For one night and one night only, one of the wittiest new independent films is being shown at the Little Theatre.
The ImageOUT Film Festival is bringing the award-winning film “Straight-Jacket” to Rochester as a fundraiser for the fall film festival.
This high quality, low budget 1950s period film has the surprising ability to appeal to gay and straight audiences alike. The main character, Guy Stone, played by Matt Letscher of “Good Morning, Miami,” is a shamelessly narcissistic and over-confident movie star who needs to hide his homosexuality in order to keep his job.
For Guy Stone, keeping his homosexuality secret is just about as difficult as keeping his clothes on – he’s a regular at the gay bar and everyone adores him. But when the press gets pictures of him at one of his usual dive bars, he faces the threat of losing his job and standing as America’s most eligible bachelor.
In order to save his reputation, Guy enters a fake marriage with his unknowing secretary, played by Carrie Preston. Meanwhile, Guy finds true love for the first time and finally discovers the idea of settling down. Guy’s love interest, Rob, played by Adam Greer, is the controversial writer for one of Guy’s upcoming films. The rest of the film is a clich story – married man falls in love with defiant man, man gets involved in homosexual witch hunt – happy ending, you know the story.
Interestingly, this is a film full of contradictions. It is the first time in a long time that a movie has had the ability to be light and hilarious, while still providing strong social commentary.
Although gay jokes run rampant, they are neither campy nor obvious. This film has the ability to harmlessly mock the social and political views America held in the 1950s.
“Straight-Jacket” incorporates all the parts of a modern film without making it feel modern.
Like any good faux period piece, it is beautifully done and visually interesting. The intelligent wit is surprising, and while some jokes may only be caught by queer audiences, the movie unpredictably caters to the mainstream.
Unlike other attempts at comical period pieces such as “Down with Love,” “Straight-Jacket” combines a solid script with technicolor sets to provide an all around quality film.
This is definitely a very conscious film. On the edge of being campy, it is masculine enough to appeal to anyone.
The film understands the homosexual community while opening up to everyone. “Straight-Jacket” understands the implications of its jokes and the script is not just a comedy or a commentary but an understood complete work.
The fundraiser screening is March 24 at 7 p.m. at the Little Theatre.
Tickets for the screening are $10 in advance and $12 at the door and can be bought at Outlandish Video, Pride Connection, http://ww.imageout.org or at the door.
Le Blanc can be reached at cleblanc@campustimes.org.
