Movie Reviews -
Gay Themed

How does one describe this gay film!! An extremely carefully designed and drafted film, it's a film within a film, about pitching a gay film to a producer who wants a “fun, sexy, Greek and low-budget” script. It has meta-commentary on queer filmmaking all over the place, incorporating several life-affirming themes. And to top that when you have gorgeous and handsome naked cast, and a cut dog, one's attention is automatically guaranteed. Demosthenes and Nikitas often sunbathe at a nude cruising spot in Greece. Nikitas needs to pitch a film idea over the weekend and he has nothing on hand. They both strike upon the idea of making a film about their “summer with Carmen”; a Chihuahua that Demos adopted from his ex-boyfriend Panos, two summers ago. The film then keeps going back and forth between present and two summers ago on what happened thats summer and the way it is presented to us is a film within a film format. We see how Demos had broken up with his boyfriend of 4 years Pano...

This Greek documentary celebrates the radical roots and ongoing bravery of queer performers who defy gender norms, especially in more conservative societies. The film takes portrait of ten provocative, gender-exploding artists from Greece’s queer underground. One after the other, they introduced themselves, their type of drag, their message and their influences. After these solo sections, they all get together to discuss the drag sphere in Athens, what it means to do this art and how it is met by the Greek society. Habit-clad, heavy make-up-wearing Er Libido hands leaflets encouraging unsuspecting drivers to support abortion. Aurora Paola defaces the Greek flag by painting the Albanian one on top of it (potentially a criminal offense?). Veronique plays opera for the police. These subversive artists seek to infuse the deeply conservative European capital with a message of tolerance and hope. They vigorously confront racism, xenophobia, LGBTQ-phobia, fascism, jingoism, and the dirty mach...

Maestro in Blue is one of the first Greek dramas picked up by Netflix for International distribution. I would haven't known about the show, but I chanced upon this video talking about gay storylines in shows and movies and despite the fact that this show is not gay, (only on the storylines is gay), I decided to give it a go. Dysfunctional families have always interested me and this drama, set in a beautiful island with not-so-beautiful inhabitants piqued my interest. I will probably summarize the story but my review will exclusively focus on the gay storyline of Spyros and Antonis. Set in a beautiful island right after covid, the series follows Orestis, a 40 something musician, who is invited by Fanis, a guy who is running for mayor, to revive the islands music festival to boost local morale and increase his chances of being elected. He meetsOrestis's family wife a wife on anti-depressant drugs, a girl Klelia, with whom Orestis has his love story going for the remainder of the ...

I am having a hard time reviewing this film. There was something artistic and poetic about the film as to the way it was directed, but I just couldn't comprehend what it was really trying to tell. A Greek gay man meets a young Arab, acquires experiences and pays the emotional and existential price. It feels there's so much it want to say: be it a forbidden love story, or the whole idea of 7 wraths (which, by the way, is never really clear while watching the film), but it just never fully delivers. Petros, a 45-year-old office archaeologist, has just come out of a long-term relationship, disillusioned by the romantic notion of self-less love. During a visit to the ancient theater of Argos, he will meet Hussam, a young Arab immigrant who eventually becomes his lover. As you can imagine, Hussam sometimes has these guilt situations given his Arab origins, but also something about Petros that makes him want to be with him. Petros also helps manage a small music group of young Albani...

This story takes place in 7 acts in a form of a cinematic theater play and is apparently an adaptation of Frank Wedekind's Spring Awakening. Set in Greece, the primary story is about two guys exploring their sexuality. The characters of the play display elements that potentially belong to each one of us, from sexual curiosity and promiscuity to fear towards the unknown, and from superficial communication to moral hypocrisy.  The play starts with two friends hanging out and one of them getting naked (which in my mind was an attempt to seduce the other one). We are not told their ages that is supposed to be. The naked guys also shows naked sex videos of himself with a girl which excites the second guy. The first guy asks him to come to his home and maybe they explore more. We then see the first guy seducing a girl and having sex with her. In third act, the two guys are back alone and they both end up having sex but right after that the first guy snubs the second guy asking him to lea...

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...

I am very conflicted about calling this a gay movie. The protagonist happens to be gay, which we find out in one scene, and besides that this film has absolutely nothing to do with the sexuality. At its core, this film is a road movie, a kind of travel-and-talk friendship/romance. Victor, loves diving and is now looking after his sick grandmother on an island in Greece. He is a loner with a part time job. When his granny dies, he decides to leave town. We find that he has strained relations and some unresolved issues with his mother, who many years ago, left him and married a German guy and lives now in Bavaria. On the ferry enroute Italy, he meets Matthias, a very confident and outgoing German man. As odd as the two are, Matthias convinces (while flirting) Victor to take him along for the ride and he will take him through some scenic routes. Jere begins a road movie with gorgeous landscapes and a couple of incidents leading to the two men realizing their growing feeling for each other...

This film is set in a closed community of a small provincial town and focuses on a family facing many serious problems. The characters are vulnerable, innocent and ordinary but they all become ruthless and callous worrying only about themselves and the money. The film, although gives a very soap opera feeling, is still pretty interesting in holding the viewers interest. The family consists of mother Magda who owns important land coveted by entrepreneurs and who runs a bakery while caring for her wholly invalid husband injured in a car crash that killed her daughter; a money-conscious daughter married to Stelios, an earthy stud of a man with whom Magda is having an affair; the silent near comatose father who sits observing the tragedy like a wordless Greek chorus; and Christos, the hunky son who is bisexual and sleeping with a young girlfriend and an older woman and an older bisexual male city official Yiorgos who is married with children and is in charge of the city planning, his chie...

Cavafy is the biography of one of the most prominent Greek poets, Constantine P. Cavafy. The film revolves around desires and senses of Cavafy in a way that Cavafy's sensualism dominates the film and his poetry gets little scope. Not that I am complaining because even with all this the film progresses at a snail's pace. This film is a classic case of a gay art film. You might like it or not like it. Cavafy is counting his remaining days and is in the hospital which will soon be his last day. He is visited by a young writer who wants his approval to publish a study on the poet's life. The poet begins a journey back in time, gradually remembering all the incidents and all the people that left their mark on his life. Alexandria, where he grew up and was raised and he also worked there his relationship with his mother, his trips to Constantinople, Athens and the awakening of his personal sensuality and hidden sexual preferences are once again being reminded to the aged and exha...

I haven't seen Greek gay comedies I think before , so this one definitely came as a surprise. On top of that, when the film is half decent when you have no real expectations from the movie. This one definitely came as a pleasant surprise. If I had seen the movie in its entirety, I probably would have given it higher rating but in comparison with other films, this falls a little short. The film starts with a man who has just died and is trying to wonder how could he have died. The film goes in flashback and explores various reasons how he could have died. And funnily enough all possibilities are to do with a family of husband, wife, a gay son and grandmother who can't listen. The son is a bad student and need some private lessons. The father is a traffic cop who is full of himself and lives with a secret desire to become a famous lyricist. The mother teaches tango lessons and is very very busy. One the mother almost accidentally hits a man while driving, she thinks she has kill...

I think there are very few gay themed films that have come from Greece. After initial expectations, it just started sliding down and by the end of the film it was nothing but a disappointment. I think the intentions were fine but the execution not so great. The fifties. A widow is raising her three children but has a soft spot for her only son Giorgos. The first signs of the son’s ‘peculiarity’ appear early on. The father does not like the behavior of the son but dies soon. His passion for dancing leads him to Paris to work as a dancer in some cheap gay club and his passions to bisexual relationships which involve a so called marriage to some girl whom he pays some money. His relationship to the girl is not very clear because he sleeps with her and also with other men at the same time. Time moves on and we are in eighties. Giorgos has failed big time as an artist and is earning nothing. He moves back with his mother, doesn't do any work, expects his mother to take care of him and ...

I can't remember but I am pretty sure I watched a film with a similar theme earlier. This one although was funnier and sassier than the ones I have seen before. Forget the acting aspect but overall it was a good fun experience. The film is set in a modern world where being gay is the norm and straight people are in minority and are considered perverts. Yiannis is a straight man in a gay world, who secretly goes to straight clubs. He has loving dads and he is afraid to come out to them and tell them he is straight. He loves Sophia at his work but is too afraid to say her because she is already in relationship with another girl. Secretly Yiannis hangs out with his straight friends and goto clubs. One of the night, SOphia and Yiannis get both drunk and end up sleeping with each other. Yiannis likes her but now she is confused because she totally loves her partner but she also can't resist the temptation of being with a man. Meanwhile one of Yiannis's dad has had an affair with...

This month has been really bad for me as far gay movies are concerned. I dont remember watching any decent film in a while. And now I am adding one more to that list of films. This film is about Russians who migrated to Greece after the demise of USSR. The parents speak mostly Greek, but the teenage children speak a hybrid Russian-Greek language which reflects their lack of identity and marginalization in Greece. The focal person of the film is Sasha who refers to himself as Rosa Ponds in interview. A beautiful young man with many conflicts he seems to be seeking his identity. He and his friends move from drugs to petty crime to criminal involvement with prostitution (of both gay and straight forms). The boys become involved as both victims and perpetrators of abusive behavior, yet there is something in the nature of Sasha that makes us hope his life will even out. The world he and his gang try to conquer "from the edge of the city" soon hits back mercilessly, and their live...