaf Skarsgard, Torkel Petersson and Thomas Ljungman star. Returning to the festival after winning the audience award in 2009, Lemhagen's film is a satire on the veneer of tolerance in Sweden as well as the tendency of some gay men to emulate traditional masculine, heterosexual models. A married gay couple busily prepares their home for the arrival of their 1.5-year-old adopted son. Because of a bureaucratic mistake, however, a 15-year-old troublemaker arrives, bringing trials and tribulations with him. Nov. 11 at 8, Lucerna

Howl USA, 2010. See Review. Nov. 11 at 8:45, Lucerna

A Single Man USA, 2009. Tom Ford, director. Colin Firth, Julianne Moore, Matthew Goode and Nicholas Hoult star. Ford's elegiac adaptation (co-written by David Scearce) of Christopher Isherwood's 1964 novel tells the story of a grief-stricken professor who plans to take his own life when he finds he can't cope with the loss of his partner. It sounds grim, and it is, but it's also very beautiful and quite possibly the best film of 2009. Nov. 12 at 1:15; Nov. 16 at 3:30, Světozor

Kick Off UK, 2009. Rikki Beadle Blair, director. Jason Maza, Jay Brown, Michael Lindall and Rikki Beadle Blair star. Described as "the raunchiest film of this year's Mezipatra" on the festival's website, Blair's staged football match between a gay team in pink and a straight team in blue is screening as part of the Midnight Pop Punk mini-section. Distinctly British cursing and sexual innuendo abound as the players' respective personal problems come to the fore. Nov. 12 at 8:30, Světozor

I Love You Phillip Morris USA, 2009. Glenn Ficarra and John Requa, directors. Jim Carrey and Ewan McGregor star. If for no other reason, the screening of I Love You Phillip Morris would be worth attending in order to take the pulse of the gay community regarding this singularly unfunny film. As con artist and prison escapee Steven Jay Russell - a real figure known in the Texas press as "Houdini" and "King Con" - Carrey comes out swinging, or rather overacting, from the film's opening scenes. It's Ace Ventura with a limp wrist as Russell attempts to fund his exorbitant lifestyle with progressively more daring and lucrative cons. Nov. 13 and 15 at 1:15, Světozor

Death in Venice Italy, 1971. Luchino Visconti, director. Dirk Bogarde, Bjorn Andresen, Silvana Manganoová and Marisa Berensonová star. The gifted Italian writer/director Visconti is known most widely for 1963's The Leopard and 1969's The Damned (for which he was nominated for an Academy Award), as well as for the film featured here. Starring Bogarde and Andresen, the film is an adaptation of the Thomas Mann novella of the same name. Nov. 13 at 6, Lucerna

For 80 Days Spain, 2010. Jon Garano and José Mari Goenaga, directors. Itziar Aizpuru, Mariasun Pagoada, José Ramón Argoitia, Zorion Egileor star. Two female childhood friends reunite in their golden years and are surprised to find their emotional connection intact. The film turns to a duel between sense and sensibility when one of the women considers leaving her husband to be with her old friend. Nov. 15 at 8:30, Světozor

James Walling can be reached at
jwalling@praguepost.com