Fri. August 29, 2014
By Gregg Shapiro
Congratulations to Reeling: The Chicago International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival on reaching the milestone of its 32nd year. You don't look a day over 31 and it's never too soon to start lying about your age.
The festival, which opens on Sept. 18 at the Music Box Theater on Southport, runs for a week through Sept. 25. The majority of the Reeling screenings take place at the Landmark Century Cinema in the Century Mall on Clark Street, with others being held at Chicago Filmmakers on Clark St. in Andersonville. Once again, the organizers deserve kudos for selecting a stellar array of shorts and full-length features, comedies, dramas and documentaries. This week's Reel Advice column is the first in a series of reviews of selected titles being screened at Reeling.
Sept. 20, 2014, 7:15 p.m., Landmark Century Cinema: Lesbians longing for a 21st century Claire of the Moon need look no further than Marina Rice Bader's noxious Anatomy of a Love Seen (Soul Kiss). From the effed-up play on words of the title to the insipid dialogue and plot, it's hard not to think – "Please let this be an elaborate hoax" – while watching this lascivious lesbian loathe story.
Actresses Zoe (Sharon Hinnendael) and Mal (Jill Evyn) have endured immeasurable pain and suffering while filming a love story as Ellie and Jordan for director Kara (Bader). Over the course of making the movie, they fell in and out of love, threatening the entire production. Kara gets the ex-lovebirds to return to the set on the pretense of finishing filming a crucial love scene.
The combination of the woo-woo prayers of Kara's new-age zombie assistant Anne (Constance Brenneman), the actor-speak, the tears and hyperventilating, and the rote recovery recitations, this Love not only dare not utter its name, it doesn't deserve to be Seen. Consider this review an open letter to director Marina Rice Bader to simply say, we already have one Nicole Conn, we don't need another. Please! Stop! Immediately!
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