Movie Reviews -
Gay Themed

By the law of averages, since the recent BL series' that I have seen were mostly all good ones, Sooner's or later I had to chance upon a bad one. Sakristan was so far one Filipino series that was underwhelming and poorly made. Joining that list is this series, which is so badly acted and directed. At 7 episodes, about 30 minutes each, I personally felt really tortured sitting through it. I wonder, if people who have understanding of local significance of the political aspect of bits of it, will find it more simulating that I did. Two straight boys Benjo and Emil have been assigned to be thesis partners by their professor. Emil, being not financially capable to do online research reluctantly agreed to stay in Benjo's affluent penthouse unit. When a couple turned positive to COVID-19, the building where Benjo's penthouse was situated was locked down for a month, Emil is forced to stay longer with Benjo. With constant interruptions from Benjo's mother's secretary...

Some films just touch your heart simply because they are told with such dignity, respect ad sincerity that its impossible to not be moved by them. Yes, some of these films go slow and may make you feel uncomfortable, but the idea is to make them as realistic as possible. This film is a transgender immigrant love story told with utmost respect and dignity that stories of this nature deserve. Olivia, is an undocumented Filipino immigrant in Brooklyn. She is caregiver for an old Russian lady. She is saving money to send back home to her mother and also paying a man, who can eventually marry her to secure a green card. Her plans fall apart when the latter doesn't materialize. And in Trump's era Olivia lives in fear that the shadow of ICE could darken her door at any minute. Arrivals of Alex, the old lady's grandson changes things. He is shown to be a carefree, alcohol loving adult whose wild-is manners break Olivia's routine of taking care of the old lady. A tentative, extr...

Pinoy BL series are taking over the Thai ones in similar genre. With high production qualities, really charming actors both in terms of looks and talent and innovative stories that are beyond university life. The stories and the treatment is what I look out for. And when you have Kokoy De Santos (Gameboy fame), of course, my anticipation was quite a bit high for this show. The show in its 6 episodes of about 25-30 minutes each does try to cover topics like gender identities, sexual orientations, and sexual expressions; and even suicidal tendencies. Sure that a lot to pack in a small series, but it does quite a decent job of it. Charming but timid college student Mando is your typical hopeless romantic and dreams of a guy. One day he meets Barry, an out-and-proud basketball star who is practically a prince from a fairytale and looks similar to the guy form his dreams. Except Barry has a boyfriend. Mando gets cast in the role of Romeo in the college play where Juliet is played by Krisha....

Love it or hate it, but you really can't ignore the fact that this film came in 1957. In 50's you guys.. Can you imagine the subject of homosexuality (without being uttered the word in the film) was as taboo as anything. Sure you could think of this as a propaganda film, but you can't ignore that a subject like this was a huge risk back then. It was released with multiple titles in various parts of the world. 17 year old Klaus is a brilliant student and a gifted painter but to his father, who only understands money, Klaus is not normal since he doesn't bring home any girlfriend. Klaus spends most of his free time with Manfred, a low academic achiever raised by a relatively poor single mother. The two boys share an interest in the arts. Klaus protects Manfred from bullying as well. Klaus' parents get more worried when they learn that Klaus has been introduced to an antique dealer Boris, who hosts all male get togethers with electronic music and wrestling by young men...

This was probably an interesting concept, but somehow something felt missing in this 21 episode mini series, ranging from 5-15 minutes each episode. It is very very episodic in nature, which according to me, fails to keep a connection. Its slow, fluffy and a bit cheesy. Tops is a young man who has been fascinated by cooking.  He finds happiness in cooking delicious and tasty food with great care.  Win is young, playful, and loves music. He dreams of becoming a world-class musician. Chance encounter and the two of them end up becoming room mates. Win wants someone who doesn't get disturbed by music and Tops want someone who can taste his food to provide feedback. Over the course of their time together, we see how they encourage each other for their passion in life with Win constantly providing feedback to some of themes amazing coking that Tops does and similarly Tops push Win to chase his dreams. Somewhere in the process they both realize that they do like each others company ...

This is the second of the Arthur J. Bressan, Jr.'s film that has been restored. His cinema traditionally has been a look into an often forgotten corner of gay cinema: The erotic film that offers a full package of story, sex, and soul; as written in my review below. Larry re-reads the letters he didn’t dare send to his imprisoned lover, remembering how sensual & beautiful life with Richard once was. Richard, behind bars, yearns for Larry and imagines him near. Now Richard is being released. Together again, will Larry and Richard find the love they once shared? The reason Larry doesn't send the letters is for the fear that they could mark him for abuse inside the prison. Larry has been counseled to type his letters and sign a woman's name to them, but he doesn't want to do that; he prefers to pour out his honest feelings in his own voice, and save his letters as a homecoming present for his man. In between all this, of course we have more than plenty of sexual encount...

Apparently, this is a gay landmark film from the 70s. Somehow I would label this this as an aesthetic porn with a nice sweet storyline given the time period. The story is very basic, but other than that it's 75% full on sex scenes, so anyone who disagrees with calling it a porn should be questioned. Tom is a 28 year old single man in SF. He is single and spends his time between clubs, bars and bathhouses on the weekend. He puts an ad in a local newspaper using a Walt Whitman poem. The ad is responded to by an 18 year old boy Robert. He is shy, naive, very new to the whole gay scene, just coming to terms with his sexuality and soon the exchange of letters begin. What unfolds in the first half of the film, in pristine black-and-white cinematography, is the lives of the two men, their fantasies and desires, the letters they send back and forth, and their eventual meeting at the popular gay spot Land’s End. Yes, the film, which is shot on real locations, gives us a realistic portrayal ...

A love story that transgresses time and death in order to explore various individual resistances and social restrictions that affect gay relationships, this Korean film was remade in Thai as 'Dew' years later and I have reviewed that here . Call it time lapse or better technology or better grasp of the subject, I feel both in terms of storyline and treatment, the Thai version was better, not that it great by any means. The sexuality bits are slightly changed.  The year is 1983 and normally shy boy In-woo accidentally meets a girl Tae-hee and they both madly fall in love with each other. Despite their shy nature, they both know that they are soulmates and decide to be together forever. However, later we are told that Tae-hee died in a very tragic accident. 17 years later now, In-woo joins a school as a Maths teacher. He is happily married now with a daughter. Because of his kindness and sincerity, he soon gets a good reputation among his students. But every time he sees one of h...

This series was way too melodramatic than it really needed to be. With dialogues being constantly said in mind and not spoken, and a hurried yet slow screenplay, I felt that this series had a lot of potential. Unfortunately, personally I was quite underwhelmed by the whole thing. South Korea still has a lot of catching up to do to produce good BL content. This series is 8 episodes of about 15 minutes each. The series is based in a world where few people suffer from color luminance. Monos, as they are called, see only shades of gray, black, and white. The only way Monos can see color is if they come into contact with their Probe. Probes are soulmates who bring color into their Monos’ lives, often sparking a dangerous behavior or obsession. Yeon-woo is a Mono, whose mother was the same and is missing for a few years. He now lives with his aunt. When he joins his new school, his meeting with Yoo-han changes things. Yeon-woo is overwhelmed by the unexpected rush of emotions he feels every ...

Pinoy BL series seem to be catching up to the popularity of the Thai shows. And I must say that they are doing a pretty good job at it. Where Thai series started to get repetitive with so many shows based in a college setting with seemingly similar storylines, Pinoy series are offering the viewers with new and interesting stories and some really good sets and surroundings. This series was 8 episodes of about 25-20 minutes each. Karl, a 19-year old introvert architecture student is in the middle of an identity crisis. Prior to the start of the second semester in college and forced by his parents, he moves into his uncle's condominium unit so that he can learn to be financially independent. Karl takes on odd jobs online to do so. But when one of his major clients suddenly goes MIA, he is left short on funds and without a means to pay for his utilities. An opportunity presents itself when his cocky neighbor Vlad has to hide from his family and proposes to share Karl's space for th...

A Canadian English film with a French title? I am not sure of the reason behind it, but oh well, such is life. The film is not purely a queer themed film, but since one of the two characters is gay, it qualifies in my rules to be reviewed here. The story is about two friends and a couple of others 30-something youngsters in Canada trying to get a grip on their sexuality and place in the world. David, a 30ish gay man is waiter by profession. He was a child actor but has totally given up on it. He spends most of his nights in different clubs looking for casual hookups. He spends most of the time with the 18 year old busboy who works with him and is clearly has hots for him. David's roommate is Candy, straight girl, book reviewer and David's ex-lover from another life time. She still years for David and feels no man is good enough for her. She experiments with a lesbian Jerry who completely falls for her while also flirting with a bartender who angers Candy when he doesn’t want to...

What started off as an artsy poetic dreamy romantic drama very quickly became confusing, tiring and wtf! The film was truly an artistic film where you could praise the way shots were filmed, dances were choreographed, but if you ask me what the film was about, I would have no idea. Emiliano is a documentary director, who apparently has a thing for young male dancers. He lays his smoldering eyes on the hot young Octavio and the two quickly begin an affair. Octavio becomes emotionally attached, to his eventual disappointment, to the philandering Emiliano, who also makes no secret of his disdain of commitment, but asking to rent a boy for threesome and other such incidents. Time passes, and Octavio moves on to dance school while Emiliano finds himself floundering and stuck in a relationship with a hustler named. Things between Octavio and Emiliano eventually come full circle, but not before an odd, lengthy film-within-a-film glimpse of Emiliano’s latest, sexually-explicit production. (Are...

Released back in 1982, this film is a gay themed cop "buddy" film. There are only a handful of films from the 80s which handled the queer theme head on (whether you agree with the portrayal or not is a different issue), so I was quite impressed. You can find all sorts of stereotypes in the films and quite a few are stuff that people can find offense to, but don't forget, the film is like almost 40 years old. After the police department is criticized for failing to solve the murder of a gay man, the Chief assigns the clichéd manly Detective Sergeant Benson to go undercover with the gay desk officer, Kerwin. Kerwin naively believes that he is closeted, although the entire Department knows about his sexual identity. Naturally, this means that the two will spend the remainder of the film bonding with each other, while tracking down clues about the killer. For the most part, Benson works through his homophobia by uttering homophobic remarks whenever he gets angry and having se...

Before I Love You: Rain x Storm (Thailand) Rain, a freshman, has a crush on his senior, Storm. He follows him everywhere. One day, Rain finally finds the courage to confess his love for Rain, but ends up chickening out in the end. After cornering Storm in a bathroom to make amends, Rain finally confesses, but will it be enough to win over Storms affection? Before I Love You: Phu x Tawan(Thailand) Friend zone almost penetrates every molecule of love, but Phu and Tawan will take us out of that zone. How? Before I Love You: Mek x Mork (Thailand) Mork has feelings for Mek, but does not know how to see if Mek will like him back. With the help of two female friends, a scheme is hatched to get Mek to like Mork. After Mork convinces Mek to play a drinking game that he ends up losing, Mork sees his chance to ask Mek about his feelings. However, Mek was aware of the scheme the entire time. He agrees to see if he has feelings for Mork by kissing him, much to the delight of Mork and the girls. Wil...

Even after watching quite a bit of gay themed characters and films from both China and Japan, I don't know why, every single time I am surprised. Maybe, because in my mind, the subject is so taboo there, that I look forward to anything from these two countries. Sadly, its been mixed bag so far. This film deals with the study of gay make hustlers in contemporary China, a theme that could have been interesting but this film is utterly bland. In modern-day Beijing, two boys from the same family end up on opposite ends of the same moral spectrum. Xiao Bo turns to a life of prostitution because he has this idea that men, like women, have a duty to fulfill their destiny as mammals by 'feeding' others.. His brother Dabin is an Evangelical Christian who wants to save his brother losing himself completely. Scheming to convince the boys of Beijing to reform their ways and find a path to happiness that doesn’t force them to sell their bodies on the streets, Dabin himself gets involved...