Movie Reviews -
Gay Themed

This is an experimental queer musical film that uses opera/documentary and other styles to explore gay relationships and polyamory in a contemporary Arab context. The film’s artistic, nonlinear narrative incorporates a combination of live action, animation and music video-style sequences, along with more than its share of sexually explicit sequences. Even though I found the style and experiment quite interesting, including the narratives but overall I wasn't sure why this was made. In the sense that it had interesting representation of urban gay life and relationships but it was very confusing and one of those art for art's sake pieces. A glance leads to a smile, a smile to a rendezvous: every love story begins the same way. At the center of it all, from what I understood, this Arab love story is about a group of men trying to navigate a polyamorous relationship. Three men in a relationship and what each oof them thinks about it, how they got into it, how the meetings happened,...

There is a scene in this film where the film maker takes his script to show to a producer (?) and he remarks saying, 'I don't understand what this film is about' and that is exactly what I felt having watching the film. I just wasn't sure what the film is about. Online reviews call it a self-reflective fiction that muses on what we find comic about the human condition, and what can reduce us to tears. Made for festival circuits and arthouse cinema, there was absolutely nothing that I liked about this film. Joseph is a gay man and a film maker who has a 3 year old son Pino with his best friend Sonya. He broke up with his boyfriend more than 3 years ago and is now planing to make a passionate comedy film. Sonya returned prematurely from the clinic dealing with depression and she needs to go back there. His meetings with the producer who keeps asking for what he wants to make next creating another weird scenario especially when producer chews dog treats and gives it to t...

I am really not sure what was this film trying to say! A film which is set more like a theatre/play sort of an environment had a few subplots going on and none of them come to a logical conclusion. Maybe the film, through its various characters, is supposed to examine distance and closeness in relationships, but the way it does is so uninspiring and boring. I mean, maybe it wasn't a bad film, but it was just plain boring. The primary characters are Boris and Jonathan, a gay couple who have been together for a few years. But their relationship has reached a point where they might as well spend their evenings together separately: One lies in bed reading, the other works at a desk in the next room. Boris is an actor who begins to confuse work and reality and Jonathan is a writer challenged to face his various fears, mainly of death. Boris is rehearsing for a film where he is supposedly cheating on his wife with a younger man, played by an actor Tim. Because of the strained relationshi...

Oh man! This film is not an easy watch. The topic of paedophilia is a tough sell, especially stories centered around the paedophile’s POV, no matter how sensitively they are handled. As a topic, we are just not ready to see or hear things. Especially when you touch upon a topic of a young 15 year old who is himself discovering that he may be paedophile. This film wont leave you for a while.  We meet 15-year-old boy called Gabo, who seems like a normal teenager spending his days at school, seeing friends and playing video games. But he’s not, as we soon find out that he is developing uncontrollable tendencies. He befriends a forty-something man, Dave online, with whom he explores a friendship and we soon figure out what's going on. Dave like young teen boys and he has a crush on Gabo. Meanwhile, to our shock, Gabo is in love with his best friend’s 8-year-old brother Sam and knows that something is wrong about this. Rather than seeking counseling, Dave becomes his support, but Dave...

A gay serial killer and alien murder mystery would be one way to describe this Spanish-German co-production. I wouldn't call it a horror at all, because not even once I flinched or was scared. It was a bit silly at places but I wanted to check out to see if it made any sense. Luckily I kept my expectations extremely low. It also helped that the film was barely 50 minutes. Film starts with one man giving bj to another in a cruising park and a third man watching them. The next day a mutilated body of the person is found as if the entire body of the person was sucked out, leaving what could best be described as a puddle of goo. A similar death happens a few days later of another boy. Two lady detectives are assigned to the case and the note marks around the dick suggest that it feels like some sort of a spider or a giant tarantula, but the experts say that this is not possible given how far apart the bite marks are. The man who had witnessed the first murder helps detectives create a ...

This 90s German film feels like an absurd satire about German society and sexuality in those days. 90s were different times and this indie film tries to portray its own understanding of likely how things were during those times. The film gets slightly confusing at times but is very much focused on sex and sexuality. 14 year old Axel comes from a broken home with a substance-abusing mom and an abusive stepfather. Rather than go to school, Alex hangs out with his friends in the center of town and cruises a gay bar to try and find johns and make some money. Axel mostly appears quite assertive in his behavior, he is smart-mouthed, sometimes violent and sports a giant Elvis-like hairstyle. Things change when he meets an older guy, who is unhappily married, has a son and is likely hiding his sexuality. Their affair starts off as a blackmail event but slowly the relationship evolves. All this while Axel using his place to have sex with his girlfriend, who is also sleeping with his best friend...

Scruffy and very messy, this resolutely ridiculous English-language comedy from Germany, is so incredibly random that trying to find a coherent story amidst the chaos is actually impossible. I guess the makers were trying to make a satire with a very awkward approach. I will admit that satire is not my favorite genre, but if done right, it can be very entertaining. This film sadly falls flat at many places and jokes don't land. It's like as if the writers were high or something while "writing" this mess of a script. Father Andy Gaylord invites his friend Captain Faggotron because he knows someone called Queen Bitch, an alien from another planet, is hellbent on making Earth homosexual. Through flashback, we are told that Andy and Queen Bitch are ex-lovers but Andy never wanted to accept his homosexuality and they break up. And now Queen is teaming up with his outer-space cohort to turn Earth into a homosexual planet, by staging a staggeringly profane ceremony at the mo...

The Year I Lost My Mind is an art house film filled with suspense and beautiful imagery. The story deals with anonymity and sexual desire. Interestingly the film barely has any dialogues and even where they are, those scenes could easily be removed and the core of the film will still remain the same. the film manages to get it’s point across with mood and visuals. It is essential a thriller dripping with sex and lust. Our protagonist is Tom, who has weird kinky fetish for masks. The first glimpse into his bedroom shows his wall adorned with a variety of masks and throughout the film Tom wears them while out and about. He spends his days robbing people's houses with his friend and his nights wearing a mask so he can enjoy anonymous hook-ups with men he meets on apps. One night they break into an apartment to find its occupant, Lars, asleep in his underwear. Tom is intrigued by Lars as he sleeps and the homoerotic painting hanging on his bedroom wall. After leaving the apartment, Tom...

This documentary strives to recreate the liberated lifestyles and queer excellence that thrived in Berlin’s nightlife in the 1920s;  a culture that was completely eradicated and nearly erased from memory by the rise of the Nazi party in the 1930s. Named after the pillar of this long lost queer community, Eldorado aims to be as much of a testament to the power of queer love as it is a history lesson. The film begins as a portrait of the queer nightclub Eldorado that flourished in 1920s Berlin before expanding to a wider portrait of Nazism and the erasure of history. It then goes to tell this important story through several smaller stories — each deserving of its own epic film. There’s tennis star Gottfried von Cramm and his dual love stories with queer woman Lisa von Dobeneck and gay Jewish man Manasse Herbst. There’s one of Hitler’s right hand men Ernst Rohm who believed his loyalty to Nazism would exempt him from queer persecution. There’s the still-living Walter Arlen recounting ...

In very simple words, this film is about a young gay man's journey of self-discovery through Berlin’s progressive LGBTQ+ community. You could say that there I snot much happening in the film, but actually, there isa lot going on. You see how circumstances and people around him change him and how a young man is learning to break free of cultural expectations and fully embrace his true self, with very fluid ideas of gender and sexuality. Drifter is the story of a 22-year-old boy named Moritz  who moves to Berlin to be with his boyfriend Jonas. But his life and future soon change when Jonas, who wasn’t hugely committed to their relationship, breaks up with him. But this also happens when we are given a hint that as a person Jonas is more outgoing, clubs and party kinda guy where Moritz prefers comforts of home, a more heteronormative life style. So now shunned as a person with no place to live, and feeling lost, directionless, and alone, Moritz finds himself drawn into the lifestyle h...

How did I not know about this beautiful gay German series and why is the snot being talked about all over? We, the audience gets to see lives of four beautiful, young group of gay friends trying to navigate life, searching for love and security in the age of Grindr. The show has 2 seasons so far with 6 episodes each. So watching this 12 episode gem is an easy breezy thing, especially when they are only like 25 minute each. The show combines great, diverse casting and light-hearted, yet serious, storylines and takes us on a journey that will leave you wanting to know more about these guys. I have to say at the onset that I loved this show (despite the fact that the version I saw had really bad subtitles) and again, why is this not being talked about? Vince, a gay black medical student and Levo are best friends and roommates, living their best queer lives, making the most of Berlin’s legendary nightlife. Neither man has ever had a long-term relationship and they are both happy that way. ...

Instructions for Survival is an exquisite documentary portrait and a profoundly honest window into one couple’s struggle to live openly. Set in Georgia, we see the life and struggles of a trans man, trying olive his life, be at constant risk of people finding out. Even though, now it's no longer illegal to be gay in this East European country, and trans people are theoretically protected from discrimination, there are all sorts of barriers which make it difficult just to get by. At about 80-85 minutes duration, this documentary powerfully humanizes the statistics and headlines about migrants seeking asylum with its deeply personal, moving and ultimately hopeful narrative. Nobody would look twice at Alexander if they met him in the street. He blends in perfectly, and all he wants is to be able to get on with life like any other man, but his situation is complicated because he's trans. This makes it hard for him to find employment, access reliable medical care or marry the woman ...

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 2003  documentary is about 4-5 gay men, who are living on the countryside of Swabia (a rural area in the south west of Germany) far off from the big cities, where it is easier being gay and not being scrutinized at every given point. Being alone as Gays among an entirely heterosexual environment, they still try to live a rich and happy life. Even though this may be universal story, the reaction of their fellow villagers are unique, allowing us a rare peek of real life in the small villages in rural Germany. The film starts with a group of older people sitting together and eating and one of the guys giving his honest opinion on what he thinks of gay people. We are then slowly introduced to our protagonists of this documentary. Hartmut, HIV-positive, kept his homosexuality secret in Germany until his diagnosis, but he traveled to Thailand, where he indulged in sex tourism. He now wishes he had started his life much earlier. Heavyset mid-20s forester Stefan would like a steady ma...

Ok, why would anyone watch this film? I have time and again said that I am all about experimental films where film makers get to show their creativity, but it baffles me that some of them take over indulgence to another level. Touted as an edgy, bold and passionate love story between two young men who are sometimes afraid to love each other, this film is almost 99% silent film with a couple of dialogues here and there. Also I really don't know the reason behind the title of the film. If you know it, please let me know. Greek Translator Yiannis is looking for a room to live in, when he comes across the one that Chris has to offer in Berlin, they end up sharing far more than just the apartment. Filmed mostly in the interior of a flat, the movie's a voyeuristic portrait of the intimacy of two lonely souls, from the moment they met until the inevitable end. We get to see them interacting, making love in the kitchen, or just arguing, like any other couple. We literally just see this...

This is an English-language German documentary film about the social and cultural movement known as Queercore. Queercore was a cultural and social movement that began as an offshoot of punk and was distinguished by its discontent with society's disapproval of the gay, bisexual, lesbian and transgender communities. The documentary starts with tracing the roots of Queercore in Toronto where queer revolutionaries were rebelling against macho punks in a bourgeois gay scene. Using multiple overlapping interviews, the film maker details the movement, the overlapping philosophies with punk, and the nuances of what the scene offered to the queer identity, which was ultimately about the shared goals of fighting the dominant ideology and its structures. In the second half, it shows the growth of the queercore music scene and bands including Tribe 8 and Pansy Division that came up alongside acts that went mainstream. At some point, it started to feel repetitive because every interviewee had p...

This film was probably made on a shoe string budget. Definition of happiness is different for people and the way we all deal with grief is also different. This film is about 2 individuals, who come together and somehow influence each other win ways more than either of them could have imagined. An overweight middle aged bank employee lives with his mother, suffering from Alzheimer's, taking care of her. While he works during the day, he gets help from a caretaker named Daniel. One day the mother locks Daniel in balcony and goes out of home. In the evening Sven and Daniel search for her together and this is when we see the first time Sven lightly flirts with Daniel. When Daniel returns home, his wife kicks him out because she thinks he is having an affair. He comes to Sven's home and the trio have a wonderful evening together. They platonically even sleep together. Next day the mother dies and Sven is all alone but a slow mysterious relationship starts between Sven and Daniel. Sv...

This extremely slow film, for the most part, is a depressingly grim study of loneliness and sexual repression as well as of old age and family relations, in this case between a father and son. Not much happens and here is hardly any communication between characters (maybe spoken words are just about 15 minutes in the entire duration of the film). It is not an easy film to watch. I would also not classify this strictly as queer cinema and one of the chaplets is also about repressed sexuality here. Helmer is a single farmer in his fifties who lives with and cares for his aged, bedridden father in countryside. His working days are marked by the visits of milk collector, a man of his own age for whom Helmer holds a secret fascination – a mutual need is evident but unspoken. One day Helmer decides to renovate the house, buying himself a new double bed and moving his father upstairs. His life gains even more momentum when adolescent farmhand Henk is hired to assist. Surprisingly, the young l...

It's almost impossible to comprehend that such a tragic gay love story came out back in 1977, almost 45 years ago. I mean, this has to be groundbreaking in its own. Its a proper love story filled with drama, love and tragedy and the homophobia that existed in those years (some things haven't changed despite all these years). Sure, some may question the taboo theme of an older man's love with a 15 year old boy, but I think its important to understand that the age on consent is/was probably lower in Europe, otherwise I can't imagine this film being allowed to be watched. Martin, an actor by profession, is in prison for having sex with a 15 year old boy. Martin agrees to stage a fellow prisoner's play and it is here that he meets Thomas, the warden's teen-aged son. Before you know, Thomas is completely smitten by Martin and they sneak here and there to spend time together, but the warden gets wind of it, so they wait for the time till Martin is released. Once relea...

I don't even know why I am reviewing this film here. It I soothing but an excuse to watch porn for 75 odd minutes. Yes, it is porn with full on sex scenes; the only thing is that it is disguised behind an actual storyline, which to be honest are not that bad. But story probably constitutes 15-20% of the film, and the rest is sex. Its primarily a collection of four short stories. "Diablo en Madrid" is a story of serial temptation in a graveyard. An irresistibly good looking guy is playing the part of the Devil who's come up to earth from hell. He succeeds in his mission of seduction, meeting resistance only when he encounters the "good" angel. This is portrayed as a battle of good and evil in the summary.  In "Über Menschen" , a professor, is visiting Madrid from Buenos Aires and contemplates to kill himself by jumping off the Viaducto de Segovia, known as a notorious site for suicides. When his young Uber driver realizes that, he talks him out of ...