Review: Gay as the Sun – A Documentary

Text © Richard Gary / Indie Horror Films, 2020
Images from the Internet

 

Gay as the Sun – A Documentary
Directed by Richard Griffin
Scorpio Film Releasing / Nova Film Productions
32 minutes, 2020
www.scorpiofilmreleasing.com

The tagline for this film may sound familiar: “From the beginning of time to the end of the Universe… Is Billy.” This should not be confused with the infamous opening of Kurt Vonnegut’s brilliant novel, Slaughterhouse Five: “Billy Pilgrim has become unstuck in time.” But this is a comedy spoof, so why not?

The subtitle of the film is a bit of comedy, but this is also a sci-fi release in the form of a documentary, but it goes so much deeper than that. The tone it takes is in the form of those pseudo-documentaries they used to do about nudist colonies in the late 1950s and early ‘60s that was used as a framework that was acceptable (somewhat) to what had become of the Hays Office. Essentially, the documentary format was a legal way to show nude bodies without it being considered “smut.” Auteurs like Doris Wishman (d. 2002) and Hershell Gordon Lewis (in his pre-gore mode; d. 2016) were pioneers in this field, with most of their films coming out of southern Florida. This one is from Rhode Island.

We are presented with the first chapter through the introduction of Adam (Rick Irizarry) and Steve (Nolan Burke) in the Garden of Eden – that’s right – narrated with gentility over a very sanitized melody that actually sounds like it came from one of those early films. Hmm, I wonder who did their ink? Anyway, if you remember the Eden story, it was not clothing optional, it was sans mode. Oh, if you haven’t guessed by the title, this is going to be a wiener fest like nobody’s biz.

 

Sarah Reed

But three minutes in, the film takes a turn one might not expect, and I won’t give it away. In a brilliant move (with a tone of social commentary) we meet Eve (Sarah Reed), equally bare, before both are tempted by a drag queen snake (Ninny Nothin, aka Johnny Sederquist) to take that forbidden bite of the apple.

 Okay, I have to stop here for a sec. It’s 5 minutes into the film, and I have been laughing nearly non-stop, between the narration and the action on the screen. This is so well written and thought out, that I’m looking forward to hitting the play button again. This is irreverent as all get out, so if you’re bothered by Adam and Steve, you are going to love the conclusion of this chapter, which is essentially a history of body shaming (Wait, the Bible? Genesis? Chapter 1? Shaming? Yeah, that sounds about right).

 It’s in chapter 2, which is now narrated by the less somber sounding Terry Shea, where we meet our pal Billy (Graham Stokes). Poor Billy suffers from said self-body loathing, so as therapy, he goes to a nudist colony called, yep, “Gay as the Sun.” We get to follow a mostly silent Billy (perhaps a nod to Lewis’ 1961 infamous release, The Adventures of Lucky Pierre?), as the narrator “joins along.” Billy explores the camp and meets strange characters like a shirt bandit (Ronald Martin) who steals, well, it ain’t lupins, and Gay Dracula (a fun turn by Robert Kersey).

 

Graham Stokes

The film stops at times for interviews with some of the characters, such as the bandit and Billy’s nutball parents, often with a subtle sarcastic tone that, again, shows some really good writing by director Griffin and Robyn Guilford. One of my fave moments is when we meet a “Karen” named Karen (Erin Haas) – VP of the Eric Trump Fan Club – who angrily takes the whole film to task in a Monty Python’s Colonel splash. I was beside myself.

With the multitude of male nudity (and some female as well), and the profane tone, there may be some hesitation of some viewers, but if you’re an open spirit and love a really smartly written comedy with balls to the wall laughs, I recommend this, as I chortled all through it. Some of that came from the references, but even beyond if that’s not your thing, it’s a good hoot.

 

Gay Dracula

And how does this gay romp fit into the motif of this blog? It has a science fiction backbone to it that was also reminiscent of the old ‘50s sci-fi glut of low budget films. That’s good enough for me.

Will Billy find balance with his own skin? Perhaps find love? There is an abundance of choices at the camp, with lots of men with bodies exposed doing things that the old Wishman/Lewis employed to express nudity in action, such as montages of washing (stand-up showers, of course), sun bathing (front and back), volleyball, and hula-hoops. Maybe someday there will be a version that comes out in 3D called Gay as the Sun 3D – A DUCK!-umentary. I said what I said.

See the trailer and/or rent the film HERE