Movie Reviews -
Gay Themed

Yay!! Season 4 of one of my favourite shows. You have no idea how I have controlled myself not to watch the episodes the day that they were telecast, since I am such a fan. But the fun of binge watching all the six episodes was too much and so I waited till all episodes were aired and first thing I did was watch the whole season All my memories from previous seasons came coming back and I am glad that they did a quick preview of sorts from previous seasons to refresh your memory. That was definitely a good touch. Sadly this season had only 6 episodes. Josh & Arnold are still together but clearly something is missing. They try threesome but the third doesn’t like Josh as much. A small divide occurs between them and on a trip to celebrate Hannah’s birthday Josh decides to breakup with Arnold. Meanwhile Tom and his girlfriend seem to begetting along well with each other and being very very supportive of Josh. The girlfriend clearly enjoys Josh’s company a lot more, since he is fu...

Oh my god!! What a utter piece of garbage this film was. Yes! I said it ! Unbelievable!! How can someone be so self-absorbed that they have no idea of what they are doing, or someone around them to tell the makers that they should not be doing what they are doing. The story is straight forward. A young man travels from Ohio to Seattle for an interview. In the hotel, he meets a male prostitute, a young mysterious man, who talk about stuff, have sex and the guy leave sin the morning. Thats it!! Yes, trust me; Thats it!! This 70 min long film could easily be made into a 4 minute short film. How long can one watch the protagonist looking outside his window, or doing stuff on mobile or laptop, or just waiting for the elevator. The talking portions in the movie were barely 15-20 minutes. The rest is long yawning shots of random things. I feel that the makers in their mind thought that they are making a tribute to ‘Weekend’ or something (at least I get that feeling). The direction was...

I don’t know why but I had many expectations form the film. Something about the poster, the story about an Arab teenage got me all very intrigued but alas as always expectations kill a film. I did not know until very recently that the film was based on the autobiography of the director, which in fact surprises me because then the maker should have taken the best parts of the film. Film primary focuses on Abdellah, a young teenage boy who lives with his parents and 6 siblings in Casablanca. His father and elder brother have their own room whereas his mother, 5 sisters and younger brother all share one rom which gives him the familiar feel of intimacy and closeness. Abdellah is a quiet kid, slightly bullied by everyone and a boy struggling with his sexuality. He looks upto his elder brother Slimane and has a huge crush on him. But since he cannot do anything with him, he finds sexual release with older men in the neighbourhood. Its not very clear if they use him or he uses them. Sli...

A teenage love drama, a story of coming-out and acceptance, a story of bullying etc etc. We have seen them all, heard them all; but the makers keep coming up with more of these films, which I am glad because the situations haven’t changed much in a lot of places and we need to continue to educate people around us regarding these issues. Its important to keep them in focus. Nathan, a 16 year old, lives with his single father Stephan, who is a cop. They have moved to a new neighbourhood and Nathan is adjusting in his new school. Within a few days, a picture of him kissing another boy surfaces on facebook and soon he is an object of everyone’s bullying. The situation is bad that even his father completely stops talking to him. Nathan tries his best to protect the identity of the other boy, who happens to be Louis, another guy in his class. The bullying takes harsh turn and one day he gets beaten really bad, primarily by Louis  This shakes up his father completely and he star...

An interesting film where ex-lovers reunite after 15 years. I think the film is supposed to be a delicate and mature touching love story with heartbreaks and everything intercepted in between to make it watchable and more realistic. Somehow the parts of the film made it a bit hard for me to believe. The simple fact of why would there b still so much passion and love for someone who you spent a summer 15 years ago. Isin’t that a long long time ago? By the way, the title of the film comes from the eye condition that Dean has. Dean, who works as a graphics designer in LA, is a bit bored with his job and how his life is going. An out-of-the-blue email from Alex brings a kind of storm in his life. We find out that Alex and Dean spent a summer together 15 years ago before Alex abruptly disappeared and now wants to reconnect with Dean. After an initial reaction of “Fuck off!”, they start exchanging emails with a bit of flirtations and finally decide to meet each other. Dean Dean invites Al...

We have had very few mystery/thrillers in gay genre. I think if we tried, we would easily be able to count them on fingers. This film although may sounds just a standard, simple police-procedural crime thriller but the director has used a lot of homo-eroticism (not just for the sake of it) and that is what makes this film even more charged and exciting. Also important to note is that the film is set in 1980’s in Argentina. The film starts with the murder of a wealthy gay member in Buenos Aires who also happens to be an art collector. Rookie cop Gomez, ridiculously good looking, is at the scene waiting for the cops to arrive. Detective Chavez, a family man and a tough cop is given the responsibility to close the case soon as possible. The initial suspect is Kevin, victim’s lover who left a message on his answering machine. Chavez asks Gomez to join his team and goes as an undercover into the gay circle to get more information. Gomez befriends Kevin and extracts information from him w...

An interesting story of someone trying to relive his past in an effort to fix it or make it better. The film is one of the few in the genre of a road-trip film in queer cinema but still it does not completely succeed in keeping audience’s interest peak for a long while. At least I had to watch film more in a fast forward mode, just in the hopes that something more worthwhile will happen. Jonathan, a middle-aged man travels to find a young male escort. After a few tries, he hires a young male prostitute to accompany him for a road trip to Grand Canyon, with the condition that the entire trip will be about role play. The young man is playing Brandon, a young, temperamental, rough around the edges kinda guy who is Jonathan’s boyfriend and they are madly in love with each other. As the young man, he is more interested in finding the true reality but Jonathan insists that he stick to the role he was hired for. Slowly, he starts to put small pieces together to understand who Brandon rea...

Now this is how you can make a very ordinary and simple story, gripping for an audience. The treatment, direction and emotions is what it matters when a viewer watches a film. You have to be able to empathise with the characters ad feel their pain and angst and happiness and other emotions and only then, in my opinion, you can justify the money that you spend on a film. I am not saying that this is a great film by any means but it is an excellent example of staying focused on the core issue without getting unnecessarily dramatic or anything. We meet James, a 19 year old young teenage boy, who is just returning home after being part of a religious reparative therapy called ex-gay conversion therapy. He comes home believing that he has been “cured” of his same-sex desire. He hopes to go to college soon but after his mother’s death, his father is struggling with money and cannot afford to send him to college. After a spat, James decide to go to community college and help him at his orc...

What a wasted opportunity!! This was the first thought that came to my mind after I finished watching the film. The one person who should immediately be fired is the casting director, followed very closely by the director, who couldn’t see what was going on. I feel so sad and disappointed when something that could have been so wonderfully fantastic ends u being so cheap and terrible to watch. The story is based in a college where Jeremy lives with his partner Elliott for the past 2 years. However, Jeremy has had enough of betrayals and mistreatment by his partner and he decides to break-up. Very next instant we find him moving in with Scott, who he had met just a few days back. A charming young man, Scott genuinely likes and care for Jeremy. The relationship is going fine till its time to meet parents. When Scott’s father comes to meet the couple, he is very visibly unhappy and disapproves of their relationship. Thankfully Jeremy’s parents are much more positive but shock comes wh...

Birdbath (Australia) A young Oz-Malaysian couple struggling with their relationship. The asian guy is not sure if his family will accept their son’s sexuality and relationship. A Brief History of Princess X (France) A history of sculptor Constantin Brancusi’s ‘Princess X’, a futuristic bronze phallus that is actually a bust portrait of Napoleon’s equally infamous great grand niece, Marie Bonaparte. Curmudgeons (USA) A pair of senior citizens in 80s have a relationship that shocks both their families. When the grand-daughter comes to visit, Ralph couldn’t possible imagine the surprise she has in store for him from his lover Jacky and his grand-son. A potty-mouthed, but endearing, comedy. Realness With A Twist (Paris) A young man searching for identity and acceptance as he splits time between the normal everyday life (pretending to be playing football) and the thump and excitement of the Parisian voguing scene. Una pared (Cuba) [A Wall] Tommy, a young construction w...

What a beautiful film!! I did not have much expectations from the film and did not have any idea what the film is all about but I was pleasantly surprised. Agreed that the pace of this film could be found a bit too slow for a lot of viewers but in my opinion that just made this film even more beautiful and an experience to watch the relationship between the two friends. The film is told in two simultaneous generations. Childhood friends Matias and Jero spend many summers together in the Argentinean wetlands of Esteros. They both are really close to each other, just like their families. The boys spend all the time together and one such summer night, they get much closer and intimate. Unfortunately, their mutual attraction never finds a conclusion because Matias’ father agrees to a job in Brazil. Present day, Matias now has a girlfriend and the two are visiting his hometown for her cousin’s graduation celebration. Matias and Jero reconnect and you see the initial awkwardness soon tu...

I love fucked up family dramas. They give an insight into human emotions and what they are capable of. Its also goos to see that not all families are happy-go-lucky. They all have some real issues that they have to deal with. Beatrice and her son Elliot arrive somewhere in France to pack their bags and empty their summer house, because it is sold now. A decision that was taken by Elliot’s father, Philip (who doesn’t show up until later). We also have Clement, a young boy form Paris, visiting his aunt in the same town because of a family turmoil. Elliot falls for Clement in their first meeting, which he knows but Clement is very indifferent to it. He agrees to their invitation to help them pack giving Elliot an opportunity for them to hang out. Clement is friendly and proves to be a sympathetic ear to Beatrice, which makes Elliot jealous. He thinks she is now his rival and wants Clement. Elliot knows what he wants and he is vocal about his feeling to Clement who just ignores it. Cl...

Now this was a weird film! When someone says that this film fans in a similar genre like ‘Strangers by the lake’; you automatically have huge expectations an thats where the fault lies. The film neither has suspense, nor content or skin show for that mater. The makers did try to make it a thriller but to a viewer like me it just seems like a wanna thriller, or was it a vampire thriller (we will never know). Carlos is a middle age bearish language schoolteacher who frequently visits the local cruising ground after work where gay men, lesbians and teenagers find fleeting sexual partners. One afternoon he recognises one of his students, Toni, wondering through the woods with his friends. After class the next day, Toni asks Carlos for a ride, and the two end up having hot and steamy sex in the back of the car. While Carlos is adamant this is a one-time thing, Toni’s youthful innocence makes him develop a crush on the teacher. Despite his wishes to keep it a one-night stand, Carlos and...

“Another coming-0f-age sexuality film”; this is the first thought you have when you see the title and ponder over what different can this film offer. But it does offer a lot more. Yes, the primary focus is on the two teenagers who are confused about everything and have feelings of fear and not knowing whats what! Combined this with the sheer beauty of the French alps, this film makes it for a spectacular watch. Damien and Thomas are the 2 protagonists, turning 17 and both a bit unpopular in school. Thomas is a quiet kid and not very good with studies whereas Damien is a smart intelligent guy and on one such occasion Thomas trips him and thats when fights between the two of them start. But Damien is too tough to just accept the bullying and he fights back. Damien’s father is a soldier and mother is a doctor. Thomas is adopted and lives with his parents in the mountains. When his mother gets ill, Damien’s mother treats her during which she also has to spend some time in the hospital...

This collection of short stories titled ‘Mexican Men’ is a collection of five encounters that are sensual & seductive and are the works of 2 very popular film makers of Latin cinema. Most of the films emphasise on the aesthetics of some handsome Latino men, and very little attempt to include a conventional plot. I had mixed feelings after watching the series. Actually not all 5 short stories are gay themed (sigh!) but they are still good. Trémulo (Trembling) Carlos, an adult teenager works in a barber-shop. One day his eyes meet with Julio, a customer. Julio returns in the evenings asking for a shave (or maybe to meet Carlos). They spend the night together, eating, chatting and even dancing getting increasingly close, with sexual tension building between them. They both know that this is short lived but was still amazing. The best film in this collection, this is the sort of film that you watch and anna be in love again. Brilliant! Young Man at the Bar Masturbating with Rag...