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Stop! That! Train!

By Golu
Coming out of the same studio that gave us RuPaul's Drag Race, and stacked with a whole crew of former contestants, Stop! That! Train! plays like RuPaul basically taking a bow for the entire franchise she's built. It's not really a gay film in the traditional sense, but with so many drag stars from Ru's shows popping up alongside a few cameos from well known out gay actors, I figured it earns a spot on this blog anyway. The whole thing is completely over the top, packed with GenZ slang, loud flashy visuals, and humor that's constantly winking at you knowing how ridiculous it is. Going in you'd assume it's meant to be a laugh riot, and a lot of critics online seem to be eating it up, but I just couldn't get into it at all. I've never really been someone who vibes with campy silly stuff like this, so honestly my reaction doesn't surprise me one bit. The setup follows Tess and DeeDee, two low level stewardesses who sneak onto the fancy Glamazonian E...
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Beyond Gravity (New Zealand)

By Golu
With a duration of just under an hour, this film from back in 1989 is a short, quirky, and romantic story about two men, one an astronomy-obsessed worrier and the other a free spirit who enjoys breaking into places. The charm of late 80s set in Auckland is what makes this film worth watching. It is atale of opposites: coming together and coming out.

Richard, an astronomy-obsessed worrier spends his time fantasizing about outer-space and the cosmos, an activity which antagonizes friends and family. He lives with his sister in an apartment. One day, he meets Johnny, a handsome Italian man at the library, with an enormous appetite for life, whose idea of a holiday involves breaking into the nearest small holiday home. The next day he shows up at Richard's door and asks him to join him at the beach. The two have sex there and Johnny mentions that he will soon be back in Italy after 3 weeks and offers Richard love and an escape from the monotony of work. The duo spend sometime together partying, loving, having sex and everything. When it time for Johnny to go back home, he misses his flight and the two boys are glad that they will likely get to spend more time together now.

This was a very nice and positive happy gay love story. I can only imagine how much it would have been loved when it came out in late 80s. Times were so different then. It is just a story about two people falling in love and the troubles that comes for free with that process. The film isn't perfect like the low budget shows quite a bit; there's a needlessly bloody beating; some of the acting is bad; the story has its weak spots and (at times) the sound is inaudible. Still, the two lead actors are extremely handsome and have that vintage charm and sex appeal and the tone of the film is very gentle and romantic. I enjoyed how the two guys meet, how one really goes after the other to make him realize there is more to life and love than studies and outer space. The sister's character was also nice and supportive and there were at no point judgements about sexuality. A very good quirky feel good gay film. (6/10)
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