Skip to main content

Posts

Snow Falling On Pumpkins

Set in a small town middle America, the film likely had an interesting idea with them but the execution of the film is so drab and boring that you just can't wait for the film to finish. Also, when you take a subject that has some medical ailment behind it, it's always advisable to do some research, which clearly this film failed to do. Alzheimer's rarely is a death sentence and more often than not the patients lead a long life. Anyway, back to the film now. Michael is in his mid 40s and is a gay romance novel writer. He meets James at a bookstore and dating/romance soon follows. Michael has been feeling bouts of sickness where he suddenly forgets things and stuff gets blocked out. When he gets checked, he is told that he has early onset Alzheimer's and that he will need support of people around him, who love him and will see mood swings and that his life expectancy is only about 6 years. He keeps the information to himself but confides in a couple of friends. One of wh...

The Red Envelope (Thai)

This film is the kind of slapstick comedy of errors, and to some extent, terrors, that occasionally bring a broad smile to the viewer’s face. Not to be taken seriously at all, a film like this is purely for entertainment purposes and entertainment it does provide. A light-hearted comedy with high farce, mildly progressive messaging, broad humour and slapstick gags, which also happens to have a ghost, this film brings laughs that are mostly effective. This film is remake of the Taiwanese film “Marry My Dead Body”, which I quite enjoyed actually. After waking from a nightmare, the late Titi’s grandma is told by a spiritual advisor that her son has unfinished business, which is likely getting married to a man. She’s instructed to leave a red envelope that fate will deliver to the right groom. Enter Menn, a hapless police informant whose love life is even more tragic than his career. He stumbles upon the envelope and is almost forced in to the marriage. On their wedding night, Menn is stun...

Gay Short Films : 123

Squared (USA) When hopeless romantic Tate, prepares to get hot and heavy with a man he meets off a phone app, things take a turn for the worse when they both discover they’re both tops. What starts off as a potential bedroom tango ultimately ends up in a battle of wits and strength to prove who’s pitching and who’s receiving. A bit racist since the white guy assumes that Asian guy will always bottom. The competition goes into muscle, who is hung, wrestling etc. Nao Precisa Pedir Desculpa (Brazil) [You Don't Have To Apologize] Rafa is a young transgender and gay man living in a small town. He has resigned himself to the belief that he will never find another man who accepts him, until he meets Henrique, a boy from São Paulo who seems to see Rafa for who he truly is. However, after the events of one night that lead to Rafa's death and subsequent return as a supernatural being, he realizes that he will never be accepted by cisgender society. Fueled by this realization and the circ...

Ponyboi

This film is supposed to be a thriller crime drama, which an intersex lead at the center of it all. The person is dealing with their childhood trauma and young adulthood 'trying to survive' stuff. Depending on how you see it, is either a film exploring nonbinary gender identity or a mesh-mash of a crime movie with a radically unorthodox queer protagonist. I wanted to like the film, but I felt like this film was trying to be a lot of things.  The film starts with us being introduced to Ponyboi, (who I first thought was trans female), who is a part time sex worker for New Jersey truck drivers and later arrives at the second job of laundromat. Ponyboi's best friend is the pregnant Angela, whose boyfriend Ninny also happens to be the pimp for Ponyboi (fucking them on the side). He is charming, sexy, alluring but also dangerous. It's valentines day and he asks Ponyboi to "tale care" of one of his clients with home cooked drugs. Things go wrong when this man dies be...

The Nature Of Us (Mini-Series)

This mini series is a tender ode to young love with individuals struggling with their identity and hopes. Told over 6 episodes of a total runtime of about 70 minutes. The series is about Elly and his first summer after high school and people he meets. We are not spooned on what is Elly's background. All we know is that he has been dealing with some sort of depression and some sort of estrangement from his mother.  Series starts with Elly’s best friend, Rowen, picking him up at the hospital. Elly is going to be staying with her for a while. The setting is a very small town. Here Rowen introduces Elly to Yonah, same age and a recently out young man. ON Rowen's insistence the two boys start to hang out, despite initial reluctance by Elly but Elly starts too slowly enjoy this. Yonah is not doing anything to cure his depression but the company helps. Yonah is a dreamer himself, who likes to read books and write poetry and dreams of traveling. Elly meanwhile had been  painter and ha...

Historia de dos Guerreros (Spanish) [Story of Two Warriors]

This film felt like an independent film with a runtime of just about an hour. On the plus side, the film just focuses on the story it wants to tell without having to stray into side plots. Sadly that is not enough to keep the focus of viewers. It felt like this could have ben a very good short film. The attempt, though noble, feels amateurish at various places. Despite the fact that the film doesn't drag, it still feels it could have ben tightly edited to make for a far better impact. The two good looking leads hold the film tightly together. The film is about the bond that forms between Ara, a local MMA fighter, and Kossi, a soccer player from Togo who faces hardship in Argentina. Ara, a local fighter notices an injured Kossi and somehow gets fascinated by him. It turns out that Kossi came here from Togo with a promise to join an elite football club that could change his life. But not only did the agent turn out be fraud, but now with the injury, he doesn't have place to live ...

Prey (Documentary) (Canada)

This documentary film following one survivor and his lawyer as they pursue justice through a public trial focusing on one perpetrator in particular, Father William Hodgson "Hod" Marshall, a retired priest and teacher, who several years ago pleaded guilty to sexually abusing 16 boys and one girl at schools in Toronto, Sudbury and Windsor. What distinguished the case was that the defendant was seeking punitive damages, for the first time in Canada, from a Church institution. The crux of the matter was that Marshall’s crimes had been reported a half-dozen times over the years, yet he was allowed to continue working, and abusing students. Most of the documentary focuses on the lawyer and the one survivor Rod MacLeod going through deliberations and how they want to have the church pay for what they did. They are both aware of plenty other situations where the church did out of court settlements but Rod wanted none of it. The doc takes us through the journey of the lawyer preparing...

Baban Baban Ban Vampire (Japanese)

Honestly I wouldn't call this a gay film at all. Categorizing this in BL genre is also pretty much borderline. There is no BL or romance as such, this film is more of a comedy that uses queer themes to explore a dangerous dynamic between the vampire and the boy. Adapted by a manga and an anime series of same name, I would not wanna see the anime now, especially since, there is in't too much of BL content here. Yes, it is funny but thats about it. Mori is a 450 year old vampire. Injured one day, he is taken home by a 5 year old boy Rihito. Since then, Mori has lived with Rihito and his family. He was given a cleaning job at their bathhouse. Mori works at night, rests during the day, and keeps a low-key routine. Mori has told the family he is vampire, but they all joke about it and cal it his 'persona'. Years have passed and Rihito is now 15. Mori always craves for young virgin blood and has his eyes on Rihito since he will turn 18 in three more years, but he also loves h...

Come Fly With Me (UK) (TV Series)

This mockumentary series, is not gay series. The two lead actors play almost all roles, including female and gay characters and the sensibilities of the humor is something that might align better with gay audience and hence the review here. The idea of the series is to poke fun at flying at the friendly skies. The duo portray nearly 50 different characters who work at or pass through the fictional airport's imaginary terminal, from pilots, stewardesses and baggage handlers to coffee-kiosk workers and assorted traveling couples. Also it is important to remember that this series came back in 2010. The show has 6 episodes of about 30 minutes each. The series satirizes people who have the time and money to use airports regularly - people with respectable dayjobs, authority and status; people with a shot at a managerial role. It features a wide array of characters such as owner of low-cost airline FlyLo Omar Baba, work-shy coffee kiosk worker Precious Little, highly camp passenger liais...

Suntiny (Thai Series)

This series was sooo boring and bad, I can't even begin to explain. I really tried to give this a chance, but it just kept getting repetitive and there was absolutely nothing exciting about it. The storyline is painfully slow with constant body-switching and trust me it is not in an interesting way Thankfully the show as 10 episodes of 30-35 minutes each, but I can't believe how bad it was. Sun (a teacher) and Nuea ( a flamboyant gay)  are in a relationship but their sex life is not going well since Sun can't get it up. After various doctors visits, Sun decides to go to a shaman. The guy gives him a soap to wash himself with on a full moon night but make sure he is alone when doing that. As Sun drops the soap into the bath and gets ready for shower Nuea appears and forces himself to join him (no explanation on why couldn't Sun tell him the truth). The lights start to flicker and when they wake up they realize they have switched bodies. After the initial screams and conf...

Unlabelled (Documentary) (Canada)

This documentary tells the story of people who transformed into their true selves. Everyone has labels, but let's imagine a future without them. Three members of Toronto’s trans community who graciously share their stories in Unlabelled. Each in different stages of their transitions, Lucah, Emery, and Lucy open up about identity and gender dysphoria, their experiences with hormone therapy and gender-affirming surgery, and their unique paths to becoming the extraordinary individuals they are today. The doc highlights the diversity of trans experiences, sharing not only the painful moments of their journeys, but also the abundance of joy, love, and community each has found.  Each one may have started off in fear and not being able to be who they who they knew they were, or were trying to figure it out, but in the end, they found their sense of community and people who love them, and they were able to become the people who they want to be. They graciously take us on a journey through ...

Gay Short Films : 122

11 Blocks to Go: The Bet (USA) Samantha, a free-spirited hapless romantic, discovers her 30-something-year-old BFF Drew, a gay high-functioning drug-addled sex addict, hosting an orgy in lieu of honoring his personal commitments. With help from a mutual BFF, Gray, Samantha seeks Drew out for an intervention, leading Samantha and Drew to a showstopping bet. The film tries to be funny and sassy but somehow it's just not. Anatomia Di Un Rapporto (Italy) [Anatomy Of A Relationship] As two men explore their relationship, they test the boundaries of their physical and emotional desires. As the action gets more intense, the sense of intimacy begins to change. Things turn aggressive, and intimacy starts to give way to something darker. Mostly silent film of 5 min duration , this film is visually appealing but almost makes no sense. Eclissi Di Un Rapporto (Italy) [Eclipse Of A Relationship] Made by the same makers as above, another almost silent, the film follows two men in a difficult rela...