catharsis
by
Douglas Messerli
Jason Gould (writer and director) Inside Out / 1997
Aaron Gould (Jason Gould) is cute, charming, and clever—almost everything you might want in a gay man in his 20s. Yet is has a few serious problems. He finds it difficult to meet new men, and more importantly to stay in longer relationships with them. Even the “smart, successful” date “with gorgeous hair and nice teeth” (Steven Flynn) who his best friend Adam (Alexis Arquette) hooks him up with decides upon their second meeting that the two are just not right for one another, despite Aaron being, as he puts it, “smart and funny,” “a real nice guy.”
Furthermore he has a problem with his
stepbrother, Simon (Sam Gould) who keeps getting arrested for streaking, as in running
nude in public. In California “streaking” is a sex crime, Aaron explains to his
date, “Three streaks and you’re out.”
Also it appears that wherever Aaron goes
people are seeking to help him find a better life—which given the comfortable
bungalow in which lives, the lovely meal we see him cook, and the beautiful
vase of flowers in brings to that dinner table appears to be quite fine without
their help. His therapist (the joke that everyone in California has a therapist
is a truism in this case) wants him to go on antidepressants, but his father
doesn’t approve of drugs although he was certainly known for taking them when
he was young. His father would like him to meet a powerful manager Phylis (Anne
De Salvo)—perhaps to kickstart Aaron’s flagging acting career—but which Aaron
suspects will lead to a pressured invitation to join Scientology, which is
precisely what happens, Adam troubled by his friend’s passive patience with
their attempts to convince him that he needs their help, for a very steep price.
And then there’s a high school friend, Susan (Katie Asner) who wants Adam to come
to “Group” with her run by Christina Crawford—yes, that Christina
Crawford, author of Mommie Dearest. One session, in which he’s asked “are
you biological,” is enough to convince him that the “group” not for him.
If you haven’t guessed by this time,
Aaron’s biggest problem is that, like the actor portraying this character, is the
son of Elliott Gould (who plays his father in this short film as well) and
Barbara Streisand. Aaron, this semi-autobiographical work’s nom de plume
for Jason, previously appeared as her son in Streisand’s movie The Prince of
Tides, so it seems fair play that Elliott should appear in his son’s
picture.
Alexis Arquette—the transsexual actor whose
grandfather was comedian Charley Weaver and whose sisters and brother are actors
Rosanna, Patricia, and David—was Jason’s real-life friend,
And finally, this film’s director, who is
gay, really was falsely reported in the tabloids as having married a male
model. "It
was shocking because it's so untrue," Gould says. "It was just so
grotesque to me that they could make up a story like that and claim they had
seen pictures of my wedding to a man. And then print this story even though I
deny it." It’s quite clear that Gould did not have to rove too far “out”
of his California life experiences to find meaty satiric material.
Although he never was actually stalked by
a photographer, he obviously experienced the endless snap of the camera
whenever he appeared in public with his mother. In this case the beefy photographer
(Sam Polito), who later spies his victim skating on the Venice Boardwalk and,
jumping into his car goes on a chase for his photographic prey.
Hiding out in a portable potty in a
nearby parking lot, Aaron—totally worn out by just trying to live a normal life—finally
comes out from hiding, shifting into a hilarious strip-tease in which one-by-one
he pulls off his knee guards and his shirt, throwing them at his spell-bound stalker,
as he skates around him in a stripper’s bump and grind, before he pulls off his
undershirt, turns around, and moons the man.
It felt so cathartic, he admits, quipping,
now I know what my step-brother sees in streaking. So absurd has his life
become that he walks off with the would-be photographer as if he were a new-found
friend, ridiculously confiding that he did in fact marry his long-time secret
lover—in a dress.
When
this work was finished, Gould moved to New York, where he admittedly is no
longer hounded by people for being a product, so to speak, of the “industry,” and
is able to better meet and make real friends. Yet Inside Out, is such an
affable comedy that one wishes he would act and direct further works in the
future. But as he admits early in this work, he doesn’t like to see himself on
the screen, presumably neither inside or out.
Los Angeles, January 1, 2021
Reprinted from My Queer Cinema blog and World Cinema Review (January 2021).
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