Movie Reviews -
Gay Themed

Now that I know who Mawaan Rizwan is and how popular he is, I found out about this documentary that he did years back and something that I have been somehow delaying watching. The man is popular, openly gay man of Pakistan origin in London and he starts this documentary telling us about coming out as gay to his family last year: it was “the worst news ever for Pakistani parents”. Now he wants o go on a journey to Pakistan to seek an answer to the question: What would his life be like if he’d stayed in Pakistan as a kid? He decides to take on a journey  exploring how LGBT+ folk are perceived and the danger they face for being open about who they are in Pakistan. Starting in Karachi, the central subject he picked was the transgender world of Kami, and her partner Sid: they were the nightclub party-givers in Karachi for the LGBTQ community, though their home world looked far from affluent. Their dream was to be married in South Africa by an Imam who apparently endorses homosexual marr...

This is your standard BL movie. If you've seen a lot of BL movies or shows, then you won't find nothing great or even different about this one. IT is simply ordinary. The actors are new, I would suppose, but they did a decent job. The film is almost 2 hours long , which honestly it did not need to because some scenes are stretched being reasoning, just for the sake of it and honestly it is very monotonous. Ask and his girlfriend are headed out for a holiday to an island. On their way there, they meet Chai. Turns out that Aek and Chai used to be schoolmates and in fact roommates in school. The trip decide to hang out together and one night Aek and Chai are alone and they remember their school days. The entire film is then in flashback. Chai is a new student in school who ends up being Aek's roommate. Both of them are into sports. Very soon they becomes great friends, taking care of each other, eating, laughing, playing together and all is well. Secretly Chai has a crush on A...

This is a documentary that serves as an overview and examination of the lives and careers of aspiring and professional gay and lesbian athletes from all over the world. Chronicling the present, framed within a historical context of those that came before, this film highlights the experiences of athletes who have fought and struggled, both in and out of the closet, to represent the LGBT community and their true selves. This film is told through the voices of pioneers, present day heroes, tomorrow’s superstars and the people who’ve helped them succeed.  By casting those who’ve come out in the past as “heroes” — including women’s tennis game-changers Billie Jean King and Martina Navratilova, NFL vet David Kopay, retired baseballer Billy Bean and ex-NBA pioneer John Amaechi — the film aims to chip away at the potentially career-ending stigma that intimidates many athletes into keeping their identities a secret. Though Sam himself isn’t interviewed in the film, his publicist Howard Brag...

This dramedy film is about the new alternative family and how different family situations and relationships come to a head during the Christmas dinner when they are all in for a surprise. The concept of dysfunctional family, familial inadequacy and homophobia; it's all in here. But we also need to remember that this film came out almost 8-9 years back. So watching it today, definitely feels a bit dated. Simon and Oscar are a gay couple who have invited both their side of families for Christmas dinner. They have just moved into a new house and they want the familial family comfort. We first meet Oscar's Swedish parents. They are old and charming but also say wrong things at wrong times. They are rich and dad doesn't like the fact that Oscar has left all his education to pursue writing. There's Oscar's sister and his niece as well. Then we have Simon. His Greek parents are separated. Father works as a cleaner in the hotel the other parents were staying and the mother ...

Let me first clear it. This is NOT a BL series. The two leads identify themselves as gay men and there are a couple of scenes that show that maybe there is a potential love angle there, but it never happens. The show is not about BL romance at all. The show started off well, even silly but funny in a weird way, but the second half went in a different direction. Also, to be honest I am a bit confused around the whole plot. I hope I have understood it ok, but I would never know. The good thing is only that the show was only 10 episodes of 10 minutes each. The main character here is Shi Hyun. He has just returned home after a long time and is shocked to find his younger sister too engrossed in computer games. She lives in virtual world of comics and otaku (a young person who is obsessed with computers or particular aspects of popular culture to the detriment of their social skills). And because of this she is obsessed with Mong Ryong. He is president in some gaming company. Shi Hyun joins...

Coming Out is the personal story of young filmmaker Alden Peters. The film follows his coming out process as he tells his parents, friends and siblings how he has repressed his sexuality for a number of years. In using a homemade video style of filming, Coming Out gives us an insight into not only Peters’ journey but into his mindset as he starts to immerse himself into the LGBTQ lifestyle.The documentary is targeted primarily to a young, LBGTQ audience, facing the uncertainties of revealing their true selves to their family and friends. But the universality of much of the film’s message, makes it an emotionally moving and thought-provoking film for viewers of all backgrounds. The film goes on to describe Peters’ childhood and emotional situation leading up to his decision to come out, before capturing on film each conversation in which he reveals his sexual orientation to a loved one. The first half of Coming Out focuses heavily on Peters’ confrontation with his own sexuality. Fearful...

Each year, Melbourne’s ‘Same Sex Formal’ is attended by young people from across the state who have missed out on the one rite-of-passage most teenagers take for granted - either because their school explicitly refused to let them bring a same-sex partner, or because they just didn’t feel safe to do so. With breathtaking insight, honesty and humor, 12 LGBT teens reveal the highs and lows of their experiences with falling in love, coming out at high school and coming of age. This film is a moving and compelling film about queer students surviving high school and discovering the transformative power of community, acceptance and love.  In 2012, director Suzi Taylor came across a small news story about the ‘Same Sex Formal’ – an event held in Melbourne each year for same sex attracted and gender diverse students and their allies. It was an event for the kids who did not feel safe – or in some cases, had been forbidden – from attending their own high school formals and debutante balls. ...

This film feels more like a love letter and tribute to the beautiful landscape and country Chile, using a road trip theme of a grieving young man’s road trip through his native country. Treating the themes of grief and longing with a gently earnest obviousness, the film's heart is in the right place; but as an audience I literally get nothing to tale back home except how beautiful Chile is. The film starts with a handsome man Elias, in Atacama desert in Chile’s north, the place where his boyfriend, Sebastien, died a month earlier. Having borrowed his father’s big red truck without asking, he arrives in the pre-dawn darkness still in the suit that he probably wears for work; the job he told Sebastien he couldn’t quit. As he continues his joinery towards south passing Santiago, in bits and very very few flashbacks we see Sebastian and Elias meeting and Sebastian always wanting to travel south with Elias which they couldn't. The book of drawings and collages that Sebastien left El...

This documentary demonstrates the stage personas of six outlandish drag performers of the East London. Their routines dramatise serious problems with bold glamour and self-deprecating humour and, across the six years he chronicles, the director depicts the lives of these eccentric individuals. He isn’t afraid to venture into the upsetting territory of HIV and addiction but the film as a complete piece is executed with enough freewheeling momentum as a tribute to celebration of art. The film follows the lives of six legends of the London drag scene: Scottee, Holestar, Pia, Amber, John Sizzle and ringleader Johnny Woo, all at the epicentre of East London’s 90s drag explosion. Driving forces behind the area’s outrageous Gay Bingo parties, Johnny and his friends are shown in a new light, revealing the vulnerability and pain behind the glitz and glam. Scottee has recently found he can only make art about tragedy, recounting youthful liaisons with strangers and the constant fear of the polic...

A typical low budget gay film, this can best be described as an erotic psychological thriller and emotional roller coaster. The film has two very good looking and hot leads and the film uses their full strength with ample body and ass hots to keep the viewers engaged. Sadly at almost 2 hours the film length, it feels like the film goes on and on forever. Daniel, 29 year old, is a very successful and charming TV host. But suddenly he starts getting panic attacks when he is out jogging and what it feels like getting into depression.The experience is as if he has claustrophobia in a large public space. Daniel is gay and is very very private person , so we don't know what's happening to him. Enter Alexander, a young 18 year old teem who flirts with Daniel at a club and then eventually shows up at his home one night. Slowly, despite Daniel's reluctance, Alexander spends more and more time with Daniel, cooking, showering, having lot of sex, walking around, talking about things et...

It is actually a shame that I had no clue about this tragedy (almost the worst mass murder of LGBTQ people) that happened back in 1973 in New Orleans. This is way before the Orlando shooting of 2016. Here, through multiple interviews of people who escaped, and others who saw the community get back together after the incident, the director recounts the story of the friendly New Orleans gay bar and the night that ended in a devastating fire. He makes us care about the victims and tries to enlighten people like me on how much of a brutal attack it was. On June 24, 1973, someone set fire to the UpStairs Lounge in the French Quarter of New Orleans killing about 30 plus people of LGBTQ community. The gay bar, known for its little theatre in the back and hosting the MCC, was crowded that evening. It was aptly named, sitting at the top of the stairs, and there was a fire escape. The large windows had bars across them to keep people from falling out when they were open. Nearly two dozen bodies ...

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...

This Thai film, which is a sequel to the earlier film 'Love's Coming' fails in the typical BL rom-com genre that we have seen numerous times so far in various films and series. It can also be seen as a standalone film in case you haven't seen the first one. Although the film itself has nothing new to offer in terms of story, treatment or direction; I was just happy to see a story being told in 90 minutes without unnecessary stretching of plot with random characters thrown here or there. Sure, the conflicts are created here as well but thats necessary evil to remind the lovebirds how much they truly love each other.  Gump and Nai are a stable couple of about a year now. When its time for Gump to go to university, his mother finds him an apartment that he can share with her best friend's nephew, since the room is close to university. Initially when Gump finds this, he is reluctant to be away from Nai, but once he sees that his room mate is a hot guy Sunz (supposedly s...

Originally aired on TLC channel in the US, this was such a weird documentary to watch. As it is, to be honest, I have all sorts of perceptions about Mormon life style and their beliefs, but hey, who am I to judge. But then here comes this documentary that follows three Mormon couples in Salt Lake City, Utah whose husbands are attracted to men. The couples explain that while the men feel attraction to other men, which they refer to as Same Sex Attraction (SSA), they do not act on it and are therefore not homosexuals. This under an hour documentary is about three couples who are friends with each other, because the common thing binding them together is that the husbands have SSA. They categorically deny being gay. They are all married and also have kids but they are attracted to men and their wives know it and are very comfortable with it. What's never shown, only briefly talked about is, that whether any of these men have ever acted upon these feelings and have had sex with other me...

Kids being raised by same-sex couples are growing in numbers worldwide. But what do they think about having same-sex parents? And do they face different issues to other kids? At a time when the world is debating marriage equality, these questions are more pertinent than ever. Told from the perspective of the kids, Gayby Baby is intimate and sometimes humorous account of four children and their families. We meet Gus, a boisterous youngster who is heavily into WWE wrestling, but is also exploring his masculinity, although his two mothers fear that he may be a little too violent when it comes to playing. Matt seems very mature for his age, and he is wrestling with doubts over both religion and politics, as they seem to emphasize ideas that are in contrast to the beliefs of his two mothers. A high point for Matt though comes when he attends a dinner with Prime Minister Julia Gillard with his two parents as they discuss marriage equality. Ebony is interested in pursuing a musical career, an...

This feels like an indie film with minimal budget discovers a kind of queer Petri dish of Army wives left to make “adult play dates” with each other while their husbands are stationed overseas. I am really not sure where this movie was headed because it felt in the realm of fantasy and surrealism. Although the film is supposed to be set in a military base, it feels more like a summer camp with grass and greenery and long distance huts. The film starts with Roger, who is raising his daughter Roxy while his husband Frank is out in Djibouti for 6 months at a military base of Fort Buchanan. He has raised their daughter pretty much by himself. He hasn't had much sexual connection with his husband and has ben on his own. Then there are about 4-5 other wives of military men who advise him that he should go outside marriage and have sex because that is how they save their marriages. One of them even demonstrates by seducing Roxy. There is another man George, who is gay (I think his husband...

Club Friday is a series of short stories based on a radio program called "Club Friday" where people call in to tell their stories. The stories told are true account of their life. Each episode is a different story. The sis one such story of a boy named Boss, the discovery of his sexuality and his life with people around him. The show is 4 episodes of about 50 minutes each. Boss is a young boy who used to have crush on a school girl which eventually fizzled out when he joined college. There in his engineering workshop class is the first time when he meets hunky guy that he starts feeling something towards the same sex guys. But that doesn't go anywhere. But also during that time, he makes an online friend Win, who works as a flight attendant. The two start to create a beautiful relationship and Boss falls in love with him. Only later he finds out that Win already has a boyfriend. He is heartbroken but still wants to be friends with Win because he is the only person that ma...

Why? Why do filmmakers sometimes get so over indulged in thinking thatchy are making such a masterpiece that they stray away from the every basis of film making that can convey the story and message that they ant to portray. This film in a random rambling and a very uninvolved piece of work, that fails to hold your attention just after the very first 10 minutes. I struggled to even comprehend what was happening and if I was seeing random scenes, what were the timelines and what really is the problem. Will is a poet and he lives with his boyfriend Lee who is a musician. They have occasionally worked together and indulge in sexual flirtations but Lee is definitely more involved in relationship than Will is. When Lee realizes that his romantic feelings for Will cannot be fully reciprocated due to Will's sexual confusion, Lee abandons Will and moves back to his rural hometown. A year later, Will, alone, has lost motivation in his work. Lee has seemingly got himself on the right track, ...

Desert Migration is a documentary that tells the story of a generation of HIV-positive men who have been afforded new life through the introduction of AIDS combating drugs, but still struggle with a number of internal and external problems associated with the virus. The film follows the stories of about a dozen HIV+ men in their 50s and 60s who are currently living in Palm Springs, California. It focuses on a group of men, who had given up on life when they were diagnosed until medicines started showing up that could help HIV converting to AIDS. While these medicines gave these men a new lease of life, but now suddenly all these men have to plan to live and put back their life together, something that they had given up on. It follows a sort of day-in-the-life of these men, watching them as they eat breakfast, brush their teeth, take medication, smoke a cigarette, go to the gym, do yoga, paint, have dinner with friends, or go out drinking and dancing at a bar. They discuss wasting, fati...

How come no one overthought of a gay super-spy, a James Bond-is character before. Surely this film is not as old, and it feels like this idea was right there for someone to just pick it up and build. And now we have Jayson Bend. This film is a great time pass spoof with gay secret agents, bad guys trying to take over the world and more puns than you could shake your weapon at. Leave your brains, forget the bad CGI and average direction and just try to enjoy. Jayson Bend (also known as “Agent 009”) is an openly gay British super spy! He drives fast and plays hard - always with other hot boys - flirting with them and more. In this film, Jayson teams up with a sexy Swiss counterpart Alec DeCoque to stop the activation of a newly launched satellite that will turn Raymond Perdood, the billionaire owner of the largest global chain of hair salons, into the most powerful man in the world. In the process he meets a Twink doctor 'Tu Yung' who has been making a special chemical. The story...