Movie Reviews -
Gay Themed

A film which could have been a decent, in fact good gay film eventually turned out to be an overdramatic coming of age, mother dealing with son's homosexuality. There were a lot of unanswered questions and sudden twists in the plot which were undesired.  8 year old Paul Portfield, an aspiring piano player and soon to be Juliard student, gets a job as a page turner for his idol Richard Kennington, a renowned concert pianist. During the concert, you get the beginning glimpses of the sexual sparks between them. After few months, when Paul finds out that his dad has left his mom Pamela for another woman, they decide to go for a trip to Spain. While wandering the streets Paul spots a concert poster featuring Richard and he sets out to find him. Paul tracks him down and drops by his hotel room where he's soon seduced by the pianist in an intimate and gentle way. Paul becomes totally infatuated with Richard but Richard goes back to NY to be with his manager and boyfriend Mansourian. M...

This was one confused film just like the characters in the film. On second thoughts actually, it was not that bad. I just wish the director was a little more clear in what exactly did he want to portray. I mean we have earlier seen bisexual characters confused about their sexuality but then ultimately they reach a end point but here I dont think there was a proper end. Nathan and Maggie are having a torrid, sexual affair. The difference is that Nathan is bisexual and Maggie is straight. Kissing their respective boyfriends good-bye, the two recent college graduates embark on a wine-tour through the beautiful vineyards of the Napa Valley. As Nathan continues to pick up hunky men during their trip and multiple glasses of wine are consumed, the young lovers begin to confront the consequences of their actions and wonder if they are truly in love with each other or the seductive thrill of an illicit affair. Nathan likes Maggie but is not in love with her as he is clearly confused about what...

Charming, lovable and completely predictable, thats the way you can describe the film. SOmetimes you know very well whats gonna happen but still the way certain films are presented makes the wol difference to the cinema. This film can be counted as one of those films.  Noah is marrying his lover Wade, whom he nursed when he was sick.To send them off, his buddies are throwing Noah a wonderful party at Wade's family vacation home on the gorgeous island of Martha's Vineyard. Deliciously femme Alex is whipping up a frenzy in the kitchen thanks to some mysterious pills. He has taken the charge of the whole wedding and wants everything perfect. His boyfriend is at home minding their child and house. Slutty Ricky (who we very soon find out deeply loves Noah) brings the cutest button of a date Brandon, who he abandons immediately in favor of a stranger in the shrubbery. Brandon is incidentally a student of Professor Chance. Chance and his husband of few years Eddie are trying to work o...

Wow!! Now thats what I call a fantastic film. There was not a single second where I was bored in the film. Considering the fact that it was completely non-streotypical gay film, it was a big risk, but man, this is funny as hell.  Ecky has always been football lover. He is the goalkeeper of his team and proud of his parents in a small town. When he is not paying ,he works with his father in the bakery. When his team-members find out that he is gay they throw him out of the team and made fun of. In a fit of anger, he challenges the team for a match 4 weeks later with gay team. He then moves to the Dortmund with his sister Sussane (who is supportive of him) and subsequently tries to form a full fledged gay football team.His journey through tough-guy town Dortmund is really, really funny! The group includes a trio of leather-clad bikers, a very feminine Turkish deli worker, an extremely masculine lesbian, a closet construction worker and a couple of Brazilian players. It also includes...

A very very touching story. Considering that not until the end of the film I realized that this was based on a true story. I had tears in my eyes by the time the film ended. The film is set in 1982. Bobby Griffith is a teen who has a loving family and a pretty good life. However, he believes himself to be a homosexual. He fears that his mother, Mary, will not accept him and love him anymore, due to her clear and well-known loath and contempt of gay and lesbians due to her faith and literal interpretation of the bible. When Bobby tells his brother he thinks he is gay, his brother tells Mary, hoping his mother can help Bobby. Instead, she treats Bobby as if he has a disease that can be "cured" through God. Mary's overbearing and abrasive treatment towards Bobby distances him from his family out to Oregon to live with his cousin, who believes anyone should be allowed to love anyone. While in Oregon, Bobby meets a guy David who makes him feel good about himself. When Bobby c...

Now this one was definitely a different film. Whether it was good or bad is debatable and we will talk later about that but merging gay and religion together has not been done too often. When Mark a regular sex and drug addict hit rock bottom (after having attempted suicide), his brother checks him into a christian retreat center in New Mexico. Its run by a couple Ted and Gayle. They have 6 another inmates who came there as homosexuals and with the love of Christ and dedication, they were trying to get over that. Mark starts to bond well with Scott in the center. Ted sees this as normal male healthy bonding (even the 2 men dont think anything about it) but Gayle is always uncomfortable with the closeness of the two men. The reason we find later is that Gayle had lost her 17 year old son who was gay. She sees her son in Mark and wants to cure him. Scott and Mark question about their relationship after Scott's father dies and tells him that Scott is going to hell. Scott is devastate...

I believe that the film was one of the first ones to come out from Germany depicting trial and tribulations of gay life in the country. Though the film might not be perfect but given the time and setting it shows to a great extent the confusion that a man can go through trying to find the true self. Philipp is a popular high school teacher (of course in closet) whose chance encounter with single and much looking Tanja leads to an affair between the two of them. Philipp thinks that his sexuality is cured. BUt when Tanja invites a friend of hers to the house, old feelings in Philipp are aroused again as he recognizes to have had some sexual encounters with the guy in the past. Enters Mathias, a young gay guy whom Philipp meets in a gay bar, they hang out and they ultimately have their first fulfilling physical encounter. Before things could get better, Philipp finds out that Tanja is pregnant. Philipp realizes his mistake, marries Tanja and everything is a secret from her. Mathias is de...

Well now this is one gay movie genre that I really haven't seen before. A thriller drama and romance all in one . It is so difficult to put the movie in a particular genre. For the first half an hour I wasn't sure about the film but as it progressed it became interesting.  Tim is a good looking college guy who enjoys attention from most women. A chance encounter with professor of paleontology Ivo changes his life. They get in a passionate affair which makes Ivo believe that him and Tim are in love. Tim is not so sure about the whole thing because Ivo is the only an he has ben with. They have plans to travel to Alaska to take cruise because of Ivo's work. Once they are in Alaska, Ivo has to suddenly go to another cruise to fill in for someone and hence Tim is left alone. He meets the beautiful Isabel and one thing leads t another and next we know is that Isabel and Tim are having an affair. Isabel lives in Vancouver and is in Alaska for her ailing friend. This is the first t...

Sometimes when you watch a film, it helps to have almost zilch expectations with the movie. The acting could be not upto the mark and the budget can be low but at least you can see honest intentions behind making the film. Corey has just turned 30. He has your average gay guy who is depressed over getting older, being out of shape and having just been dumped by his super hot boyfriend. So his friends decide to cheer him up by taking him on a fun filled weekend – Ski Trip. His friends include the over-the-top Drama Queen, Terry; His sexy, smart and sassy lesbian friend Nikki; bitchy boy toy Byron; sex crazy Carlos; and Omar, the sweet boy next door. Omar has always had a crush on Corey but somehow Corey misses it. Carlos, the bartender and wannabe DJ has slept with everyone in the group. Byron brings with him an escort Tyson (super hot) who has more to him than just looking hot and good. During the ski trip, lots of secrets are unveiled like Terry and Nikki having a bay and that Corey ...

Good God!! what was this film. Neither a documentary, nor a biography and definitely not commercial. How different it could have been had the director decided what's the ultimate result that he wants. This film is based on Late artist and AIDS activist David Wojnarowicz, who died in 1992. The film portrays the life of this tortured gay soul on a desperate, life-long search for love and the supportive family he never had. The episodic story intercuts three periods in David's life: his abused childhood; his 1970s late teens years as a Times Square hustler and petty thief where he has a partner in crime and a couple of drag queens; and his emotionally adrift life as an adult who substitutes furtive, anonymous sex for love and whose rage and alienation eventually takes to the road. The three periods of his life just keep changing intermittently and they show random events from these 3 periods (which needless to say I could care less). And thats it. The film randomly starts and ...

Sometimes the simplest of the movies touch your heart. A simple story, natural (or maybe not) acting, a relationship based on pure love and emotions; his is what summarizes this movie for me.  Kyle and Jake are high school best buddies growing up in Arizona. They fooled around one night but even then they thought they liked each other but feared what people would say. They are getting together for what appears to be a regular night of “sleeping out” in the desert. The pangs, ache and longing of first love are evident in these two beautiful young men. They eat some supper and then curl up on blankets for an evening of necking in the back of Kyle’s old pickup truck. But we realize that Jake is moving out of the small town to the big city. 15 years later, we see Jake is doing very good for himself in the movie business but still cannot his buddy Kyle whom he hasn't seen forever. He decided to take a break from city life and visit his old town back. After an awkward initial introductio...

Lots of films have been made on dysfunctional families. Some strike a chord while others just leave you wondering, 'what was that!'. This film had an interesting premise and a lot could have been done but unfortunately it did not do too much for me.  Mike is now retired and has 2 sons: Matt and Kevin. Matt is adopted black son who is well settled finance guy who has cocaine problems and now his wife cannot handle it anymore. She wants divorce and would not let Matt see the kids. Mike is very uncomfortable with the gay life style of his son Kevin. One year after Mike's wife death, as per her will they go to the beach house for a vacation as they had many times. Except this time everyone has a secret. Kevin finds out that his boyfriend had been cheating on him and they break up right before this vacation. Matt gets the divorce papers from the lawyer. Matt gets so depressed that he ends u taking a cocaine overdose and dies. Mike blames Kevin for not telling him that Matt has s...

A UK Channel 4 series celebrating 40 years of legalization of homosexuality in UK, this film was the first in series. This moving docu-drama shows investigating a pivotal court case in the mid-50s that changed public opinion. Peter Wildeblood, a royal correspondent for the Daily Mail newspaper is a closet homosexual and like many gay men at that time, lives in secret as homosexuality is against the law. One evening he meets Eddie McNally, who is on leave from the air force and the pair embark on an affair together. They spend a weekend at the estate of Lord Montagu of Beaulieu, a 28-year-old aristocratic socialite with a friend Johny Reynolds. Every single person tried to hide their homosexuality but one day when the air force chief catches one of the letters from Peter to Eddie, things change forever. Johny and Eddie are arrested and are told they would be freed if they testified against Peter and Montagu. In January 1954, Lord Montagu and Peter were arrested after a concerted effort...

This is a mix collection of gay short films. The primary focus in this series has been th award winning sort flms in various film festivals. "Blurs" - A young teen boy sees 3 drag queens one day and decided to check out his mom's closet. His parents fearing the worse make him go to wrestling and do other things but when the boy tells about a old man chasing him, the mom puts her foot down and gets a dog instead. "Touched" - This is set in Philadelphia's gay night life. A sex starved middle aged casting director Mike meets this young handsome man and they come home. We ultimately fid out that young man is homeless because he screwed up his life with drugs and his wife and kid left him. A very touching story when ultimately Mike feels he touched the young man by holding him in his arms. "10 Pesos" - A weird story of how a 10 peso note travels between different hands. "Safe Journey" - The Kid has no money, no place to live and nowhere to...

This might not be the most brilliantly made film for holidays but I bet this one comes pretty darn close. Its funny, its poignant, it talks about santa, real love, family, friends etc and at no point does this film let you bore. Although the film probably has been made on a low budget but still there is no denying that after a few bad experiences in films , I am glad I saw this one. I can safely say this is my kind of film.  Jonathan lives with his sister Marie and her husband Stan (an underwear model) after his parents passed away. He still believes in Santa and writes him letter every christmas along with writing a letter to his parents as well. Their family is very over the top, overtly friendly and loud but very loving. The story goes through 24 nights before Christmas. Jonathan works in a book store with a his great gay buddy. This Christmas, he asks Santa to send him his true love with all typical characteristics. He think his wish is fulfilled when Toby walks in the book sto...