Vounteer Confirmation Letter

Dirty Shame Puppy: Happy Daddy Bear

Puppy. Spain, 2004.

Director: Miguel Albaladejo

Screenwriters: Miguel Albaladejo and Salvador Garcia Ruiz

Cast: José Luis García Pérez, David Castillo

Subjects of interest: male homosexuality, fetishism, promiscuity

Synopsis:

Peter is a dentist with an active gay social and sexual life has to take care of his nephew Bernardo, since his sister is going abroad on holiday. This, temporary and occasional in principle, is extended indefinitely in time when the boy's mother is detained in another country and is exposed to a long prison sentence. Peter will have to consider whether his life is compatible with the education of a child or if you must choose between one thing and another.

Comment:

During the last two decades, homosexuality, while remaining a taboo in mainstream cinema, which for now only supports a few stereotypes like the funny side that accompanies the protagonist women's shopping or just being repressed accepted or accepted himself after of grim traumatic experiences, has become the protagonist of a series of independent films that go beyond these clichés and the film demands. Puppy

reflects the situation of many homosexuals who live in large cities, for their inclinations and not a tragedy or a drama and therefore they need not claim great causes but live their lives with a semblance of normality, which, however is more fragile than it seems: a time to take charge of his nephew Pedro lifestyle makes him vulnerable in the eyes of those who consider those who are not like them can not be considered normal .

However, it is true that the film, despite addressing the issue of child adoption by homosexual persons, not limited to the pamphlet, but that counts, not a great drama, but the small drama of a person sees his life altered by the presence of his nephew and you have to face legal problems, the family of the child and his complicated emotional situation with half French boyfriend comes to visit from time to time.

That's where the movie sins perhaps Manichaeism and lack of credibility in doing so idealized portrait of its protagonist. Peter combines perfectly too their revelry night by local gays with his career and his new job as accidental father. As in other tapes Albaladejo, you can see a misogyny so evident as opposed to a large extent to which we are accustomed to seeing: women are immature, possessive and somewhat hysterical, men have a strong emotional balance and a great hand with children. Peter has also been said that, despite his feelings about his French lover, does not want commitments, their emotional resilience is such that this relationship does not pose flashing any doubt or conflict, and it is not selfishness but know perfectly what is best for him and for everybody. Probably the intention of the script is not falling into the reactionary topical promiscuity present as a symbol of irresponsibility and results in all aspects of life, but maybe it will go out of hand in the other direction.

Finally, the film focuses on a branch of the gay world, the underworld of bears or bears , whereas in a smaller city and being gay is unusual enough in itself, in a large City sexual orientation is no longer an identity in itself so, like heterosexuals, gays are also obliged to find that identity forming their groups and clans around certain aesthetic, music and more. Embracing the aesthetics of bears, many men somewhat overweight and ugly from a conventional view individuals cease to be insipid and pass to flaunt and be proud of his physique and status; Puppy portrays this environment to bear great authenticity. Scenes

Highlights:

• Pedro visit a local environment, down to the stairs where the dark room and then begins to kiss with a stranger.

Bernardo
• The small rises unexpectedly at night, when entering the room of his uncle, is found tied to bed with a mask covering his face and another masked man dressed in leather front. The child has a panic attack and runs away.

Anecdotes:

• Some scenes from the movie were filmed at the famous Madrid's Chueca district, and in some places specializing in bears or bears .

• The film, which is relatively well known in the gay community and especially English in Madrid, received several awards, mainly in gay film festivals. Its protagonist achieved Goya nomination as Best Actor.

About the director:

Born in Alicante in 1966, Miguel Albaladejo is unknown to the general public, despite being a brilliant writer and a filmmaker more than correct. His only film with a certain impact was the film adaptation of the stories of famous children's literature character Manolito Gafotas (1999), created by her friend Elvira Lindo . His film has no great everyday stories with a good balance between comedy, drama and interest in emotions and their bond characters. Puppy is, so far, the only openly gay movie with explicit sex scenes.

Links: IMDB



The Armchair

Making movies

Where Can You Get Tablets That Make You Poo

, a story about happiness: the quiet single

Happy-go-lucky . UK, 2008.

Director and Screenwriter: Mike Leigh

Cast: Sally Hawkins, Eddie Marsan, Alexis Zegerman

Topics of interest: sexual freedom, promiscuity

Synopsis:

Poppy is a happy childhood education teacher who lives in a neighborhood near London. At 30 years does not seem to want to settle down, he likes to live with her best friend, Zoe, entertained with various activities, leaving the weekends partying and flirting in fun ways with all the guys you know, without any anxiety find the man of her life.

Comment:

As usual in the Mike Leigh film , Happy not have a closed frame or concrete, but rather a series of episodes in the life of Poppy : Flamenco classes, driving lessons, his work with young children, a visit to her pregnant sister, their weekend partying with her friends, her romance with her school teacher .... All these anecdotes are the picture of what in another era would have been called a liberated woman, modern or emancipated, and now should be a perfectly normal, but still rather exceptional in the film.

And it assumes that the way of life and being of Poppy, free, casual and carefree, that is what the original title of the film is acceptable in a girl of twenty years, but arrival thirties as a man as a woman, but much more the latter, mark other targets. P Oppy is a teacher, a relatively good job from the point of view of a English, but in the UK is about the profession considered worse and worse paid to which you can choose someone to study, but our friend enjoy with their work and not see him greater ambitions. And apply the same philosophy to his private life against unmarried neurotic, bitter, desperate and unable to live without a man to whom we are accustomed to film and television, Poppy enjoys her freedom, she likes flirting with men and begins a relationship with an attractive coworker. However, The girl lives this affair, we do not know if it will or will not continue, again with ease, without seeing in him a lifeline or show no fear of commitment.

Poppy the beginning of the film may seem crazy and infuriating. But as the narrative progresses, partly thanks to great work of the actress, we realize that it is an intelligent young man and his attitude is a vital choice that she makes so much more aware than it seems. Above all it is clear that being happy is a question of taking things with good humor and nonchalance.

Other characters in the film represent the conventional view of bourgeois society Poppy rebuking not find a partner, a better job, not being more competitive, and so on. His sister, who is very proud of herself for being married, pregnant and living in an elegant house with her husband, advertise the wonders of the conventional life to try to preach to the misguided family, but it's easy see that the true function of this speech is to convince herself and cover their own insecurity.

Similarly, the teacher of the driving school we are sensing throughout the film who is attracted by Poppy, eventually bursting and finally reproaching her flirt with men, although this character is right to say that she not so crazy but is fully aware of its appeal and its game, which is doing well no longer cling to the seriousness to make sense of a gray existence. The film, while far from didactic panfletarismo Ken Loach and a British social cinema look no labels of any kind, shows great respect for the freedom of the person and the right to pursue happiness each in its own way .

Top Scenes:

• reminds Zoe Poppy you can not please everyone. She replies that what is wrong with trying.

Anecdotes:

• Introduced in the Berlin Film Festival this year 2008 with great success, winning the award for Best Actress for Sally Hawkins. It is likely that when the season starts soon awards for best films of the year, pick a few candidates.

About the director:

Mike Leigh was born around 1943 and Manchester in the 70 starts in his career as writer and director in British film and television, failed international recognition to the 90. Belongs to school of British social realist cinema and, although not as well known as Ken Loach , is also the method of working with semi-professional actors and go on the script together with them, leaving them to build their character and dialogue and contribute their own ideas, resulting in quasi-experimental films without a specific argument but with a sense of great ease and credibility. His greatest success was achieved in 1995 with Secrets and Lies. The protagonists of his films are people working or middle class with very everyday problems.

Links:

• official Web
• IMDB Blog
• film
• Extracine

Wank To My Sister Normal?

Notes on a Scandal: friendship dangerous

Notes on a scandal. UK, 2006.

Director: Richard Eyre.

Screenwriter: Patrick Marber , drawing on a novel by Zoe Heller.

Cast: Judi Dench, Cate Blanchett, Bill Nighy, Andrew Simpson.

Thematic interest: obsession, pedophilia, lesbianism.

Synopsis:

After spending years at home raising their children, Sheba Hart searches work as an art teacher in a school. There you have it a little hard to get respect from the young students, but it helps out Barbara, one of the most veteran teachers. The two sisters are best friends until one night Barbara discovers Sheba having sex with Steven, a student of only 15.

Comment:

The comments Barbara notes in her diary and reads us show off his approach to his workmate much younger as a deliberate plan to conquer. Is attracted to her and never referred to Sheba as a friend or show empathy, but analyzes it in terms similar to how a scientist talk about the guinea pig in an experiment. So we know from the outset that the friendship is really a stalking: Barbara Sheba acts like a pederast with a child. You win your trust gradually, through small favors concerned until his victim is held captive in the spider web he has woven. Taking advantage of the secrets entrusted to the person harassed, the harasser's used to wrap a moral blackmail, emotional and sexual finally.

Throughout the film we sense, and later confirmed, that Barbara had the same pattern with his "friend" earlier, he had to leave his job to get rid of it. The stalker, who is not even able to take to herself that she is a lesbian and that their interest in their victims is basically sexual, is not able to have a heart to heart relationship with another person: their way of relating is always abuse, all the other despotic request without offering sincere feeling really no return. The result is an enormous solitude interrupted occasionally by these abusive relationships that invariably end badly, with serious damages of any kind to his victims, and also frustrating for herself, which of course at all times considered the other as the only guilty of these failures.

But Sheba meets turn quite a few conditions that make it easy prey for a vampire as Barbara. Greatly immature, he married his young college professor, which implies that we always had a fragile personality that requested the support of someone older. The past year has been stuck at home looking after their children make it even more naive and helpless when faced with a job and real life problems. Therefore

credible to begin a relationship with one of his students, unlike Barbara, Sheba does not use strategies to seduce or dominate someone younger, but it is the Otherwise, their lack of personality and maturity are not known to be above and cut the flirtations of a teenager. Barbara succeeds in full to see the passion of his companion a simple bourgeois romantic fantasy about a boy poor victim of a difficult family situation and a great talent to be discovered, when the reality is that Steven, the boy, is a perfectly normal teenager also normal with a family without money problems and no significant talent Sheba not only carried away, but keeps the relationship on a completely unconscious, not knowing what you want or think about the serious risks that entails.

The film does a wonderful portrayal of two protagonists, played by two actresses. However, the voice of Barbara newspaper is an underscore that simplifies and reduces unhealthy friendship story about genre conventions rather trite thriller without giving the viewer the possibility to realize itself obsessive personality Barbara. Scenes

Highlights:

• Believing Steven needs to be reinforced to take the course forward and touched by her family drama course, Sheba agrees to stay alone with him after class and give private lessons. Steven is one of those hints for extra classes.

• Sheba is aimed at all hurry to see the role of the college of his son, who has been preparing for a long time. Barbara has suddenly shattered by the death of his cat and requires you to stay with her, Sheba refuses and threatens to expose his partner what he knows about his relationship with the teen.

Anecdotes:

• won four Oscar nominations: for the two protagonists (although Cate Blanchett competed in the supporting actress category), the script and soundtrack . He was also a finalist for other awards, including BAFTA and Golden Globe undoubtedly the work of the actresses was the most valued of the film.

• was presented at the 2007 Berlin festival, which achieved an audience award.
  

• Among gay communities were hostile to the film criticism on the grounds that the script identified lesbians with psychological imbalance. About

director:

Born in the county of Devon (England) in 1943, Richard Eyre has a prestigious curriculum as director of theater and television, including Laurence Olivier award for his productions theater. In film has not been lavished much, got his first hit internacional en 2001 con Iris y ha conseguido repetirlo con Diario de un escándalo . Ahora mismo tiene pendiente de estreno The other man , su debut en Hollywood.

Enlaces:

IMDB
La butaca
Blog de cine