I saw two Outfest documentaries, two plays, and
Wanted. The highlight of the weekend was not
Wanted, as you might have guessed, although it did have its moments. Any movie that has Angelina Jolie shooting and kicking out the windshield of a speeding car so she can straddle the hood for better aim, then later crashing/lodging her jeep into the car of a moving train has to hold my interest at least a little bit.
Still, all that violence dunked me in a big vat of existential despair after a while. When I wasn't looking at my watch.
The highlight of the weekend was
The Universe of Keith Haring, which made me fall in love with him all over again.

(That pic's by Annie Leibowitz, by the way.)
It was so thrilling to watch the action footage of him, the confidence of his gestures, the spontaneity, the dazzling way he filled spaces with those thick, strong lines, and to think that he accomplished everything he did in just about 12 years, by the time he was 33.
And as if that's not enough to recommend the film, there's some great footage of Madonna doing "Dress You Up" at one of his parties circa 1984, looking blitzed out of her head on who-knows-what. I asked JW afterwards if he noticed that and he said, "I noticed how bad she sounded." I said, "yeah, well this time she sounded bad and
trashed."
God bless Madonna.
Other than that, well, there were my friend
Brett Webster's plays, which were both a lot of fun, and a trans documentary called
Trinidad, which is about a major GRS surgeon and clinic in the tiny town of Trinidad, Colorado. I liked the docu a lot, but the Q&A was almost more fun, thanks to the trans-activist audience member who asked the filmmakers pointed questions about how white, middle-class, and "heteronormative" the subjects of the film were, then started answering another audience member's questions before the filmmakers could have a chance to chime in. Queer academic/political types always make for lively exchanges of ideas, don't they? And I'm glad I got reminded of the word "heteronormative." I'm planning to use it at least once a day until Outfest is over.
Oh, and I saw
Henry IV at
Independent Shakespeare, where I learned my new favorite Shakespearean insult, as Prince Hal says to Falstaff in Part II, "Oh thou globe of sinful continents!" I was in stitches for a good five minutes after David Melville proclaimed that one.
Tonight's another Outfest trans docu,
She's a Boy I Knew. Maybe that awesome transwoman will be back to liven up the Q&A again!