CIRCUS OF BOOKS (B+) - Imagine that your parents, on the sly, ran a gay-porn bookstore in L.A., and you and your brothers didn't find out for years. Filmmaker Rachel Mason conducts a smart investigation of the "secret" life of her parents, Karen (a former journalist) and Barry (a special-effects engineer and inventor), who took over the former Book Circus in the early 1980s, starting out as freelance distributors for the tawdry publications of Larry Flynt (who appears hear, subtitled).
The family dynamic is intriguing here. Mason inserts herself into the story, and we often see her behind the camera as she interviews her parents and brothers and others. Karen is a hectoring mom, and the journalist in her constantly questions the substance and relevance of Rachel's film project, creating a fascinating subplot of mother-daughter angst. Barry is bright and cheery, and he and Karen convey the ups and downs of running a small business (which was not so small in the '80s and '90s when they got into producing porn films, many starring Jeff Stryker, who also appears here). Barry even smiles throughout the recounting of the battle with the Meese Commission during the Reagan administration's crackdown on pornography.
Rachel Mason was a video geek from childhood and a friend of the queer kids in high school, and she dotes on this passion project in every way (she even sings a couple of songs over the closing credits). Another subplot involves one of Rachel's brothers, who took a long time to come out as gay -- all handled tenderly and wisely. Mason has a way of holding a shot on an interview subject for an extra beat or two, evoking subtle echoing facial reactions, which serves to add a subtle layer of subtext to the stories.
This has echoes of the recent "Other Music," which also chronicled the end of a store and an era. Former employees join the talking heads, including one named Alaska, a drag performer with an incredible Joker-like grin. Mason's labor of love celebrates family life, in all of its warts-and-all glory, and packages it into the broader scope of a movement and a faded way of life.
A SECRET LOVE (C+) - Less successful is this valentine to a lesbian couple of six decades who only recently came out to their families. Terry Donahue once played baseball in the famed All-American Girls league, and Pat Henschel is her cranky life partner. Terry's niece Diana also appears as the voice of reason trying to get the two to move to an assisted-living facility. (The director is another relative of Terry's, Chris Bolan.)
Way too much of this family diary dwells on the aging process, as Terry's decline is evident throughout (and even the hardy Pat ends up in the hospital at one point). A wealth of photos, archival footage and availability of Terry and Pat's old friends from the gay community goes to waste, taking a back seat to bickering and minutiae about the pros and cons of various nursing homes.
One scene near the end nearly rescues this production. Diana finally blows a gasket when she finds out how much money the couple have squirreled away while all the time nickel-and-diming her over the choice of a facility. In the end, though, the Midwest ordinariness of the players here gives this a low-stakes feel.
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