HPPUB MOVIE REVIEW of Homo Heights

Title: Homo Heights

Release Date: 1997

Nationality and Language: USA, English

Running time: about 95 minutes

MPAA Rating: not given ( R )

Distributor and Production Company: Water Bearer Films

Director; Writer: Sara Moore

Producer: Kate Lehmann

Cast: Quentin Crisp, Lea DeLaria, Stephen Sorrentino

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Review:

Movie Review of Homo Heights

Starring Quentin Crisp, Lea DeLaria, Stephen Sorrentino

Written and Directed by Sara Moore, Produced by Kate Lehmann (1997)

“Homo Heights” is, as I recall, the slang name for a gay neighborhood in San Diego, but this sparkling comedy is a product of the Minneapolis-St. Paul area. The plot, involving the kidnapping of Crisp by the “gay mafia,” seems really silly. But the film is a visual feast. It is indeed a costume comedy with garish colors (as in The Gang’s All Here (1943)), often a Christmas-like red and green, close-up shots that leave the audience the impression that it is at a cabaret. Outside of maybe one scene on St. Paul’s Grand Avenue, there is little in the film to give the audience a geographical sense of place; this is instead a cultural comedy, sort of like Miss Richfield’s Newlywed Game (although Miss Richfield never appears). The photography is so clear and crisp as to remind one of VistaVision, and the chamber orchestra sound track gave pinpoint stereo sound.

There are a couple of quips on other movies. Two male lovers sit and caress each other in a bathtub, to fulfill the promise of a rather notorious but unfulfilled moment in The Talented Mr. Ripley. And then, at the end, our hero rides high on a space station, in a manner that recalls Dr. Strangelove.

There was no distributor given in the credits, and this seems to be a wholly independent film. But it looks like a good choice for, perhaps, Lions Gate or maybe USA Films.

Note: I have since learned that the current distributor is Water Bearer Films. The order information is at http://www.tlavideo.com (search for title “Homo Heights”).

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