More from Melbourne Queer Film Festival

Currently listening to: Godspeed You Black Emperor, Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennae To Heaven

The festival is now into its second full day, and I thought it was time for an update - which is also why I'm listening to Godspeed, because the best film I saw today featured them in the soundtrack. At the time I thought it might have been Explosions In The Sky, but I stuck around for the credits to find out who it was, and was pleasently suprised. The other beautiful thing about the credits was the closing dedication: 'For the boys who love boys, the girls who love girls, the boys who love girls and the girls who love boys.' Coupled with the rousing soundtrack at the emotional climax of the film (a rooftop scene featuring a real shooting star at the perfect moment) it brought tears to my eyes.

The film was Blue Citrus Hearts (USA, dir Morgan Jon Fox, 2003), a coming out drama lifted from the everyday by its zine-like aesthetic, its endearingly inarticulate leads, and its insightful grasp of teen life. One of the opening scenes, in which a domestic family dinner suddenly reveals a repressed brutality, made me sit up and think 'This film is gona be good' and it was. One of my standouts so far. One of the best things about it was the fact that - unlike most films about queer teens - the leads were real people, not muscled beauties or pretty boys.

I've also seen the Irish drama Cowboys and Angels (dir David Gleeson, Ireland 2003, 35mm, 89 mins) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0377701/ - which was a little simplistic, although I was inclined to like it, partially because I think Irish accents are dead sexy, and because the lead actor was a short, stocky young lad who was just my type (Michael Legge, if you're out there, I'd like to marry you - well, at least for 15 minutes). If that sounds flippant it was also engaging, heartwarming and rather sweet. Another coming of age film, the film centred on a young straight boy who worked in the public service but who was a frustrated artist - something I can relate to, being a country boy who only moved to city thanks to a clerical job in the Ministry of Education. Said character, Shane, moved into a city apartment which he shared with a gay fashion student, while a drug dealer downstairs complicated the situation in more ways than one. Performances were strong, and while the story wasn't startling, in won points for not taking the obvious route.

The annual OZ SHORTS package included several duds this year, but it was heartening to see that local young director Dean Francis has finally learned how to make a decent film - Transgression, a film about a young M2F transsexual - after several painful experiments. Craig Boreham's short drama Transient was definitely the pick of the bunch - a docu-drama about a gay couple's relationship that was moving, modest and beautiful.

The German drama Love In Thoughts 'Was nützt die Liebe in Gedanken' (dir. Achim von Borries, Germany, 2004, 89 mins) is a sensual, subtle film based on a real-life murder/suicide in 1927. Paul and Gunther are students and best friends; Paul is in love with Gunther's free spirited sister Hilde, who is also sleeping with Gunther's boyfriend, but to her brother's distress. In part an exploration of the lives of the decadent rich in the heady 1920's Weimar Republic from the point of view of a young working class lad caught up in their dramas, as well as a complex study of passion and romatic conflict, the film is poignant, beautifully shot (thanks to cinematographer Jutta Pohlmann) and subtle without being slow. Not a crowd-pleaser, but definitely a cinematic pleasure.

I'm seeing another two or three session tomorrow (yay for free gold passes!) but right now it's time to hit a local bar - Control HQ is looking good...