There is a time and a place

I know I have probably been boring you a good deal with the movies I have been blathering on about recently so I will make this short. I saw Rent just before I went away to Brighton over the long weekend and last week I saw Tootsie for the first time. I've wanted to write a little about the experience but it has been falling onto the backburner of late.

How could these two films possibly have anything in common? Let me enlighten you... they don't, well they don't really, okay, in some respects they do. Let me draw my long bow (beware ramblings ensue)...

"Rent", released just this year is based on the musical, "Rent", released just last decade. Just last week the original cast reunited to stage a tenth anniversary production. Therein lies the problem. The original cast was already whingy and whiny but they could pretty much get away with it on stage because they were musical theatre performers. On film they didn't; they were whingy, whiny musical theatre performers and celluloid is less forgiving.

Already burdened with the conceit of having the characters sing, having them noticablely act as well just sunk this film like James Earl Jones' voice. The only actors that really succeeded were Taye Diggs and Rosario Dawson (who was the only new cast member since the role required a 19 year old and she's still only 28, go figure). Everyone else may as well have had their jazz hands out.

Now, I am a huge fan of movie musicals but, as I have said before, there has to be some film artistry involved otherwise we may as well just watch a video of the original production. Hell, Baz Luhrmann's "La boheme" fared better and that was just a slap up job by the ABC. What we get in "Rent: The Movie" is a butchered score, some meaningless alterations to the timeline (seemingly to add some daylight to the film) and a screwy logic brought on by some unneccessary changes in the settings.

It is unfortunate that they missed the boat on this. So many good directors were interested at different times and to settle on Chris Columbus, the man who ruined the first two Potter films because he was too literate, was a huge mistake. Dawson managed to show what could have been and unfortunately never will. This film should have been made with a more relevant cast in a more relevant time with a more relevant director.

Which brings us to "Tootsie", made with a great cast, a great director, dealing with relevant issues at a relevant time. But my god it has aged.

In my slow chipping away at the enormous monolith that is the gap in my cinema going we visited this little gem. I loved it. Dustin Hoffman's performance is incredible as is Jessica Lange's but as the film wore on I realised how much it has dated. Not so much because of the music or the costumes but because of the politics.

It is obvious that "Tootsie" set out to make a statement about gender politics and male/female relations, and it does, but it is such a patriachal take on the issues. By the end of the film it is obvious that the only reason "Dorothy" is able to take control as a woman is because she is really a man. Yes all of the women look up to "her" and become empowered by her but that doesn't change the fact that before Michael leads the way these women are depicted as spineless, weak-willed individuals, slavishly obeying their expansive, over-wrought emotions.

What I found even more interesting though is the scene between Dustin Hoffman and Charles Durning after the whole revelation has been broadcast. Given that there is an obvious attempt made at a liberal message for gender I would have assumed at least a sympathetic view on homo-love. Instead the scene plays like it could have been set in the middle of the bible belt. It is certainly a million miles from Jack Lemmon's revelation scene in "Some Like It Hot".

Overall the film is most interesting as a record of how ideas enter our consciousness. The path that women took (and are still taking) is the path homosexualists are walking now. We are stepping into a world that is not so much based on acceptance as expectence. I think "Brokeback" is going to bring out a few more heavily hetero-produced homo-flicks. I am interested to see what will come of it. Will we get our gay "Tootsie".

I've finished rambling now and I can't be bothered stitching it all together... you can if you want.

Tags: movies, gay, cinema