Fiddling w/philosophy, flirting w/significance: Jérôme Reybaud's FOUR DAYS IN FRANCE

At this point in time there is really a rather amazing amount of diverse -- in both style and content -- filmmakers who cover the GLBT territory internationally. From François Ozon and Gregg Araki to João Pedro Rodrigues and newcomer Händl Klaus, the list keeps growing. To it we must now add Jérôme Reybaud, a Frenchman (France may very probably have the largest number of these, percentage-wise, at least) whose first narrative film, 4 DAYS IN FRANCE (Jours de France), has its U.S. theatrical release this week in New York City.

France being the country that appears (in TrustMovies' estimation anyway) to most pride itself on philosophy and its discontents, it would make sense that M. Reybaud (shown at right) and his film would concern itself with this. And so it does, but in ways very different from any of this country's other movie-makers who cover the GLBT scene (think of the work of Ozon, filmmaking duo Olivier Ducastel and Jacques Martineau, Alain Guiraudie, or that of Patric Chiha, to name four of many off the top of my head). Every moviemaker's "take" on humanity and homosexuality is different, as it should be, which makes so many of these movies varied and interesting.

In M. Reybaud's tale, Pierre Thomas (whom I will refer to henceforth as PT), one of a pair of lovers (played by Pascal Cervo, above) makes his very early morning exit from the other (and perhaps from the relationship itself), setting off on what he hopes will be a kind of buffet of sexual experience around the country and countryside. When his mate, Paul (Arthur Igual, below), awakens to find his PT missing, it is only when he notices the other's toothbrush gone as well that he realizes this is probably more than a mere night on the town.

Though PT has taken off in  the pair's white Alfa Romeo and has a good head start on Paul, the latter hightails it out after his love, and so the movie becomes a kind of "chase" film -- though of the most modulated variety you can imagine. Slow does not begin to describe this particular car chase.

Along PT's route, the nearing-middle-age man discovers one after another woman who appears to need help (at least in Pierre Thomas' mind) and so his journey becomes anything but a sexual romp. The first of these is played by Fabienne Babe (above), whose car has broken down and who needs a lift to and from her work. Another is an old lady (played by the now-deceased Dorothée Blanck, below) who turns out to be more interested in hawking god than receiving help.

Not that our boy doesn't have a little hot sex along the way, with the Paris-smitten sweetie shown below. Don't worry: No full-frontal here, except via cell phone photo, the close-up shot of which sets off immediate recognition in Paul of his lover's genitalia (I'm not sure I could have done that with any one of my partners' packages over the years).

Each of these tiny hook-ups (a couple sexual, most not -- Paul, evidently bisexual, even gets a blow-job from a randy waitress along the way) results in the very minor exploration of a wide variety of topics: old age, education, thievery, identity, theater, Italian automobile manufacturing, geography, passion, separation, religion, and even death.

Since Paul is following PT via apps like Grinder, we get some technology tossed into the mix, too, as well as a little of the sort of inter-generational sex (below) found in the films of the great gay-bi filmmaker Guiraudie. Yet nothing is explored here in any depth. Instead Reybaud flits from one topic to another, with enough coincidence that you begin to imagine that happenstance is more the man's style than his content.

Certainly 4 Days in France wants to explore the gay (maybe it's just the male) urge to fuck around. It does this, but it also takes two hours and twenty-two minutes to do so. Finally it seems that our filmmaker is telling us little more than certain popular old chestnuts: Yes, "the Grass Is Always Greener," but isn't it probably best to be "Back in Your Own Backyard?"

I'm pleased to have seen this film, and will now add Reybaud's name to my list of filmmaker's to watch. Recommending the movie to others, however, comes with the above caveats. (Did I mention that the film also features a nice turn by Liliane Montevecchi? That may be reason enough for some of you to view it.)

From Cinema Guild, in French with English subtitles, this gay "art film" opens Friday, August 4 in New York City at the Quad Cinema. (There will be a Q&A with the director Jérôme Reybaud on Friday, Aug. 4 & Saturday, Aug. 5, at the 6:40 shows.) In Los Angeles, the film will open August 11 at Laemmle's Ahrya Fine Arts, with a limited national release to follow.

Hot, hard, and rather enjoyable: James Franco and Travis Mathews' INTERIOR. LEATHER BAR

After making the rounds of some festival circuits (Sundance, Berlin, in Turkey and Taiwan, and then various GLBT fests), INTERIOR. LEATHER BAR. -- the Cruising-inspired sort-of documentary from our current Renais-sance "Entertainment" Man, James Franco (below, second from left), and the upcoming video doc writer/director who seems to specialize in full-bodied, hard-core gay couplings that appear as real as they do genuinely interesting, Travis Mathews (shown at left, below) -- finally opens theatrically here in New York City. (It played in Los Angeles back in early January.)

Because this film lasts but 60 minutes, its distributor Strand Releasing, has added to the program a worthwhile shorter "short" by both men: Franco's five-minute The Feast of Stephen and Mathews' 15-minute I Want Your Love. Overall, this adds up to a worthwhile look at the work of both men, while providing -- for those who appreciate this sort of thing -- some hot, gay sex experienced by real characters. For those new to gay sex or who may want to find out more about it, as well expand their viewpoint on the coupling possibilities in this great wide world of ours, the program may be an eye-opening (or -closing), as well as a mind-expanding experience.

The filmmakers seem interested in all of the above, and while the largest audience for this will undoubted by gay and bi-sexual, Franco and Mathews make it clear that they intend (in fact, they do outright) to question things like the western word's great interest in depicting violence on screen, along with its great fear of doing the same thing with sex. This, of course, is not a new idea. TrustMovies himself has been asking that question for decades, with the major answer arising from the stranglehold that organized religion, followed by (or incorporated in) the effect that "tradition" has on the general public.

The two shorts, which I presume (as at the press screening) will be shown first, lead us nicely into the heart of the matter. In The Feast of Stephen, Franco, who directed and wrote the screenplay (inspired by a poem by Anthony Hecht), takes us quickly and effectively into the masochistic wet dream of a gay young man as he watches a group of his classmates play basketball. He disrobes them and has them attack him and finally fuck him and then rub dog-shit in his face. This could also perhaps be the sadistic wet dream of one of the boys who attacks our "hero." Either way, the movie is short, sharp and entirely credible look at the forbidden.

In I Want Your Love, on the other hand, two young men (Jesse Metzger above, right, with Brenden Gregory), obviously good friends, lounge about  in one of their bedroom, chatting about life and friends and what not. Slowly, it becomes clear that one is sexually attracted to the other but that they have not, up till now, acted on that. They do, and what follows is around ten minutes of pure sex. It is a delightful, sexy turn-on to view, and because we've gotten more than a whiff of who these guys are, it also seem like watching a couple of friends at play in the fields of the lord. Well, someone's lord, anyway. Mathews avoids the "sleaze" angle that so many porno films, gay or straight, insist on and instead gives us two people exploring and enjoying sex. Gosh, how riveting and transporting. And unusual.

Interior. Leather Bar. ostensibly wants to explore by some sort of re-creation, the said-to-be 40-minute segment from the movie Cruising that went missing in order for the film to be released theatrically back in 1980. But there is more going on than mere re-creation. So we meet the "cast" of this new footage: some gay, some straight, some perhaps still closeted. Chief among these is actor Val Lauren (above in close-up and below, left), a long-time friend of Franco who explains that, though he doesn't fully understand what his friend (and maybe idol) is doing, he so believes in Franco that he will play his part the best he can.

Lauren tells us that he is indeed straight and that he is not playing Al Pacino, the star of Cruising, but rather the character that Pacino was acting -- which was a straight cop going undercover to ferret out a murderer in the gay community. This works on a couple of levels, for Pacino presumably is straight, and so both actors were/are forced to come to grips with getting up close and personal with a community composed of the "other." Both performances reflect this to some degree, and Lauren's as well as the filmmakers' exploration of this -- in talks with his girlfriend, another good friend, and some of his fellow actors -- is pointed and unsettling.

There are a couple of hard-core sex scenes within this hour-long film featuring actors in the cast of the "new footage" doing things pretty normal for a leather bar back in the day -- some cocksucking, a little S&M -- but likely to curl the toes of newcomers to the scene. Yet the reigning input here would seem to suggest to viewers, not to mention the actors, "Man up, honey; it's good for you!" I think Mr. Franco would subscribe to this, though Mr. Mathews has clearly moved far beyond that hurdle.

Overall, this program's a good one: expansive and ground-breaking for some; interesting, hot, funny and plain enjoyable for more seasoned veterans. Interior. Leather Bar. opens today in New York City at the IFC Center, along with the ongoing James Franco festival. Click here to see showtimes and which other Franco films are scheduled for that day.