The Celluloid Closet (1996)
Directed by Rob Epstein
Exuberant, eye-opening movie that serves up a dazzling hundred-year history of the role of gay men and lesbians have had on the silver screen. Film contains fabulous footage from 120 films showing the changing face of cinema sexuality, from cruel stereotypes to covert love to the activist triumphs of the 1990s.
2 connections found
View:
2 connections, in both directions
What critics compared The Celluloid Closet to
Directed by Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman (the mostly non-fiction filmmakers whose previous credits include "The Times of Harvey Milk" and "The Celluloid Closet") the movie has a curious, and not particularly successful structure, however.
The busy-but-dour drama by co-directors Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman (Howl, The Celluloid Closet) bypasses the titillation of Boogie Nights in telling the story of Linda Lovelace, aka Porn Superstar Number One, leading lady of the epochal 1972 XXX fuck-flick Deep Throat.
Following Bellin's script, directors Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman, who made the "The Celluloid Closet" (still their best) and "Howl," open with an chipper and sunny Lovelace out on the patio with her best friend in Florida, blithely making the best of a tough situation living under the same roof with her scowling, disapproving parents, played by Robert Patrick and a drabbed-down, careworn Sharon Stone.
It’s hard to scrimp much more enthusiasm to describe what’s on screen in this lukewarm, half-hearted, essentially dull biography of sorts from documentary-teethed directors Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman (“Common Threads: Stories From the Quilt”; “The Celluloid Closet,” “Howl”).
In the new biopic, Lovelace, directors Robb Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman perhaps best known for their documentaries on famed San Francisco politician Harvey Milk, the aftermath of AIDS (Common Threads: Stories from the Quilt) and homosexuality in cinema (The Celluloid Closet) offer a seemingly unique approach to storytelling that ultimately undermines everything the film wants to say.
Directed by documentary vets Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman (The Celluloid Closet), the film first depicts Boreman as an empowered girl next door who inspired ''porno chic,'' partied with Hugh Hefner (James Franco), and betrayed her Catholic mom (an unrecognizable Sharon Stone).
In their new drama-doc, Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman – the gay-rights-crusading filmmakers who made The Celluloid Closet and The Times of Harvey Milk – plonk their hero in a room, or two alternating rooms, and gift him with the gab.