Two Films

I've seen two special films this week: a Spanish film called 'Reinas' ('Queens') and 'New York Doll'.

'Reinas' is a wonderful laugh-out-loud comedy based around the first mass gay wedding in Spain. The course of true love doesn't, of course, run smoothly, and the mothers - the Queens of the title - both cause havoc with their respective offspring and are the ultimate solution to a successful wedding day. I'm not a great fan of foreign language films - I prefer to watch films rather than read them - but this is the exception, full of funny one-liners and excellently staged scenes.

And, of course, there's a gorgeous big shaggy dog that I've decided is a metaphor for the gradual increasing acceptance of gay rights in Spain (deep, I know).

'New York Doll' is a biopic of Arthur 'Killer' Kane that I first saw in New York last November. It's a well constructed film about Arthur, who almost made it with the New York Dolls but lost it all in a haze of alcoholism, reaches rock bottom and both discovers and is 'saved' by the Mormons. Then, suddenly, he has the chance to make a reality of his dream and play again with his surviving band members at the Meltdown festival in 2004. A month later he dies.

This is a very touching film - uplifting in places, sad and funny at the same time. It took Arthur 30 years to realise his dream and play as the Dolls again, but he did it. Dreams can come true.