Movie Reviews -
Gay Themed

It's been a while since I saw the season 1 of this series and remember quite enjoying the sassiness of it all. So naturally I was looking forward to season 2, but I have to say that compared to the previous one, this show was largely underwhelming for me. The jokes did not land, the comedy seemed force, and overall something felt amiss. There are a total of 7 episodes (with the first one being more of a special episode that was aired few months back. That was more a pride special, where Cam and his drag-family read for drag queen story hour - but visitors aren't so excited about the idea.  A quick recap. Cam and Greg are a loving coupe who tried a poly relationship with the twink Princeton which did not work out, They have a lesbian neighbor couple, one of whom is close friends with Princeton. Even though things with Princeton did not work out, the couple is still very much open and wants to try threesomes, and each episode sort of focuses the move for that journey. Cam picks u...

This series was an actually quite disappointing. I fee like it had potential but the arguments, the enemies to friends to lover trope, the revenge plot; it all seemed nice but executed timidly. Worst of all, at no point was I able to connect to either of the two leads, who also did not share any chemistry at all. The saving grace is like most Japanese shows it was only 8 episodes of 25 minutes each. I think my biggest issue with the series was that it was just boring. In high school Hiro is this loner kid, who was always into flowers and plants. HIs timid nature made him an easy target for being bullied which left him with bad memories of high school. All grown up now, he has transformed himself into a stylish, professional hairstylist. Then we have Natsuo. He was in same high school, who never bullied Hiro, but his constant chatter and clumsy behavior irritated Hiro, who wanted to be left alone. One day he invites Hiro at rooftop to confess his love but suddenly other classmates arriv...

This period drama set in the 80s in Chile battles bigotry with both vengeance and compassion. In the Chilean desert, eleven-year-old Lidia grows up in a loving queer family pushed on the edge of an unwelcoming dusty mining town. They are blamed for a mysterious illness that's starting to spread -- said to be passed through a single gaze. I guess it's a metaphor for AIDS pandemic but I am not sure tbh. There is a commune of transgender women who live in a Chilean desert. As a new plague begins taking hold, rumors run wild about how prolonged eye-contact or a loving gaze, shared with a gay man or transgender woman can lead to infection. Eleven-year-old girl Lidia is bullied about this by her male friends, since her mother Flamingo is a trans woman belonging to a close-knit community of “transvestites” and is sort of the beauty queen there. She herself is sick at this point. The girl take their revenge on the boys by beating them up. One night around cabaret performances, a man na...

This film is intriguing, engaging, erotic yet a mindfuck of a tricky flick. Honestly the first half of the film was quite visually appealing. The makers tried to make this an art film, but what the hell happened in second half. IT was like watching two different movies. Fro the lush landscapes of Brazil in the 80s to modern day times in the city, the film leaves viewers with a lot more question that answers. I mean, I can probably try and read online to make a sense of what it all meant, but then what's the point f I cannot understand while watching the film!! Set in rural 80s, we meet Antonio (a hunk straight out of a leather bar) an isolated farmer who lives a quite mundane life. Fate makes him meet Marcelo, an injured motorbike driver, whom he nurses back to health. A worried affair starts between the two and they are having long slow-mo sex acts shown explicitly but also falling in love with each other with a lingering question of whether Marcelo will suddenly up and leave? But...

Light hearted BL series are always welcome. Sometimes you have have to laugh about the silly premise and also ignore the whole practicality of it to enjoy it. This is what I did initially in this show, but eventually towards the end it became too convoluted and boring to care about any of the character like I did for theorist few episodes. The series is 10 episodes of about 45 minutes each. Junior is a penguin born and raised in a zoo, where he and his brother, Little, perform for adoring crowds. One day he gets magical powers in the zoo to become a human and he does that. Confused by what has happened, he ventures out and stumbles upon a boarding school. It turns out that a spirit Mina has been helping hi out to get in school. As a new student, Junior tries to fit in by joining extracurricular activities, but most clubs fail to catch his interest, till he finds swimming club and he is better than everyone there. He meets another student Sun, a quiet and introverted. When swimming team...

This is a badly acted and directed story of sexual deviance and forbidden romance between two tortured men - who like to act out by torturing others. The poster promoted it as two serial killers in love and a wife who is betrayed. Honestly, the story is novel and had a great potential to make one of this slashy horror romance kinda films, but this is so badly acted that I Was laughing at so many places. Andrew, a celebrated gay novelist, is married to Pauline. Their marriage is going through rough patch and Pauline has taken to alcohol. Andrew, meanwhile dealing with wrier's block, goes around paying gay hookers to suck him off but is still struggling. One day he sees a guy murdering someone and drinking their blood. He runs for his life but the killer soon catches him and kidnaps him. His name is Eddie and is a psychotic serial killer. After a few days of torture and sexual activities, Andrew convinces Eddie to let him go and that he will write a novel based on his life. For next ...

This documentary is about the life of the Brazilian transsexual singer Linn da Quebrada. Coming from an impoverished region of São Paulo, where she has to face many prejudices, among others, for being black. Her funk music sounds like a "gun" against machismo. With a really strong and daring stage presence, she constantly seeks to confront and fight paradigms and stereotypes. The titular star and her stage partner Jup do Bairro openly discuss what challenges they face from transphobia and racism growing up in the favelas of San Paulo, exploring how they use their music to give voice to the marginalized communities they fight for. The film shows her in performance, in the studio, reflecting on the nature of identity, hanging out with friends, and also affectionately chatting with her mum in the apartment where she grew up, arguing about the community’s defeatist habit of romanticizing poverty. She aligns the experience of being trans with the marginalization involved in having...

This series is a classic case of likely the makers realizing that sex sells even in BL stories. Enough of this high school love and romance, we need to throw in more kisses and lot of hot bodies and sex and we will have a winner on our hands. Honestly this is what I feel the conversation must have gone when this show was being greenlit. 12 episodes of 50-60 minutes each, the story just keeps going in circles for no reason at all. I am honestly baffled at why these Thai film makers still insist on longer duration of episodes. Almost 80% of the narrative includes unhindered & unapologetic sex scenes between the main leads. I’m yet to find an episode where they weren’t kissing or having a full-blown sex session. Let's try to summarize the story if I can. Show starts with this guy Sorn jerking off in a public place. A younger boy Jun is watching him and Sorn watches him. But he then says that "hey I see you are hard, let me teach you and kiss you " and the young boy gives...

This one is yet another campy cheesy horror comedy films, this time with drag queens chasing and fighting vampire bikers and rednecks. Yes, it is low budget, yes it has questionable acting, is cheap, stupid, predictable; the lovers of this genre may actually end up enjoying the film. I will be honest and upfront that these kind of films do not do it for me, so I didn't think much of it, but I can totally see if this fit was released in gay film festivals, it would have been lapped up by the audiences. Slay begins on the road with a performing troupe of drag queens on their way to a gig. The 4 of them believe that the venue is legendary gay bar in middle of nowhere, only to realize they misunderstood and are actually performing at a dive bar. This dive bar is run by an old guy called Dusty, despite most of his clientele being big buffy homophobic bikers. Swallowing their pride and their need for money , they decide to perform. Just as the show starts, the bar is descended upon by a ...

I had hopes from this film having read the basic premise, but somehow it just did not work for me. It felt amateurish and at times I was wondering if the idea was to make a serious cinema or comedy? It just doesn't hot the right notes, either of love or betrayal to its two main protagonists, which would have been the key to it all. Movie starts with Natalie having discovered that her husband Ernesto is having an affair and invites the person to the house. She is shocked to see that the person is actually a young boy and that her husband was cheating on her with a man. Daniel is a part-time sex worker, and Ernesto paid for his company before love began to bloom between the two as time went on, a love that was conditional on Ernesto continuing with his marriage. Just as she plans to confront him, she gets the news that her husband had had a stroke and is in hospital, she rushes there. Daniel hears it and also goes. Over the course of next few days, these two people connect on the tra...

This film is supposed to be a comedy thriller but honesty I enjoyed the film only in bits and pieces. It starts off almost serious about this gay couple desperately looking to become parents. It soon veers into a road film, to a series or murders, back to gay child adoption. Satire is clearly not a genre that I most related to. It could be fun if done right, but IMO this was not. Dom and Cole are a married gay couple looking to adopt a baby. While making videos about themselves, they are still waiting to get picked up by a potential mother. For their upcoming anniversary, they decide to take a Roman holiday, which would also double as their baby moon, give they are at very last stages. The dup have some anxieties about parenthood, but nothing different from anyone else. For their anniversary night, Dom's father's closest friend who is Italian has booked them into a dinner experience at some really popular chef in rural Italy. Meanwhile, the prospective mother chooses them as th...

Yet another of those overtly sweet college level drama with a hint of humor. It was a good change from the recent heavy dramas I have seen but having said that, the story here is barely there. It is filled with every regular BL trope imaginable. The series has 11 episodes each of about 40-45 minutes. The main story is between Sant and Jay, and of course there comes a third wheel and other situations. Sant is a college student who was raised by his grandparents. With his best friend, he runs a food channel. He has a sweet tooth and his tooth had been hurting a lot. So he goes to meet dentist Jay, but he has some kind of phobia (we later learn that his parents abandoned him at the dentist office). Jay takes a liking for Sant and starts to encourage him and get him out of his fear to finally take care of his teeth. But in the process Jay also falls for Sant and starts to pursue him. Enter Jimmy, an old friend of Jay, who now runs a cafe, where Sant joins as a part-timer, and sparks fly be...

Taiwanese BL series used to be comfort watching , but the last one I saw wasn't very good and sadly the bad please continue with this one. I think the problem is that they have not evolved with time in their storytelling methods. They still keep mandatory 2 couples who journey of love story we go through. There is a bit of drama thrown in. Glossy apartments, good looking actors and some random storyline background but the actual love story following the same tropes of enemies turned lovers or 'I love you so much but can never confess' trope. C'mmon guys, please give us something more. With 12 episodes each of 25-30 minutes, this one is still a significant time commitment.  Wang Zhan is a wannabe musician who is content with his life. Until one day he is forcibly kidnapped by his older brother to train him to take over the family funeral business. Wang had never had an interest in the work and is quite shocked why his brother would do such a thing.The kidnapper guys an e...

I am not sure I fully understood what this film was about. I mean, yes, I get that it was a story about a group of drag queen performers and their life, but I was quite confused between so many characters and what was the film actually trying to show. The plot tracks drag queens of The Bearded Mermaid cabaret, who put on a riveting show featuring singing, circus, and dancing—something never seen before in the small town of Dieppe in France. One night, a lonely fisherman stumbles into “The Bearded Mermaid,” a faded little cabaret that turns out to be anything but ordinary. He steps into a world of laughter, glitter and love that he totally embraces, opening up to these characters as joyful as they are morose. Run by a fiercely committed trio of drag performers - firecracker Sweety, anxious stage manager Beluga who is also the 'mother' of them all, and gentle aerialist Alonso - the cabaret is struggling to keep its doors open. Their dream? A glitter-filled, lip-sync-and-circus sp...

Watching a reality series focusing on a gay wedding is not really my cup of tea, but then I Amin a zone where I am watching as much varied gay content as I can these days and for some reason Thailand is churning out  gay content like its no one else's business. So here we are - A reality show where we witness a gay couple finally getting married after almost 10 years of being engaged, they can legally get married after Thailand became the first Southeast Asian country to legalize same-sex marriage, along with full adoption rights, rights related to inheritance, health care decision-making, and more in 2024. The show is 5 episodes of about 30 min each. Porsch is a flight attendant and an actor. Arm is a social media influencer, a YouTuber with a huge following. Porsche initially proposed to Arm in 2014, six years after their relationship began. And with the legalization of same-sex marriage in Thailand, they decided that they will get married. This reality series focuses on the time...

It is a shame to see a series that started out so well has now become almost painful to watch and sit through with its latest season 3. Season 2 was also average, at best. The show, primarily about Adam, tried to mix humour and some heartfelt moments navigating through Adam's everyday life as a gay man. The writing here in season 3 has gotten weak, and some of the newly introduced characters were pretty bad actors. The dialog is long winded and often pointless, and the actors are clearly untrained and inexperienced, making many scenes difficult to endure. More on that later. This season has 7 episodes of about 18 minutes each. Season 3 has Adam has moved to Sydney for his work he does for Single, Out magazine. He is now visiting back home for few days. We are introduced to Ethan, Adam's 20 year old half brother who is an aspiring writer. The father asks Adam to see if he can get him some work at the magazine office. Surprised with the ask, Adam manages to get him a job, silentl...

There was a time some of the popular BL series would come with a special episode of sorts to show what happens after the couple gets together. This show takes it forward by actually creating a 3 part mini-series as a continuation of "Your Sky". These three episodes are just fluffy fillers, which pretty much is in the same zone as its parents show. The episodes are about 40 minutes each. Teerak (Rak) and Fah are a very happy couple, now that they have declared their relationship with friends and their families as well. Teerak's birthday is approaching and Fah wants to surprise him. All the friends get involved in planning this surprise, needlessly complicating things for additional run-time and comedy. and eventually Rak gets a wonderful surprise. Then Teerak wants to get Fah a present for his graduation but he wants to do with some of his own earned money and not from his dad, so he tries his best while again keeping it a secret from Fah. But Fah wants to get more and big...

Let's start with giving full marks to a very novel idea. A love story between a robot created using AI and a rich spoilt heir. Now on paper that does sound very interesting since this would be an interesting mix but sadly for me, after a promising first 3 episodes, my interest in the show kept dwindling after every episode. More on that later. With 12 episodes, each averaging to about 30 minutes, this does take sometime to watch and absorb. The more logic and brain you try to put in, the more you keep getting lost in the story, and not in a good way. I was watching a Taiwanese series after a while and my hopes were high. Maybe thats where things went wrong. The story is straight forward. We meet a rich spoilt heir to a rich father who cannot seem to control and keep his son in check. He hires and AI robot Ever 4, to be his son's personal butler. Ever 4 advocates for robot rights while revealing his quirky personality beneath a calm exterior. As Ever 4 bonds with his human compa...

This 8 episode mini-series from South Korea doesn't have too much of a lot to speak of in the first place. With just 8 epodes each of about 12-14 minute each, it still manages to stretch it , bring in love rivals as a source of conflict to bring some drama into the story. Nothing wrong with that, but if the narrative was kept simple and crispier, it would have made for an engaging show to watch. The show was released in two parts of 4 episodes each. Jaemin, a freelance writer, reconnects with an old friend from college Nami, who is also a writer. One night drinking at their apartment, they talk about how Nami used to be popular with girls. Jaemin reveals his admiration and one things leads to another and they share a kiss. When Jaemin meets a friend in a few days, he is told that Nami actually writes for a sex column, which Jaemin doesnt think of much. The duo meet again and even though neither of them has been with another man before, they decide to give it a go at their relations...

A gay man, his lover, and a diverse band of friends learn to strike a balance between old-world and new-generation values in post-war Lebanon. This film that came out back in 2011 bills itself as the first gay film to come out of Lebanon.  I have no ways to validate the claim, but in my opinion, calling it a gay film might be a little stretch, but two of the main six characters are a gay couple and yes the story does involve a lot around their struggle in the society. Fun fact: The filming of this Lebanese gay-themed film was opposed vigorously by members of the conservative community in which it was shot, with threats and acts of violence a constant occurrence. The film was completed only because of the intervention of military authorities, and post-production had to be done in the United States. We meet 4 friends hanging out. Jason, still traumatized by the loss of both of his parents in a car bombing; Louis , devastated over his recent breakup with his girlfriend; the guitar-str...