Skip to main content

Queer And Here: Season 1 (Documentary Series)

By Golu
This docuseries is a lively and personal look at what it’s like to be queer in New Zealand today. Hosted by the really charming Aniwa Whaiapu Koloamatangi, it feels like you're being invited into all these different parts of the rainbow community that usually don't get much time on TV. The first season is made up of six episodes, each about 30 minutes long, and they all dive into different topics like family, faith, and the specific experience of being Takatāpui, which is the Māori queer identity. It does a really nice job of balancing the tough history of the LGBTQ+ community with a lot of modern-day happiness and pride. The show starts with Aniwa traveling all over the place to meet folks from every walk of life to see how their background and identity mix together. In the first episode, Aniwa actually takes his first HIV test, works through some stuff from his childhood by playing rugby with the NZ Falcons—one of the country’s gay teams—and checks out what Rainbow Youth is d...
Post a Comment

Esta es mi Cara (Spanish) [This is my Face] (Documentary)

By Golu
I have mentioned tis many times. Documentaries are not easy to make. Striking a balance between information and still making it interesting enough for the viewer to be interested is not an easy thing at all. In Chile, people living with HIV fear stigma, and often conceal their condition and remain silent about what they are going through. This is My Face explores what happens when a range of men living with the virus open up about the illness that changed their life trajectories.

We meet 4 individuals who have secretly been living in Chile with the stigma of being HIV positive and have stayed silent about the issue. An 18 year old fine arts student, A president of a wellbeing group for HIV people, a wanna young poet working in a stationary shop, and finally a 45 year old teacher and a gay activist. Using autobiographical photography and reflexive techniques through cinematic storytelling, the maker takes us through the journey of these individuals. The photographic portraits represent their painful memories and feelings, a process which helps them challenge years of silence, shame, and misrepresentation. It's a different form of story telling to be honest where practice-led research can produce emotionally moving and politically relevant films that are accessible to a discerning audience. The pictures are supposed to educate us about the impactful stories and ‘statements’ produced by the men through their photographic projects without us being sentimental about it. Unfortunately, personally for me, this form of story telling didn't work for me. I was unable to really connect and empathize with these individuals.

The story is powerful and a very very important documentary to be told. People, not just in Chile, but everywhere need to be educated on what HIV is, what people living wit it go through because of it. Good as a documentary, if you can keep yourself invested, but just not interesting enough to want to stay on watching it and get to know more. (3.5/10)
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Drug Shore (Chinese)

By Golu
Apparently tis film was adapted by a true story Well, true or not, movies/series about drugs are not easy to watch. I have always said that drugs is like the end of life for anyone. For those who sink into this sea of addiction, some manage to swim upstream to recovery, while others cannot make it to the shore. The film may not be the best, but it does have a noble intention to remind everyone of the evil affects of drugs and combining that with sex. Ah Zhe is in a happy relationship with his influencer boyfriend. On his partner's birthday, they end up going to a party, which interestingly is being hosted at a drug dealer's house and this is where for the first time he is exposed to the world of drugs. The duo somehow do it just enough and come back home but next day Ah She gets invited by the dealer Xiao Fei for a meal. The dealer has a soft corner for Ah Zhe, but before anyone realizes, Ah Zhe's life spirals out of control when slowly he starts doing more and more drugs, ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Sei no Gekiyaku (Japanese) [Dangerous Drugs of Sex]

By Golu
Every person has their own unique way of dealing with loss. This film is as much a psychological thriller as it is a soft porn BDSM portrayal of two young men that makes the film overall horrifying as well as humane. It is really hard to describe the genre of this film in one word. Its important not that the film has some really disturbing scenes so if you go into seeing this film, please proceed with caution. Although any sexual non-consensual activity is not ok, this film has its won strange way of showing that suicide is not the only solution to all life's problems. Makoto is a regular office goer, who just finds out that his girlfriend is probably cheating on him. ON top of it, his parents sudden death coming back from a trip that he forced them to take, he gets completely dejected and decides to commit suicide. Unknown to him, he is saved by mysterious man Yoda Ryoji, and he wakes up finding himself tied up in leather and belts in a very BDSM setting. This mysterious saver soo...
3 comments
Read more

The Shortest Distance is Round 3: Fallen Flowers

By Golu
Continuing with the weird trilogy of "The Shortest Distance", I am so glad that finally I am done with part 3 and won't have to deal with this again in future. Thankfully, as of now the makers have not announced any further parts; which will save all of us on this earth from the embarrassment of watching this in near future. After the first 10 minutes are used in sort of recapping bits of first two parts, the story moves forward. Haruto is now starting to have feelings for Ruka, the mysterious pole dancer from second part. In a fit of rage, Ruka ends up killing the goat man and to save him and Haruto, Shibahara asks them to go underground. Meanwhile Shibahara continues the search for Seiya (the guy who had cut off Haruto's penis). It turns out Seiya is now also taking care of the original club owner from part 1. Both of them were released after they had informed Shibahara of Aoyama's secret location. Shibahara tortures Seiya's boyfriend leading to Seiya killin...
5 comments
Read more