Movie Reviews -
Gay Themed

Wow! Two military based films in two consecutive days and both inspired by true stories. What are the odds! This 2022 Austrian drama focuses on the story of a closeted gay Austrian army officer, Lieutenant Charles Eismayer, who falls in love with a young, openly gay recruit named Falak. The film, embellished with top notch performance from its lead actors, has plenty of ups and downs to keep you hooked. The tough instructor, Sergeant Major Charles Eismayer, in the Austrian Armed Forces has a reputation for breaking recruits, the kind of man for whom you fear his veins may pop any minute when he gets angry at his recruits. He harbours a secret though, one that he hides from both his men and his family: he is actually gay and looks for excuses to not spend time with his wife. A new division has just started and amongst many new folks, there is Falak, who is openly gay and this thing catches Eismayer off guard throwing his beliefs that the army and life as a gay man cannot coexist into di...

The makers have been calling this as a four-part episodic film. Set in Vienna, it is a story about the rise and fall – and possible rise again – of two gay couples. Made at a shoe string budget, I am not sure if the film was needed to be split into 4 episodes with intro and end casting every single time, but her whatever. Also, the ending is a bit open. I feel there should be more, but maybe the point is to take the slice of life kinds deal and deal the story take its own course. We meet two gay couples. Chris and David have ben together for a while. Chris wants to spice up relationship and suggests threesome. Reluctantly David agrees. David has his own start up company with his friend Ralph, while David is a freelance photographer, whose hobby is being sponsored by his rich parents. They find Lukas on a hook up and invite him over the next day. Turns out that Lukas is Ralph's boyfriend. But he is lazy, casual, doesn't work and pretty much living off his boyfriend who is reachi...

A soulful and a terrific drama, this film had me hooked right from the very first scene itself and man the film did not disappoint me one bit. Set in 40s, 50s and 60s prison, this period piece is masterful piece of cinema, a very intelligent and sensitive film and a unique and great love story in its own way. The ending of t he film breaks your heart but I think there couldn't have been a better finale to the love of Hans, our leading man here. The year is 1968 and the film starts with film images of men cruising in public toilets via hidden camera. This happens at the trial of one of the men seen on several occasions, Hans Hoffmann, who is sentenced to 24 months for “deviant practices” with no possibility of probation. His silent acceptance makes us believe there is more to it and as if he is used to it. In prison, his eyes lock with an older cellmate Viktor. Turns out they have a history. Back in 1945, they were cellmates. Since Hans is marked with charges with section 175, strai...

These kind of weird dystopian futuristic, low budget films are not my kind of cinema at all. An Austrian film, filmed in a mockumentary style, this is not really a gay themed film to be honest. So don't get fooled by the posters at all. By the end, I wasn't sure whether this film, is satire, comedy, drama, love story or what? It was a big ball of mud in my opinion. Recently there have been a spat of assassination attempts. Jannis and his mute boyfriend Patrick are convinced that these are politically motivated. They decide to infiltrate a circus to shoot an undercover documentary exposing an underground political conspiracy. But when Patrick meets Mo, a young woman whose sensitivity to sunlight forces her to live by night, Jannis’ jealousy threatens the entire project. Now, the only way Patrick and Jannis can be certain to get the answers to their questions is to stick together until the bitter end. The script of the film is very amateurish and all over the place. To top that, ...

When I started watching this film, I thought it had some good potential. But it totally lost steam half way. It turned into this self obsessed psychological trippy nightmare that was not my cup of tea. For a change, I don't have any recommendation on how this film could have been better. I am very sure that there are people out there who probably think that this by itself was a very good film, just sadly I dont fit in that category. 17 year old Jakob is a very shy teenager who lives with his father and his ailing grandfather. He starts working in the pig meat factory with his father and at nights he goes to these gay chat rooms to chat and watch porn and feel little bit alive. Jacob is struggling with an anxiety disorder that makes life increasingly difficult for him. One night, he meets 26-year old Kristian on gay chat and after a few times, they both decide to meet in person. The rest of the film is about the interactions between these 2 men, which I felt was an interesting...

I still have mixed feelings after watching this film. At the onset, I wanna say that movie was terrible , uni-dimensional and doesn’t get into the details or provides any solutions; but on the other hand, part of me tells that, the relationship between a couple is shown in the most brilliant way, almost voyeuristically. Yes, the film is slow, repetitive, but after an anxious half an hour of not knowing where this film is headed to, it ultimately grabbed my attention when the unfortunate event happens. Stefan (French horn player) and Andreas (orchestra manager) have the perfect life. They have a great house, beautiful luscious garden, close friends and a charismatic cat named Moses. The couple are so comfortable with each other and nature that a good amount of their time goes walking around naked. They are very comfortable, have sex quite often and sometimes before their friend Lorenz. One day when Stefan strokes Moses, the cat seems to try to bite him, and through some unknown com...

Only 10 minutes into this is when I realized that I was actually going to be watching a documentary and not a feature film. Not that I had any problem with it, but I feel you need to have a different sort of mental preparation to watch documentary films compared to when you do for feature films. I have seen a few films where the focus is on male hustling, especially, by the so called straight guys to make easy money. This documentary also focuses on this aspect. From a story perspective, it is easy breezy. The focus of this is the Bulgarian Roma guys who are here working in Vienna and looking for living. None of these guys came to Vienna thinking of becoming a prostitute but its the circumstances that made them do it. All these guys get together in a bar/club every night which is where they find most of their customers. They are all straight, have wife and kid back home, even though they are all very young. They know they are young and good looking and they call it 'doing busi...

A story of friendship and re-assessing your life, this film does bring a relatively refreshing subject from al the stereotypical gay stuff that we get. But does everything that sounds good as an idea, actually translate into something interesting; we will have to wait and read? But whatever happens, I would like to applaud the makers for trying something different. The characters here just happen to be gay. This film could have as well ben equally meaningful with straight characters because ultimately the film is about reassessing friendship, insecurities in life and whether or not we are in love. Rudolf, a bookshop salesman and a wanna be writer gets dumped by his boyfriend. So after the break-up, he is heart-broken and decides to leave Paris to go back to Austria and start his life afresh including leaving behind his 2 best friends; Gabriel, an actor and Nicolas, a bar waiter. Unable to figure out how to react to Rudolf’s neurotic decision, the two of them decide to take off fro...

I usually do not write separate posts to review a short film. Rather I club them together but this one was actually really well done and I just felt that just a couple of sentences for this film would not be sufficient. Michael, a gay guy serves in Austrian military. He has been away from home and isolated form friends and family. This isolation and the attractiveness of his fellow comrade Raphael, gets Michael attracted to him very strongly. Michael is very used to being bullied on a daily basis. Jürgen, the alpha male in the group, has found the perfect victim in Michael. During taking a shower Jürgen bullies Michael once more but this time something is different, Michael bring about Jürgen's downfall both literally and figuratively. The game is on and Jürgen uses his most powerful weapon - his knowledge about Michael's secret and in a fight ends up punching him. Michael is emotionally hurt that Raphael didn't rescue him. The same night on a mission, Raphael and Michae...

Some films are just made to disturb audiences. But if you think hard, most of this films have some sort of truth or reality hidden behind them. We all had heard of a story where a man had help captive a girl in Australia for many many years. I guess, that was the clue that the director used in this film with a twisted angle to this tale. At the end of the film you are left bewildered and amused. Michael, is your average mid-30s man. He works for an insurance firm. He is good at his job, is friendly with his co-workers, gets along well with his siblings, and has a tidy home in the suburbs. But Michael is also a sexual predator obsessed with young boys, and he hides a ten-year-old child, Wolfgang, in his cellar as his slave. He frequently tells Wolfgang that his parents don't want him back, and while he takes good care of the boy, he also forces the child to have sex with him whenever he wishes. Michael follows the title character's double life over the course of five months, as...

This movie could have been really awesome. There’s much too little said about homosexuals in WW II and this film started talking about it. Problems with neonazis in Austria are often downplayed. This was a good opportunity to talk about it and show it but the film gets caught up in the ridiculousness and fails to say anything meaningful. Axel is a handsome but troubled sixteen-year-old boy who comes from a broken home, has trouble connecting with his peers and dulls his anxieties with marijuana. Axel has fallen in with a neo-Nazi gang who give him the respect he craves, but their leader, demands proof of Axel's commitment and asks him to kill a social worker. Axel does it and while on the run from the police, he hides in a dry cleaning shop and is spotted by the elderly proprietor, Gustav. Gustav takes in the young man and allows him to help out in the shop, but doesn't tell Axel why -- Gustav is gay, and the young man bears a striking resemblance to a boy he loved when he was...