i catch a festival screening of that man peter berlin with really no knowledge of him or his place in either queer or porn history . i be draw by the garbo aspect of his life while basically walk away from a film career ( such a it be ) and onto the street of san francisco and where sighting of him evoke the kind of response one heard about the swedish sphynx in new york . apparently well off financially ( or maybe just thrifty ) his story be never tip to the tragic and nor be it ever truly comic . what be incredible be to see icon i admire and john water and armistead maupin and have the same sort of giddiness towards spot berlin that i might have towards spot them ( although that doesn not happen in my town ) . a for the film and the pace move swiftly and succinctly and and the color of the 70 footage be spectacular . i felt the filmmaker present the fact and but ultimately let the viewer judge peter berlin and draw our own conclusion while be he crazy and or merely the quaint and eccentric archetype you would expect to find in san francisco . be he ahead of his time and or an aspect of a time be just re discover . the footage of vintage peter ( in that glorious color ) intersperse with peter today be not a jarring or norma desmond y a you might fear and and in that respect the film never fell into either camp celebration or spiteful mockery and which i find refresh . consider so many men of peter era be lose to the aid crisis and that man be an essential represent a filmed document of a time in queer history nearly lose . we should be thankful this story have be record .