Movie Reviews -
Gay Themed

Dante vs. Mohammed Ali (Netherlands) Twenty-year-old Wolf wants to dance, write poems and be the sweetest near Alexander. But he is living in the boxing village of the Netherlands. When he has to fight against his best friend Alexander during a weekly match, he refuses. A rematch is confirmed, which brings Wolf’s feelings and emotions to a boiling point. He tries to convince Alexander to join him leaving the village, but his overly romantic message runs into a wall. O Beijo do Príncipe (Brazil) [The Prince's Kiss] A Gothic Horror retelling of "Sleeping Beauty", in which Frankenstein's hunchbacked assistant falls in love with his master's latest monstrous creation, and tries to bring it to life through a true love's kiss. A silent weird film, can be avoided. Midnight Love (Thailand) Content, the son of a film company owner, falls in love with Cop, a handsome guy who is looking for a job position as a security guard. Though they are different in both social stat...

Five minutes into the film, and I felt that I have seen this story before. I did a bit of digging and realized that actually this film is adapted from a manga, which was also the source of a Japanese BL series Fujoshi, Ukkari Gei ni Kokuru; which I had watched and already reviewed on my blog. This is just the film version but a different production, with different actors. Reluctantly, I gave in and decided to watch in, knowing the story very well but also hoping that since its different makers, I will get to see something new. The stories exactly the same. Ando Jun is a high schooler and a closet gay. He has been having an affair with an older married man but with his friends he pretends to like girls. One day he meets a girl Miura at a book store who is buying a BL manga. He remembers her from her class. She is a fujoshi. Because of this meeting, an unlikely friendship develops between the two and Miura even confesses her love for Ando Jun, who accepts her proposal. He is in closet an...

Dog Valley is a feature-length documentary film about the 1988 kidnapping, torture, rape and murder of gay college student, Gordon Church. Set in a rural Mormon community in Southern Utah, Dog Valley examines one of the most brutal hate crimes in the United States. It explores the life of the victim and his legacy, and delves into the minds of the killers, Michael Archuleta and Lance Wood. It also shows the crimes' impact on the community and modern-day hate crimes legislation. Akin to the very famous Mathew Shepard story, I wasn't much aware of the gruesome hate murder of Gordon Church in Utah. A gay man, who was brutally murdered at the age of 28, this documentary tries to shed light on what really happened. The two main accused were Archuleta and Lance Wood. Interestingly when the body of Church was found, it was Lance, who went to cops and volunteered all the information to tell the cops on how Archuleta met Church, took him in car, armed him and eventually murdered him whi...

This actual series focuses on the life of a stripper turned firefighter trying to figure out who killed his brother. But god bless the person, who was kind enough to make a gay edit of the whole series and just focus on the storyline of Fabio and Gerardo. Even after the edit, the version is almost 2 hours 45 minutes long but is still quite engaging. The biggest advantage is that this story line felt pretty isolated and meant knowing anything at all about the main story, did not stop me from appreciating the focused gay sub-storyline of this show. I really wish more and more users, could possibly make gay edit versions of series which normally wouldn't qualify as LGBT show but have a substantial gay sub plot. Fabio is a young 20 year guy and son of Glorita, the proprietor of the local boarding house that is next to the fire station. And then we meet Gerardo, on whom Fabio has a huge crush and who is friendly with everyone. Except that Gerardo has a girlfriend who happens to be Fabio...

Yet another nonsense Thai drama with an outlandish nonsensical plot which makes absolutely no sense and even the juvenile romance doesn't develop. The characters are so random and outrageous that you don't even expect adults to tae some of those actions, forget 16-17 year olds as depicted in the show. This was so bad, that you can't even laugh it off as an amateur show. The bright side is that the show is only 6 episodes of about 18-20 minutes. A high school student Tang aspires to be a famous singer, but he has attitude problems and he thinks high of himself and is rude to others including his closest friends. One night, suddenly Tang stops seeing his own reflection in the mirror. Instead he sees some other teenage boy. But only he feels this issue. Others don't notice anything wrong. When Tang tells his friends about what happened, they don't believe him. Tang wants to get rid of his ailment, and tracks down the mysterious boy in his mirror reflection. This studen...

This Korean series has a gentle and warm love story that moves at a snails pace. Despite showing a lot of promise at multiple places, its basic plot lets things down and the romance really doesn't get its wings until the very last episode, by when its already too late. The actors are good, the premise was alright, but somehow it just fails to make it memorable and leave an impact of any sort. The show is 8 episodes of about 16-20 minutes each. Ki Soon runs a small restaurant both as a chef and owner. His good looks hav made the place popular but for some reason, his dislike of alcohol and his policy to not serve alcohol in his restaurant creates some rifts. He is also an introvert and refuses to give any interviews. Whatever anyone would say, he refuses to change his stance against alcohol policies. We also met Ji Hu, who is a foodie, absolutely loves his alcohol and works for. Marketing company of a liquor brand who are looking to partner with a new restaurant and chef. His boss a...

It feels like I have been watching a lot of AIDS related films/series of late for some reason, and they all impact you in different ways. This film specifically tells us what happens to the family and friends left behind after someone's death and how they cope up with it. Everyone has their own way of dealing with grief and sadness. It calls forth a sense of identification with each of the major characters in this story and makes us uncomfortable while providing avenues for insight and change. Gavin is dying of AIDS and is being helped day his close friend and business partner Anna and his caregiver friend Charlie. Also in the mix is Charlie's boyfriend Frank. It was Gavins wish for euthanasia to die with dignity, so the doctor is called and Gavin's mother, married brother Simon all show up. The euthanasia does not seem to be working and in desperation Charlie places a plastic bag over Gavin's head to hasten the requested death - a deed that will haunt Charlie and the r...

Clearly a show like KinnPorsche was an inspiration for this series, but sadly, this show is not even half as entertaining. It took me half-a-dozen episodes to understand where the makers were trying to go with the story, because the plot is all over the place. The series is so painfully predictable, that viewers would keep thinking maybe there are some clever twists saved for the last. There aren’t. It's simply a train wreck, that gets stretched beyond reason for on and on. With 10 episodes of each 40-45 minutes, this show gave me so much headache trying tp out things in perspective since it is just so all over the place. The show starts with a couple Din (a forest officer) and his lover Ken running from someone and being shot, fall off the cliff and presumed to be dead. Two years later, Ken is leading some secret mystery life and a mysterious stranger appears and starts to protect him. Somehow Ken feels connected to this person, but can't be sure. Then in all further episodes,...

This is one of those 2 actor film set in an apartment that could as well have been a play. This 1992 film and script solely relies on the dialogue heavy screenplay ad whether the two actors can really pull off the whole film on their own. Two young men Bryan and Brian meet at a bar, flirt and end up going to one of them's house for the night. Bryan gets on Brian's case for having given him a phony name earlier, thus setting off what amounts to an 87-minute, nonstop dialogue. Brian is an open, if not practicing, gay man, while Bryan is a married bisexual who needs the security and respectability of married life while venturing out for the occasional tryst. The whiny Brian has to deal with their engaging in unsafe sex, and the weight of the possible consequences provokes a conversation with the usual issues of commitment and the nature of relationships. Their conversation is marked by its candor and exploratory precision as the topics range from poetry, dream analysis, philosophy...

Starring John Hurt, this ITV film tells the secret story of First World War poets Siegfried Sassoon, Wilfred Owen and Robert Graves. Told in their own words, using their diaries, letters and poems; this film may not be everyone's cup of tea. Told in a very documentary-drama style where scenes have been enacted for audiences to connect, we are passively told their story. The three young men are gay budding poets, thrown together in battle. They soon lose their boyish innocence in the trenches. On the front line an officer’s life expectancy is barely six weeks. They all struggle to cope with the magnitude of the slaughter around them and forge deep, intense friendships. Together they give a voice to the rage of a generation. At the heart of the film is the story of Sassoon and Owen’s forbidden love affair, told through their passionate correspondence. John Hurt plays Sassoon in the 1960s, in the twilight years of his life. He is haunted by his experiences in the trenches and cannot o...

Sometime back I had seen the documentary about Patient Zero, a flight attendant from Canada nd how the whole AIDS thing unfolded.. This film is a fantasy musical (maybe comedy?) which tackles such subjects as homophobia, AIDS, the life of Sir Richard Francis Burton, and the ignorance that still exists about how AIDS came, and spread, through North America-- all wrapped up in a boy meets boy story., with a twist hat Pteint zero comes back from dead to clear his name. The film starts with a historical figure Burton, who translate erotic books and is obsessed with doing scientific study of penis size. He works in some museum and there is something going on about him modifying his museum based on patient zero. In meantime patient zero returns as ghost and wants to clarify his name. But no one can see him, except this Burton guy. Burton os convinced that Zero is a killer of some sorts, and agrees to help. Then there is this sudden thing about monkeys in museum and them being blamed for AIDS...

What started off as a very very enjoyable series with some great chemistry and amazing acting, why did it have to go downhill the last 2-3 episodes. If not for that, this would hav been an extremely high rated series for me. The memorable characters, breezy romance, and polished production create an easygoing atmosphere and is mostly enjoyable and memorable thanks to its leading 4 actors. At 10 episodes of about 35-40 minutes each, this otherwise solid drama would hav benefited if somehow its last few episodes could have avoided the cliched drama. Won Young is an office employee, who gets fired because of a misconduct by his boss (which he isn't aware of). To combat this, he decides to go on a vacation to a remote village. There he visits a pottery shop owned and run by a guy called Tae Joon.  Won Young soon figures out that TJ is the son of a famous painter and that his former company was trying to get a contract with him. Hoping to get his job back, he makes deal with old boss, i...

This Channel 4 documentary was one of many topics covered by the program '50 Shades of Gay' to mark the 50th anniversary of the decriminalization of homosexuality in Britain. Stephen Fry presents the show and is joined by seven recognizable faces from the gay community, who visit the buildings that have been instrumental in defining Britain’s gay history. I am bad with the names of the celebrities who pick their favorites but I will try to remember as much as I can about the buildings. The documentary starts with one of the most famous nightclub in London named Heaven. The priest who tells his own story with the club also talks to other patrons who remind them all , how as marginalized community this club has always provided them with a safe haven. One of the women then picks Shibden Hall, Yorkshire, where she learns about the revealing diaries of owner Anne Lister. We hear stories of how this women, was a successful lesbian business owner in the 80s. The next celebrity delves ...

A highly awkward blending of gay porn and political satire, I am very curious to know what was the pitch that the filmmaker made to whoever decided to finance this film. I have seen a lot of garbage, a lot of that can also be found here on my blog, but this one is almost down there almost challenging all the others in the category. I mean there was more than enough graphic sex, for this to not be termed as porno-'something' film. In the name of story, I am not even sure if there was a point being made. Some random dominatrix woman decided to call herself leader and sole female member of titular Berlin revolutionary group inspired by Reich, Marx and legendary 70s German anarcho-terrorist organisation. Some members of her gang kidnap a wealthy young man, whom she orders to have sex with another man, because “Heterosexuality is the opiate of the masses" (whatever that means). Pretty soon there are a few groups who become a subject to man to man sex. All this time random sloga...

Set during the Vietnam War in the 60s, This film essentially depicts the "Battle of Dong Ha," which is basically a fictionalized version of the attacks in the area of Dong Ha in early 1968. It takes the perspective of a gay soldier who served but actually immerses us in his experience as the war was happening. Having recently seen two very good movies based in military premise, somehow my expectations of this film were extremely high and unfortunately as what happens most times, they all came crashing down. From a story perspective, the film is more about about the actual war and the attacks. And in between all this we have the story of Sergeants Ian and John. We don't know much about their past or context but we know they are gay. It is never made very evident whether they are open or not, because they are certainly not try to hide it but also not really trying to not hide it. They have great mutual attraction and are almost a couple. Ian wants to become an officer and c...