Zap yourself silly with fab colors and naughty transgressions in Molly Hewitt's HOLY TRINITY

The character played by Hayley Joel Osment sees dead people in The Sixth Sense, but the title character played by Molly Hewitt -- who also wrote and directed the weird new LBGT nitwit extravaganza, HOLY TRINITY -- mostly hears the dead talking, though now and then she sees 'em, too. Hewitt's movie opens on what looks like one of those ultra-dumb "reality" TV shows featuring a would-be medium putting her clients in touch with their dead loved ones.

Our Trinity (Hewitt is pictured below) will soon be doing this, too, though not intentionally. Instead, after inhaling some oddball room-deodorant manufactured by Glamhag, the company that appears to pretty much own the entire LBGT universe (perhaps an "alternate" one?) pictured in the film, these voices of the dead come at Trinity continually, like it or not.

TrustMovies is tempted to call Hewitt a triple threat, since the performer wrote, directed and stars in this sweet mess of a movie. And if Holy Trinity were a better film, he would. It's not a bad one; but it's not good enough to quite warrant its running time. Unless you are willing to count as necessary content, the often amazing visuals -- brim-filled with the kind of colors (cinematography by Greg Stephen Reigh), costumes (no credit for this that I could find) and production design (by a newbie named Mood Killer) you don't see that much in movies: at once eye-popping and breath-taking.

The visuals here are often so much fun to view that they actually do make up for some content lack, but not, I'm afraid, for the entire too-long 97 minutes. In this alternative universe, it seems that many participants have decided to assume the role of either master or pet. Trinity is a dominatrix with a sweet/cute pet named Baby (Theo Germaine, below, left, whom you'll recognize from Netflix's The Politician series), and we meet some other master/pet couples, too, brought to life via these fun costumes and visuals. (I believe that, above, is shown someone called Imp Queen, playing him/herself.)

Along the way there's a fun riff on Glamhag's "customer service" department,  some so-so religious satire featuring a Madonna-loving priest (Alex Grelle, below left), a church service (above) like few others you'll have attended, more of the age-old/cheapjack daddy issues ("I am the smartest man you know!"), and a would-be happy ending in which Trinity supposedly finds herself.

You'll accept this last one only if you can also accept that simply changing one role for another shows any kind of progress. Well, maybe. Just a little. What the hell: they're all very young here -- the characters and the performers -- so they deserve their learning experiences, right?

Distributed via Full Spectrum Features, Holy Trinity hit digital streaming this past Tuesday, July 21 -- for purchase or rental. Click here for more information on how to view. 

John Scagliotti's new documentary, BEFORE HOMOSEXUALS, arrives on home video for GLBT month

That title, BEFORE HOMOSEXUALS, is not exactly true -- as there was no time in human history, so far as anyone can figure, that homosexuals did not exist. They simply weren't called by that term. The condition seems to have arrived with the species (and not simply our own).

This new documentary -- which has the look, sound and feel of a somewhat rushed job, in order to get it out there in time for this year's gay pride events -- takes a fairly interesting look at the earliest artistic depictions of homosexual acts between men and women, from caveman days through ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome, and then into later times, from the Victorians onwards until we get to, yes, Stonewall once again (that last could hardly be considered a time "before homosexuals").

As directed, co-produced and co-written by, and starring John Scagliotti (shown, right, and at bottom) as our sort-of host and guide, the documentary skips and jumps all over the place, from location to time period, as it unearths the many depictions of lesbian and gay sexual behavior down the centuries.

These are generally interesting and fun to view -- unless, of course, one is among the currently hypocritically pro-Trump evangelicals -- while the several talking heads on view have intelligent things to offer, as well.

Some of the film's editing seems a bit strange, never more so than when one person reads from Michelangelo's poetry, only to have that reading constantly cut into by new visuals and other people talking.

Along the way we are asked a pertinent question by Louis Crompton, to whom -- along with the many other LGBT historians -- the film is dedicated: Who gets to define and analyze history? We learn the answer (not, for way too many decades, the LGBT population), even as we discover some spicy details: how very naughty a city and a populace was Florence and its Florentines.

The trip is mostly engaging, and Scagliotti proves an amiable enough host, though one might question why we need to have his marriage ceremony included here, except to boost the running time to full-length status.

Overall, the documentary has a let's-get-it-finished-and-out-there quality that, for all its detail and look at various artwork and sculpture, makes it seem, although the film had in premiere in Boston back in 2017, that the main goal was to have Before Homosexuals ready in time for the June LGBT celebrations.


In any case, the film makes a decent addition to the current festivities, with a DVD, as well as digital viewing via iTunes and Amazon, available now. Distributed by First Run Features, the documentary boasts a running time of 87 minutes. 

LOVESONG: So-young Kim's friendship/love story opens (and deepens and surprises)

If you're already familiar with the work of South Korean-born/Los Angeles-raised filmmaker So-yong Kim -- In Between Days, Treeless Mountain, For Ellen and now LOVESONG --  you'll probably make a bee line for her newest movie, which bears many of the hallmarks of her earlier work: life unfurling naturally with little to no melodrama, relationships that change and grow organically, and especially some fine work with and around young children. All these are here, plus something else: Lovesong marks Kim's most accessible and nearly-mainstream movie thus far.

The filmmaker, pictured at left, here tackles the tale of two young women, longtime friends -- one of them (Riley Keough) married to a rather unavailable man and mother to a young daughter, the other (Jena Malone) still seemingly sewing her wild oats -- who are so very close that during a long weekend suddenly spent together take that friendship to another level. If this sounds anything like your usual lesbian rom-com-drama, it both is and isn't, for Kim spends much less time on the sex and/or lovemaking than on the feelings these two young women have for each other, as well as on the relationship that has built up between them over the years.

The two have a special place in each other's mind and heart, and Ms Keough (at left on poster, top and above) and Ms Malone (at right on poster, top, and above) bring all this to fine life, with the help of Ms Kim's screenplay (co-written with Bradley Rust Gray), which never over-explicates but allows us to see this relationship via its small moments of closeness -- and distance. When Malone's character flirts with a rodeo cowboy during the road trip, we see Keough's jealousy quietly surface.

Along on that trip is Keough's and her husband's (whom we see only via conversations on the computer) three-year-old daughter, played to near-perfection (as has been true with the various children in all of Kim's movies) by a delightful newcomer Jessie Ok Gray (above. right).

That early trip ends suddenly, and then it's several years later, as Malone is about to be married, and Keough and her daughter (now played by, I am guessing, Gray's older sister, Sky OK Gray, who is also as natural and believable as can be) arrive to join the wedding party. The filmmaker allows her child actors to simply behave and then captures their behavior extremely well.

The passing years seem to have only deepened the feelings of the two women, yet that wedding proceeds as planned, if in fits and starts. Lovesong actually grows and deepens as it moves along, even though the relationship between the two women is so halting and unsure. It's there and it's strong, despite all else.

Is it societal control that is forcing the Malone character toward heterosexuality over homosexuality? Clearly, she does have an attraction toward the opposite sex, yet that shown to her female friend seems strongest of all. Ever the character's mother (the usual nice job from Rosanna Arquette) questions her daughter's choice here, and what the poor groom (smartly and charmingly profiled by Ryan Eggold, below with Ms Malone), knows about all this is also unclear.

Ms Kim refuses to tie up loose ends (or almost any ends) yet this does not, finally, matter much. So well and so strongly has she captured the central relationship, despite much that we in the audience still do not know, that the movie manages to be both deeply sad and deeply joyful, as our two characters move on with their respective lives.

Lovesong is a most unusual film, but it's one that perceptive, demanding audiences should find worthwhile.

The movie -- from Strand Releasing and running just 84 minutes -- opens tomorrow, Friday, February 17, in New York City at the City Cinemas' Village East and in Los Angeles on March 3 at AMC's Sundance Sunset Cinema and Laemmle's Playhouse 7. To view all currently scheduled playdates and theaters in some 15 cities across the country, click here and then click on Screenings on the task bar midway down your screen.

ME, MYSELF & HER: Lesbian rom-com-dramedy fluff from Italy's Maria Sole Tognazzi

TrustMovies moves up and down re the work of Italian filmmaker Maria Sole Tognazzi (he's quite high on A Five-Star Life, somewhat lower on The Man Who Loves, and maybe in the middle regarding her newest movie, ME, MYSELF & HER (a much simpler and more intelligently worded Io e lei, in the original Italian). Though there have been a number of Italian movies with full-out gay themes, this is said to be the first relatively mainstream Italian movie to tackle a lesbian relationship.

Ms Tognazzi, shown at right, casts her movies expertly, with some of Italy's finest actors in leading roles. Here she uses that always wonderful, multi-Donatello-winning Margherita Buy in one role and a quite beautiful and talented actress (from The Great Beauty), Sabrina Ferilli, in the other. The two play off each other with skill, precision and great believability, as they take us into the shoals of a five-year-old relationship that appears to be badly fraying.

As is her wont, Ms Tognazzi deals with the upscale bourgeoisie -- this time, an architect named Federica (Ms Buy, above) and her lover, an ex-actress and now-restaurateur, Marina (Ms Ferilli, below), who appear to have a relatively placid relationship -- except that Federica wants her sexual preference to remain private, while Marina could give a good god-damn about all that. When the opportunity arises for Marina to act again in an upcoming movie, the pair's relationship is put to the test.

The two actresses, as well as the rest of the supporting cast, are all first-rate, but the scenario itself seems second-hand and lacking in much depth. Everything hinges upon the relationship here, and what we see of it, despite the good work of the actresses involved, seems awfully, well, typical. There's an indiscretion, followed by anger, separation, sorrow and resolution. And all of it is just a little too easy.

All this surprises me a bit because the film was co-written by the writer and director, Ivan Cotroneo, of one my my favorite Italian films of the past decade, Kryptonite! (click and scroll down to view particulars). Still, we have the beauty and talent of Buy and Ferilli, and some gorgeous locations in which to bask (though nothing like those in A Five-Star Life), and a nice serving of Italian rom-com fluff. So the time is spent painlessly and pleasantly.

Just don't expect much depth or surprise -- which is too bad. If indeed this is the first lesbian rom-com-drama from Italy, the gals deserve a little more interesting scenario than we get here. (There is, however, a terrific looking cat, above, to help bide our time.) Even Federica's relationships with her son, ex-husband and new/old man-in-her-life (Fausto Maria Sciarappa, below) are shown so lightly that they seem to skip along a surface of what must have more interesting stuff roiling beneath it.

Ditto the relationship between Marina and her business associate, which looks as if it could have been given a scene or two all to itself. But if you're looking for something pretty and classy and nicely acted by some of Italy's finest, Me, Myself & Her should adequately fill the bill.

From Wolfe Video, In Italian with English subtitles, and running 102 minutes, the movie goes straight to VOD and DVD here in the USA this Tuesday, December 6 -- for purchase and/or rental.

Todd Haynes' superlative, exquisite CAROL comes to Blu-ray, DVD, VOD and Digital HD

So much has already been written about Todd Haynes' latest outpouring of nostalgia, beauty and closeted "forbidden" love that TrustMovies, finally catching up with this multi-Oscar-nominated film (that ended up winning nothing), can only second most of the praise he's already read and heard. Watching the film unfurl in its fine Blu-ray transfer is such a visual pleasure that buffs are likely to have to view CAROL a second time to fully appreciate the remarkable performances from lead actresses Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara.

Mr. Haynes (shown at left), in bringing to the screen Phyllis Nagy's adaptation of the Patricia Highsmith tale of a lesbian love affair and its consequences, is in territory he loves best, including the 1950s time period. And he has brought all this to such fine fruition that the viewer can simply relax and, as it were, go with the flow. It seems to this critic, at least, that with each new work, Haynes grows more confident and secure in his craft. Here he allows the subtleties of the story, characteri-zations and performances to carry the day. And, my god, do they.

By now we know all too well how great an actress is Ms Blanchett (above); the surprise here is how perfectly Ms Mara (below) complements her co-star, while proving every bit as glamorous and talented. Above all, Carol proves a splendid, rich and deep love story about coming to terms with so much -- back when handling this kind of situation was nothing like as easy as it is today.

As fine as were the winners of this year's actress and supporting actress prize (Brie Larson and Alicia Vikander), no one, I think, can deny that Carol's co-stars are every bit as good. Ms Larson's role in Room is such a great one, as well as a great opportunity (think Joanne Woodward in The Three Faces of Eve), that it would be difficult to deny any actress who played the role properly this prize. Ms Vikander is always good; the Oscar here seems as much deserved for her better role in Ex Machina, which, being a genre movie, not so many of the Academy voters probably saw.

Carol's lack of "wins" can also be attributed to its being a lesbian film. The Academy might gives prizes now and again to a tear-jerker, triumph-of-the-human-spirit movie like Philadelphia (which is about men, after all, even if some of them are gay), but a quiet, strong and subtle one about women such as this? Not likely.

No worries. The nominations were enough to honor the amazing contributions here. And Carol will continue to find its audience, now and in perpetuity. With its theatrical release via The Weinstein Company and its video release from Anchor Bay Entertainment, the movie hits Blu-ray, DVD, and VOD this coming Tuesday, March 15 (it has been available via Digital HD since March 4) -- for purchase and/or rental.

PORTRAIT OF A SERIAL MONOGAMIST: Mitchell & Zeidler's whiz-bang lesbian rom-com opens

Los Angeles' Arena Cinema in Hollywood heralds the theatrical debut of one of the most charming, clever, funny and generally all-round adorable lesbian rom-coms this critic has seen in a long, long time: PORTRAIT OF A SERIAL MONOGA-MIST, which opens today, Friday, January 29, at this popular venue for independent film. Written and directed by John Mitchell & Christina Zeidler -- shown below, with Ms Zeidler on the left -- the movie hails from Canada, where they know how to do this kind of thing right.

"Right" meaning real, smart and subtle but also theatrical enough to entertain and amuse. This is no easy task, but thanks to the skills of Mitchell and Zeidler and the quite lovely and enterprising cast they have assembled, the movie turns out to better than you might possibly imagine. We're in rom-com territory, of course, specifically the lesbian variety, but instead of insisting on embracing every last cliche of the genre and sub-genre, Portrait instead involves a lot of just-off-center behavior and ideas, to the point that we're almost constantly chuckling along with the characters here, even as we do indeed understand the importance of where they are coming from -- and why.

The main character -- that serial monogamist, who is alerted to her "status" by one of her best friends --  is a not-quite-young lady named Elsie, played with great joie de vivre and just the right amount of trepidation by a very charming and lovely actress (shown above and below, right) named Diane Flacks.

The movie opens with her sudden split from a long-time girlfriend, done in a rather original manner, which leads to much humor and a little heartache down the road, as we follow Elsie in her adventures with a new woman, her old flame, her mom, her boss and co-workers, as she tries to figure out just who she is and what she's doing.

It's a keen and surprisingly bracing adventure of learning, feeling and doing -- with the comedic high point a funeral for a cat (shown above) that brings together many of the folk we've gotten to know. This scene is so bizarre yet real, honest yet hilarious that it will probably remain in my memory for as long as I have one.

The cast -- uniformly interesting and good, with all its members looking more "real" that you often find in films like this -- includes former SNL alumnus, Robin Duke in the choice role of Elsie's dizzy, funny mother, and an actress new to me, Carolyn Taylor, (above, left) who plays Elsie's suddenly-ex girlfriend. Ms Taylor -- alternately moving and funny, confused and angry -- offers up an almost shockingly on-target performance in this unusual role.

As Elsie's new love interest a very beautiful actress named Vanessa Dunn (above) sparks up the movie with her low-key appeal and bright, off-hand intelligence. All in all, this is an unsually fine example of the genre, one that will certainly appeal to LGBT audiences and might just cross over into the mainstream, as well.

From Wolfe Releasing, Portrait of Serial Monogamist opens today at the Arena Cinema in Los Angeles and almost immediately thereafter (on Tuesday, February 9th) hits DVD and VOD via Wolfe Video.

Black & Muslim & Gay & Under FBI surveillance -- whew! Jay Dockendorf's NAZ & MAALIK

Yet another of those movies said to be inspired by "true events," NAZ & MAALIK, the new Brooklyn-set film written and directed by Jay Dockendorf (shown below), certainly gives its two eponymous heroes plenty to contend with. Yet, instead of treating this rather full plate -- race, religion, sexuality and law enforcement harassment -- as something full of drama and/or melodrama, the filmmaker instead offers it up (with the rather embarrassing exception of  how he handles the FBI surveillance) in a realistic, if somewhat romantic, documentary style.

On the one hand, it's refreshing to see black, gay Muslims treated with the kind of honesty and respect we might see in other movies featuring straight, white Christians or Jews. Plus, the lovely performances by the two leads -- Curtiss Cook, Jr. (below, left, as Maalik) and Kerwin Johnson, Jr. (below, right, as Naz) -- gives the movie what little juice it has, bringing us over to the side of these two young men and keeping us there, for awhile, at least. The movie begins with some promise: a blackmailing sister, its Bed-Sty background, and a probably mildly-illegal trade by the two boys who re-sell Lotto tickets on the street. One can appreciate Dockendorf's wish to engulf some realism, but he spends so much time with repetitive and finally not-so-enlightening Lotto-tickets episodes that we soon long to go elsewhere.

We do manage to get into a local mosque, only briefly, and into the homes of the kids, but we don't learn nearly as much as we could from all this (the dialog, while often sounding "real" is also alternately expository and a little tiresome). Mostly we spend time with the two boys, watching Maalik push for more physical intimacy, as Naz backs away.

Many of the scenes smack of too much overt exposition, and once the FBI gets involved they smack of amateur hour, as well. I don't question that an agent might possibly pull a gun on the suspects while questioning them on the street, but as shown here, this scene is unreal and embarrassing.

The biggest problem is that the movie has no momentum; it simply wanders. When some momentum finally comes, it is provided by, of all things, a chicken. The reason for the chicken and way the final scenes add up also seem more problematic and "managed" than they are believable. And while this lack of momentum does help the movie resist melodrama, unfortunately it resists any real drama, too. And then, instead of ending, it simply stops.

I applaud the moviemaker's tackling of themes this weighty and the performances of his two lead actors. This is Dockendorf's first full-length film, so perhaps we'll see more and better in time to come.

From Wolfe Releasing and running 86 minutes, after a successful LGBT film festival exposure, the movie has its theatrical debut in New York City at the Cinema Village this Friday, January 22, with a DVD and digital release from Wolfe Video fast following on Tuesday, January 26.