ChUrchroad: Weg Van De Kerk (Dutch Documentary) [ChUrchroad: Away From The Church]

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 mother, his boyfriend, club owners, the straight doorman, a pole dancer working there and other patrons of this club.

I feel this was a first attempt by a budding film maker. Firstly, I don't even know what's the purpose of making this documentary. Robin says he wants to explore what the club means for him and how much freedom he can get, but after having seen this documentary, I am not sure how he will get answers to any of these questions. The interview settings seem rather arbitrary, the candidates chosen are flat except maybe a couple like the doorman and his honest mother. The biggest problem is that there are so many people being interviewed in this short under one hour film, that you no longer keep track of who is who and also because the conversations so flat and basic. For someone like me, who is not aware of this club, this film did give me lot o information about an aspect of gay life in Amsterdam which is probably very free and gives an opportunity for visitors to test their limits since nothing is out of bounds. Also it is a short film, so easy to watch, but besides that, I really question the need for such a documentary. (3.5/10)

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