Movie Reviews -
Gay Themed

This film was an interesting indie film probably made on a shoe string budget. A sweet, heartfelt, movie about love that transcends age, stereotypes and meddlesome family, its heart is in the right place, trying to show us a warm breezy and cozy love story between two individuals who on paper may not seem right for one another. But the film is also about family and how you sometimes love them or hate them but you have to be for them in thick and thin. Justin works for an ad agency with his father who is very domineering. While driving to a business meeting young and handsome Justin runs off the road to avoid a rabbit. He finds himself stranded in front of a ranch farm 'Angora Ranch' owned by hunk Jack, a man almost twice Justin's age. Justin and Jack feel an instant connection and Jack's father is more than happy to fuel the fire. Jack's father lives with him and had been very progressive sexually in his times and fully supportive of his son being gay, but at the sa...

This series had the most convoluted, confusing story plot that I have ever seen. I tried, I really tried to stay focused to try and understand what is really going on, but Just couldn't. The series tries to cover itself in shrouded mystery hoping to entice viewers but it left me so bored and confused. I am guessing the storyline was also non linear and that combined with some bad editing made this 6 episode series of 25 minutes each, feel even longer than the usual 14 episode Thai BL shows. I will try to see if I can explain the story here. Mork is a young boy traveling in wilderness and mountains. A mysterious stranger dressed in all white suddenly appears and asks to be his travel companion. Every time the stranger appears things start. Going missing from Mork, but reluctantly he allows the Sanger to accompany him on his journey. Story goes in flashback. Mork works in a store and is visited by the stranger in flesh named Tiew. The duo soon become friend sand even start a relation...

Considered by many porn connoisseurs to be a genre-defining classic, the epic film BuckleRoos, a softcore porn flick about a pair of gay rodeo cowboys who discover love thanks to a magical belt buckle and a mysterious man in black, is the subject of this documentary. This documentary covers the 17 day behind the scenes look of making of this film. Now, I am not sure why anyone would come up with a behind the scenes documentary of a porn film, and even more bizarre is the fact that people like me end up watching it. What's wrong with me? It starts with the director recounting how and his co-director came up with the idea and agreed to make the film. They walk us through process of short listing their lead actors, the places film was shot, focusing more on the various sex scenes and what went into making those. The film ends up with how successful this porn eventually became leading it to win many awards. I personally have not seen it, but I can see the crew, the directors, the produ...

François Ozon’s “Peter von Kant” is about a film director toxically obsessed with a younger actor whom he launches. The film is filled with emotions of love, rage, jealousy, possessiveness and all of them in their full glory. The film is apparently a gender turned remake of an older film (which I had or have no idea about) and is set in 1972, which also happens to be the year of the original film. Peter von Kant is a famous aging film maker, who lives in a posh apartment in Cologne. He is just getting over a breakup with his ex boyfriend. He is needy, a genius and not necessarily a nice man. His loyal, dutiful servant/assistant is Karl, who is either route or just never speaks and does everything that Peter asks him to do. And unsurprisingly Peter doesn't treat him well either. One day he is visited by his muse, a singer and an actress and a very good friend of his who introduces him to Amir, a 23 year old young man with the face of an angel, who might want to be an actor. Von Kant...

I have historically enjoyed BL shows that combine food elements with it. I know, it sounds weird, but seeing some of those mouth watering dishes really does something to my appetite and Thai food is one of my favorite cuisines. This show of 8 episodes of about 50 minutes each starts on a very positive note. The episodes are fast paced and and relations real, quirky and fun. But sadly, after a very promising first few episodes, it mishandles both the romantic couples, creates misunderstandings which feel forced and unlikely and just lose momentum. Thankfully it picks up again towards the end, but oh man!! It could have been better. Poon, is a street vendor, who quit school after his parents death to support h younger brother's education. His speciality is variety of papaya salads. Poon has a friend Mayom, who works in a fancy hotel restaurant and invites him for a job interview there. When Poon meets Athip, the restaurant owner, they both realize that they have a very unpleasant enc...

Centered on the relationship between two closeted high school friends in the director’s hometown of Bangor, Maine, the movie quickly becomes ensnared in a tangle of subplots. It promises more than it delivers with its jarring background music as of we are watching some thriller unfold in front of us. There is absolutely nothing new or novel in this indie film to look out for.  High schooler Joe and his sister Theresa live with their mostly drunk and irresponsible mother and work in a local store. Joe's best friend Andrew forms the trio who is an expert is stealing stuff from store. Joe has loved Andrew for a while now but is in closet. The duo once make a day travel together with their respective girlfriends, but neither of them is interested in sexual advances. When Andrew's girlfriend pushes, she figures that he maybe gay and accuses him to have a relationship with Joe. To not reveal his secret, she asks him to have sex with Joe so she can watch. In the meantime, there is a s...

Sexual relationship between men was decriminalized in UK in 1967. It was pivotal in that it constituted the first formal acceptance by the state that gay people might be deserving of some sympathy. Over the years since, a great deal more progress has been made, both legally and culturally. Simon Napier-Bell's documentary explores and celebrates this process, using interviews with key players from different generations whose own attitudes reflect the shift in social perspectives. Featuring some of the UK’s most famous LGBT faces, from artists and musicians to politicians, activists, entrepreneurs and more, these talking heads give personal accounts from the worlds of politics and entertainment alongside historical footage and commentary. They remember growing up in a culture in which they had to live a secret life. Some recount suicide attempts, or talk about finding hope in films like Victim (1961), even as men were going to prison after homosexuality was partially decriminalized i...

Historically now, I have started to look forward to Marco Berger's films since they have a certain homoeroticism in it and a language of it own, which is hard to describe in words. IN that sense, this film felt like a spiritual successor to one of his earlier films Taekwondo, in the sense that he once again focuses his eye on on the sexual dynamics of a group of straight men. Like his earlier films, this one is also verrrry bold, queer and homoerotic with penis shots and ass shots and all nudity in your face, but at its crux it is yet another look at how sexuality works. The premise is very simple. A group os straight friends have been invited by Artur to spend Christmas and New Years at his country luxury villa. We spend a lot of time observing the men sleeping, sunbathing, fooling around and, crucially, engaging in increasingly sexually charged pranks on each other, but all under the guise of heterosexuality. They record and take photos of these suggestive acts and share on chat,...

Boys Love in multiverse.. Whaaat !!! OK OK...Maybe multiverse is a stretch. Its more like in a parallel universe. But still just this one statement was enough to peak my curiosity to watch this show of 12 episodes of about 50-55 minutes each. Needless to say that the idea is novel and I was actually looking forward to watching this show and see what and how it unfolds. We meet our two leads in the first episode. Talay, is a colorist who has just secured a position in his dream job. Before he starts, he has a lucky encounter with Puen, a celebrity actor, to hand him a gift that his friend prepared for him. The encounter is basic, but we know that a romantic story is to be unfolded. So, Talay meets with an accident and drowns just before he is to start his job. When he wakes up he finds himself in the body of another person named Tess. Whats baffling is that this is a parallel universe, which seems like his world but has its own unique quirks with different cuisines, peculiar traditions ...

I think anyone who is gay, or is with friends with me, and maybe if they are not; are familiar with the Matthew Shepard story (at least in US). There have been a couple of some very amazing films that can give you the context. The Laramie Project was created from over 200 interviews conducted with Laramie residents before, during, and after the trials of the two boys who killed Shepard; the interviews create an amazing cross-section of American views on homosexuality, religion, class, privacy, and so much more besides. This film is not easy to watch. With an all star cast of many many known and familiar names and faces, who become the voices of the inhabitants of Laramie, this film has an emotional power that is hard to describe. Shot in a documentary style, the film follows the members of the Tectonic Theater Project, a theater group from New York City, as they conduct interviews with citizens of Laramie just after Matthew Shepard’s murder. As you may know, Shephard was a 21 year old ...

Before Internet dating and hookup apps, The Handkerchief code was largely used by gay men in the 1970's to distinguish sexual preferences and fetishes in gay clubs and on the streets of places like San Francisco and New York. And to behest, when I read the title of this film I was hoping to learn about the shivery of the whole thing, how and why did th color codes start, how it progressed etc. But this film ended up being an anthology of 25 shorts from different queer directors worldwide, each telling a story based on a color/fetish of the infamous hanky code, across a spectrum of genres, styles, genders, and locations to dissect the code. Films range from narrative to experimental to erotic and animated, with many films redefining the traditional code with colors, patterns, and fetishes up to creative interpretation of the artist. On paper the idea sound since, but to be honest, most, if not all, films were pretty basic and boring to a large extent. The stories didn't even hav...

Club Church is a subculture within Amsterdam nightlife. This cruise club offering freedom, unprecedented sex and apparent absence of judgement has the film director constantly pushing his own personal boundaries, bringing out a side of him he didn't know existed. In this personal documentary the maker explores what Club Church means to him, while his late great-uncle, who was also gay, seems to watch over his every move. Robin Vogel bares all in a film about sexual identity, non-monogamy and bridging different worlds. The documentary starts with us meeting Robin's great granduncle, who also happened to be gay and together they shared a special bond and used to travel together for holidays. An elderly gay man who has never been able to live as freely as Robin himself. He is intrigued by the sense of freedom Robin gets from club chUrch. He then finds some candidates to interview and hear their perspective of the club and what it means for them which includes club regulars, his mo...

Another series about teenage gay romance, I was actually looking forward to watching this one for two reasons: First that Taiwanese shows have more often than not sprung a present surprise and secondly my friends here on my blog had recommended as potential watch. The show does have all the right ingredients to make it popular among its target audience like rich visuals, cute young actors and even some good songs, but did I enjoy it, is something we will analyze a bit later. The show starts with unlikely meeting between Ye Guang and Qi Zhang on a rainy night. They were both sad but somehow Ye Guang felt for the first time there is another individual whose sorrow seems larger than his and so he offers him his umbrella as a gesture of kindness. A year later, the two boys are in same school. Qi Zhang remembers the kind gesture and like many other people harbors a secret crush on him. Ye Guang is the popular boy of school being rich, handsome, top grades and has a queue of admirers looking...

This film is a low budget attempt to deal with a theme that has certainly been done to death both in mainstream and gay themed movies. Young hopefuls arrive in LA with a desire to break into the big time. The film has absolutely no plot at all. It just readers around the audience watching lives on these three gay young men as it unfold on screen before us. An aspiring dancer named Ben shows up in Los Angeles and moves in with his two best friends Jason and Corey, the three of them looking to find love in the city of dreams while also seeking fulfillment in their careers. He is just coming out and desperate to find love. He meets fellow dancer Craig, with whom he starts practicing a musical piece. Little does Ben know that Craig has an outlook that's more in step with his than he realizes. Jason delivers humorless stand-up comedy routines while pursuing an industry bigwig in the hopes of making it in show business. H indulges in meaningless sex. Things change when he meets a big sho...

This 2003  documentary is about 4-5 gay men, who are living on the countryside of Swabia (a rural area in the south west of Germany) far off from the big cities, where it is easier being gay and not being scrutinized at every given point. Being alone as Gays among an entirely heterosexual environment, they still try to live a rich and happy life. Even though this may be universal story, the reaction of their fellow villagers are unique, allowing us a rare peek of real life in the small villages in rural Germany. The film starts with a group of older people sitting together and eating and one of the guys giving his honest opinion on what he thinks of gay people. We are then slowly introduced to our protagonists of this documentary. Hartmut, HIV-positive, kept his homosexuality secret in Germany until his diagnosis, but he traveled to Thailand, where he indulged in sex tourism. He now wishes he had started his life much earlier. Heavyset mid-20s forester Stefan would like a steady ma...

This funny little show debuted in 2012 with a six episode season 1, followed by 10 episodes in season 2 in 2013. Chronicling the lives of 4 gay men in 50s or reaching 50s, specifically focussing on their love and sex life through mini skits in each episode. An  an enjoyable farce about a group of middle-aged Gay guys toiling in the West Hollywood district of Los Angeles, this series doesn't pretend to be super smart or anything. The comedy wasn't over the top but realistic scenarios and tiny bite size episodes made it a fun watch. I think I would have enjoyed it a LOT more ten years ago, but even ow, I think this was a decent harmless fun. The series introduces us to its primary four characters coming together for Nathan's 50th birthday. Nathan is a talent scout, single and as you can imagine sad and depressed that he is turning 50. He introduces us to Muscles, a gym trainer on whom many men drool , but since he is looking for serious relationships and love, he hasn't h...

A psychological mystery thriller, this film was a weird watching experience for me. Using religion as the background, the film does feature a lot of dream-like/nightmarish sequences with the leading man, often to that extend that you don't always know for sure if he is awake or dreaming himself. This is also not a user film per say, but yeah the lead is bisexual man who is obsessing over another man. So even though the central theme of the film is not gay, the character trait is gay. Gerard is a bisexual writer. On his way to give. Lecture, he sees a hot man on the train station and completely obsesses over him, but the man soon leaves. During one of his lectures, he meets Christine who asks him to say the night at her place and they have a one night stand. She runs a beauty salon and apparently was married before thrice. Next day, Gerard sees a picture of Christine's boyfriend, a man named Herman, who is the same guy he saw at train station. He decides to stay longer hoping to...

I had quite liked the season 1 of this series, despite some hiccups, and the way that season was ended, it was very obvious that a follow up season will be soon coming our way. I have to say that the sequel is definitely a step up and in no way compromises on the things it wants to talk about like challenges & issues of a gay couple trying a raise kids in a society which has its own perception f of what's acceptable and what's not. Navigating through social norms, with their own personal issues and loving kids forms the crux of this beautiful follow up. This season is 8 episodes of about 30-35 minutes each. The story continues from the bombshell ending of season 1 when Damian's son from his first marriage shows up. A devastated Jerry moves to his parents town with their son Kai unsure of what to do. Meanwhile Damian is trying to get used to his new life with teenage son Jimmy while trying to win back over Jerry. Thankfully Damian and Jerry talk things out and when Jerry...

This show is recording of an actual live musical performance with friendship as the core to the theme and a few BL stories. As you all know that musicals have never been my cup of tea, unless something is very extraordinary, so as much as I wanted to enjoy this show, it did really nothing for me. Also, its hard to appreciate songs in other languages when you have to focus so hard on reading subtitles to understand the whole context. Below is the synopsis presented by their official website. Despite his best friend's protest, An, a gifted student, joins the rock music club just before the national high school rock band contest. But aside from the practice sessions, he also has to manage the pressure of the endless exams and the trouble that comes with being a teenager…all that is worth looking forward to, is the action – such as a kiss that was never meant to be, a burning desire that has been left unattended for far too long, and a realization that a person's sex – both biologi...

This film is supposed to be a satire on the dark reality permeating the gay indie movie industry in Manila. While I do appreciate the idea and topic, the execution sadly was dull with some really bad editing and overall the product comes out as amateurish, despite having an idea that could have done extremely well in good hands. Leonardo David is a famous movie director whose career has started to slump. Swallowing his pride, he accepts an offer to make a sexy gay indie movie-the latest box office trend in Manila. He starts auditing for the lead man to play this role. His ex-boyfriend, who left him begs him for a roe but the director declines. He starts auditioning young handsome boys telling them that they will have to be naked in the film. Two candidates really catch his attention. First one is really poor who tells the director stories about how he prostitutes himself and how sis sisters makes him sleep with other men for money and how he desperately needs the role. But he likes the...

A collection of gay family dramas. After a long time, I have to say , I saw a collection that was good. I had seen a couple of movies before as well. But watching these as a unit somehow connected with me more. I guess this series is a continuation where many years ago, I saw the collections of Boys Briefs, Blue Briefs and Black Briefs. I guess this as always in my collection but I somehow missed it. PRIDE - On the morning of his annual gay pride party, Stephen is forced to take in his homophobic father who had disowned him over 20 years ago. Now suffering from Alzheimer's dementia, the father gets a crash course in all things gay from Stephen's eclectic mix of friends. Seeds of their turbulent relationship come to light as does hope that the two can move past their fears, accept and forgive one another. THE COMMITMENT - Robert and Ethan are an interracial gay couple fulfilling their dream of adopting a newborn baby. After they meet the expectant Asian birthmother, however, t...

This is a set of two "gay horror" films in one set made by the same producer/director. The first one is a full fledged film while the other one is a 30 minute short film. Sadly both the film are pretty bad in terms of story, acting, direction.. everything. The main feature is " When Darkness Falls ", where Kevin, a prankster invites his most recent boyfriend, Danny, to his parent's summer home in the woods. Danny, the antithesis of Kevin, is a fearful, sweet, one-man guy naive to the likes of Kevin and his friends. Kevin gets a kick out of scaring Danny about the local folklore surrounding his house and the zombies that supposedly roam the adjacent cemetery. When darkness falls, noises outside the house begin to scare the two shitless. Even after Kevin's friends reveal they were behind the creepy happenings, things continue down a scary spiral revealing the true story of the zombies that wander the night. Neither the story is original nor the acting. The fil...

Charting the evolution of public and political attitudes to homosexuality over the last four decades, from decriminalization to today’s advances in gay sexual freedom, the documentary How Gay Sex Changed the World was aired in 2007 as part of Channel 4's '40 years Out' series. It examines how the gay sexual revolution gathered pace in the face of gradually changing legislation, from the first Gay Pride march to groundbreaking dramas such as Queer as Folk. Starting with the legalization of gay sex in private for adults over 21 years old this film moves quickly through the history of male homosexuality in the UK. It talks about how there were no places for gay men to meet, then slowly moving onto a few books and magazines that started to get published where male genitalia would be on display, helping gay men to move away from Playgirl magazines. It then talks about how slowly some open gay bars opened up and how men would meet at these clubs and bars and other various cruisin...