Traveling To Olympia

Its a shame to see when the intentions behind a film are decent but the execution is so amateurish and bad, you can't help but laugh. This film is, in a few very cases, a story about how some gay men can come together and help each other in time of need with work, emotions and love and make each other a better person. Sadly, only if the intentions translated in the right way.

A young boy Johny has just been released from a juvenile facility and now wants to turn around his life. He is on his way to Oylmpia, and manages to get a job in a restaurant since he doesn't want to sell his body. Soon he meet Joel, a guy who works helping gay men who are assaulted for some other case that happened in the restaurant. They soon get into a platonic relationship because Joel never forces himself on Johny understanding very well that he has a troubled past. In parallel we have another story of two fo Joel's friends: a young wealthy college student and his 40 something politician lover. The relationship changes viewpoints and makes our politician come "out" while supporting gay rights. The four get together occasionally and discuss about gay rights and issues.

The one big problem with the film is that it doesn't know what it wants to be. Shot through video camera on probably a very low budget, there are two long drawn out full on sex scenes which were so not needed and come as a surprise in an otherwise ok-ish film so far. I am not saying they were bad to watch but they just didn't fit in. The love story between Johny and Joel was done quite well and they acted pretty decent. The relationship between The other two guys was alright though it would have been good to know some back story on them how they met and got together. Because a young successful lawyer falling for a closet middle aged guy doesn't seem likeliest of things to happen. Johny is a very good looking guy but I couldn't say the same about the others, who were strictly ok.

I think the film was started with good intention, but somewhere the makers lost the plot, got bad actors, tried to fill in scenes with sex to make it more commercial and in the process ended up making this a mish mash of nothing. I might have been more forgiving 15 years ago when I just started to watch gay films, and I know it's a bit unfair to this film that I am watching it now but I guess part of a film's journey is to also see how they have aged. (3/10)

Comments

The Shortest Distance is Round 3: Fallen Flowers

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...

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

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...

One Summer Night (Korean)

I really wanted to like this film but for non native speakers, these movie leaves a lot to be understood and the way scenes were unfolding in front of me, I wasn't sure many times what was really going on. The story had potential button getting any back story on any of the characters limited my ability to empathize with any of these actors. Film starts with two North Korea military guys Yong Joon and Jae Sung having sex and they are caught red handed and they run. Three years later we see Yong Joon in Seoul leading a very mundane and poor life. He has a boyfriend Tae-Kyu, who is a weird guy. He is carefree, doesn't do any work and is completely emotional and financially dependent on Young Joon. In fact, even Yong Joon will go to any lengths to protect him , fend for him and taking care of him to the extent of even taking up prostitution. Suddenly one day Jae Sung appears in their life again. His motivation is not clear but it is obvious he wants Yong Joon back in his life, who ...

Movie Reviews -
Gay Themed

Search This Blog