Movie Reviews -
Gay Themed

This vertical dramas was one of the simpler ones, which mostly focused just on the love story aspect and how the two individuals eventually grow to love one another. The guys here were really hot and twink-ish. Sure, from the story perspective it doesn't offer anything new and like almost all vertical BL shows from before, you will forget this one too quick, but at least this time I didn't roll my eyes as much. The plot is extremely simple. Alex is running for college president and his opponent is handsome Xavier, who comes from a humble background. During the debate, an accidental kiss and fall make rumors about them. To capitalize on this, Alex's campaign manager recommends that they fake date. Alex is able to convince Xavier for this, since Xavier needs money (his father is alcoholic and abusive). But soon someone leaks a copy of their contract and his popularity dips, but somehow they manage to leak videos as if they really care for each other and are serious about it e...

I had recently reviewed another one of rugby player Gareth Thomas' documentary. This one, I guess came in sometime after that. In this emotional and hard-hitting documentary he finally goes public about his condition and reveals how hiding the truth about his health left him feeling depressed and contemplating taking his own life. With the help of family, friends, medical experts and others with HIV, he sets about tackling the stigmas, myths and misunderstandings surrounding the condition. The documentary starts by Gareth making the news of him being HIV positive in a video to publicly announce it. Not sure if awareness was the motivation, but the idea for him is to change perceptions about HIV by raising awareness & fighting prejudice. He re-educates himself and the audience through interviews with doctors and other health workers that these days HIV is nothing to be afraid of and people can live almost as normal a life as anyone else. In fact, if he continues to take his medi...

Every year we see at least a couple, of not more, holiday gay films; so imagine my surprise when I was wondering how come I did not see anything for 2025. I started doing research and it turns out that no TV channel came up with an exclusive gay theme holiday movie. The only film which had a prominent gay character and storyline was this one, which in its usual style, Hallmark channel makes sure that it is for family viewing (concept of a happy straight family, I guess). I will give broad story but for the scope of my blow, will focus on the gay couple only). We are introduced to Keller family who are scheduled to leave for a Danube river cruise over Christmas. We are quickly introduced to their 3 children. Oldest son Cal isa football coach is disappointed that the woman he’s been crushing on is moving across the country. He was too late in confessing his feelings. Second son Dylan just proposed to his long term doctor boyfriend William but he neither accepted nor rejected, leaving him...

Just when I thought I will take a break from these vertical short format mini series kinda shows, they keep coming more and more (just like Asian BL's) but sadly they are all starting to mix up now. Yes the plots are different, but they all follow same template of one or the both guys being "straight" eventually falling for another guy because "love shouldn't care for gender'. And then there will be an evil girlfriend, there would be some money involved somewhere either through mafia or business deals, there will be misunderstandings and all is well that ends well. This series is no different. Miles is a med student, who finds out that his girlfriend is cheating on him. He decides that he will kiss someone else to prove that he is cheating so he can break up. But instead of a planned friend, he ends up kissing a man. He politely asks the guy to play along and he does. Only later Miles finds out that the guy is Hunter who happens to be the CEO in the company h...

This documentary is the film version of author Vito Russo's landmark book by the same name. It explodes sexual myths and explores how our attitudes about homosexuality and sex roles have evolved through the century. With clips from over 100 Hollywood movies and interviews with many of the filmmakers and actors who created them (including Tom Hanks, Shirley MacLaine, Susan Sarandon, Whoopi Goldberg, Tony Curtis, and Gore Vidal), the film was likely quite relevant and path breaking when it came in 1995. Times have since changed and 30 years later, some of this rings are irrelevant and some not. But it still makes for a good historical piece to watch. Gays were everywhere in the movies, right from the beginning–this documentary shows two men dancing together in a short named “The Gay Brothers,” from 1895–and often they were hidden in plain view. Hollywood knew who was gay and who was not, and there were in-jokes like John Ireland’s line to Montgomery Clift in “Red River”: Sometimes di...

Continuing with the trend of feel good vertical shows, here comes one more. I am enjoying these, since you dont have to use too much of your brain. They are simple stories involving love, misunderstanding, a mandatory third guy who could be the negative lead, a chance hook up and a very happy ending. And most importantly, almost all of these shows (or the ones I have seen so far) have some really hot and good looking leads, which makes the viewing even more pleasurable. But of you take these seriously, this wil just be comical nonsense. Rookie agent Ryan is assigned to investigate powerful CEO Vincent. A chance kissing dare brings Ryan and Vincent together. To avoid a public scandal, Vincent proposes a fake marriage to Ryan to save his company, which Ryan agrees hoping that this way he can investigate Vincent. To stay on the case, he goes undercover as an intern at Vincent's company-only to find that another new guy Thomas is mistaken as the CEO's lover. He actually likes this ...

Yes, one more of those macro vertical dramas stitched into movie versions, the English BL format. I think I should take a break from here because things are starting to mix up now. Having said that hat, these are good fun for guilty pleasure viewing, easily done on phone, so I shouldn't really be complaining. After you have seen a few of these, you really know what to expect. Brian has had a crush on Terry an upcoming football star from his teen days. Now adult, Terry is a very famous football star and Brian is his manager, very good at his job. Terry knows that Brian has had a crush on "someone" for 7 years and that he is gay, but Terry never guesses that it could be him. HE is also extremely flirty with Brian on many occasions and doesn't like when someone doesn't treat Brian right. But Brian has had enough and one day he resigns, forcing Terry to think of his actions. Soon Terry's game starts to suffer. The agency rehires Brian again, but. This time to mana...

Art Johnston and Pepe Peña, LGBTQ+ rights leaders and owners of the iconic gay bar Sidetrack in Boystown, are the subjects of a documentary. It follows their love story spanning 50 years and the history of the Sidetrack bar amid their fight for LGBTQ+ rights in Chicago. It tells the story of long-term gay marriage/partnerships as the partners weather health battles, senior-citizenship, and some of the difficulties (and rewards) of becoming elderly together. The film documents Art and Pep’s arrival to Chicago from small-town Illinois and Cuba respectively. The two discovered bar culture, and how precious it could be to those marginalized communities who craved a safe haven all their own. When the pair fell fast in love, an opportunity arose that took their lives in an altogether new and exciting trajectory: opening their own bar would allow Art and Pepe to continue celebrating the freedoms they found in Boystown as well as make a positive impact on their community. We witness their role...

I had no memory of the first Arisan film, so I had to go back and read my review to get some context before I watched this second part. As the original source material, this film is not queer per say, in fact it is so much more about a group of female friends, but the stories of the prominent gay characters continue here as well and I think it deserves a mention rightly here on my blog. The film kicks off 8 years after the events of the first film happened. The gay couple Sakti and Nino have broken up. Meimei is now divorced and Andien is now a successful person after losing her husband. We have a few new characters who join as well. The film starts with Meimei anther young son (or is it her friend's) spending time on an island getting therapy from a doctor Tom. The two have connection but we are later told that Meimei has cancer and is dealing with her issues. Nino now has a much younger boyfriend and this makes Sakti not happy, He has still not completely gotten over his ex. His ...

Yet another horror comedy genre, this time mixing drag queens, queers and zombie world. A group of queer characters find themselves trapped in a Bushwick nightclub, fending off a horde of the living dead. Sounds familiar? Yes, I have seen at least a couple of films, more recently in the Canadian film Slay. I feel like this genre has specific viewers and is targeted for them. I have to be honest that I was quite enjoying the first half of the film, but then it just felt. Ike it is dragging on for no reason. Also some of the gags were really not as funny as they were likely on paper. Needing a last-minute cover for her half-dead party, Dre hesitantly calls on an old friend, Sam (who I snow a nurse and has been out of scene for a while now), to fill in the stilettos of the headliner for the night. After getting reacquainted with some old faces and butting heads with some new queens. Sam meets Ginsey, Sam’s drag mother and mentor; wannabe performer/dealer Nico ; and Lizzy’s plumber brother...

Honestly I wouldn't call this a gay film at all. Categorizing this in BL genre is also pretty much borderline. There is no BL or romance as such, this film is more of a comedy that uses queer themes to explore a dangerous dynamic between the vampire and the boy. Adapted by a manga and an anime series of same name, I would not wanna see the anime now, especially since, there is in't too much of BL content here. Yes, it is funny but thats about it. Mori is a 450 year old vampire. Injured one day, he is taken home by a 5 year old boy Rihito. Since then, Mori has lived with Rihito and his family. He was given a cleaning job at their bathhouse. Mori works at night, rests during the day, and keeps a low-key routine. Mori has told the family he is vampire, but they all joke about it and cal it his 'persona'. Years have passed and Rihito is now 15. Mori always craves for young virgin blood and has his eyes on Rihito since he will turn 18 in three more years, but he also loves h...

Terry and Julian is a British sitcom that aired on Channel 4 in 1992. The show had only one season with 6 episodes of about 22-25 minutes each. Unusually for a sitcom, Terry and Julian breaks the "fourth wall" by recognizing the studio audience and viewers, and employs use of audience participation. I was quite surprised to see how they used this method back in the day by inviting at least one audience member, making them part of the skit midway and sending them back with flowers. Flamboyant Channel 4 television celebrity Julian moves into a flat with geeky well-meaning Terry, completely transforming his life and home and repeatedly upsetting Terry’s pint-sized moustached policewoman fiancee, Rene. Julian transforms Terry’s ugly flat into a Barbara Cartland-ish nightmare and takes over Terry’s life to the point of marrying him. The script consist of a lot of double meaning dialogues that are quite witty. Episode one is when Julian moves in and completely redo carets the flat....

Dealing with sensitive subjects in films is never easy. The film makers here take a muted, almost ambivalent stand on the subject, which show sis the questionable relationship between a 29 year old man with a 15 year old boy. As a film, it is a pretty straight forward execution without much drama trying to show as 'matter of fact' events and what/how happens. I guess it is left to the audience to make their own morality decisions. (Although looking at the film's dvd poster, which features only the younger male, rather than the duo which should have been the case for a film whose title has names of two protagonists) Eban returns to his hometown Christmas from Seattle. He is a bit vague about the reasons he has come (which we later find out). Killing time growing through local shops, he sees a young 15 year old handsome boy Charley and rather insistently strikes up a friendship on the pretense of swapping lessons about guitar and being lonely etc. You can tell that Eban likes...

My second American BL, shot in Phone format, released as multiple episodes on DramaBox. Thankfully I watched the version where all episodes were stitched together and overall the duration is just under an hour. It is an easy watch even though the plot is filled with loopholes but once you start to watch it, it is easy to ignore some aspects. The protagonist, Ace, is a ruthless and decisive mob boss who has firmly established his position at the top of London's underworld. However, during an ambush orchestrated by his archenemy, Jack, a younger stranger named Max unexpectedly steps in to save him. This act of bravery sparks Ace's interest and earns his trust. Ace brings Max into his inner circle, as his bodyguard. What he doesn't know that it was all Jack's plan. Ace likes to flirt and is gay and he does that constantly with Max making him feel uncomfortable. Max succeeds in planting care in Ace's room who does the same. So Ace knows that max is watching him have sex...

This interesting piece of documentary is essentially the history of the queer movement in Canada seen through an assembly of parades, marches and protests. Through rarely seen archival footage and first-person accounts, Parade brings to life pivotal moments that sparked Canada's 2SLGBTQ+ movement, honoring the activists and elders whose resistance led to the rights we have today. It opens with Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau’s famous statement about the government having no right in the bedrooms of the nation, preceding the decriminalization of homosexuality in 1969. The film looks at the early Gay Liberation Movement, including the We Demand Rally that took place in Ottawa in 1971. From here, Parade takes us through infamous events such Toronto’s bathhouse raids, and protests in response to how the government was handling the AIDS epidemic. The film finally touches on the BLM activists who controversially shut down Toronto Pride in 2016 to protest the presence of uniformed p...

This was an interesting series in the sense it was hard to like it or dislike it. The story is really barely there and s just paper thin, but look at the guts of the makers that they decided to convert this into 30 episodes each of about 8 minutes to keep the viewers hooked a few days a week to wait for what would happen next. Thankfully, as always I saw it when the whole thing was out.  It is the story of two worlds. Navee is a young man who works at a radio station. At the halloween party, another man dressed in traditional royal clothes catches his attention but disappears. The same guy starts showing up as a ghost at his apartment at regular intervals scaring Navee. Navee tries making offerings and prayers but nothing helps, so he eventually gives in. The man tells him that he is a prince from 2000 years ago and he has not crossed over and it would happen only when Navee remembers everything. Slowly love Strats Tod develop between the two in this world and in small fragments, N...

A queer themed time loop story is definitely novel idea. I have seen a few time travel stories so far (primarily in the Asian BL market), but time loop is definitely different. There is a certain appeal to the idea of a protagonist reliving their lives in a loop while trying to figure their way out of it and Spark fits well into this category. It is a thriller love story that makes for a decent watch, but somewhere remains short in keeping viewers engaged for a long time.  Aaron, is the careless, in-love twenty-something caught in an annoying time loop. Every afternoon, Aaron wakes up to their roommate Dani, offering them a glass of wine that has gone horribly off. Dani reminds them her habit to refuse to see red flags in guys and Aaron promises to do better. All that starts to change once he meets Trevor, an intriguing stranger he’s paired up with for a birthday party scavenger hunt. While Trevor at first seems fairly distant and aloof, there is a hint of interest, which is enough...

Set in 2006 in West Yorkshire, this is your simple boy-meets-boy teenage gay love story touching on nostalgia, teenage angst and indie pop with a gentle hand. We have seen many films in the same genre, so I was hoping for something different, but sadly the film follows a very predictable narrative approach. It's not bad at all, but how I wish there was something more. The film works only thanks to the charm of its two leading actors.  George is 16 year old teenager, navigating the difficult road of social and academic failure in a small town. George, who’s certain of his own talent even though no one else seems to share that belief, dreams of becoming a famous musician. He is not good at studies ether and his father and school teachers are very worried about his future. Enter Max, a handsome student, the son of a mega-famous musical duo, who much to surprise of George, takes interest in George and his music. Their budding friendship both excites and confuses George, leading him to ...

The original Japanese shows has to be one of my fav BL shows. Then came the Hong Kong version which was equally good. Sadly the same cannot be said about the Thai remake of this cult classic. This version is missing the humanity and the heart that was key ingredient of the original Japanese version. Most importantly, it had authenticity sprinkled with humor, grace, and tons of human emotions. Sadly neither the production, nor the actors do justice here. The makers have slightly modified the story also, but even if they kept it all same, not much would have changed. 12 episodes each of about 50 minutes. The story is similar. Heng is our main character who works in real estate company. His Boss has been secretly crushing on him, but he has no idea. At the same time, another office employee Mo likes him. Apparently many years back when Mo started in the company, Heng really helped him out. Monday is looking for a place to move in, so Heng invites him to stay with him. In return, Mo can co...

This Spanish documentary series chronicles the violent death of Colombian surgeon Edwin Arrieta on a tranquil Thai island, at the hands of Daniel Sancho, a 29-year-old aspiring chef known for his YouTube videos. Going over 5 episodes each of about 40-50 minutes, which captures the brief backgrounds of these two individuals, how/when they met. How/when murder happened and the trial and the media circus that followed. Inspite of the trial being covered extensively by the world’s media, mystery still surrounds the case. The series explores the questions that remain about Edwin and Daniel's relationship and also the double life led by each man. We first meet Edwin, a Colombian guy who came from a very modest background and ended up becoming one of the most celebrated surgeons. With dreams and high hopes, he used to travel a lot and apparently met Daniel Sancho in Spain. Daniel is son of a very famous Spanish actor and wannabe chef. He came from a luxury background but also wanted to do...