Leaving Metropolis

 

 

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I agree with reviewer Grady Harp that Brad Fraser's "Leaving Metropolis" (the French version cleverly titled "Fantasmopolis") is a successful film adaptation of his play, "Poor Super Man". However, having seen, many years ago, the stageplay before the film even was made, I think that it is safe to say that the initial theatre version is a somewhat more cogent piece of dramatic work than the movie and its screenplay are; the text of the play in an illustrated edition is available as published by NeWest Press, for those who wish to make the comparisons. On reading that text, however, the differences between the play as I had remembered the production which I saw years ago and the way that the movie conveys it really are relatively minor. The deft use of captions, flashing on the stage, really do add, significantly, many moments of irony and humour, which the film, in omitting the captions, loses, becoming more pervasively grim than the play is.

One of the crucial disparities between film and movie, has to do with Shannon, the transsexual who is afflicted with AIDS. The film adds a final scene of emotional hysteria lacking in the play, one that provides a tastelessly excessive ending to the movie (as David stands, nearly naked outdoors, on the edge of the roof of the buiding in which he and Shannon have lived, convulsed in heavy sobs, and empties the urn with Shannon's ashes into the air over the city, the camera then panning to the city at ground level, as Matt is seen walking to the railroad station very early in the morning to leave for somewhere else to continue his life). The play, more ambiguously, less explicitly, and with more welcome restraint and ambiguity, comes to an end fading on several of its characters, who part from each other, at least for awhile, to continue their lives without each other's love and friendship. The presence of the maudlin subplot concerning Shannon and the scourge of AIDS, because of those crude final cinematic touches, looms larger in the movie, distracting rather than amplifying in any truly useful way the main action that occurs between the characters of the love triangle of Matt (played by adorable "studmuffin" Vince Corazza), his wife Violet, and interloper David. (Anyway, there long has been an abundance of "AIDS plays" and "AIDS films", so Fraser should not have felt it essential to belabour this gay public and personal health issue in either version, stage or cinematic, of this particular drama.) The play and especially the movie would have benefitted from excising the part of Shannon altogether. Instead, the film emphasises Shannon's plight in the final, emotionally manipulative gesture of emptying of the funerary urn at the film's conclusion.

There are other differences which have their respective cumulative impacts on the play and on the movie. If ever another filmed adaptation of the work is made, I would hope that it would revert to the dramatic unity and lighter touch of the charming and witty play in its original form (or, even better, as it could be altered to remove Shannon's character altogether) as more of a filmed play than as the kind of movie that "Leaving Metropolis" is. That said, this is superior gay cinema, certainly well above the usual lot of low production cost hence gay-TV-like fare that Wolfe Video's own product line tends to release (but, unsurprisingly, did not produce in this case, the film having come out long before Wolfe picked it up to add to its video line, bearing catalogue number WOL-3851-D, being the edition with lean-and-lanky Troy Ruptash as "David" on the front cover photo nearly naked, with only a closely rumpled towel covering his loins; there is another DVD edition available also). So, despite a lingering preference for the play (which I can indulge by reading the playscript), I commend the video of this unusually fine gay motion picture.

Brad Fraser is an excellent writer and has elected to move his successful play "Poor Super Man" (1994) onto the screen with great success. Fraser is also a writer and co-producer for the enormously popular "Queer as Folk" television series and he knows his subjects well. He has the ability to write about the gay world without making a 'gay movie' primarily because he shows such comfort with the variations in gender identities that he can explore all facets. The result is a film that is more about people than about stereotypes, and a fine job he does in writing scenes for characters who, in other director's hands, might seem contrived at best and silly at worst.

The story revolves around a gifted young painter David (Troy Ruptash) who lives with a transsexual friend who is awaiting gender-altering surgery while coping with the cold fact of being HIV positive (Shannon - played by a very fine actor whose name passed by too fast on the screen to acknowledge). David also has an alcoholic over-the-hill blonde reporter Kryka (again, played to perfection by an actress whose name flew by in the credits). David has painter's block and to escape that state he seeks anonymous employment as a waiter to observe life, seeking visual input for his canvases. The Main Street Diner is run by a newly married couple - Matt (Vincent Corazza) and Violet (Cherilee Taylor). David eyes the apparent 'straight guy' Matt and is surprised to find his gaze returned. The closeted Matt has a fling with David which produces a successful break for David's painter's block (he paints beautiful nude images of Matt without Matt's knowing it) and an unsuccessful dissolution of Matt's marriage. The active foil in all of this is Kryka and she is the undoing of the affairs. Meanwhile Shannon faces her imminent demise from AIDS and it is this peak of verismo that shakes all the superficiality down and results in some important changes in the characters.

On the surface the story may sound a bit on the soap opera side, but in Fraser's hands and with the accomplished acting of this physically beautiful cast, it all works. The cinematography is beautiful, the art designing is excellent (the paintings David paints are the creations of a fine artist), and the musical score is sensitive, witty, and well edited. Brad Fraser is a force to contend with and if there is anyone able to incorporate the 'gay world' into mainstream moviemaking, he surely is on top of the list. Despite some fine steamy scenes (Matt in bed with both Violet and then with David), this film is for general audiences who are open to understanding the meaning of extended family. A first-class film.

This film tells its story reasonably well; the acting is pretty good; production is good, etc.; however, somehow I never found myself fully engaged. The premise seems reasonable enough: David, the Successful Gay Artist-working-as-a-waiter to put him in touch with regular people again and so recharge his creativity as an artist. Also an infatuation between a gay man and a straight man, whether reciprocated or not, is also believable. But somehow, with this cast or with this script, the film doesn't resonate. Granted, it *could* happen, but David seems far too together to fall for Matt.

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5.0 out of 5 stars a first rate gay film
This is a lovely film with a complex plot and interesting finely drawn characters,believable dialogue and some sex scenes with beautiful bodies far more erotic than any hard core... Read more

Published on Jun 3 2004

4.0 out of 5 stars More reality than we would like to admit.
I enjoyed the film " Leaving Metropolis" for many reasons. The acting was good and it had a good script. Read more

Published on May 11 2004 by T. Hulse

1.0 out of 5 stars A terrible film
If bad writing, implausible situations, and poor directing appeal to you, then you will love this film. I see at least 150 films a year..... Read more

Published on April 15 2004 by Porter

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