2006 NEWFEST- Fabulous! The Story of Queer Cinema

          In many ways, this documentary picks up where THE CELLULOID
  CLOSET, the 1995 survey of gay-themes in motion pictures, left off.
  That film, directed by Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman and based on
  the seminal work by noted film historian Vito Russo, traced the way
  gay men and lesbians had been depicted (covertly and openly) in
  motion pictures from silents up to the present day. It ended, though,
  just as the "New Queer Cinema," as coined by film critic B. Ruby Rich,
  was coming into its own. 1991 was the watershed year as the Sundance
  Film Festival winners were Todd Haynes' POISON, and Jennie Livingston's
  documentary PARIS IS BURNING. Over the next few years, such
  important films as SWOON (directed by Tom Kalin), THE LIVING END
  (directed by Gregg Araki) and THE HOURS AND TIMES (directed by
  Christopher Munch), debuted at Sundance and influenced a generation
  of gay and lesbian movie makers. Although Rich's term "New Queer
  Cinema" came to be applied to almost any film that had gay or lesbian
  content, the critic wrote about those motion pictures that had a perceived
  commitment to homosexual issues.

          So it's only natural that Rich would be one of the myriad of
  interviewees who appear in FABULOUS! THE STORY OF QUEER
  CINEMA. The film is a great primer for those who need to be made
  aware of cultural history (and in these times when minor celebrities
  pass for high culture, it may be entirely necessary). Anyone already
  familiar with "gay-themed movies" (that is, a film reviewer, a movie
  geek or anyone GLBT person with an encyclopedic knowledge
  of cinema) might find the film a bit facile and superficial.

          In general, FABULOUS! gets the job accomplished and directors
  Lisa Ades and Lesli Klainberg are to be commended for assembling
  the material in a breezily entertaining fashion. As a student of film, I
  would have liked a more detailed and in-depth study, but as an
  introduction to the ideal of "Queer Cinema," FABULOUS! will suffice.

                                         Rating:                B

Fabulous: The Story of Queer Cinema