mondo film

{film} Erica Abeel


DVD RE-RUN REVIEW: Living in the Moment, Nine Years Later; Linklater's Lovers Reunite in "Before Sunset"

Romance junkies of the world arise. If you were hooked on Richard Linklater 's 1994 "Before Sunrise," the ballad of a 24-hour love affair between American Jesse and Frenchwoman Celine, your moment has come. You now get to see what happened after the couple's wrenching farewell in a train station, when they vowed to meet again in Vienna in six months. And I don't think you'll be disappointed, to judge by the warm reception "Before Sunset" received at its world premiere at the 2004 Berlinale ( Warner Independent Pictures opens it on Friday).

This festival fave struck a chord for several reasons. It's an anomaly: since when do indie films spawn sequels -- and especially from the director of indie icon "Dazed and Confused?" Sequels are for Bruce Willis and der Arnold; they're economically driven, as the ever mellow Linklater said at the press conference; while "this film we're doin' for ourselves primarily." "Sunset" also scratches the itch to know what becomes of people -- and what became of these particular beautiful young people as yet unscarred by disappointment and missteps. It caters to our naïve need to spin forward the plot: DID Ethan Hawke 's Jesse and Julie Delpy 's Celine meet again in Vienna as promised? And it taps into such consuming questions as, Can you build a life out of a one-night stand? Does anyone out there still believe in romantic love?


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"Brother to Brother" And then Some: Rodney Evans Flashes on the Harlem Renaissance by Brandon Judell


Name three films in the last decade where the hero was intelligent, black, gay, and could paint. How about one flick with an African-American homosexual that wasn't an offensive comedy? Well, there were a few. You'll just have check your indie guides for hours to discover them.

Thankfully, Rodney Evans, the recipient of the Independent Feature Project's Gordon Parks Award for his screenplay "Brother to Brother," has added another one to the guides by directing his acclaimed screenplay.

The story hinges on the sensitivities of Perry (Anthony Mackie), a young man thrown out of his house for getting it on with a guy in his family's basement. Now, not only does he have to cope with his queerness and pay the rent, Perry is figuring out what it is to be black and proud. Can these two identities mesh into a happy whole? They can once the put-upon collegiate meets Bruce Nugent (Roger Robinson), a survivor of the Harlem Renaissance. Soon the wise old man's memories of Zora Neale Hurston and Langston Hughes become Perry's. Yes, being queer, black, and having to study doesn't have to be a curse. Get out the party hats.