URBANIA (2000) | Dir: Jon Shear | My goal is to include films in this list that came out before 2000. URBANIA came out in 2000, but it is significant to me because I had never seen a queer story like it. URBANIA is a terrifying film in all of the best ways. Set (mostly) in one evening in New York City, it follows a grieving man, played with subtle perfection by Dan Futterman, as he encounters friends, ex-lovers and strangers and has flashbacks to a moment that altered his life forever. The story weaves together urban myths we’ve all heard (the one involving a microwave still haunts me), but what lingers is the powerful depiction of the difficulty of handling trauma. Kudos to Shear for rendering an atmosphere to the environments that are scary and sexy and shadowy. The film also sprinkles some hefty cameos throughout, including Alan Cumming, Josh Hamilton, Bill Sage, Barbara Sukowa and Lothaire Bluteau, but they never get in the way, as cameos sometimes can. Instead, they feel like real people going about their lives.There’s a mystery unfolding in URBANIA and it often feels like anything could happen at any moment. I believe I saw this film five times when it was released. I wish more people knew about it.
