Andre Burke said that indeed it was Tarkovsky who inspired him to make films. His life tragically cut short, Odile and Yvette stands as his masterpiece. One can't even begin to imagine what else he might have achieved, for he was a filmmaker of tremendous range.
I also saw a brilliant short, "A" (1986), which had been a big success "on the festival circuit, shot on video, avant garde, sort of post Nam June Paik, visually. Very dark. Not only was it a brilliant if somewhat elliptical film about AIDS, but Andre created the score, from which we may confidently state that if he'd had a notion to, he might have been an outstanding composer. Perhaps it'd be more accurate to simply say, he was an outstanding composer. The score was comprised entirely of overdubbed violin parts. He was a virtuoso violinist, among other things.
He made one other feature called "The Rules of the Road" no echoes of Tarkovsky in it. In fact I wasn't crazy about that film. I mention this to demonstrate that I didn't approach Odile and Yvette with any favorable prejudice, indeed, I wasn't expecting a whole hell of a lot! lol But it blew me away and from time to time I meet someone who saw it and that reaction seems to have been prevalent.
He told me a little teeny bit about a feature he was trying to get made which was to be called, "That Queer Feeling" From the sound of the little scene he described to me, it would for one thing have been completely different from this movie, and it would have been uncommonly truthful, in the uh, well in my opinion largely vast wasteland for the most part that is the new new queer cinema as it were. Not that there aren't some notable to nearly great films coming out in this homosexual genre. But those that are worth watching still tend to run on fumes as far as honesty goes.
He might have been that rare thing, a great man who was also a good man. Or rather, again, that's just what he was. The world might have on day realized and celebrated this.
This film was released on VHS. I hope it comes out in proper format someday...
We used to work out together. He was blessed with a beautiful face and got himself e great body. Hey, it's just the truth. And he's missed by a lot of people.
