Third Time's A Charm

For many people, the number "3" is a symbol of uncommon strength. Much more than a mere reminder of our fondness for singing about "three French hens" and "three blind mice," we think of "three" as the basis for three-course meals, three-act plays, three-cornered hats, three-legged stools, and a sundae made with three scoops of ice cream. Let's not forget that:

• The format we use for listing items is commonly referred to as "1, 2, 3," or "A, B, C."
• Three plays comprise the famous "Figaro" trilogy written by Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais: The Barber of Seville (1775), The Marriage of Figaro (1784), and The Guilty Mother (1792).
• Many sporting events award their prizes in gold, silver, and bronze medals.
• Acute, equilateral, isosceles, oblique, obtuse, right, and scalene are terms used to describe the geometry of a triangle while a musician may play a very different kind of triangle.
• The three operas composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart with librettos written by Lorenzo da Ponte are The Marriage of Figaro (1786), Don Giovanni (1787), and Cosi Fan Tutte (1790).
• Whenever a beloved celebrity dies, many people become superstitious that famous people die in a series of three.
• In Christianity, the Trinity is comprised of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
• Many fairy tales give a character an opportunity to make three wishes.
• The United States is a Constitutional democracy whose government is divided into three co-equal branches: Executive, Legislative, and Judicial.
• The three most popular Gilbert and Sullivan operettas are The Mikado (1885), H.M.S. Pinafore (1878), and The Pirates of Penzance (1879).

Whether defined by the terms tripartite, triumvirate, triple threat, or triple decker, grouping three items or ideas together is an easy and interesting game that can be used to inform or distract people. Three films shown during the recent Frameline Film Festival were especially poignant for three reasons:

• Each was less than feature length.
• Each came from outside the United States.
• Each had an infectious, intoxicating, and irresistible charm (a quality that is rapidly disappearing from American culture).

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Shot in Barranquilla, Colombia, Dario tells the story of a 17-year-old boy who shows little interest in sports and, in order to help earn money for his family, must work in his uncle's shop after school. As the film opens, the camera follows Dario as he walks down the street. Seen from behind, he is an ordinary teenager, listening to music on a pair of orange headphones. Slowly, his hands start to move to the rhythm of the music filling his ears. Soon his legs are starting to feel the rhythm. By the time Dario arrives at a practice session for a dance troupe that will soon perform at a local carnival, it's easy to see where his passion lies.

Poster art for Dario

As portrayed by Javier Alberth, Dario is a natural dancer whose musical instincts guide his movements. He picks up dance routines with ease and, when circumstances prevent him from attending a rehearsal, can easily assimilate what he missed with some help from his fellow dancers.

Javier Alberth stars in Dario

While his uncle may be frustrated by Dario's occasional absence from work, the other men in his family don't seem to worry about the teenager as long as Dario is happy and staying out of trouble. Only his mother is a negative influence. On the day of the carnival, his parents rush to the uncle's store when it seems as if Dario might be missing. But when someone looks up at the television and sees him dancing in a bright orange and gold costume. Dario's parents run toward the parade with a newfound awareness of their son's talent and proudly watch as he passes by, proudly strutting his stuff.

Javier Alberth stars in Dario

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Animation fans will easily warm to the charms of Chintis Lundgren's fantasy world and her tales of Manivald (Trevor Boris), an overeducated, unemployed, and generally uninspired 33-year-old red fox who lives with a domineering and retired mother (France Castel). Although the closeted Manivald dutifully practices piano under his mother's stern tutelage, a household crisis erupts when their washing machine breaks down.

Animator Chintis Lundgren holds a stuffed toy version of Manivald

The arrival of a hot and hunky repairman (in the form of a grey wolf) sparks a hunger in Manivald that is matched by his lonely mother's insistence that Toomas (Drasko Ivezic) model for her. Can Manivald break free from his co-dependent relationship with his mother? Will he find true love as Toomas flirts with and paws the lonely young fox? According to Wikipedia:

"The film, adapted from Lundgren's prior web comic, Manivald and the Absinthe Rabbits, is a potential pilot for an animated series in which Manivald will move out of his mother's house and take up residence at The Hedgehog's Closet (a gay bar run by a cross-dressing hedgehog who has an ultra-conservative wife named Brunnehilde) in a town called Luxlandia. The series will also incorporate characters from Lundgren's prior animated short film: Life with Herman H. Rott."

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Australian filmmaker John Sheedy's delightful Mrs. McCutcheon has many assets, not the least of which is Marg Horwell's superb production design. The film's story revolves around a 10-year-old boy named Tom who prefers to dress as a girl and be called Mrs. McCutcheon rather than by the name his parents gave him when he was born. As the film begins, Tom is getting ready to enter his third school after having had trouble fitting in at two previous situations.

Virginia Gay (Mrs. Clutterbuck) introduces Alec Golinger
(Mrs. McCutcheon) to her new classmates in Mrs. McCutcheon

Sheedy's film offers a poignant portrait of a child who has always felt that he had been born into the wrong body. As Tom tries to make friends in his new class he finds a surprising ally in Trevor, a tough Aboriginal boy who excels at sports but whose skin color sets him apart from the other students. With an upcoming school dance (for which attendance is mandatory), will Tom have to obey Principal Parncut (Neil Pigot) and dress as a boy or will he be able to dress as Mrs. McCutcheon?

Alec Golinger (Mrs. McCutcheon) and Wesley Patten (Trevor)
strike up a surprising friendship in Mrs. McCutcheon

In his director's statement, Sheedy provides the touching backstory for his film.

"Like most kids at Oberon Primary School in the small town of Geelong, Victoria, I attempted to conform to the masses rather than be anything but true to myself. There were 18 children in my class, an even mix of boys and girls. There would be two at a desk with the usual goodies sitting up at the front and the naughty kids at the back but, in the middle, sat a desk with only a single occupant: a boy called Cameron. He was tough and charming when he wanted to be, a source of curiosity to the other kids, and the only indigenous boy in the whole school. He sat alone, ate alone, and was only ever really acknowledged when it came to sports, as he was exceptional at it."

"In the middle of the year, Oberon Primary School would hold its annual school dance. I myself was set to take Nadine Whitehead (who had been begging me to marry her when we got older) for most part of the year. Couples were put up on the blackboard with the first dance lesson set for the following day. All but Cameron had a partner. All year I had watched this boy sit alone in class, alone at recess and lunch, and walk alone on school excursions. Now he had to hold a brave face in the humiliation of not having been asked to the dance."

Wesley Patten portrays Trevor in Mrs. McCutcheon

"On the walk home that afternoon I found myself completely overwhelmed with sadness for this boy. I imagined him going home to his parents and having to make up lies about why he would not be attending, the humiliation of sitting out of the class alone whilst everyone else giggled through their first dance class. I thought a lot about the isolation that he already suffered and how he would carry this into his future. I thought so much about what it must be like being Cameron that I arrived home in tears and was unable to articulate to my parents what was wrong."

"The next day I arrived at school to find Cameron’s name up on the board with our class teacher Ms. Peterson’s name next to it. Out of the goodness of her heart she had volunteered herself as his partner (much to the taunting delight of the rest of the class). Her good deed had backfired to such an extent that Cameron was teased for weeks on end, was randomly absent on the days of dance practice and, needless to say, Ms. Peterson was stood up on the evening. I have never forgotten Cameron. I have never forgotten my first lesson in empathy and I have never forgotten the defeated shape of a boy sitting alone in the middle of a room of strangers. I wish I had defended Cameron at the time. I wish I had made friends. I wish I had packed up my desk and sat next to him. I wish I had been more true to myself. I wish I had asked Cameron to the school dance. This film is an attempt at reclaiming the bravery that I lacked all those years ago."

Three boys attend a school dance in a scene from Mrs. McCutcheon

Sheedy draws sympathetic portrayals from Virginia Gay (Mrs. Clutterbuck), Shareena Clanton as Trevor's mother (Ange), and Nadine Garner as Tom's mother, Jenny. But the film's true strength lies in the affecting performances of Wesley Patten as Trevor and Alec Golinger as Mrs. McCutcheon. Here's the trailer: