Movie Reviews -
Gay Themed

“Mango Yellow” is a provocative tale of low-rent losers set in the coastal town of Recife, Brazil. Like characters out of some Carnival hell, a macho butcher and his born-again wife, a forlorn barmaid, a sinister sadist and the gay manager of a flophouse called the Hotel Texas run in and out of each other’s lives in a film as sloppy, sluttish, scruffy and vital as they are. Though the film struggles to reach a meaning beyond its own shock value, it has the kind of in-your-face transgressiveness that some critics look for in a film so that it can make festival rounds. This is definitely not a gay film at all, but one of the main characters is gay and we see a bit of his mindset behind doing things that he does. We have a sexy waitress running a bar who regularly has to shoot down advances from various men. Issac, is one such guy, lives at the Texas Hotel, where Dunga, a gay man, works as a handyman. Dunga is attracted to Wellington, a butcher who delivers meat to the hotel. Wellington, ...

It feels like I have been watching a lot of AIDS related films/series of late for some reason, and they all impact you in different ways. This film specifically tells us what happens to the family and friends left behind after someone's death and how they cope up with it. Everyone has their own way of dealing with grief and sadness. It calls forth a sense of identification with each of the major characters in this story and makes us uncomfortable while providing avenues for insight and change. Gavin is dying of AIDS and is being helped day his close friend and business partner Anna and his caregiver friend Charlie. Also in the mix is Charlie's boyfriend Frank. It was Gavins wish for euthanasia to die with dignity, so the doctor is called and Gavin's mother, married brother Simon all show up. The euthanasia does not seem to be working and in desperation Charlie places a plastic bag over Gavin's head to hasten the requested death - a deed that will haunt Charlie and the r...

Queer as F**k collects six short films from the New Queer Cinema movement that simultaneously extol and eat away at gay identity with modes of camp. The title rightly says that it is a collection of 'Bizarre Short Films'. This collection might have been a hoot 20 years ago, when it came out but watching it today felt quite pointless and weird to be honest. Jeffrey's Hollywood Screen Trick: A very funny and witty look at the gay 'dance party' and the associated interaction between gay men at this type of event. Using clever animation involving Billy love dolls, you may actually laugh while watching this one. Though the ending might comes as a shock. Shame No More: An extremely clever send up of the 50's propaganda films denouncing homosexuality and the ability to 'cure', though here it is the heterosexuals with the problem! Beautifully filmed to realistically look like a 1950's film. Soda Pop: A lovely tale of unrequited teenage first love. It'...

When Boys Fly is a 2002 documentary film about gay circuit parties. I am guessing pretty much everyone in the community is by now familiar with the concept of circuit parties - all-night dance parties with an emphasis on sex and drugs. This documentary follows three men as they attend one in Miami and the people they encounter and what happens over one night. Tone, is a 21 year old student who has attended several of these parties but has also gone out of control because of overuse of drugs. His roommates are worried about him and have delivered an ultimatum: if he "fucks up" at the White Party he will be thrown out of the house and out of his roommates' lives. Brandon, a 23 year old student of UCLA is essentially a loner and have never been to any of these parties. He is very firm in his decision not to use drugs at the party and worries that he will be ostracized at the party for his decision. Then we have the trip of Jon (19), Jason (early 20s) and Todd (mid 30s). Jon ...

This is a collection of gay themed short films released way back in 2002. I am very surprised that I had not seen any of these in the multiple rounds of short films that I keep watching (maybe I did see Boychick, but I am not sure), so stumbling upon this one was quite fun. All five feature films have interesting stories. The acting and production values are more variable, but still acceptable overall. Tom Clay Jesus - A one night stand between Tom and Clay which goes nowhere until Jesus enters the picture. Fun is that Jesus happens to be Clay, only there months later, whom Tom fails to recognize. The film looks at a New York area tryst-romance from three perspectives. People want to be loved for themselves, whatever that might mean. Boychick - A Jewish high-school student in Los Angeles recruits his dream female celebrity performer to help him win the attention of the buff debate team champion. There is a long end credit section that tells "where they are now". Audit - A ...

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 ...

Films on child prostitution and exploitation or pornography in general is a sensitive subject and needs to be dealt with respect. Unfortunately, this specific film often relies on voyeuristic sensationalism at many places that were clearly not needed. To make a film be enjoyed by critics and audience alike, you need to keep it all balanced and in this film, there are more than required shots of naked young bodies. Frank is a 15 year old boy squatting in an abandoned building. He is addicted to drugs, supplied to him by his best friend David who deals. To meet his drug requirement Frank has sex with other men in alleyways and toilets. The money is barely enough for food forget drugs. Despite David trying to make sense to Frank to stop doing those, he doesn't get it. David also doesn't like all the gay stuff Frank does and tries to set him up with a female friend of his. One day on the street Frank meets the older man Sebastian and memories come back to him. When Frank was 9 year...

Billed as a gender-bender film, this film is quite odd and weird and stage itself more like a series of vignettes, trying to shock you possibly using queer, trans, gay themes. The way this film is shot, I doubt if this was ever seen outside any film festivals. Having said that, I am suite surprised that a film like this (with its bold theme) actually came from China. Opening scene has Xiao Bo nursing his father on death bed who now wants him to call his mother. She shows remorse for not being able to feed Xiao her breast milk and as a dying wish, asks for his son's milk, who obliges the father with an act of oral sex. Yes this is just the beginning. We then see Xiao Bo renting with his boyfriend Nana who has had sex change now. Even though Xiao denies being gay, he is no longer attracted to female form of Nana. Desperate for revenge, Nana decides she will find many lovers but never let any man love her. He joins a club as singer where the owners brother falls head over heels in lov...

I thought I would be watching a sort of spoof and an over the top film, given its subject, but it actually was not the case. The film was supposedly done seriously, But I, as the audience, could not figure out, where is it that they really wanted to go with this film. At one point you feel this is full upon drama but at the very next instance, too much "fag" reference and then campy and peevish attitude from the people being rescued would just take it into another zone. A local Thai flight crashes inside Burma in rebel-held territory. Amongst the survivors are several gay men and transsexuals. The Thai Army is ordered by the Foreign Ministry to rescue them. One of their soldiers is a bit of a loose cannon and he hates homosexuals as his son is one. However, he must do his duty despite his prejudice. The Shan rebels control the area. They capture the survivors but they manage to run away with the Thai rescue team. They are supposed to be picked up by helicopter but the Thai Fo...

Italian films (in the queer space) have these knack of mixing comedy, family while tackling with sensitive subjects, in this case homosexuality. I have seen a few films in the past where the message and subject is addressed and talked about but in a light hearted comic way, where it connects well with audience and it doesn't get heavy at all. This film is definitely one such film. Brothers Francesco and Nicola haven't seen each other for 40 years, ever since Francesco came out gay by declaring it in the school. Since he was a teacher at the time, he decided to spare his family the disgrace he had caused by declaring publicly his sexual orientation. When their mother dies, Francesco visits her but at the burials notary appears with the mother's last wish: to be buried next to her husband in her hometown by both her sons. After some bickering, the duo agree on the road trip where they will need to work on their issues. During this journey, Nicola finally gets to hear what was...

I think I saw this way before I started writing my blog here, so it was a bit nostalgic to watch it again, but also good in a way since I pretty much didn't remember anything at all about the film. I think some of these older films have a certain charm to them. They are not very complicated, easy to keep your attention and have something fun and meaningful to say to us as audience. The film is light, funny and not stupid. Jean-Pierre is a college professor who is in a relationship with Armando, a cuban masseur; but due to his status and his work with charity organization, he is not out to his friends and work, but still most people know about him. One day suddenly by luck of draw the court appoints him as guardian for an underage troubled kid Antione. He is. very upset and wants to contest the application. Also it turns out that he was once married to a woman, who he has not divorced. He asks her to come back to his life, much to the jealousy of Armando, because JP thinks that once...

I wish I had seen this note earlier. This film is supposedly one of the worst movies ever made. Too late now, I've already spent over an hour watching this film and that time is never going to come back anyway as part of writing this blog watching awful, good, bad movies is just a part of it. Every scene, every line, every hissy fit is simultaneously hilariously amateur and hysterically fever-pitched. Ben & Artur are a gay couple who ave been together for about 3 years now are desperately trying to get married. But things are not easy. Gay marriages are not legal yet in most states. Not just this, Ben is married to Tammy who just refuses to divorce him. Things are not going very well, and Arthur is frustrated in is job and decides to quit. To finance is further education, Arthur tracks down is estranged brother Victor, a homophobic religious fanatic who will stop at nothing to "cure" Arthur of his homosexuality. This obsession suddenly becomes Victor's obse...

WTF did I just see? You literally have to be kidding me, if any one out there can actually call this a film and to top if someone can tell me anything at all positive about this film. The script is pretty non-existent. If you ask me, I still won't be able to tell what did I just see. There are 3 long sex scenes with everything exposed for you to see that come out of nowhere. The rest of the scenes are really really long random scenes of small group of people talking forever and ever.  The scenes don't flow naturally from one into the other, and in one, you hear someone off camera giving one of the actors his lines he forgot. I mean there is no editing, nothing. The acting, editing, cinematography, screenplay etc., was all amateurish and subpar. Every single scene just goes on forever. Trust me!! I hope no one invested any of their personal hard earned money to make this "film". The story take place in Olympia, Washington where the characters includes a supreme co...

When I started watching this, I had no idea what I was getting into. To be honest, I did not even know that I was going to watch a documentary. So, to be honest, at. the beginning, I wasn't sure if I wanted to continue watching it but I am glad I did. After my initial apprehensions, the documentary did peak my interest and there was so much I got to learn and understand about San Francisco in late 60s and 70s when celebration of hippie culture, diversity, sexuality was at its peak. The documentary talks about the gender-bending San Francisco performance group who became a pop culture phenomenon in the early 1970s. The documentary starts with snippets of interviews with some of the members of the Cockettes group that was an eclectic mix of gay and straight, black and white, men and women.. Story is centered around a NY based actor George Harris, a bearded man, who moves to SF, rarely seen without lavish glitter makeup, facial hair dye and resplendent thrift-shop couture. He mov...

I have always enjoyed thrillers. And this one is about a serial killer in the 60s in Germany who was arrested for murder of at least 4 young boys and their sexual molestation. Partly told as taped confessions and partly as events recreation, this film gives us an insight in the minds of a notorious serial killer. Jürgen Bartsch, while recounting events on how and why he killed those boys, tells us that he was a loner as a child. When he is teen , he doscovers that he was adopted by his parents. They do not allow Jurgen to have friends, to socialize, to have any interests. When Jurgen begins to get in touch with his sexuality, they foster care him and seek professional advice for his sickness of homosexuality, after it is found that he beat and touched a neighbor boy. Jürgen Bartsch recounts events on how he almost fell in love with a boy whom he ran away with but almost also killed him under the train just because he would then be able to express his love. He is shocked by his own...

Oh My God!! This film brings back all kinds of memories. This was the first-ever gay film that I saw in my life. I was doing my masters degree and hadn’t come to terms in accepting my sexuality. I used to love to watch independent films and went to the only local theatre, where this movie was playing. I din’t know what to expect, but I remember being slightly uncomfortable watching the film since it was my first exposure to the gay cinema and I was suddenly conscious of people around me and probably judging me. The movie ended and I went back to my room, had to make up stories for my room mates because I couldn't have told them what film I just saw. Thankfully, 16 years later, a lot has changed in my life and I am glad for everything. But watching this movie again was a reminder of what my growing up years were like and what I used to feel and go through. It just makes me more empathetic to other people’s struggles and stories. Ok enough of that, and now coming to this film. K...

This was a very very odd and weird coming-out film. Such films that focuses on teenagers are usually cute, romantic and helps the audience to come to terms and accept really who they are. Instead, all this film does is confuse the viewers to a very large extent. I have seen films where a plot doesn’t always make sense but this one definitely takes it up a level since even after reading online a lot about this film, trying to interpret the director’s vision, still leaves me very confused. Nicholas lives with his mother, who is worried about Nicholas’ introvert nature. Hid father was a cop and is dead now. HIs only friend is Bobby. Nicholas definitely has a very strong attraction to Bobby but Bobby’s feelings are not always clear. Nicholas is confused because just when he thinks Bobby also likes him, he starts showing more interest in girls and the parties. Nicholas just plays along. We also see Nicholas’ father’s ghost that apparently he also sees and feels that he is guiding him, ...

Was this is artsy film or was it just something else in the name of soft-porn; these are the arguments we can all have and never come to a conclusion. The makers could also argue that this is a study of human psyche. In either case, does this film provide anything for a viewer? Different people look for different things when they come to watch a movie. Thankfully, when I watch a movie, I try to not watch it with expectation and hoping to be offered something interesting. Unfortunately this film failed to do so. We look at this old worn out porn theatre in Paris. It shows only straight pornography for a clientele of men of various types: military men, straight men look for gay sex, married men in need of exploration of their senses, transvestites, old men for whom such places provide the only sexual outlet, and the regulars who spend their evenings in the dingy darkened atmosphere for anonymous sex. The theatre is run by a single 40-ish lady, who by now has seen every aspect of sex...

We have seen so many films about gay-straight love and how ultimately the straight guy figures out he is gay and all that with regular cliches. Thankfully this is a film that doesn't follow regular cliches. In the backdrop of love and art, we also do get to see friends dealing with Aids and loneliness. Overall a very impressive movie considering I had no expectations from it. Also, just as an aside, the poster of the movie needs to be changed. It gives the impression that it is a bad cheesy c-grade film, which it is so not. David is a famous artist who finds himself in a artist block. To get more inspired, he decides that he needs to get a job and since he has waiting experience, he decide to join a not so famous diner, so that no one recognizes him. The diner is owned by Matt and Violet, a loving couple. The 3 of them become friends and are having a good time, until David starts having feelings for Matt. Surprisingly, Matt looks in David a friend, whom he can hang out with. O...

This film is actually a collection of three short dramas focuses on the interconnectedness of Puerto Ricans living in both New York and on the island, while addressing the devastating effects of September 11, 2001. Three stories of couples passion, jealousy, doubt and infidelity - couples that are burned by sudden and unexpected feelings and are pushed to make the decision that will change their lives, forever. The first story follows frustrated baseball player Millo, whose efforts at getting noticed by a talent scout result only in an offer to become a coach. He takes his frustrations out on his wife, Luisa, whom he abuses physically before she finally decides to take some action of her own. She leaves him to go to New York, and her day of departure is September 11. In the second story, a pilot leading a double life maintains a family in Puerto Rico while keeping a gay lover, who is a flight attendant with whom he works. His life is rerouted, along with his plane, on the morning ...