My Father Is Coming

Stars: Shelly Kastner, Alfred Edel, Annie Sprinkle. Ordinarily, a director's gender would be utterly insignificant to a film review; however, since transsexual German filmmaker Monika Treut can't seem to separate her personal agenda from the aim of telling a good story, there's no reason why we shouldn't mention it here. Shelly Kastner plays Vicky, an aspiring New York actress (what a novel character idea!), who invites her gay friend to stay with her and pose as hubby while her German father comes to visit. Upon his arrival, the father ironically lands a bit part in a beer commercial while Vicky can't manage to land a callback. During one audition, Vicky's father meets sex performance artist Annie (Annie Sprinkle, former porn star), and has a fling. All of this, however, is just a paltry excuse to ramble on about the joys of transsexualism and gay life--unfortunately, the film gives viewers the impression that if you're gay your life pretty much revolves around your sexual orientation. That's baloney. Whether you're heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual, or transsexual, if you define yourself by your sexual preference, you're a shallow pup. If Treut wants to talk dirty to herself, that's her prerogative, but why bore the rest of humanity with this one-note ramble? Audience: Readers of The Village Voice (who said "the turn on here isn't just piercing and pain and pleasure, but joy too." What a treat! A little bonus joy to go along with all that piercing and pain.)