Reeling: The Chicago LGBTQ+ International Film Festival opens tonight at Music Box with a screening of Matt Kugelman’s drag comedy Hurricane Bianca, then moves to Chicago Filmmakers and Landmark’s Century Centre for a week of screenings that concludes with Justin Kelly’s true-crime drama King Cobra. This is the festival’s 34th edition and the third since founder Brenda Webb announced it would go on hiatus in 2013 as the planners rethought their mission and considered such questions as “a change in the time of year that the festival takes place” and “how the festival might expand or evolve to better address the changing needs of LGBT filmmakers.”
King Cobra IFC Films is distributing this lurid true-crime drama under its “IFC Midnight” brand, but the movie is more like something you’d stumble across on cable at 4 AM before giving up on the day. A gay-porn producer (Christian Slater) discovers the ultimate twink sensation (Garrett Clayton, cloned from Zac Efron) and exploits him mercilessly before the kid begins to get wise; meanwhile a controlling pimp (James Franco) and his number one rent boy (Keegan Allen) move in on the other couple, with ultimately bloody results. Director Justin Kelly keeps all this within the safe confines of commodified underground cinema: the sex scenes are supposed to be desperately raunchy but are all shot in a coy, TV-friendly manner. I mean, my goodness—Molly Ringwald and Alicia Silverstone are in this movie. —J.R. Jones 92 min. Kelly and Clayton attend the screening, part of the closing-night program; tickets are $15. Thu 9/29, 7 PM, Landmark’s Century Centre
Tomcat Intense and sometimes shocking, this Austrian drama by writer-director Klaus Händl lives in the pockets of two gay lovers—when they’re wearing pants, that is—and fosters such a sense of intimacy with them that you may not be able to pull back when the relationship is soiled and possibly doomed by an impulsive act of cruelty. The two men (Lukas Turtur, Philipp Hochmair) are both professional orchestra musicians, and Händl stages many agreeable scenes in which the men and their little circle of friends sing together and talk about music with taste and passion. Behind closed doors, however, the silence between the men is charged with rage, remorse, and uncertainty, leading to such elemental questions as “Who are you?” and “What’s wrong with you?” In many respects this reminded me of Michael Haneke at his best, though it also rivals Ira Sachs’s Keep the Lights On in capturing the private fever of mutual desire. In German with subtitles. —J.R. Jones119 min. Tue 9/27, 7 PM, Landmark’s Century Centre
Thu 9/22-Thu 9/29 773-293-1447reelingfilmfestival.org Tickets $8-$15, passes $45-$130
