Movie Reviews -
Gay Themed

Part of a trilogy, one of which I have already reviewed in my blog, this film is about two colleagues with very different approaches to sex and romance. Honest, thoughtful, and daringly talky as it observes modern dating customs in the age of apps, this may test your patience because it is heavily dialogue focused and a lot of time it also feels like the film maker wants to give an ode to city of Oslo, just like his previous film 'Sex' was. I wouldn't call this specifically a gay themed film, but one of the characters is gay and we do get an insight on gay perspective around sex, love, relationships through his perspective which is interesting. The film starts with Marianne, a physician specializing in urology, giving a patient the news about prostate cancer. The make nurse Tor spots that the patient may not have understood and absorbed what has just been told to him, and makes sure to seek him out to get further clarifications. The subtle scene tells us that Marianne may u...

In this aptly titled film 'Sex', the story unfolds against the backdrop of modern urban Norway.  Through clever wordplay, the film challenges conventional notions of masculinity and societal norms, regardless of whether the characters identify as heterosexual or homosexual. To be honest, this film would have been better suited as a theatre play. Th film is extremely heavy on dialogues and conversation and after a while, I was wondering if "can we just move on please!". More on that later. Two chimney sweeps, both in monogamous, heterosexual marriages, find themselves in situations that challenge their perspectives on sexuality and gender norms. One of them has been having a series of dreams in which he is in a passionate relationship with David Bowie who makes him feel like a woman, while the other recently had a sexual encounter with a male client, an unexpected but surprisingly wonderful experience, which gets tarnished as soon as he tells his wife about it. Neither...

A journey of self discovery about a 19 year old Polish young boy working in Norway. The film tries to look at multiple social factors, your upbringing, surroundings etc and try and highlight why it's hard for our main character to come out and be open about his sexuality. The film revolves around young and queer individuals, vulnerability, and what it means to be an outsider. It balances these themes successfully and raises important questions while hinting at answers. The film also explores the tension between traditional masculinity and queerness, as well as the conflicts arising from national and social boundaries. Norwegian Dream is an impressive film with a strong message. 19 year old Robert has just moved from Poland to Norway to wrk in a fish factory, like many other immigrants form his country to support his family back home since he and his mother have huge debt. He is hiding his sexuality, because he has noticed how his friends make fun of Ivar, an out and proud man, work...

This film has a paper thing plot. The speed at which the film moves, tests your patience. I am really not sure what was the whole point behind making this film. This could easily have been trimmed into a 15–20 minutes short story and still the message could have been delivered, if there was any. J and Jo are 2 guys who arrive at the top of a mountain wit full gear ready for hiking. We don't know the relationship yet, but soon through scattered conversations and Jo’s journal entries, we find that these two young men have spent the night together after meeting in a bar. Jo has agreed to follow J on an impromptu hike up the mountains, intrigued by such an unconventional and spontaneous approach to the awkward morning after casual sex. J is crippled by self-loathing because of an earlier relationship while Jo is overwhelmed with the need for true love. Soon they both start to wonder if there is anything at all that they liked in the other person. Their trip soon becomes a psycho...

Thanks to one of my blog followers lina, I finally managed to watch the third  season of the show ‘Skam’ which apparently translates to ‘Shame’. My initial thoughts, (a) Why didn’t I watch this series sooner (b) How do I now find time to watch the first two seasons.? For those unaware of the show, like I was till a few days back, this is a hit Norwegian show, a cross between TV/online/web series that focusses on lives on teenagers studying in a high school. Each season focusses on a different character and tackles various issues. The main theme of season 3 is the gay storyline and this is how I came to know about the show in the first place. Its 10 episodes with each episode being 20-25 minutes each. Since I haven’t seen the show’s first 2 seasons, my review will be based on this season as an individual. The main character of this season is Isak, who hangs out with his close group of 3 other male friends. He flirts with one of the popular girls Emma, but very soon we realize t...

A Norwegian gay themed film. Now this should be interesting. And interesting it was till I thought they spent too much time in detailing out the blackmailing and all that was going on in the movie. It feels that the film-maker wanted to cover every aspect of Sebastian's life, which is fine but then it becomes hard for the viewer to keep a track of everything that's going on. Sebastian had a poor childhood. When he grows up, money is always on his mind and he will do anything for it. His best friend is Moon, who was smuggled for sex trade from Thailand. They met and a gym and have become good friends ever since. Sebastian is in a relationship with an old powerful man named Wilhelm. Initially started for money, this relationship is all about love and respect for each other. But Sebastian wants more. He along with Moon chalks out a plan, where Sebastian will be an escort to famous, elite, rich and powerful men and then blackmail them. His plan goes ok for a few times. Despite...

What i liked best about this film that it was not your regular run-of-mill coming of age story. It was a film with maturity and a very authentic feel to it in which many of the scenes and the characters were handled. Till now it is very hard for me to say whether our lead character was bi, gay or even just straight. There are moments when you just fall in love with a person. There is no reason behind it, sometimes sex of the person doesn't even matter. You just feel a connection and this film tries to give us a portrayal of that. Jarle is a regular teenager, who is a part of a band with 2 of his good friends. He also has a girlfriend with whom he is very much in love with. Enter Yngve, a new student in the class and for some strange reason, Jarle gets instantly attracted to him. He wants to do everything that Yngve does, so much so that he starts missing his rock band practices and even starts avoiding his girlfriend. Till this point, Yngve has not given any hint that his either ga...