52 Pick-Up #6 – Marjoe (1972)

Welcome back and praise the Lord for another round of 52 Pick-Up.

Okay, sorry, had to get that one out of my system. I can't really say I've found that old time religion here.

In fact, given what this movie goes into and shows, I'd say if I did you should all be very deeply concerned.

This is a movie that has been blipping on and off of my radar for a while leading up to this entry. I had first heard about Marjoe Gortner the person some years back and mentally backpocketed this documentary. Recently a friend discussed it for her podcast on Oscar-winning cinema and it put the movie back on my radar.

From the radar, to my list, to here.

So I have to thank her in part for reminding me of this, cause Marjoe is one Hell of a hidden gem from this project and one I would recommend seeking out, both as a documentary and just in general.

The premise such as it is concerns the above mentioned Marjoe Gortner – a child preacher who became something of a sensation in the evangelist circles in the 1950s. The film actually starts with a collection of some of his greatest hits as a child preacher, clips that start from almost cute and veer into the genuinely strange (there is a scene were a pre-teen Gortner officiates a wedding between two grown adults that I still find myself unsettled by in the sense no adults found any issue with this.) After the montage, we are introduced to Gortner as an adult, affable, outgoing, and considerably more clear-eyed about his past exploits. While he has ostensibly given up as a revival preacher, he decides in his 20s to go back on the circuit with a documentary crew in tow. His mission: to take them behind the curtain and show them the business of preaching, interspersing some of his own song and dance sermons with scenes of explaining the tricks of the trade and conversations with some of his peers.

Put in plain text like this, one would almost expect Marjoe to be an angrier movie than it is. One could see this as a movie by the former child star who has decided to burn it all down, but that is one of the interesting things about Gortner as a subject – he definitely does seem to feel some remorse over what he's done, but he's not looking to send the whole apparatus crashing down. Early on, we hear him discussing his approach and there is no active sense of disdain for other preachers or the believers in the way he talks about them, rather he simply just wants to show what this is all about and hopes maybe some people will come around as a result.

The result is a movie that strikes a curious tone – the genial Gortner gives the movie an overall disarming feeling that, rather than robbing the movie of its impact, causes some of the quieter revelations to land even harder. Whether it's seeing Gortner's performances preceded or intercut with footage of him explaining the play-by-play of acts of religious fervor leading to collecting money or scenes of him meeting with other evangelists behind closed doors (the first of these being especially telling as the other preacher sits counting a stack of money at his desk) the movie actually makes the revelations hit harder for how matter of fact they are. Instead of being shocking insights, they are the day to day nature of the business and treated as such.

Amid the 'banality of evil' looks at the evangelist industry (which, yes, did generate some controversy at the time of release), there is an additional emotional through line that hits harder for the way it's presented, and that's the way the movie presents Gortner's relationship with his parents. Again, the movie's introduction doesn't shy away from the fact his parents were more than happy to cash in on their child's stage presence, and one could expect a genuinely angry look back at them. Instead, Gortner's reflections on his parent as an adult are more saddened than angry. One conversation in particular standing out where he reflects on his relationship with his father. Gortner can't find it in himself to be angry with him simply because he feels like he doesn't really know him especially deeply as a person – even their conversations are more surface level than any sort of emotional connections.

This last part leads to probably the closest thing to a genuine beat of happiness in the movie – the presentation that Gortner has, since distancing himself from that past, found himself in a happier place personally with someone completely outside of the church scene. Like the earlier revelations, it's presented not as a grand triumph, but genuine happiness for a man whose smiles we have seen to this point as paired with an empty, exploitative industry and an empty family life. Again, instead of a grand gesture, it's the quieter change that lands better as a result.

If you're looking for something that's going to be a full-throated shock of a documentary about the darker side of faith, there are other documentaries I could recommend (Jesus Camp comes to mind as a genuinely disturbing movie.) That said, Marjoe is still a strong recommend in its own right as a look at a man whose experiences with faith proved hollow and unfulfilling compared to the life he found for himself after, as well as a very matter of fact look at the bald-faced cynicism and greed running throughout that life of faith.

The movie is available to watch on Tubi – I bring this up not as something I intend to do all the time, but in this case because I really do think this one's worth seeking out if this got you interested.

Okay, that concludes this week's 52 Pick-Up. You may go in peace.

…

Oh. Wait. That's right. Church shtick doesn't work for this ending. Still got next week to tee up.

Well, I did say this was coming and now comes the first round of the John Waters round-up – next week we make our first foray into Baltimore with Waters' most overt cinematic foray into musicals with Cry-Baby.

Till then.

Paris is Burning (1990)

 Welcome back, readers, for another round with the Criterion Challenge.

We're getting there. Still workshopping the name some more, but we're getting there.

With that, a happy Pride Month to those celebrating it, both just as a general courtesy and as Queer Cinema will be the theme for this month.

And to start said theme, I'm firing up the one movie that was an automatic lock for this month since as soon as the theme was locked in - the 1990 documentary Paris is Burning.

I actually watched this in the back end of last month because I have more than two films lined up this time, and because I wanted some time to really turn over this one. This is in part because, honestly, I recognize I'm an outsider on this topic. I know that's at least part of the point for a documentary like this, in its exploration of drag and ball culture, but it also means I wanted to really process thoughts on it rather than just go off the cuff.

So here goes and please bear with me.

I know I've brought this up in the past, but I need to repeat it here - the older I get, the more my attitude towards film and the idea of 'could have been' has changed. In the past, it was a sticking point - a demerit when I came out of a film feeling like it could have made a better choice and didn't (it sometimes still is, but nowhere near as often.) Lately, I'm more struck by those movies where you can see how it could have gone a safer, more traditional route to its relative detriment, and didn't.

Paris is Burning definitely falls into that latter category. Part of this is thanks to how director Jennie Livingston handles the subject matter. In a different set of hands (I'm not sure I want to say less capable as much as less aware) this movie would have played more like a travelogue - a filmmaker positioning themself as an outsider to whom the world of drag and ball culture is to be explored and findings brought back to the 'normal' world. To Livingston, however, the movie is first and foremost about the people who inhabit this culture.

To that end, Livingston herself isn't really a presence we are aware of in the movie. She is the one filming and asking the questions, but she is never seen on camera, and the main reason we know the questions being asked is because her subjects clarify them before answering. The focus is framed entirely on the people - from seasoned veterans like Dorian Corey to relative up and comers like Venus Xtravaganza, for just two examples. Ultimately, the movie becomes more focused on learning about those who are competing than about the nature of the competition itself.

That is a big part of what keeps this from feeling like the cinematic work of a tourist, for lack of a better descriptor. Livingston films this aware that she is a relative outsider - while she is an out lesbian, that is still an altogether different experience from what many of her subjects go through (contrary to what some pundits will insist, the LGBTQIA+ experience is not a monolith). Further, instead of just making it perfunctory questions about the competition only, she lets her subjects open up about their lives - the homes they came from (and, sadly, in many cases were driven from) and the new family they have found in the drag community. As Livingston herself has put it best, one of the main themes of this movie is how those interview have learned to survive in a world that is, in many cases, openly hostile to them, while keeping their dignity.

If you wind up checking out only one of the movies I've picked for this month, this should arguably be it. Nothing against the other two, which are both altogether excellent movies, but in terms of this theme, this is arguably the movie that best hits the mark. It's a reminder, at different times funny, encouraging, sobering, and heartbreaking, that under all the cultural tags and debate, it's people just trying to find a place they feel they can truly be themselves in the world.

Well, with any luck I didn't just set too high a bar for the rest of the month.

Especially because next up, I'm going to be doing something a little bit different. This next entry marks a first for this project, with a guest on for a crossover discussion.

The discussion, and subsequent writeup soon to come.

Till then!