Straightsploitation

This was a collection of short films centered around the theme of being "straight".

Like any presentation of shorts, some are great and some really bad with most being OK and this was no exception.

It started out fairly well, with edited footage from the TV show, "Beverly Hills 90210". Scenes were thrown together to show what happened when Brenda found out about the secret love between Brendan and Dylan.

I was deeply offended at the non-narrative piece depicting three "men" slaughter and skin a deer. Based on the other entries in this collection, the actors may have been women but the camera never lingers on them long enough for the viewer to tell. My pal Eddie eats meat and he said it was a bit gross to watch. Maybe the film maker's loving attention to the gruesome details of death could be redeemed by the fleeting examination of diet by the omnivores in the audience... but like the deer's skin in the final shots of the piece, it's a stretch.

The locally produced "Miss Hell" was cute and kinda funny. Eddie enjoyed it without knowing the subtext of where it was shot so maybe its themes were more universal than I thought.

Another locally produced entry was "Fumbling Toward Rock: The Miriam & Helen Story" It was hilarious and very well scripted and acted. The story followed the comeback and history of a world famous singing duo who's biggest hits were made when they were preteens. Their adventures through various genres were presented in a fun, imaginative way and best of all, the musical numbers and original songs were FANTASTIC!

The evening ended with the longest short called, "Ugly Parade". It was a tawdry rip-off of the John Waters oeuvre and I thought it was fab. After hearing Checkers do several raps with imaginative and cutting rhymes, I was hooked. I wanted to change Eddie's name to Checkers in homage, but he looked completely mortified when I suggested it, so maybe this short did live up to its ugly name.

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