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Good films I will see two or three times in the theatre. Really good films, like Urbania, I will watch several more times on video. God bless the advent of video and DVD for cinephiles like myself. This is one work, as someone else noted, that begs for multiple viewings. Not only for it's entertainment value, but because it allows one to see just how cleverly this film keeps its secret until it's the right time to reveal itself. It also gives one the chance to see a beautiful and complex performance by Dan Futterman.

But there is one scene with Futterman and Alan Cummings which shines like a tiny diamond in the center of Urbania. While the scene fits neatly and contributes to the flow of the story, it is so well written and acted that it feels to me almost like a separate entity. Alan Cumming packs so much subtextual information into the turn of a phrase and a facial expression that it's breathtaking.

While it's not an easy film to watch due to the subject matter, it is intriguing. Oh yes, and also remarkable is Lothaire Bluteau's (Bent, I Shot Andy Warhol, Being at home with Claude) moving portrayal of a homeless man.

Urbania is highly recommended.

Deneuve was an inspired choice to play Miriam Blaylock, the impossibly beautiful creature created by Whitley Strieber in his novel The Hunger. After almost twenty years, I can still think of no other actress who could capture her the way she does. Deneuve and the exquisite Blaylock home are the best things about the film. Unfortunately, in the translation to film, the rest of the story loses much of it's brilliance. Any fan of the book will know what I mean. Because of this, I don't care for the film. The New Wave/Goth element seems little more than a gimick and Bowie's John Blaylock plays about as well as Tom Cruise's Lestat (I like Tom Cruise, but he's not Lestat). Again, having been a rabid fan of the novel probably spoiled the film for me. I ache to think what could have been had they steered more towards the original material.

BITB is classic film from the early post-stonewall period; an awesome display of claustrophobic emotional cannibalism. With nary a wasted line, it's incredible to see how much character development the writer crams into every inch of dialogue. There are great performances here, especially by Gorman, Nelson and Greene. Packing a wallop similar to 1966 "Whose Afraid of Virginia Woolf," this is a must see, and great first step, for anyone interested in gay cinema. After a birthday party drifts desperately out of bounds, this group of gay males, and two in particular, proceed to rip each other to shreds. The storm and resulting damage on the apartment terrace mirrors the storm and damage to the lives inside. Michael's comment to Donald, "If we could just learn not to hate ourselves quite so very much," seems a lesson equally relevant to the gay community at large in the early seventies. When viewed next to a more recent film with vaguely similar premise, The Broken Heats Club, it seems like we might just have been paying attention. But make no mistake, Boys in the Band is not your daddy's Broken Hearts Club.