GAYLETTER

This movie made me feel good from the inside out, probing a place in my soul I haven’t visited in ages. Thank you, thank you, thank you to the two brilliant filmmakers Stephen Silha and Eric Slade who bring us this timely, compelling and relentlessly effervescent documentary Big Joy: The Adventures of James Broughton. James was a visionary poet, poetic filmmaker, a pioneer who was a defining artistic voice of the sexual revolution. His films broke down the boundaries between language and moving images and merged them into a new aesthetic. Considered by many to be “The golden secret of west coast bohemia” James stirred the pot of the post WW ll San Francisco Renaissance changing the cultural landscape forever. His break out film The Pleasure Garden, made in 1953, won a special prize at Cannes. Jean Cocteau awarded him the prize with a kiss on either cheek and said “Bravo an American who made a french film in England.” Straight, gay, bi, he transcends all those monikers. He eventually found a soulmate at age 61, 35 years his junior to which James said “My house is falling down but let it fall, I’ll go to another mansion.” Now that’s one fierce queen whose poetry and films will hopefully gain a new audience with the release of this documentary — go on, meet James it will bring you big joy, I have no doubt!  —Gayletter