At QFest, a Parisian in America
Jérôme Beaunez, the hapless, helpless sweet Parisian played by Eric Debets in writer-director Jason Bushman's Hollywood, je t'aime, has it bad.
Jérôme Beaunez, the hapless, helpless sweet Parisian played by Eric Debets in writer-director Jason Bushman's
Hollywood, je t'aime
, has it bad.
A thirtysomething professional, he's fed up with life in Paris and obsessed with the beautiful man-boy Gilles, who has dumped him.
An immensely likable if cinematically underwhelming crowdpleaser, Hollywood follows Jérôme as he sets off on an adventure to America, hoping it'll help him wash Gilles out of his hair.
Bushman's ambivalent, satirical homage to Hollywood films opens the 15th annual QFest (formerly the Philadelphia International Gay & Lesbian Film Festival) tonight at 7 at the Prince Music Theater. The festival, which features more than 100 films, continues through July 20.
Like some postmodern version of Walter Mitty, Jérôme spends his waking life fantasizing about some impossible dream life with Gilles. (Meanwhile, we see his ex having a triple-X moment with another man.)
Jérôme's real life is so dreary, it's shot in Wizard of Oz-ian black and white. Christmas is coming, and the City of Light is oppressed by a sky so leaden you could drive a nail into it. Bushman adds a French New Wave flavor to this section, thanks to a cool jazz score.
Our usually passive hero decides to take action when he passes by a travel agency poster with a hunk on a beach deliriously proclaiming, "le California, toujour l'ete!" ("It's always summer in California!")
Suddenly, without warning, the world goes from a Fritz Lang gray to hyper-bright candy colors. Jérôme is in Hollywood at last!
With his prominent Gallic nose (Beaunez translates as "nice nose"), his mild manners, and his consistently befuddled expression, the Parisian quickly makes friends with a motley collection of oddballs and misfits who give the film real flavor. There's Ross, an HIV-positive pot dealer nicely played by Chad Allen, who helps Jérôme realize his vague dreams of achieving movie stardom. Homeless after being chucked out of his nasty, cheap hotel, Jérôme is taken in by transsexual prostitute Kaleesha (Diarra Kilpatrick) and drag queen The Lady Norma Desire (Michael Airington), who take him under their wing.
Even though he finds a place to live and a job and even gets a role in a frozen pizza ad, Jérôme still dreams about Gilles - frankly, it gets old.
Bushman, who has great fun mocking Hollywood and its ridiculous audition game, also provides some funny and touching vignettes.
But it seems he doesn't know where to take the film: Is it an homage or a bitter satire? Is Jérôme supposed to be a Voltairian naïf who unwittingly exposes hypocrisy?
Even as he mocks the superficiality of the movie industry, Bushman has given us nothing but a lighthearted movie filled with artifice and a hero unable to make real emotional connections. There's no depth to his romantic angst or his friendships. And he doesn't undergo any emotional growth.
It seems that instead of taking an actual trip, all Jérôme did was to watch a Hollywood flick.
Is Bushman trying to tell us movies can't change our lives? That we can't learn from them? That they can't be anything but artificial and superficial?
One could say that of many Hollywood hits. But isn't Hollywood, je t'aime supposed to be an indie? And aren't they supposed to be more meaningful?
Hollywood, je t'aime **1/2 (out of four stars)
Directed by Jason Bushman. With Eric Debets, Chad Allen, Diarra Kilpatrick, Michael Airington.
Running time: 1 hour, 35 mins
Parent's guide: Not rated (explicit sex, profanity, mature themes)
QFest screenings: Prince Music Theater, 7 tonight. Ritz East 1, 2:30 p.m. Saturday.
Information: 267-765-9800, Ext. 4, or visit www.phillycinema.org or www.qfest.com.EndText