The Second Coming (U.S. 1995)

The Gist:

In the near future the United States is speeding towards fascism, and a bullied gay high school student named Carlos joins the youth resistance movement, creating videos exposing the truth of the take over of the government by Right Wing Christian Terrorists. 

Comments:

The plot explanation makes this seem like an exciting action adventure flick, which it is not. Art film with all the implications of style being much more important than production quality, acting skills or plot is a more acurate description. Though to be fair, there is an actual plot here. A very thin plot involving conspiracies, but it is there. 

One of the conspiracies involves REX 84, a plan to suspend the constitution and declare martial law.  If you're old enough to remember Oliver North and the Iran Contra hearings, or have heard talk of FEMA concentration camps, REX 84 is this idea of herding up dissident citizens, feared as true for the extremes of both the paranoid far left and far right. 

In addition to conspiracies, the movie compares the homophobia and racism of modern day (mid-1990's) American culture to the rise of power of the nazis in Germany. Sadly, an analogy that is still relevant, even more so given that I'm writing this in the final days of the 2016 presidential elections with Donald Trump being embraced by the KKK and right wing nationalist groups.

Despite having interesting elements, the story told in such a art movie / experimental / movie school "Who cares about quality as long as I get to the TRUTH" manner that most of the movie is barely watchable and ends up  something I wouldn't recommend without a huge mile long list of caveats. 

Women: 

Yes

People of Color: 

Yes

Gratuitous nudity: 

Yes, although given that it occurs alongside violence I'd accept that the intention was not salacious but rather a desire to shock.  

• Director: Jack Walsh
• Writer: K.M. Soehnlein, Jack Walsh
• Actors: Al Giordano, Jeff Constan
• 55 min
• Black and White 
• IMDB

Fun Down There (U.S. 1989)

The Gist: 

Buddy, a young gay man, leaves his small-town home in rural upstate New York to make a new life in New York City.

Comments:

Depending on your attitude, this is one of two movies:

• An almost plotless, not very well done, boring movie about a not too smart guy leaving home to move to New York City, that just stops with no real end to the story, or
• A raw art film done a realist style unconcerned with polish, consisting of scenes for each day of the week. Specifically the week that a naive man-child leaves his rural home to establish a new life in New York City. 

Then again, maybe it's both. I'm not entirely sure. 

What I do know is that only using available lighting means that night scenes are a bit hard to see clearly, and that a scene consisting of a mini-safe sex lecture firmly sets the movie in the 80’s (actually, for a safe sex lecture it feels extremely natural). Also, long silent shots of New York work to establish a strong identity for the city. Interestingly one of these scenes is of the abandoned elevated rail line that will eventually become High Line Park. 

Plotless or not, art film or not, the lead is a good actor, good enough that it felt like he wasn't acting at all, that this could have been a documentary and he really was an innocent young man. Even though it is an odd, uneven thing that admittedly is yes, not overly exciting at times, and has a mix of acting from good to poor, overall I liked the movie, but as for recommending it? 

If you like movies with a defined story with clear cut beginnings and endings, where "interesting" things happen, and everything helps push the plot along, then this is not a movie for you. 

If you like movies with long shots where "nothing happens," and the only plot/story is life rolling on and on, then this may be worth a watch.

Your call. 

Women:

Family, boss and co-workers, in other words, yes. 

People of color:

One waiter

Gratuitous nudity:

There is one shot where you sort of kind of see something in shadow and dark, but then again, it ends up "feeling" natural, so gratuitous is not quite the right word. 

• Director: Roger Stigliano
• Writers: Roger Stigliano, Michael Waite
• Actors: Michael Waite, Yvonne Fisher, Martin Goldin, Nickolas B. Naggourney
• 89 min
• IMDB