Movie Reviews -
Gay Themed

A journalist goes undercover to investigate a serial killer case in the gay scene. Soon he finds himself in CRUISING territory. Sounds familiar? Of course, the1980 Al Pacino film dealt with this subject. I am not privy if this film was a remake or something but this Italian film which came out in 1993, is just about a decent watch. Even if we forget the production quality, the movie just doesn't offer enough thrills or tense moments that would have made this film an exciting watch. Gay men are being murdered ruthlessly and investigative journalist is trying to figure out the case. He has a beautiful wife who is an air hostess and his best friend is a magistrate who keeps asking him to help police with investigation rather than working on his own. He starts cursing in search of serial killer with his camera woman trying to get footage, but murders keep happening and somehow Marco is always near or have met the men who keep getting killed. One day he meets an enigmatic male hustler A...

Sometime back I had seen the documentary about Patient Zero, a flight attendant from Canada nd how the whole AIDS thing unfolded.. This film is a fantasy musical (maybe comedy?) which tackles such subjects as homophobia, AIDS, the life of Sir Richard Francis Burton, and the ignorance that still exists about how AIDS came, and spread, through North America-- all wrapped up in a boy meets boy story., with a twist hat Pteint zero comes back from dead to clear his name. The film starts with a historical figure Burton, who translate erotic books and is obsessed with doing scientific study of penis size. He works in some museum and there is something going on about him modifying his museum based on patient zero. In meantime patient zero returns as ghost and wants to clarify his name. But no one can see him, except this Burton guy. Burton os convinced that Zero is a killer of some sorts, and agrees to help. Then there is this sudden thing about monkeys in museum and them being blamed for AIDS...

I understand this collection of stories came almost 30 years back in 1993, but I can almost bet that even then , these films do not have much new to offer in the name of 'New Queer Cinema'. These six short gay films, spread over almost 2 hours of running time, rehashes general aspects of gay life that most people are probably familiar with. Interestingly, AIDS is a central issue in several of the shorts Resonance (Australia) - A stylized, wordless look at two men in Sydney: a gay man and a man who leads a gay-bashing gang. The gay man, recovering from his beating, practices dance that is sometimes tai chi, sometimes ballet, sometimes modern jazz. The man who rescued him from the beating is his teacher, his lover, and his dance partner. We also see his attacker, who, trapped in machismo, mistreats his own girlfriend as well. By the end, the male couple is joined by a third dancer, a woman, suggesting an artistic and social harmony. R.S.V.P. (Canada) - Sid returns home for the ...

This is a low budget, low production story of the employees in an LA office  where the daytime TV show "The Love Judge" is written and produced. This film tries to chronicle lusts and love of men and women working here, their fears, aspirations, relationships, drama. It's a slice of life story trying to be realistic. Loud mouthed producer Jo of the station has just announced that she will be quitting the show in two weeks. The race for new role is between Mark and Paul, two best friends. Mark is just coming to one year anniversary of his boyfriend's death from AIDS. He has been sulky and moody ever since, but his best friendJeremy, who is a writer on the show tries to keep his spirits up. We also meet Bill, the straight guy who has just broken up with his girlfriend and who also flirts with both Mark and Jeremy. Mark tells Jeremy that he thinks Bill is interest din him, unaware of the fact that Bill and Jeremy have been secretly having an affair and sleeping together ...

I have said time and again that movies based on the whole AIDS epidemic are hard hitting and can sometimes be difficult to watch. This film had been on my watchlist for a long time and recently when I saw the documentary 'Patient 0'; I was reminded of it again and decided on watch on this Sunday afternoon. I cannot emphasize on how important this film and how this is a must watch film for all of us, especially considering the COVID pandemic that our world has been dealing with for over a year now. The film, adapted by the book of same name by Randy Shilts, tries to documents everything that transpired from when the first cases were discovered to the social, political and medical impacts of the whole situation in the 80s. When a few cases of an unknown disease killing gay men is discovered between SF and NY, Don Francis joins DCD in their research to find out details of what's going on. With his experience in the Ebola outbreak, he could be of help, but only slowly will he d...

Watching films during the AIDS epidemic time are never easy to watch. Even of the films are badly made, they constantly remind you of the horror that people went through and make you appreciate the life and flexibilities that we as queer folks have today. Despite having seen a lot of content set in those times, seeing something new always stirs up emotions of all kinds. This was a made for TV movie that came out way back in 1993. Anna and Keith are a happily married couple of many years. By accident Anna discovers that Keith has actually been having an affair with a man named Steve. Anna and Steve meet and talk about Keith and during these conversations, Steve asks Anna to get tested. He tells her that he always had protected sex with Keith but given that she may have not, it's better to know the truth now than later. On confronting Keith with the possibility, it freaks him out and he refuses to get tested. Anna eventually tests negative. But, in the process she ends up befrie...

Ok. So I read some really glaring reviews of this film and thens elided to watch it. What a horrible mistake. I see folks saying how, you will really enjoy this film if you are a hard core Greg Arakki fan but why should i be a fan of a director and like all his movies. A movie should be good or bad regardless of who the director is. The film is weirdly divided into 14 segments (for whatever reason) and we are taken into a journey of 6 odd gay teens in LA. It seems there is nothing really happening in the teenagers lives. All they deal with is boredom and other people's stories. The film was so bad that I am not even gonna bother in some of thee entail story but there was no real story. One guy feels all alone, smokes non stop, meets a guy and feels loved and then suddenly goes away. We have a lesbian couple who are mostly ok. In another relationship, one guy is very secure while the other wants to fool around. And then we have one more guy who also has some story but while wat...

This is supposedly an art house cinema from Japan. I either must be watching this film too late in the game but I honestly ran out of patience sitting through this film and trying to make head or tail out of this film. Doing my research, I did find that this film was a huge hot in Japan when it came out but I still can't figure out why! I asked the same question when i saw the film and find myself asking the same question while reviewing the film. The primary focus of the film is on its 2 main characters. Tatsuru and Shin are both teenage boys and they work in a club as rent escort boys for gay guys to make that extra money and get them going in their day to day life. Tatsuru has a girlfriend but he doesn't feel sexual towards her. Deep down he knows he is gay but is not ready to accept it and his girlfriend is ok with not being overtly physical. Shin also has a girlfriend but they are both like girlfriends. When Shin comes out to his parents, he is thrown from the house a...

You might need to know a bot of Chinese history around revolution to better appreciate this movie but nevertheless it makes for an interesting viewing. This is an artsy film about a French diplomat falling in love for a Chinese Opera singer. As he pursues his love for the diva he's attracted to, she toys with his foreign ignorance of the cultural differences between their Western & Eastern societies.  A French diplomat named Rene Gallimard is living and working in the China at the time of the Vietnam war. He goes to see the famous Chinese opera Madam Butterfly and instantly falls in love with the woman playing the lead roll. They start an Affair but the woman Song Liling is so modest that she won't let Rene see her naked. The affair is short lived. When the Communist Cultural Revolution separates the would-be lovers, the actress Song is sent off to prison and the diplomat is recalled to France where his wife divorces him. Several years later Song shows up again and tricks h...

This movie is set in Havana. This movie is about accepting difference and learning to appreciate other points of view and other ways of life. It's not really a movie about gay men. Its about friendship that takes you beyond sexuality. Diego, a gay activist has huge crush on David, a young Communist party member who is very straight. He lures him into going to his apartment for some pictures but nothing materializes. David realizes that Diego is gay and leaves soon. On his room mates insistence that he might find something with Diego which could hep them in communism, David reluctantly go back there. He makes it very clear that he does not want sex and rather just wants to have friendship with him. Diego accepts it. Diego is smart, knows a lot about art and culture, and teaches these things to his friend. The friendship between David and Nancy, one of Diego's friends, grows as well and they make love at the end of the movie. But, Diego is in trouble after sending a letter that r...

This movie started off as an interesting movie but somewhere along it lost steam. There were so many unanswered questions, that I lost grip on the film after a certain time. Top of it, except the fact that Paul , the main guy gay, there was nothing else remotely close to being gay or anything for this movie. SO my review is going to be very short. Paul wants to be rich and famous. In Ny art dealers Mr and Mrs Kittredge get a visit from Paul who claims to be their kids friend from school. He charms them with his mannerisms and everything. The next morning they find him having sex with a guy and they throw him out. Nothing from the house is stolen or taken. hats where they start telling the story to various people in the process finding out some hidden truths about him and how he was doing all this so hat he could just be known and recognized in the high society circle. For me personally they dont even explain why this film was called this because they never give any justification. W...

Ok, so this is not a gay film. Its about lesbian lovers but you would not want to categorize this movie under that genre as well. It can as well be termed as a romantic movie with lesbianism involved. Not that watching lesbians making love is my idea but what the heck, a film is a film is a film. The film starts with Connie and Ellen, a lesbian couple breaking up. Ellen wants to move out because she needs to think and sort out things in her mind. You can instantly make out that she is confused about her bi-sexuality. Joe is a male escort whom Connie hires to meet her family at her sister's wedding since she had promised them that she will have her fiance meeting them (hoping to go with Ellen). Joe and Ellen end up becoming friends after that and come up with the idea of maybe Joe making Ellen fall in love with him, break her heart and so Ellen will come back to Connie. Meanwhile, an acquaintance has gotten out of prison and seeks to put a hurt Joe, blaming him for his prison senten...

'Smukke dreng' ('Pretty Boy') is a film about a 13 year old runaway boy Nick. Rather than living with his mother who has a very active sex life, he decided to run away to live on his own. On his first night he encounters a gang of young men abusing an older guy. After that he gets the old man's name and address and shows up at Ralph's place. Sharing a common interest for stars, they live together for a while till Ralph's wife shows up and he has to move out. The film doesn't show any sexual activity between these 2 guys Nick then starts working for an older guy Max who buys all the stolen stuff that the gang of young men steal and snatch. One time, Max refuses to budge to unacceptable demands of the gang and it results in his arrest for buying stolen goods after the gang reports about it. After this Nick has nowhere to go so he ends up with the gang of young boys. The gang is led by a girl named Rene who poses as a boy.Rene and Nick discover each other s...