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The Toronto International Film Festival offered a host of queer cinema this year, including ‘Breakfast With Scot’ (top), ‘The Walker’ and ‘The Edge of Heaven.’ (Photos courtesy of studios)
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HOME > ENTERTAINMENT > FEATURE
By: HARRIETTE YAH COMMENTS
 
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about forbidden lesbian love set in 1950s South Africa. “XXY,” an Argentinean coming of age — and coming of gender — story about an intersexed teen was a surprise favorite among niche film lovers.
The Toronto festival does a great job of supporting homegrown talent. The hot Canadian queer film last year was “Whole New Thing.” This year saw “Breakfast with Scot,” about a musical-loving, boa-wearing kid named Scot who comes to live with his Uncle Sam (Ben Shenkman, who played Louis in the made-for-TV version of “Angels In America”) after his mother dies. Eric (Tom Cavanagh, seen in the cloying “Gray Matters”) is Sam’s partner, an ex-hockey star, sometimes ridiculed as Erica. Dealing with themes of homophobia in sports and the power of family, “Scot” is sweet — in a Hallmark kind of way — better suited for a television play than a theatrical run.
French queer films played: “Naissance des Pieuvres (Water Lillies)” failed to ring true, Jacques Nolet’s “Avant Que J’Oublie (Before I Forget)” told the story of an aging gay man (and was picked up by Strand Releasing at the fest), and Christophe Honore’s “Les Chansons d’Amour (Love Songs)” is a bisexual and musical love triangle tale set in Paris, starring the charming Louis Garrel, and is due out next spring by IFC Films.
Late one night I wandered into a screening of Jessica Yu’s “Ping Pong Playa,” intending only to stop by before another film — its playful energy signed me on for the long haul. The acting was a bit amateur, but the story, about a Chinese family and their dropout son who becomes a ping-pong champion (and, of course, gets the girl), was enjoyable, entertaining fare. “Queer as Folk’s” Peter Paige stole the show — he was excellent as the tube-sock and polyester-sport-short wearing ping-pong villain.
In queer party news, the Queer Lounge, which pumps up the LGBT event volume at Sundance, showed up in Toronto last year, but pulled out this year. Taking up the slack was the Gay Flambé, a festival-ending party sponsored by Toronto’s Inside Out Lesbian and Gay Film Festival and Xtra Magazine. Among the after parties was “The Jihad of Love’s” gathering at a local Mediterranean restaurant, and Think Film threw a provocative bash for “Young People Fucking,” a portrait of intimate relationships. The Canadian pic is talky but endearing, with just a hint of queer content at the end. It’s worth the view for its performances, and its honest look at intimacy beyond romantic fantasy is something everyone can
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