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Bright Lights Film Journal
Issue 24 | April 1999

from the editor

With mainstream culture threatening to strangle us all in our tracks, we Good Samaritans at Bright Lights thought it was time to pry off America's cultural claws and take notice of what's going on in the fevered world of the avant-garde and the indie, with a special focus (as always) on queer, camp, and literally cutting-edge sensibilities. Ever the internationalists, we look at work by three Americans (Sadie Benning, Everett Lewis, Ron Athey), a couple of Canadians (Mike Hoolboom, John Greyson), a zany Austrian (the late Kurt Kren), a couple of crazy French art fags (Pierre et Gilles), along with stalwarts Andy Warhol and Paul Morrissey. Vicky Funari's Paulina is indie filmmaking at its finest, and we're happy to add our voices of approval to the chorus. Recent revivals gave us a chance to renew our acquaintance with two fave directors: Robert Bresson and William Friedkin (with a satisfied glance at the latter's recently refurbished queer masterpiece The Boys in the Band). And presiding over it all (if unwittingly) are two classy Hollywood blondes: the happy harridan Sylvia Miles, who took time off from her reading of the complete works of Henry James to speak with us; and the legendary Miss Doris Day, whose collaborations with Rock Hudson goaded Bright Lights perennial Alan Vanneman into conjuring one of his campiest screeds.

— Gary Morris, editor/publisher       

Let this strange florist guide you
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features

"Need a Light, Cowboy?" Tony and Rock Go Down on Doris in Pillow Talk — Are Rock and Doris Hollywood's strangest romantic team? How about Rock and Tony Randall?

All Is Grace: The Films of Robert Bresson — Small gestures bring large questions from the seminal French filmmaker

Dark Truths: Notes on William Friedkin — Cinematic nihilism never looked so good

interview

Sylvia Miles Speaks! — The dragon-voiced diva chats us up

binding the (female) body

Contested Flesh: Vicky Funari's Paulina — Soaring spirit and a bracing wit pull Paulina out of the depths

Behind the Mask: Sadie Benning's Pixel Pleasures — Tortured teenage puppets and little girls in love are Benning's subjects

camping out

Two Early Warhols: Restaurant and Screen Test #2 — Edie Sedgwick, Mario Montez, and Ronald Tavel unravel decoratively before our eyes

Sweet Music: The Boys in the Band — The glorious last word in 1970s homo histrionics

Pierre and Gilles's Love Stories — These postmodern preeners turn dross into … well, more dross

is that a scalpel in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me?

"Sorry! It Had to Be Done!" Radical Actioner Kurt Kren — Austria's answer to Stan Brakhage gets down and dirty with a smile

Mike Hoolboom's Panic Bodies — For this Canadian filmmaker, the skin remains sacred even under assault

Hallelujah and Pass the Steak Knife! Cutting Up with Ron Athey — One of America's prodigal sons, all trussed up with someplace to go — Europe!

"My Penis! Where Is My Penis?" John Greyson's Uncut — The Lillies guy takes on foreskins and politics — sexual and otherwise

Edgeplay, Anyone? Skin and Bone — These rent boys are on the run for good reasons in this grim indie

dvd review

Paul Morrissey on DVD: Four Camp Classics — Flesh, Trash, Heat, and Women in Revolt