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On The Sea (UK)

By Golu
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...
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Forbidden Letters

By Golu
This is the second of the Arthur J. Bressan, Jr.'s film that has been restored. His cinema traditionally has been a look into an often forgotten corner of gay cinema: The erotic film that offers a full package of story, sex, and soul; as written in my review below.

Larry re-reads the letters he didn’t dare send to his imprisoned lover, remembering how sensual & beautiful life with Richard once was. Richard, behind bars, yearns for Larry and imagines him near. Now Richard is being released. Together again, will Larry and Richard find the love they once shared?

The reason Larry doesn't send the letters is for the fear that they could mark him for abuse inside the prison. Larry has been counseled to type his letters and sign a woman's name to them, but he doesn't want to do that; he prefers to pour out his honest feelings in his own voice, and save his letters as a homecoming present for his man. In between all this, of course we have more than plenty of sexual encounters like sensual picnics, fantasies about joining Richard in jail for simultaneous episodes of onanism in adjoining cells, and a swaggering daydream in which Richard approaches from a desert landscape before pleasuring himself. Maybe there is a much deeper meaning to these letter exchanges and how the two men are feeling but so many sex scenes, IMO, take away the essence of the storyline itself. The film eschews the crude fetishization that many porn films have of the prison and prisoner, Richard is fighting against the mundane with his memories of Larry being the only thing that carries him through the days. I can see why everyone keeps saying that these are important pieces of film making for anybody who wants to fill in the blind-spots of queer film and queer filmmakers who emerged during gay liberation; but these are just not for me. I am curious what others think. (3/10)
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