Outfest Film Review: I Do

Glenn Gaylord's (writer and producer of Leave It on the Floor) new film I Do is quite topical.  The U.S., led by the state of Arizona, backed by the Supreme Court, has drawn some kind of new demarcation line against those who are willing to risk everything to achieve a better life for themselves and their family.  Say what you will about illegal immigration, it still occurs and will continue, as with anything, the have not's will always bear the brunt of the law more so than the have's.  Green-card marriages are a matter of fact and more common than you'd expect.  In the six short years I've lived in Los Angeles, I've been propositioned three times, and, not by the nationalities one might assume.  And, were I to I have proceeded with any of these "proposals," as an American, it would have been my choice, whatever the law or others may have prejudged about "the marriage."  Yet, the one common denominator in all three instances was that the people who asked for my hand in marriage were all female.  Naturally, of course, why would they be male, thanks to the federal statute DOMA--the provision, written by a Republican who now campaigns against the very law he composed, and then President Clinton signed into law in 1996--which arbitrarily decided that marriage (never legally defined by gender, only two consenting adults) was between a man and a woman.  The statute was a relic before it even hit the books, yet, we, as a society, must wait for time and reason to play themselves out.

The film I Do boasts a star-studded cast including Jamie-Lynn Sigler (The Sopranos' Willow) and Alicia Witt (Twin Peaks, Cybil, Friday Night Lights), as well as a host of new talent including screenwriter David W. Ross, who produced as well as played the central character Jack Edwards.  He's a photographer who helps raise his niece Tara (Jessica Tyler Brown) with her mother Mya (Witt), wife of his deceased brother Peter (Grant Bowler).  He has been living in the U.S. for decades since his teenage years and, through a glitch no fault of his own, finds himself being expulsed from the country.  Thanks to a lesbian friend and associate Ali (Sigler), he finds a green-card opportunity to retain everything which he has built up, but then, in an ironic twist, finds himself genuinely falling in love with a man, Mano (Maurice Compte).  The editing is swift, the performances solid, and the message clear.

On the surface, Ross' story asks, "Should not gays have the opportunity to get away with a common "fraud" committed by straights?"  At its core, however, is the more refined, "Why is it that a gay couple facing the random deportation of one of its partners not have the same recourse as two straights in the same situation?"  And, more subtly, the movie posits the question, "Just where does one draw the line between a genuine and feigned love?" Can government really decipher the nuances? Can a federal employee(s) extract what exists in the heart of one or both partners?  Is not love more fluid and malleable?  Cannot something true spring from a foundation built originally on artifice?


Before the screening, producer Stephen Israel, director Gaylord, hyphenate Ross, editor James Cude, and stars Sigler, Witt, Brown, Compte, Mickey Cottrell, and Mike C. Manning took to the red carpet at the Ford Amphitheater.  On the way up the stairs, Ross warned young Brown that there would be plenty of flash photography.  She replied, "I know, this is my third time," (she starred in Paranormal Activity 3, as well as a guest spot on TV show Happy Endings) only to be munching on popcorn just a few minutes afterwards.  Sigler commented on how the unusual overcast weather for Los Angeles this Summer night felt very "East Coast," as she was interviewed by Ms. Sassy.  The whole cast and crew was very gracious and accommodating for the photographers.  Afterwards, they also took the stage before the audience in the Amphitheatre's outdoor seating area.