VIDEO OF THE WEEK
Better Than Chocolate
QQQ
With all the grand strides made in gay cinema, it's almost too easy to lump lesbian and transgender films with the whole gay indie subgenre, alongside titles like Get Real, Edge of Seventeen and Trick. But it's high time these films earned a sub-genre of their own.
One thing's certain: While the boys' reputation for randiness is legendary, it's good to see a film like Chocolate prove that the ladies can cook up as many blush-inducing moments as their counterparts -- and it may hold the record for the most "marital aids" displayed in a feature film.
Not that there's anything wrong with a little provocative humor, especially when dealing with a subject as mysterious as lesbian sexuality. Straight men only understand it from porn films (yeah, that's realistic) and gay men would probably just rather not think about it all. But Chocolate director Anne Wheeler manages to broach the subject with tenderness and humor, and also an ample amount of heat.
Karyn Dwyer is the softspoken, 19-year-old Maggie, a college dropout who spends her days working at a gay bookstore and her evenings performing at the local watering hole. When Maggie encounters an attractive, artistic drifter named Kim (Christina Cox), the two become fast friends, heating up rapidly on their way to something more.
But their budding romance is put on hold when Maggie's brother, Paul (Kevin Mundy), and her mother, Lila (Wendy Crewson), show up unexpectedly after Lila's marriage hits the skids. Mom, of course, is unaware of any of the changes in her daughter's life, apart from her desertion of higher education. But their new living arrangement promises to be educational for everyone.
Paul starts dating the sexually adventurous Carla (Marya Delver) while Lila is befriended by transgendered nightclub singer Judy (Peter Outerbridge), who she thinks is a woman. Judy, meanwhile, is in love with the androgynous Frances (Ann-Marie MacDonald), Maggie's repressed boss.
Wheeler has assembled a terrific cast of unknowns, and everyone is up to the challenge of pulling off this sexy farce -- Outerbridge is particularly engaging. But the picture would benefit enormously from tighter editing; as it stands, its almost two-hour running time should push the patience of even its most devoted target audience. Rated R (nudity, sexual subject matter, erotic imagery, profanity and violence)