Uomini uomini uomini

I saw it at the S.F. gay film festival and it was a big hit. There are four professional men who hang out together, pulling off some pretty funny business. The film opens in a gay disco with very hunky Italian go-go boys and moves on through the lives of each of the men, meeting potential lovers, losing lovers, and eventually leading to a sobering and frightening climax with a very handsome, naive and vulnerable, yet straight young man. How wonderful to see a first class feature film, and from Italy too, about four contemporary older gay men! It's intelligent and mature, yet full of young-at-heart lust and desire, as well as pain and pathos. This is a rare film and one I wish I could keep a copy of to show to all my friends.

Playing on all the stereotyped gay characterizations, the film works really well. A 1990s European film for sure, and quite surprising that it was directed by Christian De Sica, whose father was the great Vittorio De Sica.

This is a truly despicable film -- trying to pass off as a sympathetic portrayal of four middle-aged gay friends, it is actually a throwback to the homophobic films of decades ago.

All four characters are shown as lonely, pathetic, predatory, misogynistic and incapable of sustaining an intimate long-term relationship -- but they laugh in the face of the sorry deck that life has dealt them.

The few faint attempts to vary from the negative stereotypes (e.g., one of the characters is a gay father) are weak and undeveloped.

See this film only to disprove the theory that films have come a long way since "The Boys in the Band."