Movie Reviews -
Gay Themed

While Season 1 of the show was a collection of six different short stories, what this season does is quite interesting actually. They took the two stories: First and last one. One was about this couple Pierce and Typhoon who have been together for a few years and the last one was about this AR/VR futuristic but present love story between a singer Jedi and his ardent fan Ray. This six episode series of 30 minutes each takes these stories forward and intertwine them, since Typhoon and Ray are best of friends. The story of the show is basic. Pierce, who works in a music industry is still not open about his three year relationship with Typhoon. Even when his parents make a surprise visit and ask them about their relationship, he just says that Typhoon is his college junior, thereby breaking his heart. Our second couple, a celebrity and a commoner are facing a similar dilemma. Jedi's contract doesn't allow him to be out in open as a gay man, let alone his secret love...

I didn't realize this series was actually six different short stories about six different pairs of men experiencing different forms of love. I like the fact the stories were crips, to the point, 15-20 minute duration, and the best part was seeing all familiar faces from all kinds of Thai shows I have seen over last few years and just seeing them in a new setting. Episode 1: Pretend To Love We meet a gay couple who have been together for three years. When the older one of them gets a new recording project to create a song for a famous singer/artist, he gives it all in to his work leaving his boyfriend feel neglected. He thinks the love equation between them has changed, which it has to some extent, but eventually through communication it wins them back. The story was nice but it also felt rushed. There was no explicable reason for jealousy buy the boyfriend. Also it didn't really give a proper closure to misunderstandings. It was good to see my P'Dean boy again. Episode 2: J...

I had seen the Chinese film 'The Ambiguous Focus' long time back, so I was quite fascinated to hear that this film, which came after the sad film, was actually planned as a prequel to it. The story takes us back to high school when Zhang Zhe and Zhang Nan were starting to get to know each other and the moments that lead to potentially them becoming a couple. Zhang Zhe, a smart student, and Zhang Nan, a handsome swimmer, couldn't understand each other. They did not expect to meet each other at the same university, even though they have known each other since childhood. Zhe is a mathematical genius, but has a social phobia; Nan is an athlete, but he hates being used as a racing machine by his father. Soon they both realize that they can actually support one another. They soon come to a truce and agree to help each other out. Their mutual support and reliance help them to understand what they really want - Nan's deep abiding love of swimming without any of the trappings of...

I was pleasantly surprised by how well the production quality of the show was. It had beautiful visuals and artistry and the actors and the director knew what they were doing. It did not feel like an amateurish attempt. Sure, the story basic about a love story between step siblings is something that different people may have different sensibilities about, but you can't deny that the idea behind everything is a show of love with a simple story narration. Tan is an angry young man who goes to school. He feels he is misunderstood by his teachers just because he is weak in studies, but has a very close group of friends who are always there for him. His tough exterior hides his vulnerability and pain, which is always directed towards his step brother Vu, who is smarty intelligent and loved by almost all. Tan is angry with his father for having married Vu’s mother, who herself travels a lot for work. There is a boy in class of Tan whom he has a crush on, but he never acts on it. When Tan...

In the late 1980s and early 1990s a series of violent murders took place near Sydneys famous Bondi Beach. Three innocent men were attacked and thrown to their deaths from a cliff top. The murders were part of a much wider wave of violent hate crimes as gangs of youths roamed Sydneys inner suburbs randomly bashing and killing gay men for sport. This series, Crime Investigation Australia is an Australian true-crime series, in which one of the episodes featured these gay killings. Among the victims at Bondi was Wollongong television newsreader, Ross Warren, a gay man who disappeared while visiting friends in Sydney in 1989. Ross Warrens case was dismissed by police as a probable accident. But his mother conducted a long campaign to have her sons disappearance finalised. Then, some ten years after he was first reported missing, Ross' police file finally came to the desk of one courageous investigator who started to dig a little deeper. Detective Sergeant Stephen Page quickly realised t...

This was such a bizarre film. Certainly, you have to celebrate the film for being what it wants to be – it depicts a living, thriving gay subculture in terms of gay bars (even casual encounters in the bathroom), a gay porn industry and rent boys as a perfect norm; but there has to be something in a film to look forward to. Besides some very raunchy sex scenes, this film makes little to no sense at all. The story is just too monotonous and redundant to become anything but a huge letdown. A beautiful young male escort, Paul, suffers from trip-like dreams he doesn't understand. These visions are shared by his clients, both scaring and exciting them. Paul is searching for his twin brother, whom he hasn't seen since childhood. At the same time, Paul meets Baxter, a producer of gay pornographic films who yearns to be able to make something artistic. Baxter is taken by Paul’s beauty and wants to make him the focus of his new film. As Paul thinks about Baxter’s offer, his pursuit of th...

The director of this film is known for his socially engaged films and documentaries in former Yugoslavia, which earned him critical accolades but also censorship in the 70s for his unflinching criticism of the government apparatus. Low budget filmmaking and challenging political themes mark Zilnik’s prolific career that includes over 50 feature and documentary films and shorts. This Serbian film has dialogues in a few languages trying to keep the spirit of the region in tact. Although I am not sure what the purpose of the film is, because it just feels slice of life and maybe its trying to make a point against poverty, immigration, gay rights but none of them actually ever gets the focus. Kenedi is a 30 year old man, who is now in a huge dent after building house for his family and is now being hounded by loan sharks to collect the money back. He tried to do odd jobsharer and there but with the daily wages he earns, it will take him forever to make money. When one of the old ladies off...

Watching this show was such a frustrating experience honestly. The plot maybe simple, but awful editing, with random scenes spread all over the place between multiple episodes, it takes the audience forever to even figure out what really is going on. Also I was very unsure of the dynamics between multiple characters (who by the way, all seemed to have very similar sounding names , and I couldn't keep up with that). Was an individual evil, or a friend, were the intentions Nobel, why so sad and such an issue of being a writer Randall that. In a total of 8 episodes each of about 25-30 minutes, even till the 7th episode , I was very confused on why certain tings are happening the way they were happening. Too many questions for a show whose title misleads you into believing it’s a sweet romantic offering. Jungwoo is a good writer and has had a first hot book. But after he made allegations about a corrupt writer, who happens to be very connected, suddenly overnight his next book's de...

This short little 4 episode series is easy to watch with only 15 minutes of each episode. Many people try to portray love in many ways, and this show tries to do something different. It my all not make much sense by the end, but somehow it still works and is not toady a dumb squib. There are only two actors here. Anton is a university student, who works very hard and is just about to finish a major assignment. He needs to do well for his family and his under lot of pressure. He also fancies a dancer by the name of Miguel and has a poster of him in his room. Hoping to get his attention, he posts a lot of dance videos online also. There is a duo dance competition happening and to his surprise, Miguel reaches out to Anton to Bemis dance partner for it having seen his videos online. During his conversation with Anton, Miguel drops more than subtle hints that he is also attracted to Anton, just as intensely as Anton is into Miguel. But around same time Anton finds out that he failed the tes...

Many people knew Leslie Jordan thanks to his its bitty roles, but most popular of it being the Beverly Leslie character in Will and Grace. His popularity went sky rocket during the pandemic thanks to his short videos he posted constantly and his followers grew exponentially. But few months back , he unexpectedly died in an accident, leaving a void Beijing in the gay comedy scene. So, this was a good time to remember Leslie recounts the trials of being a gay, southern man with aspirations of entering show business, with his signature southern drawl and self-deprecating humor back in 2010. This one man show happened in midtown theatre, Jordan dishes out hilarious memories of growing up gay in the South and as an emerging actor in 1980s Hollywood. The stories keep coming. His theme is that of a hopelessly immature, politically incorrect lover looking for respect. He is, he claims, "a high school cheerleader stuck in a 55-year-old body." He takes every opportunity to regale the a...

A Thai mini series with only 3 episodes! For a moment, I thought I was missing something. I have surprisingly not seen 'Love Sick' series which was apparently quite popular when it came out. I believe this short series was made more as a promotional material for follow up seasons of Love Sick, keeping the main couple from hat show as the center here. The series tries to explore, in a quick way, life of three gay couples, going through romance, relationship issues and forging friendship bonds while navigating the pressures of school. Son and Pin are a couple. While driving on their way to dinner, they meet a short accident with Noh and Phun and in the process end up breaking their guitar. At hospital, Son thinks this could be a good opportunity to learn guitar from Noh in secret to surprise his boyfriend. But in the process this leads to the boyfriend think that Son is probably cheating on him. In the meantime, we have another couple Two and Wish, who are also trying to navigate...

If you are gay, the chances of you not heard of or know of 'Tom of Finland' is very unlikely. But you may not know of the man behind those drawings. Touko Laaksonen was the Finnish advertising designer who, under the name Tom of Finland, published drawings of hyper-muscular, well-endowed men and became famous for expanding perceptions on the portrayal of gay life in art. This film is his biopic and let me just say it, why an absolute pleasure it was to watch this film! Such highs and lows and everything in between. I am surprised how did I miss this film and it took me this long to catch up on this one. Touko returns home after the war as a Lieutenant in the Finnish Army traumatized. He is gay and made some friends in war, but now he is back to a society where not only being gay was illegal but so was the creation of his now iconic works of art. He has been inclined towards piano and creating art. He lives with his sister, who suspects of him being gay but never encourages it. ...

A delectable character study, I am almost sure I have seen this film before , but probably much before I started writing my blog here, so time to revisit and review it here. Back in the day, I am sure it was touted as a refreshing story and study of friendship, love, loyalty and sexual identity. With just 5 primary characters and setting of an allelic lake house in the wilds of Vermont, it was an interesting film, though I have to say that it felt very heavy on dialogues. Way too much talking. Five old friends decide to have a get together after more than 10 years on the eve of another friend's wedding. The host Jonah has been MIA for 10 years since high school graduation and no one has seen or heard form him. Newly engaged Ted and Bev are the first ones to arrive, followed by Alex, a girl who seems chill and can't stop flirting with Ted and finally Rachel, a girl low on confidence who has just been dumped by her boyfriend. Everyone is shocked to see how handsome Jonah has beco...

It was an embarrassment to watch this show. Where do I even start? Right from the very basic storyline (non existing), to awful acting and direction to the very questionable trans representation (where their only job is to have loud makeup and flirt with school boys). Even school projects would do a better job than this show. The makers also had the audacity to have first 3 episodes 40 plus minutes long. Thankfully, somewhere they had sense and the episodes were then reduced to 20 minutes. Still at a total of 15 episodes, this should not have been even a short film. The series shows us two love stories centered around students attending the same university. Sai and Khel meet at the school library while trying to check out the same book. While Khel did not leave the best impression on Sai, soon after the two agree to become friends. Both are later named candidates for the school's pageant where they spend more time together, and their friendship grows deeper. The second couple is Ar...

I understand this collection of stories came almost 30 years back in 1993, but I can almost bet that even then , these films do not have much new to offer in the name of 'New Queer Cinema'. These six short gay films, spread over almost 2 hours of running time, rehashes general aspects of gay life that most people are probably familiar with. Interestingly, AIDS is a central issue in several of the shorts Resonance (Australia) - A stylized, wordless look at two men in Sydney: a gay man and a man who leads a gay-bashing gang. The gay man, recovering from his beating, practices dance that is sometimes tai chi, sometimes ballet, sometimes modern jazz. The man who rescued him from the beating is his teacher, his lover, and his dance partner. We also see his attacker, who, trapped in machismo, mistreats his own girlfriend as well. By the end, the male couple is joined by a third dancer, a woman, suggesting an artistic and social harmony. R.S.V.P. (Canada) - Sid returns home for the ...