THE CELLULOID CLOSET

Title: The Celluloid Closet
Director: Rob Epstein, Jeffrey Friedman
Starring: Lily Tomlin, Quentin Crisp, Armistead Maupin, Gore Vidal, Arthur Laurents, Harvey Fierstein
Rating: 4/4 stars

The Celluloid Closet is a gayssential. This documentary drawn from the work of Vito Russo, is a pretty comprehensive look at homosexuality in the movies. I first saw this one years ago on television. It combines two of my favorite things to research: movies and gay history. I set out to see as many of the movies mentioned in the movie as I could, and I have done pretty well. What this movie does is examine how and where homosexuals have been portrayed in the movies from the early years of Hollywood. It also gives a taste of how these protrayals effect the audience. It uses clips from a wide range of movies, from Wings to Advise and Consent to Philadelphia. Granted, it is somewhat dated now, as it was released in 1995. The 15 years of Hollywood since then have had a huge improvement in the way they portray gay people, thanks to movies like Milk, Angels in America and Brokeback Mountain. Despite it's dated-ness, it is a wonderful look at the history. Not only is this a great movie for its research value, it also has some great things to say about our lives and experiences.