This documentary from the US to the 2015 Seattle International Film Festival features a fellow who sounds "too gay" according to his former boyfriend. Through interviews with numerous well-known spokespersons, director David Thorpe tries to sort it out. Personally, it's hard to see why. I've never worried about how people sound: gay or straight, as long as they speak up so I can hear them.
On the other hand, a vanity project like this generates a LOT of questions, but my main one is, How in the world did this find financing? Filmmaking isn't cheap and this fellow plus his film crew, visit major cities, among which are New York and London.
Our interviewees:
- Margaret Cho is a veteran of speech therapy because her family didn't want her to sound Korean.
- Tim Gunn was horrified the first time he heard his own voice. Now he doesn't care.
- Dan Savage says the way gays walk and talk betrays them. This prompts bullying because of misogyny: Male bullies recoil from females and try to hurt anything that seems feminine.
- David Sedaris is always mistaken for a woman when he calls room service, but he is so happy with his long-time husband, he doesn't care.
- George Takei was never mistaken for gay but when California was stuck with DOMA legislation, he decided to step out of the closet. He has had the same (male) spouse for decades, so for him, it was a non-issue.
- David Thorpe decides gays sound like braying ninnies and sets out to change the sound of his voice. He goes to speech therapists, speech pathologists and consults speech specialists before he fizzles out.
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