Cruising Back to Front (1998)

In 1998 twenty years after production began on William Friedkins 1980 notorious gay leather underground crime thriller Cruising I reversed it scene by scene The from behind approach was suggested by the logic of the film itself The narrative dissonance of the original film is amplified in Back to Front the antinomy of law and desire patent Moving in reverse cause cruises outcome with often queer effects For instance straight intercourse isnt an anodyne for gay sex but a push towards it and heteronormativity longs for sexual lawlessness The act that haunts the redo is the one that incites it Karen Allen donning Pacinos SM leather gear and lurking dragging up behind him on the soundtrack Upshot Feminized desire nonlocalizable notall betrays the underlying real phobia in Friedkins quasihorror film How would you like to disappear Robert Buck