By Glenn Dunks
If you’d told me that I would definitely cry during either the documentary about a gay erotic book and pornography store or the documentary about a gay men’s chorus travelling through the deep south and bringing a message of acceptance to hard red states, then the safe money would have been on the latter. Although this is me we’re talking about, notorious non-cryer and dismisser of the Up opening sequence so it’s not entirely a surprise per se.
Ultimately, I think it says more about the movies than it does me (although, yes, it probably does say a lot about me, too).
Rachel Mason’s Circus of Books is such a delight of a movie. That’s the porn one, in case you couldn’t tell. Focused on the Circus of Books shop, an emporium of gay pornography on Santa Monica Boulevard and La Jolla Ave in West Hollywood for over half a century, as it thrusts itself towards closing its doors for the last time, Books tells a story that is intrinsically linked to gay culture – plus culture of sexually mature adults the world over – and yet too often gets ignored. The place pornography and erotica play in our lives is actually a very important one in understanding contemporary culture, especially gay culture, and Mason’s film takes to it with a delicate hand as she observes the shops owners, her own parents, and dives into the store’s storied history.
Mason is actually a perfect choice to direct this (which is very often not the case with family). Almost anybody else and would have been unable to get to core of what makes Karen and Barry’s story so interesting, instead turning it into a sitcom of oddities. She gives Circus of Books a tenderness and honesty that is greatly needed when its needed, and the giggles when the giggles are needed, no doubt at least partly a result of the matter of fact attitude towards sex, and gay sex in particular, that the family business instilled in her. Despite subjects and a setting that seems tailor made for easy laughs, what she pulls off is remarkably difficult.
Featuring famous – to a degree – faces of porn who graced the shelves and the signing table where they autographed video copies of movies with words like ‘pump’ and ‘grind’ in the title as well as current and former employees like RuPaul’s Drag Race alum Alaska (why am I not surprised; just imagine that voice serving you as you purchase sex toys and dirty movies!), the affection for this venue as a gay landmark is clear. It also wisely charts the history of the porno business through their little independent store as well as the way queer people of all varieties have had to hide not just their bodies, but their thoughts, too.
I often find myself watching documentaries about elements of LGBTIQ life and picturing them as a part of a large puzzle that will ultimately show people our story. Like other docs on similar subject matter like Grandfather of Gay Porn: Peter de Rome, Circus of Books shows how something as tawdry as this is nonetheless an important artefact of our existence.
Which is an odd segue, I suppose, into David Charles’ Gay Chorus Deep South although the two films do actually fit well together even if they share little in common. Following the 2016 election, San Francisco’s Gay Men’s Chorus goes on the road in busses to tour their country’s Deep South. And while there is obvious tension in that alone, Gay Chorus’ true power comes when the men confront their histories with coming of age in these places.
Surprisingly, this is the one of the two with the more muted after-effect. What’s here is obviously touching, particularly LGBTIQ audiences who will see their own story reflected in that of the choirmen. But it comes with that bitter aftertaste of knowing that the stories of these men, some decades old, are still repeating themselves. And while it is charming to see these men so openly take themselves into the belly of the proverbial beast, I couldn’t quite shake the fact that they were – pardon the pun – preaching predominantly to the choir. I was less fond of the music to be perfectly honest, and I did wish the film had pressed somewhat against the idea that there is a debate to be had with homophobes that can be solved by reaching out. And so while ultimately celebratory, Gay Chorus Deep South’s most emblematic achievement for me was less about the choir itself and more about showing how lucky some are to have escaped while highlighting, however indirectly, the bravery of those who stay.
Release: Circus of Books will be on Netflix in the new year. Gay Chorus Deep South is an MTV Documentary so will presumably screen there after its limited theatrical run.
Oscar chances: I'd say no on both. Circus' subject is just too out there for the doc branch once it is eligible next year, but Gay Chorus Deep South, while on this year's list, is just not big enough on a story level or a technical level to really compete.