Movie Reviews -
Gay Themed

This is a very unusual and a very personal documentary. New Zealand filmmaker Paul Oremland, now in his 60s, looks back on 40 years of gay history by interviewing men he's had sex with over the years. He decides to make a list of 100 men he has slept with, primarily in a chronological order that they appeared in his life, except for of course top 10, which were his real top 10.  Growing up in 70s in New Zealand, homosexuality was generally viewed as an aberration. But still mostly men found ways to find a sexual partner. And even in those less tolerant days, there were people who had happy stories to share. As Paul moved from NZ to London to film making to multiple trips around the world, he recounts and even tracks some of these men to give interviews for this documentary.  While on the surface it’s a highly personal tale of one man’s liaisons, in the course of the telling, the tale encompasses profound societal and legal changes from the 1970s to the present day, and how qui...

On the surface of it, this film may feel another gay love story, but this is so much more. Instead it was a tender exploration of identity, love, forgiveness, prejudice and community centered around the custody battle for a bubbly, head-strong 6-year-old girl. Gender-preference did play a big role in plot and character development, but the underlying themes felt more universal. And this is what Maes the film exciting. We saw the prequel, a mini series, that I reviewed a few days back. The film starts with Nagisa and Shun living together in university but out of the blue Nagisa asks them to break up leaving Shun surprised and heart broken. Many years have passed since and now Shun lives a live of aloofness and anonymity in a very small town. Suddenly one day Nagisa shows up with his 6 year old daughter at his doorstep. He informs Shun that he had met a girl, fathered a girl, has been extremely happy but now the couple is getting a divorce. Initially confused, Shun allows them to stay wi...

Movies in the name of political statements manifesting gender, arts and pornography is not my cup of tea. All I end up doing is roll my eyes and constantly winder why was this film made and is there really anyone out here who is going watch this and will have anything decent to say about it. Acually I am not even sure if this was really a ilm or a documentary. It felt neither honestly.  I tried to make sense of what I just saw, and I could not so the synopsis below is being copied from internet. Goyo Anchou's film adjusts that bombastic beginning to its plot: a kid falls in love with a member of an anarchist cell, where everyone conspired to undermine the system of sexist and classist inequalities. What the film builds from there (with its documentary images of riots and anti-patriarchal slogans bombarding the screen) invokes the ancestors of militant cinema from the '60s and' 70s. But while the legacy of that Argentine tradition protected a hetero and masculine perspective...

The timelines in this film is all over the place. The film constantly moves around between 2201, 2003, 2009 and 2010. Non-linear format is not something new and we have seen it before, but here it just happens every so 5 minutes that after a while, you start questioning that whether this non-linear narration was even necessary. I am guessing this is based on a true story or something but I am not sure. From the subject perspective, the makers definitely had something interesting but the weird execution falters to a large extent. Lars and Roland are a couple living in Berlin who have been together for over 6 years ago. Film starts with Lars in jail and a case going on him for murder of three young men and attempted murder of two. Through multiple flashbacks, we find out what really happened and also our perspective of what really the truth is. Lars and Roland had met in a small town many years back along two of other Roalnd's friends who are not very friendly with Lars. The couple, ...

Quite a few times when you watch a film focussing on a couple, usually the lead is just one of them. The other person ends up being the very strong secondary role (also known as parallel), but really film focuses on one. This film was interesting in the sense that the focus here is on both leads equally. We are made to understand the problems, ups and downs, challenges etc happening in both their worlds, so that we as an audience can find balance in our understanding. Eric is grieving. He is separated from his wife (and are now very close friends), but the real reason is the loss of his father. He lives in this small town where everyone stands for each other. He struggles in his everyday life and in hopes of better future for his town starts posting videos online. They are seen by Drew, who used to study with Eric. In fact they were best of friends but Drew ran away from the small town in hopes of better future . Now successful, he wishes to reconnect with Eric, though we don't rea...

Continuing the trend of good BL stories, this 5 episode mini series of about 22 minutes each is a very welcome addition to the list of BL stories that can be added to the recommended list. The series is very endearing, to the point, with very little to no distractions from what the makers really want to say. Sometimes you feel , certain characters are added just for the sake of it, but eventually they all end up having a purpose in the bigger picture and I loved this the most about this series. 17 year old Nagisa lives alone in a seaside town. A huge fan of surfing, he does part time jobs to survive, including a hostel and surf board rental store. He is also friends with daughter of the owner Chika, who secretly likes Nagusi. Enter Shun, another teenage boy visiting his father, who unexpectedly has to leave for a business trip. When Chika causes Shun to lose his keys leaving him unable to re-enter his dad’s apartment, she invites him to stay at her home with her parents and hence ends ...

There are quite a few trash American horror films that cater primarily to gay audience by adding oodles of sex scenes and hot Bodie to stare at. This Filipino film falls in the similar genre, the only difference being that the direction and acting is not as dumb and bad as American films. But that doesn't mean that the film is any good. Dino is a caregiver nurse who moves to a small town to care for old man Don Filipo. Another guy Obet lives in the same house who is cook, cleaner and everything else. Dino feels that he keep seeing some girl soaked in blood and also sees her in his dreams. Don Filipo's grandson Filip occasionally visits them unannounced. Dino meets a girl Mia in town and falls in Love, but Obet is also falling for Dino. Young girls and some boys have been missing from village and rumor is that it has something to do with Don Filipo and his house. We soon see that its the combination of Don Filipo and Obet who have been killing young people in hunt for Don Filipo...

E vissero (Italy) A colorful and lively short film about asking uncomfortable questions in a daft and funny way. It depicts a conversation between two boys, Merry and Happy, during which they explore the themes of freedom, prejudice, social scrutiny and passion for one another. I'll Be With You (Korea) Two friends attend a funeral of a friend who committed suicide. The incident brings these two guys closer. Night of Love (Israel) Yonatan abandons the army in an attempt to reunite with his ex-boyfriend but finds himself alone in Tel Aviv, without a place to sleep. Broken and confused, he goes on a wild night's journey looking for consolation. HOT! The Turning Road (Korea) Soon-ho works part-time at the Chinese restaurant. Going for his first delivery, he falls for Yu-jin who answers the door, and Yu-jin can tell that Soon-ho is gay. U Up? (Hungary) Two young men meet for casual sexual intercourse. The physical connection is undeniable. A moment changes everything and a decision ...

This film is from way back 1997 and I will not be surprised if this is the first and probably the only few gay themed films I know of from Western African continent. The film is very much out there. It does seem low on production values and slightly amateurish, but maybe that's just how things were. There in the country back then. So I watched this film with a very open mind. Manga and Sory are two young men studying in school and very much in love with each other. Manga tells his widowed mother of the relationship, and Sory tells his father. Both parents forbid their sons to see each other again. Surprisingly their classmates are very supportive of the relationship. Manga's mother turns to witchcraft to cure her son, and he unsuccessfully undergoes a lengthy form of aversion therapy over multiple years. We don't see much of Sory during this time, although we do know that he is not interested in running his father's business but wants to do farming in a village. Manga m...

This is not really a gay centric film in the sense that the main story doesn't go around the gay characters , but it still deserves a review here because the underlying theme is gay friendly. You can call this an ally film. Plus, in my experience, Pinoy movies historically do have some very good goofy comedy, so why not! 30 year old, Kylie has a problem. All three of her last boyfriends eventually came out as gay and she is still single. All these guys were in closet and eventually came out and now she has a pretty good gaydar herself. Kylie is a wedding planner who works with her last crush Benj who is gay hiding in closet and apparently she is the only one who knows. When Benj's childhood friend Diego shows up with his fiancé Fiona to hire them as their wedding planners, Benj's hidden love and crush for Diego comes out. He begs Kylie to figure out in next few days if Diego is also gay or not. Diego is a very charming and handsome man with whom even Kylie gets smitten by. ...

This is one of the very few films who is bold enough to declare itself as a "homosexual film" in its opening credits. A film that very neutrally shows the realities about one and app gay hookup culture and what possibly can happen in such situations. The apps have their pros and cons and our lead sees both sides of it.  16 year old Sequin lives with his single father and has a very high sexual drive. He meets a lot of older men for quick gratifying sex. He now she is young and good looking and that gives him some sort of power over these men. His only rule is not to meet anyone twice. But one guy B starts fixating on him. Sequin receives an offer on the app to attend a 'Blue Room' a group sex session. He sees B there but while running away from him, he meets this young guy and he really enjoys having sex with him. Sequin is trying to find out about this guy, so he reaches out to B again on the app hoping he will find something. But little does he know this will be big...

Let me just say it right out the bat. This is one of best mini series out there that I have seen. I mean there are a few, but this one is right up there with some of the must watch stuff out there. I am shocked how this one skipped my radar and I hadn't seen it so far. Better late than never. It has also helped me end the dry spell of having not seen anything really good in a long long time. Trust French to come up with either stuff that really goes off the top of your head or something diametrically opposite that touches your heart to the core. Proud is Philippe Faucon’s three-part miniseries about fathers and sons living through three watershed moments in French LGBT history. The first episode is centered in 1981, where 17 year old Victor has decided to work with his father Charles at the construction site. Charles sees Victor with another boy Selim and he cannot digest his son being gay. Charles is a left wing politically liberal guy but refuses to allow those principles to play...

It's good to see that a lot of Indian film makers are trying to tackle subjects with LGBTQ+ themes but I think they still have a long way t o go before something substantial can be made which make a statement and eventual difference in the way people think. An interesting subject on paper is marred by average acting and sub par direction. Veer and Mansi meet at a low key LGBT party. Veer left his fiancé realizing that he can't go on lying about his sexuality. He is in love with his best friend who lives in Delhi (who also happens to be married to a woman because of social pressure). Mansi has also run away form home because of marriage pressure. Her lover lives in Delhi and she decides to go live with her, but turns out she is on a family trip to McLeodgunj. Mansi decides to take a road trip to surprise her and Veer also joins in as her chauffeur, but also since he desperately needs a break after his lover decided that he can't be out socially to be with him. Here starts a ...

A Man Who Defies the World of BL is a very peculiar drama with an unusual sense of humour, something silly, campy. It slips my mind but I have seen at least one more Japanese film/series with odd style of humor where the main protagonist also breaks the fourth wall. Told in an anthology format, each mini episode has a self-contained story that gently makes fun of the BL phenomenon. There are 4 episodes with 8 disconnected stories lasting about 2 hours. Our lead Mobu realizes that he lives in a BL world with unusually good looking guys around him and most couples. He likes girls so he keeps avoiding to meet gaze with boys to avoid someone hitting on him. He is also trying to protect his younger brother in this situation. There is no main story as such but we see series of funny hilarious scenes and situations where our lead Mobu is trying to avoid any awkward situation. We see stereotypes like 2 guys bumping into each other and falling in love, two guys hooking up after a bad group date...

Just when I thought I have seen all kinds of weird films, here comes this one. I saw this film (thankfully just an hour long) and I really have no idea what I just saw. The plot was confusing as hell. Constant jumps between current. Time, past time and the film shoot made it even more confusing and the fact that the actors look so similar to one another was not helping at all. Fang and Lin were sort of dating in college but things didn't go down well for them. Fang is now a film director and somehow manages to get Lin to act in his period film about two secret male lovers. Lin is now seeing another guy Hesen, who is also been signed as the other lead of the film. Fang records all Lin and Hesen activity including when they are making love. When Hesen finds out about this, he tries to kill Fang but Lin saves him and dies in the process. I am really not sure if this was in fact the story line of the film or not, but this is as best as I can summarize. Even the title of the film makes ...