INTERIOR. LEATHER BAR. (James Franco, Travis Matthews 2013)

[Chris Knipp]

JAMES FRANCO AND VAL LAUREN IN INTERIOR. LEATHER BAR.


Franco looks at gay sex, sort of

James Franco's latest vanity project continues his focus on gay issues (The Broken Tower, Sal, his narration of Howl; perhaps his My Own Private River). It begins with quietly thrumping music and intimate shots of seminude men disco dancing in a smoky bar. One does not actually hear disco music and they are in stripped down gay leather mode. In the center is the main actor, Val Lauren, who resembles a young Al Pacino (he also played Sal Mineo in Sal and is a friend of Franco's). The bar shots are interrupted with introductory interitles solemly presented in white on an all black background. They read as follows:

1."The controversial 1980 film CRUISING starred Al Pacino as a cop going undercover in the New York gay leather bar scene to investigate a series of murders." 2. "The production was plagued with protests from the gay community claiming that the film was homophobic. Director William Friedkin also received death threats during the making of the film." 3. "Friedkin also battled with the MPAA, the ratings board, whose members made him cut 40 minutes from the film in order to avoid an X rating." 4. "This footage has never been screened publicly. " 5. "In 2012, filmmakers James Franco and Travis Matthews collaborated to imagine their own lost footage."

All indications are that Franco (obviously in charge here, not Matthews) was interested in the process, not the result. The result is sketchy, though not as uninteresting as the French seem to have thought. There is some sex. An erect penis being stroked. Perhaps a blow job. There is making out on a couch. Matthews having imagined (not much of a stretch) that some of the men adjourn from the bar to somebody's house, there is the couch scene, or the coverage of shooting it, with Val Lauren, as the Al Pacino surrogate ("Pacino-esque," Franco says in an introductory ideas session) sitting nearby watching.

This is a preview. My full review will appear when the film opens in LA 2 January 2014.

Interior. Leather Bar., 60 mins., debuted at Sundance in January 2013, showed at other festivals, and went into limited release in France 30 Oct., receiving generally poor reviews (Allociné press rating 2.1). The film, with Val Lauren, Christian Patrick and Brenden Gregory, is being brought out in the US by Strand Releasing. It opens 2 January 2014 in Los Angeles at The Cinefamily, where James Franco will be on hand for the Q&A, and Strand will bring out a home video version.