My conversation with Bette Gordon at the Tribeca Film Festival was probably the most film schoolish of any I had. Talking about her use of camera styles, her attempts to make a statement about post-Vietnam masculine identity, using the actors to motivate camera movement rather than the other way around-- it definitely wasn't the usual chat about funny on-set moments and what it was like to work with the lead actors.

Gordon, whose landmark feminist film Variety was also playing at the festival as a revival, directed Handsome Harry as a way to explore masculinity. "It's my interest in gender. You really understand gender I think by looking at both sides of something." Working with Jamey Sheridan, whom she'd directed previously in Luminous Motion (you can see my interview with him here), Gordon told the story of Harry Sweeney, a Vietnam war veteran forced to face down dark secrets from his past.

Check out the video interview below to hear about Gordon's desire to get in on the secrets of male friendship, and why this movie is directly related to policies like Don't Ask, Don't Tell.