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lifestyle WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 26, 2015 Music & Movies Film Review Zac Efron in ‘We Are Your Friends’ t long last, fans of Electronic Dance Music Brentwood estate. But as the two grow closer, have a movie to call their own-a moving boozing and mixing music together in prepara- Aand authentic portrait of the artist as a tion for a gig at a summer music festival, Cole’s young DJ, struggling to find himself in that tricky eye unsurprisingly begins to wander in the gray zone where personal and professional direction of James’ gorgeous girlfriend/personal desires converge. But enough about Mia assistant, Sophie (Emily Ratajkowski). In a movie Hansen-Love’s “Eden.” For viewers who prefer that doesn’t exactly challenge the bro-heavy their coming-of-age stories told in broad, demographics of EDM culture (or, for that mat- believe-in-yourself brushstrokes, say hello to “We ter, address the charges of sexism that have Are Your Friends,” a brashly entertaining, none- dogged it in recent years), Sophie emerges as too-persuasive tale of a talented 23-year-old less a character than a catalyst, and Ratajkowski, musician from the San Fernando Valley trying to whom sharp-eyed viewers will remember as Ben penetrate the glittering upper echelons of Affleck’s mistress in “Gone Girl,” has been cast Hollywood nightlife. Striving to capture a defini- along similar lines here. Her job (apart from tive screenshot of millennial angst, Max Joseph’s modeling a series of unfailingly lovely outfits formally creative, dramatically conventional designed by Christie Wittenborn) is to ensure directing debut probably won’t earn raves from that James and Cole’s friendship, like so many EDM devotees, particularly those who reject the cinematic mentor-student relationships before notion of Zac Efron as their head-banging it, will soon turn sour with lust and betrayal.As Hollywood poster boy. Cole and James sort out their issues while Still, there’s no denying that the star’s hard- Sophie smolders from the sidelines, “We Are to-resist appeal will draw mainstream eyes and Your ears to a picture that would rather spin an acces- sible underdog yarn than tap into the more res- Narrative rhythm onant specifics of its milieu. As co-host, camera- Friends” increasingly plays like a synth-heavy man and co-producer of MTV’s “Catfish” reality soap opera (“As the Table Turns,” anyone?) that series (and a director of numerous commercials, doesn’t so much delve into the EDM phenome- From left to right, actor Jason Mantzoukas, actress Alison Brie, actress Andrea Savage, and director Leslye Headland seen at the special screening of IFC musicvideos and viral shorts), the 33-year-old non so much as scan it for easy dramatic hooks Films feature film ‘Sleeping With Other People’ presented as part of the Visionaire Screening Series at The London West Hollywood on Monday in West Joseph was a smart choice to helm an up-to- and emotional entry points. For all its techno Hollywood, Calif. — AP the-minute feature film about the creative and beats and occasional stylistic departures, the professional pursuits of young people in an ever story has been composed in a vivid yet familiar more competitive digital era. Working from his key of cornball melodrama-from the regular own screenplay (co-written with Meaghan shots of Cole stuffing wads of cash into an Oppenheimer, from a story by exec producer Adidas shoebox under his bed, to the tragic Wanted: Transgender actors for Richard Silverman), Joseph establishes a punchy, development that arrives more than halfway direct-address style at the outset, using through, perhaps in an attempt to bolster Efron’s voiceover narration and onscreen text to give us claim that the movie is a “Saturday Night Fever” Hollywood, little experience required a wry welcome to the San Fernando Valley-that for our times. By that point, it’s clear that “We Are flat, unenticing stretch of Los Angeles County Your Friends” isn’t content to be the story of a hen director Sean Baker was looking for winning Netflix series set in a women’s prison. time,” said Thomas, who was a member of the famed for its porn shoots, vapid blondes and young climber; it has bigger, more epochal fish transgender women to appear in his But many of the new transgender faces in 200-person transgender choir that appeared on unbeatable sushi. It may be situated mere miles to fry. But if Joseph’s movie is meant to be some indie movie “Tangerine,” he did not turn Hollywood are far less experienced. Scott Turner Fox television’s “Glee” in February. The choir was W north of Hollywood, but it might as well be sev- sort of millennial statement, it’s one that feels to a traditional talent agency. Instead, he found Schofield, 34, spent years as a speaker on diversi- assembled through grassroots communities and eral worlds away where a kid on the bottom awfully predictable and secondhand, especially them through a Hollywood LGBT center. As the ty issues and in regional theater before making social media. rung like Cole (Efron) is concerned. when compared with the aforementioned producers of daytime CBS soap “The Bold and the his TV acting debut in May on “The Bold and the “When I first got the job on ‘Glee,’ I looked very “Eden,” a richly immersive, decades-spanning Beautiful” were developing a transgender story- Beautiful” as the first transgender man in a major hard for an agency that would represent trans- Popular Hollywood epic that unfolds against Paris’ garage-rock line this year, they approached the advocacy role on a US daytime drama. gender people but there wasn’t a single one,” said Along with his best friends-aspiring actor scene. group GLAAD for leads on casting. Fueled partly Thomas, who also appears as an extra in the Ollie (Shiloh Fernandez), get-rich-quick dreamer Set to an altogether more familiar narrative by acclaim for TV series such as “Transparent” and Lady luck upcoming second season of Amazon.com’s Mason (Jonny Weston) and shy tagalong rhythm, “We Are Your Friends” holds up a sym- public fascination with the transition of former Both Mya Taylor and Kitana Kiki Rodriguez are “Transparent.” Although her venture has yet to Squirrel (Alex Shaffer) — Cole longs to escape pathetic yet simplistic selfie-cam to a restless Olympic champion Bruce Jenner to a new life as transgender women who worked in the sex busi- launch formally, Thomas says she already has the Valley, with its dried-up lawns and empty contemporary youth culture that doesn’t know Caitlyn Jenner, Hollywood is seeing a boom in ness and had never been on camera until helped fill two transgender roles for the producer swimming pools, and break into the biz in a big what to do with itself. The young men we see movies, TV shows and reality series about trans- “Tangerine” director Baker hired them for his of a small feature film. way. The closest these guys can get, at least ini- have learned to be technologically savvy and gender topics. 2015 movie about a prostitute looking for the “I worked with another lady putting together tially, is a popular Hollywood rave called Social, relentlessly self-promoting, to seek out innova- To meet the demand, casting directors and pimp who broke her heart. “We found Mya at the a transgender weight loss show who had been the so-called “best dance party in LA,” where tion in a world of imitators, and to look beyond producers are often going through unorthodox LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) searching for weeks to find people. I was able to they work as low-level promoters. It’s here that the traditional avenues of a college education channels to find transgender talent - experienced center in Hollywood and she opened up that come up with eight people in a week that were Cole has his fateful first encounter with James followed by gainful, entry-level employment. or not. “As a transgender man myself, I see a lot of world to us. For me to find the two of them like fully qualified,” she said. GLAAD’s Adams said the Reed (Wes Bentley, excellent), a wealthy, well- To the film’s credit, it’s smart enough to show runners coming to me and asking about that was serendipity and luck,” Baker said. “I think need for transgender talent is becoming so press- traveled DJ with a perpetual air of liquor and dis- acknowledge the soullessness of some of the any transgender actors I know of,” said Nick the major talent agencies are finally stepping up ing that he hopes to set up a workshop for illusionment. “He used to be good,” Cole private- alternatives, as we observe when Cole and his Adams, director of programs for transgender (now) because this has just reached the zeitgeist Hollywood casting directors in the fall. “What I ly notes. “I think now he just gives the people buddies land lucrative day jobs at a mortgage media at the Los Angeles headquarters of in the last year and a half, and recently it’s been a hear anecdotally is that casting directors don’t what they want.” company run by the unscrupulous Paige (Jon GLAAD, which promotes lesbian, gay and trans- little bit easier to find people,” he added. understand much about the transgender com- It’s a shrewd enough observation, even if it Bernthal). The subsequent cold-calling scenes gender issues in the media. “That’s how it’s been - Ann Thomas, currently an extra in Hollywood, munity.

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