Movie Reviews -
Gay Themed

Released back in 2001, this documentary follows the life of Robert Eads, a fifty years old trans-man living in Toccoa, a small rural community in Northern Georgia. Diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 1996 he seeks help from dozens of doctors, but each one of them refuses to operate on a transgender person as they are afraid it would negatively impact the reputation of their clinic, thus condemning him. The film recounts the last months of Robert’s life and shows the sometimes harsh reality of transgender people living in the rural world, and how they are fighting discrimination. It also deals with the intricacies of the social community that the main character, Robert Eads, has surrounded himself with since transitioning from female to male, details the romantic attachment that Robert has formed with his girlfriend Lola Cola near the end of his life, and examines the dynamics between Robert and his genetic family. The film takes its name from the “Southern Comfort Conference” held every y...

I really don't know why I watched this film. More so, why was this film even made! I have no idea what to make of this movie. Should I think of it intellectually as a modern, messed fairytale, or some weird allegory for a degradation in society that fears losing all that it holds dear... No, I think this is just poor cinema, with no sets... little plot that makes any sense, and characters that you can't even remotely care about! DJ Sabu's overactive libido leads him into teenaged pregnancy. His mythic quest for two thousand boys ends with Happy, a paranoid UFO-ologist to whom aliens promise to appear (as his love child). Spanky is an evil hairdresser trying to foil Sabu's mission, he is the self-proclaimed 'biggest bitch in the world.' The action unfolds at a series of raves on old garbage hill in an industrial Antonioni landscape peopled with characters right out of vintage John Waters I will be honest that I have copied the synopsis of this film from imdb. Hav...

This documentary is an attempt to show us the hidden lives of gay and lesbian Orthodox and Hasidic Jews. Built around intimately-told personal stories of a few subjects, mostly in New York community, including some respected Rabbi's, the film portrays a group of people who face a profound dilemma - how to reconcile their passionate love of Judaism and the Divine with the drastic Biblical prohibitions that forbids homosexuality. The idea is to examine the soul-shattering torment suffered by gays and lesbians hoping to reconcile their sexuality with their Orthodox beliefs. David, a Los Angeles resident, confesses that he has gone through a rigorous diet of figs and an aversion therapy program designed to help him change his sexual orientation from gay to straight. He regularly prays and just can't believe that the tradition he loves has excluded him. "Devrah," a lesbian who lives in Israel with her husband, shares some of the pain and loneliness she carries in her marri...

Its a shame to see when the intentions behind a film are decent but the execution is so amateurish and bad, you can't help but laugh. This film is, in a few very cases, a story about how some gay men can come together and help each other in time of need with work, emotions and love and make each other a better person. Sadly, only if the intentions translated in the right way. A young boy Johny has just been released from a juvenile facility and now wants to turn around his life. He is on his way to Oylmpia, and manages to get a job in a restaurant since he doesn't want to sell his body. Soon he meet Joel, a guy who works helping gay men who are assaulted for some other case that happened in the restaurant. They soon get into a platonic relationship because Joel never forces himself on Johny understanding very well that he has a troubled past. In parallel we have another story of two fo Joel's friends: a young wealthy college student and his 40 something politician lover. Th...

Dustin Lance Black is now a very famous name thanks to the 2008 film Milk that he wrote. Its a shame that I didn't realize this documentary was actually directed by him ay back in 2001. But anyway, I should still try to put my thoughts independent of that fact. 'On The Bus' was originally commissioned as a reality show by a TV entertainment network which later was closed, so Lance, who was now stuck with the footage decided to convert this to an indie documentary feature. The documentary is about 6 different young gay men traveling in a bus from California to Burning Man, a festival known to us all as the festival of radical self-expression. Of course Lance is the lead director along with his producer and they put together. Steam of guys to go on a journey with them. We have a very cute 19 year old Jason who is a porn actor; a waiter cum actor names Charles and Jimmy, a hunky Swedish national. And we have an average looking Damon, whom Lance hopes to balance things. Once on...

We all know that a mother will go to any extent to protect her kids from adversity. Here. To protect her son's future and blackmail video of him being gay, she will do things to protect her family, battings will go out of control. The film starts with Margaret visiting Darby, club owner, who is having an affair with her 17 year old son Beau, to warn him to stay away from her son. She finds this out because her son was in an accident earlier with a drunk Beau on his side. But evil Darby and Beau in his spell. He meets Beau near his place at night but ends up attacking him. When Beau is running away, Darby slips and dies unknown to Beau. The next morning Margaret finds the body and thinks her son did something, so she dumps the body in the cove in river. Unfortunately police finds the body. Around same time, a young man Alec visits Margaret and shows him a video of Darby and Beau having sex and demands 50k USD and gives her a day. He tries her level best, while keeping her family tog...

This 2001 documentary chronicles the life of one of the "forgotten" stars of Hollywood's Golden Age, William Haines, who sacrificed his Hollywood fame when he refused to end his relationship with another man. The story starts with his childhood and how he was always charming and witty and people would always love to meet him and hang out with him. Between 1926-35, he was an affable young leading man in the silent films with cocky charm and a self-depreciating comic touch. He enjoyed many hits. This was after he spent considerable time in NY with hippies and gay/drag culture and being noticed by an agent. His career went for a downfall after a series of bad choices including very openly 'sissy' characters. Soon rumors started and he was given an ultimatum by MGM that either he gets married or his contracted will end. Haines, who had a boyfriend of many years refused to do so and eventually lost the contract, never to star in any film ever again. But his close frien...

OMG! This film made absolutely no sense to me at all. It was slow and very hard to follow. Half the time, I had to really focus heard to understand what was it that the makers are even trying to say. The film too forever to come to the point. A Manhattan-based filmmaker returns to Hong Kong for the purpose of documenting the opening of a new Disney theme park in Hong Kong, but instead finds himself mining his own displacement as a queer expatriate. In the process he meets a deceptively controlled gay dancer and an isolated shop girl who are drawn to his questioning nostalgia for a country that may never have been. Eventually, the trio goes on an expedition to Macau to find out whether the filmmaker's father helped launder Nazi gold during World War II.  There are so many issues being covered in the film, without making them explicit that I am not even sure which one WAS the main plot. There are lots of freeze frame and slow motion and random bath house visits. Had the film only foc...

A love story that transgresses time and death in order to explore various individual resistances and social restrictions that affect gay relationships, this Korean film was remade in Thai as 'Dew' years later and I have reviewed that here . Call it time lapse or better technology or better grasp of the subject, I feel both in terms of storyline and treatment, the Thai version was better, not that it great by any means. The sexuality bits are slightly changed.  The year is 1983 and normally shy boy In-woo accidentally meets a girl Tae-hee and they both madly fall in love with each other. Despite their shy nature, they both know that they are soulmates and decide to be together forever. However, later we are told that Tae-hee died in a very tragic accident. 17 years later now, In-woo joins a school as a Maths teacher. He is happily married now with a daughter. Because of his kindness and sincerity, he soon gets a good reputation among his students. But every time he sees one of h...

There are a lot of tragic love stories but not many come to mind in the LGBT context. Yes, you will see a lot of queer themed films which have a sad ending, but either they were not really romantic in the first place or the tragedy didn't hit the audience like it does in this film. Apparently, this movie was filmed in Beijing without government permission and is based on a novel published anonymously on the Internet in 1997. Lan Yu is an architecture student and is desperately in need of money. Someone who knows him suggest prostitution for one night, and Lan Yu is introduced to Handong, who is a successful businessman and international trader. They spend the night together and Lan Yu starts feeling emotionally attached to Handong, for whom this was just another sexual night. They meet a couple more times and Handong showers Lan Yu with expensive gifts and money. ONe night when Lan Yu finds handong wit another young man, he is heart broken and he leaves. Handong does reconnect wit ...

Whenever I see movies like this, I do question myself, why do I waste my time on so many bad gay films. And the answer is always the same. I need to review all queer cinema that I possibly get my hands on and review them. Hopefully not many others will have to waste their time like me, if they could read my views and thoughts on a particular film. A cute high schooler Dale has come to baby-sit 7 year old Dustine, whose mother Darlene is in the middle of a divorce and man-hunting. She doesn't leave any opportunity to flirt with Dale, despite knowing he is gay. Dale has a huge crush on Raymond who is the high school wrestling team captain. Dale invites him to this home hoping to seduce him with vodka but is completely snubbed and he leaves. While hanging out with Dustine, his best friend Violet walks in scared. She has accidentally incinerated a truck that rear-ended her car and she ran away assuming that the driver has also burned. After deliberation, the trio decide to go chec...

Some of My Best Friends (a terrible name)was an American sitcom shown on CBS shown in 2011. The series was inspired by the film Kiss Me, Guido. The show was cancelled after season 1. Its a shame that it was cancelled because guess what, despite full of stereotypes and caricaturing every character, this is still funny. I personally would have been very interested in watching what happens next but I guess we will never find out. Warren is a gay man living in Manhattan. When his bf leaves him, he needs to find a room mate to pay bills. Italian guy Frankie replies to his ad for GWM looking for roommate thinking that it means ‘uy with money’ instead of ‘Gay while male’. The two end up sharing an apartment, alternately clashing and learning to respect each other. They are surrounded by an assortment of secondary characters who are all hilariously funny. Frankie’s pushy mother, his browbeaten father, his dumb straight best friend. Then we have Warren’s sister and his closets gay friend a...

There are not many films that talk about homosexuality and Islam in the same breath. Personally, this is a topic that interests me and when I encounter a subject that deals with these 2 together, i usually go for it, hoping I will uncover something meaningful and interesting. Sadly, this really low budget french film does not do the trick. Karim, a sociology student in Paris is of Algerian origin. He is making a video documentary on homosexual relationships in Islamic cultures, and is having troubles finding subjects to interview. Most of his time, he spends with his girlfriend. After a few bad meetings, Karim encounters Farid, a gay, well-adjusted, quietly seductive handsome Algerian lad who not only agrees to be interviewed, but also finds ways to assist Karim with his project. Slowly spending time with Farid and spending time travelling in northern /Arabic part of Africa, Karim finally comes to explore and accept his own sexuality. The story of the film sounds very interestin...

I still don't know why the film's title is so. I thought that they were probably the names of the characters but it wasn't it. Another interesting tidbit is that this film was actually nominated for oscars, which I was quite surprised when I found that out. This film is about feelings and true love. The film has a soap like story line but it is funny, loving and totally watchable. The film is about Nino and his 3 sisters. Nino is gay and the sisters are shocked when they find out suddenly that Nino is marrying a girl in 3 weeks. It turns out that as per his father's will, he can only inherit the property, a lavish hotel on a beach in POrtugal, only if he marries. He needs money and so he is marrying. The 3 sisters are mad because now this means they would not get the money. The three of them gang up together to figure out how to tell Nino's fiancé Bo all about this and get them to not marry. This is where the fun begins. All three sisters have their own issues...

This is a movie about the people who live on the outskirts of society. Isolated and frequently shunned by the rest of the world, trans-gender and transsexual people form their own family circle. That fragile little support system is shattered to pieces by the serial killer that targets members of their sisterhood. So far so good- but that's when the problems with this movie start. Transsexual Bo works as an entertainer in a drag club in Brussels. His best friend is Maeva, who performs with him. There is a serial killer and the prostitutes are falling prey to him who disfigures each of his victims in a vicious way. Bo, we learn, left home at age 13, unable to cope with sexual molestation from his father and the suicide of his mother, and lives quietly in a humble apartment. Her interest is peaked when a handsome young Johnny moves in next door and she fantasizes an affair with him. While Johnny appears to be infatuated with Bo, he has his dark side, living with a roommate with ...

My expectations out of this movie was not huge but I was hoping that in addition to making some viewers aware of what the whole "circuit" scene is gay community is like, the film will also have a string story and an equally string message to give to the viewers. Alas, my expectations were not met even though they were set low. John, is a cop, who is forced to move to LA because no one wants to work with him in his small community. There he meets Hector, who is hustler and slowly they start a friendship which slowly leads John into the circuit party scene of LA. John also has friends Gill, with whom he ultimately gets romantic with and Gill's ex-boyfriend who is making a documentary film on how people in the gay community are dying because of drug abuse specially in the circuit parties. His documentary primarily focuses on Bobby, who has been the heart of circuit parties for a few years and is now diagnosed with HIV. The film primarily focuses on how John gets lured into ...

This film is a gentle, wise and a beautifully performed story of love in its many facets--gay, straight, parental, friendship--with particular emphasis on exploring the continuum from hetero to homosexuality. With a touch of comedy here and there, this film is a sweetly believable story of four people whose connections withstand surprising complications. One other important thing in this film is the interesting take on the Dominican community in Spain and how their world and desires rise and fall in dream city Madrid. Unsure of his sexuality, Marcos leaves village to come toMadrid to work for his uncle in a cafe. On his first day itself, he meets a young Dominican girl Marisol, who for some reasons falls completely in love with Marcos but he doesn't even notice her. He meets Daniel, a struggling actor who also falls for Marcos but this time Marcos reciprocates. They start having a relationship, even though they clearly have very different tastes in everyday events of life.Daniel...

This movie is a hilarious take on how people's lives can take a turn just by saying a simple lie. It can save your job, bring back happiness in your life and make other things also better. Revolving around a humble accountant François, whose only crime is that he is very boring, the film deals with sexual issues without being over the top comedy. It is very subdued. François finds out that lay offs are going to happen in the office and he will be laid off soon. He has already been deserted by his wife and his teenage son and now scared that he will loose his job as well, he is sharing his dilemma with his neighbor who suggests that he should pretend to be gay to save his job because the company will not want to be sued for discrimination. François emergence from the closet has an effect on a number of people. Suddenly his co-workers find him amusing and talk to him. His company now wants him to march in gay pride in for their company's benefit. His son suddenly starts liking h...

This film very intelligently focuses on issues of intimacy and finding ways to communicate. There is the usual arguing, fighting bitching and everything else between the characters of this film but on listening carefully, you will realize that this is all so realistic. This is how people in a normal life communicate with each other. There is nothing filmy about that.  The film is kind of 2 parallel stories. Eli and Tom are set up for a blind date by their friends Jackie and Brett who met each other in a furniture store. The date which starts off as very boring becomes lively when they start discussing movies and specially 'In & Out'. A few days later they run into each other at a flea market and hit it off, winding up back at Eli's place where Tom spends the night. The next morning Tom says that it was a mistake. Jackie and Brett decide to try again to set them up, and the two men start to develop a relationship. Tom's fear of becoming emotionally close coupled with...

The best thing about this film is that it is only some 50 odd minutes. The film set in a old factory in France for some reasons makes it for a delightful watching. I still cant figure out why I liked watching this film because there was nothing extraordinary about it, in fact it moves at a very slow pace. I hope by the time I finish writing this piece, I might have a better idea. An old factory is going to close soon in France. A worker Jacques arrives in the factory which now has only a handful (5-6 to be precise) who know that in a week's time they wont have a job. Jacques is supposed to dismantle the machines and pack them so that they can leave the next week. All the workers share a special bonding with each other. Jacques experiences an alluring instant attraction to his boss Donand. He doesn't know what to do about it. An old guy in the worker group Guiraudie figures out that this worker likes men and tells him that he cannot get Donand but Jacques is really attracted a...