Movie Reviews -
Gay Themed

We all, at some point, have seen adverts promoting the gay conversion therapies, some on the name of science, some religion and other psychology, but its surprising how many institutions still believe in this and make money out of it. In this documentary aired in 2013, Dr Christian Jessen, who is 100% gay, delves into the world of gay conversion therapy in the US and the UK by going undercover and testing different 'cures' to see if there is any truth behind their claims. The documentary starts with the very handsome and charming doctor Christian first taking a very special sexual orientation test, in which unsurprisingly he is confirmed to be 100% gay. So, now starts his journey to see and experience for himself the various (about 8-10) different therapies and therapists that guarantee the conversion. He first goes for aversion therapy where he is given a drug that violently makes him ill while watching gay porn images. Then he goes to the American Bible Belt, where he tries m...

I have mixed views about this 4 part mini series. At its core, the story is about a young man searching for his brother but in the process he rediscovers himself and explores his sexuality. But, the series feels rushed and without a conclusion of any sorts, slightly frustrated me by its end. It was more like watching a chapter of our protagonists life. Bruno, a young military who has just run away from the army, travels to Porto Alegre in search of his brother, who he hasn’t seen in years. Unable to find him, he goes to a queer club and makes some new sexual fluid friends and ends up sleeping with two of them. The next day, the three of them are invited over by a very nice but old French neighbor for breakfast. This guy had met Bruno in the hotel the previous day. Bruno manages to find the bar, the last known location where his brother used to work and meets Stella, the co-worker. Together the duo visit a nearby beach to see the house where the brother, Stella and their friends used to...

Ok, why would anyone watch this film? I have time and again said that I am all about experimental films where film makers get to show their creativity, but it baffles me that some of them take over indulgence to another level. Touted as an edgy, bold and passionate love story between two young men who are sometimes afraid to love each other, this film is almost 99% silent film with a couple of dialogues here and there. Also I really don't know the reason behind the title of the film. If you know it, please let me know. Greek Translator Yiannis is looking for a room to live in, when he comes across the one that Chris has to offer in Berlin, they end up sharing far more than just the apartment. Filmed mostly in the interior of a flat, the movie's a voyeuristic portrait of the intimacy of two lonely souls, from the moment they met until the inevitable end. We get to see them interacting, making love in the kitchen, or just arguing, like any other couple. We literally just see this...

This series is supernatural love story between a human and a ghost. It reminded me of this another similar Thai BL series that I had seen couple of years back 'He's Coming To Me', which I remember mildly enjoying it. So, naturally my expectations were slightly higher. But I have to say that the super lengthy episodes lasting anywhere about 65-80 minutes was way too much to handle. At 10 episodes, this series is a quite lengthy commitment and there were many places I felt the show could have easily been trimmed. Sure, layer by layer the secrets and reasons are revealed, but neither the reasons and story behind the ghost nor the solutions are shocking or so surprisng, that you get a thriller feel.  Phat, a university students long with his mother have recently moved to a new mysterious house via the landlord Aunty Nuan, who herself is a mystery. Phat is unhappy with his situation because his father has just left them to become a monk and then he feels some mystery shadow lurk...

This three part mini series is a show that no one asked and was never needed. Sure, maybe 15 years ago, a basic storyline like this might have been ok for a short film but stretching it to almost an hour of mini series is a torture to anyone's sane mind. The series is so hollow and badly acted that I felt sorry for everyone involved. One day in a street gunfight, an innocent bystander Night gets shot. His attacker is Time, whose friends make him feel guilty about the attack. They explain that Night is a poor orphaned child who can barely support himself. Time’s friends encourage him to apologize for the accident. Time goes to meet Night, apologizes to him and insists on taking care of him while he has a cast on his hand. He shows up regularly at his place helping him to go school and with food. Slowly they both start to gradually get used to each other and out of the blue, Night even gives him his home keys. Clearly there are unspoken feelings between them and after the one night t...

Johnny and Lyman: A Life Together (USA) This film that highlights the loving relationship between two gay friends for more than 65 years, not only shows that love doesn't discriminate, it thrives on kindness, romance and the little things. Sweet, funny, candid and entertaining, the film shows them getting married, being role models to many other gay couples, all the while being rather matter-of-fact about it all. Sweat (Germany) When Mullen answered the door to let Christen get in his flat, he believed he was just helping out a friend of a friend who needed a short break. As the so-called "emergency" visit turns into a forced obscuring small talk on which Christen just wouldn't leave, Mullen vividly feels his misgiving thoughts becoming complete rejection just before transforming into the sensual redemption of his most feared fetish. Amerikanos (Greece) Tale of a Greek immigrant in San Francisco, Christos Dimas speaks convincingly about his own experience as a gay man...

I have realized that so called "New Age cinema of the 90's and the era and all that experimental filmmaking that falls into the same school as Andy Wharol's style of film making is totally not my scene. The logical side of my brain does try to reason behind the efforts that went into making the film and the whole thought process, but the audience in me just refuses to accept these films as they provide absolutely no sense of entertainment: physical , emotional or intellectual. A lonely hairdresser watches the title sequence of “That Cold Day in the Park” then visits a local park to invite a down-and-out skinhead to his apartment. He draws the silent man a bath and talks to him as he soaks. He locks his guest in a bedroom. Next day, the skinhead leaves through the window and visits his lesbian sister, who’s making a film. The hairdresser has dreams and fantasies involving the skinhead, the skinhead returns to visit him, and then the filmmaker pays a call on the two men, exp...

When I saw this series with 8 episodes of about 20-25 minutes each, I thought, good: Finally someone has come to senses and made a show which is not stretched out and they have tried to squeeze in a decent storyline in a good small episode format. But unfortunately, despite a decent premise on hand, the clunky writing, bad screenplay and an extreme tasteless portrayal of mental illness makes this show, not a fun watch. By the time it finishes, you just want to laugh off at the entire absurdity of it all. Aioun is talented tuxedo designer and very much in demand but he has handful of clients and he builds suits only for people who he feels a connection to. One night when his younger brother is about to get mugged, he is helped by a total stranger named Sichol. Since he tears his suit in the fight and has an interview the next day, Aioun gifts him a suit form his design as an expression of thanks. Sichol's interview is for. Personal assistant of a man named Nawee, a wealthy heir to h...

This film set in 80s was actually made in 2018. In tone, it seems very theatrical, given that the entire 90-ish minute film happens in one tiny room apartment, with only just the two lead characters playing their part during the different stages of their almost a decade long relationship. Roberto and Miguel have been together for over 10 years. Over the course of 4 days in November, the talk and discuss and reminiscence the memories of all these years remembering some specific incidents. These include how they met and when, when they started living together, when Miguel was thrown out of home for coming out as gay, when they both struggled for their jobs and the political unrest around the Berlin Wall. A seemingly strong relationship will start to crumble with each new memory. The memories are not shown all at once and the film keeps moving back and forth in a very non-linear time format, peeling layers only one by one. We are also told, how they fight, bicker, talk about almost anythi...

Although touted as an erotic drama, this film, in my opinion, is nothing but an extended version of a porn film that lasts 90 minutes. Sure the makers can call it an experiment film, or crossing the film making boundaries or an experiment of human desire; nothing can change the underlying factor that this film is nothing but porn. The premise is simple. In an attempt to make a film about the nature of desire, director Claude Pérès invites porn star Marcel Schlütt to have sex with him. They will sleep together while the cameras roll. No contract, no film crew, no boundaries. The end result is a film that challenges viewers to look into the heart of human desire. The makers argue that this is not just porn but an act or experiment of desire and their reasoning is that because they engaged in sensual touching, kissing and stopped to talk about it. So what? That doesn't take away the fact that we see almost 45 minutes of hard core man to man sex. Look, I am not complaining about the se...

WTF is this show? Like seriously.. It is like written by a 10 year old, directed by a 13  year old and is full of absolutely ridiculous stuff. 5 minutes into the show, and you should be quick to realize what you have signed up for. With 6 episodes of 10 minutes each, this show has got to be the WORST BL I have seen from Philippines and thats country has produced some other really awful shows. It is so badly produced in every way that any meanings or messages are mute The show is about 4 friends and tries to deal with sexuality (bisexuality, trans etc). Alden, the main character just finds out his boyfriend and true love in itersex (in a worst handled sensitive topic).  He also cheated on Johnny with Kim, and at this point I have completely lost interest in what is this show actually trying to say. Screenplay had numerous senseless lines. Aside from incest, problematic stereotypes, not only of bisexuals and intersexuals but other queers, dominated its nauseating screenplay. It'...

I can see people having all kinds of mixed reviews about this show. This LOGO TV produced reality TV show came back in 2017, and I don't know how come I never heard about it until now. Oh well! Its never too late. To be honest, its one of those gultiy pleasure shows that you will complain and bicker and comment on how shallow everything and every individual is, but secretly you also will not be able to stop watching. This so called "Reality" show is hardly real and you can tell easily ho most of it is scripted. But thankfully the six leads are pretty hot, not memorable, and the 7 episodes of 40 minutes each go by easy with all gay drama intact 100% as good or as bad as you can imagine. Khasan is a LA native, a choreographer by profession, in along distance relationship with his New York boyfriend. He wants to explore moving to NY, so he invites some friends and friends of friends to spend a summer in FireIsland. So we have Khasan's BFF Jorge, a Venezuelan doctor who l...

This bubbly romantic, fun and cute comedy is exactly what I needed to watch to cheer myself up. Even though the plot maybe basic, full of loopholes but the funny characters and their enthusiastic acting had some endearing quality about it. With a good mix of shy and coy, this workplace drama tries to put forward a feel good story that most of us would be able to relate to. This endearing story lasts for 8 episodes of about 20-23 minutes each. Trust me, its a very easy breezy and fun binge watch. Kaneda is a new employee at a design agency. Kaneda has been assigned a mentor Yanase, who used to work in Canada and has a famous film to his credit. Yanase has a warm and easy going personality and is very eager to mentor Kaneda and pass on his knowledge. But Kaneda has almost serious bashful behavior towards Yanase asking him to not touch him while teaching. Kaneda has expressed his discomfort with the boundary issues on multiple occasions. Everyone in the workplace has the impression that K...

This mini series of 4 episodes of about 10-12 minuted each is a series that should never have been made. Done to the death story, bad acting and direction and totally senseless logic, makes even this short series a very tedious watch. Tham, the handsome young barista works at a cafe. He has a simple, ordinary and uneventful life. Except a female customer who comes everyday to flirt with him hoping to take him out. Tham complains of to much work and he asks his boss to hire. Anew person. In comes Sakay. Tham doesn't have a good start with him and gives him a very hard time, but eventually when he gets to know of struggles that Sakay has been facing, he is ready to help him out. Clearly Sakay is trying to get close to Tham but Tham shows no feelings except friendship. One day when the duo are hanging out, the jealous girl takes their photo and posts only as a gay couple. Initially Tham is shocked, but then randomly Sakay says, now you can be my boyfriend, and Tham agrees! WTF!! The g...

Apparently, there were a series of posts published online on some Thai website which became so popular that someone decided to make a movie out of it. I have such mixed feelings about this film. One part of me enjoyed this very basic and sort of emotional bromance/love story but then there were many places where the silliness of the whole proceeding just didn't make sense. And I think this is primarily to do with some amateurish direction nd real poor editing. There are quite a few long drawn shots with nothing happening that just bores the audience. More on all this later. Ped's girlfriend Kai leaves him for another successful man. Heartbroken Ged tries to move on and gets a new job at the airport cargo. To his surprise, a male colleague of his named Oi, makes a very public declaration of how he loves him. Despite constant reminders by Ged that he is not gay, Oi likes to hang out and be with him all time and slowly they become real good friends, while Oi continues to flirt wit...

I actually never knew and to be honest, didn't expect to see an Indonesian film with gay characters at its center. The film released almost 19 years back, so I can only imagine what a scandal it must have been to release this in mainstream cinema. Compared to other Asian countries, whose tolerance for LGBTQ members is much higher and accepted, countries like Indonesia and Malaysia are still struggling. The film is primarily about two best friends. Meimei is a successful working woman married to an equally successful man. But they not having children is starting to cause stress in their relationship. We then meet Sakti, a young charming man, one of the most eligible bachelors in town, her colleague. Sakti has been dealing with his gay feelings and has been seeing a psychiatrist for this. Although he does a good job of portraying himself straight. A grow of successful wealthy housewives have a weekly/monthly gathering where they gossip and Meimei is invited to these gathering. One da...

A surprisingly touching, respectful, and accurate fictional portrayal of the coming out of a transgender woman in England in the early 1970’s. This film avoids nearly all of the “transploitation” themes of most works up to the 2000’s and it could be an interesting watch for anyone interested in a transgender “coming out” story from 44 years ago. Having said that, the film does get repetitive where not much is really happening. A young boy Ry comes from a upper class background and works in a real-estate office. He lives with his father who is a very strict dad. But Roy has secrets and has been dealing with gender identity issues. On eight when he thinks he is alone, he is wearing women clothes and makeup and is discovered by his father. The father throws a fit furiously unable to understand this. The next day Roy runs away from home, dressed up as a female and starts living at a boarding house learning to practice feminine comportment, makeup, and dress. Roy slowly transitions into Wen...

Originally aired on TLC channel in the US, this was such a weird documentary to watch. As it is, to be honest, I have all sorts of perceptions about Mormon life style and their beliefs, but hey, who am I to judge. But then here comes this documentary that follows three Mormon couples in Salt Lake City, Utah whose husbands are attracted to men. The couples explain that while the men feel attraction to other men, which they refer to as Same Sex Attraction (SSA), they do not act on it and are therefore not homosexuals. This under an hour documentary is about three couples who are friends with each other, because the common thing binding them together is that the husbands have SSA. They categorically deny being gay. They are all married and also have kids but they are attracted to men and their wives know it and are very comfortable with it. What's never shown, only briefly talked about is, that whether any of these men have ever acted upon these feelings and have had sex with other me...

I am not sure what this show is all about, but I got to watch this 7 episode tidbit where this psychologist has been doing sessions with a 16 year old gay teenager and a wannabe photographer.The whole series is full on dialogues covering Jesses being caught peddling drugs, talking about his troubling 'pattern of promiscuity,' his unsettled family life, and a recent alarming voicemail. Jesse, 16 year old, is one troubled kid. He cuts school, goes to bar, has somewhat of a regular thing with a gay couple because he likes being used, sells his sleeping pills, had ADHD, curses at his shrink and overall a very difficult kid. To make matters interesting, he is an adopted kid who doesn't' get along well with his mother at all and has recently been contacted by her birth mother and then by the birth father causing all kinds of emotional upheavals in his already turbulent life. Jesse and the therapist have an interesting dynamic. Their relationship feels more like angry-father t...

This 4 part mini series was amateurish of another level. It felt as if a few kids in a village were bored and they decided to make a series for their own sake and family and friends. I mean, nothing about this can be taken seriously. Thankfully, it was short, only 10ish minutes each episode and almost half of that in every episode would be like soft like where lead just plays with his body trying to seduce. Henry's sight is failing but his girlfriend still takes all his money and when money dies, she leaves him. The show starts with Henry going blind, and in comes his best friend Alfred from childhood, who promises to help him. Alfred is gay and Henry knows that he has always loved him, so he continues to tease him with his naked body and even masturbating in front of him while being blind. It turns out that he is actually not blind and he is trying to tach his girlfriend a lesson and also see if his friend really loves him. In between trying to seduce Alfred, who refuses to have j...

With three episodes of about 35 minute each, this min series was a pleasant watch about high school teenage love. It has all the trappings of teen romance, the school boys in shorts (lol), some good music and good looking actors. Sadly, this show doesn't end on a happy note despite love being in the air, but guess what, in my opinion, that's actually most true in most cases. This is story of love and longing and never being able to express your true feelings. Best is an ordinary student who gets hurt by a basketball in the school one day. The vide of him being carried to the school infirmary by Dew (the guy who hit him) starts circulating in the school. This angers Best and he confronts Dew in anger but Dew gives a heartfelt apology. Using. This opportunity Dew forwards a hand of friendship, but Best starts to have some feelings for Dew, which cannot remain hidden by two of Best's friends who constantly encourage and tease him to confess his love like true shippers. In cont...

This series is also available in movie format, which is what I saw, but as a series, it is 8 part with about 15 min episode each, making it a total investment of under 2 hours. THis show is actually a good example of how even with a small budget, but with good actors and directors, something likable can actually be presented on the screen. Sure, the bizarre ending of the show has no excuse and is definitely one of the weirdest ones, which we will talk about later, everything else, including charming leads, delightful chemistry and a light touch of comedy were all going in the favor of the show. Han Ba Da has just moved to an oceanside community. We are later told that he worked as a professional French chef and has moved after some misunderstanding and breakup with his ex-boyfriend. He wants to now start his own Udon Cafe near ocean and is tricked by a local politician's girl to use their space for restaurant, even convincing him to give her 70% of profit share. The opening day os ...