Un chant d'amour
Jean Genet'sUn Chant d'Amour(orA Song of Love--the only film directed by this notorious novelist, playwright, and gadfly--is just barely pornographic by contemporary standards, but contemporary porn hasn't got a shred of the seedy, languid eroticism of this 25-minute short from 1950. The plot concerns two prisoners communicating through a crack in a wall while a sadistic guard spies on them, but what matters is the light filtering through the smoke blown through a straw, or gleaming off the glistening saliva on a man's fingers. There's no dialogue or soundtrack; the silence compounds the movie's claustrophobic, pent-up atmosphere. This two-disc dvd also includes two excellent interviews with Genet, conducted when he was in his 70s. By turns charming, pugnacious, inflammatory, and melancholy, Genet discusses the nature of god, the human capacity for prophecy, the Black Panthers, life in a juvenile penal colony, being bored by Sartre, and some very volatile political views.  Also included are an introduction to the film by director Jonas Mekas (who smuggled the movie through U.S. customs by cutting it into pieces and carrying them in his pocket) and a halting commentary by director/historian Kenneth Anger, who get so hypnotized by the film's images that he forgets to talk. Fans of Genet will find this movie essential; anyone interested in this seminal gay writer will find these interviews an excellent place to begin.--Bret Fetzer