Chop Suey

This movie came out briefly in one theater in Los Angeles and then disappeared. Why I don't know, because it was a fascinating look back into the gay life in the 50's and 60's when everything was kind of hidden and hush-hush. The other fantastic thing about it was its focus on the great singer Frances Faye. Mention her name now and most people would have a blank look on their faces - which is too bad because this great talent deserves more recognition. I just can't understand WHY this movie hasn't been released on DVD. Something is wrong because every other film -good and bad- eventually is put on DVD. This film is GOOD..........so come on guys - get it out there!!!!!!

There are interesting pieces here of and about Bruce Weber's likes and dislikes. Maybe if a professional editor had put it together for Biography, I would have felt more satisfied. Instead, I spent $8 at a film festival on it. For an autobiography, almost nothing is revealed about Bruce Weber, other than he likes to look at photographs, shoot interesting people, especially beautiful teenage boys, and listen to jazz. The director of "Crumb" would have made a much more interesting and cohesive film.

This is a lush and sometimes loud film by the photographer who brings you the A&F catalogue every 3 months, Bruce Weber. His previous subjects were the jazz "great" (my own anti-jazz bias) Chet Baker and the obscure if not downright lost film "Backyard Movies" that I've lusted after since seeing it one bleary night in Minneapolis, when, 1992?

Mr. Weber's unerring eye for beauty and culture are pleasantly shared, as is his fantastic photo collection, his historic archival footage with the likes of Diana Vreeland, editor of Vogue magazine, the slacker surfing champions that are "Nixon's Neighbors," an obscure English adventurer, and his own personal and professional anecdotes.

And, oh yeah, he shares Peter Johnson with us. (A man/boy with two names for "penis," though that cheap joke shortchanges his phenomenal looks and carriage.) Mr. Johnson is alternately the direct subject and the audience for the stories in Chop Suey.

The book "Chop Suey Club," already a collector's item, is so obviously a labor of love, and the movie lets us in on some of Peter Johnson's allure and charm. Still, Johnson is not exactly a presence to be reckoned with, though his modeling is clearly in the heart-stopping/stellar range. It's slightly embarrassing to watch the young Wisconsin father sit through old stories told by aging queens, until he whips out the atrocious aplomb apparent in his still photos by dancing with a big black poodle.

Mr. Weber practically comes right out with his infatuation for Peter Johnson, telling the story of a parallel gay editor/straight model relationship, "...nobody loved you better." Then in the narrative, "...sometimes we photograph what we're afraid we missed." "Chop Suey" wants to keep history alive while extolling keeping history alive; as told through a survivor in a 31 year lesbian partnership, "I thought I lost my best friend, but I have all these photos and memories and she's still with me. That's the way it's supposed to be."

I longed for quiet in some of the more lyrically poetic image sequences. I thought the underwater shots of swimming dogs and boys in gowns, or the boys sleepy in the back seat of a car, black and white film stock creamy, movement slowed to a languid, trippy pace, invited a more sparce aural accompaniment, images lingering slightly longer.

I would give this film a full ten out of ten if it didn't feel so much like a vanity project. A generous vanity project to be sure, but still, I tend to feel somehow duped or guilty if I overly enjoy watching such blatant narcissism.

I saw it 3 times.

This felt a lot like DEATH IN VENICE, CA to me, who arrived at UCLA at 17 looking better than Peter Johnson and knowing who Frances Faye was from hip parents in Cosmo SF and the "in" crowd that was very rich and filled with artsier geniuses in posher houses.I hung out at the Interlude which was as gay as I was straight almost every night before enrolling at UCLA. The owners and the bar fans of mine and Frances' were my first taste of the gay world.In SF it was not happening yet except for decorators. It was there that I met Teri and became good friends for years and she introduced me to a lot of players in the film although I was much more white tennis sweater looking and acting and had a life in the Bel Air movie star tennis group within weeks. I did not meet Weber till NY which became my mid point on my way to Paris where I moved after dropping out of school.CHOP SUEY does have a wonderful feel to repression and Bruce's love for Peter who is really charming as his sexual preference is shielded even when he wears dresses and hugs elephants while nude on a beach. Nearly ALL of my favorite friends and some icons are there like a scrapbook to look at although I did miss a Weston or two.Henry Miller, Cocteau and Mitchum are joyful to see as it was to play with them once. Mostly, it is a lot of beautiful young men who never appealed to me at any time, but, to his credit, Weber crammed the faces with the gorgeous past and many parts of where I first learned that there were only '10,000 people in the world' thinking.Had Weber been handsome, he would never have become the success he did. It is kind of sad to think that, but, I revert to loving this indulgent postcard which fits just fine into my own past which had an equally innocent beginning as Johnson's.

This film is a documentary directed by Bruce Weber, who is an internationally famous photographer. Weber's specialty is in photographing male nudes and Chop Suey is full of male nudity (all done tastefully). In particular, the film highlights (or celebrates) the physical beauty of one Peter Johnson, an actor/model with a great and lean physical build. Weber's camera is in love with Johnson. The film also highlights Weber's other passions, including the music of singer Frances Faye, as well as the "coolness" of actor Robert Mitchum. Chop Suey is basically a cinematic scrapbook of one man's passions and interests. There is hardly anything that can be called a "story" to link the various episodes that occur in this film together. But the film is distinguished by its excellent use of black and white (as well as color) photography--so it at least looks good (as one might expect, being photographed as it is by a professional photographer). However, ultimately one gets the sense that Chop Suey will appeal mainly (or perhaps only) to those (i) who also share Weber's passion of looking at great looking guys (often nude), and/or (ii) who find the idea of watching a film that often feels like a feature-length version of Calvin Klein's Eternity commercial even remotely appealing. If you don't fit into either of the above categories, heed my warning and skip this baby.