Movie Reviews -
Gay Themed

The age old big gay question "Can a long term gay couple continue to be in a monogamous relationship after being together for a few years?" I have seen a few films/short films on the topic and it has been a mixed bag. This is the first series that I am seeing that tackles this subject with the possibility of adding a third person to the relationship. This is a 6 episode series, each about 12-15 minutes each. As individuals and gay men, we all have our opinion on adding a third wheel to the system, so its interesting to see how the makers of the series deal with the issue. Dylan and Patrick have been together for about 5 years now. On Patrick’s 40th birthday celebration, Dylan starts feeling that Patrick wants to open the relationship. On confronting, Patricks suggests brining in a third guy to spice up their sex life. Dylan very reluctantly agrees to it. He confides this to his best friend Elliot. They go through a couple of options where Patrick enjoys each time but Dyl...

This is season 1 of Thai  boys’ love romantic comedy series featuring 12 episodes each of about 45 minutes each. So you can see that it was quite time consuming to watch all of this. The story revolves around young boys’ budding relationships and how they deal with their feelings within themselves and in front of the judging society. The primary story(s) takes place in a high school institution where most of the characters go to study. The story of this series is paper thin. The primary two characters are Fuse and Tee. When Fuse finds his girlfriend cheated on him, he finds solace in Tee, a young boy who shows immense interest in him, but Fuse is confused. Doesn’t know what he wants. Then we have this other couple Book and Frame. Frame is outgoing guy who sleeps around while Book is this really shy guy. They have a chance sexual encounter and how this changes the equation between them forms the crux of their story. There is a whole load of other characters as well who add to t...

Aah! The stab you feel when you see a wonderful story and idea and paper and see it blow up in execution, not just in one department but various aspects of it. I will talk about it more in details later but to give the credit due where it belongs, the story is pretty novel and had huge potential if this was in a capable director’s hands. The story is about a gay couple Tony and Leo. Tony is a social worker who works with lower section of society (drug peddlers, convicts, hospitals, abused women etc.) and he is very passionate about his job and very dedicated. Leo, on the other hand is a financial advisor and is very much into career and money. They have been together for a while. In one of the many cases, once a woman leaves her stillborn baby in a hospital. While taking care of the kid, Tony gets really close to the baby Dylan. When Leo proposes marriage, he accepts but also asks if he would consider adopting Dylan. Leo is very reluctant because he has barely accepted the idea of...

Coming Out: Best Gift Ever A 23-year-old, Russian-born violinist Artem Kolesov posted a YouTube video in which he comes out as gay. Instead of creating an anonymous contribution, he chose to share his name and face, his story of abuse, depression and suicide attempts, to let fellow LGBT youth in Russia feel less isolated. Despite the possibility of arrest, he has no regrets, because LGBT Russians & the world will hear the voice of a gay Russian. Out of Exile: Daniel's Story In August 2014, Daniel was confronted by his family who disapproved of his sexuality. Daniel recorded the event on his phone. This VR video using the technique of videogrammetry uses the original audio and plight of LGBT who end up being homeless because their family abandons them. Grindr Killer (UK) For over a year the London police failed to properly investigate the deaths of four young gay men and link them to a serial killer. During this time one man repeatedly tried to raise the alarm. Fin...

Oh My God!! I hope no one ever has to go through the torture of watching this film (if you can even call it that!). Horrendous! Horrible! Pathetic! Really bad in every single department. I mean what was someone thinking. I cant believe this little piece of shit was made and then the makers even expected that someone will actually watch the ilm or even applaud it. This is so bad, that even having to write this review feels like an utter waste of time. As per imdb summary, Zak Lawson was a pop star who came out of nowhere, and reached the top of the billboard charts at the age of 14. He met bad boy Trent at the peak of his career, bad news. Trent dragged Zak down a road full of drugs and alcohol. He spiraled out of control, and his career was over. Years later Zak faces the past head on, finding out buried secrets which test his sobriety. In his journey he has a friend, his mother, his caretaker (Trent’s sister) at one point and some other random people. Bad! Bad! Bad! acting and ...

Yet another high school coming-of-age stories. We have seen plenty of these by now and can guess in most cases on what’s going to happen, but occasionally we also do get something interesting to watch. The film was recommended by one of my followers here and Iw as really looking forward to it and wanted to like it quite bad but sadly, I think over expectations killed this movie to an extent for me. Mike, is our main protagonist, a gawky and nerdy teenager in high school. He lives with his mother at home and works at a video store. He is constantly late to school and is bullied by school guys and is called faggot occasionally. A new hot and good looking student Will joins his class and a class project brings the two guys together to present their own interpretation of ‘Romeo & Juliet’. The duo decide to give a spin to the story with Frankenstein’s monster and the Wolfman as two societal misfits who want to be lovers.   The two boys slowly get very close and we also get an i...

Transitioning from a teenage to adulthood is never easy and we have seen quite a few films, mostly coming-of-age kinda stories that shows us what goes on in an individual’s mind. This film is a bit different, because our character is not only going through this phase and struggling through his sexuality; but also he has to deal with guilt, grief and identity. At this point, I do have to mention that the title of the film is neither inspiring nor flattering for the kind of story that this film brings to forte. The film is definitely not about teenage romp, instead it is a drama that leaves you thinking. Mik lives with his elder brother and migrant parents. He is questioning his sexuality and finds himself madly in love with his best friend Dan, with whom he indulges in masturbation while watching lesbian porn. The duo have plans to escape their homes in search for better life. But sudden death of Mik’s brother Tomi (partly because he is running away from Mik who watched him naked a...

This is a 4 part mini series that aired on ABC channel, which is a dramatization of the real life San Francisco centered fight for LGBT rights from 1972 to 2015. The LGBT community which arguably has had the most numerous organized campaigns against them of any minority group to suppress those rights in the United States during that time period; is shown with some real life snippets thrown in for people to relate to it better. In totality it is a long watch but absolutely essential for us to appreciate the fights that our seniors have fought for us to get us the rights that we have today and live relatively stress and hassle free. The series focuses on the advocacy and other supportive work of three primary individuals, Cleve Jones, Roma Guy and Ken Jones, whose experiences focus on different aspects of the issue. At the center we have Cleve Jones, a gay teenager barely surviving on the streets of San Francisco, who eventually goes on to become one of the most prominent figures of...

I dunno exactly how I felt after this film finished. This was a very average film, where conveniently strained situations are created and by the end of it all life goes back to being very rosy; which all feels too good to be true. Touted as a teen comedy, I personally did not laugh at ay point and I couldn’t really connect with the actors either. Three oddballs in a school ultimately come together: Dan is a new boy in the neighborhood, openly gay and wants to start a gay straight alliance but the school board would not allow. We then have Diwata, an aspiring outspoken wanna be actress who is heart broken when she is not selected for a school musical because she is against the changes made to the story to suit the sensibilities of the conservative town. Finally we have Solomon, who has a lot of thoughts and topics that he wants to write about but the school newspaper is heavily censored because of board rules and hence he is also frustrated. Among the only options available to them...

After a long time i saw a gay film whose subject wasn’t run of the mill. Complexities of living with a sugar daddy is something new, maybe it has been handled in a few short films or side stories but a full fledged film on this subject is a great idea. Sadly personally for me, it didn’t translate too well on screen as I would have liked to, and I will write more details about it but nonetheless I really appreciate an interest in bring something new to the table. Good looking and hot Dennis lives with his sugar daddy Farleigh who works in reality TV production. Dennis has never worked in life and has enjoyed his time as Farleigh’s kept boy, and unfortunately his production is not doing too well. So on his 30th birthday, Dennis is asked to look for a job to support himself a little bit. This comes as a shock to him since he has never worked in his life and his circle of friends also include Lonnie & Paulette who themselves are living with a much older woman and a man respectivel...

And finally the third and the last film in this bear trilogy, brings back all principal characters back from the first two films and continues to what’s the latest happenings in everyone’s lives. As enjoyable as the first two films were, I was looking forward to this film as well. Though it didn’t disappoint, it also did not bring anything new to the table. Lets look at all the major characters and couples that we are introduced to and will watch. Fred who has started making a documentary on bears, is now about to have a baby with his husband Brent. While Brent has completely taken over the responsibility of doing all preparations for the arrival of the baby, Fred is busy with his documentary, making Brent feel that Fred is not taking the baby’s arrival with as seriousness as it deserves. Then we have Michael, who although still mourning the death of his past lover is building a new relationship with Dalton. Dalton’s daughter Emma, a very tough teenager and very protective of her ...

Johnny (US) An older man hires a young sex worker named Johnny to be his first sexual experience with another man. The night they share forces them to face the difficult truths they've been trying to outrun. Johnny is a story about finding the strength and courage that it takes to accept responsibility for the choices you have made. Camchat (US) An experimental look at online sexual encounters through one young man's interactions. Yawn! Lily In The Grinder (US) Ryan struggles to find meaning in his provisional existence, exploring sex and death and the idea of 'becoming something.' This surreal film, enveloped in a classical string quartet piece, is a rumination on death, time, and the nature of existence. What if human life cannot be said to truly begin or end? This one was way too weird for me. Never Too Late (US) A teenage romantic short film that shows that even with HIV+, its never too late to find love if you truly look for it. Dans Les Yeux (Fr...

This is a film that examines long term relationships, (definition of long-term is debatable) over the course of weekend in a nice picturesque beach town. At the onset it seems another one of those improvised, low budget, indie films, but its thankfully saved by some really good acting. The actors maybe unknown but they definitely don’t come out as novice and that’s a good thing because otherwise, a film that relies heavily on dialogues can very soon get very boring. 3 couples (gay, lesbian and straight) come to a beach town near New York for the weekend. Each one wants to have a good time but internally each of them is going through their own problems. James and Spencer have been together for a while and are very much in love but Spencer has just been accepted into a grad school in Chicago and that seems to have put a discord in their relationship. Alex and Jackie, the lesbian couple , hasn’t had sex in ages and Alex is trying her best but feels constantly rejected by Jackie who h...

Set in the backdrop of a boarding school, this film is another one of those coming-of-age stories for a teenage boy or boys. What’s a little hard for me to believe is the fact that neighborhoods and societies in general can be still so homophobic in Ireland, but then I don’t live there, so its not fair for me to comment on that. It may not be the easiest for  a teenager to come out but but something tells me that its highly unlikely that a whole high school community would be harsh including the teachers. Ned, teenage gay outcast, joins a boarding school since his parents work in Dubai. Taunted and laughed at because of his ginger look and non-interest in rugby, he has learned to live that way. He is soon joined as his room mate by Conor, who also joins this school because of suspension from his previous school for picking up fights with students. A quiet and shy guy by nature, it turns out that he is a rugby star and now the only hope for the school to being them back the win...

I had mixed feelings 15 minutes into the film. I was wondering whether this is going to be another trash, budget independent bad movies or will it bring something different in perspective. I have to admit that less than half way into the film, I forgot and didn’t care about the low production quality or even the use of hand help camera at different points. I was engaged in the chemistry of the leads and was just trying to figure out what the relationship between the leads is, because it is never made clear to us until quite late in the film. A complicated but love story would be an appropriate way to describe this film. Sahil, is a young budding musician, who has a huge fight with his roommate(?) Alex before heading to the airport to meet his childhood friend Jai. Jai is now a successful banker and is in India for a meeting and Sahil plans a weekend getaway to Western Ghats with his friend. The two are from very different worlds which we see n first few minutes of the film but des...