The Feast of Stephen

I caught this at a film festival with some other gay shorts. This is basically a sick cruel little film about a young boy being attacked for being gay. Supposedly its based on a poem.

The only reason this is getting ANY recognition is because James Franco directed it. If it had been an unknown man directing this it would have sunk without a trace. It adds nothing new to the subject matter and actually ends up being pretty disturbing--the final shot horrified me. Also it was kind of ambiguous in the end. Seriously--what was the point of making this? If this is an example of Franco's directing "talent" he should stick to acting.

After its end, I was real confuse. About message, about status of hommage, about moral lesson. Sure, it could be defined as good job for technical side. Off course, it is a nice meet with pieces from films about this sort of eroticism. Not the last, sexual fantaisies and blasphemies are not so rare in cinematography. But James Franco fights in too many senses. And the end is awfull. The film is only an exercise of skills of a young director. Aestheticism, bullying as generous pretext, crumbs of Gericauld and the film is a decent one. At the first sigh. But, after its end, only the short duration represents an authentical virtue.

What's the point of this short movie? If it is supposed to be an homage to Kenneth Anger, then the result is really disappointing; what we get to see on the screen has been done before lots of times (ok, nothing bad in that); but what's really not acceptable about the project is that it lacks any "freshness", and looking at it, one really wonders if the final product would had ever been shown to anyone, if it wasn't for James Franco directing it. Don't be deceived by the fact that it was awarded a Teddy for best GLBT-themed short movie at the Berlin Film Festival. That, really, looks like a move to have Franco showing up for the ceremony to accept the award (he didn't, by the way), rather than a testament to the quality of the movie.

I saw "Feast of Stephen" over a year ago, at IFC Center, and find myself on this page because it still resonates in my memory...

I loved it! I felt the technical quality was very high; the directing choices were brave and original and felt intentional. I had a range of real feelings while I watched and the ending surprised and satisfied me. It's quite different from many shorts I've seen and I've seen plenty.

A wise person once told me that negative reviewers are writing about themselves more than they are writing about the movie. I would pay no attention to the negative reviews here.

I hope James Franco continues directing and I look forward to seeing more of his work! I hope this short gets released online soon so I can watch it again and share it with people.