Hedwig!

Played hooky from work this afternoon to attend a panel discussion with John Cameron Mitchell and the cast of his new film, Shortbus, in the basement of a church, of all places. Wow. Tried mostly successfully to avoid throwing self prostrate at his feet. The audience was small and almost entirely queer, and JCM pretty much used it as an improvised standup set. Amazing to sit less than six feet away from this small, unassuming waif (looking, I must admit, rather more like a middle-aged lesbian than the fabulous castrated kraut) and to hear Hedwig's dry, hilarious voice coming out of him. I haven't seen the film yet, so seeing the cast didn't mean much to me, although I was excited to see the star, CBC presenter Sook-Yin Lee, who I recently learned was none other than the overzealous, slightly truculent Philipina in Hedwig's onetime backup band.

I have to say though, in criticism of the great one, he has gathered a rather white group of actors; and young; and pretty. JCM says he wanted people who were attractive, but not necessarily physically - more like attractive to themselves. He says he wanted to show real people having relationships, navigating sex and love and life. Obviously one can't represent everyone, but what about people of colour? Middle-aged people? People who don't find themselves attractive? As someone firmly in the first category, hurtling towards the second, and endlessly waltzing in and out of the third, I am interested to see if I relate personally to his film or not.

T asked a question; I did not. I feared a replay of the infamous "I-we-you-love" episode from my 1995 meeting with Emma Thompson. She still has me on restraining order.