Gay writer-director Don Roos has a creative tic that I like very much. He creates characters whose lives and intertwining relationships are so complicated he needs to use flash cards to keep audiences on track. In his blissful black comedy, 1998’s The Opposite of Sex, a voiceover commentary track by the leading character provided the narrative while in the darker but richly textured Happy Endings, his new release, he resorts to actual title cards on the screen. It’s a straight forward acknowledgement from Roos that audiences have short attention spans and characters with THIS much back story are going to need immediate sorting if they’re to resonate. Even without the often witty Cliff Notes as a guide, however, Happy Endings would be well worth the effort. It’s a lovely, complex film.
Happy Endings weaves together the stories of multiple characters—gay, straight and somewhere in between—and their changing relationships. We’re in sunny L.A. but it’s the unforgiving sunlight of Altman’s Short Cuts and P.T. Anderson’s Magnolia and no one escapes unscathed. But like Anderson’s first movie, Boogie Nights, Roos can’t resist finding some happiness for his misguided characters out of rather psychologically tough circumstances. He also mines laughs out of the characters’ eccentricities and I laughed throughout the movie. In Happy Endings, Roos has created a gallery in which the younger characters (for the most part) are cynical, cagey and tough while the older ones, though emotionally scarred, are still hopeful and naive. Wandering throughout the emotional landmine of the 10 stories that Roos tells (there are subplots upon subplots) is an exceptional cast headed by Lisa Kudrow. Jesse Bradford, Maggie Gyllenhaal and (surprise surprise) Tom Arnold are also standouts.
As a writer Roos is not afraid to put difficult, cranky people on the screen and with Kudrow, who had her best screen role is The Opposite of Sex, he has found his muse. She plays Mamie, a deeply conflicted woman who has never come to terms with giving up a baby from a teenage pregnancy. Mamie becomes involved with a sleazy amateur documentary filmmaker Nicky (Bradford) in order to find out the whereabouts of her grown up son. Meanwhile, Mamie’s step-brother Charley (Steve Coogan), who unknowingly fathered the baby, has turned gay. He’s convinced that his partner Gil (David Sutcliffe) is the biological father of the baby of lesbian couple Pam and Diane (Laura Dern and Sarah Clarke) though they claim otherwise. At the same time, a busboy at Charley’s restaurant, Otis (Jason Ritter), is secretly lusting after him while the temporary lead singer of Otis’s band, Jude (Gyllenhaal) is acting as a beard for Otis and plotting to have an affair with his divorced, susceptible father Frank (Arnold). Then things get REALLY complicated.
By its conclusion, the intricate, funny and lyrical, Happy Endings has earned its title.
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Chicago Outdoor Film Festival Line-Up: The 6th annual Chicago Outdoor Film Festival held each Tuesday evening at sundown at Butler Field in Grant Park kicked off last night with a screening of Citizen Kane. That selection and the rest of this year’s offerings were chosen by the most famous of film critics, Roger Ebert (who was honored by the Mayor, who dubbed yesterday ‘Roger Ebert Day’). Though I’m as big a fan of the Orson Welles masterpiece as the next film critic, Kane isn’t a movie I’d want to watch while sitting on a blanket and sharing a picnic with friends or my sweetie.
I’m also leery of next week’s choice, the dialogue-heavy Annie Hall, translating well to the cavernous Grant Park setting. Woody Allen isn’t exactly a visual director. But Ebert’s on the nose with John Ford’s classic western, My Darling Clementine (July 26) and Robert Rossen’s moody story of pool shark ‘Fast Eddie’ Felson aka The Hustler (Aug. 16). Ebert has also smartly chosen two great crowd pleasers: E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial (Aug. 2) and Star Wars (Aug. 23), which is sure to close the fest with a big bang. My favorite choice, however, (and I’ll write about it in-depth in an upcoming column) is The Night of the Hunter (Aug, 9). This tale of a serial killer disguised as a preacher (Robert Mitchum at his malevolent best) in search of stolen money was the only film directed by closeted gay actor Charles Laughton. It’s an inspired choice for the Grant Park setting and I’ll be staking out my lawn space early that night. Further information on the festival (free to the public) at (312) 744-3315.
Film Screening of Note: Unseen for 100 years, the documentary short films of Sagar Mitchell and James Kenyon, collected under the title Electric Edwardians, are fascinating. These amazing records of street life in north England, shot by the duo between 1901 and 1905, offer a mesmerizing glimpse into the past. Edwardians of all classes (but all wearing hats) are seen entering and leaving work through the gates of factories and mines (children included), at play on the soccer or cricket field, and most memorably, slowly promenading at the seashore. Then as now, some people are drawn to the movie camera and mug while others quickly scurry by. The silent films, loosely grouped by category, are accompanied by a beautiful score written and played by the ensemble The Nursery that adds an underlying tone of wistfulness to these breathtaking artifacts. Electric Edwardians plays Saturday, July 16, Tuesday and Wednesday, July 19-20 at the Gene Siskel Film Center. www.siskelfilmcenter.org.
Call for Entries: Though the early July 1 deadline has passed, film and video entries are being accepted until July 22 for Reeling 2005: the 24th Chicago Lesbian and Gay International Film Festival. The fest takes place Nov. 3-10. Festival organizers are seeking ‘films and videos of all lengths and genres by, about, and of interest to the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered communities.’ In other words, everything AND the kitchen sink. Call (773) 293-1447 or www.reelingfilmfestival.org.