The LA-based filmmaker specialized in commercials and educational videos before
she developed Love is All You Need? While the feature version is heavy-handed at times and a little too long at over two hours, it emerges as a potent, science fiction-esque morality play not unlike a classic episode ofThe Twilight Zone. Rod Serling would no doubt approve. “The film is free of stereotypes,” Shields said, “It begs the question ‘what if things were reversed?’ A gay world has been done before, but only from a comedic or satiric perspective (notably the stage musical Zanna, Don’t!).” There are few laughs to be found in Love is All You Need? despite a cast that includes ordinarily funny name actors like Ana Ortiz (Devious Maids, Ugly Betty), Robert Gant (Queer as Folk, Popular) and Jeremy Sisto (Suburgatory, Clueless). Shields’ movie will surely get people talking after it screens in Newport Beach. Whether their reaction is positive or negative, the conversation over important issues raised by the film will continue. As the director optimistically told me, “I think it’s going to change the world.”
MY PERSONAL FAVORITE OF THE FEST FILMS I’VE SEEN IS SEEKING: JACK TRIPPER. Writer-director Quinlan Orear’s comedic yet sweet depiction of the misadventures of a married gay couple who try to spice up their sex life by picking up a guy for a threesome at a local dive. “So, you guys are trying the Jack Tripper; you know, Three’s Company,” declares their astute bartender. Theshort Seeking: Jack Tripper is worth seeing for the bar’s Dorothy Michaels/Tootsie impersonator alone.
OTHER LGBTQ FILMS TO BE SCREENED INCLUDE:
Io E Lei(Me Myself and Her), which also serves as the fest’s Italian spotlight film. It is a tragi-comic exploration of the five-year romance between two women, Marina and Federica.
Alexa to Exa, by Exa Zminkowski, is a self-narrated doc about a transition- ing transgender teen.
Breaking Fast, by Mike Mosallam, focuses on the budding romance between a practicing Muslim and an American in West Hollywood.
Hole, a sure to be interesting, animated conversation between two men through a restroom glory hole.
Nineteen, by Madeline Kelly, in which a dying young man’s sister buys him a prostitute so that he can lose his virginity.
Passengers about a gay, deaf Lyft driver and his various clientele.
Pink Boy, by Eric Rockey, is the acclaimed documentary about a boy who prefers dressing like a girl and his adoptive, trying-to-be-supportive mothers, two butch lesbians who were never into anything “girly.”
A Proud Woman, by Sam Osborne, tells the story of a transgender caretaker in Singapore who is forced to stand up for herself when the daughter of the woman she works for threatens to expose her identity.
Randy, by Shawn Ryan, is a cheery short about the power of positivity and fabulousness as seen through the eyes of Randy, who has Down Syndrome. Among its cast is the always delightful Missi Pyle (Where the Bears Are, Another Period).
For tickets and a complete schedule of films, dates and times, call 949.253.2880 or go
tonewportbeachfilmfest.com.
APRIL 2016 | RAGE monthly 17
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