Title: The View from Here: Conversations with Gay and Lesbian Filmmakers Author: Matthew Hays Publisher: Arsenal Pulp Press Publish Date: 2007 Pages: 384 Genres:: Interviews, Film Studies, Gay, Lesbian, Non-Fiction Reviewer: Chris R. Morgan

Rating:

It's quite amazing what some writers can do in order to unite a cluster of subjects and persons from seemingly diverse backgrounds, tastes, beliefs, et cetera, under one basic commonality of their practicing of coitus with their own gender: Whether it reflects their work to any significant degree or not, journalist Matthew Hays has amassed a formidable guide of the leading gay and lesbian filmmakers both in the mainstream and independent circuits.

Hays' prowess for journalistic detail is as potent as John Waters' prowess for taking every ungodly deviation under the sun into a 90-minute-or-less script. Hays covers all bases by profiling 35 individuals with straightforward biographical essays and extensive interviews in which the artists reveal the motivations that drive their ideas and tighten their craft. Hays delivers provocative questions to which the subject will reply with thoughtful, detailed answers. For as much as Hays is interested in their individual paths that got them to their artistic zenith, he is just as interested in their anecdotes and opinions on being gay and being a filmmaker. This, too, brings out divergent answers as John Waters' experiences are far different from Randal Kleiser who directed Grease. Waters, being the epitome of the underground (at least in the early part of his career), revels in his achievements as a cult and midnight movie sensation. Kleiser, on the other hand, talks more of his career as a major Hollywood director and his reflections on modern gay culture in mainstream America.

Interesting though is how some of his subjects seem to undermine Hays' very reason for putting the book together. While he emphasizes these subjects as not just being accomplished makers of film, but gay ones at that, some of the subjects themselves take emphasis off that. "Does anyone really like to be called 'African American' or ''Jewish' or 'WASP' or 'differently abled' or any other stereotyping descriptor?" asks Teen Apocalypse trilogy Gregg Araki. "Gay is not enough. All gay films aren't necessarily good. I don't define myself by my sexuality," John Waters commented. On the other hand, filmmakers like Bruce LaBruce, Robert Epstein and John Cameron Mitchell have embraced the lifestyle both deviant and realistic. LaBruce's work combines aspects of punk, art and hardcore pornography, while Epstein makes documentaries that reflect the pressing issues of homosexuals.

One of John Waters' comments in his interview was that gays are the best audiences because they love movies. If this is generally true, then they have a handy compendium for the most interesting and challenging filmmakers the subculture has to offer: Hays' ability to find common ground with filmmakers who derive their ideas from both the mundane and the transgressive. Included with the essays and the interviews are the filmographies of the artists. Though they are straightforward lists going from the most recent down to their earliest work, they are nonetheless up to date with just-released and upcoming projects at the top. There is a lot to learn from Hays' information and a lot to look forward to from his subjects.