Movie Reviews -
Gay Themed

This vertical dramas was one of the simpler ones, which mostly focused just on the love story aspect and how the two individuals eventually grow to love one another. The guys here were really hot and twink-ish. Sure, from the story perspective it doesn't offer anything new and like almost all vertical BL shows from before, you will forget this one too quick, but at least this time I didn't roll my eyes as much. The plot is extremely simple. Alex is running for college president and his opponent is handsome Xavier, who comes from a humble background. During the debate, an accidental kiss and fall make rumors about them. To capitalize on this, Alex's campaign manager recommends that they fake date. Alex is able to convince Xavier for this, since Xavier needs money (his father is alcoholic and abusive). But soon someone leaks a copy of their contract and his popularity dips, but somehow they manage to leak videos as if they really care for each other and are serious about it e...

Jezabel is a striking exploration of how we manipulate others and ourselves. As an adult how subjective and fickle our memory can be and we can rewrite our stories and deceive ourselves without even realizing it. Although occasionally disappointing in its execution, it offers an enthralling premise and intensely tragic moments that will undoubtedly linger in our memories. It is not a gay film per say (our lead character is bisexual and in present ties he has a boyfriend), but the core of the film is not gay sexuality but so much more than that. By looking back at the lives of four affluent young people in Venezuela, it explores the frailty of memory, class struggles, and masculinity.  The film moves constantly between present (or rather future) and past. Alain is a young troubled man disinterested in life. His boyfriend Salvador is a journalist and somehow conversations between them bring about memories of Alain's youth and his friend circle. Affluent teenagers—Lolo, Cacá, Eli, and...

I had recently reviewed another one of rugby player Gareth Thomas' documentary. This one, I guess came in sometime after that. In this emotional and hard-hitting documentary he finally goes public about his condition and reveals how hiding the truth about his health left him feeling depressed and contemplating taking his own life. With the help of family, friends, medical experts and others with HIV, he sets about tackling the stigmas, myths and misunderstandings surrounding the condition. The documentary starts by Gareth making the news of him being HIV positive in a video to publicly announce it. Not sure if awareness was the motivation, but the idea for him is to change perceptions about HIV by raising awareness & fighting prejudice. He re-educates himself and the audience through interviews with doctors and other health workers that these days HIV is nothing to be afraid of and people can live almost as normal a life as anyone else. In fact, if he continues to take his medi...

Love, lust and old age come together in this layered, emotionally charged queer comedy-drama. The film is an interesting blend of laughs and tragedy that outs a fun spin on what it is as being gay and old. The film embeds a character study within a real world setting that is given an extra tang of truth by the inclusion of the start of the Covid pandemic. We are introduced to an out and proud 70-something Vicente, who left both the closet and his old life behind for the more hedonistic charms of the gay-friendly Maspalomas resort on Gran Canaria. A split with his long-term partner has put him back on the market, and he is enjoying his life filled with with hooks up in the dunes or nightclubs, parties etc, until a mishap happens. He does this without a worry in the world, since an old friend is in charge of the financial support for both Vicente and his dog. A medical emergency brings him back to his old hometown, where his estranged daughter puts him in a retirement home till he recove...

Aah!! My obsession with these vertical dramas.. no end to it. I love the fact that I love to hare these micro dramas but secretly I continue to watch them, because guess what! They keep coming in. They all pretty much follow the same pattern which I have repeatedly mentioned with one mafia, a straight man repeating that he is not gay, an evil female vamp, some shooting, some drama and all is well that ends well. This is no different. A mafia boss Sable is being chased and gets shot. He is saved by a doctor Daymond, who, when he sees the ring on his fingers thinks that he is the same guy who likely killed his father in a cartel bust. The guy runs a gambling casino and it turns out that the doctor's younger brother has sufficient debt, which he is willing to forego if Daymond will become his personal doctor. Clearly Sable is completely smitten by him, and our doctor keeps making it clear that he is not into men. Daymond sees this as an opportunity to find out the truth about what hap...

Taking a break from regular run of the mill Thai BL dramas, we are back to a historical Thai BL. Like some of the previous ones that I have sen, this one also has charm and the whole nostalgia, village and royal setting makes it for an interesting watch. Sure, the core story is of course about love conquering all odds but it I score than that. The quiet longing, the tension between duty and desire, and the believable pull between two men caught between society’s rules and their own hearts. The series is 12 episodes with each one running about 45 minutes. Rati is a Thai origin orphan raised in France, who returns to Siam as an interpreter. While walking around the village in first few days he meets Thee, who he thinks as a common man. Only later he finds out that he is actually a nobleman in the Ministry of Education. The attraction between the two is undeniable. When the French delegate has back, Rati is asked to stay back so that he can teach Thai officials French language which would...

This is a psychological horror about an obsessive girl who wouldn't leave this gay man alone. What initially feels like a quiet grief-driven drama steadily mutates into a claustrophobic character study, with the threat coming not from the supernatural, but from proximity, memory, and unresolved emotional trauma. Sadly this film was too boring to watch. I feel like the acting was good but there was just no thrill in watching it and I was yawning half the time. Rowan's fiancee Tucker recently passed away and he is trying to move on with his life. He works at a barista and is a wanna musician. One day out of nowhere, an old schoolmate Mag appears out of nowhere. Turns out that Rown dated the girl briefly in high school. She comes across as just a woman looking to reconnect. But when she rents Rowan’s spare bedroom in his apartment, things quickly shift on their axis. She literally forces herself into renting that other room and starts to control Rowan's life without him actual...

Every year we see at least a couple, of not more, holiday gay films; so imagine my surprise when I was wondering how come I did not see anything for 2025. I started doing research and it turns out that no TV channel came up with an exclusive gay theme holiday movie. The only film which had a prominent gay character and storyline was this one, which in its usual style, Hallmark channel makes sure that it is for family viewing (concept of a happy straight family, I guess). I will give broad story but for the scope of my blow, will focus on the gay couple only). We are introduced to Keller family who are scheduled to leave for a Danube river cruise over Christmas. We are quickly introduced to their 3 children. Oldest son Cal isa football coach is disappointed that the woman he’s been crushing on is moving across the country. He was too late in confessing his feelings. Second son Dylan just proposed to his long term doctor boyfriend William but he neither accepted nor rejected, leaving him...

So I know I should be liking this series since it has been getting rave reviews everywhere, A historical with Chinese style fights, revenge, love, this one had everything going for it, but I just could not get into it. Honestly in the very first episode itself, there are so many characters introduced, kingdoms, servants, kings, prince etc that by the end of it I was totally confused. I watched 6 more episodes to see if I can making a sense of it all but the visual opulence somehow kept over powering the emotional core of story for me. I might be an exception here because every single person online is raving about it all. Anyway, the series is 12 episodes each of about 35-40 minutes. The story is about a long war between two kingdoms, the South and the North, and how it destroys two men who love each other. Xiao Shu He is the Sixth Prince of the South. He is kind, smart, and gentle, and he never wanted power. He dreams of a free life where he can travel, make music, and create art. Duan...

At the onset this series feels like a simple gay love story (which it is), but at its core, the show is more about the courage it takes to be honest about who you are, how to you continuously evolve love and how you bring families on this journey, reconcile with your and their beliefs. You wont get to see much intimate moments because this show focuses on more companionship. 12 episodes of about 25 minutes each, the show does have some good but also some very basic and dull moments, but I have to say. That the heart of the show is in the right place. The drama is about two childhood friends who reunite on a rainy day. Kanade and Mashiro were always friends and Kanade has string feelings for Mashiro but he could never confess because he was afraid. Unable to accept his own sexuality, after graduation, he left his hometown and stopped keeping in touch with Mashiro. On a rainy day When they have a chance meeting again, Mashiro recognizes him right away and lights up with excitement and th...

One more vertical drama and all I can say is that this was one of the silliest, bad and a story that just randomly ended. I dont even know what was the point of making it. It almost felt like a school project with caricatures, no proper storyline, no development and random snippets just joint together. A young thief Bunny is runny away from mafia when he meets Marcus. Turns out Bunny owes 100k to the mafia, which Marcus agrees to pay but in return he wants Bunny to become his slave. In the next scene we see Sebastian, who is torturing Bunny into finding out some of Marcus' secrets. Seb is supposedly Bunny's cousin. At the same time Sebastian is trying to get into some kind of business deal with Marcus. During this time, Marcus continues to use Bunny as his pet but is also starting to suddenly fall for him, even though Bunny makes it clear that he is not into men. The story continues with random twists and as expected towards the end Sebastian kidnaps Bunny, threatens his life a...

A comedy about a gay British-Pakistani man navigating commitment issues in a world that frequently lapses into the cartoonish colors of his imagination is back with the second season. Focusing yet again on its lead Mawaan Rizwan, as the fun-loving commitment-phobe Jamma, he channels the archetypal man-child vlogger from his real life personality. Puppyish and relatable, he wears his insecurities on his sleeve, and his attempts to conform to the expectations of adulthood. Total slapstick! Continuing from season 1, having been fed from his job and breaking up with therapist boyfriend Guy, Jamma is living with friend Winnie and working as a clown in a care home, who is also best friends with his brother Isaac, a budding artist. Jamma is more interested in sleeping around than patching things up with lovelorn Guy. But after their paths cross again, he becomes determined to win him back. In the second episode, which focuses on Guy's new home and Jamma needing to care of it, it is done a...

If you are a queer film lover, you have been likely hearing about this film for a while now, and I was also anxiously waiting to watch it. Having read some glorious reviews about this film, having seen the trailer, about this BDSM "Dom-com" gay romance, I was naturally quite excited abut it. However, I have to admit that overall I was a bit underwhelmed. I know critics all over are going ga ga over the film and to be fair, technically the film is brilliant. But for me, if I have no intention of rewatching this film ever, then was it really that good? More on that later. The one thing you have to keep in mind while watching this film is that you have to resist the urge to categorize desire as either healthy or harmful. The film is not interested in preaching, diagnosing, or condemning. Instead, it simply watches two people find something they didn’t know how to ask for, and asks us to do the same. Young man Colin works as a traffic enforcement officer. He is fragile, quiet, or...

Now that I know who Mawaan Rizwan is and how popular he is, I found out about this documentary that he did years back and something that I have been somehow delaying watching. The man is popular, openly gay man of Pakistan origin in London and he starts this documentary telling us about coming out as gay to his family last year: it was “the worst news ever for Pakistani parents”. Now he wants o go on a journey to Pakistan to seek an answer to the question: What would his life be like if he’d stayed in Pakistan as a kid? He decides to take on a journey  exploring how LGBT+ folk are perceived and the danger they face for being open about who they are in Pakistan. Starting in Karachi, the central subject he picked was the transgender world of Kami, and her partner Sid: they were the nightclub party-givers in Karachi for the LGBTQ community, though their home world looked far from affluent. Their dream was to be married in South Africa by an Imam who apparently endorses homosexual marr...