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Showing posts with the label 1984

La Triche (French) [The Cheat]

I find it very fascinating that back in the 80s prominent gay films had started to emerge where the central theme was gay and not just a side character. This crime thriller with a gay romance at its center must have been quite a stir when it came out in 1984. Although I do have to say that French and German cinemas were always way ahead of times, so part of me is also not surprised. Sure, they don't show any intimate in-your-face scenes but it's all very obvious here. Set in Bordeaux, the emcee of local drag nightclub is killed one night, and Inspector Michel is called in to investigate. The film started with us seeing Michel with another man in Paris, so we know that likes men but we are then told that back home he has a loving wife and a kid. Back to the murder, As Michel starts to interview various staff and performers, he pays special attention to cute blonde musician Bernard. He is young and cute and before they both realize, they eventually have an intense love affair.  W...

Apollo My Love (Japanese)

OMG!! What did I just see. I know I recently got familiar with a term called 'Pink Film'. I am beginning to wonder if this is something very specific to Japanese films. Because this film was like a Pink film times two. With a paper thin gay love plot, more than half of the film was simulated sex scenes of all kinds of nature which was probably used to titilate audience. Soichi lives his life on a yacht. He had met young and naiive boy Masao, about a year ago who had run away form home and since then they have bene living as lovers. Masao calls him as Apollo. Soichi also has sexual relations with his step mother, who is younger than him. Apollo has to leave to meet the woman to arrange for money leaving Masao alone on the boat. In his absence, 2 men and a woman come into the watch, sexually assault and are and torture Masao. It turns out that Soichi at some point had raped the girl. Apollo comes in time to save his boyfriend. Yes, trust me this was the one hour long film, with a...

Before Stonewall (Documentary)

If you have not heard of the New York City's Stonewall Riots, I am not sure where have you been living. In 1969 the police raided the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in New York City's Greenwich Village, leading to three nights of rioting by the city's LGBT community. With this outpouring of courage and unity the gay liberation movement had begun. This documentary uncovers the hidden, repressed, and oftentimes denied history of gay America in the days before the famous Stonewall riots. Released in 1985, it helped put a halt on the notion that homosexuality was a product of societal moral decay. Told through the recollections of gay men and women who paved the road to Stonewall by simply living their lives and loving the people they loved, despite draconian laws that ensured that they could be refused employment or fired from their jobs, denied the right to rent apartments and thrown in jail simply for being who they were. The documentary includes vintage news footage that makes it...

Another Country (UK)

Having read good reviews about his fim, I was quite keen on watching this one. But I guess these are the kind of films which I personally dont like. In some way, shape or form, I have been unable to identify myself with these films. And considering the fact that the film is set in 30's and talks about Communism and Marxism, It all goes above my head.  Films is set in a London boarding school. Among other things, the film focuses on 2 main characters who happen to be friend and room mates. Tommy sticks to his ideals and believes in Marx and Stalin. Guy is gay, in love with a younger pal who is forever ready to rebel against the rigid rules of the institution. The film shows the rigid, archaically proper British schools for young men where class is paramount in importance, rank reigns, and medieval views of sexuality and out of line thought are treated with public corporal punishment and (worst of all!) the inability to rise in the ranks of the 'important' lads. Throughout th...