Page 1 / 2 - Home

To be fair, it’s not necessary to have a complicated plot to tell a good story; a good movie can instead be character-driven. That requires, of course, fully-developed characters who go beyond stereotypes (for example, the studly butch, the shy femme, the vampy sex vixen). Few lesbian films reach this level of complexity because too many of them depend on the characters’ identities as lesbians as their defining characteristic, or they try too hard to cram too many Important Lessons into the film.

An example of the former is Everything Relative (1996), which spends so much time focusing on its characters' identities as lesbians that you want to scream "Enough already! We get it!" before you're even halfway through the film. An example of the latter is It's in the Water (1996), a mildly entertaining lesbian love story which is hindered by the fact that its two interesting lead characters are surrounded by thinly drawn (and frequently, poorly acted) supporting characters and subplots. While the relationship between the two women is nuanced, it's overshadowed by subplots that are trying too hard to hit you over the head with messages about AIDS, the hypocrisy of the anti-gay movement, and the cost of social conformity.

By contrast, Donna Deitch’s classic Desert Hearts (1985) tackles a similar subject--the growing relationship between two women, only one of whom identifies as gay--but includes nuanced, three-dimensional characters and storylines. The character of Vivian (Helen Shaver), a professor who comes to Reno to obtain a divorce, and the woman she falls in love with, Cay (Patricia Charbonneau) are both multilayered and complex, as are the supporting characters. Like It's in the Water, Desert Hearts also explores social hypocrisy and the cost of conformity, but it does so in a subtle, intricate way that supports the central storyline rather than detracting from it.

It’s still not enough just to have a good story and good characters, however; a good film also must have a good director. This means that the director has to be comfortable with using the camera, adept at coaxing performances out of the actors, and skilled at translating the story into film. The Incredibly True Adventure of Two Girls in Love was Maria Maggenti’s first full-length feature, and it shows in some of the scenes, where the camera angles are noticeably awkward. Similarly, much of Go Fish—a first-time feature from Rose Troche, who went on to direct several episodes of Six Feet Under and The L Word—seems filmed by amateurs, but both movies have other qualities that makes those clumsy elements forgivable, including good storytelling and, most notably, decent acting.

It’s not surprising that many first-time films feature young actors in their first film roles, and a certain amount of inexperience is to be expected. Laurel Holloman, Nicole Parker, Guinevere Turner, and Patricia Charbonneau were all first-timers when they hit the big screen in their lesbian roles. What sets them apart is the fact that they all understood what it took to act on film: understatement.

Unlike theater, where actors often exaggerate their expressions (to a certain extent) because they are on stage, and thus farther away from the audience that is watching them, film and television acting is based on the close-up. This means that too much eyebrow-lifting or contorted expressions of surprise/sadness/anger/etc. simply looks ridiculous on screen.

The painful result of these kinds of contortions can perhaps be most clearly and infamously seen in Bar Girls (1995), but it is also evident in many films today, like Lee Friedlander's recent Girl Play, which won a major award at the Outfest 2004 Film Competition. The film was adapted from a play, and it shows: while the exaggerated acting and the actors' habit of talking directly into the camera may work for theater, it doesn't translate well to film. The movie has other things going for it, but it could have been so much better if those involved truly understood the difference between stage and screen.

One of the best actors in How to Pick Up Girls is Bryher Grey, who plays a shy butch named Em. In comparison to the other actors in the film—many of whom seem theater-trained—Grey was simply a writer who stumbled into her role because she knew the cast and director. Her lack of theater training shows (in a good way) because she is one of the few actors who doesn’t overact.

Filmmaking is an expensive hobby, but the success of films like Go Fish show us that it doesn’t take a big budget to make a good movie. Go Fish was filmed on a budget of $15,000 and ended up grossing $2.4 million. As The Washington Post noted in 1994, “Shot in black-and-white and seemingly run through a food processor, this grainy, indifferently edited film is made up of vignettes separated by inscrutably artsy montages of spinning tops and whatnot. Still, its high spirits, candor, wit and heart prevail over its outward cheesiness.”

So if you’re a talented novice filmmaker with a great story to tell, take heart: you don’t need a big budget to make that movie, you just need to embrace the idea that execution is as important as a good concept, and that "more" isn't always better when it comes to acting and writing.

Page 1 / 2 - Home