What did I think of Humpday? Listen here!

Erin Donovan interviewed me yesterday for her podcast Steady Diet of Film. We talked about Humpday, independent film, sexuality, The Blair Witch Project, Bruno, and more. Be warned, though, there are spoilers (I warn in the audio too, but still).

See Humpday on a rooftop on Friday in NYC!

I am still gathering my thoughts about Humpday (very good, but not what I expected exactly), which I saw at BAM on Saturday. I'll be in Kansas City but if you haven't seen it and want to before it hits theaters July 10th, check this out.

Here's a quote from director Lynn Shelton (via MTV):

“Straight guys can be funny fellows. Don’t get me wrong, I love ‘em to death, but the way they seem capable of turning any situation into a game of one-upmanship–even with their closest buddies–can be a pretty awesome spectacle. ‘Humpday’ takes this syndrome of hetero guy competitiveness to a new, ironic extreme: two straight friends outduding each other by attempting to do each other.”

I think it's interesting that a woman made a film about straight male sexuality and its boundaries, and there are so many women (Shira Tarrant, Deborah Siegel) writing about manhood these days. Would love to see, well, men tackling sex a little more often.

FRIDAY, June 26
Rooftop Films and Magnolia Pictures Present
HUMPDAY
When Andrew unexpectedly shows up on Ben's doorstep late one night, the two old college friends immediately fall into their old dynamic of heterosexual one-upmanship. To save Ben from domestication, Andrew invites Ben to a party at a sex-positive commune. Everyone there plans on making erotic art films for the local amateur porn festival and Andrew wants in. They run out of booze and ideas, save for one: Andrew should have sex with Ben, on camera.
It's not gay; it's beyond gay. It's not porn; it's an art project. The next day, they find themselves unable to back down from the dare. And there's nothing standing in their way - except Ben's wife Anna, heterosexuality, and certain mechanical questions.
Lynn Shelton (My Effortless Brilliance, Summer Series 2008) returns to the roof with Humpday, a hilarious and poignant new comedy. In many ways, Shelton’s film is constructed like a classic Hollywood high-concept comedy—one can almost imagine Steve Carrell and Seth Rogen playing the leads in a film with the same logline. But Shelton doesn’t settle for the cheap contrived laughs, and the naturalistic dialogue--entirely improvised on-set--creates an exhilarating sense of immediacy and realism. The looseness of the dialogue and the sharpness of the plot structure allows Humpday to feel at once invigoratingly real, yet at the same time hilariously and outrageously absurd.
Venue: on the roof of the Open Road Rooftop
Address: 350 Grand Street @ Essex (Lower East Side, Manhattan)
8:00PM: Doors open
8:30PM: Sound Fix presents live music The Antlers
9:00PM: Films
11:30PM - 1:00AM: Open Bar at Fontana’s (105 Eldridge St), courtesy of Radeberger beer
Tickets: $9-$25: http://newyork.going.com/event-602767;Rooftop_Films_Humpday#
No refunds. In the event of rain, the show will be indoors at the same locations. Seating is first come, first served. Physical seats are limited. This means you may not get a chair. You are welcome to bring a blanket and sit picnic-style, but NO ALCOHOL IS PERMITTED.

I'm going to the NYC Humpday premiere, are you?

I'm SO excited about the NYC Humpday premiere June 20th at BAM. Director Lynn Shelton will be there. Just got my ticket!

Humpday poster

I'm still very excited about Humpday (and still annoyed with myself that I missed it at SXSW, but next year I am leaving even my own cupcake party to make the movies I want to see). New poster is out (via Apple, where you can watch the trailer, via Pop Candy):



Official blurb about the film:

Sometimes male bonding can go a little too far. When Andrew unexpectedly shows up on Ben's doorstep late one night, the two old college friends immediately fall into their old dynamic of heterosexual one-upmanship. To save Ben from domestication, Andrew invites Ben to a party at a sex-positive commune. Everyone there plans on making erotic art films for the local amateur porn festival and Andrew wants in. They run out of booze and ideas, save for one: Andrew should have sex with Ben, on camera. It's not gay; it's beyond gay. It's not porn; it's an art project. The next day, they find themselves unable to back down from the dare. And there's nothing standing in their way - except Ben's wife Anna, heterosexuality, and certain mechanical questions. HUMPDAY: a bromantic comedy.

Dear Sundance powers that be: I want to see Humpday

So I'm working on various incarnations of the same article about male bisexuality and sexual orientation and fluidity, as part of a larger nonfiction book I want to write about "bisexuality" and a much broader notion of attraction, and seemingly everywhere I turn, there is yet another example of what I want to write about. Last night I read a story that I'm hoping gets published (fingers crossed), addressing this too - about women who get off on men having sex with men, especially straight men having sex with men, or flirting with men. I think part of the appeal is that it's such a taboo, still, even with its rising prominence. The increase in talk about it, in one way or another, whether it's high fashion crossdressing on the runway or public dabbling in same-sex flirtation, is why my great big article never gets done, cause there's always more to add to it.

And now, straight to the top of the list is Lynn Shelton's new film Humpday, which just debuted at Sundance. I'll let her tell you what it's about:



And to whoever in the film world makes those decisions, I'd really love to see Humpday. In New York. Just because it's uses The Stranger's HUMP amateur porn festival as a plot device doesn't mean Seattle should get all the action.