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Being at Home with Claude (Canadian French)

This one falls into that darker corner of gay cinema. There was real potential buried in here, but the execution feels so flat that at points it plays out more like a filmed stage play than an actual movie. It's a dark psychological drama built around a street hustler confessing to a brutal, confusing murder of his own lover. Black and white flashback sequences do a solid job laying out the details of what happened, but the real focus stays on the dialogue and the writing itself. Right at the start, a young hustler has already killed his male lover Claude. Three days go by before he calls the police to turn himself in for the murder. But instead of just reporting it somewhere ordinary, he actually summons the police and the local press directly into a judge's private chambers. Yves has keys to the place, which tracks given what he does for a living, but having the press waiting right outside makes the whole scene look like some elaborate blackmail scheme against the judge. The ...

A Series Of Light (UK)

This is an anthology of short stories of sorts. Not sure how or why calling it a "Series of Light" makes sense or what's the idea behind it, but hey when its an anthology, little makes sense. According to the official website, this series explores the darkest sides of humanity, through technology, connection, intimacy and heartbreak.

1: Greenlight
Former child star turned hearthrob, Sam desires a change of image, but is in for a dark surprise when his webcam is hacked. He is extorted from money when a video os him masturbating to gay porn is outed. Interesting story.

2: Redlight
17 year old escort Callam books an afternoon meet up with an older business-man Jimmy. Things don't go as planned and just after sex, the old guy dies because of drug overdose probably. The young guy does all he possible can to mess up the scene to show it as a case of suicide.

3: Whitelight
19 year old student Aaron finds himself falling for the straight guy Adonis Mitchell. When it's clear Mitchell isn't interested, Aaron decides to pretend as a girl to get connected with him and get him interested. But its his best friend, who he ends up impersonating and her life gets into a spiral.

4: Starlight
Student Kane falls for his room mate Jacob, a straight rogue. Traversing their sexuality against 90's Liverpool, their journey is Lust, Shame & heartache. Shown over a period of four months, the straight guy is not yet ready to accept his feelings for Kane but he won't have it anymore.

5: Blacklight
Feeling relentlessly pushed down by his involuntary celibacy, 20 year old Adam stews alone as his explicit fantasies become more deranged towards an underground scene. This one in the series is not a queer story.

These stories were an interesting mix. Most of them unapologetically probes into the darknesses and shadows of identity within a modern era and examines its fragility, all while maintaining a firm grasp on the humanity that beats at each story’s center. In a digital age, everything from privacy, to hiding your real identity, to pretend who we really are and everything else in between is shown in these stories. Interestingly, the production quality is top notch and so is the acting and direction. It's just all of the stories do not land as nicely and strongly as some of the other ones do. (5/10)

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