Movie Reviews -
Gay Themed

For those in the LGBTQ+ community who reside in the West, the greater freedoms and civil liberties that have emerged in recent decades have made life more fulfilling for this once-persecuted constituency. But, for those who live in more conservative lands, such rights and privileges have been slower to surface (and in fewer numbers at that). This is true even in somewhat more lenient countries like Turkey, where the somewhat more tolerant and cosmopolitan nature of cities like Istanbul have shown some progress but still lag behind other locales. This has compelled gay, transgender and bisexual individuals to continue to lead more subdued lives than their Western counterparts, keeping low profiles and even unwillingly engaging in traditional marriages to give themselves socially acceptable cover, particularly in more rural and remote areas. This is Not Me tells the story of unhappy gay men who have had to marry women to hide their sexual orientation in the face of societal and family pr...

This script was likely written as a play and pretty much plays out like that. A film with just 3 characters in a large room just talking. Sounds boring, isn't it? But trust me it is not. It is such a wordplay. With each of these conversations layers and layers of deceit, truths, lies, friendships, love, relationships all come out. The title LCV is like RSVP in English, which is an interesting title for sure for such a film. Semih (a pilot) and Ceren (flight attendant) are about to get married. Semi and his best man Mert are spending time getting ready whenever Ceren also walks in saying she needs a break form her family. With the three of them together,   Mert, begins questioning if the couple is really ready for this marriage. He pokes and makes them question fifths is too soon or are they marrying under family pressure. A weird seed gets planted but Mert doesn't stop here. He then asks each of them if they have ever cheated. Of course, both say no, but slowly the players are ...

I have a fascination towards Turkish films ever since I lived there for few years. Although there have been a very few gay films from the country, once in a while they do come up with decent surprises. This little small budget film running at just over an hour is one such similar film. The basic premise of the film is very simple and straight forward. Two former high school buddies meet for dinner in a cozy restaurant after 17 years. One of them has just had a baby and they were able to connect through social media. When asked about his wife, the other friend very casually says that he is gay, used to have a boyfriend but is now single. As they drink and talk they realize another life is possible on a land where toxic masculinity does not exist. They represent the great divide in Turkish gay society: The lonely self-declared homosexuals and the married hypocrites. While they talk more anymore, we realize that. They might share a history from high school. As the gay man says that they w...

This documentary has its heart in the right place but gosh! It is so bland and boring to watch. Don't get me wring, like I said, these stories are important to be told, but if you want the attention of your audience, you do have to put in that extra effort. What's the point if no one is even gonna watch it. Istanbul and Turkey will always have a special place in my heart, so a documentary from the country focusing on o parents of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender individuals, and the intimate stories they share in front of the camera does sound good. We meet about 7-8 parents, who recount their growing up years and how and when they found out their kids were gay, lesbian, trans etc. They share their experiences very intimately, recounting every little detail (sometimes hard to talk about). And share their stories. They are personal. And then they talk about how through support groups, they eventually got to know one another. How these groups are helping not just kids but m...

Based on the story and summary of the film, I honestly would not have reviewed this as a gay film, but then I found that this film was actually screened at a lot of international LGBT film festivals. So< I guess, at some angle, the makers were trying to cache in on the queer angle, although just like everything else, this film is a lot about emotions, relations, family an individuality than anything else. Sinan & Selma are a couple, who are happy on surface. She is a doctor treating refugees and he works in a shipping industry undergoing major changes. Their son, teenage 17 year old Umut, is a intelligent and loves water polo hoping to get scholarship out of it to go to US for further studies. We are clearly not told but both parents are probably having affairs, they are both indifferent to one another but its their son Umut that keeps them together. One day Umut comes to help a young boy being bullied and beaten up. One of his teammate takes a photo of the moment compassionate ...

First things first. Although I am reviewing the film here, I personally do not wanna classify this film as a gay film. The lead of the film is gay, yes, but thats all the extent of gayness that is to the film. This beautiful film is so much more than that. I will strongly recommend this film as it delves into human bonding and how e are all special and bring a change to each other's life. Temmuz is an openly gay sculptor living at a flat with his dog in Istanbul. He enjoys a carefree attitude to his work and also to his relationship to his boyfriend.  This bohemian lifestyle and has a happy go lucky, carefree, eccentric nature gets him into trouble eventually leading him to be abandoned by his boyfriend via e-mail. He is given solace and affection by her wealthy mother, who is fully supportive of him, and best friend and co-worker, Beste. Temmus is constantly haunted in his dreams by a mystery man who wants his help and is asking him to come to him. At sea one day hanging with...

This film is Ferzan Ozpetek's first film. I have mentioned numerous time on this blog on my fascination for the films he has directed, so I was eagerly looking forward to watching this film as this was his debut. I must say, my expectations were completely met and I was again very happy and satisfied watching his cinema. There is some sort of authenticity, simplicity, complexity of relationships and the family values that make you watch his films and appreciate them. Francesco and his wife Marta live in Rome and they run a small design company. One day Francesco finds out that his long forgotten aunt Anita has died in Istanbul and has left him her house. When he reaches Istanbul, he discovers that the house is actually an old hamam, in an old original part of Istanbul. Due to the downfall of the tradition, the hamam lost its appeal and had to be closed down. Francesco also finds the letters that his aunt wrote to his mom but never posted. He meets the family who was taking car...

I watched a gay film after a really really long time. And I am glad that it wasn't a bad one. I was hesitant on which movie to pick up, since there was long break but thankfully, this film almost met my expectations. I guess the trick is not to have huge expectations in the first place. The film with hits Turkish background became even more appealing to me for reasons known to people who know me. The film deals with social and religious equality for gays, religious fundamentalism and about divided identities. Film's protagonist is Ibrahim, a Turkish origin guy in Belgium who would rather be called as Bram and identified as Belgian. He is Muslim and is gay. With this the platform is set. He is smitten by Kevin, the son of a woman running a local diner. They become friends but soon we also find out that Bram is all set to marry his cousin back in Turkey. Bram's family is traditional Turkish family. His younger brother Furkan is an angry teenager, who skips school, commits ...

This was a fantastic film. Inspired by true events and story of Ahmed Yildiz who was murdered for being gay, this is a heart wrenching story. I am not sure how the whole gay scene in Turkey is like but I do know that all the military scenes that were shown for gays are pretty real. The fact that my boyfriend did go for the turkish military and had some interesting tidbits to share made this film a close to home film. Can is a free spirited youngster, who is trying o avoid military and is hiding at his aunt's home. He works as a zenne (male belly dancer) in a nightclub. He is trying to hide from cops and thats the reason he works at night. We also have a German photographer Daniel, who himself is trying to run away from his past and is spending time in Istanbul. FInally we have Ahmet, a university student in Istanbul, born and raised in very traditional family in South-Eastern Turkey. As the friendship between the trip progresses, the viewers are shown some other facets of their lif...