Even Ozpetek’s gays are safe and often closeted.įirst-time feature film directors Alessandro Guida and Matteo Pilati deliver a delicious, queer-empowering delight that has all the ingredients that you would expect (hot men, nudity, sex, clever dialogue, pastries, Madonna), but the filmmakers, along with co-screenwriter Giuseppe Paternò Raddusa, do a deep dive into the fears and anxieties that come with learning to love oneself in a world that rarely allows for that luxury. Certainly Pasolini, Visconti, and Zeffirelli (to name the most famous out directors) explored homoeroticism in their films in the ‘60s and ‘70s, but except for Turkish/Italian helmer Ferzan Ozpetek’s seminal work throughout his career, gay representation on the Italian screen has been virtually limited to comic caricature characters and a few male-gaze lesbian moments.īut now we have Mascarpone (Maschile Singolare), a bold and rather subversive new film where gay characters are out and proud and live their lives without any of that self-hate and Catholic guilt you’ve heard so much about (okay, maybe not without the latter but with less than the usual amount). Italian cinema has never been incredibly embracing when it comes to telling queer stories. Download: Making ‘Mascarpone,’ a Queer-Positive Concoction
