Q-Fest Preview: Gayby

Bikram yoga and comic books come together in Gayby, a movie about Jenn (Jenn Harris), a thirty-something yoga instructor who decides that single life isn’t enough and asks her gay best friend Matt (Matthew Wilkas), an aspiring comic book artist, to help her conceive “the old fashioned way.” This unconventional “gayby,” a term normally reserved for infants with same-sex parents, seems to be a way for each of them to find fulfillment in their lonely lives. Both protagonists are adorably neurotic while navigating the dating scene and scheduling utilitarian sessions of the horizontal mambo.

One awkward scene has the shy and introverted Matt lying next to Jenn, quietly revving up his own motor in preparation for conception as Jenn rattles on about what kind of man she needs and how they will raise their child. The eventual act feels less like sex and more like a siphoned hose being shoved into a gas tank before the fuel is splashed all over the car.

Fresh on the dating scene from a bad breakup, Matt enlists his friend Nelson (played by director Jonathan Lisecki), a former queen turned bear, to help with his dating profile when he finds that those “other dating sites” don’t fulfill his need for an intimate emotional connection. Nelson doles out his advice while deftly insulting the unfortunate customers who wander into his antique shop.

Lisecki has created a sweet story that is equal parts Woody Allen and Sex in the City. He originally released the story as a short film, to much praise, in 2010. This feature-length version will be shown as the closing film at Q-Fest this Monday night, July 30th, at 7PM at the Rice University Media Center. So grab your closest friend, see this movie, and get to making a baby. Just be sure your downward dog isn’t too rusty.

Gayby is directed by Jonathan Lisecki and stars Jenn Harris, Matthew Wilkas, and Mike Doyle. USA, 2012, 89 min, color, video.

[Gayby screens Monday, July 30th, at 7PM at the Rice University Media Center, as part of Q-Fest, the GLBTQ Film Festival of Houston.]