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Showing posts from February, 2017

Soul Mate (Japanese Series)

Is this technically a gay show? Even after getting through the whole thing, that's still kind of tricky to answer. There's never any physical intimacy shown between the two leads, not even a single kiss. What it gives you instead is something that goes way deeper than that. It traces an emotional bond that spans a full decade between two guys who are both dealing with their own baggage, and what they share basically amounts to being soulmates. The story moves across Japan, South Korea, and Berlin. Honestly, whether people want to call what they have a romantic relationship or not doesn't really matter to me. A relationship doesn't need a label like boyfriends attached to it to actually mean something. And closeness doesn't need to be physical to feel genuine. What this show captures is something quieter but way more powerful, a bond rooted in understanding, respect, and just showing up for each other. Across eight episodes, each running 35 to 45 minutes, this is one...

Slash

Slash is definitely not a gay themed film but has enough references for it to have a review here on my blog. I’ll try to keep it short and simple for 2 reasons. a) Because I didn’t think too much of the film, and b) My blog is supposed to be mainly about queer cinema but this film falls in a grey area. Neil is an introvert 15 year old, questioning high school freshman. He thinks he might be gay but isin’t sure, although he continues to write steamy fan fiction for his own pleasure. He writes about Vanguard, the brawny, galaxy-hopping hero of a popular sci-fi franchise. When his stories are exposed in class Neil is mortified, but the slightly older, effortlessly cool Julia comes to his defense, who is a fan fiction writer herself on an online “adult” forum. They both become good friends and Neil has someone with whom he feels comfortable with. He feel she is falling in love with Julia. Until Neil grabs attention of Denis thorough the website, who is the site moderator and he invite...

Bareback: Ou La Guerre des Sen (French)

This is such a bad film (if you can call it that). In the name of meta porn, this film was likely thought up just so that you could put in 30 minutes of gay bear porn, in the name os arthouse cinema integrating explicit sex into a narrative reflecting on its own making. One needs to stay clear of this film. A cinephile meets his favourite film maker on a beach in Ramatuelle. He proposes a film project to the director based on the painful adventures that he has just experienced. He describes a straightforward rescue romance: a heartbroken middle-aged bear attempts suicide at a nude beach, another bear saves him, and they fall into passionate love.These two men work on the scenes, each in its own way. The film maker keeps pushing the project, arguing that the shooting is not good. The rescue romance is the film-within-the-film, and the real drama is the negotiation between the man who lived it and the man who would rather keep filming than wrap. The opening credits will send you to sleep...

Skam: Season 3 (Web Series) (Norwegian)

Thanks to one of my blog followers lina, I finally managed to watch the third  season of the show ‘Skam’ which apparently translates to ‘Shame’. My initial thoughts, (a) Why didn’t I watch this series sooner (b) How do I now find time to watch the first two seasons.? For those unaware of the show, like I was till a few days back, this is a hit Norwegian show, a cross between TV/online/web series that focusses on lives on teenagers studying in a high school. Each season focusses on a different character and tackles various issues. The main theme of season 3 is the gay storyline and this is how I came to know about the show in the first place. Its 10 episodes with each episode being 20-25 minutes each. Since I haven’t seen the show’s first 2 seasons, my review will be based on this season as an individual. The main character of this season is Isak, who hangs out with his close group of 3 other male friends. He flirts with one of the popular girls Emma, but very soon we realize t...

Gay Short Films : 52

Entre Amigos (Mexico) [Between Friends] A quick short film of two teenage friends. One of them is in hospital and THE other one has secret crush on his friend. When the sick guy asks his friend to jerk- him off since he is his friend, things may take a different turn when the other guy will try to go beyonD just jerking off his friend. He has now accepted his sexuality. What will his friend do? The boys were cute and the film is kept at a perfect short length of just abut 5 minutes. 1992 (France) It's 1992. Martin is 17 and he films his daily life with his Hi8 camera. He films anything and everything around him. One day he meets Dominique, 23 and works as a student monitor at Martin's high school. Soon an affair begin between the two. Its also the time when Martin is trying to figure out why his relationship with his father is so strained. Maybe filming him also would help. Bed Buddies (USA) An interesting take on what happens when three gay friends take their rel...

Hurricane Bianca

A campy film, I wasn’t expecting much from it to be honest but it wasn’t bad at all. Broadly divided into two halves, the first part is actually a bit of drag (no pun intended) but the film gets a lot funnier, quirky and exactly what you hoped for once we have our main character in drag. Which one us doesn’t like the offensive and insulting one-liners specially from drag queens. This film definitely delivered on that front but how I wished there was more of it. The plot is simple. Richard has been in New York for a while and soon moves to a small town in Texas to teach in a school in the middle of nowhere, as part of the Teaching Ambassador Program. But the stint lasts only a couple of days till the Vice Principal realises he is gay and gets him kicked out. He meets an RJ at an empty bar who soon makes Richard realise that he may have some hidden talents. Richard soon transforms in drag as Bianca Del Rio and applies for a job back at school. The cat and mouse fun games begin now w...