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Apariencias (Argentina) [Appearances]

This movie was supposed to be funny or at least thats what the film makers claimed. Trust me it could have been funny but it in no way tickled any of my funny bone. On the contrary I wanted the film to finish fast because it was just too obvious of what's going to happen next. Calling it a comedy film is itself a wrong thing to say. Carmello, who is 30-years old and extremely shy, finds it difficult to reveal his innermost feelings to Verónica, his coworker. He has loved her ever since he has seen her but he doesn't have that outgoing personality. When Verónica returns from a work trip from USA, she brings her boyfriend along with her which completely shatters Carmelo's world. Things are worse when she announces her intention to get married soon. Accidentally, she spots him demonstrating in a gay rally where he becomes a leader of that cause. Of course, Verónica assumes that Carmelo is gay and asks him to help her out in the project that she is working on. Hoping to win her...

Three (Documentary)

Based on Howard Roffman's best selling photography book "Three" this video diary of Kris, John and Gary documents the challenges and joys of an intimate three-way love relationship. Gorgeous and uninhabited, these American boys in London have agreed to let the outside world into their provocative private lives.  John and Gary have been a couple for few years in London. Because of work, John has to be in SF for few years and thats hwne he meets Kris and a wonderful 3-way relationship starts. As every relationship has, these guys also go through time of love, jealousy, meaning, work, fun, sex etc but they are different because they are 3 people on a relationship. The documentary shows up bits and parts of the lives of these 3 gorgeous men and individually what do they all think of one another and the relationship overall.  The documentary also shows how the actual book 'Three' evolved which became so famous because no one could actually believe that these 3 gorgeous...

Rodeu-mubi (Korean) [Road Movie]

I had mixed feeling during watching this film because there were times when I felt that the film was simply dragging but having watched the whole film, I think I was impressed with the film. It looked very realistic (Though I am not the one to say anything about life in South Korea), and specially the ending left me in the pain when its too late when you finally are ready to reciprocate the love of the other person. Dae-Shik is a gay homeless man on the streets of Seoul. We see him saying goodbye to a guy saying that he does not want love at the beginning of the film. He finds a suicidal ex-financier Suk-Won on the street. Suk-Won's business has failed and his wife has thrown him out. Dae-Shik starts taking care of him. Completely broke now, Suk Won also starts living on the street doing some menial jobs. Dae-Shik takes good care of him. He is falling in love for him. Deep love which Suk-Won is completely unaware of. The film progresses with the 2 spending time together, getting...

Gay Short Films : 04

Clay Pride - Being Clay in America Steve, age 31, introduces himself to us: he's clay. He talks about the struggle of growing up clay, feeling different, picked on at school, thinking it was his fault. Steve discovers a support group, "It's okay to be clay," and he starts to come out and accept himself. His dad is there for him. Daddy A one-night stand leaves a young, single New York man shocked to find he might be pregnant. Although, one in a million case, he chooses to be pregnant and gives birth. One day he randomly again meets the man who could possibly be the father of the childI loved the film and the concept. It definitely makes you think. It shows a lot in little 5 minutes. Lloyd Neck Alex has a crush on her brother's friend, Jesse. But Jesse likes Alex's brother, Taylor. Alex knows something is up with her brother. Caught in an awkward position, Taylor takes Alex and Jesse to his favorite spot. A very very cute film.  Love and Deaf ...

Partner(s)

I saw this film few years ago and remember that it was funny film. I had to watch it again primarily because I had to review it and hence decided to watch it this time with my boyfriend who by the way hates romantic comedies and is not a fan of gay movies. With his apprehensions he started watching this movie, could not get too much into it. But me? I still liked it. Maybe not as much as I remember liking the first time but nonetheless it still wasn't a bad second viewing experience.  Dave and Katherine work in a law firm as peers and former lovers. After breaking up with his girlfriend, Dave moves in with his best friend Christopher who is gay. Christopher's next door neighbor is Lucy who thinks these two are boyfriends. Tables are turned when a case involving sex discrimination over a gay employee is to be assigned. Dave and Katherine vie for the assignment that will most assuredly result in being granted full partner ship in the firm. The company involved happens to be of Lu...

I Don't Want To Sleep Alone (Malaysia)

What the f*** was this film. An almost 2 hour film with barely any dialogue, this film really tests one's patience. I recently saw a lot of gay asian cinema and liked it but this was torture. Actually this was not even a gay film. 2 stories run parallel. There is this young waitress who is taking care of this old paralyzed or in coma man. Her life is very boring. On the other hand, there is this group of Bangladeshi immigrants who one night find this Malaysian man beaten and passed out. One of the guys takes very good care of him, nurtures him back to health and sleeps next to him. This homeless man met the waitress and share the feelings for each other by following each other around in the neighborhood. The film ends as randomly as it started. Most of the time it just seems like a hodgepodge of random (and meaningless) ideas pieced together. The relationships depicted here are so unclear (there's nothing apart from lust), and I find the characters hard to sympathize with. Plea...

Gay Short Films : 03

Parabéns! (Portugal) Chico wakes up on his 30th birthday to the sound of his girlfriend singing "Happy Birthday" to him on his answering machine. When sexy boy Joao wakes up in bed next to him, he realizes that this is not his typical birthday. Amen (India) - 24 min Andy and Harry meet through internet. Andy is about to get engaged, wanting to have a fling on his last bachelor day meets Harry. The fling leads to talking and Harry trying to make Andy feel comfortable in his gay skin. “Amen” makes two characters meet, experience hope amidst confusion, explore truths about sexuality and the self and delves into the profound meaning of life in the continuum of its trifles. Good acting and story. Office (Pakistan) - 15 min It traces the life of a prostitute in Karachi on her typical work day, the men she meets and the different roles she plays to satisfy her clients. And finally after she returns home to her female lover. The 2 women ultimately find happiness ...

Eleven Men Out (Icelandic)

This film is both comedy and also shows dysfunctional characters in Icelandic areas. This is an identical plot to the German movie Guys and Balls but where the Guys and Balls was funny and very interesting, the same cannot be said about this film. Eleven Men Out is a very depressing, serious, and awkward movie where the acting is barely passable. And I did not like that the main character's son gets caught in the middle of his father coming out and his mother being a slut and a drunk. Ottar, a famous local football player playing for the first and most popular team in Iceland announces in the beginning of the movie that he is gay just to get a story and a picture in the local magazine. Life is not the same then. He is forced to quit the team. Being a rebel, he joins a local third rate local gay team to show everyone that he can still be gay but a great footballer. The rest of the movie is the tribulations of him adjusting to his new life and team. His father is a psychiatrist and a...

Bedtime Stories (Short Stories)

This DVD was a collection of 25 short gay stories. I think this collection was targeted for Spanish audiences because films were either in SPanish or English or some other language with subtitles in Spanish. I am gonna mention the names of the shorts that I could see not the ones which were completely in Spanish (which were only 13 in number)  $ 30: A father forces his son to go to a prostitute to become a man. He is gay and ends up befriending the girl.  America The Beautiful: A few seconds film that just shows 2 men kissing.  Birthday Time : A young boy is about to turn 18 and wants to be kissed before that by a man. He forces his neighbour who is taking care of him for the weekend.  Doorman: A young renter seduces the doorman for sex when he moves in and then makes him fall in love with him and dumps him.  El Primo: A boy visits his Latino cousin who takes him to a club and then they both decide to go to a prostitue. Thats when the man realizes he is gay....

Surprise, Surprise

Its been a long time since I saw a gay film. I just finished watching this one and let me tell you that it was a major disappointment. The story line was interesting but there was a lot of shouting and screaming for no reason. Plus the film never leaves the huge house in Malibu which restricts the viewers. Den and Collin are a couple. Den is a closet TV star and Collin is much much younger to him. Collin who used to be a dancer met with an accident and is now on wheelchair. Enter David, a swaggering 16-year-old homophobe who unexpectedly arrives at their doorstep. His arival sets in new hardships for the couple wherin Den has to suddenly realize and act being a dad and deal with David's instant hatred for Collin because he thinks he is too young. Together the 3 of them have to figure out a way to accept each other's presence and live like a family. The film also has characters in David's grandmother and the couple's fag hag. The biggest problem with the film is that i...

XXY (Argentina/Spanish)

How many times have you heard of movies that deal with 'hermaphrodite'. In fact, how many times have we even heard of this except maybe on occasional book called 'Middlesex' (which I must say here was remarkably awesome). This film beautifully does that and apparently a film like this coming from a first time director from Argentina holds a special mention for the theme of the film. Adolescence is always a roller coaster ride. Add the premise of being a 15 year old Hermaphrodite,and things can get even scarier. Alex is a 15 year old troubled teenager girl. She is hermaphrodite. They live in a village by the sea when her father decided to move there because of her condition. Now that she is a teengae, her father wants to give her a choice to undergo surgery to become a boy or girl but Alex wants to remain the way she is and even stops taking the hormones that her mother gives her. Alex's mother pressures her to decide about surgery by invite her friends from Buenos A...

Sommersturm (German) [Summer Storm]

Another one in the category of 'I have seen this before but have to watch it again so that I can review it on my blog'. I saw this film about 5 years ago and vaguely remembered liking it. I still loved the movie but having seen a lot more gay films, the perception changes. Had I reviewed this movie 5 years ago, I would have rated it very high but now my expectations are very high , so maybe not that high but this movie was still pretty good. Tobi and Achim, 2 teenage boys, the pride of the local rowing club, have been the best of friends for years and are convinced that nothing will ever stand in the way of their friendship. They look forward to the upcoming summer camp to win a big tournament in the countryside of Germany. As Achim's relationship with his girlfriend Sandra, who's also on the team, grows more and more serious, Tobi starts to realize that his feelings for Achim run much deeper than he's willing to admit to himself. He feels confused, unsure of himse...

Happy Birthday

This film can be described as 5 short films intertwined with each other in some way. Its about 5 lesbian/gay characters who share the same birthday. The film delves into darkest issues that each character struggles with.  Kelly has recently broken up with her girlfriend when her first crush, Martha, a college friend she hasn't heard from in years, calls to invite her to dinner. Ron confidently runs a ministry for "ex-gays" at his church, until a church member calls his bluff. Javed, a Pakistani immigrant rejected by both his family and his Muslim culture, awaits the decision on his asylum application, while his porn star boyfriend earns money to support them. Tracy, a Chinese-American woman who is not out to her family, tries to find common ground with her traditional mother visiting from Taiwan who ultimately discovers her daughter's sexuality. Jim, an obese man too ashamed of his body to dance in a club, is named telemarketer of the year at "Fat No More." ...

I Love You Philip Morris

I was shocked when the moie ended declaring that this was a true story. I had such a hard time believing it was true because some of the cons seens in this movie are truly worth applauding. Things that a man can do and extents he can goto to prove his love for someone are shown very very well in this film. And when you have actors like Jim Carrey and Ewan McGreor, the premise becomes even more interesting.  Steven Russell is happily married to Debbie, and a member of the local police force when a car accident provokes a dramatic reassessment of his life. Steven becomes open about his homosexuality and decides to live life to the fullest - even if it means breaking the law. Steven's new, extravagant lifestyle involves cons and fraud and, eventually, a stay in the State Penitentiary where he meets sensitive, soft-spoken Phillip Morris. This is where the love starts. His love for Phillip seems irrational and all-encompassing and when he is released he uses his powers of conman ship to...

La Mala Educación (Spain) [Bad Education]

Pedro Almodóvar movies are always to watch out for. The way he blends two different storylines with the same actors, is worth watching. Though this film of his is a little different from others. The theme (child abuse) is darker. It is going to be had to review the film because there are so many twists and turns and it is a great work of art. Enrique is a Spanish filmmaker who is having trouble settling on a new project when he's approached by Ignacio Rodriguez, who was his close friend when they were schoolboys. Enrique, who fell in love for the first time with Rodriguez, barely recognizes the man as his former crush, but agrees to read the short story he's written. The tale turns out to be an semi-autobiographical account of their days in a Catholic boarding school, in which a cross-dressing night-club performer named Zahara (also played by Ignacio) hooks up with a man named Enrique, who turns out to have been his first lover when he was a student. Recalling their school day...