Movie Reviews -
Gay Themed

This is a 10 episode, 25 minute each Taiwanese series about two childhood friends realizing their love for one another. The typical friends to lovers arc has been done to death many time but something about the series stuck a chord with me, and I think its because in every episode we see how their friendship started as kids and how ibgrew eventually. It made the series more relatable. Junxi and Han Tuo have been closest friends since childhood and another girl. Tuo was this shy little kid who'd sit alone on the playground while everyone else played. His home situation was a mess. And this is when Junxi was the one who time and again extended friendship. The three always hang out together even when they are grown up. Tuo is now a ladies man with girls swooning all over him. When Junxi starts to like a girl he asks Tuo for dating advice but is shocked to learn that Tuo actually has eyes for only his friend Junxi. After a few confusing days because Junxi did not see this coming, he al...

This coming of age film dives into the tangled emotions of adolescence, a young sixteen year boy discovering his sexuality, capturing those fragile moments when one begins to separate from the family unit and, with all the risks that implies, sets out on a path of one’s own. As far as story is concerned, honestly there is a lot of nothing happening. The film is about mood, atmosphere and early sexual longing and so it tests viewers patience. The family of 5, mom, dad and three sons are on a vacation in Germany from Barcelona. They bike all around the Danube river and sleep in camps and tents. The eldest is Didac, sixteen and two younger boys; all of them likely bored and tired of these unplanned cycling vacations. With talks with his parents, we are told that Didac likes a boy Gerard and that both of his parents are pretty good with that and also give him advice on love. Conversely, Didac labels his own ailment as “the frustration of not being desired.” His burgeoning sexual awakening ...

For many years Scotland just did not do gay. Homosexuality was dangerous and taboo, and it was actually against the law right up to the 1980s. So how did a country that seemed to take pride in its prejudices end up with the best gay rights in Europe? Homosexuality was something families, religious institutions, the medical profession and society at large all chose to ignore. Dr Jeff Meek, the author of Queer Voices in Post-War Scotland, says: "There was almost a bar on talking about same-sex desire." Acts of male homosexuality had been outlawed for centuries and were made stricter in the late 19th Century but same-sex contact between women had never been targeted in law and was not illegal. Gay men were known to exist but they did not fit the Scottish image of robust masculinity. Homosexual men were forced underground to public toilets or illicit parties. The consequences of being caught were significant. People went to prison for sometimes two years or were locked up in psyc...

This film is a moving Singaporean drama about a drag queen, who returns home to care for his mother with dementia, leading to healing and self-discovery through deception. Using this premise it nicely explores family, dementia, and identity, anchored by some great performances. It centers an lqbtq+ narrative with such an open heart that it feels good. I havent seen many queer films from Singapore, so this is definitely a welcome change. The story follows Jia Hao, a drag queen, who left home years ago and is now returning for the funeral of his abusive father. Her brother travels often for work. Soon after this event, the mother starts to show signs of dementia and given healthcare s expensive, Jia Hai decides to take car of her full-time. One day when the mother forgets who her son is, on the spur of the moment he takes on the role of her daughter to calm her down. The film is then more a tender story of how Jia Hao helps her mother and takes care of her as her daughter. She takes her ...

This Thai BL is one of the really bad ones I have seen in a while. Just about everything is wrong with this show. The storyline is weak and full of fluff with nothing meaningful happening. The background story of one of the characters adds zero value, in fact, in makes the whole thing even more absurd, the romances are flat and the cliched jealous female characters are so off putting. The was a train wreck. 10 episodes of about 55 minutes each. The main story is of two couples. Knight likes Mild for a while and he keeps flirting with him trying to make him to like him as well. Mild's older brother Kan used to be friend of Mild, and advices Knight to stay away from him. Meanwhile another casanova Per likes Kan and is pursuing him. Per has had many girlfriends but he really likes Kan. Sometime in the middle of the show we are told that sometime in past, one night Kan saw that Knight was lying over his sleeping brother Mild and trying to rape him and he saved him in time (which is wei...

Set in the context of amateur soccer in Cuba, "Delantero" is a relatively solid coming-of-age story about a young man discovering (and denying) his sexuality. The film is just over an hour, so it's an easy watch too. The movie was directly released on Cuban television back in the year and only made its way to US in 2025. Young teen Freddie lives with his father in a small town in Cuba. Freddie is in closet an this father doesn't know but rumors about Freddie being gay have already begun to spread. When Freddie comes home bruised and bloody, his father becomes concerned and asks what happened. Freddie lies and tells him that he got into a fight over a girl. Wanting to keep his son safe, his father moves him to Havana to live with his aunt. There he befriends a guy on the local soccer team who get shim to join. When one of the players from an opposing team discovers that Freddie is gay, he uses it to make trouble. It turns out that Freddie has a friend (or a boyfriend),...

I had been wanting to watch this film ever since I heard about it from its Cannes debut. Sadly I did not get an opportunity to watch it on the big screen, so waiting for it to show up on OTT was the only option. The film may feel like a slice of life gay romance but it's more of a love story of two people who bond during a difficult time. It showcases a tender relationship between two men with simple everyday life events and it is about how two men deal with just being. Being fatherless. Being single. Being uprooted from an earlier state of existence. The film starts in Mumbai with 30 year old Anad's father having just passed away. He, alongwith his mother visit their ancestral village for his father's cremation and the 10 day rituals. We retold Anand was open about his sexuality to his parents, especially after one of his lovers ended up marrying a girl. Now back in his village, his mother reminds him that everyone will talk about him needing to get married so they will ne...

This Korean series is a light hearted and heartfelt story that manages to be both charming and surprisingly relatable. At its core it's about high school teacher meeting his celebrity crush and what happens after, but there is more to the story. The show is 10 episodes of average 25 minutes each. Aejoon is a high school teacher woking on contract. He has been a huge fan of singer Siyeol ever since his music help him uplift from the life's lows. He associates it with motivation and positivity and has now his posters filling his room. But he hides this fanboy side of I'm from colleagues, students for fear of being ridiculed. One day, Aejoon is shocked when Siyeol shows up at his school. Siyeol is filming a new reality show called Go! School Teacher, where he pretends to work on campus. Production teacher wants a real teacher to guide Siyeol and to everyone's surprise Siyeol picks Aejoon. Aejoon feels flustered at the thought of working so closely with his favourite idol. ...

Shine is a period drama set in 1969, starring ‘KinnPorsche’ stars, set against Thailand's political upheaval during those times. To be honest, there is a lot going on in this show, which I will admit that I was not prepared for. Having watched the whole thing. I feel like if I knew what Iw as getting into and paid attention to it in details, this show could have been a great watching experience, but I guess by now I am used to run of the mill BL storylines from Thailand and I was caught off-guard in a negative way. The story was quite complicated and even though the episodes were only 8, almost all of them were 70 minutes or longer with finale being almost 90 minutes, The series follows Trin, an idealistic young professor newly back home from overseas. His idealism is tested as he is drawn into community development initiatives as much as the gritty surroundings of the protest movement amongst students. Determined to contribute to his country without resorting to violence, Trin str...

Apparently this vertical drama got really popular when it was released. Made up of short, mobile-friendly episodes, this show follows Lucas and Prince Nicholas as they move from school rivalry to friendship and then to something far more complicated. The pair navigate their romance amid school life and cultural differences, while trying to keep their connection a secret. The story is simple and straightforward. Prince Nicholas joins college and in a few months he is supposed to be crowned king. As per the queen's instructions he needs to marry Alex who is daughter of a big businessman. Since his arrival is all pomp and show, a guy in college Lucas gets annoyed with this and when he hears about Nicholas' plan about Alex, he decides to step in since Alex is his best friend, The two start ogg on a enemy kind note but as you would expect, one scene after other, they slowly start to feel emotions in each other's presence that they did not expect. Meanwhile press is buzzing with ...

This film is a fictionalized biographical drama inspired by the true story of Miguel de Cervantes’ five-year captivity in Algiers (1575–1580). While based on his real imprisonment, the film takes significant creative liberties, imagining how the author survived and found his voice, rather than strictly documenting historical facts. Even though strictly it is not a queer film at the core of it, but it does have a prominent gay romantic plot depicting a nuanced, "enemies-to-lovers" relationship with the Bey of Algiers. The film is complete with the production and costumed resplendence of a historical epic.  It's the time when Muslim raiders engaged in religious crusading, the seizing of goods and the slave trade, we meet Miguel Cervantes. The young man has just suffered a grave wound that has rendered his left arm mostly useless. The Moors imprison Cervantes with other captive members of the nobility, clergymen, and aristocrats, where they are held for ransom. He alongwith ...

Meeting of two unlikely souls - a critical care doctor who puts his faith in science and skill and In, a guy who reads tarot cards and can sometime see future. Interesting theme but sadly the show remains mostly fluff in all of its 10 episodes each of about 45-50 minutes. I am honestly starting to feel like all these series take a basic concept to make sure that the beginning and ending of the shows feel very different, but all the intermediary episodes are filled with fluff. And the actors might be as cute as they are, but it all fails to hold my attention. In plays a young college grad whose parents died in an accident when he was very young. He has the gift of visions and can read tarot cards. He see the coming death of his best friend's brother Doctor Thap and predicts that someone is out to kill him. He tries to save Thap's life a few times but it's apparent that someone is out to get him. All this is happening while there is a critically injured patient in the hospita...

Dancing and queer, two of my favorite subjects in a film, so naturally I was quite excited about it. This film steps beyond dialogue and places its story squarely on the dance floor, letting desire, rivalry, and vulnerability speak through motion instead of monologue. The film has glitzy cinematography and immaculately choreographed dance sequences and thanks to its wonderful leads and dancers (one of the leads is from Cherry Magic series). However, when it comes time for the emotional climax, the film struggles to convincingly convey the depth of passion between its leads. More on that later. These are the two protagonists - Suzuki Shinya, a fiercely competitive Latin dance champion who thrives on passion and instinct, and Sugiki Shinya, a reserved ballroom dance champion whose entire life is built on discipline and control. Sugiki and his partner, Fusako, have won numerous ballroom competitions in Japan and abroad. Their best achievement is second place at the world championships. Ho...

A surprise federal court ruling in 2013 legalized gay marriage for Utah. This documentary details the unlikely success of activist Mark Lawrence and attorney Peggy Tomsic in overturning Utah's same-sex marriage ban. It highlights the intense conflict between LGBTQ+ rights advocates and the influence of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, offering a compelling, often raw, look at the legal battle and personal sacrifices involved.  For many people outside of Utah, there is nothing know about the state beyond it being Mormon, let alone the subject matter of the documentary itself. Church and State, however, does an excellent job contextualizing the circumstances that surround the case itself for unaware audience members. From depicting the pervasiveness of the Church of Latter Day Saints (LDS) to how the state government operates, viewers from outside Utah are able to understand how unexpected this win for marriage was. What is most unique about the documentary is the att...

Yes, one more of those vertical BL shows in which you can find every single cliche that you have likely learned to recognize every. Time you watch such shows. Interestingly there is less OTT reactions in this one and is a pretty straight forward story (if there is such a thing). Avery is getting married and his bride is quite tall. Why is obviously clear to the audience that this bride is actually a man is something that Avery cannot see for some reason and every other character in the show. Anyway, the marriage is supposed to be a contract of sorts from their parents to fulfill so that they can keep their wealth. Their first night they decide they will not get physical but keep up the appearances for the society, and they continue the charade. In the process there is this CEO who starts to like the wife and flirts with her which Avery doesn't like. One drunken night leads to them having sex and next morning the bride's truth comes out and Avery finds out that it is James. Turn...