Swan Song -
This movie literally popped up in my radar over the weekend and after the first minute, I knew that I had to watch it. It had Udo Kier (icon!) and a story that grabbed me by the throat and never let go until the final credits.
Pat Pitsenbarger was the Liberace of Sandusky, as a character calls him. But when we meet the retired hairdresser in "Swan Song," a new film from Todd Stephens, Pat's wearing sad, saggy sweatpants at a retirement home and fills his hours refolding napkins he cages from the cafeteria. But a request to do hair one last time for the funeral of an old client sets him on a long walk through the town and through his past.
I saw myself in Pat. Not because I'm a hairdresser, or because I live in a tiny town in Ohio. Or because I live in a retirement home (that being a possibility, given that I don't have children and I don't know if I will be coupled at that age). But because I already see the differences between me and people who were born at the eve of the new millenium in what concerns thought and worldview. We seem to come from very different worlds and I guess we do. We do not take the same things for granted and we do not share a common past. I feel ancient when I talk to twenty year olds.
So many things have happened in the last twenty years that I feel like I've lived fifty years in that time, instead. And this generation does not even notice the changes the world has gone through. Pat to me was more a small town version of Quentin Crisp, a favorite of my friend Abandon and a Queer elder I admire. Liberace? Too closeted. Pat Pitsenbarger was the real thing: brazen, courageous, daring. He blazed a trail in that town. The kids in that bar he visits owed him and all the loud and proud small-town florists, interior decorators, manicurists, seamstresses, and queer folks who came before them a debt of gratitude and they didn't even know it. I'd have to say that there's no 'gay culture' in America nowadays, and we are less fab because of that.
With all the shenanigans the Repugs and the Religulous are pulling on LGBTQ rights right now (go read Bob's post) and with the possibility of SCOTUS deciding that 'religious freedom' is an excuse for LGBTQ discrimiation, this movie got me in my feels.
So if you have time, watch it. It's on the streaming services and On Demand. It's a good reminder of how things were, when we see the world through Pat's eyes. And how things could be again, if the Repugs retake the power they had with Cheeto and the bigots get away with codifying hatred and ignorance.
XOXO
P.S. there's a cameo by Linda Evans!
And how things could be again, if the Repugs retake the power they had with Cheeto and the bigots get away with codifying hatred and ignorance.
ReplyDeleteare you having or meaning a nightmare?
Well, the conservatives are trying to dismantle all the progress that has been made in the last fifteen years. Same sex marriage only became legal nine years ago. They have chipped away at rights that seemed untouchable, like reproductive rights.
DeleteTheir goal is to set the country back to the 1950s.
XOXO
Oh, I want to see this! Which streaming service is it on? I love that scene where's he's holding up traffic as he slowly drives down the street in his motorized wheelchair!
ReplyDeleteI’ve found it on Hulu.
DeleteOMG yes!
DeleteHe is driving around his hooveround like it's a Cadillac.
The movie is on Hulu and also on Apple. And for people with On Demand movies, it should be searchable.
XOXO
I'll watch it. This is right up my alley. And. soon as i saw the character my mind immediately went to Quentin Crisp....Did I just hear young readers go who? One reason i still miss the Raven here in New Hope. It attracted all the gays...especially old new York show queens and club kids....who were there for the gay culture , camp and Stonewall. I met and would talk with many of them. LOVED hearing their stories. But alas....I would over hear many a young gayling and their circle of" influencers" make cracks and would die before talking to them old gays...unless the queen was wealthy. Use to make me sick. There sits a wealth of gay life and story and history. Fuck them. To This day it s why I credit so many of my mannerisms wise cracks and references and knowledge of the past. It was cool to hear there stories. I never shut myself off...I even listen to my young friends. So I feel I stay up on everything. But I did chuckle. My friend the the Dame looks and reminds me of Quentin Crisp. I tell him that all the time. I keep telling him when people come in the shop they probably are puzzled why Quentin is in the shop and shock to see he's alive and owns a shop.
ReplyDeleteWe have lost many a venue where people could get a taste of gay culture.
DeleteNot only because of the pandemic, which devastated small businesses, but because gay culture became Grindr and the hookup mentality.
The new generation is foolish on thinking they have anything that did not come from the people that came before them. A generation without references is an empty shell. And bet The Dame is a riot. I'd love to see those people's faces!!
LOL
XOXO
I’ve tagged this on Hulu so it’ll be part of my weekend. I agree that so much has happened over the last twenty years. Advances and setbacks galore and it looks like we’re headed for more heartbreak with SCOTUS and the GQP.
ReplyDeleteFrom what I’ve seen of the young gays on Twitter, most of their posts are shirtless selfies and looking for a party or recovering from one. Fortunately there are a few that call out bullshit when they see it. We need more of them.
Going back to yesterday’s post we need to get out and vote in numbers never seen before. The repugs are coming out, we have to swamp them. Send them back to the 50s and back under their rocks where they belong.
XOXO 👨🏼❤️💋👨🏽
Yes!
DeleteIt's on Hulu. And SCOTUS is gonna try and fuck with us. The conservative supermajority is gonna side with the wingnuts, of course. That's why they were put there.
And they gaylings have a LOT to learn. Hopefully it won't be too late.
Voting is FUNDAMENTAL.
Blue. No matter who.
XOXO
XOXO
I got Crisp vibes from that first photo. And while we may not all be Pay or be like Pat, we all owe a debt to men and women and others, like Pat, who blazed the trail for the rest of us.
ReplyDeleteOh, I was totally sold with the pantsuit.
DeleteWe all owe a debt of gratitude to all the men and women who came before us. We'd be ungrateful twats if we didn't know that.
XOXO
This got really great reviews! I'm surprised he didn't get an Oscar nomination!
ReplyDeleteI had no idea this movie was out.
DeleteI've seen Edge of Seventeen by the same director, but this one went for the yugular.
It was a tiny little bit clunky at the beginning, but once it takes off, it takes OFF.
XOXO
Sounds like a "must see." Now, we don't have kids...but we have found some young people we enjoy spending time with, who are world-wise because they pay attention to world events. One we have rather "adopted." The SCOTUS will overturn every bit of progress that POC and LGBTQ and religulous separation that has been made over the past 60+ years. They've played the long game while the Dems have simply tried to tread water for the past 20. All we can do now is save ourselves. VOTE BLUE from the bottom up. XOXO
ReplyDeleteOh, I totally recommend it.
DeleteAnd not all younger people, right? There's always the ones that keep an ear to the ground. Thankfully. I am afraid SCOTUS will be bad for human rights in the US. The conservatives have indeed played the long game and have kept chipping away at hard-earned rights for YEARS.
Vote Blue. From the bottom UP!
XOXO
I have to find this. I will bawl my eyes out, I am sure. Quentin was a hoot. I loved how uncomfortable he made people - like me - but I evolved. I see his value now. I think I will end up like this hairdresser. But I won't be folding napkins, honey. LOL. We must remain as vital as possible, up until it becomes impossible. Even at m age, I feel like my life is unlived. And as for the younger sets? Learn from them. They are a learning opportunity. So don't close yourself off to anything life has to offer. Be a sponge. Soak it all up. Kizzes.
ReplyDeleteOh, it hits hard.
DeleteYou need to watch it, Upton. And Quentin Crisp made people squirm. So iconic.
I hope I remind as vital as Crisp in my old age. Would love to break havoc at seventy. Or eighty...
XOXO