Movie Reviews -
Gay Themed

How I wish this film stayed being a gay love story, bit instead the love story angle is a small part while the film is based on the harsh living of two Mexican boys to noir-ish crime thriller to social-comment drama. For me, it would have been so much better had the film stayed central to the love aspect and created some drama around it. I am not saying that the story being told here is bad at all, it is just my wish here. Miguel is a pretty young skateboarder from a middle-class family in Mexico City who is having a torrid love affair with the son of his family’s maid, a fellow skater Johnny. Besides the barriers of class and social status between them, tensions are also heightened by the bisexual Johnny’s ongoing relationship with a young girl, Adri, a dysfunctional love triangle constantly shaken by angry accusations and jealous tantrums. While this theme hovers in the background, the central theme is around how Miguel and Johnny have been making money with a petty criminal scheme w...

I have mixed feelings about this film. At every point it talks about 'going with the flow', let your heart experience new things, make yourself open and explore new things, but the way it has been setup is quit contrived. It is definitely an interesting story to tell but besides a totally random ending, even the way two men come together wasn't completely established. The one good thing about the film is that they shot in the beautiful city of Taxco, Mexico; which is now added to my bucket list of cities I Want to visit in Mexico. Josh, a white American is visiting Taxco with his Mexican girlfriend of few years. They are very much in love and she can't wait for Josh to experience her childhood memories. On their first day, they see a guy proposing to his girlfriend, a very loving scene but in a stark contrast, they both having a huge fight in the evening leaving the couple apart. They both laugh it off and continue with their life. Next day when the girlfriend gets an u...

“I’ll never stop loving you”—can anyone keep this promise? A romantic love story of two young boys, when the two meet by chance, their instant chemistry ignites a passionate affair that challenges them both to confront their desires and aspirations. An interesting premise, but I felt a lot of context was missing in the film and let's talk about that a bit later. Orlando is a dance student working part time as a go-go dancer in a popular gay bar, and Marco is a nursing student working part time in a hotel. They meet by chance on the street one day and they both have this instant crackling chemistry that they can't keep their hands off each other. Orlando is also applying to a reality dance completion in hopes to make it bug. Marco in the meantime, wants to be a good nurse as has been his dream. They duo start a passionate love story and before you know they move in, loving each other and supporting each other's career. But somewhere along the path, they start growing apart. ...

This gay dance drama from Mexico has a very home-made feel to it, but completely lacks in ints execution of the ambition it probably has. Maybe it takes itself too seriously and in the process leaves audiences wondering what the hell and why there'll are things going on the ay they are. A decent attempt, but how I wish that the characters were more fleshed out so we could really get into the psyche behind the actions that eventually the characters end up taking. A love triangle involving professional jealousy could have been much better. Sebastian is befriended by fellow dancer Arsenio at ballet auditions. They initially laugh off their obvious mutual attraction, but soon become a fully loved-up couple, pushing each other as performers and even start living together.  When the new choreographer Mikael arrives, demanding obedience and perfection; he starts to push everyone's boundaries and starts to make changes. He also has a reputation for liking young boys. The attention he p...

Based on the title, I was hoping that the film would be half decent, but seriously, the makers took a paper thin plot and I am amazed how they managed to make a full fledged film out of it. This film could easily have been wrapped up in a very quick short film. The film explores themes of sexuality, relationships, and identity 32 year old busy banker Roberto has a decent life going with his girlfriend Elia. Roberto is very well dressed, doesn't like clutter, neat freak etc. Things change when he meets a young college going kid Cris through an app. Cris comes over to his house a few times and they talk about multiple things while having drinks (assuming it's a way of Roberto delaying the moment of sex) and Cris making him rethink of his sexuality because maybe he is gay. One weekend when Elia is away, Cris spends the night and Elia shows up unexpected the next day. She doesn't think much but clearly this makes Roberto very uncomfortable with the situation and meanwhile Cris ...

There we go again. Musicals!! Not my cuppa tea. But to be fair, this film just doesn't have enough material on hands to make it even a convincing story. A tribute to 1990s indie rockers Indigo Girls, it provides backdrop for summer love between a circus performer and a struggling musician. As their relationship deepens, however, realities and uncertainties about the future threaten to tear them apart. Glitter is a wannabe clown from a wealthy and privileged family who just wants to go to circus school in Paris. His mother just wants her son to do something reasonable with his life. And then we have Doom, a gloomy and a struggling songwriter, who believes every tune should be dark and/or sad. Is fathe his out of picture and mother is in prison. The two men meet purely by chance. Their eyes meet, and soon enough, they're at a night club where they dance and sing through the night, closing out the bar, moving on to a restaurant where they talk about the idea of making small talk, ...

This documentary shows the everyday experiences of the “muxes,” a group of homosexual, cross-dressing, and transsexual persons, who live their identities through a series of performative acts in the town of Juchitán. In doing so, they transgress the traditional roles and expectations that a patriarchal society has for both their men and women. Furthermore, their actions are presented in the film as everyday acts of defiance towards heteronormative patterns—that is, manners of interpreting the sexed body that have come to be considered acceptable by patriarchal societies. On the sun-baked Isthmus of Tehuantepec in Mexico lies the town of Juchitan, whose population of indigenous Zapotecs have for centuries warded off numerous invasions to preserve their identity. Today, Juchitan has an additional, more notorious, identity, as a "queer paradise" famous for its Muxes, effeminate homosexual men whose socially defined role within the Zapotec culture pre-dates the advent of gay libe...

Kenya is a documentary that portrays the harrowing journey of Kenya, a trans woman sex worker in Mexico City, as she seeks justice and safety after witnessing the murder of her friend Paola by a client. The film begins shortly after this tragic event, capturing Kenya's immediate response and her interactions with Paola's family, who have trouble accepting Paola as she was in life: a vibrant and flamboyant trans woman. Walking on the streets of Mexico City in her shimmering high heels, Kenya is a tower of strength in a world that is devastatingly cruel to her community. A trans sex worker and an activist, she is spurred into action after witnessing the brutal murder of her friend Paola at the hands of a client. Despite ample evidence against him, the perpetrator is allowed to walk free, signifying how the judicial system turns a blind eye to the violence inflicted on trans women. The film captures the kind of care work needed in life as well as in death. When not leading protest...

A sensual story about sexuality, isolation, loneliness, survival and unexpected connections; these are the broad themes that the film maker is trying to tackle in this film set during pandemic times. The summary of the film sounded interesting and the two actors look good too, but this one and a half hour film is more artsy than I would have liked it to be . There are a lot of moments of nothingness and I feel this could have been a much more impactful film as a short story. The film starts with us seeing Ramon, an actor in B-grade movies. We also meet Also, an extra on the set who finds Ramon attractive. He is new to the city and unsure of he wants to stay. A few months pass, were we see how Also meets a few guys here and there, has hook ups with them and slowly get used to the gay world of Mexico City. Then Covid traps them all alone in their flats; Roman can't work and Aldo loses his job. A year later, with the Mexican military still patrolling the streets, Roman is bored alone ...

Why.. Why!! Film makers try and just stretch a simple story behind what's needed and test the patience of the audience. This is a story we have seen many many times, albeit in different settings. In this specific case, this could easily have been a 20 min short film, with just proper editing. Instead, it is stretched to almost n hour long film, which really adds nothing at all. 2024 is not starting on a good note for me. Hector is a happily married man with a wife and a daughter living in s ams all town in Mexico. At work, his partner is leaving the company and a new guy Andre joins instead whom hector has to train. It is public knowledge that Andre is gay. Soon you see Andre starts to making moves on Hector, who mistaken by surprise and lets his displeasure known to Andre. But one day after work, Andre just kisses hector (Hell0! worktime sexual harassment anyone?).  Now, Hector can't get the kiss out of his mind and lies to his wife that he needs to go to a business trip for t...

I suspected this while watching the film, but it was not until the film ended that I was sure the film was based on the true story of Saúl Armendáriz, who became known as the “Liberace of Lucha Libre”, this is a giddily entertaining and celebratory drama that hints at the emotional bruises under the sparkly lurex leotard and false lashes. For the uninitiated This is Mexican wrestling 'Lucia libre' and 'Exóticos' are male wrestlers dressed in drag portraying gay caricatures. But n this case Saul was gay. In the hierarchy of the luchaverse, they were treated like something between a gimmick and a target. And they never, ever won, battings were about to change. We meet Saúl Armendáriz, as aspiring luchador who lives in El Paso, Texas, he’s been wrestling on the semi-pro circuit for a while. Saúl’s sexuality is an open secret among his peers, who mock him on and offstage and despite him playing the macho wrestler he still gets abuses hurled at because he is gay. He lives wi...

This actual series focuses on the life of a stripper turned firefighter trying to figure out who killed his brother. But god bless the person, who was kind enough to make a gay edit of the whole series and just focus on the storyline of Fabio and Gerardo. Even after the edit, the version is almost 2 hours 45 minutes long but is still quite engaging. The biggest advantage is that this story line felt pretty isolated and meant knowing anything at all about the main story, did not stop me from appreciating the focused gay sub-storyline of this show. I really wish more and more users, could possibly make gay edit versions of series which normally wouldn't qualify as LGBT show but have a substantial gay sub plot. Fabio is a young 20 year guy and son of Glorita, the proprietor of the local boarding house that is next to the fire station. And then we meet Gerardo, on whom Fabio has a huge crush and who is friendly with everyone. Except that Gerardo has a girlfriend who happens to be Fabio...

Don't be fooled by the poster thinking that it's a teen comedy. In contrast, it's actual a dram about a teenage boy discovering himself, his sexuality, his family, friends and most importantly who he really is. Surprisingly, I ended up enjoying this film more than I thought I would, especially after the clunky beginning. It kept getting better and thanks to a very very charming and cute leading actor, things only got better. I won't really call it just a queer film, since it is so much more than that. Chava is a 17 year old regular teenager. One day he starts getting messages from a "secret admirer" and he gets under the impression that maybe he has scored a girlfriend. What comes as a shock is that this admirer happens to be his half-sister. His father has been living a secret dual life, and bitterns out the mother knew about it and kept quiet. At the same time, Chava is dealing with his own feelings and sexuality. His swim team friend Carlos and he are hangi...

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...

I knew nothing about this film, so overall I was actually quite happy with the ultimate result. The film doesn't spoon feed you. The viewers have to deduct a lot of inferences and the brother-sister cat and mouse game keeps the proceedings interesting. Sure, towards last 30 minutes, it does get predictable and you know what's going to happen, but still the two very good looking men and a high production quality helps this film to rise above the average script that it does have. Alex and David are a happy gay couple, who have started talking about adopting a child. Alex works at a gym and David has some high profile corporate jobs n they are doing well for themselves. A mysterious figure Blanca soon starts following the couple and she strikes a friendship with Alex at gym, flirting with him. He brings her home for a drink but when David comes home, it turns out that she is David's estranged sister who has come out of jail having spent 8 years for buying down their parents ho...

I am not sure why this film got such great reviews and press at the time when it came out. Agreed that it is an interesting mix of poetic and erotic cinema at the same time but with hardly any spoken dialogues, you really have to focus hard to understand what's actually going on, what the storyline is and what is it the are trying to actually say. Shot in black and white, I want to say that cinematography is excellent and there are plenty dreamlike sequences, but with a duration of over 3 hours, it tests your patience like no one has ever done it before. And I am not ashamed to say that I am definitely not one of those who was willing to venture into this 3 hour of sensory world. I have better things to do and I just had to fast forward at many places just to make sense of this film. The official synopsis says this about the film "Youthful Kieri and Ryo share a deep and passionate love for each other. Kieri sets off in search of his soul mate after Ryo is kidnapped. A female s...

Being openly gay is extremely hard in small town rural areas anywhere in the world. It's no different Mexico, where where everyone knows one another and everyone is in each other's business. Its almost impossible to live true to yourself and at the sometime it is difficult hide and you become a subject of gossip sometimes. This film may sometimes feel amateurish in its treatment but I feel it's heart was in the right place while creating the subject. Atl and Diego have been lovers and inseparable since they were 15 and are now fully grown men. Because of social pressure, Diego even has a girlfriend who is now pregnant. All lives with his mother and grandmother. For odd reason, the mother completely dislikes her family including her son, more so, because when the father died, he gave all his property to his son rather than wife. They are secretly aware of Atl's relationship with Diego and the mother uses this to extort money from him all the time. Diego's girlfriend ...

An unusual film, this was probably way ahead of its time when it came out in 1978. This is not a gay film per say, but given that one of the leads is gay man and the film talks about homophobia to some extent, makes it a good candidate for it to be reviewed here. Mostly this film is about being a macho guy, greed, family honor, homophobia all rolled into one. The film is set in a very small town of Mexico where we meet some interesting characters. Rich and elderly congressman Don Alejo is poised to sell the town for a profit,, the only thing missing is a whorehouse to close the deal. It is owned by an aging gay man Manuela, who cross dresses to perform dance and his daughter. Another important character is Pancho. Don Alejo tries to control him because he owes him money, but also Pancho had a bog fight with Manuela a year ago and Manuela is very scared of him. He wants to sell whore house and move away from the town but the daughter will have none of it. Through flashbacks we see how M...

Mexico hasn't really produced many LGBT themed films and 20 minutes into the film and I was already hooked. There is something very poetic and something very magical and pure with the way this film is made. And you will be shocked to see that this film actually combines the documentary style film making very effectively with narrative style feature. It was only towards the very end that I began to wonder if the characters were real and sure enough they were. The story is about two boys Ivan and Gerardo. Ivan, who lives in Pueblo is stuck washing dishes in restaurant even though he has studied in culinary school and is very talented. He has a young son with an ex girlfriend or wife but is also secretly gay. Only is best friend from childhood Sandra knows his secret. One such night he meets Gerardo, who is openly gay and before you know they both madly fall in love. They both have had turbulent childhood where they were ridiculed for being gay by their folks etc. Ivan is so unhappy w...

A historical and a period piece based on a true story. You already have my attention. After finishing watching the film, I still cannot believe that this is based on true events from back in 1901, almost 120 years back. A scandal shook entire country of Mexico when an illegal raid was conducted at an annual ball where 41 gay men were arrested and publicly shamed for the act. Congressman Ignacio is doing well and also has high ambitions from his political career. He is marrying Amada, the daughter of Mexico’s President so that his new status as son-in-law of the president will help push him into new territory. The only problem is Ignacio is gay and struggles to consummate his marriage. Soon he meets Evaristo, a man with whom he is slowly falling in love with. Ignacio brings Evaristo to a secret club of high profile group of queer men that meets regularly to party, have sex, and entertain one another. Ignacio thinks he can keep the two lives separate but increasing suspicion and snooping...