FAQs

It starts off in a promising way. Some interesting characters with some way-out ideas. It even reminded me a little of an Almodovar film at the beginning, and that's always a good thing.

However, it doesn't live up to its early promise. The characters turn out to be very shallow. Some of the more interesting ones just disappear from the plot without a trace of explanation. There are some "twists" in the plot which which had my eyes rolling around in my head. I wanted to scream out a request for a bit of originality.

Worst of all, it relies, like far too many other films, on the outrageous concept that problems of violence can be solved with guns. This notion is not just annoyingly simplistic. It's extremely dangerous

"FAQs" has a daring concept, but it is almost irretrievably lost by its amateurish execution. The film is about the construction of a family of throw-away teens rescued and mentored by a flamboyant drag queen/pornographer named Destiny (Allan Lewis). It boldly portrays the grittiness one would imagine such a situation would entail. The characters' resentment of their past abuses is palpable in every scene, and the film never compromises its heroes or its message. It's not a wimpy film.

The major strength of the film is Lewis's deft performance as Destiny. His portrayal brings out both Destiny's power and her vulnerability. The viewer can sympathize with her while disagreeing with some of her judgments and admire her without adopting her attitudes wholesale.

The other outstanding element of the film was the music. It supported the action of the film beautifully without intruding and calling attention to itself.

Virtually everything else about the film was lacking. The dialog was uneven, sententious, and often artificial. The pace was ponderous, all the more so because of the long, dead silence between many of the lines. I suspect some of these silences could have been corrected by editing, but in many of the running takes, the actors simply didn't pick up their lines. Apart from Lewis, the actors were uneven at best in their performances.

Finally, the film looks awful and sounds worse. I finally gave up trying to find an appropriate volume and turned on the subtitles.

If one is looking for an angry gay film well-made on a low budget, one might settle on "The Living End." Because "FAQs" has a more promising premise, I couldn't abandon it. I really wanted to like it, but ultimately it was a huge disappointment.

First I will say that the movie was a nicely done piece of art. For an Indi film, it was all the better.

However, I didn't like its message of 'straight people and cops are evil', when that just isn't the case.

Also, I didn't like Destiny. I enjoyed his/her character and such, however it is because of flamboyant people such as him/her homosexuals are incapable of getting the respect we wish for.

Yeah, I'm a lesbian. As such, I didn't like the movies portrayal of lesbians either. It seemed to me that the movie felt they were all dykes, and male-hating.

Now, I agree that gay-bashers suck. I hate them as much as the next gay person. I've been the victim of them more than enough.

But not all straight people are like that, regardless of what the movie's characters seemed to believe.

I know they've been given the short end of the stick, and their lives have been less that happy... but still. They movie seemed like nothing more than an overdone 'straight-bash-fest'. There wasn't a single decent thing to say about straight people. Not even 'well, you'll meet the occasional one who doesn't suck'.

Even with all that, I enjoyed the movie. So it gets 5/10.

-Tay

i liked this movie, i liked it lots. There was a sweet and endearing story with some really sweet, lovable people (such as Destiny, India, Lester and Guy). The pace, in my opinion, is quite fast which i enjoyed because i often see indie movies that are as slow as a snail driving a car very slowly. There is some decent comedy (destiny comparing herself to Ms.Brady was hilarious) and it's tinged with sadness(every character has been thrown out by their parents and receive some horrible discrimination, e.g. the coffee shop or the pornographer.) Which brings me on to my main problem; the hate. Yes, these people have been treated cruelly and unfairly by society and family but how can they contain so much hate for straight people? any sort of extremism in my opinion is absurd and irrelevant so when each of these characters aim a gun at or plot to blow up people i can't help but feel desperate. The theme of family between the main characters is delightful, to see how much they care for each other but, can it really be true that not one of these persons have no love for any straight people? The repeated line by Spencer had me wanting to bash his face in ("you don't know straights like i do.") I know a lot of 'straight' people and i've never been treated unfairly by them, of course i've had some abuse but i just smile knowing that, i'm the better person as i'm not offending someone by getting personal. This lovely family however seem to be together out of hate for straight people and for the abuse they've suffered. Hasn' anyone ever told them violence doesn't solve violence? But then again, i have no problem watching a few ignorant pigs getting scared or beat up. Overall, this movie is really good, the message clear and simple. if only the director and writer hadn't been so biased, it would be even greater.

Knowing that director Everett Lewis equated his characters with gay superheros goes a long way toward enjoying this quirky but extremely well-done film. Even when the acting is awkward, there is an honesty about the portrayals that is extremely watchable. Allan Louis is terrific as Destiny, the drag queen "avenger" who is part mother, part Dirty Harry. The cinematography is surprisingly good and the guys look terrific obeying Desiny's '2 hours of nudity a day' rule. Last minute cast substitution Minerva Vier seems incredulous at first as a tough street dyke, but her spunky reality won me over quickly. I cracked up at Destiny's line "Child, I feel just like Mrs. Brady. So white. So suburban. I'm gonna have to get me a pert blonde wig, honey. 'Cause I just feel pert. Pert, pert, pert." Classic. There are some lapses of credibility in the plot, but this is a superhero world, not real life, so go with it and you'll enjoy getting the FAQ's.