|
|
| Little Ashes' fictional twists dull its impact |
by Andrew Hamlin -
SGN Contributing Writer
Little Ashes
Now Playing
We Gays have many icons almost lost in time so that each succeeding generation must rediscover them, for only by knowing our past can we learn to not repeat our mistakes and build on our victories.
One such icon is the Spanish poet, playwright, pianist, artist and all-round genius Federico Garcia Lorca. Born in 1899, he was executed in 1936 by the Fascists in the early days of the Spanish Civil War as much for his liberal politics as for his homosexuality.
At the age of 25, during his years in the Madrid Residencia, a sort of fraternity for the young men from wealthy families, he formed a significant relationship with the 21-year-old Salvador Dali. Each had already started to make their reputations. Lorca, an exponent of lyric poetry reviving and building on ancient forms from the country's Arabian past, had published numerous verses, but was still emotionally immature and a virgin. Dali, a fellow art student, was a painfully shy, almost mute eccentric. Convinced of his own genius as he started painting at age 6, Dali already had several exhibitions, but he, too, lacked focus.
Little Ashes, inspired by the friendship between Dali and Lorca, professes to tell the story of their affair with a great deal of artistic license. It is true that they shared a very intense love as their years of letters bear out. Whether it was as physical a relationship as this film depicts can never be proven. Dali himself wrote in his autobiography: "When Lorca tried to seduce me, I refused in horror." But he was an inveterate liar. Lorca himself went on to have numerous love affairs, mainly with young artists who, like Dali, inspired him, and in turn were inspired by him. While never being "out" in the modern sense, there is no doubt that he was exclusively homosexual.
The center of the film is the forceful performance by the charismatic Javier Beltran, looking as sexy as the real Lorca was from his pictures at that age. Unfortunately, Robert Pattison (the current tween vampire idol from Twilight) is not good enough an actor to convey Dali's eccentricities, but pouts and postures to comic effect and looks exceedingly uncomfortable in a succession of outrageous costumes and mustaches. Much time is also wasted in concocting a completely fictional character, a Lorca groupie played exceedingly badly by Marina Gatell whom Lorca fucks while a Dali watches and masturbates. Ugh! We are also given a wholly fictional portrait of a fellow student, the film director- to-be Luis Bunuel (a miscast Mathew McNulty), as a Gay-bashing thug. His heirs should sue for libel.
All in all, the film is worth a visit if only for a lyrically sexy nude swimming scene and for the talented and gorgeous Beltran. Hopefully more Gays will take the trouble to read Lorca's poetry, or see one of his plays or read a biography and view Dali's paintings, some of which feature beautiful male nudes, including a series of Christ on the cross that are worthy of Physique Pictorial at its most transcendent.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
2009 Film Fest's Gay highlights
------------------------------
Grease, high energy is the word at the 5th Avenue
------------------------------
NFFTY nurtures young filmmakers
------------------------------
Disconnected Picasso misses timing
------------------------------
Pulitzer-winning Rabbit Hole in Seattle
------------------------------
Freak Show: See what's behind the curtain
------------------------------
Maria/Stuart a gutsy production
------------------------------
Ben Folds a madman on the piano
------------------------------
------------------------------
What was the Lawrence v. Texas Supreme Court decision?
------------------------------
Art that will inspire you
------------------------------
SIFF's Gay films, an enormous range
------------------------------
Pop Star on Ice is an interesting vanity piece
------------------------------
Little Ashes' fictional twists dull its impact
------------------------------
------------------------------
Q-Scopes by Jack Fertig
------------------------------
------------------------------
Taking Back Sunday's Matt Rubano rocks out
------------------------------
Northwest News
------------------------------
------------------------------
Activist confrontations
------------------------------
------------------------------
Deep Inside Hollywood - Romeo San Vicente
------------------------------
------------------------------
Book Marks
------------------------------
------------------------------
------------------------------
The news we use
------------------------------
Sensuous, sassy, provocative dancing
------------------------------
Icelandic artist performs in EMP restroom
------------------------------
A Dyke About Town: Progress for "significant otters"
------------------------------
The Sisters have money to give away!!!
------------------------------
------------------------------
------------------------------
------------------------------
------------------------------ |
![[Valid RSS]](images/valid-rss.png "Validate my RSS feed"){kind=small}
post your own information on
http://sgn.org/rss.xml | what is RSS? | 
use Google to set up your RSS feed