Pride Month is the commemoration of the gay rights movement in the United States and the push for LGBTQ rights overall. It's honored every year with parades and other celebrations. A lot of things in media do the same with films and TV shows. This documentary from artist Rachel Mason is one that can be included in such celebrations because it spotlights what is a slice of gay history, particularly in Los Angeles. Mason's film is about her parents and the business they ran for over 30 years, a store in Los Angeles that had two locations called Circus of Books. That store was an adult entertainment store that mostly sold gay pornography but other accoutrement like sex toys that would appeal to gay men. Maybe lesbians could find something of interest, but it seemed as if gay men, particularly white gay men were the target audience.
The store's locations are West Hollywood and Silver Lake, two areas in Los Angeles that are known as places with predominantly gay populations. Of course, the store sold books by LGBTQ writers and other mainstream publications, but it became known as a gay cruising spot or as a place where gay men could go in order to meet other gay men for whatever purpose but often for sex or even friendly hook-ups. The store began in 1982 and closed in 2019. Given what it meant to a lot of people, as well as its connection to Larry Flynt and a legal matter that ensnared the store, it's considered a piece of history. Mason documents her parents creation of the store and the closing of that store. She also incorporates key moments in gay history along the way like the pre-Stonewall protest at the Black Cat Tavern, all the way through to the AIDS epidemic.
What's pretty interesting are Mason's parents. Both her mother, Karen, and her father, Barry, are very interesting and compelling people. They both make for good documentary film subjects, especially her mother who is this good, Jewish woman who one would never assume would be a person trafficking in hardcore gay pornography. She's one who compartmentalizes her personal life from her job. It's obvious that Karen and Barry consider it a job and don't enjoy any of their products in the slightest.
An aspect that helps to draw one into their story is the fact that Mason's brother, named Josh, is revealed to be gay himself. He had no idea that his parents's store sold gay porn and he hid his sexuality from them until he went to college. It's an interesting wrinkle that both the parents and the son hid the gay aspect of their lives from one another. Both the parents and the child were in the closet as it were. Both generations were keeping a similar secret. Mason unfortunately doesn't draw a lot out of Josh. It's clear that he's not as engaging a subject as her parents. Josh is more reserved and shy, so besides the irony of the situation, we don't get much more out of him.
As mentioned, the store was connected to Larry Flynt, one of the most famous publishers of pornography in the U.S., and a man who fought against censorship in court. On a related matter, Mason's parents were ensnared in a censorship case, which could have resulted in Mason's father being convicted and possibly put into prison. It's an incident in the lives of Mason's parents that creates a bit of narrative drama here. Otherwise, this film is mainly just nostalgia, nostalgia for the pre-Internet era for white gay men.
Mason isn't the first person to turn the cameras on one's family, if that family has a compelling story. She's also not the first to turn one's camera on a parent for some examination. It's interesting to see Mason bicker or get frustrated, particularly at her mother. When it comes to how her mother handled her brother's coming out, there is some honesty there and objectivity. There also is honesty about how presently the store is losing business and must be closed, due to the advent of the Internet, which is true of a lot of businesses. I wish Mason had put the greater landscape into perspective though. We get nothing about other bookstores or similar shops in Los Angeles that might have competed with her parents' store and what became of them. It's not clear how dominant in the market the store was or context in that regard.
When it comes to documentaries like
One Child Nation (2019),
Minding the Gap (2018),
Stories We Tell (2012) and
Capturing the Friedmans (2003), this film felt lesser than them. Even though this film could be compared to those in as much as all of them are about filmmakers making films about their families, particularly their parents. This felt lesser in as much as the filmmaker here doesn't challenge her parents as hard or examine them as thoroughly. It might simply be that there's nothing much to challenge. As a result, it does feel like reverence or hagiography for the most part, which is fine. Mason's parents were good allies in the gay rights movement and Mason's film is a time capsule for them.
Rated TV-MA.
Running Time: 1 hr. and 26 mins.
Available on Netflix.
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