Movie Reviews -
Gay Themed

The best thing about this film is the subtle yet very powerful story. This is a film dealt with sensitivity and feelings as we ride a roller coaster of emotions. An intense story of two 14-something boys. At that young age, the world and your own self changes at such a speed. Our protagonists feel the changes and experience love for the first time but because they are both boys, they have to keep it hidden away and given into the social pressure. 14 year old Ibra, originally Moroccan, left his country long time ago hoping for a better future in Spain. Living in shelters, fully settled, going to school, he is hoping his paper work will get done soon. Then we have Rafa, a young boy living with his parents. He hangs out with his group of friends inclusion best friend Guille. Rafa gets visibly uncomfortable overtime the friends talk about girls and going out with them. A chance encounter a nightclub is their first interaction, but the spark between them develops much later. Rafa wants...

What the fuck was this? sci-fi apparently but what utter crap. Ok, some people will call it artistic, ambitious and what not, but c’mmon; the subject of the film and premise has to make some sense for the normal movie watching audience. The film lost me completely within 15 minutes and I had to fast forward and watch the whole thing. What a sheer waste of time. Synopsis (copied from online, because I really do not have patience to write anything about this film): In a futurist world, the Thai kingdom has been transformed by ‘The Leader’ into 'the Realm of people who have done good deeds and earned merits'. It’s a nice place to be, even though the inhabitants are plagued by an indefinable nostalgia. In the old days, people could at least touch each other. Although the Realm has reached version 2.0, technical possibilities remain limited. This wondrous story of the future is interwoven with stories set in the present and past. As per the director and online forums, this fi...

What the hell was this film? When it ended I had a mixed feeling of relief and regret. Relief that it was over and regret for having bothered watching it. But then, I have seen much worse films, so this one at least didn’t give me a headache and didn’t make me feel wanting to punch the director. Evan is a young journalist who works for a gay magazine that covers the local community. He doesn’t get an offer from Gazette, his dream company but they do offer him a job of writing a piece about city’s night life. He knows that his colleague Aidan isa big circuit party man who writes about these pieces and could probably give him some insight. Aidan helps Evan meet Hunter, who is the king of the night clubs and hosts the best parties in the city. In hunter’s company, Evan finds out about all the hard work that goes into making these parties successful. Hunter, it seems likes Evan but Evan’s personality is so shy that he is completely oblivious to the admiration. In between all this, we ...

Yay!! My first gay film from another new country, this time Venezuela. I am not very sure whether this is the first LGBT themed film from the country or its that I couldn’t see any film yet. Whatever the case maybe, I am so happy that this film was made and that I got to see it. Its a beautiful, emotional film that shows celebration of diversity and love and also makes a point against homophobic attacks and discrimination. A perfect combination of love, romance, heartbreak, family, friendship intercepted with just the right amount of drama and few funny moments; this film will definitely touch you. The title actually translates as "Blue and Not So Pink," but has been dumbed down to "My Straight Son." Diego is a young and successful photographer and is very happy in his relationship with is partner Fabrizio. His life is quite happy with his love and 2 of his closest friends by his side, the transgendered Delirio and the beautiful Perla Marina who is still with h...

Wow!! This movie was incredible and that is solely because of the amazing chemistry between the 2 main protagonists. As you can tell by my blog that I have seen plenty of gay films, but the style of direction and the overall story and the way things have been handled is quite unique in my opinion. When the film started, I thought this was going nowhere and it was another one of those independent self-indulgent films (which it is) but somewhere along the line, it just completely grabbed my attention. There is nothing much to the story but it still got me totally absorbed in the world of these 2 young guys. Its apocalypse time and the world is going to end soon. People are fleeing (where?) and everyone is doing their own thing. Some people are staying together, some people are abandoning their families and everyone’s deepest fears and desires are coming out. 2 best friends Alex and Diego decide to spend the day together walking the streets of their city.  Alex is gay and shares ...

There are not many road-trip movies with gay theme, so this is a welcome change in that area, but unfortunately when it comes to material and story-line, film-makers are left with just a handful of subjects handling queer issues. This film falls in the coming-out and young guys falling involve category but set in the context of a road trip. Well, this at least makes it different. I also did like the idea of splitting the film in 8 different sections, each focussed on a certain theme of the overall film. James, open about his sexuality, lives with his overbearing mother, who he believes drove his father away. Jess on the other hand, is a confused young man, who keeps changing girlfriends, even getting one pregnant. The 2 boys meet for a hook-up initially but clearly James gets strong feelings for Jess. Jess, who is really fed up of his life with controlling parents and a nagging girlfriend, agrees to go on a weekend road-trip suggested by James. This road-trip becomes a journey of ...

I think this is the kind of film where it is important for the audience to know what they are actually getting into. And by that I mean, not just the storyline of the film but also a bit of history about the film and the subjects of the film. This film specifically relies too much on pieces of information about a then well-known Russian film-maker who was quite popular. And in this film, we get to see the unauthorised biography of what could have happened when he along with his crew visited Mexico to shoot for his next film. In 1931, Eisenstein, famous Russian director, drove from California to Guadajuato, after two years of unsuccessfully trying to get a production started in Hollywood. Eisenstein in a clownish and an eccentric  man who gets very fascinated by the country and finds too much similarities and differences between his motherland and Mexico. Canedo, is a handsome academician who has been assigned to the director to show him around and be his companion. The directo...

There are not many films that talk about homosexuality and Islam in the same breath. Personally, this is a topic that interests me and when I encounter a subject that deals with these 2 together, i usually go for it, hoping I will uncover something meaningful and interesting. Sadly, this really low budget french film does not do the trick. Karim, a sociology student in Paris is of Algerian origin. He is making a video documentary on homosexual relationships in Islamic cultures, and is having troubles finding subjects to interview. Most of his time, he spends with his girlfriend. After a few bad meetings, Karim encounters Farid, a gay, well-adjusted, quietly seductive handsome Algerian lad who not only agrees to be interviewed, but also finds ways to assist Karim with his project. Slowly spending time with Farid and spending time travelling in northern /Arabic part of Africa, Karim finally comes to explore and accept his own sexuality. The story of the film sounds very interestin...

I understand the passion that film -makers sometime invest in making of a film. Everyone has a different motivation and for some it may also be personal stories, but the problem arises when a restrained approach starts becoming too lethargic. This film about coming-out-story of a teenager to his friend, doesn’t really go anywhere at all for over an hour before it comes to the point and by then , I personally had lost almost all interest in either the characters or the story. Martin is sent by his father to retrieve some family document from the family of his deceased grandfather on the southern coast. His closest friend Tomaso decides to join him. They stay at their father’s beach house during this cold time. Almost first hour of the film focuses on the boys randomly walking streets of deserted town, killing time, drinking and smoking and finally picking up certain other young girls and a boy for an evening full of drinking. The next day when Martin goes to the family house again ...

Yay!! another first film from a new country. A coming-out gay film, there is nothing much new to this film honestly but what I admire about the film is the fact that someone in the country dared to make a film that even touches upon the gay aspect and treats it sensitively rather than making  mockery of it. Set in 1999, when one of the worst financial crisis hit Ecuador, W meet the shy teenager Juan Pablo who has come to spend his carnival holidays to his family house in the mountains of Ecuador. We find out that’s uncle, whose house he is staying at, is a banker who is locked up because of the bank scandal. Nevertheless, it doesn’t stop the family especially the kids to enjoy their vacation. Juan Pablo is constantly bullied by his cousins and he finally finds excitement through a chance encounter with Juano, a thief, when Juan Pablo saves him from his uncle’s escape while stealing tyre covers in the carnival party. The crew of the film then focuses on there growing friendship...

My first reaction after seeing this film was that I guessed the makers wanted to put this film in the same category of one of my favourite films "Weekend" but alas, this one didn't come any closer. The pretext and the synopsis of the film was quite interesting and to a very small extent, it did a decent job of keeping my interests hooked on. But then the film just kept going no-where. Actually, thats not correct, the film did move but the individuals reactions and behaviours would change so much at random that so many times it would just not make any sense. Oliver takes his boyfriend on one year James on a romantic break to his parents house in South of France. In France, they bump into Carline, James’ old friend who has been dumped by her boyfriend. The couple agree to let Caroline join them for their vacation but Olivier is less than happy at having a third person around for the duration. Olivier is definitely unhappy about the situation and him and Caroline clas...

Having read the synopsis of the film, I was quite intrigues. This subject could not be any more controversial just with its basic plot and theme. Unfortunately, the execution of the plot in the film does not play out as well as it does on paper. The resulting film is a lacklustre piece of jumbled ideas and mixed messages. That Larsens are a picture perfect family. Father Markus, mother Christina and their almost 12 year old daughter Elizabeth. They have a perfect house and a summer house (a little gazebo in the woods). But right from the beginning we see that there is something brewing in the foundation of this family.. We don’t see any direct ambushes but clearly its a dysfunctional family. A close friend of Markus is in deep financial trouble and Markus offers to help him with some money, but her may need more. Very casually , the friend mentions his boy Johannes to be nice to Elizabeth. When Markus meets the 12-year old boy at his home playing with Elizabeth, he feels affection...

You must have read my reviews of British shows ‘Cucumber’ & ‘Banana’. I finally managed to see the companion show to complete the trio. It is a documentary series that focuses on a range of sex attitudes in the twenty-first century from the viewpoint of everyday people.The show basically takes some of the characters from the 2 shows but mainly focuses on the real life sexuality with a fictional minisode also thrown into the mix. Every episode lasts about 12 minutes with a topic chosen and then getting views form each of the people being interviewed. The eight episodes focus on the following topics: - Good Sex, Bad Sex - Sex Talk - Not Having Sex (Asexuality) - Coming Out - Teenage Lust - Queer as Folk - Instasex - Filthy, Dirty Sex Every episode brought in a very different mindset. I liked the fact that a wide variety of people were talked to so that we get to experience a wide spectrum and their viewpoints, there, strengthening the belief that now two people are sam...

Talking To My Mother (USA) This film tells the story of a young man trapped in a culture clash. It explores the complicated relationships between Michael, a second-generation Chinese American man, his mother and Julianne, his girlfriend of two years, to whom he plans to propose. After a twist of fate, Julianne accidentally discovers Michael's secret of loving another man that would change their lives forever.  Will Michael be able to face the truth with his loved ones - and most importantly, himself, before it's too late? Mr. A (USA) A curious teenage boy Kenny finds his teacher’s profile on a gay dating website, while browsing through them with his girlfriend. Hidden feelings rise again within him and he makes an unexpected move on the teacher, that has some serious consequences. Yo Sólo Miro (Spain) [I Only Watch] Julia and Eduardo are married for a long time and they look like a conventional couple from the outside. Soon they realise that they may be total strang...

I really don’t understand what was the point behind making this film. It was like an extended promo for gay tourism in Frankfurt. Not just any gay tourism, but something that involves drugs and sex. The story can be summed in a very short time and this film if edited well could be like a promo for gay/sex/dug tourism in Frankfurt. Kris just lands in Frankfurt to work in an underwear shop. He meets Damiano who offers to show him around Frankfurt. the night ends in a gay club with G and sex. The next day he shows up with another friend David. The trio end up in a club, drink up G ad have hot passionate sex. The third day, the trio meets two of their other friends. This sis the only time they have some conversation where they all discuss their coming out stories. The night ends up in a gay club and surprise surprise, there is more G, following a full on orgy between the 5 guys. And thats pretty much it to the film. There is constant electronic music playing in the background which ...