Trick

What do drag queens aspiring sex therapists and tori spelling have in common? theyre part of a madcap night out in manhattan for two frustrated guys that are desperate to find a place any place. Special features: widescreen version original theatrical trailer and cast and crew filmographies. Studio: New Line Home Video Release Date: 05/30/2000 Starring: Christian Campbell Clinton Leupp Run time: 90 minutes Rating: R Director: Jim Fall

While most of the recent outpouring of gay cinema tries to coast on a smile and a little bit of charm, Trick provides some considerable filmmaking cojones to back up its good looks: a talented cast, a witty screenplay, and a sweet sense of romance. Unfolding as part stressed-out fever dream and part farce, Trick chronicles one tumultuous night in the life of aspiring Broadway songwriter Gabe (Christian Campbell), who's suffering from both a heterosexual roommate (who kicks him out when there's female companionship) and a bad case of writer's block. Making an impulsive side trip to a gay bar, he locks eyes with a hunky go-go boy (J.P. Pitoc), who magically appears later that night on the subway, with amorous intentions to boot. Hotfooting their way back to Gabe's apartment, they're interrupted in medias res by Gabe's roommate, girlfriend in tow. From there it's downhill fast, as the two unsuccessfully scramble to find a place to finish things up. On their nighttime odyssey, though, both discover that there's more than sex and heat to their interaction. And much like its premise, Trick evolves from what seems to be a quickie one-night stand to something more substantial, a film with heart and a very funny soul. Jason Schafer's screenplay puts the luckless couple into one bind after another, and furnishes them with incredibly entertaining dialogue; fortunately, both the leads are up to the challenge of bringing it to life. Campbell (Neve's older brother) has a sweet smile and gentle comic timing; the surprise, however, is Pitoc, whose chiseled physique belies both a wicked sense of humor and a sincere-without-being-gooey romantic streak. Both are aided and abetted by a finely tuned supporting cast, most notably Clinton Leupp as an acidic, motor-mouthed drag queen and Tori Spelling in a go-for-broke star turn as Campbell's best friend, a painfully bad singer-actress. By the end of the movie, you'll be entirely won over, and anxiously awaiting a second date and more from these actors and filmmakers. --Mark Englehart

Mrs M has this luck that sometimes gets us into places we wouldn't get into otherwise. This was a fine example. We'd decided when we saw the lodge that we'd have one special meal there, either a breakfast or a dinner. Finishing our stay with a grand dinner seemed like a memorable choice, so we finished our last day's hiking early, hit the coin-op showers and went to see about reservations. Little did we know that reservations for dinner are usually made two weeks in advance... And here's where Mrs M's luck came through for us. They had space at the 4:45 seating and we'd forgotten about the time difference (Arizona doesn't DO daylight savings time) so we were there in time. We reserved and went over to the visitor center to ask about condor sightings and when we came back to check in, we got pager #4, guaranteeing us a window seat. When we were seated, we got our choice - the best seat in the house! We had "Pork Shank with Green Chile" and "Crab-stuffed Jumbo Shrimp" and a nice bottle of Sauvignon Blanc.
And, of course, the view.

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tech note: Shot with the little Olympus FE-210 that we brought along to make sure the S2 didn't break. It's about the size of a pack of cigarettes, much better for stealth-mode snapshots than our hard-to-hide Canon. It's small and it takes fine pictures but it can't deal with the extreme range of a scene like this and it has very few manual settings to compensate with. Here's how to trick a camera like this to get this shot: First, position yourself so you're at an angle to the glass windows. Set the flash from "auto" to "always fire". Then put the table in the crosshairs (where it'll set the focus), including as much of the brightly lit outside as possible. Push the shutter halfway down to lock the focus and exposure, then point the camera to frame the scene like you want it and push the shutter the rest of the way. Voila! You've metered for the great outdoors and filled the relatively dark interior with flash.

WALKING THROUGH A GLASS WATER_this is my impressionistic approach of watered glass,made by a collage of leaves. Notice the flowing water passing through the glass as these two lovely ladybugs are walking accross it.

Specs. Details: Not real water just an illusion effect

While most of the recent outpouring of gay cinema tries to coast on a smile and a little bit of charm, Trick provides some considerable filmmaking cojones to back up its good looks: a talented cast, a witty screenplay, and a sweet sense of romance. Unfolding as part stressed-out fever dream and part farce, Trick chronicles one tumultuous night in the life of aspiring Broadway songwriter Gabe (Christian Campbell), who's suffering from both a heterosexual roommate (who kicks him out when there's female companionship) and a bad case of writer's block. Making an impulsive side trip to a gay bar, he locks eyes with a hunky go-go boy (J.P. Pitoc), who magically appears later that night on the subway, with amorous intentions to boot. Hotfooting their way back to Gabe's apartment, they're interrupted in medias res by Gabe's roommate, girlfriend in tow. From there it's downhill fast, as the two unsuccessfully scramble to find a place to finish things up. On their nighttime odyssey, though, both discover that there's more than sex and heat to their interaction. And much like its premise, Trick evolves from what seems to be a quickie one-night stand to something more substantial, a film with heart and a very funny soul. Jason Schafer's screenplay puts the luckless couple into one bind after another, and furnishes them with incredibly entertaining dialogue; fortunately, both the leads are up to the challenge of bringing it to life. Campbell (Neve's older brother) has a sweet smile and gentle comic timing; the surprise, however, is Pitoc, whose chiseled physique belies both a wicked sense of humor and a sincere-without-being-gooey romantic streak. Both are aided and abetted by a finely tuned supporting cast, most notably Clinton Leupp as an acidic, motor-mouthed drag queen and Tori Spelling in a go-for-broke star turn as Campbell's best friend, a painfully bad singer-actress. By the end of the movie, you'll be entirely won over, and anxiously awaiting a second date and more from these actors and filmmakers. --Mark Englehart