Swoon (1991)

Swoon was the rage of the 1992 film festival circuit, as well as part of a wave of gay-themed films that used independent channels to reach the mainstream audience. Written and directed by Tom Kalin and with a cast of mostly unknowns, the movie looks back at the Leopold-Loeb thrill-killing of 1924. Shooting in black and white and using impressionistic imagery, Kalin creates a hallucinatory mix of dream and drama, while giving the story a homosexual perspective that makes it seem new. Where earlier films (such as Hitchcock's Rope and Richard Fleischer's Compulsion) only hinted that these characters might be gay, Kalin takes it as a given and examines the pair's treatment by the police and press based on their sexuality. Might be too arty for some tastes, but others find it intriguingly challenging. --Marshall Fine Amazon.com

Beauty and the beasts

Tom Kalin's 1992 film is a landmark of what Ruby Rich famously called "the new Queer Cinema," and though it's filled with flaws, it's so gorgeous and haunting that it stays with you long after you've forgotten other films that are objectively better. Like ROPE or COMPULSION before it, SWOON seems to dramatize what was known for decades as the Crime of the Century, the morder of fourteen year-old Bobby Franks by two brilliant and wealthy Chicago college students, Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb, who wanted to prove they could commit the perfect crime. Other version of the story have made the homoerotic nature of the relationship between Leopold and Loeb only implied: here Kalin makes it the absolute center of the story, and the film is as much about how frustrated two beautiful and gifted young gay men are when they cannot express their sexuality openly but have the money and the leisure to do almost anything else.

Certain sequences of the film are absolutely heartstopping in their beauty, in particular the beautifully photographed opening sequence of the pair's friends photographed against a hazy sky. There's a great deal of pleasure to be had in Kalin's ingenuity in creating 1920s sets and costumes and props to make the whole thing look authentic (though his trick of using anachronistic contemporary props--such as a push-button payphone--looks to be mostly a dodge he passes off as an hommage á Derek Jarman because he couldn't figure out how to get authentic props).

The problems with the film are that in the end it's a bit empty-headed. The analogy between gay men and criminals is done in a very heavy-handed manner, particularly at the end when Kalin has a montage of photos of "criminal types" that are clearly all his friends in real life. Moreover, the film seems to treat Leopold and Loeb as if they were mere martyrs to homophobia; very little is made of how much Bobby Franks and his parents suffered from their crime. (Bobby is hardly seen in the film at all, and when he is he's usually not photographed directly face-on.) It's one thing for Derek Jarman to present Edward II as being martyred on account of his sexuality; but Leopold and Loeb? Despite this, I recommend seeing the film if only for its cinematography and for the excellent performance of Craig Chester as Nathaniel Leopold. July 21, 2008

A Monumental Film

"SWOON"

A monumental film

Amos Lassen and Cinema Pride

"Swoon" (Strand Releasing) is not a new film but it is one that if you haven't seen it, you should. If you have seen it, now is time for you to revisit. "Swoon" ushered in the age of what was called in 1992 the "new queer cinema". The movie is based on the scandalous murder trial of Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb--a trial that had been written about across America in headlines and had already had a book, "Compulsion" and two movies (Hitchcock's "Rope" and "Compulsion") made about it. But the story had never before looked at from the queer point of view. Tom Kalin took the story, studied the facts, and created this beautiful black and white film about what really happened. It stars Craig Chester ("Adam and Steve") and Daniel Schlachet. I finally succumbed to that little voice inside of me that told me to buy it and I am glad I waited because it now comes as a director's cut with lots of extras.
This is such a compelling film that I felt obligated to learn everything about the original case and I found myself sitting in the library looking up old articles and newspaper stories.
Tom Kalin gives the truest account of one of the most notorious and infamous crimes of the twentieth century. How was it possible that two rich genius college students who were lovers as well could murder for thrill? Kalin focuses on the homoerotic subplot of the issue and the film brings it out beautifully. Two good boys, superlatively educated from two good Jewish homes committed a crime that rocked America. The elegance of the film and the subtlety of the performances question the gay elements of the case in a way that was never really done before. He even takes the story past the courtroom to show how the perpetrators of this horrific crime met their deaths. A pretty picture it is not--it is brutal and hard to forget. Kalin does not hold back and is indifferent to the martyrdom of positive images concerning same-sex couples and the two young and gay killers. "Swoon" defies generalization and intelligence and stands alone in the canon of queer film. It is audacious, it is stylish. It is provocative and stunning and seductive. It examines manners as if they had never been examined before. Kalin makes no excuses and this film is his monument. Both visionary and haunting, it is not easy to forget and these are what make a movie great. We don't have many like this and we should be happy that we have "Swoon". It is among the best of the movies I have ever seen and considering that it is and considering that it still holds up some sixteen years after its original release says something about it.
January 27, 2007

Trying to be all things to all people

It turns out to be mediocre to everyone.

Swoon feels something like a rather lavish PBS documentary with some stylized, artsy murmuring and elaborate costumes and sets (except for the rather glaring touch-tone phones.) As a documentary, it feels forced, and needs lots of narrative ("On July 15, we this or that and I felt this or that.") However it leaves out any attempt at an examination about why these two men behaved the way they did and what the shaping forces were that created these arrogant, outwardly-polite murderers.

As a presumably entertaining movie, it lurches from one scene to another and lacks congruity and basics of story-telling (like a beginning or an end.) It is interesting, and there are glimmers of excellence, but mostly they get drowned out by costumes and smoking and narrative.

Worth seeing, but not entirely successful. May 12, 2005

Just short of perfect

This film takes a look at the leopold/loeb case that is often glossed over in other films and even books on the subject. The focus is obviously on Leopold and Loeb rather than the crime itslef and the importance their personalities play in their connection to each other. The film seems rushed at times but it just seems to add to the intensity of it all. It's rushed but you can't seem to think of it being any other way. You're not left thinking one of the two boys is any more 'evil' than the other (which is perhaps the best thing about the film).

However, if you're not familar with the leopold/loeb case much of the movie could potentially be confusing and while many of the lines are actual things said by the two boys they are often placed in a different context or said to different people. If you've previously read Hal Higdon's book on the subject the movie makes much more sense than it would otherwise. However, if you have not, it is still a disturbing yet touching story. You'll realize the complicated nature of the boys' relationship and question who really contributed to the crime. July 27, 2003

Very Different

This is a great film. Its prospective is very different from the two previous films(Rope/Compulsion) made on the Leopold/Loeb case. These other movies were both highly fictionalized versions of the case. This film is considered the most historically accurate to be made so far on the case, the trial scenes were taken directly from the actual trial transcripts. For this reason the film is often shown in Criminal Justice, Law and History classes.
This movie is also the first to boldly examine the homosexual relationship between the two killers.
Actors Daniel Schlachet (Loeb) and Craig Chester (Leopold) do an excellent job in the very diificult roles of two child killers. July 31, 2002

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