This was the first big Brazilian drama that HBO worked on, and it’s a five-episode miniseries that lasts almost five hours in total. It’s a really emotional and political story set in Rio de Janeiro during the late 1980s, and it does a great job of showing what that era felt like while the country was dealing with the HIV/AIDS crisis. Since the world feels so divided today, the show is a beautiful reminder of how queer people can find power by standing together when things are hard. The story is actually based on real things that happened, specifically about flight attendants who smuggled AIDS medicine from the US into Brazil in the 80s. It works as both a history drama and a strong political message. The show is mostly about three people: Nando, his best friend Lea (they both work as flight attendants for Fly Brasil), and Raul, who is a performer and an activist. A lot of the story happens at a club called Paradise, which was one of the few open gay clubs back in the 80s. Nando is a h...
This is not really a gay centric film in the sense that the main story doesn't go around the gay characters , but it still deserves a review here because the underlying theme is gay friendly. You can call this an ally film. Plus, in my experience, Pinoy movies historically do have some very good goofy comedy, so why not!
30 year old, Kylie has a problem. All three of her last boyfriends eventually came out as gay and she is still single. All these guys were in closet and eventually came out and now she has a pretty good gaydar herself. Kylie is a wedding planner who works with her last crush Benj who is gay hiding in closet and apparently she is the only one who knows. When Benj's childhood friend Diego shows up with his fiancé Fiona to hire them as their wedding planners, Benj's hidden love and crush for Diego comes out. He begs Kylie to figure out in next few days if Diego is also gay or not. Diego is a very charming and handsome man with whom even Kylie gets smitten by. But egged on by Benj, Kylie sets out to prove that she's right again that Diego, who is engaged to be married to a beautiful and classy lady, is indeed another closet case. The problem comes when slowly its Diego and Kylie who eventually fall for each other during the course of wedding planning. They end up as a couple and Benj marries his hot friend Ramon Ramon.
This film was just a sweet silly comedy. Its not trying to belittle any sexuality, but just presenting a point of view in a very light-hearted manner. Benj played by the ace actor Paolo Ballesteros, whose last few films I have reviewed here does well in the part of his character. He is funny but his character is not very developed, but I can understand why. He is just a secondary character since the main focus is on Kylie and her budding love with Diego, who himself is struggling between his forever absent girlfriend, and his over bearing parents. Kylie is the one who shows him love and he finally understands what it means to be in love really. The film continue to be comedy when Kylie almost decides that Diego is gay because of whatever stereotypes she has in her mind, only to be surprised by herself falling for him and being reciprocated. The makers gave a happy ending to everyone, although I feel Diego ending up with Ramon was just too sudden and random.
Decent, time pass film, a little long, but gives you overall good time. (5.5/10)

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