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Baltimore arts briefs through Dec. 13

Highlights from this week’s arts Baltimore calendar

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John Waters, gay news, Washington Blade

Hunks model trunks for Center benefit

The Red Maple (930 North Charles St.) hosts Holiday Hunks in Trunks All-Male Swim Suit Charity Auction to benefit Gay & Lesbian Community Center of Baltimore Wednesday night at 8 pm.

The even includes an all-male swimsuit fashion show and auction. There will be 10 models this year, and when the show is over some of the swimsuits will be auctioned right off their bodies.

Tickets are $19.50 to $253.50. For more information, visit hunksintrunks.org.

John Waters, gay news, Washington Blade

Gay filmmaker John Waters returns to the Birchmere again this year. (Photo by Greg Gorman; courtesy of Waters)

Baltimore legend returns with holiday show

The Birchmere (3701 Mount Vernon Ave.) hosts ā€œA John Waters Christmas!ā€ on Monday night at 7:30.

Watersā€™ show explores the gay and sexual passion of the holiday season. His love for Christmas has inspired the one-man show to come back every year.

Tickets are $49.50. For more information, visit birchmere.com.

Crows present holiday show

Iron Crow Theatre Company presents ā€œChristmas with the Crowsā€ on Saturday night at 8 at the University of Baltimore Student Center (21 W. Mount Royal Ave.).

The show includes special guests Bruce Nelson and Rober Hitz as they fill the evening with holiday songs and readings.

Tickets are $25. For more information, visit ironcrowtheatre.com.

Another week for gay Bingo

Club Hippo (1 W. Eager St.) has its weekly Gay Bingo night on Wednesday at 8:30 to benefit the Gay and Lesbian Community Center of Baltimore.

The night includes progressive jackpots and drinks specials all night. The Center promotes equality and understanding of Baltimoreā€™s LGBT community while also providing them with services such as support groups and different events.

There are $3 drink specials all night. For more information, visit clubhippo.com.

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Movies

A cat and its comrades ride to adventure in breathtaking ‘Flow’

Latvian filmmaker Gints Zilbalodis directs animated fantasy adventure

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(Image courtesy of Janus Films)

Sometimes, life changes overnight, and thereā€™s nothing to do but be swept away by it, trying to navigate its currents with nothing to help you but sheer instinct and the will to survive.

Sound familiar? It should; most lives are at some point met with the challenge of facing a new personal reality when the old one unexpectedly ceases to exist. Losing a job, a home, a relationship: any of these experiences require us to adapt, often on the fly; well-laid plans fall by the wayside and the only thing that matters is surviving to meet a new challenge tomorrow.

When such catastrophes are communal, national, or even global, the stability of existence can be erased so completely that adaptation feels nearly impossible; the ā€œhitsā€ just keep on coming, and weā€™re left reeling in a constant state of panicked uncertainty. That might sound familiar, too.

If so, you likely realize that thereā€™s little comfort to be found in most of the entertainments we seek for distraction, outside of the temporary respite provided by thinking about something else for a while ā€” but there are some entertainments that can work on us in a deeper way, too, and perhaps provide us with something that feels like hope, even when we know there is no chance of returning to the world we once knew.

ā€œFlowā€ is just such an entertainment.

Directed by Latvian filmmaker Gints Zilbalodis from a screenplay co-written with MatÄ«ss Kaža, this independently-produced, five-and-a-half-year-in-the-making animated fantasy adventure has become one of the most acclaimed films of 2024; debuting at Cannes in the non-competitive “Un Certain Regard” section, it won raves from international reviewers and went on to claim yearly ā€œbest ofā€ honors from numerous criticsā€™ organizations and film award bodies, including the Golden Globes and the National Board of Review. Now nominated not only for the Academyā€™s Best Animated Feature award but as Best International Feature (only the third animated movie to accomplish that feat) as well, it stands as the odds-on favorite to take home at least one of those Oscars, and possibly even both ā€” and once seen, itā€™s hard to dissent from that assessment.

Set in an unspecified time and an unknown, richly forested place, it centers its narrative ā€” which begins with breathtaking quickness, almost from the opening frames of the film ā€” on a small-ish charcoal grey cat, who wakes from its slumber to find its home rapidly disappearing under a rising tide of water. Trying to stay ahead of the flood, it finds a lifeline when it discovers an abandoned sailboat, adrift on the waves, and seeks safety on board; but the cat is not the only refugee here, and with an unlikely group of other animals ā€” a dog, a capybara, a lemur, and a secretary bird ā€” sharing the ride, the plucky feline must forge alliances with (and between) each of its shipmates if any of them are to avoid a seemingly apocalyptic fate. Faced with setbacks and challenges at every turn, the crew of unlikely comrades learns to cooperate out of shared necessity ā€” but will it be enough to keep the uncontrollable waters that surround them from becoming their final oblivion?

With no human presence in the movie ā€” though the implication that it once existed, accompanied by the inevitable suspicion that climate change is behind the mysterious flood, is ominously delivered through the monumental ruined structures and broken relics it has seemingly left behind ā€” the story unfolds without a word of dialogue, a narrative chain of events that keeps us ever-focused on the ā€œnow.ā€ The non-verbal vocalizations of its characters (each provided by authentic animal sounds rather than human impersonation) help to convey their relationships with clarity, but itā€™s the visual evocation of their sensory experiences ā€” of being trapped and at the mercy of the elements, of making an unexpected connection with another being, of enjoying a simple pleasure like a soft place to sleep ā€” that fuels this remarkable exploration of physical existence at its most raw and vulnerable. We have no way of knowing what has happened, no way of imagining what is yet to come, but such questions fade quickly into irrelevance as the story carries our attention from the immediacy of one moment into the next.

Accentuating this in-the-moment flow of ā€œFlowā€ā€” for if ever a film title could be said to summarize its style, it is surely this one ā€” is its eye-absorbing visual beauty, rendered via the open-sourced software Blender to provide an aesthetic which matches the material. These realistically-drawn animals come vividly to life against a backdrop that captures a deep connection to nature, accented with the surreal intrusions of human influence and a certain appreciation for the colorful beauty of the world around us, even at its most untamed, which hints at an indefinable mysticism; and when the story begins to transcend the expected borders of its meticulously-crafted realism, the animation takes us there so easily that we scarcely notice it has happened.

Yet transcend it does, and in so doing becomes something greater than a humble adventure tale. As the animal companions progress in their journey toward hoped-for safety, the remnants of human existence become more weathered, more ancient, and less recognizable; the natural landscape through which they are carried begins to be transformed, rendered in a more mythic light by the clash of elemental forces swirling around them and the strange encounters with other creatures that occur along their way. Whatever world this may have been, it seems rapidly to be dissolving into a cosmos where the forms of the past are being reconfigured into something new ā€” and the band of travelers, both witness to and participants in this process, cannot help but be reconfigured, too.

We canā€™t explain that further without spoilers, but we can tell you that it includes the catā€™s ability to ignore its solitary instincts and natural mistrust of its comrades in order to form a diverse (yes, we said it) and cooperative team. It also involves learning to let go of things that can no longer help, to be open to new possibilities that might, and perhaps most importantly, to surrender without fear to the ā€œflowā€ and trust that it will eventually take you where you need to go, as long as you can manage to stay afloat until you get there.

Zilbalodisā€™s film is an immersive ride, full of visceral and frequently harrowing moments that may produce some anxiety (especially for those who hate seeing animals in peril) and conceptual shifts that may challenge your expectations ā€” but it is a ride well worth taking. More than merely a fantastical ā€œNoahā€™s Arkā€ fable reimagined for an environmentally conscious age, it just might offer the timely catharsis many of us need to confront our unknowable future with a renewed sense of possibility.
ā€œFlowā€ begins streaming on Max on Feb. 14.

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Out & About

Celebrate Aquarius season with drag

SADBrunch holds event at Throw Social

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Cake Pop! hosts the brunch at Throw Social on Sunday. (Washington Blade file photo by Michael Key)

SADBrunch will host ā€œDrag Brunchā€ on Sunday, Feb. 16 at 12 p.m. at Throw Social.

Grab your friends & family, your mimosa, a plate full of food, and join us for Drag Brunch. Five flocking fabulous queens take to the stage to perform in this sassy, extravagant, fantabulous event. Tickets start at $25 and are available on Eventbrite.Ā 

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Out & About

Being single doesnā€™t mean you have to be alone this Valentineā€™s Day!

Casa De LGBT hosts speed dating event

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(Image by kotoffei/Bigstock)

Casa De LGBT will host ā€œGay, DL, Transgender Speed Datingā€ on Friday, Feb. 14 at 8:00p.m. at 1406 N. Capitol St. NW. 

This will be a night of speed dating, deep connections, and good vibes! Whether you’re gay, lesbian, transgender, or queer, this event is designed to bring people together in a safe, respectful, and welcoming environment Come ready to connect, have fun, and maybe even meet someone special. Tickets cost $30 and can be purchased on Eventbrite.

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