Movie Reviews -
Gay Themed

This BL actually has a pretty cool fantasy hook using the old-school mermaid legend, except this time around, it’s all about mermen. Because the concept was so different, I was really intrigued and wanted to like it, but after a promising start, it just falls into the usual BL traps with poor execution and some pretty bad acting. I’ll give the makers credit for coming up with a unique idea, but they just couldn't pull it off. In this world, mermen can live on land and blend right into human society, but there's a catch: during a full moon, they have to head back into the ocean to wash away "toxins" from their bodies. The show runs for 8 episodes, and each one is about an hour long. The story centers on Nawa, a handsome and charming mixologist at a popular bar on a small Thai island. He’s secretly a merman, a fact known only to the bar owner, Phana, and his close friend. Everything changes when a flirty stranger named Phu walks into the bar, sparking some serious sexua...

It’s no shocker that when a movie does well, a sequel usually follows, so I wasn't surprised at all to see this campy comedy get a second chapter. It’s a fun new addition to the adventures of Albin and Renato. Even though turning a character-driven comedy into a spy spoof felt like a bit of a weird pivot from the original vibe, you eventually just roll with it. One big difference is that this one moves out of the nightclub and takes the characters from France all the way to Italy. The story kicks off with Albin having a bit of a mid-life crisis about whether he’s still got his "mojo," so he heads to an outdoor cafe to see if he can still turn heads while Renato watches from a distance. Suddenly, a guy running for his life grabs Albin, drags him to a hotel, and hides a microfilm capsule in Albin's dress right before he’s killed. This obviously sparks a huge mess, forcing Albin and Renato to go on the run. The secret service shows up at their place wanting them to help ...

This is such a fun, entertaining French comedy from the 70s. I first saw it maybe 15 years ago and only had a blurry memory of it, so I figured now was a great time to revisit the classic and its sequels for my blog. You definitely shouldn't judge this one by today's standards—you have to think about the era when it actually came out. Since it’s been remade a few times, it’s really interesting to come back to the original after all these years and see how silly and over-the-top it still is. The story is about Renato and Albin, a constantly bickering couple who run a flashy nightclub called La Cage aux Folles. Renato is the more level-headed one who manages the place, while Albin is the star drag performer who gets a bit hysterical but always plays to a full house. Their lives get flipped upside down when Renato’s son, Laurent—who came from a one-time fling years ago—announces he’s getting married. The big catch is that his girlfriend’s dad is a leader of a super conservative po...

A Road to Home  is a documentary that follows six LGBTQ youth over a year and a half as they navigate being homeless. Their lives are a snapshot of what about 500,000 young people in America go through every single night, and it's a huge wake-up call to realize that 40% of those kids are part of the LGBTQ community. The film takes this heavy subject and introduces us to six young adults, showing us how they ended up on the streets and how they eventually found community centers that stepped up to provide housing, food, school, and even help finding jobs. We also get to meet the people running these organizations who are right there backing these kids up every step of the way. And given that the documentary is set in my home city, it makes it all the more relatable for me.  The six people the documentary focuses on are honestly the perfect choice for this story. They all have really sad backstories about how they ended up where they are, but there’s so much warmth and hope in t...

This movie is a pretty wild "what if" story about Abraham Lincoln being gay and having a secret thing with his legal assistant, Elmer Ellsworth. It’s all told through the eyes of Taffeta, who is a Black, plus-sized queer person working behind the scenes. Taffeta uses this old history story to try and make sense of their own life and all the crappy treatment they deal with in the modern gay scene. Honestly, the whole thing feels a lot like a stage play, and it just wasn't as interesting as I hoped it would be. The story follows Taffeta, a stage manager for a small theater putting on a show about Lincoln. Every day is a drag because the audience ignores them and the actors treat them like a maid. Things get really awkward when Taffeta walks in on one of the male leads hooking up with a guy Taffeta had just seen on a dating app. To make it worse, the actor playing Lincoln actually tries to sexually assault Taffeta later on. After fighting him off, Taffeta goes out onto the e...

This show is a bit of a weird mix, blending old-school folklore with a modern-day BL setting. It feels like it’s trying to be both ancient and contemporary at the same time. I have to admit, the first four or five episodes really pulled me in, but unfortunately, I just couldn't stay interested as it went on. The whole supernatural plot and the folk story elements got pretty confusing after a while. Luckily, the funny back-and-forth between the characters was enough to keep me watching. The series tries to draw parallels to the legend of Bi-hyung, the Goblin King, but since I don't really know that story, I'm not even going to try to explain it. Altogether, it’s 12 episodes, and each one is about 25 to 30 minutes long. The story kicks off with Geum Bok, a guy from the countryside who moves to the big city because he wants to be an actor, but he immediately gets scammed out of his apartment. He’s stuck sleeping on the streets until he has a random run-in with a stranger who p...

This is a sweet summer love story set on an island, and the title honestly couldn't be more perfect. The series follows a few different people whose lives cross paths in a seaside town, and it deals with things like grief, healing, and the random ways people fall in love. It takes a pretty familiar romance setup but adds a little twist, which makes the whole thing feel very heartfelt. It’s got 10 episodes that run about 50 to 55 minutes each, and it's a really nice blend of being playful, tender, and romantic. The plot centers on a young guy named Lava, whose mom sends him to live with his Uncle Pheng in a quiet coastal village with his uncle Pheng. This move forces him to grow up a bit and deal with some loss. Everything kicks off when Lava rescues Davin, a prince who has lost his memory after an accident. Since the stranger doesn't know who he is, Lava names him "Wave," and they start this back-and-forth relationship full of teasing and bickering that eventually...

Gay Days is a documentary that dives into how the LGBTQ+ community really started to find its voice in Israel. Back in 1985, there were literally only three gay men who were officially out in the whole country, but by 1998, that number had jumped to 3,000. It’s a look at this super short, intense, and dramatic window of time where Israel went through one of the fastest and most vibrant social revolutions at the end of the 20th century. What’s wild is that this whole shift happened without any blood being spilled; instead, it was this rare team-up between professors, sex workers, trans people, singers, barbers, and even military officers. The director, Yair Qedar, was right there filming it all for his own newspaper called  The Pink Times . He uses some really cool old footage, personal stories, and his own private diary to piece together this energetic and bittersweet musical mix of a movie. The film follows Qedar’s own path as a kid from middle Israel who moved to Tel Aviv in...

This movie was honestly just terrible. It’s been a long time since I’ve laughed this hard at a flick for all the wrong reasons, and I knew within the first ten minutes that things were going to be a total mess. Once you move past how awful it is, you can actually have a great time just wondering how this ever got made. It makes you wonder if anyone involved even bothered to watch the final version after they finished shooting. The plot is about as basic as it gets. A group of Black gay couples all get invited to a resort for a weekend trip where everything is paid for, but they all think the invite came from someone different. Since a few of these guys have some messy history with each other, the tension is pretty high as soon as they arrive. Nobody actually knows who is picking up the tab or who started the whole thing—A thinks B invited them, B thinks it was C, and it just keeps going like that. Pretty soon, a slasher starts picking them off one by one. The killer’s identity eventual...

This vertical gay drama claims to be a US production, but every character has a thick accent that makes me think the cast or the entire crew was actually from Eastern Europe. I tried to look up more details about where it was filmed, but I couldn't find anything. The official summary describes it as a story where a lonely dancer and a troubled cop find a connection through lies and danger, starting with a rescue that turns into a risky attraction. I’ve definitely seen the lead actors in something else before, though I can't put my finger on what it was. Let's get into the plot and what I actually thought about it. The story follows Tino, a young nightclub dancer who is stuck under the thumb of a brutal club owner. This guy uses debt and intimidation to keep Tino in line and was apparently a friend of Tino's late mother. Tino feels a massive weight on his shoulders because he’s desperate to help his sister, who is really sick, so he just stays quiet and tries to survive....

This Hindi movie is a pretty straightforward slice-of-life story that tries to give a modern look at what it's like to be a single, professional gay man. It dives into how he understands who he is, the chances he missed out on, and the personal choices he’s made along the way. The director used three parallel timelines to tell the story, which honestly didn't make much sense to me. While the core idea was actually pretty interesting, I really feel like this would have worked way better as a short film considering the point it was trying to make. Still, it wasn't a bad watch. The plot centers on Rachit, a city professional, and his friend Shikhar as they hang out for an evening. Rachit is a polished, urban guy, while Shikhar has more of a "small-town" rustic vibe, and you can really see the contrast between them when they talk. As the night goes on, Rachit starts thinking back to some old memories from a long time ago. He remembers being an intern after college in ...

This Vietnamese show isn't exactly groundbreaking, but it definitely keeps you hooked. It’s a quick watch with 10 episodes that only last about 15 to 20 minutes each, and even though it uses all the usual BL tropes, it really works because you can't help but root for the underdog. The romance actually takes its time to show up and then wraps up pretty fast, but the characters still feel way more relatable than in a lot of other shows like this. The story follows Phuc, who moves from Hanoi to Saigon to open his dream bar and live with his girlfriend. Things go sideways immediately when he arrives a day early to surprise her and catches her cheating, so he breaks up with her and leaves. He ends up reaching out to his old childhood neighbors, Cong and his sister Han, who he hasn't seen in years. The siblings are struggling on their own with a massive debt and Han’s poor health. Han thinks her brother works at a convenience store, but Cong is actually a heavy for a criminal gro...

Light Up  is an intimate documentary that focuses on the lives of five people in Atlanta—four Black gay men and one Black transgender woman. It’s a really personal look at their backstories and how they’ve dealt with prejudice and mental health struggles because they felt they had to hide who they truly were. The big thing they all share is that every person interviewed has found a way to push through those hard times. Now, they're all at a place where they feel totally comfortable being themselves and speaking their truth. The five people sharing their journeys are Simone Tisci, Derek Jae, Octavius Terry, Obio Jones, and Benjamin Carlton. Derek Jae is already pretty well-known from reality TV, while Simone Tisci is a successful makeup artist who is now working on breaking into acting. Then there’s Octavius Terry, who used to be a record-breaking track and field star. He actually cut his athletic career short because he was so scared his coaches and teammates would find out he was ...

I really didn't like this BL series at all. The story was weak, the timing was all over the place, and I just couldn't connect with any of it. Everything about how it was made felt totally mechanical. To be fair, I'll give credit where it's due—the idea behind the show was actually pretty interesting, and I'm sure some people might like it, but it just didn't work for me. The series is 10 episodes long, and each one runs for about 50 minutes. The main story is about two guys named Punn and Ramil. Punn runs a shop where he fixes up old antiques, and he gets hired to restore a painting in a gallery. Without knowing it, his blood actually ends up freeing a vampire named Ramil who has been trapped inside that painting for 100 years. Ramil comes out without his full powers, so he’s hunted and really vulnerable, which means he has to depend on Punn for help. Punn isn't sure about it at first, but he gets pulled into this secret world of vampires and old feuds, rea...