The Call (UK) Amir a prospective university student struggling with their sexuality, calls switchboard for advice and connection at three crucial moments. With each phone call, we see Amir take steps on their own personal journey towards self-acceptance. It shows some of the vital work helpline volunteers undertake daily, but also explores contemporary themes surrounding LGBTQ+ culture unravelling truths about the community from a wide range of topics. This short film was made to raise awareness of Switchboard’s new 0800 number showing the breadth of support the charity offers. Regreso A Xanadu (Spain) [Return To Xanadu] A young man caught in the vortex of addiction and chemsex through fleeting encounters and endless nights. His friend Marcos seeks to intervene directly, confronting him with the reality of his actions and their consequences. Other friends choose to distance themselves, feeling unable to handle the weight of the situation. The guy goes to another night of chemise party ...
This film is a gentle, wise and a beautifully performed story of love in its many facets--gay, straight, parental, friendship--with particular emphasis on exploring the continuum from hetero to homosexuality. With a touch of comedy here and there, this film is a sweetly believable story of four people whose connections withstand surprising complications. One other important thing in this film is the interesting take on the Dominican community in Spain and how their world and desires rise and fall in dream city Madrid.Unsure of his sexuality, Marcos leaves village to come toMadrid to work for his uncle in a cafe. On his first day itself, he meets a young Dominican girl Marisol, who for some reasons falls completely in love with Marcos but he doesn't even notice her. He meets Daniel, a struggling actor who also falls for Marcos but this time Marcos reciprocates. They start having a relationship, even though they clearly have very different tastes in everyday events of life.Daniel's best friend Carmen warns him but he is totally blinded by love. One fateful night a disco ball falls on Marcos and suddenly he finds himself not attracted to Daniel anymore. He now thinks he is straight and starts reciprocating Marisol's love who has no idea about Marcos' gay history with Daniel. They start falling in love but Daniel is heart broken. To get his man back, he decides to start cross dressing thinking that if he becomes a girl, Marcos will like him back. Marisol becomes friends with Daniel, now Maria and Daniel tells him about Marcos' gay history. Marisol is heart broken but Daniel soon realizes that Marcos was not meant for him. he was just an experiment and Marcos truly loves Marisol. As expected things end good for everyone when Marcos is now married to Marisol and Daniel is a successful actor.
The first thing that you realize after seeing this film are the performances. Daniel is extremely good in this very complex role specially since he also has to dress like a girl for a substantial amount of time. I think Marcos was ok because his role was more like just blindly following what either Daniel or Marisol had to say. It occurred to me that his character was not very head strong character but I guess that was never the intention. Ignore the ridiculous fact of how can a man turn from gay to straight just by the fall of a disco ball, the film is still entertaining and holds your attention. Carmen reminds me of some of her other performances and nothing new or novel about it. It is still a 7 for me because I was not bored and it was an interesting take on human sexuality.
There are much better movies out there but this is one very light heart movie with touch of comedy and drama that does justice. (7/10)
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