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XTRA! MAY 3, 2012
19
arts › entertainment › leisure
Out City IN THE
IN PRINT
DURING THE RUN OF CATS, PEOPLE ALWAYS BROUGHT ME CATS’ THINGS BACKSTAGE, SAYING, ‘OH, YOU REMIND ME OF MY CAT,’ AND I WAS LIKE, ‘THIS IS A SHOW!’ Betty Buckley ›29
PHOTOGRAPHY
Death in Venice New monograph released in Queer Film Classics Peter Knegt LEGENDARY ITALIAN DIRECTOR LUCHINO Visconti’s 1971 film Death in Venice marks another inspired edition of Arsenal Pulp Press’s Queer Film Classics series, which examines some of the most pivotal films about and by lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans people. The series is co-edited by author Thomas Waugh and Xtra contributor Matthew Hays. Nine of a planned 21 monographs have been released so far, each written by a different leading film scholar or critic. The Venice monograph was assigned to Will Aitken, a Montreal-based novelist, journalist, screenwriter, multimedia director and teacher. Based on Thomas Mann’s 1912 novella of the same name, Death in Venice follows a middle-aged, generally heterosexual German author (Dirk Bogarde) who is vacationing alone in Venice. He becomes obsessed with an adolescent boy (Björn Andrésen) who is staying at the same hotel. As the fixation intensifies, the film makes explicit what Mann’s novella kept implicit: an aesthetically intense depiction of unconsummated, pederastic love. Over 168 pages, Aitken’s contribution to Queer Film Classics delves into all aspects of the film, including its fascinating external narrative. Warner Brothers put up two thirds of the budget for this arty Italian film about a middle-aged man’s obsession with a pubescent boy — a ridiculous fantasy scenario these days. Moreover, and despite mixed and often homophobic reviews, the film became a huge box-office success, the biggest of Visconti’s career. Aitken spends a good third of the monograph on Visconti himself. He writes about how Visconti grew up in a family headed by one of Milan’s most preeminent couples in a grand residence “with so many windows there were servants specifically assigned to the task of opening and closing them”; about how his mascara-wearing father had extramarital affairs with members of both sexes; and — most extensively — about how Visconti handled his own homosexuality, which was an open secret but one Visconti never actually spoke a word about. It’s an engrossing biography that Aitken handles with care, covering well beyond the basics in the tight page count. He also opens with it, which gives the reader a great primer on Visconti’s background and psychology before taking on Aitken’s rigorous analysis of the film itself — a film that stands as one of the most compelling works of one of cinema’s most compelling filmmakers. While many writers have addressed the story before, it’s nice to have Aitken and Queer Film Classics give it such an officially queer look. For more on the Queer Film Classics, search xtra.ca using the following article titles: Word Is Out and Zero Patience.
the deets DEATH IN VENICE Will Aitken Arsenal Pulp Press $14.95
Exhibit promises ‘good stuff’
INYOUR FACE
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Johnnie Walker
HOTOGRAPHER DRASKO Bogdanovic’s Submission (part of the Contact Festival) is going to be unlike any art show you’ve ever attended. “We’re turning the gallery opening upside down,” Bogdanovic says. “When you walk in a gallery space, it’s always white walls, it’s always brightly lit, there’s always that kind of chichi cocktail music going on. We’re turning that upside down. We’re having a dark room. The walls are going to be painted black, and people are going to walk in with flashlights.” And what will visitors discover under their flashlights’ beams? Given Bogdanovic’s previous work, it seems safe to assume it will have something to do with naked men. “It’s going to be a whole range of nudity, full-frontal, sexual acts,” he laughs. “The good stuff !” What gallery would agree to such an unconventional exhibit? Actually, no gallery did. Instead, Submission is going to be presented at Buddies in Bad Times Theatre,
a rather untraditional space for an art show. “Buddies in Bad Times is not a gallery space, so it was a challenge,” Bogdanovic says. “They are not designed to exhibit art . . . But on the other hand, it’s a theatre, and we can create whatever we want in there.” It wasn’t just a willingness to turn out the lights and paint the walls black that Buddies brought to the table — it was also a willingness to “submit” to whatever Bogdanovic wanted to show. “It’s going to be very explicit,” he promises. “Lots of the stuff that I do is very raunchy. But Buddies has said that they won’t censor anything. Whatever I decide to exhibit, they’re gonna show it. So for me, it was very liberating. Because I don’t know when I’m going to get a chance like that again.” Over the past several years, Bogdanovic’s photography has become ubiquitous in gay Toronto. He’s a regular contributor to fab, and his homoerotic photos are frequently used in event promotion and advertising. Bogdanovic insists that while it’s great getting attractive guys to drop trou in his studio, he also has
FOR A LONG TIME, THE ONLY IMAGES OF OURSELVES WE COULD SEE WERE IN PORNOGRAPHY. —Drasko Bogdanovic Exhibited photos will include Taste of Toronto, above.
something more political in mind. “We’re so used to seeing the female body naked,” he tells us. “But male nudity — there is still a fear of penis. People are just not ready to see it. They are literally afraid to look at it. Even in advertising, in fashion, in the media, we don’t get to see the same amount of male nudity that we do of female nudity.” While Bogdanovic hasn’t absolutely determined all the photos he’s going to exhibit, it’s clear he won’t shy away from depicting, well, anything. “I think showing explicit work is very important in our queer history,” he says. “For a long
time, the only images of ourselves we could see were in pornography. You couldn’t see a gay kiss on TV or a gay couple in a movie. The only thing you could see in the media were these very sexual images that you had to buy in the back of the bookstore or whatever.” Just how scandalized should those of us with a prudish streak be prepared to be? “With gay people, I don’t think they will be that surprised with what’s in the photographs,” Bogdanovic says. “Because it is our lives. It’s what we do on the weekends — or what we wish we did on the weekends. But considering the exhibit is part of the Contact Festival, I’d like to see more straight people in there and their reaction to it. And then, maybe, their discomfort.”
the deets SUBMISSION Mon, May 14–Sun, May 27 Opening reception and party Tues, May 15, 7pm Buddies in Bad Times Theatre 12 Alexander St buddiesinbadtimes.com