Movie Reviews -
Gay Themed

This was a great romantic BL story to keep my spirits high after a few back to back bad series and films from Asia. A beautiful love story at heart, the central conflict here is due to the stark age difference between the two characters. Interestingly, the way it is handled is more nuanced than simply the fact that Shin is not legal and is presented in a way that's deeply intertwined with the depth of the two leads' characterization. With a very intimate vibe, I have to say it out at the onset that I really enjoyed this show a lot. When his stressful job gets too much, Minato leaves his job to move back to his cozy hometown and inherits his grandfather's Laundromat, frequented by many locals. Now running a small business, befriending loal people, Minato's life is much more peaceful. One day a high school student Shin shows up at the laundromat. Minato realizes that the guy is very handsome and is exactly his type but soon he realizes that the kid is just a high school b...

This historical film is set in a troupe entertaining British troops in Southeast Asia fighting against the communist insurgents. Musicals have not been my scene and even thought this is a famous film and well reviewed throughout, somehow the film just failed to capture my attention in any space. One of the main problems is that this cannot seem to make up its mind on what to be; a comedy or a war-drama. Neither of them are achieved particularly effectively, separate from each other, and whenever the two are attempted at the same time, it's even worse. It is 1947, the year of the communist rebellion in Malaya and the British army’s SADUSEA (Song And Dance Unit South East Asia) are called to the Malayan Jungle to entertain the troops. The eccentric, bible-bashing Major Giles Flack is in command of the unit. Flack is accompanied by an ageing, theatrical drama queen, Terri Dennis who hopes to entertain the troops with his flamboyant impressions, but the bored troops find other ways to ...

Films on child prostitution and exploitation or pornography in general is a sensitive subject and needs to be dealt with respect. Unfortunately, this specific film often relies on voyeuristic sensationalism at many places that were clearly not needed. To make a film be enjoyed by critics and audience alike, you need to keep it all balanced and in this film, there are more than required shots of naked young bodies. Frank is a 15 year old boy squatting in an abandoned building. He is addicted to drugs, supplied to him by his best friend David who deals. To meet his drug requirement Frank has sex with other men in alleyways and toilets. The money is barely enough for food forget drugs. Despite David trying to make sense to Frank to stop doing those, he doesn't get it. David also doesn't like all the gay stuff Frank does and tries to set him up with a female friend of his. One day on the street Frank meets the older man Sebastian and memories come back to him. When Frank was 9 year...

The film, inspired by true incidents, is based on an early 18th century court record from Cape Town, exploring the romantic relationship between two male prisoners, one black and one Dutch, at Robben Island in South Africa in the 18th century. I am guessing most of the story is fictionalized version put together around the historical court hearing that happened in 1735. Trying to Steal cattle, a local black man Claas Blank is arrested and shipped for 10 years imprisonment in Robben Island. Being a servant before, he is able to speak good English as well along with Dutch. The black and white inmates keep themselves separate and Blank is too to stay away from a white Dutch sailor inmate Jacobsz, who is a 'faggot'. When an English botanist Niven stations himself on the island to develop exportable flower strains, Blank's sills help him find favors with him. Both Blank and Jacobsz are drafted to help with Niven’s project and they end up spending unsupervised time together which...

Oh my god! I haven't laughed out loud so much in single movie in a really long time. This may also have to do with the fact that I was watching the film on the big screen, so definitely, the energy of my fellow viewers was infectious. But, you know, that aside, this film was genuinely VERY funny. A story of two men who struggle with commitment issues falling for each other may sound cliche but it uses so many references from  history of rom-coms and almost every single scene is identifiable in the film. Needless to say that the film set in my hometown of New York has added points for me. Also, the film is said to have primarily all LGBTQ primary cast and has ben backed by a major studio. No wonder it is doing well here in cinemas. Bobby is a single man in his 40s who runs a popular queer podcast and is the curator of New York City's first LGBTQ history museum. He is fine just having random Grindr hookups and has a decent group of friends. One night at a club, Bobby meets Aaron,...

This Thai film, which is a sequel to the earlier film 'Love's Coming' fails in the typical BL rom-com genre that we have seen numerous times so far in various films and series. It can also be seen as a standalone film in case you haven't seen the first one. Although the film itself has nothing new to offer in terms of story, treatment or direction; I was just happy to see a story being told in 90 minutes without unnecessary stretching of plot with random characters thrown here or there. Sure, the conflicts are created here as well but thats necessary evil to remind the lovebirds how much they truly love each other.  Gump and Nai are a stable couple of about a year now. When its time for Gump to go to university, his mother finds him an apartment that he can share with her best friend's nephew, since the room is close to university. Initially when Gump finds this, he is reluctant to be away from Nai, but once he sees that his room mate is a hot guy Sunz (supposedly s...

The synopsis says "A romantic comedy series about a young catechist named Caloy and an old transgender named Dora making their way in finding what true love means. Find out how they answered the question, Can This be Love?" I have seen so many bad gay movies/series including Asian BL ones that my skin has become so thick, so when I see another absolute trash, at this point, I can't do anything but just laughs it off. This 7 part, 20 minute each series is as trashy and bad and transphobic as it can get. A young boy Caloy has an interesting love-hate relationship with old trans woman Mamma Dora. The duo along with another friend go to a 'Can It Be Love' resort to help them sell resort since Dora is an agent. The owner, another young boy, shamelessly flirts with Mamma Dora. There are a few other random boys working, living near resort and then another trans female character, a friend of owner, comes to mix it all up while these people try to find love. I dare you all...

I had no clue this movie will fall somehow in LGBTQIA category, but still I was expecting a lot form this film, just because the names involved. The director has given us some really good stuff in the past, and with the lead actress being a revered actress in India film industry, the expectations were naturally higher, especially since this is Amazon Prime's first Indian original film. Sadly, despite a very promising plot, the execution and the handling of the characters leave a lot to be desired. Tejas wants to marry an NRI girl Esha, who comes from a very filthy rick Texas family born to India parents. Since her parents are extremely rich, they always question others' moves and in this case they decide they want to meet Tejas' family in India before anything can happen. Tejas' family back in India has her godlike mother Pallavi, who could do no wrong, his father and her sister who is doing her PhD in Gender studies and has her own issues with marriage going on and is ...

By day, Ed Popil worked as a telemarketer in Rochester, New York for 18 years. By night, he transformed into drag queen Mrs. Kasha Davis, a 1960’s era housewife trying to liberate herself from domestic toil through performing at night in secret –an homage to Ed’s mother. After seven years of auditioning to compete on RuPaul’s Drag Race, Ed Popil was finally cast onto the tv show and thrust into a full-time entertainment career at the late age of 44. Workhorse Queen explores the complexities of reality television’s impact on queer performance culture by focusing on the growing divide between members of a small-town drag community – those who have been on television, and those who have not. Through various home videos and YouTube videos that Mrs. Kasha Davis was always a confident star who always who she was. Her camp sensibilities blended well with the Rochester, NY drag scene and earned her a decent amount of local success. But year after year despite trying for RuPaul's Drag race ...

An interesting roundabout love story, or is it a use story? Whatever it is, it is a convincing story of a young man looking for love, compassion, stability and a home and the only way he knows, to get any of those is through his body. He is lanky and handsome Argentinian boy and now he needs to do something in life. In some ways we all use other people in life which somehow becomes habit and eventually a norm. Lucas, is a young man in Argentina who does gay web came sex shows to make money and tells that he is very lonely and if any of the suitors send him money, he will fly to meet them. Next thing we know is Lucas arrives in Belgium, and an old overweight baker Henry is there to pick him up. Henry is gay, and is hoping that Lucas will help him in bakery shop and of course fulfills his sexual needs while living together in the same house. Lucas protests sleeping in the same room, but he has no where else to go so he agrees. Slowly Henry realizes that Lucas is actually disgusted by his...

This Vietnamese BL series could have been so much better. They had a great looking cast, a decent story on hand, but like most companies, the makers got trapped to use almost BL tropes in one single show and the editing of the show was so bad. The scenes felt a disjointed at many places. What could have been a good goofy comedy, if treated well, turned out to be a below average fare. The show is 6 episodes of about 25 minutes each. Minh is a businessman who lives with his younger sister. One night while walking he meets drunk student Tan and next thing you know is they have a one night stand after a night of drinking. His sister is not getting good Martin school so he is looking third tutor and Tan applies for position and gets the job. Minh remembers who Tan is but Tan can't recollect the said night. Slowly Tan starts to become integral part of the brother-sister family cooking them meals as well. Things change, when Minh's childhood friend arrives and it feels that he is madl...

This short 45 min film which came back in 1980, must have been something of a game changer. I am guessing that this 'coming of age' genre barely existed then. An interesting love and power dynamics between two school lads leading to awakened and heightened sexual curiosity, this film can get confusing at times, but is a very interesting case study. In the first interaction we meet Philippe and Claude and it seems they have some previous connection. Claude is the younger of the two boys. Claude wants Phillipe to be near him in the train in literal sense but latter is a bit of a tease, goes and sits on another seat and a smile on his face watching Claude sleep. Soon, their friendship starts to develop where Philippe becomes sort of a mentor to Claude. The next day, it is Philippe who is saving a seat for Claude. They spend a lot of time together and one night in bed, Claude brings topic of masturbation and asks Philippe to teach him. He refuses and we know they are both playing a...

This 4 part mini-series lasting about 45 minutes isa very amateurish attempt at making a BL drama. The story hardly exists, which is made worse by a very cheesy high school romance. I almost felt guilt to watch these younger than high school looking boys, in their contrived romance. Even though, ,the probable target audience of this show is pre teens, the plot of full of flaws, and I can't see why anyone would like this. Tin is a young ordinary student walking home from school. One day, he encounters Na, a student from another school, who bumps into Tin, because of which the keychains of their bags get tangled together. Reluctantly, Na forfeited his bag to the stranger he had just met. They make arrangements to meet up again once their schoolbags are separated. In their next meeting, Nan accidentally grabs the wrong bag. This mistake gives the characters another opportunity to communicate and interact. Na seems friendly during their exchanges, even though Tin is reluctant to get cl...

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...