Inside Out: Unidentified Objects, Out in the Ring, Moneyboys, Pat Rocco, and the communal experience of queer

11 May 2022 -

The big news of the 2022 Inside Out 2SLGBTQ+ Film Festival is the return to the plush environs of the theatre. After two years online and socially distanced, we'll finally be able to mingle, cruise and enjoy the communal experience that being in a crowded cinema brings. The notorious Inside Out parties are more low-key this year, we're just not there yet, but there is still an opening and a closing bash with details still to be finalized. The film line-up for the 30th anniversary edition is stellar, the catalogue is brimming over with films for every queer taste. I was fortunate enough to access some screeners and my, admittedly somewhat random, choices all turned out to be winners or at least well worth viewing. And all deserving of more in-depth attention than I am going to be able to bestow in a preview piece.

Unidentified Objects is labelled as a "special presentation" and it is a unique film, a subversive and compelling twist on the genre of the road movie where two mismatched characters learn to respect and care for each other while on a quest. In this case it is a gay little person intellectual who is coerced into assisting a sex worker get to Canada to meet up with the aliens who abducted her as a child. She has cash, he has access to a car, and though neither trusts or even necessarily likes the other, they set out. The danger with anti-heroes is that the actors have to be likeable enough to compensate for their deep character flaws and criminalesque activities. Fortunately Matthew Jeffers and Sarah Hay are both luminous and grab control of the screen, and our hearts, quickly. Jeffers has a speech on body image and gay men that is searing. He is also prone to visions that contradict, or in one horrific nude scene emphasizes, his nihilistic outlook. The film is full of neon candy-coloured imagery and the lingering shots of their pink car travelling pays off in a visual punctuation that is stunning. And incredibly moving in its sheer audacity. There are other images that haunt: I defy anyone to not approach the verge of tears when Jeffers meets a Canadian lumberjack in a smalltown bar. If the plotline and ending dip into the ambiguous and the surreal, it doesn't deny the power of these two eccentric and irascible outsiders pursuing their dreams. 

Moneyboys is also, occasionally drenched in neon. Fei is from a small Chinese village that is struggling to survive as a tourist trap. To the great disapproval of his family, Fei works as a hustler to earn enough money to support both his lifestyle and his family, particularly his beloved grandfather. The film is mainly done in long takes which can be compelling as in the opening sequence which is action packed as Fei's lover goes after Fei's pimp and a brutal customer. Or when on returning to the family home, Fei is berated and humiliated by his uncle and father at a dinner from hell. If the scenes where Fei and his friends and tricks interact, the staticness requires patience but pays off with a sense of the reality of how life and surprisingly explicit transactional sex, can eat at one's sense of time. Because of course a hustler has a shelf life. The lead, Kai Ko, is fashion model handsome but the character's self-enforced expressionlessness doesn't pay off until the very last few minutes of the film. Innocence lost - the troupe of high end hustlers meeting a new inductee is as hilarious as it is harrowing - threads through the film but so does the high cost of family and honour. Fei seems doomed but, again, there is that pay off at the end.

Phantom Project (Proyecto Fantasma) is an ambling, erratically charming film that relies heavily on the appeal of its lead Juan Cano. Pablo is in a bind as his roommate has moved out despite being two months in arrears of his share of the rent. The roommate has however left behind his dog (a scene stealer and the only character whose fate is of real concern) and some plants. And a haunted cardigan. Pablo's sole ambition is to be an actor in a film and the intersecting vaguely artsy people in his circle are full of advice. There are other enigmatic characters who wander in and out of the narrative and even the ghost is restless. Everyone is glued to their phones and spend as much time misconnecting as they do connecting, though the ghost and Pablo do have a quite wonderful, and oddly erotic sex scene. Phantom Project is a Chilean film and there are references to the political climate that didn't register due to my lack of knowledge of the context. As a social satire of a lost generation it is gentle and the comedy is sly or in the sidelines. Phantom Project feels like Almodovar lite.

I had hoped to view Lonesome, billed as a sexually explicit road movie where a small town boy Grindrs his way across Australia, and the romantic comedy Fire Island starring Bowen Yang and Margaret Cho and featuring heartthrob Nick Adams. With luck I'll catch up with them during the festival. The slate of documentaries is sometimes overlooked amidst the star power and shirtless (or nude) men, but they are also where the most emotional experiences can be found. I have already written about With Wonder when it was part of the Reel World Festival and it is a fascinating film even for those of us who happily ignore religious oppression. If you missed Framing Agnes at Hot Docs, make sure to catch it at Inside Out. A convoluted structure is made simple and the insight into trans lives, both historically and contemporary, is powerful and illuminating. Plus how often does one get to type that a documentary features award-worthy performances?

Out in the Ring is too many documentaries mashed into one. However every single thread is fascinating and this should have been a mini-series. The exploration of homoeroticism in wrestling is obvious but a lot of fun, and the historical footage is eye-popping. I stopped taking notes of performers to google as there are just so many, and each one has an amazing story. Pat Patterson gets his due but again the man deserves his own documentary even if it just the photo of him and Louie on repeat followed by the footage from the WWE reality show that Patterson upended by coming out. The lesbian and Mexican wrestlers were new to me, and their stories are passionate, difficult and again much too quickly dealt with. Then there is the new wave of queer wrestlers, spearheaded by a trans promoter who is trying to move queer wrestlers into the mainstream. It is here that the film gets confusing as WWE footage of huge crowds is intercut with footage from matches in community centres and the sense of scale and accomplishment is skewed. But the interviews with the feisty aspiring wrestlers is priceless and empowering. As is the analysis of how the WWE both plays blatantly to its gay fans but also casually undercuts them and sweeps them under the rug. And where is Bob Mould who famously wrote some of the greatest WWE scenarios while on a break from music?

Pat Rocco Dared is a terrible documentary that is made transcendent and essential by the subject and his work. If only Inside Out was able to schedule a mini Pat Rocco festival. Rocco is a new name to me but he was everywhere, organizing the first LA Pride - determined it was to be a parade and not a march - working with Harvey Milk and filming romantic nudies that preceded the hardcore gay porn boom of the '70s. The film snippets are delightful and so innocently erotic that they ache, but when they mix with the political journalistic filmmaking that Rocco was also doing, they are extraordinary. The man was not only a trailblazer but he was also modest and wryly hilarious. Unfortunately he and his films are stuck in a documentary that is badly focussed. When the PRD-filmmaker, who is a semi-celebrity in his own right, gets out of the way and stops inserting himself and his work into Rocco's legacy, Pat Rocco Dared soars. But then the PRD-filmmaker returns and everything deflates. During the final moments, what should have been a cathartic and powerful moment, the PRD-filmmaker returns and turns the attention back to himself. Simultaneously, my partner and I shouted at the screen, "But it isn't about you!" 

However, Pat Rocco Dared is wildly enjoyable (with caveats) thanks to Rocco's work and charm.  The glee on his face as he recounts filming a gay romance at Disneyland and then having the corporate monolith attack him is exquisite. The snippets all hold up, and the abundant nudity is fabulous, though I was concerned about whether we were hearing the original sound (Rocco began as a very handsome and rich-voiced cabaret performer, opening for lifelong friend Phyllis Diller). The question remains unanswered until the PRD-filmmaker takes credit for a minor version of Rocco's defiance of Disney. Rocco's filmic defense of a nude dancer, artistic of course, needs to be seen and for once the commentary is insightful. We also need more of the love story that is at the core of Pat Rocco Dared. There is a reason for that structural problem, but when the chance to correct it arrives, it is dropped. As frustrating as Pat Rocco Dared is as a film, until we get a Pat Rocco film festival or an editing out of the host/filmmaker, it will do, and hopefully it will help elevate Pat Rocco into the pantheon of gay trailblazing heroes. 

Pat Rocco Dared reminded me of just why Inside Out is so important. There is a snippet of Rocco's filming of Harvey Milk speaking at LA Pride. Emotionally, I travelled back in time to an Inside Out years ago, where I sat in a darkened room with my fellow queers to watch The Life and Times of Harvey Milk. We all not only learned something we hadn't known, but we sobbed together in a collective experience that was life changing. Something that a communal experience watching a great film does.