Movie Reviews -
Gay Themed

Love in the Big City is a Korean BL series about a gay writer and his dating experiences. Over the course of 8 episodes, each lasting about 50 minutes, our lead character, a single young man is looking for romance. He meets guys in bars, clubs, hobby groups, and hookup apps, each from a different walk of life. Some relationships end as short flings, while others develop into emotional journeys. Through the highs and lows of his love life, the protagonist discovers valuable lessons about himself. Every 2 episodes focus on one of his relationship, so we see 4 distinct guys/love stories that our man deals with. We meet Go Young, a young carefree guy who loves clubbing with his friends. Over the course of time, he becomes close friends with a schoolmate, a girl named Mi Ae, who has a reputation for sleeping around with guys. Since the two get along so well, they find lot of common things, they decide to live together. Young moves out of home and becomes roommates with Mi Ae. Young meets a ...

This is a short Thai mini-series of just 2 episodes of about 65 minutes each. With a paper thin plot (worthy of probably just a short story), I am not sure why this was stretched into a 2 plus hour version. I mean it came out in 2024. The cheesy, cliché lines the actors say, look out of place. And the climax was a long winded denial of one to then make a 180° turn to have a happy end. Athit (or Manu) is a resort owner, who has been hurt in love and stays by himself closed to the world. He is the owner of a resort which he is undergoing renovation for. Due to a booking mistake, a visitor Pe ends up coming to the resort and insists that he will stay there since he has paid in full. In contrast Athit's personality, Pe is handsome, fun of life, outgoing and gregarious. The two guys slowly start to warm up to each other. Pe is a budding novel writer and has escaped to this rather beautiful paradise for inspiration. Meanwhile, his fantasy and adept writing creates a rather interesting lo...

Set on the beaches and streets of Provincetown, this film is a poignant and heartwarming story of a young undocumented gay Brazilian named Lourenço who’s counting down his last days in town before having to leave to face an uncertain future. The film has this melancholic feel to it about a person's search for love, loss in love and a very uncertain future. Lourenço is from Brazil in Provincetown on a tourist visa who came to US with his then lover Joe who has since disappeared and fallen out of love. Lourenço still pines for him and continues to do house cleaning jobs to keep afloat. His landlord/neighbor is an older gay single guy, who genuinely cares for him and looks out for him. As he waits for Joe, Lourenço eventually meets Maurice, an attractive, soft-spoken Black nurse from Queens on his way to a residency in Angola, who is in Provincetown for a few days. They’re drawn together, spending time on beach and become briefly entangled; it’s a powerful physical attraction that mig...

In this aptly titled film 'Sex', the story unfolds against the backdrop of modern urban Norway.  Through clever wordplay, the film challenges conventional notions of masculinity and societal norms, regardless of whether the characters identify as heterosexual or homosexual. To be honest, this film would have been better suited as a theatre play. Th film is extremely heavy on dialogues and conversation and after a while, I was wondering if "can we just move on please!". More on that later. Two chimney sweeps, both in monogamous, heterosexual marriages, find themselves in situations that challenge their perspectives on sexuality and gender norms. One of them has been having a series of dreams in which he is in a passionate relationship with David Bowie who makes him feel like a woman, while the other recently had a sexual encounter with a male client, an unexpected but surprisingly wonderful experience, which gets tarnished as soon as he tells his wife about it. Neither...

Amigos De Esperma (Argentina) [Sperm Friends] A lesbian couple proposes to a friend gay couple to have a baby between the four through a fertility treatment. The thing gets complicated when they begin to realize the ridiculous problems that the situation entails and are in the uncomfortable situation of choosing which of the two men will be the sperm donor. This was a light hearted comedy and watchable. 14 Days (Philippines) Two weeks before graduating, PNP trainee Elijah is assigned to watch over Arvin, a law student and part-time tour guide who was recently exposed to a positive case of COVID-19. The story of a companionship that blooms in the middle of isolation and fear of death and disease, of self-discovery, of a different kind of love. A blossoming love in the specter of doubt, sickness and death. Decent. Asterico (Il)legale (Italy) In a world where identity is a journey of self-discovery and societal acceptance, individuals fight for freedom against cultural and legal obstacles...

To be honest, I had absolutely no expectations from the film since I did not know much about it. Sadly, given the Asian and specifically Thai BL series, I try and keep a check on my expectations. Thankfully this film was a pleasant surprise. It touches upon a topic that not many films deal with. What are "rights"? Are they something that all people are entitled to, regardless of age, origin, culture and any other circumstance, or do we earn it? Does the law have the power to dictate them or can we simply assume that we are entitled to enjoy the rights due to circumstances or tradition? Especially when it comes to gay couples, it has a whole different meaning in countries where the law doesn't recognize it. This film tries and shows a story form one such perspective. Thongkam and Sek are a gay couple who invested their life savings into starting a durian orchard. Thongkam even sold his house to help fund the business. They also get married even though law doesn't recog...

This film is the sequel to 2021’s film Mascarpone, which I remember liking very much. So naturally, my expectations were quite high from the sequel.  As a reminder, in the original film, Antonio splits up with his husband and moves in with a sex worker, Denis. Denis fixes him up with a job as an apprentice baker with Luca, whom he also starts dating, including having threesomes with Denis till Denis untimely death. The film sort of takes forward from the original story but three years later. Three years have now passed and Antonio is now a successful celebrity pastry chef/food influencer with a hundred thousand followers on Instagram. He hasn't seen Luca since Denis' death. His dating record since then has been patchy as all his energy has gone into developing his career. One day, Luca comes into his café and the two men reconnect. Luca has had a tough time in the past three years and lost his bakery business. He is now, however, a successful youth worker working in a LGBTQ hom...

Continuing with the ambiguous love story between Aki and Haru, the sequel of the original movie was much awaited. I was hoping that after having tread the lines of friendship in the original movie, this one will focus more on the actual budding romance and the feeling that the two boys share for one another. It happens but too late in the game. It's only in the last 5-10 minutes of the film when they confess their true feelings and something meaningful happens. Till that point, sadly it continues to be spiritual sequel while retaining the charm of the original film. Aki and Haru have now lived together for 3 years and are now in their final year of university. The two friends cherish their mealtimes together, enjoying casual chats, playful jokes, and each other's company. They are both at the point where they are looking for a job. Aki is nervous about interviewing but he finally finds a job in home decor. The two friends are quite happy with the news. Haru continues his passio...

I have very mixed feelings about this show. I understand the art of being subtle and let things take time to grow, but I expected more from a Taiwanese show. Had this been a Chinese production. I would understand that there were limitations of the law, but we all know the Taiwan can and has done more direct BL shows. Here, pretty much everything is left for viewers to imagine. Yes, this is a teenage love story between two boys , who fate has brought together as step brothers, but they are trying to understand and deal with their feelings for one another; but this show is way too slow . I did enjoy the first 6-7 episodes but then not much was happening and it was more like witnessing some chapters. Also some other parallel stories were left unfinished. I think there might be a sequel but let's see. At 12 episodes roughly of about 50-55 minutes each, this will take a significant investment of your time.  The story is simple. Sheng Wang has moved to a new school where he clashes immed...

Oh my god! What the hell was this? A 6 part series of about 10-15 minutes each, this one was supposed to be likely a sexy/supernatural genre; but all it ended up being was something so embarrassing to watch. I wont even say it was comedy because that was unintentional and the only reason you laugh is at the absurdity of it all and the audacity of people to make something like this. Although, in fairness this was back in 2021, post covid where folks were just about doing anything to keep content consumers busy. The story of a fairy who loved a man who he thought cheated on him so he retaliated and turned the cheater and his boyfriend into sex slaves. Eventually, he discovered the secret of the one who cheated on him. I am not even sure how this all plays out. We see two boys on top of a hill but they cannot remember each other. The evil spirit keeps kidnapping one of them and has their way with him and then neither remembers anything. Suddenly we have a threesome going on in a resort, w...

Catching up on my BL shows from my backlog. I stumbled upon this Pinoy BL series from 2021, peak covid days, when a lot of folks were dabbling into content creation with the rise of BL viewership. This series was only 5 episodes of about 14 minutes each, with the last one being almost double (might as well have made it 6 episodes). Anyway, the plot is really paper thin. It is a story if love and loss and one couples snapshot of dealing with covid times. Set in rural province of Philippines, we meet a young gay couple who are making ends meet. They have lost their jobs and with minimum savings, they moved to countryside while covid cases everywhere are rising. They both take good care of each other cooking, cleaning etc while also hoping that the virus doesn't catch them. Apparently Dandansoy is a song by some singer which happens to be a favorite of one of the boys. One day this guys starts to feel covid symptoms. It starts with loss of taste and smell, followed by cough. As best a...

Birder, an erotic thriller, is a peculiar film that spends little time explaining the actions of its central character, instead opting to piece together many scenes of sex and violence. The film will instantly remind you of the famous film "Stranger by the lake" given the locale similarity and also because it is about this stranger, who is besides a lake. It's not a suspense thriller but more like campy and creepy.  Kristian is a drifter, lurking around campsites under the pretense of being a bird-watcher. When he arrives to Lotus Cove, a clothing optional queer campground by a lake in New Hampshire, his handsome face and tight tattooed body make him an instant hit. Kristian quickly ingratiates himself with the group and gains their trust as he starts the endless sexual escapades with the camp members. The group consists a variety of queer ranging from cisgender and white like himself, to the more effeminate stereotype, to couples who also swing, and the lone woman among ...

Holiday season again and the magic of gay Christmas films. This film surprisingly focuses on actual gay romance than showing a couple in a full on family. I guess because makers usually wanna keep it safe, but once in a while you do get a full blown romantic film, and this one its et during the Christmas time, making it for an apt watch. The film is cheesy, mushy, romantic with some very cheesy lines and a bit of conflict thrown in for no reason. Despite all that, it was good fun to watch a few very handsome fully grown men in a festive atmosphere. LA based Wilde is just going through a breakup and is planning to sell his company because now he wants to do better and take a break. And then we meet Oliver, somewhere in Europe. He is a depressed divorce attorney at his father's firm and to cheer him up, his best friend gifts him a book about how to enjoy being gay and single or something like that. Oliver also puts his house on rent on misterBnB, which Wilde founds and next thing you...

Filipino BL shows have been a varied mix but once in a while there comes a show that is all about inclusivity, LGBTQ+ rights, empowering people especially todays youngsters and shows the power of solidarity and strength in numbers that is fundamental to the queer community, while also highlighting the challenges most societies still face with backwards thinking homophobes and transphobes. This 8 episode series may not be everyone's cup of tea. But in the 30 minute episodes, it really is a show whose heart is in the right place. King, a young adult, gets expelled from his school in Manilla when he defends students against the homophobe dean of the school. He moves to the religious and conservative town of Marahuyo where this grandmother and mother live. King soon realizes how backward and homophobe the small community is, especially when he sees how one of the trans student Venice gets treated by everyone. King supports her and together they decide to start the first LGBTQIA+ organi...

This was an interesting film that on the surface may seem like a soft porn-ish film (I certainly had my doubts within first 5 minutes of it) but it's a little more than that.  It's an honest depiction of a couple with very different ideas for their relationship, and that division ultimately dooms them both. Made by the director of Gameboys, I did expect more, to be honest, because the story line as such is barely there. It is more focused o the concept pf addiction, adjustments in a relationship and when is it enough. The plot is simple. Kent and Harvey have been in a relationship for 7 years. Kent has been always into orgies and in fact he met Harvey at one hosted at his place, but sparks flew and they two decided to date. Kent even had Harvey agree to an open relationship which Harvey was ok with. But no win present, Harvey has had enough and he asks Kent to stop this and that they should ficus on just them two as a couple. The duo get into a few heated yet nuanced arguments ...

I am slowly starting to catch up on so many shows/series/films that I have lost on in the last year because of my busy schedule. I am glad I ended up picking this Japanese one, since this was neither too heavy nor bad. It was just a nice feel good BL story that balances sweet flirtations with playfulness without overcomplicated drama. A straight forward story with 9 episodes each of about 23 minutes, that delves between the thin line of friendship v/s romance. The story is simple. Isumi is a 20 year old student who has joined the school's cooking club with his friends, since he loves cooking. One day, he is quite drunk as he is walking home. He encounters Amasawa, a 30-year-old police officer. A concerned Amasawa asks to see Isumi's ID to verify his age and then walks him home to ensure safety. Next day when Amasawa goes to convenience store to get his lunch, he finds Isumi working there and asks for his suggestion for lunch. Amasawa keeps his friendly cheerful demeanor and ask...

This Brazilian film centers around the trials and tribulations of a group of three queer individuals in the working-class suburbs of Brazil. The film tells the story of three young queer people in São Paulo – two of them residents, the third a visiting relative there for more sobering reasons than simply a casual stopover – as they spend roughly a day together traversing the bustling streets of a city they feel they can conquer, if they can muster up the confidence to emerge from the shadows in which they have found sanctuary from a hostile world that does not understand their experiences. We meet roommates Isabella, a student, Pedro, a sex worker and Jonata, Pedro’s HIV-positive nephew. Its just around the pandemic's fourth wave, the film moves into the three of them traversing through the city making astute contemplations about the society they live and what the future holds for them, in a Sao Paolo that is bled dry by a memory-easing virus and rampant capitalism. There is no sto...

I have quite mixed feelings about this film. A movie about the blossoming relationship between Adam and Lucas, whose paths unexpectedly cross in the picturesque French countryside, thanks to Brexit; sounded quite interetsing on paper, plus we do not really get to see many mature gay love stories, but this film has paper thin plot, that could easily have been put in a short form narrative. Plus a lot leaves to be desired in terms of direction, which felt a bot amateurish at a lot of places. More on that later. Tortu, a gay man in his 40s has just lost his job. Things get worse when he runs out of money, loses his home and despite his close friends trying to help him best, he is unable to get back on his feet. This is when he decides to go and stay with his uncle in a remote French village knowing very well that the visa will beveled only for 90 days. The uncle is dealing with his own issues. He had been in love with a straight man for many many years, who recently died and his son Lucas...

A very fascinating documentary,  “Memories of a Penitent Heart” is about woman trying to investigate what truly happened to her uncle Miguel, a homosexual Puerto Rican who died in the midst of the AIDS crisis, when she was herself just 6 years old. Working backwards through a network of friends, family photos, and newspapers, the film maker uncovers a story of heartbreaking tragedy, of loss and pain and fanaticism. Coming from a religious catholic family, with an extremely strict and conservative matriarch, young Miguel (renamed to Michael in NY) left his home in Puerto Rico and moved to New York to become an actor. He quickly made friends in the art circuit and before you know he was in a relationship with a gay ex-priest Robert. The maker tries hard to locate who this Robert is so that she can uncover the truth, she eventually succeeds in tracking him down through the film's Kickstarter campaign. He now is a Roman Catholic priest going by the name of Father Aquin. Thankfully the ...

The makers had a good thoughtful subject on their hand and still they decided to make this like a Japanese Pink film, instead of actually seriously making this film. It could have been a huge advantage if they did that. I believe I watched a censored version with only a minimal sex scenes but even those does not fit in a serious cinema and a subject like this which had potential. University student Ryo is having a relationship with his classmate Natsuo. To begin with its only physical, but soon when Natsuo moves in with Rio, they have a good connection and almost love situation going on. We also meet Ryo's father Shinya, who one day shows up unannounced. Ryo doesn't have a very good relationship with him and considers him a womanizer. Shinya is a singer/song writer. Through flashback, we are told that in his younger days, Shinya had a love affair with another man who also helped him writhe lyrics of his favorite song and they had a good thing going until one day Shinya's si...