Benim Çocugum (Turkish Documentary) [My Child]

This documentary has its heart in the right place but gosh! It is so bland and boring to watch. Don't get me wring, like I said, these stories are important to be told, but if you want the attention of your audience, you do have to put in that extra effort. What's the point if no one is even gonna watch it. Istanbul and Turkey will always have a special place in my heart, so a documentary from the country focusing on o parents of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender individuals, and the intimate stories they share in front of the camera does sound good.

We meet about 7-8 parents, who recount their growing up years and how and when they found out their kids were gay, lesbian, trans etc. They share their experiences very intimately, recounting every little detail (sometimes hard to talk about). And share their stories. They are personal. And then they talk about how through support groups, they eventually got to know one another. How these groups are helping not just kids but mostly parents of the kids and redefine what it means to be parents, family, and activists in this conservative, homophobic, and trans-phobic society. The second half of the doc focuses on their preparation of the famous gay pride parade.

The documentary's simplicity and no tricks is an asset but also its biggest problem. Just one to one cuts of individuals talking through camera and sharing their stories answering probably what I can consider set of 10 questions gets boring and too much after a while. Imagine you have given 10 questions to 8 people and then you are just going around listening to their answers. But having said that, it is brave of the parents to not just show their unconditional support to their kids but also help other parents, which is very important in the conservative Turkish society. I wish the film also look snippets form the children as well, which would have made it even more real and interesting to watch. (4/10)

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The Shortest Distance is Round 3: Fallen Flowers

Continuing with the weird trilogy of "The Shortest Distance", I am so glad that finally I am done with part 3 and won't have to deal with this again in future. Thankfully, as of now the makers have not announced any further parts; which will save all of us on this earth from the embarrassment of watching this in near future. After the first 10 minutes are used in sort of recapping bits of first two parts, the story moves forward. Haruto is now starting to have feelings for Ruka, the mysterious pole dancer from second part. In a fit of rage, Ruka ends up killing the goat man and to save him and Haruto, Shibahara asks them to go underground. Meanwhile Shibahara continues the search for Seiya (the guy who had cut off Haruto's penis). It turns out Seiya is now also taking care of the original club owner from part 1. Both of them were released after they had informed Shibahara of Aoyama's secret location. Shibahara tortures Seiya's boyfriend leading to Seiya killin

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Ultimate masturbation: Shigoki no yama (Japanese) [The Ultimate Masturbation]

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