Gay Directors, Gay Films?

June 15, 2015
In this comparative study of the lives and work of five openly gay present-day filmmakers, film historian and critic Levy (All About Oscar) asserts that the directors and their work have relevance outside the niche of gay cinema. Though similar in many ways, they are a diverse group, and Levy’s characterizations of them in chapter titles are spot-on. Pedro Almodóvar (“Spain’s Enfant Terrible”) is given the most in-depth treatment as Levy traces his development from an early “flamboyant bad boy” attitude through mid-career masterpieces to his recent, more idiosyncratic films. Britain’s Terence Davies (“Subjective Memoirist”) is known for adaptations of classics such as Edith Wharton’s The House of Mirth. Todd Haynes (“Deconstructive Queer Cinema”) consistently plays against audience expectations, and whose films tend to have a gay sensibility without overtly tackling gay subject matter. Gus Van Sant (“Poet of Lost and Alienated Youth”) has had successful forays into the mainstream with films like Good Will Hunting, but remains primarily an auteur with an outsider’s perspective. Finally, John Waters (“Queer as Trash and Camp”) began his career as a purveyor of self-declared bad taste, but his later films have a core of sweetness. Levy’s prose leans toward the pedantic, but his treatment of his subjects is comprehensive, and his passion always shines through. A helpful filmography concludes each chapter, and there is an extensive bibliography. This book is well-suited for the cinematic omnivore and the armchair aesthete.

August 1, 2015

What effect does sexual orientation have on the careers and output of gay male directors? In this title, Levy (film & sociology, New York Univ.; Vincente Minelli) takes advantage of his extensive experience as a former Variety critic to address this question, focusing on five openly gay directors whose credentials collectively span 70 films and four decades: Pedro Almodovar, Terence Davies, Todd Haynes, Gus Van Sant, and John Waters. Using a mixture of theoretical strategies--at times sociological, at times humanistic--Levy argues convincingly for each director's owning of outsider status based on sexual orientation, and the rechanneling of this energy into the thematic, aesthetic, and innovative aspects of their boundary-pushing oeuvres. However, in his secondary goal--to dive into deeper configurations of identity, including roles of race, nationality, etc.--Levy inevitably falls a bit short, stymied by the struggle to balance his neatly arranged schema with the larger world of gay cinema. Nevertheless, for general interest purposes, this title succeeds where it counts, enlivening the discussion of what it meant to make "gay films" in the 20th century. VERDICT A focused work that connects subversive aspects of gay directors and their films. Perfect for fans of film and gender studies.--Robin Chin Roemer, Univ. of Washington Lib., Seattle

Copyright 2015 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

July 1, 2015
Some books are worthwhile in spite of themselves. Levy's on five openly gay directors suffers from his inaccurate memories of particular movies' details but points up the essential qualities of each man's work. The five are Pedro Almodovar, Terence Davies, Todd Haynes, Gus Van Sant, and John Waters. Almodovar's penchant for outrageous romantic melodrama in bright colors brightly lit (Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown), Davies' for nonlinear narrative and nostalgic color and lighting (The Long Day Closes), Haynes' for high stylization despite each film's radically different looks (Safe vis-a-vis Velvet Goldmine), Van Sant's for fragmented mise-en-scene and alienated youth (My Own Private Idaho), and Waters' for shock value and camp (Pink Flamingos)these are the distinctives Levy explores as he also notes influences common (Jean Genet, Douglas Sirk) and particular (Billy Wilder on Almodovar) and examines each director's characteristic milieus and frequent collaborators. The comparative conclusion, Gay DirectorsWho's Looking and How?, wraps up nicely. Like many good film books, this one's for movie mavens to argue with and revisitoften.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)

May 15, 2015
Articulate career analyses of five multitalented, openly gay male film directors. Former Variety critic and film professor Levy (Vincente Minnelli: Hollywood's Dark Dreamer, 2009, etc.) profiles a quintet of leading gay cinematic impresarios to uncover their creative motivations and their idiosyncratic sensibilities as filmic "outsiders." The author explores each director's biography with intimate components from their budding interests in film, the chronological trajectory of their oeuvres, and through vivid cross-comparisons. Levy delves deep into both the directors' histories and singular bodies of work, culling information from hours of in-person interviews and exploratory research, alongside his own perspectives, creating a heady mix of memoir and opinion. Of the five featured, three directors are American: Gus Van Sant, John Waters, and Todd Haynes. Levy paints Kentucky-born Van Sant as spontaneous, with a post-Milk (2008) career that has sporadically floundered. Though especially true for eccentric cult-icon Waters, whom Levy dubs "a filmmaker of outrage and gleeful vulgarity," each man established himself within the first decades as a filmmaker and continually suffered from a lack of financial backing. The author distinguishes Haynes, the group's youngest director, as an experimental film producer creating a "masterful mise-en-scene of middle-class suburbia" complemented by complex characters. From Europe, Levy features Spaniard Pedro Almodovar, truly an actor's director recognized for his attention to desire, passion, and fearless sexuality, and Terence Davies, whose British childhood greatly influences his depiction of dogmatic religion. Each profile engagingly holds readers' attention, and as a collective, they bespeak the raw power of creative gay voices creating genre-straddling, often taboo material. For general readers, Levy's analyses may seem overthought and scholarly, while die-hard fans will revel in their inclusive, masterful insights and juicy details. Tethering the pentad together is the author's respectful assessments within a sampler he hopes will inspire moviegoers "to see familiar films again in a different light." A vastly intelligent, comprehensively procured treat for film buffs, gay or otherwise.

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