Ed. Note: Frameline, San Francisco's renowned International Lesbian and Gay film festival, concluded June 28.

FRUIT FLY — "Colma: The Musical"'s H.P. Mendoza returns with a musical love letter to the San Francisco the non-wealthy struggle to live in. Peppered throughout the film are hilarious odes to public transit, rent control, the gay nightclub scene, and the art scene. A particular favorite is the gay dance music parody "Gay, Gay, Gay, Gay, Gay." The gameness of Mendoza's primarily Asian-American cast generally compensates for any dramatic bumpiness. "Colma"'s L.A. Renigen makes a welcome return as the titular character, a P.C. version of a fag-hag. However, "Fruit Fly" needs a better sound mix. In more resonant theaters such as the Castro, lo-fi rendered lyrics can cause listeners to miss some of Mendoza's wittier lines. "Fruit Fly" may not offer Gavin Newsom-style bombast, but its unpretentious charm does a far better job of capturing San Francisco's charm ...

THE FETISH EDUCATION — This hilarious film screened as part of the "Swiss Treats" shorts program. Director Filippo Filliger effectively mixes academic plagiarism, blackmail, and unusual sex play. Though the short's best visual joke cannot be revealed in print, the film does argue one's life ultimately prospers from integrating non-vanilla sex into everyday activity.

TRAINING RULES — Athletics presents itself as meritocracy in action, because it ideally honors the most skillful athletes. Yet this social institution also tolerates and even promotes homophobia. Bay Area filmmakers Dee Mosbacher and Fawn Yacker's documentary chronicles the particularly egregious case of Penn State University's Rene Portland. The women's college basketball coach had free reign over a quarter century to purge her team of lesbians or suspected lesbians. Talented player Jennifer Harris sued Portland and Penn State for discrimination. Though some details of Harris' suit cannot be discussed, Mosbacher and Yacker provide plenty of damning and sometimes heartbreaking evidence via interviews with Harris' parents and other victims of Portland's professional homophobia. The documentary ultimately shows athletic homophobia is a self-defeating practice that robs the sport of potential superstars.


"Born in '68"

IT CAME FROM KUCHAR — Legendary local low-budget film subversives George and Mike Kuchar receive their due in this delightful documentary from Jennifer M. Kroot. A former student of George Kuchar's, the filmmaker provides an accessible and funny introduction to the Kuchars' body of work. Though subverting Hollywood melodramatic clichés provides the backbone for many of their shorts, Kroot shows the Kuchars' oeuvre extends to abstract portraits of the weather and even bizarre paintings. Such admirers as B. Ruby Rich and Wayne Wang chime in with their Kuchar love. John Waters unsurprisingly reels off some of the film's best bon mots. But adventurous viewers with a twisted sense of humor will love meeting a pair of brothers who skillfully channel their alternative queer vision through their reconfiguring of mainstream movie imagery.

FIONA'S SCRIPT — This first feature certainly gets good karma points for being shot in Oakland and unapologetically featuring bisexual women of color in lead roles. However, the film's attempts at metaphorical interludes frequently fail to impressively expand its story's meaning. The acting had insufficient satisfying moments despite its plausible moments of Fiona's awkwardness. Fortunately, the very nicely shot Fiona and L sex scene manages to be erotic while keeping horny straight guys at bay. "Fiona's Script" is definitely not insanely awful, but neither is it an instant classic.

EDIE AND THEA: A VERY LONG ENGAGEMENT — "The Brandon Teena Story" directors Greta Olafsdottir and Susan Muska's successfully reach the viewer's tear ducts with their newest documentary. The film generally eschews polemics to favor a matter-of-fact portrait of a lesbian couple who met in the highly closeted 1960s and managed to remain together for over 40 years. As the viewer hears anecdotes about the bumps in their relationship and sees images of Edie and Thea in both their younger days and the present, one has little doubt regarding the depths of their love for one another. In a way, that restraint from polemic makes a better case for marriage equality than all the elaborate arguments for the cause. This highly intimate portrait puts a very human face on one lesbian couple for whom marriage is nothing more than a long-delayed consummation of a bond that the rest of the world has been far too slow to recognize.


"Fig Trees"

FIG TREES — The emotionally gloomy prototypical AIDS documentary gets a much-needed dose of dark humor and life in Canadian filmmaker John Greyson's hands. Without denying the central themes of death and the tragedy of government neglect, the "Lilies" director also successfully ties in unexpected cultural touchstones such as Gertrude Stein and St. Teresa of Avila. Providing a sort of linear narrative are the stories of the AIDS activism of Tim Mc Caskell and Zackie Achmat. But what truly makes this documentary sing are digressions into repeated experiments in visual and aural polyphony, wonderful moments of camp (e.g. counting down the Top 100 AIDS songs), and even odd bits of humor involving squirrels. Greyson's film definitely doesn't qualify as a mass crowd-pleaser. For the adventurous viewer willing to trust Greyson's whims, "Fig Trees" delivers some of the most astounding cinematic moments seen this year.

BORN IN '68 — Olivier Duscatel and Jacques Martineau unleash an enthralling epic about three members of France's 1968 generation. In its following the lives and relationships of its three central characters and their friends and families, the film successfully humanizes the clash between utopian ideals and the shortcomings of reality. It also generously shows how one makes peace with the mistakes of one's past without sentiment or regret for one's original dreams. Knowing French politics may help American viewers appreciate some of the film's better ironies. However, enough clues are provided that one gets the essence of the point being referenced. In America, cultural conservatives have repeatedly vilified the cultural changes of the 1960s as a horrible mistake and a national wrong turn. Duscatel and Martineau answer that simple-minded complaint with their assessment that 1968 brought a new cultural template that escaped relegation to obscurity. If that template is flawed, newer generations are obligated to improve on it template and move the nation closer to a better world.

("Training Rules" received the AT&T/Frameline Audience Award for Best Documentary. The film will also be released commercially via Wolfe Video. "Born In '68" will be commercially distributed by Strand Releasing.)