Movie Reviews -
Gay Themed

OMG!! What did I just see. I know I recently got familiar with a term called 'Pink Film'. I am beginning to wonder if this is something very specific to Japanese films. Because this film was like a Pink film times two. With a paper thin gay love plot, more than half of the film was simulated sex scenes of all kinds of nature which was probably used to titilate audience. Soichi lives his life on a yacht. He had met young and naiive boy Masao, about a year ago who had run away form home and since then they have bene living as lovers. Masao calls him as Apollo. Soichi also has sexual relations with his step mother, who is younger than him. Apollo has to leave to meet the woman to arrange for money leaving Masao alone on the boat. In his absence, 2 men and a woman come into the watch, sexually assault and are and torture Masao. It turns out that Soichi at some point had raped the girl. Apollo comes in time to save his boyfriend. Yes, trust me this was the one hour long film, with a...

We have seen very little portrayal of gay Asian American men in US movies and this film takes care of that aspect. Set in the vacation-destination of any gay person’s dream the film explores the friendships and romances experienced by the eccentric group of friends on their week-long outing. To be honest, the excitement for me to watch this film was to see locations, clubs etc that I have visited a few times and just for nostalgia sake. Its been almost 10 years since I went to Fire Island, but I have such fond memories from my trips to Cherry Grove, Pines, Ice Palace (which features in the film) among other things. We are introduced to the gang of 5 friends. Noah, the head, is sort of the lead and passionate about his friends. His besets friend of more than 10 years is Howie who has never had a boyfriend and he decides that on this trip, he won't hook up till he gets Howie laid. We also meet the three other friends who complete the gang and Erin, their lesbian mother, who got money...

I don't even know why I am reviewing this film here. It I soothing but an excuse to watch porn for 75 odd minutes. Yes, it is porn with full on sex scenes; the only thing is that it is disguised behind an actual storyline, which to be honest are not that bad. But story probably constitutes 15-20% of the film, and the rest is sex. Its primarily a collection of four short stories. "Diablo en Madrid" is a story of serial temptation in a graveyard. An irresistibly good looking guy is playing the part of the Devil who's come up to earth from hell. He succeeds in his mission of seduction, meeting resistance only when he encounters the "good" angel. This is portrayed as a battle of good and evil in the summary.  In "Über Menschen" , a professor, is visiting Madrid from Buenos Aires and contemplates to kill himself by jumping off the Viaducto de Segovia, known as a notorious site for suicides. When his young Uber driver realizes that, he talks him out of ...

This documentary is an attempt to show us the hidden lives of gay and lesbian Orthodox and Hasidic Jews. Built around intimately-told personal stories of a few subjects, mostly in New York community, including some respected Rabbi's, the film portrays a group of people who face a profound dilemma - how to reconcile their passionate love of Judaism and the Divine with the drastic Biblical prohibitions that forbids homosexuality. The idea is to examine the soul-shattering torment suffered by gays and lesbians hoping to reconcile their sexuality with their Orthodox beliefs. David, a Los Angeles resident, confesses that he has gone through a rigorous diet of figs and an aversion therapy program designed to help him change his sexual orientation from gay to straight. He regularly prays and just can't believe that the tradition he loves has excluded him. "Devrah," a lesbian who lives in Israel with her husband, shares some of the pain and loneliness she carries in her marri...

A film that Strats off a bit light hearted and funny showing us every characters witty homo/hetero scale, it soon end sup becoming a provocative drama about a very unhappy gay man, who is so frustrated falling for wrong men and being single that he volunteers to be the experimental subject of a new pill destined to change gay men to straight. Tim, a single man in his 30s is surrounded by some very loving co-workers but is still always single and desperately looking for love. He has a crush on the new office hire Matt, who it turns out has a girlfriend. Best Tim gets is the occasional quickies with his straight bet friend Don, bisexual and married. His best friend from school is Joey, who means well , is always happy and content and goes partying, wants to take Tim out to live a little but that not Tim's scene and all he wants is to find love. Then there is a girl Sally who has always loved Tim but knows she can never have him. So when a company announces this new experimental drug,...

This film has got to be one of the earliest and most fascinating piece of cinematic history for its positive portrayal of a trans woman-of-color and her romance with her cis-gendered, white boyfriend. The fact that the film came out back in 1971 is just unbelievable. This film , in some ways, is still more progressive than a lot of current cinematic depictions of trans people. And to top that, the entire film is laced with some zany dialogues. I can't remember the last time I laughed at so many places because of some really smart dialogues and fights between the husband and wife. We meet George and Lettice: a school teacher and a celebrated author who are preparing for their son's visit who is bringing home his girlfriend. The father is pleasantly surprised because he didn't think his son ever had any interest in girls. And the mother, as much as she believe she is modern, she is only faking it. When their son Laurie arrives with Jo, it's a shock for everyone because Jo...

This series has such basic paper thin premise in the first place, that its choppy and uniteresting execution doesn't help it much. The premise somewhat reminded me of the series where people and color blind and there is only one person in the world in whose proximity, they can function. We are told of two kinds of people. Zhen_yuan are the people who are deprived o all senses and emotions so they're able to focus better on things and have a better intuition. Then we have Deluded, who have hard time keeping their feelings in check. If a Zhen-Yuan is in a Deluded vicinity, they'll be able to feel emotions and their senses will be restored. And the Deluded will be able to calm down his own violent feelings. Keeping the above in mind, Jiang Yi Feng is a handsome Esports player with no taste, sense of touch and can't see the color. Lu Lin is a famous idol currently admired by many fans. Jiang Yi Feng posts a bad comment about him on social media when he thinks his sister is ...

This film is a collection of three different stories. I have a feeling that makers tried to show some sort of connection between the three (as if it was the story of the same couple and what they have been going through over a period of time, and hence the title) but there are enough concrete scenes to prove otherwise. So for now we will just go with the fact that it was three different stories. The first story introduces us to two young boys who are best friends. One night when they stay together to finish work, one of them asks to practice kiss with the other one, since he has never done it before. Soon enough both of them realize that they have feelings for each other and they would be better off as boyfriends. The story ends with them going on a holiday together happy and cheerful. The boys here were very cute and thankfully the story wasn't stretched at all. To the point and focused.  In the second story, we meet a gay couple who have been together for two years and they are a...

A dark story of two social misfits trying to make their way and life through this life is how you canniest describe this film. I am not too sure of what I really think of the film. There is a whole lot of context setting for first 75% of the film, which I think is way too long for any of the film and anything, if at all, happens only towards the end. We see 2 parallel stories. Gabriel, a man in his early 30s probably works at a grocery store. But he also works as a prostitute sleeping with men and couples to make money on the side. We also meet Violette, a young girl who lives with her rich parents on her farm, but bitterns out her father has been sexually abusing her. When she gets pregnant, she has had enough and she kills them both. In the meanwhile, Gabriel gets attacked by one of his suitors. Desperately looking for money, he robs one of his patrons and then runs away. The duo end up meeting and slowly become the emotional support for each other. Gabriel's cop boyfriend helps ...

I have loved Ferzan Ozpetek's every work that I have seen. The way he brings people, emotions, friend sand relationships all together is just magical, realistic and something that everyone finds a way to relate to. So naturally when I saw that one of my favorite films from over 20 years ago, I now being presented as a 8 part show, I was extremely excited. I couldn't wait to see the new version where hopefully things would be lot more detailed and nuanced. The story is exactly same as the series. Massimo is married to Antonia for over 15 years, But a chance meeting with young and vivacious gay painter Michele changes his life. He gets into affair with him and eventually falling in love. But the day he decides to tell the truth to his wife, he gets killed in a car accident. Through a painting in his office, his wife Antonia finds out that he was having an affair. When she meets Michele, she is shocked to see that Michele is a man. After initial awkwardness, Antonia is welcomes to...

I had mixed feelings about this film. A subject like this could offer viewers a very moving experience , but somehow I just didn't connect. And this is no fault of the makers. I think the subject itself was ok but to make a full fledged film probably ended up making it gloomy rather than a touching and moving fare. Thankfully two brilliant performances save the day. Estranged brothers Ryan and Theo meet anther father's funeral. Growing up Ryan was the perfect son, while Their was good fo nothing drug addict. The duo reconnect trying to get to know one another better. Theo realizes that he hardly knows anything about his brother Ryan, his wonderfully fabulous gay life past. Ryan also reveals that he has AIDS and that he will eventually die soon, making Theo realizes that he wants to do everything he can to make his brother's life comfortable. The film involves Theo getting comfortable with Ryan's life. Meeting his friends and taking good care of him in hospital and home,...

This 8 part series is a very simple love story. Sadly the plot and screenplay is pretty basic and at no point you feel connected to any character. You know exactly where the show is going, what will happen and where the protagonists will end. Thankfully the show is not heavy on drama and is pretty easy going and light hearted watch. At 15 minutes of each episode, it luckily doesn't drag the proceedings too much. When Seol Won loses a significant money in a scam, his mother lets him stay at the boarding house thats he manages on condition that he will manage the house while she is out on vacation. The house has two other members: one happens to be his cousin, an 18 year student and other isa budding nerdy writer. A new tenant is supposed to move in the house. Cheol Too, happens to be the 18 year old cousin's gym teacher. When Cheol Soo first moved in, he made a heroic first impression by rescuing Seol Won from a dangerous encounter. Since that incident, Seol Won has developed a ...

I thought I would be watching a sort of spoof and an over the top film, given its subject, but it actually was not the case. The film was supposedly done seriously, But I, as the audience, could not figure out, where is it that they really wanted to go with this film. At one point you feel this is full upon drama but at the very next instance, too much "fag" reference and then campy and peevish attitude from the people being rescued would just take it into another zone. A local Thai flight crashes inside Burma in rebel-held territory. Amongst the survivors are several gay men and transsexuals. The Thai Army is ordered by the Foreign Ministry to rescue them. One of their soldiers is a bit of a loose cannon and he hates homosexuals as his son is one. However, he must do his duty despite his prejudice. The Shan rebels control the area. They capture the survivors but they manage to run away with the Thai rescue team. They are supposed to be picked up by helicopter but the Thai Fo...

Os Últimos Românticos (Brazil [The Last Romantics] This film is so simple yet very seductive. We see a young boy recounting his encounter with another man in a movie theatre in much details. IN the next scene, we see the other guy also revisiting the same scene from his point of view to his boyfriend, who in turn then shares one of his experiences in a bus. Its just words but I feel that almost every gay man at some point will be able to identify with it. Sandra Calling (Brazil) After a night of very passionate and raunchy sex, two young men are having coffee in kitchen. The conversation unexpectedly leads to a bitter dialogue about death, past, memories, life , about mothers and about status after their death. A film about vulnerability and finding comfort with most unexpected of people and time. More British Sounds (USA) images from The British Are Coming (1986) collide with dialogue from See You at Mao (1969). The fetishistic sports underwear, skinhead tattoos, and bad boy snarls ha...

To be honest, this film is not what I was expecting it to be. At one hand the film feels like a murder plot being unraveled, but given the drag pace that occurs, it feels like the story is probably more about this aging gay man, whose mistake is to be gentlemanly with everyone, as he puts in his own words "I'm not naive, I'm superficial." Carter Page is the black sheep of a blue-blood American family. His ancestors made a fortune from slavery and tobacco. His father was a grandstanding governor of Virginia. Yet, he is gay and a 'walker', an unpaid companion of rich society ladies as they attend events without their husbands. Quietly gay, he adores his ladies as friends and sponsors a weekly canasta game for them that turns into a gossip fest. Carter is witty an charming and always has the gossip on everyone in the highest of circles. Since he is known to be discrete, he is the one who drives his close friend Lynn, wife of a senator weekly to a male prostitute....