These thoughts regarding the breaking glass pictures April 2012 DVD release of "Del Shores My Sordid Life" is a perfect inaugural topic for an ongoing series of "evergreen" reviews of pre-2016 breaking releases. Any friend of Dorothy or fan of good campy humor knows Shore as the writer of the "Sordid Lives" play, film, and Logo television series about a young gay man and his hilariously "shameless" white trash family. Shore is lesser known as the writer of the (Unreal TV fave) play "Southern Baptist Sissies," which is as autobiographical as "Life" and "Lives." Fans of all three will delight in the charming insight that "Life" provides regarding the aforementioned true labors of love by Shore.
"Life" further is appropriate for this new group of reviews because it it is consistent with glass beginning to give another Philadelphia-based home-entertainment company a run for its money regarding releases of indie art-house gay-themed films. Upcoming Unreal TV posts are on "People You May Know," which features a 30something gay man looking for love, and the documentary "Seed Money" about the founder of the gay porn film company Falcon Studios.
"Life" is the one-man show of Shore in which he discusses "Lives," "Sissies," and several other projects. He nicely sets the tone by discussing his work on the '90s Foxcom "Ned and Stacey" that stars a pre- "Will and Grace" Debra Messing and a post "Wings" Thomas Haden Church. Shore admits that dissing "Lowell" by literally calling him an asshole distresses fans of Church but states in his terrifically sweet Southern voice that that actor is one.
A similar story relates to Shore working on the groundbreaking Showtime series "Queer as Folk." The surprising bad guy this time is dreamy young blond boy Randy Harrison, who plays dreamy young blond Justin. Shore discussing the revenge of the writers for the scorn that Harrison expresses regarding the program surprisingly is not a memorable episode that literally puts the ass of Justin in a sling. The lesson to not make the writers your enemy is much more poetic and clever.
Other shocking moments include Shore amusingly discussing sharing explicit information about the mechanics of gay sex with his mother. This segment includes not telling her absolutely everything in order to not overwhelm her.
Hearing about the play "Daddy's Dyin ... Who's Got the Will" beginning life in a 64-seat theater before going on to become a Shore thing hit (and hilarious) film is very entertaining. The best part of this story is the outrage of an aunt regarding the portrayal of her in the film and the surprising reason for that anger.
Shore additionally addresses marriage equality in that era before every state recognizes that right. This includes Shore discussing his daughter posting a YouTube video, which is a DVD extra, on California Proposition 8. That video demonstrates that Shore raised his girl right.
Many of the more personal stories relate to tales that are funny because they happen to someone else surrounding truly southern-friend family gatherings of the Shore clan. These include a family reunion and a funeral.
The appeal of the performance itself relates to Shore, who awesomely engages the audience throughout the show, being as shameless as the rest of his kin regarding the perverse nature of their past and the harmful anti-gay attitude that stems from being a practicing Southern Baptist. Regarding the latter, Shore takes a page from the playbook of fellow skilled storyteller Mel Brooks as to the Nazis. Our favorite "sissy" robs his ignorant relatives of their power by showing the foolishness of their beliefs on the subject of sexuality. He is a boy of whom any momma and daddy should be proud.
The copious truly special extras extend well beyond the aforementioned Proposition 8 video. We see fans and Shore actors, who include "Lives" star Beau Bridges, share their thoughts as they leave the theater. We additionally get three deleted monologues, which include Shore sharing a powerful deleted speech from Sissies, from "Life."
Other features include behind-the-scenes looks and the theatrical trailer for the film.
Anyone with questions or comments regarding "Life" is strongly encouraged to email me. You can also connect on Twitter via @tvdvdguy,
No comments:
Post a Comment