LICK: the Movie Critic
MOVIE REVIEWS by Jed Ryan

"THE FLUFFER"
Now playing at the Quad Cinema, 31 W. 13th Street, NYC
Call for showtimes, (212) 255-8800 or 777-FILM
Check out the very cool website, www.fluffer.com

It was a great pleasure for me to meet Wash West and Richard Glatzer, the directors of "The Fluffer," at the Gay Life Expo at Manhattan's Jacob Javits Convention Center last November. Prior to "The Fluffer," West was an award-winning director of many well-received hard-core gay adult films, including "Animus," "Naked Highway," and "Dr. Jerkoff & Mr. Hard." West is a tall, lanky red-haired guy with a British accent, wicked smile, and "naughty boy" eyes. His dark-haired, handsome "partner in crime," Richard Glatzer, is the more reserved of the two. Glatzer was director of the 1994 gay independent comedy "Grief" (which starred Alexis Arquette, Craig Chester, and Jackie Beat). Both men were incredibly friendly and funny, posing for pictures and autographing copies of "The Fluffer" posters for Expo attendees.

Wash West didn't deviate too far from familiar gay adult video territory with "The Fluffer."The film, which premiered at the L.I. Gay and Lesbian Film Festival last November and went on to a triumphant reception at Manhattan's Quad Cinema, is a cautionary tale about a young man and his unrequeited infatuation with a porn star. Sean (Michael Cunio), a young, wide-eyed aspiring cameraman, quite accidentally rents a skin flick starring porn stud "Johnny Rebel" (Scott Gurney). Sean takes a job as a camera man at the studio where Johnny Rebel works, and (to his initial delight) he's soon "promoted" to the job of "fluffer." (For those of you unfamiliar with X-rated movie terminology, a "fluffer" is a member of the porn set responsible for helping the male stars keep their "equipment" ready for action.) Sean's fascination soon turns into obsession, as he sacrafices his own happiness and well-being for Mr. Rebel, who not only has many serious issues of his own, but is also unflinchingly(?) straight as well.

Unlike porn parodies (like 1997's mega-stupid "Orgazmo") ,"The Fluffer" has some keen observations about the adult industry, as well as moments of clever comedy, the best scene of the movie being when Sean visits the strip club where Julie, Johnny Rebel's girlfriend, dances. In what seems to be an ill-conceived attempt to sublimate some of Johnny's sexual aura using Julie as a "medium," Sean pays for a lap dance and asks Julie to talk dirty about what she likes her man to do to her. Julie gets into it... but after the act, she looks Sean straight in the eye and says something to the effect of "So... what kind of men do YOU like?"

Unfortunately, it's with great irony that in a film about gay male porn, the two male leads are nearly eclipsed by the supporing female stars. West and Glatzer are only able to coax wobbly performances from cute Cunio and hard-body Gurney. Intentionally or not, we never understand why Johnny Rebel, the porn star, is the way he is. Granted, his character is SUPPOSED to be shallow and dim, but more insight would have helped. Similarly, the audience is left unsatisfied as to why Sean, the obsessed fan, feels the need to pursue his thoroughly undeserving target of lust. Via flashbacks, there's a hint that Sean's masochistic traits may be due to having been taken advantage of by an older "straight" man as a child. But for us to understand the dynamics between Sean and Johnny, we need to believe it completely... and intentionally or not, we're left to draw our own conclusions. In contrast, Roxanne Day turns in an illuminating performance as Julie, Mr. Rebel's long-suffering stripper girlfriend. We really feel her pain, and Day steals every scene she's in. There's also a brief but welcome cameo by rock icon Debby Harry as the manager of the strip club. Adina Porter is great as Silver, the sassy lesbian secretary of the porn video company who inexplicably digs gay male porn. The lovely and perpetually underused Guinevere Turner ("Go Fish," "The Watermelon Woman") is unfortunately wasted in a blink-and-you'll-miss-it cameo as a video store clerk.

"The Fluffer" is quite an experience. Catch it at the Quad Cinema, where it's still playing.

Also see Gay and Lesbian Film Festival - Part 1 for more on The Fluffer.

"TREMBLING BEFORE G-D"
www.TremblingBeforeG-d.com
Call 777-FILM for theaters and showtimes.

Tackling a difficult subject which was long overdue for exploration, "Trembling Before G-d" takes a look at the difficult issue of balancing devotion to your religion, and being an out-and-proud gay man or lesbian. Originally scheduled for a limited engagement, "Trembling Before G-d" was held over and now is in its third month of release, having played in Malverne, Huntington's Cinema Arts Centre, and various theaters in Manhattan and Queens. The film takes a look at the lives of several gay and lesbian Orthodox and Hasidic Jews (For those unfamiliar with these groups, Orthodox and Hasidic Jews are two of the strictest, most traditional divisions within Judaism, as opposed to the less strict Reform Jews) in the U.S., Israel, and London."Trembling Before G-d" is unique in that director Sandi Simcha DuBowski manages to avoid the heavy-handedness that goes along with the territory of so many documentaries. She presents the diverse subjects-- which include a young, HIV-positive Hasidic man in London who's also an avid drag enthusiast; an out middle aged man who tearfully still yearns for acceptance by his elderly father; and a Brooklyn woman who divorced her husband to come out as a lesbian-- in such a manner that the audience doesn't need the benefit of a "who's-right-and-who's-wrong" debate. Rather than being angry and seeking to "fight the system," almost all of these subjects face sadness resulting from the internal conflict of being gay but also being unflinchingly dedicated to their religion, which is so engrained in their childhood, family history, and daily lives. In one segment, a Jewish lesbian wife-- filmed in silhouette-- speaks about her depression resulting from what she feels is a failure to please her husband. In another, a young Orthodox lesbian receives the perfunctory Sabbath phone call from her parents, knowing that her parents disapprove of her relationship with her partner but feel obligated to make the weekly call. The call brings her to tears. DuBowski avoids giving too much background information about the history of Judaism and homosexuality. With the emphasis on real-life human experiences, narrative isn't even necessary-- the subjects' words and faces make the big picture as clear as can be. However, the director does give the audience the benefit of translating the occasional Yiddish and Hebrew expressions used in the film into English, through the use of subtitles.

Ultimately, "Trembling Before G-d" is enlightening and provocative. But the film doesn't offer any concrete solutions-- after all, with this difficult subject, there are no easy answers. What does emerge is the need to continue to study and explore religious teaching-- more specifically, balancing traditional theories with the very real subject of modern human emotions and lives. This will definitely be a challenge for our community in the future.