Movie Reviews -
Gay Themed

Watching films from almost 15 years back feels so nostalgic. The time that were, the kind of independent films that were made with minimal budget and production and sometimes very amateurish acting and direction. They used to be a good mix. This film, even though had its heart in the right place and must have been ok watching when it came out, felt very jaded watching it now. A young boy Darren arrives who arrives in Toronto seeking a new life. Running out of money, and with nowhere to live, he quickly is befriended by a group of rent boys with whom he had locked eyes a few times during last few days. The give him shelter and food while he figures out next steps. The group has Alex, another young boy very dependent on drugs, hallucinates in sleep and someone who feels like a problem child. His boyfriend is Steve, mature of the two, loves Alex and genuinely takes care of him. And then you have the big guy who makes sure everyone does enough "work" to have fodder" He tries...

Sometimes some shows are so bad, that you cant stop watching them. The third and hopefully final season of this French amateurish show falls in that category. Things continue to happen haphazardly but it's ok since you probably already saw the first two seasons and your expectations are set accordingly. This season has 10 episodes averaging to about 7-8 minutes and a longer season finale. Season 2 had ended with Maykel proposing to Johaness, and this season is all about their wedding preparation. While they are busy with planning for wedding, they have another idea, what if they had a baby. Characters from previous two seasons keep re-entering the show. They ask one of their friends to be a surrogate and she agrees. Meanwhile another friend of theirs decides to become there wedding planner and helps them with all the arrangements and planning. The couple is excited and everyone is doing their thing, until in a shocking event the girl ends up losing the baby in the third month. Time...

The Sons of Tennessee Williams, tells the story of the gay men of New Orleans who created a vast and fantastic culture of wildly popular 'drag balls' starting in the late 1950s. These men worked with the traditions of Mardi Gras to bring gay culture into public settings in the early 1960s. By 1969, there were four gay Mardi Gras clubs legally chartered by the state of Louisiana, throwing yearly extravaganzas at civic venues around the city. 'Society matrons begged for ball tickets from their hairdressers'. They succeeded in bringing down the 'Jim Crow' type laws that targeted gay people during this period, staging a flamboyant, costumed revolution without politics and won freedoms during a time, as now, when laws and people fought against them. The documentary juxtaposes archival ball footage with straightforward interviews with the now elderly queens of yore, some of whom, we learn, had fathers who cheered when Kennedy was assassinated. They reminisce about the...

This was such a bizarre film. Certainly, you have to celebrate the film for being what it wants to be – it depicts a living, thriving gay subculture in terms of gay bars (even casual encounters in the bathroom), a gay porn industry and rent boys as a perfect norm; but there has to be something in a film to look forward to. Besides some very raunchy sex scenes, this film makes little to no sense at all. The story is just too monotonous and redundant to become anything but a huge letdown. A beautiful young male escort, Paul, suffers from trip-like dreams he doesn't understand. These visions are shared by his clients, both scaring and exciting them. Paul is searching for his twin brother, whom he hasn't seen since childhood. At the same time, Paul meets Baxter, a producer of gay pornographic films who yearns to be able to make something artistic. Baxter is taken by Paul’s beauty and wants to make him the focus of his new film. As Paul thinks about Baxter’s offer, his pursuit of th...

Many people knew Leslie Jordan thanks to his its bitty roles, but most popular of it being the Beverly Leslie character in Will and Grace. His popularity went sky rocket during the pandemic thanks to his short videos he posted constantly and his followers grew exponentially. But few months back , he unexpectedly died in an accident, leaving a void Beijing in the gay comedy scene. So, this was a good time to remember Leslie recounts the trials of being a gay, southern man with aspirations of entering show business, with his signature southern drawl and self-deprecating humor back in 2010. This one man show happened in midtown theatre, Jordan dishes out hilarious memories of growing up gay in the South and as an emerging actor in 1980s Hollywood. The stories keep coming. His theme is that of a hopelessly immature, politically incorrect lover looking for respect. He is, he claims, "a high school cheerleader stuck in a 55-year-old body." He takes every opportunity to regale the a...

A coming of age gay story, this film is as much a comedy as it is drama. With a fantastic soundtrack, some great comic elements within the dynamics of an immigrant family drama, great pacing; this is a realistic depiction of the confusion and heartache family restrictions and expectations can place upon young people. I saw this film almost 10 years ago and remember liking it but somehow missed reviewing it here on my site, so it was time again to revisit it and pen down my thoughts. Sasha, is a closet gay teenager of Montenegrin-German origin who returns from holiday in Montenegro back to Germany only to find that his Piano teacher, Gebhard is moving to Vienna to take a teaching position which break's Sasha's heart, since he has a massive crush on Gebhard. His best girl friend Jiao, of Chinese origin is in love with him and when Sasha tells her he has gay and how Gebhard is moving away, she gets a shock too. In the mix we have Sasha's younger brother who has a massive crush...

This film is supposed to be a satire on the dark reality permeating the gay indie movie industry in Manila. While I do appreciate the idea and topic, the execution sadly was dull with some really bad editing and overall the product comes out as amateurish, despite having an idea that could have done extremely well in good hands. Leonardo David is a famous movie director whose career has started to slump. Swallowing his pride, he accepts an offer to make a sexy gay indie movie-the latest box office trend in Manila. He starts auditing for the lead man to play this role. His ex-boyfriend, who left him begs him for a roe but the director declines. He starts auditioning young handsome boys telling them that they will have to be naked in the film. Two candidates really catch his attention. First one is really poor who tells the director stories about how he prostitutes himself and how sis sisters makes him sleep with other men for money and how he desperately needs the role. But he likes the...

I am not sure what this show is all about, but I got to watch this 7 episode tidbit where this psychologist has been doing sessions with a 16 year old gay teenager and a wannabe photographer.The whole series is full on dialogues covering Jesses being caught peddling drugs, talking about his troubling 'pattern of promiscuity,' his unsettled family life, and a recent alarming voicemail. Jesse, 16 year old, is one troubled kid. He cuts school, goes to bar, has somewhat of a regular thing with a gay couple because he likes being used, sells his sleeping pills, had ADHD, curses at his shrink and overall a very difficult kid. To make matters interesting, he is an adopted kid who doesn't' get along well with his mother at all and has recently been contacted by her birth mother and then by the birth father causing all kinds of emotional upheavals in his already turbulent life. Jesse and the therapist have an interesting dynamic. Their relationship feels more like angry-father t...

This is really a very silly campy film which is not to be taken seriously at all. Now depending on your tolerance level of what kind of comedies you are able to digest, I think whether you like this film or not is going to be very personal. Think of it as over the top, silly, forced humor, politically incorrect for queers. But I feel the idea was to just go out all , make a campy film and see if the audiences laugh. Captain Muengman finds out on his wedding night that his wife is actually a lady boy who ends up taking his virginity that night and leaves him. He is now assigned to take on a very special mission. On a banana cruise ship habited by many other ladyboys with their leader Golden Flower. Golden Flower wants to kill all men and women in the world so that it can be ruled by queers. To accomplish this mission, Captain Muengman need to aboard the ship which can identify of you are queer or not. So in order to complete the mission Captain Muengman and his navy team must disguise t...

A wonderful documentary about gay men and their fascination and pursuit for the perfect physical body. Sure the documentary came almost 12 years ago, but guess what, thing haven't changes much. In fact, if anything, they have gotten worse. I mean, no one, and absolutely no one talked about pretty face or good nature or human emotion, it is al about body , body , body. The makers take us through interviews of some heavily buffed men, who unapologetically admit to being very subtracted to muscular men and hot men. They make it quite clear that a hot body can get them more friends, more sex and more attention. Most of them agreed that they know its superficial but they all enjoyed it. Some of them recount their experiences of not being given a second look, till they decide to take matters in their hand, get all buffed up and viola, suddenly they are being invited to parties, and orgies and friends. Sadly, I am not sure why the documentary film makers did not use this as an opportunity...

What a painfully whimsical film and a sheer waste of 90 minutes o fly life. Granted I had to fast forward it on so many levels, but that cannot take away from the fact that this is utter garbage in the name o film making and everything that comes with it. Its not really a gay movie per say, but it is a story of three individuals, who for some reason are spending their time in the forest during which the two men also find some attraction towards each other. Two boys and a girl are trying to become one with nature. They spent all of their time in the woods. There they give free rein to their sexuality, get to know joy and pain, and lick each other's wounds. They walk around, barely speaking a word, do random things and have sex with each other. And that's it. There is nothing more to this film. So anyone who says that the film makers here is trying to give shape to an intense symphony of sensations and desires through his leads is utter nonsense. I mean, how can anyone in their r...

Documentaries are always a hot or miss. The makers really need to pick a subject that's interesting and edit in such a way that it has a story to tell, rather than random anecdotes that just fill the duration of a documentary. Sadly, this documentary falls in the latter category. I am personally not sure of the implications of the contributions this individual has had on the whole gay liberation and movement, but this documentary definitely fails to do justice to his story. April 21, 2010, Jean Le Bitoux, a major figure of homosexual activism in France, died after dedicating his entire life to the freedom of love beyond all genders. Le Gai Tapant takes us on the incredible journey of this erudite, funny and spirited fighter. Both a player and witness of many decades of struggle, Jean tells us his story of a man integral to the evolution of the gay movement in France. From his childhood in Bordeaux, to the creation of Gai Pied magazine, and including his support of the FHAR (Front H...

There aren't many gay themed thrillers, let alone good ones. I was looking forward to this film given the genre, but I have to say that this was overall a disappointment. Actually calling it psychological thriller maybe better where the two protagonists happen to be gay. There is no specific gay angle otherwise played out here. Grady is a failed actor. Bipolar and is now running a lodge in middle o nowhere making him desolate and lonely. He is looking forward to a weekend where his friends are coming over including his boyfriend.  We meet a young boy Beetle, a drifter, whom Grady buys pot from. Grady hires him for the weekend at the lodge to help him with stuff. But Beetle has his own agenda. We then meet a straight couple, who are Grady's friends and the girl used to be Grady's agent and also Andy, who we later find out is actually here to break up with Grady unlike what Grady thought of getting married. Soon we realize that Beetle starts to play his small little mind game...

A self indulgent relationship drama is the best way to describe this film (if you can call it that). I am sure casting a famous gay porn star was an idea to create more hype and visibility to the product than anything else. Having said that, actually the lead is not bad at all. But when the film itself has no merit to speak of, what can actors do. Emmanuel is a hustler and live in lover of Omar in Paris. He has brutal sex with Omar before he is about to leave for a week for work, which angers Omar and asks him to clear out the home before he comes back. Omar leaves with his director friend and then we viewers are subjected to long scenes about her film making process, lecturing students and QnA sessions. Omar has a fling with a student while out and meanwhile Emmanuel has sex with men desperately looking for cash. He creates a painting on the walls of the apartment, an ode to Omar before he leaves him for good. Had the film just focussed on the relationship between two men, it still co...

A campy, revenge drama with a lot of comic elements and gags filled by transsexuals and with a title like this, you expect a lot of fun to unfold, which happens to a small extent, but not completely. To be honest, I am not sure of this movie is supposed to be a spoof on the gore-murder-revenge genre or is truly a reflection of hate crimes that happen with trans people. Bubbles, along with her 4 her trans friends work at a drag club where their queen mother takes care of them. One night, three of them are invites for a night rendezvous by three guys, which soon turns ugly because one of them was not too happy about hooking up with Bubbles to find out she is trans. In an ugly spat, two of them end up dead, while Bubbles goes into coma. With the help of her friend Rachel, fellow drag queen, and the drag queen mother, the three of them decide to take revenge. The three of them manage to capture all three men finally. Making them unconscious, the three women place switchblade knives in the ...

A film about making of a gay film. Sounds so interesting, isn't it? I was really looking forward to seeing this Filipino film. I didn't realize that this film came out almost 10 years back. The film tries to show the struggles of making such a film and the extent that some actors would go to get opportunities and realize their dream. Young Samuel is from a very low income family and is a struggling actor. He dreams of making it big some day. One day he goes for an audition, which turns out is for an erotic gay love story which will involve intimate scenes and kisses and nudity. The man is desperate, so, of course, he is ready to do anything. The director of this film is Wilfredo, a struggling filmmaker who stakes everything on their film in the making and like Samuel also hopes for the best. With much struggle they are able to complete the film but their hopes come crashing down when the Board of Censors gives an X-Rating to the film, which means that it is banned from being sh...

This has got to be one of the weirdest plots and movies I have ever seen , if not THE weirdest. Science fiction meets gay incest story meets porn. I would not buy the argument that this may have some cultural references, because this film is pure utter nonsense and disgust (personally for me). In the Kanba household, the grandfather Koichi lives with his son Shusaku and his three boys. Shusaku’s wife reacts in horror after discovering him having sex with his father. Shusaku is a biologist and explains to her that his father is the carrier of a so-far undiscovered virus that has infected the rest of them and made them want to have sex with only the grandfather. Soon, incest is the norm, with everyone getting a piece of grandpa, especially the men. Well, everyone but the third son, who prefers to cruise for guys outside. At the same time, the virus also prevents any of them from growing any older. After she leaves, the men takes turns having sex with the grandfather. And this whole thing...

The fourth film in the series is quite different from the first three. This time the focus is not Takumi and Gii but instead we see how the relationship developed between Misu Arata (Takumi's room mate in third year) and Shingyouji Kanemitsu, his boy friend. We see their past, how they met, love blossomed and where they are today. Shingyouji comes to the boarding school for the entrance exam where he sees Misu and it seem that at least for him was love at first sight. He desperately wants to come to this school because entering at that college meant he could be away from his family issues at home. After he started his first year of high school he was like a puppy for Misu, following him around and always doing what Misu said all the time, including many times being snubbed and ignored by Misu. Things change when Sagara Takahiro appears again in their life two years later, he was Misu's friend couple of years back and seems like wants to be Misu's love. Shingyouji is now tir...

The third film in the series continues with the boy love tale of Gii and Takumi with romance, friendship and all that angst that comes with it in an all boys school. This came just one year after the second film and the leads actors continued to reprise their respective roles. A new school year begins and everyone comes back after the break but this year something changes. How will Takumi survive this? Talking on phone, the loving couple Gii and Takumi are both looking forward to spending third year together. Gii is now a dorm leader and gets a separate room. Through his friend Takumi finds out that there has been much change in Gii's appearance and behavior. Takumi is shocked since Giii hasn't even bothered to meet him yet. On top of that, when Takumi gets Misu as his room mate, who has been in a longstanding cold war with Gii since first year, worries Takumi even more. This prompts Takumi to confront his boyfriend only find out that the once affectionate Gii has turned aloof ...

The era of random mind numbing films continue. This film is yet another unbearable 94-minutes of non-plot, non-acting, non-scripted tedium which was probably filmed on video over five days in a caravan park. To be honest there is not a whole lot to review here from either story of anything else point of view. The story is simple. Ashley is a young hot man, but with a childlike mind. Escaping from his abusive mother, he comes to live with his uncle David. Ashley enters into a sexual relationship with his uncle who offers his insights into the world and the nature of reality. He gives him random lectures on on consumerism and heteronormatism. Eventually Ashley tells David that he wants to die, and David agrees to carry out the killing. Over the course of next 2 days, David injects his nephew at three different points which make Ashley lose consciousness and suffer organ failure. The next morning, he goes onto the beach to place his nephew's body in a shallow grave, tearfully kis...