Do you speak Christian?
The new issue of Bright Lights film journal is out and contains not only a piece on European horror films aptly titled “They Ate His Genitals!”, but also a review of what appears to be (one of?) the first Indian gay indies, Kaizad Gustad’s Bombay Boys, suggesting something that can be said about many well-praised films – “that the reckless acclaim lavished on this film is more a celebration of the filmÂ’s progressive goals rather than an acknowledgment of its artistic accomplishments.” Bright Lights is a fine journal not only because it features often carefully crafted, extensive review articles, but also because
its authors, though apparently well-versed in film theory (as far as I can tell), do not parade their knowledge in overly dry and utterly dogmatic thesis papers that reveal more about the reviewer’s idiosyncratic world-view than about the actual films. Also noteworthy are the special sections on Japanese and Hong Kong cinema. One of my alltime Bright Lights favourites is an article on dubbing and the problems faced by dubbers whenever, say, an L.A. cab driver asks a Mexican “do you speak English?” Apparently, Spanish dubbers developed a unique approach to this issue, choosing to render such questions simply as “do you speak Christian?” – “doesn’t anybody in this town speak Christian?” Now here’s for an innovative pickup-line.