Movie Reviews -
Gay Themed

Dirk Shafer was Playgirl magazine’s Man of the Year in 1992, finding himself at the centre of attention from magazine readers as the most appealing centrefold to appear in the publication in years. What most people didn't know that he is gay and had a boyfriend back home. Dirk Shafer uses this premise with a mix of facts and fiction, re-creating that scenario, events pre and post that and uses this to act and direct playing himself in this enjoyable and funny mockumentary. Dirk Shafer, playing himself, introduces us to a little bot about his childhood and how he had always wanted to be in showbiz. He managed to feature as centerfold piece in the Playgirl magazine in 1992. But when after the result of online polls, he also ends up becoming Man of The year, he is now struggling to reconcile his public persona as a sex symbol to women with his identity as a gay man. As the year goes on, Dirk finds himself being interviewed by every talk show host on TV and one minor screw up could cos...

This BBC film about the ups and downs of a gay relationship where one of them is suffering from HIV, this one had a promising script and good actors, but it could use some serious rewriting when it comes to screenplay. At various points the films just drags on and you find yourself starting to lose whatever little interest was created in the first place. An American man Ira lives in London with his partner of many years Tom. His illness is almost the stage of AIDS and of late Tom has become erratic with signs of dementia. Ira is trying his best to cope up with Tom and his changing moods. In one such manic state, Tom decides to visit his estranged family back in Glasgow with whom he hasn't talked in 10 years. His family, with their reservations, try to house him for few days despite his older brother and his family totally despising him. The visit soon develops into a nightmare as dementia sets in and Tom's health rapidly declines. His brother calls Ira who takes him back to Lon...

Never underestimate the capacity of opposites to attract. This is the sort of message that the makers are trying to give in this film. Consisting of just two lead actors, this film takes art film to another level. You have to be really really really patient to get through this one. Harry is a young gay man, prowling gay bars and London streets but somehow doesn't fit there. He has a huge birthmark on his face in the shape of Madagascar. He flees from there and seats himself at a beach living in some abandoned car. By pure. Luck he meets an older man Flint, whom he discovered on the beach, who is neck deep buried in the sand. Flint takes Harry to an abandoned shack where Harry nurses Flint back to health and the two slowly become acquainted. As Flint fantasizes aloud about a woman in a bikini, Harry has his own sexual daydreams about his companion. And Brandon events happen which make absolutely no sense, until, one night, out of the blue, Flint makes a sexual proposition to Harry. ...

Why? Why? Why? Why do makers make such offerings and torture audiences like us. Its almost embarrassing to admit having seen crap like this and spending anyone's precious time in ludicrous crap like this. I am really not sure if this was documentary, mockumentray or an actual drama film! I feel it was like a biographic mocku-drama. Bruce is a  washed-up gay porn star whose story is being exploited by an ambitious indie lesbian filmmaker called Googie. The film is a collage of Googie and Bruce's old films, Googie's current footage of Bruce and interviews with Bruce's former co-stars and lovers. They're all a pretty vain and hopeless bunch and the conversations are really not going anywhere. Also glimpsed are Bruce’s alleged earlier porn epics, which are graphic. Basically the film is almost an hour and half long confrontation between the two characters.  This was an absolute waste of time and efforts. I have read online that how some people actually thought that the ...

A Canadian English film with a French title? I am not sure of the reason behind it, but oh well, such is life. The film is not purely a queer themed film, but since one of the two characters is gay, it qualifies in my rules to be reviewed here. The story is about two friends and a couple of others 30-something youngsters in Canada trying to get a grip on their sexuality and place in the world. David, a 30ish gay man is waiter by profession. He was a child actor but has totally given up on it. He spends most of his nights in different clubs looking for casual hookups. He spends most of the time with the 18 year old busboy who works with him and is clearly has hots for him. David's roommate is Candy, straight girl, book reviewer and David's ex-lover from another life time. She still years for David and feels no man is good enough for her. She experiments with a lesbian Jerry who completely falls for her while also flirting with a bartender who angers Candy when he doesn’t want to...

I can see this movie being a talking point way back when it came out in 1995. But so much has evolved since then in stories, story-telling and overall cinema that it is hard to sustain interests of today's audience. This film explores the underground, less explored territories of desire in its darker manifestations and hence makes for an uncomfortable watch. Also the events sometimes don't feel linear. The film constantly goes back n forth between present and past and makes it difficult to keep a track. Dennis is big time into S&M. He is on this path between what is real and what we can only hope is surreal. We get to follow his journey that he has written to his friend and former lover Julian and his younger brother Kevin, an object of desire to Dennis. We are told how as a teenager he is drawn to the extremes of porn and sex via a bookstore owner Henry. When he hears that Henry has been the victim of a grisly murder, Dennis fantasizes carrying out increasingly elabor...

A very interesting film that chronicles adolescent emotional questions and longing. What is youthful love all all about? Do you really know what you want, what you like, who do you long for, any gay desires and other issues; these are all pretty universal questions that most teenagers find themselves going through. So in that respect, this film is not completely a gay themed film but touches upon the subject as the prime narrative very strongly and hence definitely deserves a mention on my blog. Ito and Yoshida are close friends but Yoshida is completely unaware of the huge crush that Ito has on him. When a new girl Aihara joins their class, she somehow gets a pang of Ito’s fascination for Yoshida. Initially she taunts him but slowly the two of them become friends, especially given that they are both being treated by same psychiatrist (Ito’s father finds out he is gay and wants him treated And we later find that Aihara was raped in her previous school). Ito is constantly ridiculed...

Everyone involved in gay rights movement or remotely interested in it is very familiar with the stonewall story in NYC. Everyone who lived through that time has their own story to tell and this film just focuses on one such story. It is by no means a true story but is a story told by point of view of 'La Miranda', a fictional drag queen. How she, her drag friends, her love and others got through the Stonewall days. La Miranda is a drag queen who goes through the torture of police once in while in the Stonewall bar. She meets Matty Dean, who has just arrived in NYC. He is somewhat naive and very young. They embark upon a friendship which soon turns into love. Matty Dean comes with enthusiasm to do something for gay rights and to make a difference but he feels uneasy about the way things are. He befriends another man who enlightens him about rallies and a peaceful march to Philadelphia. When Matty Dean has some issues with La Miranda because he wants to focus on making a cha...

This is no great cinema by any means but it is not bad either. It may show stereotypes in certain cases or incidents but the film still manages to hold your attention and you want to know what will happen next in the lives of these 4 men. It is true that a gay man's family is his friends, and this films shows the bonding that these men share with each other. The film shows lives of 4 very successful people who are close friends with each other and spend a lot of time together. Vittorio is a successful architect who is madly in love with Alex, one of his employees. Tony is into garment business and his mom lives with him. Dado is a doctor and lastly we have Sandro, a film producer who realized late in life about his sexuality. He is divorced and also has a son. They also have their fag hag Simonetta who is obsessed with beauty treatment. The film follows the love-hate relationship between these 4 men and also about potential lovers in their life and how ultimately everything ends. A...

This was an alright film. Its again not right to put this film as a gay film but what the hell, it at least gives me a chance to write about something. A film which has Javier Bardem is worth writing about anyways. A struggling actor Victor Ventura waiting for his break. In the interim he works at a phone sex line. A man named Bill is his regular client who is closeted doctor and married and Victor pretends to be gay. One night Victor decides to meet one of his female callers named Amanda and has a night of passion. As it turns out Amanda says she is married to Bill but Victor thinks he loves her. She asks him to help set up Bill for their divorce and he agrees. The plan is for Victor to seduce Bill into meeting him privately so that when they are alone, some pictures can be taken and divorce would be easy. When Victor and Bill are alone a hitman tries to kill them and it turns out that Amanda is not married to Bill. Both had been set up. And the persn behind all this is Bill's re...

A classic case of getting deceived by the dvd cover. The cover shows a beefy black torso and no one in the film is remotely close to that. Its sad that this is how the marketing of gay films has to be done. Seth is a youth with artistic leanings, a fascination with Black pop culture, and a dead-end life in an Adirondack village. He's alternatively sensitive and brutal with Kristen, who wants a sexual relationship that he explosively rejects. Late one night, as he's closing the cafe where he works, a young Black man attempts to rob him at gun point but faints from illness. Seth takes the man, Knowledge, an escapee from a nearby prison, to a family cabin where he nurses him and they begin a tentative friendship. Knowledge sees his only hope for survival as an outlaw being an escape across the Canadian border and the two plan for this adventure, Seth suffering setbacks from a town turned against him, and it is in the escape attempt that the tragedies occur that leave the story wi...

I still cannot stop laughing just thinking about this movie. A couple of my friends had wanted me to see this movie for a while and am I glad or what that I saw this with my close friends. It was so funny in all different aspects that no gay can ever not like this movie. Vida and Noxeema are winners of drag queen beauty contest and have to travel to LA for the nationwide drag queen contest. They take with them the wanna-be drag Latin princess Chi-Chi. The riot starts right here. After a few days into their journey , they end up in a small town in middle of nowhere. The film from thereon just focuses on how these 3 queens end up changing things in the small town with their wits, positive energy, color and humor and make everyone's life beautiful. I know story wise it doesn't seem to much exciting but you have to see the movie to believe it. Its hilarious. The 3 actors have acted so wonderful. My favorite was Noxeema. Dialogues like "Did you just take a U-ie", "Lit...