Cinematical

A little-known secret in the gay community is that most gay films aren't all that good. Thankfully, each year the San Francisco International LGBT Film Festival -- which opens today and runs through June 25 -- steps forward as a reminder that not all of them are bad, either. The festival reaches year 30 this summer with a lineup of 266 films, shorts and videos, and many of them are quite good.

Ozon
In a centerpiece performance, the festival will pay tribute to the outrageous, unclassifiable French filmmaker Francois Ozon. Four of his best films will show, beginning with my favorite, Sitcom (1998). A delightfully sick, demented stab at the nuclear family, the film begins when the father brings home a pet rat. This event somehow leads to odd behavior, depraved sex and even weirder stuff.

Criminal Lovers (1999) is next, a take on the Hansel & Gretel story, followed by the dreary, simmering Water Drops on Burning Rocks (2000). Based on a play that Rainer Werner Fassbinder wrote when he was a tender 19, the film follows a dysfunctional relationship between a snaky man and his naïve young lover.

Another favorite of mine is the delightful, snowbound mystery/musical 8 Women (2002), starring just about every great French actress alive. Fortunately, the festival was wise enough to leave out Ozon's overrated Under the Sand and the dreadful 5x2. Unfortunately, they had the misfortune to book Ozon's newest film, and undoubtedly his worst. Time to Leave spins the story of a young gay man (Melvil Poupaud) with cancer. This dud hits all the most routine notes, with the notable exception of a strikingly beautiful sequence co-starring Jeanne Moreau as the young man's grandmother.

Rom-Com
A definite festival highlight is the snappy new romantic comedy The Mostly Unfabulous Social Life of Ethan Green. Based on a comic strip, the film stars Daniel Letterle as the handsome, springy Ethan, who is dreaming of moving in with his current boyfriend. When the boyfriend finally pops the question, however, Ethan declines. He's one of those self-destructive types that populate every other romantic comedy, but writer David Vernon and director George Bamber use quick, witty banter to blast through the expected conventions. A raft of supporting characters are also funnier and more sharply drawn than we might expect, especially Richard Riehle and Joel Brooks as the "Hat Sisters," a pair of older queens dressed in matching lamp shades and living room curtains.

Girls in Prison
Another winner is the audience-participation film Bad Girls Behind Bars, a kind of remix of four different "women in prison" films from four different decades, Ladies They Talk About (1933), starring Barbara Stanwyck, the low-budget Girls in Prison (1956), Women in Cages (1971), which stars Pam Grier and the made-for-cable Girls in Prison (1994), starring Anne Heche and Ione Skye. Filmmaker Sharon Zurek edits the old scenes for maximum innuendo, with little animated cues for audiences to chime in. The effect is wonderfully cumulative; the four films mesh well, spinning their individual stories as well as commenting upon the genre.

Docs
Two documentaries, Pick Up the Mic and Camp Out explore unusual subjects, but in a fairly routine manner. The first looks at gay & lesbian hip-hop artists and the second, a religious summer camp for gay/lesbian youths. A third doc, George Michael: A Different Story, focuses on the popular singer and his early 90s coming-out; it sometimes comes across as advertising, but it's oddly captivating. Jack Smith & the Destruction of Atlantis is a look at the infamous New York underground filmmaker, with generous clips from his masterpiece Flaming Creatures (1963) and perhaps too many talking heads. (John Waters, in particular, seems to be earning a nice paycheck with his numerous talking head appearances in documentaries.)

Shorts
In shorts programs, Fun in Boys' Shorts and Fun in Girls' Shorts are always worth checking out. In the former program, Hustler WP, chronicling a night in the life of a couple of New York skinheads, is particularly good. The latter -- which seems to have forgotten the "fun" part -- has a standout with the U.S./Icelandic co-production Family Reunion.

Cartoons
Based on an internet cartoon, Mike Reiss's hilarious animated film Queer Duck: The Movie takes the clunky, simple, flash-animated characters and gives them a big-screen story arc. Queer Duck (voiced by Jim J. Bullock) meets an aging diva and turns her into a Broadway star. He contemplates marrying her and -- against his will -- undergoes a radical "cure" for homosexuality. This doesn't sit right with Queer Duck's lifemate, "Openly" Gator (voiced by Kevin Michael Richardson), nor his other close pals, Oscar Wildcat (voiced by Maurice LaMarche) and Bi-Polar Bear (voiced by Billy West). The limited animation betrays the film's ambitious scale, but there are plenty of snarky laughs. David Duchovny, Conan O'Brien, Bruce VIlanch and Mark Hamill provide other voices.

Random
For no reason whatsoever, The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh will show in a kiddie-friendly matinee. Released in 1977, this is a compilation film made of three shorts, including the Oscar-winning Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day (1968).