Urbania (film)
Encyclopedia
For the Italian province, please see Urbania
Urbania is a 2000 independent
drama film
based on the play Urban Folk Tales. It premiered at the 2000 Sundance Film Festival
and played a number of LGBT
film festivals as well as playing in limited release throughout the year.
) through a sleepless night. After an unsuccessful bout of masturbation
to the sound of his upstairs neighbors having sex, he prowls the streets looking for a man he saw several months earlier. The implication is that he's had a one night stand
with the man, cheating on his boyfriend Chris (Matt Keeslar
). This is reinforced by several phone calls Charlie places, leaving messages on Chris' answering machine
. As he's walking, he has momentary flashes akin to hallucination
s or waking dreams: a man's mouth; a bottle breaking; a man with a blood-stained shirt.
After a series of encounters (with his upstairs neighbors, who he tells about his masturbatory activities, and a potential trick), he meets the man he's looking for. His name is Dean (Samuel Ball) and it makes no sense either that he'd trick with Charlie or that Charlie would trick with him. Dean is unabashedly racist
, sexist
and homophobic
. Nevertheless, Charlie, pretending to be straight
, buys Dean drinks and smokes a joint with him. Dean takes Charlie to a gay cruising
area looking for victims, but Charlie is able to warn away the intended target. Dean is now almost incapacitated by alcohol and drugs and Charlie gets him into Dean's car and drives him to a secluded marshy area.
As had been implied by Charlie's flashbacks, Dean and two of his buddies, several months earlier, had attacked Charlie and rape
d and murdered Chris. Charlie's purpose is finally revealed: he wants revenge.
In a dreamlike conversation with Chris, Charlie relates what happened at the marshland. He pulled a knife on Dean and told him why he was there. Dean didn't remember him. Charlie forced Dean to drop his pants and was disgusted to see Dean had an erection
. Charlie forced Dean to kneel and fellate
the knife blade. Suddenly, Dean collapsed with an epileptic
seizure. Charlie slit his throat.
Chris challenges Charlie, not believing that he killed Dean. Charlie admits that he wanted to but couldn't. Instead, he drove off in Dean's car, abandoning him in the marsh.
Charlie stands up from where he's been kneeling, at a makeshift memorial near where Chris was killed. He walks home and has one more hallucinatory flash. He sees himself on the street, cradling a dying Chris. He kisses Chris goodbye and passes by him. When he turns back, Chris is gone. Charlie makes it home and, finally, is able to sleep.
Charlie presents aspects of his story in the form of urban legend
s. The film references a number of urban legends, both by having characters describe them as they're depicted and by presenting random people experiencing them.
, from 27 reviews counted.
Urbania
For the 2000 film, see Urbania Urbania is a comune in the Province of Pesaro e Urbino in the Italian region of Marche, located about 80 km west of Ancona and about 40 km southwest of Pesaro, next to the river Metauro....
Urbania is a 2000 independent
Independent film
An independent film, or indie film, is a professional film production resulting in a feature film that is produced mostly or completely outside of the major film studio system. In addition to being produced and distributed by independent entertainment companies, independent films are also produced...
drama film
Drama film
A drama film is a film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Dramatic themes such as alcoholism, drug addiction, infidelity, moral dilemmas, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, poverty, class divisions, violence against women...
based on the play Urban Folk Tales. It premiered at the 2000 Sundance Film Festival
Sundance Film Festival
The Sundance Film Festival is a film festival that takes place annually in Utah, in the United States. It is the largest independent cinema festival in the United States. Held in January in Park City, Salt Lake City, and Ogden, as well as at the Sundance Resort, the festival is a showcase for new...
and played a number of LGBT
LGBT
LGBT is an initialism that collectively refers to "lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender" people. In use since the 1990s, the term "LGBT" is an adaptation of the initialism "LGB", which itself started replacing the phrase "gay community" beginning in the mid-to-late 1980s, which many within the...
film festivals as well as playing in limited release throughout the year.
Plot summary
Urbania follows Charlie (Dan FuttermanDan Futterman
Daniel Futterman is an American actor and screenwriter. Although he is known for several high-profile acting roles, including Val Goldman in the film The Birdcage, and Vincent Gray on the CBS television series Judging Amy, he is also a screenwriter...
) through a sleepless night. After an unsuccessful bout of masturbation
Masturbation
Masturbation refers to sexual stimulation of a person's own genitals, usually to the point of orgasm. The stimulation can be performed manually, by use of objects or tools, or by some combination of these methods. Masturbation is a common form of autoeroticism...
to the sound of his upstairs neighbors having sex, he prowls the streets looking for a man he saw several months earlier. The implication is that he's had a one night stand
One Night Stand
One Night Stand is an HBO stand-up series that first aired on February 15, 1989. The half-hour series aired weekly and featured stand-up comedy specials from some of the top performing comedians. The series originally comprised 55 specials over the course of its four years on HBO...
with the man, cheating on his boyfriend Chris (Matt Keeslar
Matt Keeslar
Matt Keeslar is an American actor.Keeslar was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan, the son of Fred Keeslar and Ann Ferguson, who divorced in 1977....
). This is reinforced by several phone calls Charlie places, leaving messages on Chris' answering machine
Answering machine
The answering machine or message machine, also known as the telephone answering machine in the UK and some Commonwealth countries) and previously known as an ansaphone, ansafone, or telephone answering device is a device for answering telephones and recording callers' messages.Unlike voicemail,...
. As he's walking, he has momentary flashes akin to hallucination
Hallucination
A hallucination, in the broadest sense of the word, is a perception in the absence of a stimulus. In a stricter sense, hallucinations are defined as perceptions in a conscious and awake state in the absence of external stimuli which have qualities of real perception, in that they are vivid,...
s or waking dreams: a man's mouth; a bottle breaking; a man with a blood-stained shirt.
After a series of encounters (with his upstairs neighbors, who he tells about his masturbatory activities, and a potential trick), he meets the man he's looking for. His name is Dean (Samuel Ball) and it makes no sense either that he'd trick with Charlie or that Charlie would trick with him. Dean is unabashedly racist
Racism
Racism is the belief that inherent different traits in human racial groups justify discrimination. In the modern English language, the term "racism" is used predominantly as a pejorative epithet. It is applied especially to the practice or advocacy of racial discrimination of a pernicious nature...
, sexist
Sexism
Sexism, also known as gender discrimination or sex discrimination, is the application of the belief or attitude that there are characteristics implicit to one's gender that indirectly affect one's abilities in unrelated areas...
and homophobic
Homophobia
Homophobia is a term used to refer to a range of negative attitudes and feelings towards lesbian, gay and in some cases bisexual, transgender people and behavior, although these are usually covered under other terms such as biphobia and transphobia. Definitions refer to irrational fear, with the...
. Nevertheless, Charlie, pretending to be straight
Heterosexuality
Heterosexuality is romantic or sexual attraction or behavior between members of the opposite sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, heterosexuality refers to "an enduring pattern of or disposition to experience sexual, affectional, physical or romantic attractions to persons of the opposite sex";...
, buys Dean drinks and smokes a joint with him. Dean takes Charlie to a gay cruising
Cruising for sex
Cruising for sex, or cruising is the act of walking or driving about a locality in search of a sex partner, usually of the anonymous, casual, one-time variety...
area looking for victims, but Charlie is able to warn away the intended target. Dean is now almost incapacitated by alcohol and drugs and Charlie gets him into Dean's car and drives him to a secluded marshy area.
As had been implied by Charlie's flashbacks, Dean and two of his buddies, several months earlier, had attacked Charlie and rape
Rape
Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse, which is initiated by one or more persons against another person without that person's consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority or with a person who is incapable of valid consent. The...
d and murdered Chris. Charlie's purpose is finally revealed: he wants revenge.
In a dreamlike conversation with Chris, Charlie relates what happened at the marshland. He pulled a knife on Dean and told him why he was there. Dean didn't remember him. Charlie forced Dean to drop his pants and was disgusted to see Dean had an erection
Erection
Penile erection is a physiological phenomenon where the penis becomes enlarged and firm. Penile erection is the result of a complex interaction of psychological, neural, vascular and endocrine factors, and is usually, though not exclusively, associated with sexual arousal...
. Charlie forced Dean to kneel and fellate
Fellatio
Fellatio is an act of oral stimulation of a male's penis by a sexual partner. It involves the stimulation of the penis by the use of the mouth, tongue, or throat. The person who performs fellatio can be referred to as the giving partner, and the other person is the receiving partner...
the knife blade. Suddenly, Dean collapsed with an epileptic
Epilepsy
Epilepsy is a common chronic neurological disorder characterized by seizures. These seizures are transient signs and/or symptoms of abnormal, excessive or hypersynchronous neuronal activity in the brain.About 50 million people worldwide have epilepsy, and nearly two out of every three new cases...
seizure. Charlie slit his throat.
Chris challenges Charlie, not believing that he killed Dean. Charlie admits that he wanted to but couldn't. Instead, he drove off in Dean's car, abandoning him in the marsh.
Charlie stands up from where he's been kneeling, at a makeshift memorial near where Chris was killed. He walks home and has one more hallucinatory flash. He sees himself on the street, cradling a dying Chris. He kisses Chris goodbye and passes by him. When he turns back, Chris is gone. Charlie makes it home and, finally, is able to sleep.
Charlie presents aspects of his story in the form of urban legend
Urban legend
An urban legend, urban myth, urban tale, or contemporary legend, is a form of modern folklore consisting of stories that may or may not have been believed by their tellers to be true...
s. The film references a number of urban legends, both by having characters describe them as they're depicted and by presenting random people experiencing them.
Reception
Urbania has an approval rating of 73% on Rotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
, from 27 reviews counted.
Awards and nominations
- L.A. Outfest Grand Jury Award, Outstanding American Narrative Feature (winner) - 2000
- Philadelphia International Gay & Lesbian Film FestivalPhiladelphia International Gay & Lesbian Film FestivalThe Philadelphia International Gay & Lesbian Film Festival was founded in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania by TLA Entertainment Group in 1995. The event is the third largest of its kind in the US, and the largest on the East Coast....
Jury Prize, Best Feature (winner) - 2000 - Provincetown International Film FestivalProvincetown International Film FestivalThe Provincetown International Film Festival is an annual film festival founded in 1999 and held in Provincetown, Massachusetts. The festival presents a wide array of American and international narrative features, documentaries and short films for five days in June of each year.With panel...
Audience Award Best Feature (winner) - 2000 - San Francisco International Lesbian & Gay Film Festival Best First Feature (winner) - 2000
- Seattle International Film FestivalSeattle International Film FestivalThe Seattle International Film Festival , held annually in Seattle, Washington since 1976, is among the top film festivals in North America. Audiences have grown steadily; the 2006 festival had 160,000 attendees...
Golden Space Needle Award, Best Actor, Dan Futterman (winner) - 2000 - Sundance Film FestivalSundance Film FestivalThe Sundance Film Festival is a film festival that takes place annually in Utah, in the United States. It is the largest independent cinema festival in the United States. Held in January in Park City, Salt Lake City, and Ogden, as well as at the Sundance Resort, the festival is a showcase for new...
Grand Jury Prize, Dramatic (nominated) - 2000 - GLAAD Media AwardsGLAAD Media AwardsThe GLAAD Media Award is an accolade bestowed by the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation to recognize and honor various branches of the media for their outstanding representations of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community and the issues that affect their lives...
Outstanding Film (Limited Release) (nominated) - 2001