Movie Reviews -
Gay Themed

I am starting to very much like the idea of these gay web series. Firstly, they are easily accessible to the viewers and secondly, more often than not, they make for a good viewing and acting as well. Of course there are exceptions to the rule but they sometimes definitely turn out better than a bad bad gay film. This series was 8 episodes each of about 10 minutes each. Said to be inspired by a famous blog "The Great Cock Hunt", follows the romantic and sexual exploits of Alex and his small group of friends in New York City. Alex is a single gay 20-something in Manhattan, a smart and successful blogger at Gawker by day, who turns the spotlight on himself and his friends and starts anonymously writing about his social life. The 8 episodes just show his encounters with random people in Manhattan. # of his other friends are also a regular feature along with Alex who form the group and show us interesting stories. I watched the uncensored version and I must admit that I wa...

This film is more like an extended version of a short film. The essence and thought is nice to portray  a tale of love and longing and confusion between two young lovers but somewhere it misses to hold your attention. Win and Krit are best friends from school. But while Win longs of the day he will start to raise a family, all Krit wants is to take his relationship with Win to the next level. Win may not think himself to be gay, but his relationship with Krit is an essential component of his existence and the two frequently spend long days hiking through the wilderness together. Krit even has a scrapbook filled with pressed flowers from their many hikes. One day, the lifelong friends take a hike with two women. In this specific trip that the film focusses on, Krit feels he is loosing Win to the girls and also in general in his life. He is heart broken. The film doesn't end on a happy note. Krit ultimately looses his love to a girl but he makes his peace with life. Credit to ...

Inspired by the popular 11-minute YouTube video “It Could Happen to You,” this super highly emotional documentary will have sympathetic eyes crying buckets as it recaps how Shane Bitney Crone and Tom Bridegroom came out, met up and faced prejudice before and after Tom’s unexpected death. Like most documentaries, the story narration style is very simple. It relies on interviews with Shane's family and the couple's circle of friends, who describe how these two closeted small-town guys clicked when they met in Los Angeles, quickly forming the kind of relationship that romantics everywhere envy: moving in together, get a dog, start a social-media consulting business and travel the world as a couple. But not every fairy tale has a happy ending. Both young men find the courage to come out to their parents. Shane, surprisingly finds support from not just his mother but his father as well eventually. Tom’s conservative parents were more conflicted, reacting with anger and denial. ...

Sometime simple is so beautiful. My first reaction while watching and even after the movie was, Wow man! those dances were amazing!!. I kept wondering that despite the film having a paper thin plot, why did i like the movie so much. Agreed, it may have something to do with the dances in it but then ballet is not my favorite form. I think it had a lot to do with the overall direction and performance from the actors. It was all very very heart touching. The film is basically shot in a dance studio with 5 actors practicing series of 5 dances. Chip is our main protagonist, who is all of just 18 and arrived in NYC on scholarship for this performance.  Chip is so broke in NYC that he is secretly sleeping in the studio. That is until one of the girls' Katie finds out and takes him home. Katie just got out of a 7 year relationship. The other girl in the group apparently has had a sexual fling with their teacher and again ends up cheating on her husband by sleeping with him again. And ...

First things first; this is not a comedy film. Its at best a character study of 2 very unlikely individuals who share a very unlikely friendship. our protagonist happens to be gay and him getting in to a relationship at one point leads to discord between the friends. Margaret is 52. Nate is 19. They're neighbors in a Chicago building. They're best friends. They seem alone in the world. There is no mention of family. They like to do things together: Shop at the Goodwill store, have brunch, hang out. Margaret has never been married. Nate, who is gay, has never had a boyfriend or even been kissed. Margaret wants to become a successful stand up comedian (but truly she is pathetic) and Nate is a student at film school. He's directing his thesis film and has enlisted Margaret as his sound person. One night Nate meets James and after a couple of meetings, we see that the 2 young men start falling for each other. Margaret is not thrilled to learn about Nate's new friend, b...

"Unconditional", presents the intense story of a severely repressed homosexual attempting to create his fantasy woman from an inexperienced, virgin, teenage boy. Effectively disturbing if not entirely satisfying, this tale of a handsome older man's infatuation with a teenage boy is a mix bag is terms of good or bad cinema. The unusual love-story soon spins off into strange territory as dangerous and dark obsessions take over. 16 year old twins Owen and Kristen struggle to make ends meet as they are full-time carers for their disabled mother. They make jokes about her dying, but also care about her deeply and their lives revolve around her. Enter Liam, a cool suit-wearing salesman who visits them to handle a financial loan inquiry. With his flash blue car and easy patter, he appears a charismatic intervention into the twins’ dull lives and Kristen especially is taken by his charms. But it is Owen that Liam has his sights on. He takes him out for a drink and the pair b...

What a lovely film. Yes, it is a dark film and very very real in terms of direction, execution and performances. I was quite positively surprised by the film and the subject. A gay love story between a Palestinian student and an Israeli lawyer is not the easiest to handle but kudos to the write, producer, director of the whole team to do this. The film really touched my heart and left a mark and something to think about for a long time. Nimr is a young Palestinian man studying psychology. At night, Nimr avoids border patrols to illegally enter Tel Aviv and go to gay bars. His conservative family doesn't know about his sexual orientation. To top that Nimr's brother is a part of an extremist rebel movement who do not hesitate one sec to kill someone is he is gay. One such night he meets Roy, a handsome Israeli lawyer working at his well-connected father's law firm, and the two instantly hit it off. Nimr initially receives a student visa that would enable him to visit Tel...

I was quite anxious to watch this film. I have been missing NYC quite a bit and this would have been one way to get back at those old days at least by virtue of locations. Honestly at that point, going to the OIA film festival, it wasn't really important for me whether the film was gonna be good or bad. A film about 2 couples, a gay and a straight, and how their lives intercept with each other, form the crux of the plot. The movie blends racial and sexual diversity into a modest exploration of hooking up in our modern world. Marcus and Aron are a very happy gay couple who have been together for 6 years. Since its been a while, the couple decides to open up the relationship. They decide to not talk about various rules. The only rule is that they cannot fall in love with another person. Meanwhile, in the restaurant where Aaron waits table, we meet Annie who is there to break up with his 20 something boyfriend Stan because he is not stable in life. Unable to find a suitable excus...

This is the first film that I was with 10 other friends in the Out in Africa film festival in Johannesburg. I guess this is the first time, I saw a film with such a large group. What was interesting is how all of us had different views on the movie. Some watched it for entertainment, some for romance, some focussed on nuances while others focussed on hotness quotient. It makes my belief even stronger that it os not necessary that whatever I like should and could be liked by others as well. We all have our own opinions. SUre there may not be novelty in the story but for me it was the  treatment that made a huge difference. Marc is in police training. He has a girlfriend and a baby on the way. During his truing days, he meets his fellow inmate Kay and during their regular jogs Marc experiences a never-before-felt sense of ease and effortlessness. During one such jog, the day ends up in 2 men getting very intimate with each other. Marc realizes his mistake and runs away. He is no...

I think I had seen this film over 5 years back and had been wanting to see it again, so that I can finally put up a review online on my blog. Undoubtedly, this mvid depicts one of the most beautiful father-son relationships I have ever seen in a film. It is the true love, respect and affection that they have for one another that makes your heart how warm. Sure, sometimes you may feel that this is not as close to truth but who are we to judge. If this sort of relationship could exist in every family, that would be just awesome. Jeff lives with his father Harry. Jeff is gay and his father is more than ok in accepting Jeff's homosexuality. He is happy and proud of what Jeff is and supports him in every way. The father-son understand each other so well that hey can predict each other's routine and what they are going to say or do. Through some flashbacks we also realize that Jeff's grandmother was a lesbian and the purest love Jeff can remember is the one that his grandma ...

This film was such a pleasant surprise. Having known nothing about the film, I was looking forward to actually another bad gay film but man was I proved wrong! And I am so glad that I was. I have watched  a few films about gay men trying for adoption and surprisingly they have all been made very well. This is yet another film falling in similar genre, again handled with lot of sensitivity, grace and realism. Thomas, is a single gay man from Denmark. When he is unable to adopt a child in his home country legally, he comes up with an alternate plan. He visits his close friends family in Brazil hoping to explore the possibility of bringing back a child. He meets lawyers but there is apparently no direct ay to do this. A lawyer even suggests him to may be lure a poor woman with some money to buy the child. Thomas' friend very strongly try to reason with him son how he is being silly but Thomas is so bestowed with the idea of bring back home a child, he really doesn't care. He ...

This could be termed as one of those coming of age gay teenage stories. It could also be termed as something that holds your interest, except I believe that I am watching this film quite late in the game. I believe, if I had seen the movie earlier and maybe with a better frame of mind, I may have actually enjoyed the film. But hey, i can't have control over everything , so I will have to review this film as I felt after watching it. Ethan Mao is living very comfortably in his suburban home with his chinese family. When his step-mother finds out that he is gay, she manipulates her husband and Ethan is booted out of the house. Ethan starts living off the street as a hustler where he meets Remigio, a part time hustler and drug dealer. For some reason Remigio take instant liking for Ethan Mao. For thanksgiving when Ethan Mao gets to know from his brother, that the family is going to be away for a while, he decides to visit home to get some of his mother's stuff but fate has so...

Why do we waste money and effort in making such bizarre films. Supposedly this film is based on slice of life story of the film-maker himself. And when that happens, you end up making a film which is quite self-indulgent as this one. I don't mind weird artsy films, but they should have a purpose at least. This films lacks that and much more. Middle class guy Joe joins the prestigious Rhode Island school of design. He is one of the few students who are not from rich families. He comes friend immediately with like-minded Jennifer who also is sailing on a similar boat. Joe becomes friends with a local hustler Ramon, in hope to find inspiration for his artwork. Jennifer and Joe go through a number of sessions of arts projects of weird nature. They also explore their dark side where they do shop-lifting, mugging, drugs, alcohol and clubs. They both get indulge in free booze and cheap unsafe sex. Joe himself gets ion hustling trying to figure out whatever that he is trying to figure...

This is not really a film as such but an episode from a British television series. Each episode follows a character as they await verdict in the court and it tells the story of how they find themselves accused. Interestingly, Tracie's story episode very rightly fits in my blog requirements. Simon is a bored English teacher who teaches uninterested teenage students by day, and becomes Tracie, a transvestite, by night. But trawling bars in Manchester dressed up to the nines, tottering on stilettos and ready to pull has not produced a lasting or truly fulfilling relationship. On one particular night out, Tracie gets into an altercation with some men out on a stag night. Tony comes to Tracie's aid and offers her a ride home, culminating in the pair having sex at Tracie's home. The pair strike up a casual relationship, with Tony confessing that his wife has died and he is a widower. They are totally smitten and their love affair begin. It is revealed, however, that Tony...

Your first reaction when you read the synopsis of the film is that why would someone try to rehash the evergreen 'Latter Days' about mormons and homosexuality but your doubts are soon put to rest as the movie proceeds.The movie could have embroiled into controversy as well because of the theme of exploring young missionary's personal journey but thankfully nothing like that happened. A young 20 year old guy RJ Smith is sent away from home to perform his mission and spread the good Mormon word as part of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. RJ ends up getting paired with Chris, a more experienced missionary, who becomes both a mentor and a friend to RJ. The two of them together give us a glimpse into the everyday routine of a missionary, getting up early, studying, praying, spreading the word. As RJ begins to learn the ropes and gain confidence, we see Chris having doubts in his beliefs. In the crisis of faith, we begin to see the real Chris as he becomes in...

Sometimes intentions behind a film are good. The plot is good, direction is ok, acting is decent, but still there is something that gets missed in connecting with the audience. Focussing on a very important issue of human trafficking and sexual slavery , there are ups and downs in the story telling. There are moments that you connect and are totally there with the characters and then there are other times, when you just feel things are just not going in the right direction. This film, with all right intentions, unfortunately falls in the second category. Joaquin is a fisherman in a small village and is in relationship with his neighbor Waldo. When his wife suddenly arrives from her overseas job, Joaquin suddenly has to divert his attention on her because she just wants sex and get pregnant. Unable to handle Joaquin's behavior, Waldo, a young teenager, leaves for Manila in disgust. He is so hurt by his lovers behavior. When Waldo is gone, Joaquin realizes ho much he loves him a...

Everyone involved in gay rights movement or remotely interested in it is very familiar with the stonewall story in NYC. Everyone who lived through that time has their own story to tell and this film just focuses on one such story. It is by no means a true story but is a story told by point of view of 'La Miranda', a fictional drag queen. How she, her drag friends, her love and others got through the Stonewall days. La Miranda is a drag queen who goes through the torture of police once in while in the Stonewall bar. She meets Matty Dean, who has just arrived in NYC. He is somewhat naive and very young. They embark upon a friendship which soon turns into love. Matty Dean comes with enthusiasm to do something for gay rights and to make a difference but he feels uneasy about the way things are. He befriends another man who enlightens him about rallies and a peaceful march to Philadelphia. When Matty Dean has some issues with La Miranda because he wants to focus on making a cha...

This film is a provocative insight of the world of several disenchanted, tattooed youths rejected by their own families and sidelined by the mainstream of society, all 15 years of age. Shot in a disjointed MTV and voyeuristic style with mixed paces, this film is a semi-documentary of a lost generation. The plot, consists of short stories which fell into 3 acts. The first, being the brotherhood between 2 friends who ponder the meaning of their aimless lives. They know that they are condemned in the eyes of society, and find solace in the company of themselves. The second act was a bit comical, as 2 friends helped an ex-enemy to look for a building to commit suicide in. And the last act continued with examining the lives and friendship between the same 2 friends. There is really nothing more to the plot. I was solo ultimately bored with the concept, idea, direction and everything, I didn't even bother to know whats going on and what not!! I read all over favorable reviews of t...

The film started off so promising but I think after a while the writer was sort of lost and wanted to cover up a lot of things and issues in a short time. There are not many films based on gay Jews , so it was refreshing to see one. The film positively shows how one man balances being gay and Jewish by having him marry for a bribe. It tried to show how a Reform Jewish family and an Orthodox Jewish family comes together to celebrate their children's wedding. Simon is a young gay Jewish man living in France. He is out to his family and is in love with his Cousin David, who is getting married. His financial situation is not good and his uncle who doesn't have any children, offers him all his wealth and mansion if he marries a girl and keep their family name going on. Initially Simon laughs it off even arguing with his mother but when his uncle cuts all his finances, he has no choice left. Enters Rosalie' an awkward unhappy virgin Jewish girl who sings to earn money and wh...

Ok. So I read some really glaring reviews of this film and thens elided to watch it. What a horrible mistake. I see folks saying how, you will really enjoy this film if you are a hard core Greg Arakki fan but why should i be a fan of a director and like all his movies. A movie should be good or bad regardless of who the director is. The film is weirdly divided into 14 segments (for whatever reason) and we are taken into a journey of 6 odd gay teens in LA. It seems there is nothing really happening in the teenagers lives. All they deal with is boredom and other people's stories. The film was so bad that I am not even gonna bother in some of thee entail story but there was no real story. One guy feels all alone, smokes non stop, meets a guy and feels loved and then suddenly goes away. We have a lesbian couple who are mostly ok. In another relationship, one guy is very secure while the other wants to fool around. And then we have one more guy who also has some story but while wat...

A story about friends and friendship. A tale about childhood love. A boy falls in love with his childhood best friend, who happens to be a boy too, and he keeps his feelings secretly up unto his adult life. But will this love bring two people together or will this tear them apart. This is one of the many questions that this film tries to answer. Enzo and Adong have been childhood friends. They are bound by the love that only comes from years spent frolicking as children and teens. Enzo has always had major attraction and love for Adong but the latter is completely clueless. But Adong doesn't feel the same and he elopes with his girlfriend. Five years later, Enzo has moved to Manila and like so many before him is working in the sex trade. Still young and beautiful he has no trouble earning a great living. Then one night, he is required to do a live on-stage act with another boy, one he as not met yet. Imagine the shock on the face of the 2 boys when Enzo finds that this other b...

Classic indies sometimes have solid, sometimes great, stories that are carried out with a very low budget. They have some half wannabe stars to keep it from complete obscurity and extended periods with actors who can't handle their characters. Fortunately, there's a great story to integrate all of the above in this film and it somehow all fits in well together. The start of the film is a bit choppy but it picks up soon by half way, mixing humour and drama well. Nick Young is a high school freshman struggling with Asperger’s Syndrome who idolizes his perfect older brother Chaz Young. His brother dies when riding his bike on the highway because of a group of guys that were driving recklessly. Nick's friends attend the funeral and help him get through his loss. Nick's parents have no idea how to deal with or connect with Nick since Chaz was their perfect son. He begins to take comfort in his brother's friends, who take him under his wing as he learns more about hi...

I started to see this film because i thought it was a gay film But its not. The main character just happens to be gay and there is oohing more than that about him being gay in the film. So why am I reviewing it here, if its not gay. That's because if I got fooled hinting this was a gay film, others to can. So maybe this can help others who read this. The film focusses mainly on troops and their life after war. Not a terrible film but not what I was hoping for. Dave lives by himself in a house in Arizona, where there is a lot of natural beauty. His business is down and he is a little depressed. He hangs out with friends James and neighbor Seth but that doesn't bring much to his otherwise boring and mundane life. A call from his mother and he finds out that has dousing Buck has arrived back from Marines but he has physical disabilities and post trauma stress disorder. Dave thinks he should take care of him because they have grown up together and Buck's father is an alcoh...

I was really looking forward to this film because I was going to watch it with a friend. The premise was so promising. A gay re-telling of Charles Dickens' classic Oliver Twist. How could this go wrong but somehow neither of us ended up liking the film. There were so many questions that were left unanswered, that I was forced to exclaim wtf by the end. The plot is moved out of the London poor house onto the streets of Toronto. The the tale is told not from Oliver's point of view, but rather that of Dodge. Dodge works for Bill who works with various young boys as hustlers. Bill is an angry man who hurts boys if they don't bring enough money home every night. One night Dodge finds Oliver and brings him him with him. He takes Oliver under his wing and instructs him in the unforgiving arts of drug abuse and prostitution. Oliver develops a crush on Dodge and views him as his boyfriend, complicating their friendship. Dodge does not reciprocate his feelings, and reacts angril...

I don't know much about famous pianist Liberace except his name. So when I heard about this film, it came as a pleasant surprise for 2 reasons. First, that I had no idea about his gay side and second, how come it took someone such a long time to come up with a film on the subject. Making a full on film with big names like Matt Damon and Michael Douglas could not have been easy but this film is watchable for it is just because of the wonderful performances by these 2 actors. They both do a splendid job. More of that later. Scott Thomas is a young gay man who grew up in foster homes. When he goes to see Liberace perform with his friend, he gets to meet the man himself. The flamboyant artist invites Scott and his friend to his house and soon gets attracted to the young man. Using his wealth and charm Liberace offers a job as his secretary to Scott just so that the 2 men can live together. In Scott, he finds the guy who can listen to him and be with him in his lonely times. When S...

I have no idea how did I end up getting my hands on this show. Funny! Brilliant! and superb witty dialogues are some of the things that come to my mind after watching the show. Just 6 episodes, each of 25 minutes each, you see same faces, familiar situations and dialogues and they just make you break into laughter. The premise is quite simple. Freddie and Stuart are an old gay couple who have been together for nearly 50 years. Their lives now revolve around entertaining their frequent guests and hurling insults at each other at every opportunity. Ash is a young handsome man who is their new neighbor. Their long term single friend Violet who is looking out for a man in her life. And then an old lady, who just keeps forgetting everything every minute and finally another guy who no one just cares about. I can imagine that not everyone would like the show. You have to have an appetite for dark sometimes even morbid humour and be a fan of sarcasm. The dialogues and the sarcasm that i...

Pool Days This is a very interesting short film. It can be rightly put in the category of teenage coming-out stories. Justin is a 17 year old teenager who gets a summer job at a health club. He notices he is getting attracted to some hot men in the club but keeps denying it. One budding swimmer in the club helps him get over his anxiety and help him realize who he really is and be ok with it. It is a good film that shows the struggles that most teenagers have coming out and how maybe some of us help them get over their anxiety. Acting by both the principal characters is actually very good and real and I must say that they are both very good looking and easy on the eyes. Justin specially looks good and does his job very well. A duration of about 25 plus minutes keeps this film at the right length where as a viewer I get enough of context to not imagine things on my own and at the same time, it doesn't feel too dragged. (7/10) Summer Blues (Norway) This was a very interesti...

Even now, while writing this review, I really can't make up my mind if I liked this movie or not. Hopefully by the time I finish writing this, I would have a clue. The story is not very novel. We have seen the premise before but this one like every film has something different to offer. The one definite good thing about this film ws that it is set in New York and being away from my city for about 2.5 months now, kit definitely made me nostalgic about the city. Jack is a Brit gay man living in NYC. When his brother unexpectedly dies in a car accident, he starts taking care of his wife who is pregnant. Years have passed and his niece is now 6-7 years old but Jack's life still surrounds his sister-in-law and niece. He works with a photographer with his lesbian best friend Aly. When Jack finds out that his visa renewal application has been rejected, his lawyer suggests that getting married is the only option left with him. He coerces his friend Aly to marry him. Things are goi...

My movie watching has slowed down soooo much. Work is getting busier. Anyway, I am so glad that I saw this movie after a long break because I know I would have been really disappointed had a I ended up watching a really bad gay film (the chances of which are really high) but I am glad that I did not have to deal with the situation. This film thankfully does not deal with gay stereotype stories and movie that we have all gotten used to Instead, it touches on a very important subject of adoption and deals it with sensitivity. Apparently based on a true story, the film is set in 1970s. Rudy Donatello is a struggling musician and drag performer in a gay nightclub in 1979 West Hollywood, where he meets Paul, a closeted district attorney. Returning home to his apartment, Rudy finds Marco, a 14-year-old with Down syndrome, left alone after his mother, Marianna, had been arrested. Rudy takes in the abandoned boy, but Family Services intervenes and takes Marco to foster care. On Rudy's...