Movie Reviews -
Gay Themed

This film is an ambitious costume drama with a very interesting storyline at its hand. Sadly, the low budget is very evident and for some reason, it takes away the fun because of it. I can totally see stuff like this happening in olden times when, just a. Whiff of homosexuality could land you in all kinds of troubles. Once you look past the budget, this film is actually not at all bad. Penelope is learning piano and has a crush of sorts on her teacher, but she doesn't control her destiny. She is married off, by her parents, to a shy and introverted Jonathan. They move into his family’s empty estate where not a great deal happens because of Jonathan’s hatred of social occasions and he generally prefers quiet life. The duo haven't even consummated their marriage and day by day Penelope's frustration grows. To her shock, one day when Penelope discovers that her new husband is having an affair with George the Butler, she finally understands Jonathan’s reclusive personality. Geo...

This documentary is about the life of the Brazilian transsexual singer Linn da Quebrada. Coming from an impoverished region of São Paulo, where she has to face many prejudices, among others, for being black. Her funk music sounds like a "gun" against machismo. With a really strong and daring stage presence, she constantly seeks to confront and fight paradigms and stereotypes. The titular star and her stage partner Jup do Bairro openly discuss what challenges they face from transphobia and racism growing up in the favelas of San Paulo, exploring how they use their music to give voice to the marginalized communities they fight for. The film shows her in performance, in the studio, reflecting on the nature of identity, hanging out with friends, and also affectionately chatting with her mum in the apartment where she grew up, arguing about the community’s defeatist habit of romanticizing poverty. She aligns the experience of being trans with the marginalization involved in having...

Dealing with sensitive subjects in films is never easy. The film makers here take a muted, almost ambivalent stand on the subject, which show sis the questionable relationship between a 29 year old man with a 15 year old boy. As a film, it is a pretty straight forward execution without much drama trying to show as 'matter of fact' events and what/how happens. I guess it is left to the audience to make their own morality decisions. (Although looking at the film's dvd poster, which features only the younger male, rather than the duo which should have been the case for a film whose title has names of two protagonists) Eban returns to his hometown Christmas from Seattle. He is a bit vague about the reasons he has come (which we later find out). Killing time growing through local shops, he sees a young 15 year old handsome boy Charley and rather insistently strikes up a friendship on the pretense of swapping lessons about guitar and being lonely etc. You can tell that Eban likes...

For a change, the lead trans character in this sitcom, is a self-centered, easily bored agent of chaos; unlike what we usually see as a serious subject. Inherently lazy and a person who doesn't hesitate to use friends and is constantly lying, this was indeed a different cast of trans character that I have seen in recent times. The sitcom is an easy watch with only 6 episodes each of about 22-23 minutes. This workplace comedy set in a supermarket packs its pacy storylines with plenty of gags, and from all sorts of angles and slapstick humor. Supermarket manager Simon is trying to have the most inclusive workplace having launched an accidentally transphobic advertising campaign. A female dwarf, Millie, and a tall, black woman, Beefy don’t cut the mustard, so he thinks the answer is to look up “transgenders in the area”. He remembers that his employee Tim has a trans roommate Olivia, who is inherently lazy. Tom emotionally blackmails her to join the job. Simon assures her “We want you...

The backdrop of the show is quite interesting. A whole BL series centered around boxing is not easy to make, so kudos for that. The problem is that the things strata to get repetitive very soon. Problem arise, someone fixes it, there is amount of happiness and the craziness starts again with one more layer of bad guys now joining in. It happens multiple times with our lead couple always at the center of it all. Also, another problem is that there are way too many characters to keep your focus on and they keep coming in. So, for a series that started off quite well. I found myself losing interest by the time 6 episodes were done and then I just wanted it to end sooner than later. The show has 12 episodes plus one special of about 50-65 minutes duration. Keen is a young boy who suddenly loses his cop father in a mysterious death. Left alone, his father's friend offers shelter in his boxing club. Loan sharks are after his life and they wont leave him alone, so he has no choice but to ...

This 4 episode (45 minutes each) mini series is tThe intriguing true story of King Gustaf V, Sweden's first gay king. It looks at the clandestine affair in the 1930s between a Swedish king and a male restaurateur, in a captivating portrayal of love against the odds that uncovers the homophobia and human rights abuses of those times. A love that had to be kept from the public at all costs, but eventually got out, leading to one of the worst miscarriages of justice that Sweden has ever witnessed. The year is 1932, and in a final attempt to save his restaurant, ex-con man Kurt Haijby appeals for a private audience with King Gustav V of Sweden. To his wife Anna’s great surprise, he is granted one. What starts off as a formal encounter between the restaurateur and the King soon turns into a romantic evening filled with passion. But when the fling turns into a secret relationship, the King’s advisors do everything to stop the affair. Haijby is railroaded, repeatedly by Governor Nothin, w...

I have mixed feelings about this film. My problem is that the more I see films that likely made their debut in international film circuits, the more I am realizing that these art house or "different" film makers end up going so different in treatment of their subject that sometimes it fails to connect at various levels. This film seems more concerned with shock value than telling a compelling story. Johan is an openly gay man working at Copenhagen’s only gay sauna. When he’s not pursuing the sauna’s clientele, he’s hooking up and having one night stands with random men at the bars. One night of browsing Grindr leads to Johan meeting William, a trans man, at his home. But Johan is so sexually motivated that he doesn’t even realize that William is trans until they begin having sex, which leads to an awkward uncertainty. Nevertheless, Johan finds something exciting about William and pursues him. They start seeing each other and a casual romance evolves. When Johan takes William ...

‘My Sweetheart Jom’ is essentially a light comedy, featuring caricature-like villains and a slow-burn love story, with the community spirit and the silly shenanigans of its younger characters driving the plot forward. Despite its occasional charm and two very charming leads, the show tries to juggle too many plots all at once and letting some of the down. It feels like the show was supposed to be your classic love story, but some plots were introduced, some characters were forgotten, while the episodes duration kept getting stretched. The show has 12 episodes and each episode is like 75 to 90 minutes and a couple of them even longer. There is a lot going on here and s much of it could have been easily edited out. City boy Yo, who is now 19, did not finish 12th grade because of some drama. His girlfriend was also being pursued by a politicians son and they have a fight, so his parents send him to a rural village as an ultimatum to finish his high school. If he doesn't do that, he do...

This film, set in 2015, is a feel-good comedy about people trying to follow their hearts, whether it involves an inter-generational romance, a middle-aged interracial throuple or an artistic trans man looking for love in all the wrong places. Sadly a treatment of a subject like me would have likely worked in early to late 2000's but somehow in 2022, this subject feels a bot dated, especially the way it has been directed. It feels very obvious and simple and the plot feels contrived and a bit corny at places. It was good to see Matthew Montgomery after a long time. I do remember when I had just started watching gay films, he used to feature in a lot of films. In 2015, just as Supreme Court rules on marriage equality, long term couple Max and Josh decide to get a divorce, except that they have a hard time separating. We see Josh occasionally hooking up with a cop Pete while Max still harboring feelings for his ex. When a young guy named Conrad moves into Max's old apartment, he g...

"Oh, Otto!" is a wonderful coming-of-age story, which will be incredibly recognizable to their twenties and thirty-somethings. The series seamlessly captures the messy reality of growing up, and all the issues that come with it. The characters are not perfect and make everyday mistakes, making the story feel very real and not forced. With 7 episodes of about 25 minutes and a criminally handsome and charming lead, this series should be on everyone's watchlist. The series starts with Otto's boyfriend Boris returning from a 3 month trip, and breaks up citing that Otto needs more fun and Boris is bored of his mundane life. Otto lives in the huge apartment by his grandmother, hasn't renovated the place, as if he is stuck in time loop. This breakup comes as a shocker to him and he is not ready to move on. His best girlfriend Lente suggests Grindr. Otto is new to Grindr and creates a new identity and starts to hook up, gets to experience the surprisingly vibrant (and at ...

A heartwarming tale of dreams, identity and acceptance, set in a small community in the picturesque Westfjords of Iceland, this film was quite alright. I wouldn't call this film a gay film per say, but stories of self acceptance and being true to yourself and such themes are integral part of the film, so it does make sense to review it here. We meet two childhood friends Hjalti and Bjorn who run a fish restaurant in a fishing village they both grew up. Hjalti's wife and son moved to Reykjavik, after the son came out gay and was constantly bullied in school, so things between him and wife are not ok. Also he cannot accept that his son is gay. When Bjorn's father dies, he decides he has had enough and decides to come out as trans to his friend and the entire community. This is the same time when the dup also are getting an opportunity to keep their restaurant open throughout the year with a. New tour group starting northern light tours. When Bjorn comes out, suddenly Hjalti...

My second American BL, shot in Phone format, released as multiple episodes on DramaBox. Thankfully I watched the version where all episodes were stitched together and overall the duration is just under an hour. It is an easy watch even though the plot is filled with loopholes but once you start to watch it, it is easy to ignore some aspects. The protagonist, Ace, is a ruthless and decisive mob boss who has firmly established his position at the top of London's underworld. However, during an ambush orchestrated by his archenemy, Jack, a younger stranger named Max unexpectedly steps in to save him. This act of bravery sparks Ace's interest and earns his trust. Ace brings Max into his inner circle, as his bodyguard. What he doesn't know that it was all Jack's plan. Ace likes to flirt and is gay and he does that constantly with Max making him feel uncomfortable. Max succeeds in planting care in Ace's room who does the same. So Ace knows that max is watching him have sex...

A very interesting story of finding love in unexpected places and circumstances. It is not just about love but also trying to see what life has in store for us. Sometimes your life goals and ambitions are right in front of you, but somehow it is still far. This is when an angel of sorts come in to your life and things are not the same. WIth just 6 episodes each of 25-30 min duration, the best thing about the show is that it never overextends its welcome. Hayakawa is a student who lives in this dazy lost, emotionally shut down place. He lets girls have sex with me totally emotionless , pretends to behaving greta time with friends but something dark deep is bothering him. He hums music and likes to sing but anytime anyone mentions about singing , he completely shuts it off. He sometimes goes to school roof to be alone with his thoughts and music. His pain is hidden behind masked smiles and soft teasing. One such day he meets Konno, a school student and a photographer. Their platonic frie...

Delta (Denmark) Julie visits her father Nicolas after her parents' divorce, to meet Nicolas' much younger boyfriend, Christian and talk about something personal stuff. Christian tries to use her visit to resolve a fight with Nicolas in his favor and manipulate the situation. Father mows better that he is being used as a sugar daddy but is extremely fearful of Christian leaving him left alone by himself. Skin To Skin (Ireland) An experimental documentary exploring the beautifully messy relationship between intimacy and LGBTQ+ hook-up culture. In bedrooms and on couches. Late at night and in the early hours of the morning. Strangers, acquaintances and casual flings open up to each other - revealing some of the most private, occasionally uplifting, sometimes shameful parts of themselves in the fleeting intimacy after a sexual encounter.  Brothers (France) Damien and Francois are a gay couple but their friends somehow find it hard to believe that they are a couple or they dont look...

This beautiful film started off really well and I was quite into it, but somehow the second half felt quite disconnected, almost as if two different film makers had made the film. An honest depiction of teenage sexuality, the film is about coming out story of a 17-year old, overcoming bullying and a hate crime to find happiness and self-acceptance. The film doesn't specify the time period, but lack of phones and chat style on computer suggest that this was likely set in the 90s when the times were very different. Leo, a handsome Greek-Italian teenager lives with his parents and younger brother. His best mate is Boof and they are quite close doing all silly things together. Leo is sort of rushed into dating Monique, a girl from the class who really likes him and whose best friend is also Boof's girlfriend. But Leo can’t stop himself from stealing glances at red-headed Tom, a buddy of his younger brother. At a house party, when Leo is unable to have sex with Mo, he just goes out ...