GAY
FILM REVIEWS BY MICHAEL D. KLEMM
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GAY
FILM REVIEWS BY MICHAEL D. KLEMM
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Were the World Mine Wolfe
Video, Director:
Starring:
Unrated, 95 minutes |
A
Midsummer Night's Wet Dream
What a day for a daydream. As Were The World Mine begins, the gay kid in gym class is about to get hit in the face with a dodge ball. The ball stops in mid air and, as Timothy stares at it hovering in front of his face, the lights dim in the gymnasium and all the other boys break into the first of many highly choreographed and sexy dance routines. When the fantasy ends, and the ball does hit him, only one of the boys bothers to make sure that he is okay. His name is Jonathon and he is the hunkiest player on the rugby team. Later, Timothy imagines him draped across the teacher's desk and crooning a love song to him. |
 Were
The World Mine
is a magical new musical that is anything but the usual paint-by-numbers
music video masquerading as a movie. Timothy has just been cast as Puck
in the all-male high school's senior class production of Shakespeare's A
Midsummer Night's Dream. His singing is superb. Jonathon also landed
a lead role and, rather shyly, tells Timothy that he has "nice pipes." Ms.
Tebbit, their bohemian drama teacher has made participation in the school
play mandatory and, because she is staging it as it would've been in Shakespeare's
time, several members of the rugby team resent being cast as females. Their
homophobic coach locks horns with Ms. Tebbit over this and conspires with
the school's Headmaster to get the play cancelled. |
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 In
case any of my readers need a referesher course on A Midsummer Night's
Dream, the play is set in an enchanted forest and populated by fairies
who indulge in a little private mischief ("Oh what fools these mortals be").
Puck's love potion, when sprinkled on somebody's eyes, causes that individual
to fall in love with the first person that he or she sees. Naturally the
wrong lovers are paired off and, to add even more comedy, the fairy queen
is made to fall in love with a woodsman who has been given the head of a
donkey. |
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 During
rehearsal, Timothy s sprinkles the potion on Jonathon's eyes and the effects
are immediate. When the rest of the rugby team reacts with disgust, Timothy
waves his magic flower in their faces and within seconds they are all making
out with each other. Their coach sees this and predictably flips out - until
Timothy squirts the juice into his eyes too. The coach flees the auditorium
and runs into the Principal. Soon he is bringing him flowers and professing
his undying love. Later, we see him teaching ballet moves to his rugby players. |
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 Were
The World Mine
is a delightfully subversive musical in which the underdog gets even with
his schoolmates by using the power of love rather than going on a shooting
spree or trashing the prom ala Carrie. It is poetic justice when the rugby
team re-invents themselves as fairies in the school play. The town learns
a lesson in tolerance as Timothy forces all of them, including his stand-offish
mother, to see the world through his eyes. He literally becomes Shakespeare's
Puck as he sets this enchanting comedy of errors into motion. A few of his
deeds have unintended consequences. A friend, who once identified herself
as being "metroflexible," finds herself trying to escape the attentions
of two horny cheerleaders. |
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 Most
reviewers are calling this a gay High School Musical, probably because
it's an easy sound bite. But, truth be told, the film has much more in common
with Lars von Trier's 2000 film, Dancer In The Dark, starring the
Icelandic singer Bjork. Like that film, Were
The World Mine's musical numbers occur organically as Timothy,
like Bjork, begins to daydream. In the world according to Tim, all the world
really is a stage and all the men lovers. |
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 Timothy's
uneasy relationship with his divorced mother is also effectively explored.
The world of the musical is juxtaposed against a few scenes of dark drama
and again, like Dancer In The Dark, the mixing of styles is refreshingly
different. Many small touches in the script stand out. Timothy's father
is a deadbeat dad and his mother sews the wings for her son's costume out
of her discarded wedding dress, |
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Meanwhile,
Timothy confesses that he is having a hard time memorizing the text because
he doesn't understand what all of it means. Ms. Tebbit, who seems to possess
supernatural powers, instructs him to find the magic in the Bard's words
and then the meaning will come. One night, while reading his lines in
the play, it all starts to click. But wait, he also discovers the recipe
for Puck's love potion hidden in the text and he uses it to make Jonathon
fall in love with him. 
This
was originally a short film entitled Fairies and director Tom Gustafson
has done an admirable job expanding it to feature length. The songs, most
of them set to the Bard's verses, are terrific and Tanner Cohen (Timothy)
is blessed with an etherial singing voice. Take a cue from Jonathon, who
sneaks a peak through a crack in the door when he first hears Timothy
sing at the audition; Cohen's voice will make you melt. The dance numbers
are unapologetically homoerotic and utterly charming. Musical glitz and
realistic small town bigotry are blended into a surprisingly pleasing
stew. Though it loses a bit of steam near the end, Were
The World Mine follows none of the usual stale formulas.
I thought I was going to hate this movie, instead, it grabbed me from
the first scene. This is a modern day fairy tale; enjoy it as such. It's
not West Side Story, but Were The World
Mine is the most unique new queer film I have seen in ages.