Movie Reviews -
Gay Themed

There have been very few handful of gay films on China. Considering the very strict censorship laws there, its not surprising that these films are more of a homoerotic films with hints of love and no real action. Thankfully this film film did have a kissing and pseudo sexual scene but all in the end credits. Film starts with Prince You coming back from a war and is attacked by assassins. A guard unknown to prince, named Long Yang comes to his protection, but eventually loses his life. HE sees that a token that was given this by the price has also broken and possibly. The prince has died too. Upon awakening though Long Yang finds himself having travelled back in time a year ago and he wants to use this opportunity to save the kings life. It turns out that the price had saved Long Yang's life when they were kids and had gifted him as a token. Long Yang reveals his identity to Prince You and before you realize they have an unbroken bond between them. He comes the prince's trusted ...

David is a Homosexual (UK) A 38 minute docu-drama from 1978, this film shows us the story of a lonely gay man David, who discovers friends, love and activism in his life. Intended as an educational tool, the film was shown around the country to straight and gay audiences. It shows us a timeline from self acceptance, to coming out embracing what's truly yours to be proud of.  Antes de entrar, permita salir (Mexico) [Let People Exit Before Boarding] Two teenagers are looking for a place to have sex for the first time. One of them is straight curious. Over the course of night, they spent time getting to know each other, looking for a place for sex, including a motel. By the time its morning, a new bond of friendship develops between the two men despite their social difference. No Goodbyes (USA) Love in a concentration camp. An old man recounts his story to a film maker about  pain and loneliness and brutality and love in the concentration camp. A young Jewish gay man, Otto, is pr...

What was the whole point of making this film really!!I don't understand why writers would write something so bad (which doesn't even deserve a short film format) and then someone will actually fund and make almost a 2 hour movie where literally nothing is going on. Rolf is depressive 50 plus year old man who wants t o be in relationships and has been in a few but doesn't like being alone. His half-sister seems to be his only friend and doesn't have good relations with his parents. H meets Thomas online, another 57 year old man and soon they hot it off well with each other. Thomas is a well read, successful guy and many times Rolf feels he is not unto Thomas' standard. The next 90 minutes are around the two men spending time together talking random shit about books and politics and other stuff. As expected, a couple of times misunderstandings happen but they stick together. Eventually they decide to go for a trip, which gets Rolf super excited but suddenly A day befo...

Oh My God! What a horrendous film this was. I can't believe that. This film won audience award at qflix. How is that even possible. I mean, no one, absolutely no one in their right mind can connect or appreciate this film. This is bad right from story to acting to direction to everything. Peter lives in Jersey somewhere and is turning 50. He is dealing with 'depression' since its been 5 years since he broke up with his boyfriend and feels like his life is ending at 50. He has a good number of friends who are there to support and cheer him on his 50th birthday but he is a drag. Enter Caleb (and it snot clear, how he comes to the party) and sparks fly somehow. Caleb and Peter are the only two people left at the end of party and for some reason the chunky muscular Caleb takes an instant liking for old, chubby and nagging Peter. They talk, walk around Bech and have sex. Of course, Peter is skeptical about the whole thing and when Caleb tells him he is bisexual, he wants nothing...

I understand the need for spoof and indie cinema, which empowers film makers to come up with random Idas with minimal budget to explore their artistic side. But I still feel there has to be some sense of meaning here as well with respect to the message that is being said. This film again misses on that and comes out as an amateurish attempt at comedy. Jesus is kicked out of Heaven for being a homosexual, stripped of his powers and cast down to Earth as punishment. He suffers a mental breakdown and creates an alter ego as a wizard. After an altercation, an Atheist jerk, a poor guy down on his luck, and a woman with a strange religious fetish discover his true identity. They ultimately decide to try and help Jesus get his powers back, but not without catching the attention of some maniacal protesters in town. This is nothing to do with me being judgmental about religious parody or hurting anyone's emotions; but I thought that the film was simply bad. And this may be my personal feedb...

This short film is about 45 minutes and hence I think it deserves a mini review of its own. A Taiwanese film, it deals with the pitfalls of pathos with backgrounds of abuse and prostitution. The film is dark but a very relevant subject at the same time. Light is a young boy who works as a prostitute in the streets. He was sexually assaulted by his stepfather and always lacked love in his childhood. After his mother died, he could no longer escape and was forced into prostitution. Shuo is an undercover cop trying to reach the drug cartel’s boss by working at a tailor shop. One day, Light meets a new client who beats him up on the street. Shuo watches that on camera and brings him home to nurse him back to health. During the stay the two men come together but Light has too much baggage with him. His father still demands money while Shuo wants him to stop prostitution immediately. Of course, given the past trauma, it is not easy for Light to trust anyone, much rather feel loved or love so...

This show I available both as a series and a film version. I saw it as the film. But I have to say it moved at such a snail's pace. Plus the overall story is so unbelievable and unrealistic. Only if good looking actors could make a successful show, things everywhere around the world would have been simpler. Seo Hae Won has just moved to a guest house in Seoul. On the rooftop of the guesthouse is a restaurant called "Tasty Florida" run by 4 close friends. A chance encounter with Baek Eun Kyu while on his way. To the guesthouse creates some type of attraction between the two guys. Baek Eun Kyu, who is the chef at the restaurant, runs the place with his best friend Ji Soo who own the restaurant, The two have been friends for over 15 years. For some reason Ji Soo also takes a liking for Seo Hae Won, and before you know there is an awkward love triangle between the three with two men fighting over the newbie without caring for his feelings. Eventually everything falls in place...

This latest edition of Male gaze is another collection short stories, taking us from 1985 to present day. It was interesting to see quite a few of these vintage kind of queer stories. This specific collection of films takes you in the past, the journey that the LGBTQ+ society has taken in their fight for equality and how some of these films have played a role in challenging and creating our present. The subjects vary from clandestine sexual encounters of the youth, cultural clashes with race and sexuality and also exploring the dark days of AIDS and the first feelings of gay desire and infatuation. Just Out Of Reach (USA) A young man wakes up alongside an older gentleman. As he tries to sneak out, he is caught in the act. An ultra-short film that captures a brief moment in time, this is about that feeling of uncertainty upon remembering the night before. Toto Forever (USA) Through flashbacks we work out that a young  delivery boy gets involved with a gangster who owes money, with a...

The theme of the film, for some, may feel from 70s and 80s, but given the setting in Lagos, Nigeria and the ultra conservative society there along with the culture makes the subject very unique and contemporary even for today's time. The exploration of queer Nigeria lend a fresh relevance to material that might otherwise feel old hat. Adrian and Ada are happily married couple with a daughter. There life is thrown a spanner when an anonymous call tells Ada that her husband is gay. When she confronts Adrian, he doesn't deny it but asks to be explained. He says he has never cheated and that as his life long before he met Ada, but she would have none of it. He reaches out to an old gay friend for support but we see slowly his life being spiraled down. The gossip spreads where his work gets affected. His two brothers along with is parents who are ultra conservative will take none of this. His brother even takes him to a church with a violent approach to purging the “sin of homosexua...

Last year, I remember, I saw some wonderful holiday movies with prominent gay storylines with the should focus being on holiday cheer and not sexuality. This Hallmark film is an amazing holiday sequel to “The Christmas House,” which I reviewed last year here , and just like the original it is about love and coming together. I quite enjoyed this film actually, even slightly more than the original, although its probably not the righting to do to compare these films.  The time for Christmas again and the entire Mitchell family decides to celebrate Christmas together. TV star Mike has been seeing Andy for a while now, and Brandon along with his husband Jake now has 2 kids. All is good till Mike is asked to participate in a celebrity home decorating reality TV show 'Deck Those Halls'. After some convincing from everyone else, Mike is excited to share the famed Christmas House with the world. When Mike’s opponent in the competition drops out at the last minute, Brandon is tasked with...

I knew nothing about the man Peter Berlin, who he was, what was his claim to fame or anything of that sorts. Despite that I was pleasantly surprised by this documentary. Peter Berlin, as how he rechristened himself, was a strong, complex, fascinating man who stays true to himself and lives his life to the fullest. It is fascinating, how he understood the human psyche of what would get him attention and love and played to that human need. He knew he was good looking and charming, so he created a character called Peter Berlin, turning it into a fixed figure of the streets of San Francisco, and photographing it himself in erotic and very very suggestive images, among other things.  Told through a series of interviews by some famous people who knew him or of him, the story just gets better when we see footage of his wrk, his films and interview with the man himself. He had a great social life. He created this enigma about himself, where people wanted to be with him. Self admiringly, he...

Never underestimate the capacity of opposites to attract. This is the sort of message that the makers are trying to give in this film. Consisting of just two lead actors, this film takes art film to another level. You have to be really really really patient to get through this one. Harry is a young gay man, prowling gay bars and London streets but somehow doesn't fit there. He has a huge birthmark on his face in the shape of Madagascar. He flees from there and seats himself at a beach living in some abandoned car. By pure. Luck he meets an older man Flint, whom he discovered on the beach, who is neck deep buried in the sand. Flint takes Harry to an abandoned shack where Harry nurses Flint back to health and the two slowly become acquainted. As Flint fantasizes aloud about a woman in a bikini, Harry has his own sexual daydreams about his companion. And Brandon events happen which make absolutely no sense, until, one night, out of the blue, Flint makes a sexual proposition to Harry. ...

I had recently reviewed the film 'An Englishman in New York', which was about the latter years of Quentin Crisp, an outrageous and flamboyant homosexual from UK. This film released way back in 1975 is based on Quentin's memoirs and tells the story of his attempts to live his life as a flamboyantly gay man in an uncomprehending pre-war Britain. The film chronicles his life in 30s and 40s during which he was reviled, arrested, and even harassed. A teenage Quentin lives with his grumpy parents n a middle class family in the 20s. He is well aware of his sexuality. At college he befriends a young female art student, but the relationship is strictly platonic. He later meets a transvestite prostitute who introduces him to the local gay hangout, and he discovers the joys of make-up. When he starts putting make-up and dye his hair, he tries prostitution for a while till he meets his first boyfriend Thumbnails. Eventually, they break up and Quentin finds a job. We see various inciden...

This is a stage play from 1990 that was televised as a movie back in the day. I can see folks probably enjoying this on stage in theatre, but stuff like this, when seen on TV, just gives a very different vibe. From a plot perspective it is set in 1930s Hollywood, where being gay was big time frowned upon, but as we know there were many people in closet. Her his one such fiction story. Hyde is a successful actor director in Hollywood and has a successful wife as well. He is secretly gay and has a boyfriend David but no one knows about it. One day when his wife has an accident, a journalist goes after him to expose him. The journalist is actually a gossip columnist working for Hollywood Confidential. HE crashes a men only party where he finds out that Hyde has a secret lover. He then turns to blackmail Hyde to give up his love and explore other men in Hollywood who are closet gay. If he didn't do so, Hyde will be exposed in the newspaper. Afraid, Hyde gives into his demands but his b...

A wonderful documentary about gay men and their fascination and pursuit for the perfect physical body. Sure the documentary came almost 12 years ago, but guess what, thing haven't changes much. In fact, if anything, they have gotten worse. I mean, no one, and absolutely no one talked about pretty face or good nature or human emotion, it is al about body , body , body. The makers take us through interviews of some heavily buffed men, who unapologetically admit to being very subtracted to muscular men and hot men. They make it quite clear that a hot body can get them more friends, more sex and more attention. Most of them agreed that they know its superficial but they all enjoyed it. Some of them recount their experiences of not being given a second look, till they decide to take matters in their hand, get all buffed up and viola, suddenly they are being invited to parties, and orgies and friends. Sadly, I am not sure why the documentary film makers did not use this as an opportunity...