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Showing posts from May, 2019

On The Sea (UK)

This one's a beautiful, tender, quiet romantic drama with a moody atmosphere, set in a tight knit Welsh fishing community. It's a touching story about a man waking up sexually in the middle of his life, and how he, his family, and everyone around him deal with it, which makes it emotional and sentimental without ever getting over the top. The slow burn plays out against a landscape that's as bleak as it is gorgeous, where quiet, closed off men are stuck inside rigid ideas of what masculinity should be. Some people might be reminded of "God's Own Country," but I think both films are lovely in their own way. Jack is a middle aged guy who co-owns a mussel farm with his rough around the edges brother Dyfan, and the tension between the two of them is simmering under the surface right from the start. Dyfan's three sons all help out with the work, while Jack's sulky teenage son Tom keeps skipping out. Jack's been with his wife since they were both 16, and...

377 Ab Normal (Hindi/English)

There are only a handful of gay themed films that have come out from India. Most people are aware of section 377 of Indian Penal code in India according to which  being gay was criminalized. This film is a fictional dramatization of the historic September 2018 ruling from India Supreme Court decriminalised homosexuality and reinstated the fundamental rights of the LGBTQ community. The film starts with final arguments being given by the two lawyers in front of the bench of supreme court judges. To support the argument, we are shown a bit of LGBT history, starting with Arif Jafar, the first man to be charged with Section 377 in 2001. Although an AIDS activist, he is taken to jail and gets sentenced for few years. We get to see his ordeals there. Next we see stories of some of the other individuals, who are primary in the petition that gets filed in Supreme Court. We meet Pallav, a teenager coming to terms with his sexuality but being rejected by his family reaches out to counsel...

Hustling: Season 2 & 3 (Web series)

It has taken me s long time to get to watching Season 2 and 3 of this amazing gay web series. I watched season 1 almost 5 year ago which is reviewed here. But something or the other kept coming and finally I managed to finish watching this just now. With 10 and 9 episodes of slightly longer duration that the debut season, thankfully the series has maintained the quality in terms of production values, acting, direction and story. We continue with the journey of Ryan who still wants to move on from being a hustler. He becomes assistant to one of his clients who is starting to teach him all about being a chef, which has been Ryan's dream. One one hand, he is doing well there, on the other hand, he is still struggling with his sexuality. The girl he has been dating has been cheating on him with a wealthy man and ultimately ends up marrying the guy for money. Eventually Ryan starts this underground supper club which caters to only rich and famous and eventually starts getting famou...

Code Name: Dynastud

Satirical and spoof films are not easy to review. you need a very different sense of humor and idea of a lot of pop references and film references that are used throughout to make it appeal to the target audiences. Most people found this film to be quite bad yet very funny at the  same time. Unfortunately, my feelings just stayed at the former. It was pretty bad. Set in futuristic times in 2024 and its illegal to be gay. Gay bars are underground and hidden. The newly elected right wing president is worried about his daughter sleeping around with everyone. On his advisors insistence, he decides to marry her off to a young gay man Bart who has been recently arrested for being gay. If he fails to produce the senator a male heir he will be killed. On his wedding night he is rescued by Dynastud. They have instant sexual connection but Dynastud has his history and cursed superpowers. He literally explodes the man's head who is having sex with when he has orgasms, so even when he is ...

A Heaven For Queers

The makers tried to make a simple low-budget film that could address a few issues at the same time - homosexuality, coming out and Christianity. Unfortunately it was quite bad. This film would have been ok had it come like 20 years ago but it came out in 2011. Agreed it is slightly dated but 2011 was still quite upbeat, not just in technology but also about script writing and other aspects. Matthew and Brandon are best friends and form a part of trio. They are all teenagers. When Brandon discovers a gay magazine in Matthew's room, they both come out to each other and confess their love. Unfortunately, Matthew's father sees them together and forcibly sends him to a mental institution. A few years later both the boys are sent to gay conversion camp, where they try to obey the rules as much as they can. When the camp ends, Brandon decides that he cannot pretend anymore and is thrown out of home by his mother. He is 18 now but Matthew is still few weeks short of 18. Despite th...

Ein Weg (German) [Paths]

This film is an an interesting and a very cautious approach to the traces of a long relationship. Sadly, the outlook is really slow and sometimes tests the patience of the audience. There are brief moments of absolute brilliance but they are very few far and between. Most times, we keep seeing the events on how the couple came together and how the relationship has evolved over the years. We meet Martin and Andreas as a loving couple who are very much in love. Andreas works in a workshop and creates furniture, and we are not sure yet what Martin does. Next we see they are a bit older and their 19 year old son Max is leaving home to go to college. And then we see that the couple is dealing with issues which escalate further when they decide to take their annual vacation at the sea. This is when flashback shows us how the couple met, instant attraction, how Andreas slowly tells Martin that he was once married and has a son Max. We share with them some beautiful moments of the three o...

The Rain Stories (Thai)

This film is an anthology of three unconventional high-school love stories with two common themes - Gay high school student and they all ending in rain. Honestly I couldn't connect with any of these stories and overall this collection was simply a meh for me. Story 1 Nana, a disabled and overweight gay student, harbors a deep crush on his younger schoolmate, Gent. The secret slips out when a mutual friend harmlessly tells Gent, causing the uncomfortable younger boy to suddenly grow distant. Nana tries to respect Gent's wishes to remain just friends, but struggles to suppress his romantic feelings. Gent's behavior grows conflicted and manipulative. In private, he stays close to Nana and even hints at romantic affection, but in public, he is deeply embarrassed by peer teasing. Obsessed with hiding their bond, Gent strictly forbids Nana from telling anyone about their outings or posting pictures together. Hurt and unable to let go, Nana breaches Gent's boundaries by postin...