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  Adepero Oduye as Alike in Dee Rees' 'Pariah' We have finally entered an era where you can expect queer cinema to be as nuanced and insightful as any other, and Dee Rees’ Pariah, which opens in Portland theaters Friday the 13th, is the perfect example of a coming of age story done so well that it has, well, come of age.
Pariah follows 17-year-old African American Brooklynite Alike (Adepero Oduye) who lives at home with her younger sister and fairly strict and religious parents Audrey and Arthur (Kim Wayans and Charles Parnell). She is a good student and a writer who is struggling not so much with her sexuality, but how to reveal it and fully engage with it. She wants a girlfriend but is frightened. She has a supportive friend but her mother pushes that friend away. And while she is a bright and sympathetic protagonist, what is most powerful about this film is not that she is a superhero but rather a very real vision of what it’s like to be a contemporary lesbian teenager.
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  Doriloves Youall and Puppetrator X perform at Homomentum. Photo by Ty Chance. Do not use without permission. Friday’s re-introduction to Homomentum with its third season opener, Myths & Legends, was quite possibly the best one yet. The stellar lineup surprised and delighted finding new energy in performance artists we’ve seen grace their stage before, as well as creative first timers. It was a fairly lengthy show, and yet I was never bored.
Glitterfruit started the show with an inspirational and beautiful protest song that had emcee Max Voltage in a slightly more serious (dare I say butch?) outfit that transitioned perfectly to the be-maned and sparkly unicorn outfit for the rest of the show. Swagger, the skillful but fun dance and teaching troupe, has reinvented themselves as Compound and were as fashionable and compelling as ever. Felice Shays had a particularly successful comedy routine that eschewed her usual food porn in favor of a more restrained but incredibly hilarious narrative about the rules of polyamoury.
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  Wade McCollum as Prior Walter (L) with Noah Jordan as Louis Ironson in the Portland Playhouse's 'Angels in America.' Photo by Owen Carey. Tony Kushner’s epic play about the AIDS crisis in the 80s, Angels in America: Millennium Approaches, is all about juxtapositions, and the Portland Playhouse does this expertly. We wonder if the tropes presented in this production remain relevant and Director Brian Weaver’s 8 person cast proves that it is. You can hear what Weaver and principal actor Wade McCollum have to say on the continued relevancy of the Angels, as well as AIDS in the 21st century, in an interview from last week.
On one side is the closeted and vicious Ray Cohn, played by Ebbe Roe Smith, lawyer for all the big names on the right, and on the other, Prior Walter (McCollum), an eloquent gay man whose partner, Louis (Noah Jordan), leaves him. Both are Cohn and Walter are dying of AIDS. But though Cohn is a classic villain and Walter a relatable (if not wholly classic) hero, both script and performances provide the nuance so imperative in this story. Ultimately, Cohn seems pitiable and Walter powerful.
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  The impossibly long bar at Oven & Shaker. Photo from Eater PDX. The Pearl’s version of a pizza joint, Oven & Shaker, just opened its doors last week. Though the new wood fired and Italian inspired pizza place features the restauranteurs behind Nostrana, Cathy Whims, ChefStable’s Kurt Huffman, and Aviation Gin’s Ryan Magarian, the rising star is Head Chef (and friend to qPDX) Devon Chase, whose oven prowess will surely be Oven & Shaker’s biggest draw.
On the night before its opening, O&S was already packed with press that lingered well past their intended review window and you had to act fast to snag a slice of the signature wood fired concoctions. But bartenders at the restaurant’s endlessly long bar (rumored to be the longest in Portland) were happy to accommodate anxious taste buds with a sampling of introductory cocktails. The Pineapple Trainwreck was front and center with it’s tall green garnish and perfect ice cubes, and though it was tasty I found the ginger a little overwhelming. But the rest of the offerings were just as delicious while being a bit subtler, such as a perfectly blended vintage style Manhattan.
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  In his new book, Francois Cusset says that: “We need to learn to take the text, turn it over, penetrate it, play with its sex, slip ours into it, follow it to the end of its fine ambivalence, and force it along the way to assume a position.” Finally a writer who shares the same queer biblio-lust as myself! With The Inverted Gaze: Queering the French Literary Classics in America, Cusset presents a new addition to the study of queer theory, dissecting the French literary classics from the point of view of what Cusset calls a “QC” or queer critic.
It must be noted that this is not a book for the faint of heart and is a highly academic read. I have read a few authors who belong to the French canon that Cusset discusses (most notably Proust and Balzac) but I was not nearly as familiar as I would like to be with the authors and works discussed. I think this book would be most enjoyed by someone who is well versed in the French literary canon. I could also see it being a valuable resource in an academic setting for a class about queer theory, especially in regards to French texts.
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  Gay square dancing at the Village Ballroom Special one time review from Eleanor Alice, a member of a queer women’s dance group, discusses the return of gay-friendly square dancing to the Village Ballroom. qPDX featured a review back in 2009 but the event has now returned and the Ballroom is under new management. Eleanor’s review is based off Sunday November 6th but it continues every week so check it out this Sunday!
I heard rhythmic live string-band music as I approached the Village Ballroom on NE Dekum Street- and inside I found a roomful of happy people dancing on a very ample, springy wood floor. The dance hall was very cheerful, clean, and well-lit. The caller was an incredibly enthusiastic woman from Seattle and my first square was all-female- eight very happy women dancing in a group.
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  Donovan's neighbor's hip hop juggernaught Celebrity Justice Saturday night saw the premiere of the locally made sitcom pilot for Delusional Donovan a story of an 8-year-old boy and his hallucinations induced by witnessing a shocking event. Writer/Director/Producer duo Mark “Zebra” Thomas and Devan McGrath (whom we interviewed last week) are currently shopping around for networks interested in airing the offbeat comedy so you will likely have to wait awhile to see the show screened again, but get ready for its TV release, because it’s a big success.
One of the crew told me just before the screening grab several drinks, as it would make the show funnier. But mere sips into my first cocktail I was already shaking with laughter. In fact, I think I’m lucky vodka wasn’t coming out of my nose.
Much ado is made of the backstory, that young Donovan is in a fragile mental state due to trauma, but Stray Cat doesn’t actually address that at all. Instead it jumps right in and introduces us to an amazing cadre of characters. This might be a tad confusing for those who haven’t followed the active Portland hype, but could be easily remedied with a title sequence makeover. Though I’m a fan of the short and sweet, and Donovan‘s opening animation is simple yet effective, there’s got to be some background available once it makes it to the wider television audience.
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  One of Thursday night’s screenings for the PLGFF was Gun Hill Road by writer-director Rashaad Ernesto Green. The film opens with Enrique, a husband and father, returning home to the Bronx after three years in prison. During his absence he finds that the family he used to know has changed. Not only has his wife, Angela, had an affair with another man but his teenage son, Michael, has started to experiment with his gender identity. Michael dresses up as a woman and wants to have surgery to become fully transitioned.
Although Michael never confronts Enrique about the transformation he wants to make, Enrique has suspicions and discovers it anyway. This challenges Enrique’s ideals about what it means to be a man and what it means for him personally to have raised a son that wants to be a woman. He deals with these challenges from his family and with the challenge of getting out of prison by becoming involved in the same kinds of skirmishes that probably put him in jail. Meanwhile, Angela struggles with breaking off her affair. Though she is supportive and protective of Michael, she seems somewhat oblivious to the transition Michael wants to make.
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Kate Cooper and Damon Cox of An Horse
The dynamic Australian duo, An Horse, made a stop on their fall tour at Bunk Bar (1028 SE Water Ave. Suit 130) last Saturday. Kate Cooper and Damon Cox released their first album, Rearrange Beds after touring with Tegan and Sara in 2008. They made their first television appearance in 2009 on the David Letterman show, performing the song, […]
 When I arrived in the rainy late afternoon to see PLGFF’s premiere of the German film, and first from Director Sabine Bernardi Romeos, to be released later this year it was not to a packed house. Organizer Gabriel Mendoza didn’t consider it one of the fest’s blockbusters, though he loved the film. Indeed, compared to the line around the block when I left for 7pm’s Weekend, it wasn’t. But it was a triumph. Small it may seem, but every review I’ve read thus far of the film following a young trans man struggling with life and attractions through his transition, has been celebratory, and I wholeheartedly agree.
Another common sentiment I share about the film is that the well-written story is carried off flawlessly by lead actor Rick Okon. Okon plays the 20-year-old Lukas who is “accidentally” put into the female form during his year of German service. He wants desperately to get out and just be one of the guys, even though it is here that he has a Ine (Liv Lisa Fries) an old best friend (former lover?), who is also an out lesbian. In her sexually fluid, but not necessarily trans-inclusive, group of friends, Lukas falls for alpha hottie Fabio (Maximilian Befort).
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