GLR September-October 2025

FILM

Looking for Love in Mostly Wrong Places

W HILE NOT an LGBT event as such, the Provincetown Inter national Film Festival always offers plenty of grist for this magazine’s mill. My annual dash about P’town in June turned up five films that I found worthy of consideration here. “R OCKY H ORROR ” is a story that had three lives: first as the stage musical that opened in London in 1973; next as the film version in 1975, which came and went without much fanfare; and finally as the reinvention of that same film as a midnight sensation that would become a legend and remains a permanent fixture in theaters to this day (or night). The director of Strange Journey, Linus O’Brien—son of Richard O’Brien, who wrote, directed, and acted in the original Rocky Horror Show —takes us from his fa ther’s inspiration for the musical to its rous ing reception on the London stage and in Los Angeles (but not so much in New York) through its adaptation as a movie. That’s

self-described “sweet transvestite” chal lenged the whole hierarchy of straight male authority. Linus O’Brien makes the point that drag became a source of power and charisma when combined with Frank’s com plete self-confidence—in contrast to Brad’s wimpy normality. More broadly, the whole production was a manifesto telling viewers to reject conventional roles and be weird in ways that even the waning Counterculture had never fully explored. Strange Journey arrives in time for Rocky ’s fiftieth anniversary, a cause for cel ebration coming at a time when the film’s exuberance seems a distant memory. Rocky ’s durability, and that of its cult following, at tests to its role as a refuge for people who like to dress up and stay out past midnight. T HE TITLE OF S AUNA refers to the workplace of Johan, whose job it is to wipe down the cots and clean the cum from glass partitions at a gay bathhouse in Copenhagen—a job that doesn’t seem to match his Adonis-level

R ICHARD S CHNEIDER J R .

STRANGE JOURNEY The Story of Rocky Horror Directed by Linus O’Brien Margot Sta ti on SAUNA

Directed by Mathias Broe Nordisk Film Produc ti on DREAMS (SEX LOVE) Directed by Dag Johan Haugerud Motlys AS / Novemberfilm JIMPA

Directed by Sophie Hyde Closer Produc ti ons, et al. CACTUS PEARS

Directed by Rohan Kanawade Lotus Visual Produc ti ons, et al.

handsomeness. Despite the latter trait, Johan has no luck meet ing men on Grindr—until he hooks up with a trans man, William, who’s in the early stages of transitioning. While the basis for the attraction is not entirely clear, Johan professes his undying love for William, who approaches things more cau tiously and seems to realize early on that Johan is a little reck less and possibly not too bright. Johan’s first mistake is taking William to the sauna where he works, which almost causes a riot. He’s soon fired for good when he gets caught stealing money from the till (to pay for William’s top surgery), which also costs him his apartment; so he moves into William’s dorm room, though it’s against the rules. Johan does some more stupid stuff, alienates William’s friends, and spirals downward from there. But if Johan comes off as a doomed soul, William is a savvy twenty-something who does his best to make Johan happy (e.g., buying an impressive strap-on), but seems as perplexed by Johan’s infatuation as we are. The focus shifts to William’s transition and its challenges. Even in liberal Denmark, which has a Gender Identity Center (GIC) to facilitate, it’s a fraught process that in volves long wait times and bureaucratic restrictions. For example, William is denied testosterone because the GIC stip ulates that one cannot be both trans and gay. Not to diminish their relationship—there are tender mo ments as they stroll together in the park or take a dip in the Baltic—but the lack of chemistry between the two main char acters is reinforced by a fundamental silence about their feelings

when the decision was made, unusual for the time, to keep most of the stars from the stage production, notably Tim Curry in the role of Frank-N-Furter. That did not guarantee success, and the film remained a sleeper until college kids began to discover it and someone got the brilliant idea to play it in college towns at midnight. People came in droves, wearing costumes, re-enact

ing scenes, dancing in the aisles—weekend after weekend, until it became the longest continuous release of any film in history. Fans came from all genders and sexual orientations, but the film had a special resonance for LGBT people who were com ing out in various ways at the height of the Gay Liberation era. That the undisputed ringleader of Rocky ’s motley crew was a Tim Curry as Frank-N-Furter in The Rocky Horror Picture Show.

September–October 2025

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