Movie Reviews -
Gay Themed

Dancing and queer, two of my favorite subjects in a film, so naturally I was quite excited about it. This film steps beyond dialogue and places its story squarely on the dance floor, letting desire, rivalry, and vulnerability speak through motion instead of monologue. The film has glitzy cinematography and immaculately choreographed dance sequences and thanks to its wonderful leads and dancers (one of the leads is from Cherry Magic series). However, when it comes time for the emotional climax, the film struggles to convincingly convey the depth of passion between its leads. More on that later. These are the two protagonists - Suzuki Shinya, a fiercely competitive Latin dance champion who thrives on passion and instinct, and Sugiki Shinya, a reserved ballroom dance champion whose entire life is built on discipline and control. Sugiki and his partner, Fusako, have won numerous ballroom competitions in Japan and abroad. Their best achievement is second place at the world championships. Ho...

This is a Japanese comedy series primarily focusing on a fujoshi, who is totally shipping two of her office male colleagues and imagines them in all kinds of torrid situations. Oh man!1 I laughed so hard in almost every single episode. The female lead is brilliant, and her boundless enthusiasm propels the funny antics. I wouldn't call this strictly a BL because we are never really told about the real relationship, but honestly I don't care. Breezy 25 episodes of each just 5 minutes were so much fun to watch, that I will be going around recommending this show.  Oto is a female accountant in a sales office. She often sees Daichi (one of the youngest sales employee who has a very outgoing and perky personality) and Hong (a 32 year old more mature man and also boss of Daichi) working together a lot and helping each other. She lets her imaginations run wild and totally dreams about them being in love and doing things together. The two men are close friends with chummy interactions, ...

This 4 episode (45 minutes each) mini series is tThe intriguing true story of King Gustaf V, Sweden's first gay king. It looks at the clandestine affair in the 1930s between a Swedish king and a male restaurateur, in a captivating portrayal of love against the odds that uncovers the homophobia and human rights abuses of those times. A love that had to be kept from the public at all costs, but eventually got out, leading to one of the worst miscarriages of justice that Sweden has ever witnessed. The year is 1932, and in a final attempt to save his restaurant, ex-con man Kurt Haijby appeals for a private audience with King Gustav V of Sweden. To his wife Anna’s great surprise, he is granted one. What starts off as a formal encounter between the restaurateur and the King soon turns into a romantic evening filled with passion. But when the fling turns into a secret relationship, the King’s advisors do everything to stop the affair. Haijby is railroaded, repeatedly by Governor Nothin, w...

OMG! This was such an unexpectedly beautiful and emotional film. It tells the story of a man who adopts a baby with Down's syndrome and navigates the challenges of parenthood while surrounded by the people he loves. And in the end when we see photographs of the real man and his daughter, it is bound to bring a smile on your face and leave you with wet eyes. Based on the true story of Luca, who was the first case in Italy of a single, gay person succeeding in adopting a daughter. By refusing to give up, he has helped to smooth the way for other single and LGBTQ parents. The film begins with a woman giving birth to a child and leaves her when she hears the baby has Down's syndrome. A kind nurse gives her the name Alba. When Luca, founder of a home for children and adults with developmental disabilities, finds out about Alba in 2017, he applies to serve as her foster parent, a two-year commitment. A former seminary student, he has the requisite experience, but the rules favor coup...

Even though this show had a soap opera like feel to it, but My god! What a fantastic series. The show is 6 episodes of about 45 minutes each, but the twists and turns and surprises that are thrown at you in every episode is fantastic. The storyline is genuinely intriguing and I genuinely could not guess the perpetrator. A suspenseful mystery about a man trying to understand how his husband of many years died in a car crash, the secrets he kept; especially his family members that were always kept a secret. A fatal car crash happens in rural France. Back in Paris, we see cops come to famous author's Manuel Ortega's home to inform him that his husband of six years had a fatal accident in rural France. Manuel is baffled because his husband Aymeric was supposedly on a business trip to Brussels. We soon learn that Aymeric is the son of a wealthy marquis who’d inherited the title and responsibility for running the family business and properties, of which Manuel knew nothing. As we beg...

This film follows a young man who suffers a brutal homophobic aggression, after which an investigation is activated that highlights a conservative, terrified, uncompromising, fanatical and morally deplorable community in rural Romania. Interestingly, the film shows everyone's perspective except that of the victim himself. What a brilliant little film this was. I had no idea, for a change, what this film was about and I was very very pleasantly surprised how this film shows us an act of violence and different perspectives. The story is set in the Danube delta, where sunsets are vast and it is possible to go anywhere else only by boat. Set in a small village in rural Romania, we meet a religious family man Dragoi and his 17 year old son Adi. Dragoi owns a substantial debt to a local village gangster Zentov. One night when Adi comes back home brutally beaten up, they go to the doctor and also file a police complaint. As investigation starts, it turns out that it was the two sons of th...

This was such a pleasant surprise. What a lovely little film!! This film is just an hour long and it gives such a nice message while keeping everything so entertaining, that sometime high budget full length feature films fail to achieve. I can't believe this film is not being talked about more.  A really powerful depiction of growing up Trans and Tongan in a catholic school.This one is a very cute, indie teen comedy, with a healthy dose of corniness, giggles and also like really emotional moments like I almost cried. A transgender or fakaleitī student Lisa, of Tongan origin starts her fourth high school, St Valentine’s, after having to leave her previous three schools due to bullying. She was born Lewis and her mother still calls him the and identifies him as her son. She meets Moses, captain and star of the school and they do not get along as expected and also this other bitchy girl who for some reason is jealous of her and the other are in class. By constantly breaking the fourth...

Finally I finished watching this really long series. 24 episodes each of about 50-60 minutes is not an easy watch and definitely you cannot binge watch either. Also, I don't usually like to wait for weekly episodes, but yes this took me a good 10-12 days to finish the series. Perfect 10 Liners follows three couples navigating love and college life and it focuses on each couple for 8 episodes.While the premise isn’t groundbreaking, and at  its core, it’s another university-set BL with pretty faces, peer mentoring, lovey-dover moments, but the show makes up for its predictable structure with something far more valuable—charisma. The talented charismatic cast holds this show one notch higher than the other ones in the crowd, even though sometimes the story itself feels stretched thin and you wonder why they had to make such a lengthy show that gets done almost in 6 months. Set in an engineering college, "Perfect 10 Liners," is a group comprising extraordinary students from v...

I am surprised that I had not heard of this mini series that came out back in 2020. Clearly the show did not get as popular as some of its counterparts, but I still think it deserves viewing. Pulse follows a group of seven friends in a sleepy, indeterminate suburb somewhere outside of Copenhagen, whose entangled lives unravel when secrets they carry unwantedly begin to emerge. The foal point of the story is about a gay relationship and to what extent some people go in the name of holophobia. Some of it may feel a little over the top in today's time but I would like to think that prejudice is still very much prevalent even in some parts of so called first world countries. The show was released in two seasons with 9 episodes each ranging from 12-15 minutes, so its a pretty easy and decent watch. Let's first understand all the major characters here. Samir and Bastian are best friends, and both are on the school basketball team, together with Bastian’s brother Adam and their classm...

Love in the Big City is a Korean BL series about a gay writer and his dating experiences. Over the course of 8 episodes, each lasting about 50 minutes, our lead character, a single young man is looking for romance. He meets guys in bars, clubs, hobby groups, and hookup apps, each from a different walk of life. Some relationships end as short flings, while others develop into emotional journeys. Through the highs and lows of his love life, the protagonist discovers valuable lessons about himself. Every 2 episodes focus on one of his relationship, so we see 4 distinct guys/love stories that our man deals with. We meet Go Young, a young carefree guy who loves clubbing with his friends. Over the course of time, he becomes close friends with a schoolmate, a girl named Mi Ae, who has a reputation for sleeping around with guys. Since the two get along so well, they find lot of common things, they decide to live together. Young moves out of home and becomes roommates with Mi Ae. Young meets a ...

I had not heard of this film at all and was actually very pleasantly surprised with this touching mechanic meets India-British drag queen romantic drama. The sis such an involved and heartfelt queer love stories, something that we all have been waiting to see for a while now. No exaggeration, no over the top drama, yet true tragic love while the protagonists confront their notion of love, sexuality, family, religion, friendship and more. Luke isa single dad of a 5 year old son. He works as a mechanic in a garage run by his dad. He meets Aysha, a drag queens fact unknown to him at their first meeting and they indulge in a passionate kiss. There are clear sparks but as soon as Luke realizes that Aysha is a man he runs away. Aysha is living a closeted life away from her relies muslim family in the big city. Aysha need sa driver and car to take her around for her shows. She tracks down Luke and he agrees to do the job in hopes to save money for his son. After a few drives, the attraction r...

How does one describe this gay film!! An extremely carefully designed and drafted film, it's a film within a film, about pitching a gay film to a producer who wants a “fun, sexy, Greek and low-budget” script. It has meta-commentary on queer filmmaking all over the place, incorporating several life-affirming themes. And to top that when you have gorgeous and handsome naked cast, and a cut dog, one's attention is automatically guaranteed. Demosthenes and Nikitas often sunbathe at a nude cruising spot in Greece. Nikitas needs to pitch a film idea over the weekend and he has nothing on hand. They both strike upon the idea of making a film about their “summer with Carmen”; a Chihuahua that Demos adopted from his ex-boyfriend Panos, two summers ago. The film then keeps going back and forth between present and two summers ago on what happened thats summer and the way it is presented to us is a film within a film format. We see how Demos had broken up with his boyfriend of 4 years Pano...

I am starting to love this fewer episodes a more concise and focussed storytelling in these BL series. This show is also a great example with just 6 episodes of 23 minutes each, the makers are able to show us a very good love story with an important and nice message. The basic idea of the show is if you get a second chance to love, should you give it a pass or jump at the opportunity and finally be happy? Also, if the second chance happens to be the same person whom you loved in the first place, what would you do? Actually the plot of the series is simple. Miyato works for a publication agency and is assigned a job to meet professor Iwanaga Takashi to write a column for his publication. Its only when Miyato meets Iwanaga, they bth realize they know each other form their school days. Back in the high school, they used to be star crossed lovers. What we are eventually told is how and why that relationship broke up, why Miyato  broke the affair completely, sealed the romantic episode,...

Set in 1987 in El Paso, Texas, this film with a unique name is based on a novel (which I had no idea about). I was just fascinated by the intriguing title; a story of two Mexican teenagers Aristotle "Ari" and Dante, their friendship, and their struggles with racial and ethnic identity, sexuality, and family relationships. I had no expectations of the film and I have to say that this was so sweet and charming and cute and touches your heart. It's summer. We meet teenage Ari, a loner by choice since he doesn't identify much with other teenagers his age and lives with his Mexican origin parents. His older brother is in jail but the family never talks about it and he doesn't know the reason. Enter Dante, a guy similar to Ari in heritage who offers to teach Ari how to swim at the community pool. Very soon a friendship develops where they spend a lot of time with each other throughout the summer, the parents approving of the friendship. They are opposites. Ari has a tou...

Having heard a lot about the performances in this film, I was looking forward to seeing it when it recently came out on Prime video. What a take on homosexuality. This film presents a very different perspective than what we have seen ever.  The gay couple is not even ever together in any scene holding hands or anything , but. The film shows what social pressures can do to the psyche of not just the person who is in closet but also to the people around him, especially his wife (in case of this film). It is a bold but much needed attempt to revamp the social stigma associated with one’s sexual inclination. Matthew is a middle aged man who is forced by his friends and community to run for local elections. While the preparations are going on, a two month old court filing comes out in open where his wife Omana of 20 years is now asking him for a divorce, citing the denial of her physical needs due to his homosexual orientation. His political party suggest him to fight the case since the...

When you have names like Pedro Almodovar, Pedro Pascal and Ethan Hawke associated with a project in the gay space, the expectations are naturally tremendous. I have to say, I was slightly disappointed that this was going to be just a 30 minute short film. I hoped for a full length feature film even without knowing absolutely nothing about wha the film is about. Nevertheless, I was still very much looking forward to this  romantic cowboy story which has more than what meets the eye. This film is not a story of two men who are struggling with their sexuality like some of these other stories. Instead it focuses more on the past as its subject — past romance, past promises, past regrets. Silva, a ranch owner crosses the desert to come meet Jake, the town sheriff. The two of them have an instant rapport meeting after almost 25 years. They spend the day and night together and we are told they were former lovers. But there is more to Silva's purpose of this visit. A murder in town has hap...

The first season and the subsequent film version of this popular show "What Did You Eat Yesterday" has been one of my personal favorites. The focus on a different mouth watering recipe every single episode, while focusing on the continued growing relationship between a middle aged gay couple was something I totally enjoyed. So, naturally I was super excited when the episodes started coming out for Season 2. The show has 12 episodes each of 30 minutes duration. Kenji and Shiro are still a very happy loving couple living together going through the grind of everyday struggles. Thee include financial management, growing age, health issue, healthy eating, their closest friend, a minor tussle and introduction to their respective families etc. But as they turn 50, they begin to experience different changes, but Shiro and Kenji are still gentle with each other as they move on to a new stage in their lives. Kenji is made the manager of the saloon while Shiro is asked to take over the ...

This film attempts to explore the complexities of human relationships and the fluidity of sexual orientation. It s a brutal, almost realistic take on messy modern relationship with twist of sexual fluidity adding more to the complication of the relationships. From the very first scene of the film we are given to believe that our lead Tomas obsessive need for control without compromise: offering detail-orientated notes that quickly become demeaning. For cinephiles, they would know what to expect of the characters behaviour going forward. Tomas is a film director married to his husband Martin who have known each other for 5 years. At the wrap part you his film, Martin goes back home since he is tired and Tomas ends up dancing with Agathe, a French schoolteacher with a beautiful face and a bright, inquisitive nature. The night ends in them both having sex. The next day when he reaches him, he casually tells his husband that he had sex with a woman whose reaction is subdued saying “This al...

Everyone has their own way of dealing with grief. Some tackle it head-on, while others live in denial. In this series, a gay young adult Tore, our leading man walk a path of self-destruction. As audience it sometimes become frustrating for us to not be able to understand why Tore is doing what he is doing, but if you delve in the character depth enough, it feels like an honest portrayal of grief and escapism. The actor playing Tore also happens to be writer and creator of the show. And what's more interesting is that even though the show may sound all serious and drama; it's actually a dark-comedy, tragedy and drama. At six episodes of half an hour each, this Swedish Netflix series was a very good binge watch. The split is simple. Tore is a 27 year old gay, virgin, young adult, socially clueless boy who lives and works with his father at the funeral home. In the first episode we see father and son fighting over why isin't Tore leaving the house to live on his own. Essential...