Movie Reviews -
Gay Themed

For a change, this Thai BL series blends gaming elements with a workplace romance. You like don't wanna think the plot too seriously because the events happening here (romance simulation game) do not make sense to develop a game, but the chemistry is there. As much as I was enjoying the first few episodes, pretty soon it became the run of the mill story with too much fillers just to take the show to 12 episodes. And tell you what, these episodes are like almost an hour each or even longer in certain cases. There are two love stories - one his the main central and like always another one with friends who are common between the two protagonists. Young boy Hill is addicted to a romance simulation game on phone and obsessed with Yuka, the central female character, so when he gets a job in the company who created it, he is very happy. AI generated Yuka has helped Hill get over. A lot of obstacles in life. Yuka gave Hill an emotional intimacy. At work he learns form his boss Junji that Y...

There are many films that have been made in India taking India-Pakistan partition in 1947 as the backdrop. This film falls in the same category. But this one looks less at the atrocities and murders, but a more personal story of two families who destiny got together. In contrast to most films of this genre, the director addresses the less well-known after-effects of partition, particularly focusing on the lives of women and a surprising gay/bisexual relationships and shows how the psychological damage of the time still resounds within the sub-continent today. I am quite surprised that this indie Hindi film was able to show a gay relationship in this manner. Lajma, in present day Pakistan decides to revisit her ancestral home back India after many years (where his uncle and aunt lived). But returning evokes a deluge of memories, and the film then unfolds in a series of flashbacks. We see how Lajma's uncle escaped Pakistan during partition to Delhi and was forced to live alongside a ...

This is a nice little cute and endearing series that just puts a smile on your face. There is nothing earth shattering about it and it simply shows that sometimes it takes a little competition to realize what was right in front of you the entire time. Story is simple about this young cute-sy guy who has not one or two but three suitors and how he needs to figure out who (if any of these) will he go for. 8 episodes each of about 24 minutes, this series could hav been shorter but its ok. Young Yoo Doha is sad after he gets fired from his workplace, but to his surprise his ex-team leader wants to keep in touch with him. But in the very first episode we are told that its not just the old boss thats after his attention but we have also have a charmingly bold cafe barista owner and finally his his gentle but steadfast best friend. Unaware of all the attention he is getting, one night after drinking with his friend, on the way back he sees the other two guys as well and passes out. Next morni...

An interesting funny coming of age film about a teenage's boy obsession with New York and playwriting, while crushing hard on a handy man and coming to terms with his feelings. I wasn't expecting much fro this film to be honest, but I think overall I was impressed with not just the simplicity but also the subtle coming of age and self realization of one's sexuality at such a tender age. 14 year old Griffin is THE theater kid with all the flaws and fabulousness. Each summer he writes and stages play in his parents basement with his friends. His latest magnum opus is Regrets of Autumn, is about the disintegrating marriage between philandering Walter and alcoholic Harriet, pushed to the breaking point by Walter’s flaunting of his tawdry mistress Scarlet. Meanwhile his parents marriage is also disintegrating. Since kids are growing up they are not as enthused about the play anymore and would rather also spend time on other summer activities, leaving Griffin to keep improving hi...

A comedy about a gay British-Pakistani man navigating commitment issues in a world that frequently lapses into the cartoonish colors of his imagination is back with the second season. Focusing yet again on its lead Mawaan Rizwan, as the fun-loving commitment-phobe Jamma, he channels the archetypal man-child vlogger from his real life personality. Puppyish and relatable, he wears his insecurities on his sleeve, and his attempts to conform to the expectations of adulthood. Total slapstick! Continuing from season 1, having been fed from his job and breaking up with therapist boyfriend Guy, Jamma is living with friend Winnie and working as a clown in a care home, who is also best friends with his brother Isaac, a budding artist. Jamma is more interested in sleeping around than patching things up with lovelorn Guy. But after their paths cross again, he becomes determined to win him back. In the second episode, which focuses on Guy's new home and Jamma needing to care of it, it is done a...

Unlike the other time travel shows, this series is different because it takes our protagonist back in time to fix things/events that could change his future after he dies. Its a BL so romance and drama are abundant and the main storyline is mostly towards the beginning and end, while mid is filled with growth of love and some problems arising here and there to keep the drama going. The show is 10 episodes, each almost an hour long, give or take.  Successful superstar Armin has just won major award is having a party, He finds out his longtime partner is cheating on him, gets into a fight with the rival, and dies during to the scuffle. But he is actually poisoned. Surprisingly Armin wakes up in the past, when he was still a single struggling nobody in his early 20s. In this confusion, he is about to be run over, when he is suddenly saved by mysterious handsome Tada, a secret fan of his form previous life, whom Armin never met and knew him only as TD. Armin is now suspicious of everyo...

This Peruvian film is the remake of Mexican film "Hazlo Como Hombre" which I have already reviewed earlier here. I guess one advantage of watching so much content os that you tend to forget a lot of what you have seen, so in that sense, at least I didn't feel like I was seeing something I have already seen. Also given that the actors here were new in a new location helped, but the humor of the original is definitely intact here. Peru doesn't come up with a lot of LGBTQ+ context, so this is another welcome change. Raul, Eduardo and Santiago have been friends since childhood and have had a happy and “masculine” life. Raul is expecting a bay with his wife and Santi is dating Raul's sister, who complains to Raul's wife that they are not having enough sex. In a surprise, one day Santi confesses to his two friends that he is gay and decides to separate from his girlfriend. The sister tries her best to win Santi back, leading to a few hilarious scenes, but to no impa...

As you can likely guess by the poster itself, this film is over the top. But at the same time its very heartwarming family-comedy film that never overstays its welcome and makes its point across with sharp wit and humor. It perfectly blends heart and humor, offering audiences the kind of feel-good entertainment that leaves you smiling long after the credits roll. The title means "stepmother" Victor “Beki” Labrador finds out that his love of his life Enrique has passed away. He travels a long distance to make sure he attends his funeral. At his will reading, he is shocked to fund out that he has left him half estate and stake in family business with one condition that Beki must move in his mansion and live with his two sons and their stern grandmother as the stepmother. What follows is a heartfelt and funny journey as Beki confronts the past and tries to win over a family that wants nothing to do with him. Through flashbacks we learn that Beki met Enrique in school in country ...

Spanning the five-year period after an intense teenage break-up, this Danish film is an unconventional coming-of-age tale, where the film focuses on the lead protagonist's inability to get over his first heartbreak. The past lovers details are slowly revealed, but also never fully explained on why the breakup happened, but in the process we are shown a fraught modern gay love. We meet 20-something Christian, a university student, who spends his time between studying and clumsy casual sex using the app but he seems to find no real release in his trysts. He’s awkwardly torn between feeling bad when his hookups leave right away and freaking out when guys want to take it slow and get to know him. The entire film focuses on him meeting many new folks but hardly making connections, but he was not like this always. Through multiple flashbacks we are shown how he was extremely happy with his then boyfriend Aske. Form his first date with him to full of romantic ideas, he used to be a very p...

How can two people spend an entire year together and feel completely different about the situation? One things everything is great, while the other one has a whole different perspective. This is what the film is trying to explore. Over the course of the film we see many glimpses of this couple's relationship right from living together to threesomes to arguments, the entire relationship plays out. Is the viewer supposed to decide who’s right and who’s wrong? Tom and Jero are a gay couple who have become well-known on Instagram. On what would be their first anniversary, Jero comes home to find that Tom has left him. The only item left behind is a pink box with 300 letters that Tom wrote on each day they were together. The letters seek to explain why their relationship reached the conclusion it did, and as Jero works his way through them, he realizes that the relationship was nothing like he thought it was. Flashbacks take us to the early days of their relationship. We don’t really se...

I think I am at my peak limit of vertical dramas. I keep saying I need to stop watching these but they are so convenient to watch while running on treadmill that invariable I do end up watching. I am not sure how many of these I have seen already. So here goes one more. It is funny though how all of these series have sort of a [attern to them and you know exactly where the story is headed.  Kit Sterling, a public defender betrayed by his cheating girlfriend, drunkenly declares at a bar that he'll marry the next person who walks through the door. Enter Daniel Finch - sexy defense lawyer and guess what; suddenly the two wake up married. Daniel remembers that Kit is the same boy who many years ago saved him as a kid (Kit has no memory of it). Here starts the drama of will they won't they stay married. Kit's sister is in hospital and Dsaniel's care for her creates a soft spot in Kit for them. The duo keep butt heading in the court in multiple cases that we see and a healthy...

I really can't believe that this Italian film came out back in 1979. Uncommon to those times, this film treats homosexuality with a poetic and respectful point of view. At some point you feel there is. Not much going on in the film, but at the same time it also shows us the journey of about to turn 18 Ernesto and how he is dealing with growing up, not just in his home but how the outside world treats him too. I am not sure of what period it is set in, but from the novel it seems like its early 1911. Ernesto is about 17 and works as an administrator for a construction firm, and thinks the world of himself. When a rugged factory worker makes sexual advances and gradually becomes totally smitten with the boy, Ernesto, he starts to play with his feelings. They have sex a few times but Ernesto son realizes that he has some hold over the man. When he overhears about his relationship between two men can be punishable, he breaks the guys heart in most sad way. But Ernesto still dreams big ...

One more of those vertical mini series but this time not from Drama Box. This series is US based and like most of the previous ones, this one is to be seen just for pure entertainment. It has all the usual 'masala' like drama, kisses, love, misunderstandings, hot hot guys, lot of abs and with a title like this, we do get to see a lot of skin with our headliners spending most of the time in speedos or swim shorts.  The two leads here are Aidan and Will. Aidan's father used to run a store that got hammered by a bog corporation incidentally run by Will's father. Because of this Aidan's father left and disappeared and now his mother is very ill and he needs to take of the bills. They are both in swim team and even though everyone wants the hunky Will to become captain, it is Aidan who become captain. Even though Will occasionally teases Aidan, but he always protects him from being bullied by his friends which confuses Aidan. When Will finds out about Aidan's need fo...

This film is the kind of slapstick comedy of errors, and to some extent, terrors, that occasionally bring a broad smile to the viewer’s face. Not to be taken seriously at all, a film like this is purely for entertainment purposes and entertainment it does provide. A light-hearted comedy with high farce, mildly progressive messaging, broad humour and slapstick gags, which also happens to have a ghost, this film brings laughs that are mostly effective. This film is remake of the Taiwanese film “Marry My Dead Body”, which I quite enjoyed actually. After waking from a nightmare, the late Titi’s grandma is told by a spiritual advisor that her son has unfinished business, which is likely getting married to a man. She’s instructed to leave a red envelope that fate will deliver to the right groom. Enter Menn, a hapless police informant whose love life is even more tragic than his career. He stumbles upon the envelope and is almost forced in to the marriage. On their wedding night, Menn is stun...

This mini series is a tender ode to young love with individuals struggling with their identity and hopes. Told over 6 episodes of a total runtime of about 70 minutes. The series is about Elly and his first summer after high school and people he meets. We are not spooned on what is Elly's background. All we know is that he has been dealing with some sort of depression and some sort of estrangement from his mother.  Series starts with Elly’s best friend, Rowen, picking him up at the hospital. Elly is going to be staying with her for a while. The setting is a very small town. Here Rowen introduces Elly to Yonah, same age and a recently out young man. ON Rowen's insistence the two boys start to hang out, despite initial reluctance by Elly but Elly starts too slowly enjoy this. Yonah is not doing anything to cure his depression but the company helps. Yonah is a dreamer himself, who likes to read books and write poetry and dreams of traveling. Elly meanwhile had been  painter and ha...

This documentary film following one survivor and his lawyer as they pursue justice through a public trial focusing on one perpetrator in particular, Father William Hodgson "Hod" Marshall, a retired priest and teacher, who several years ago pleaded guilty to sexually abusing 16 boys and one girl at schools in Toronto, Sudbury and Windsor. What distinguished the case was that the defendant was seeking punitive damages, for the first time in Canada, from a Church institution. The crux of the matter was that Marshall’s crimes had been reported a half-dozen times over the years, yet he was allowed to continue working, and abusing students. Most of the documentary focuses on the lawyer and the one survivor Rod MacLeod going through deliberations and how they want to have the church pay for what they did. They are both aware of plenty other situations where the church did out of court settlements but Rod wanted none of it. The doc takes us through the journey of the lawyer preparing...

One more DramaBox series stitched together like a film for audiences like me, making it easier to watch it all at Ince on iPhone. I am not sire how many gay web series like these have been released by DramaBox so far, but I think this is the fourth one that I am seeing. The show was cheesy, a bit unbelievable, but somehow still quite engaging, thanks to the short format and two handsome leads. At their grandmother's insistence, Andrew and Frank marry each other but never see each other's faces. The show starts with Andrew leaving for 1 year business overseas and handing his husband his credit card with a promise to come back and get divorced. One year later, Frank is interviewing for Personal assistant to his new boss William. William gets totally smitten by Frank's hot face and body and hires him and tries to seduce him. But Frank resists temptation for two reasons: One, in his previous job he was seduced by his boss who ended up putting blame on Frank since he was married...

Continuing with watching DramaBox series, this is another series of multiple short episodes stitched together as a movie in vertical format so it is easily watchable on phone. As I might have mentioned before, these shows are total guilt pleasures and they beautiful fit within a 90 minute range (plus or minus) making it an easy watch. The shows starts with one mafia taking over another's business and agrees to let him love, as long as his son Pietro can get married to his daughter Alice. 15 years later, Alice's brother Augusto can't stand that Alice will marry to mob son Pietro. He finds. Loophole in the contract and instead says that he will marry Pietro. What Augusto doesn't know is that since they were kids, Pietro has always like Augusto and he changed the contract to have that loophole. So Pietro very much loves Augusto but he doesn't believe it. Also with this marriage, the entire mafia community goes against this bog mafia family because they don't accept...

Set in Limerick city in Ireland, Cowboys and Angels depicts the growing friendship between two very different men and looks at the anxieties and challenges faced by young people trying to establish their identity in a modern city. It came almost 22 years ago, so of course in today's time the visual aesthetics feel quite dated, but it is a good mix of sexual freedom and youthful energy, friendship, drug, criminal presence during that time. 20 year old Shane, has just got anew government job and kinda. New roommate in Vincent, a gay fashion student. The duo slowly warm up to each other and niece friends where Vincent tries to make the shy Shane come out of his shell slowly by taking him out clubs and enjoy the vibrant night life in the city. Shane starts to like this barista girl, who happens to be Vincent's best friend but she is not much interested in Shane. Vincent wants to move to New York after studies. One day by accident Shane discovers some drugs in his apartment building...

This film is an ambitious costume drama with a very interesting storyline at its hand. Sadly, the low budget is very evident and for some reason, it takes away the fun because of it. I can totally see stuff like this happening in olden times when, just a. Whiff of homosexuality could land you in all kinds of troubles. Once you look past the budget, this film is actually not at all bad. Penelope is learning piano and has a crush of sorts on her teacher, but she doesn't control her destiny. She is married off, by her parents, to a shy and introverted Jonathan. They move into his family’s empty estate where not a great deal happens because of Jonathan’s hatred of social occasions and he generally prefers quiet life. The duo haven't even consummated their marriage and day by day Penelope's frustration grows. To her shock, one day when Penelope discovers that her new husband is having an affair with George the Butler, she finally understands Jonathan’s reclusive personality. Geo...