Movie Reviews -
Gay Themed

An unusual film, this was probably way ahead of its time when it came out in 1978. This is not a gay film per say, but given that one of the leads is gay man and the film talks about homophobia to some extent, makes it a good candidate for it to be reviewed here. Mostly this film is about being a macho guy, greed, family honor, homophobia all rolled into one. The film is set in a very small town of Mexico where we meet some interesting characters. Rich and elderly congressman Don Alejo is poised to sell the town for a profit,, the only thing missing is a whorehouse to close the deal. It is owned by an aging gay man Manuela, who cross dresses to perform dance and his daughter. Another important character is Pancho. Don Alejo tries to control him because he owes him money, but also Pancho had a bog fight with Manuela a year ago and Manuela is very scared of him. He wants to sell whore house and move away from the town but the daughter will have none of it. Through flashbacks we see how M...

This film highlights a lonely teenager's struggle with his sexuality and identity. The subject matter is nothing new, but it’s a considerately and unflinchingly covered coming-out, and that’s definitely to be praised. Having said that, the execution style is sort of lyrical and poetic , which is definitely not everyone's cup of tea. I myself can only take this narrative style only to a certain extent. 13 year old Logan lives with his single mother, who worries about him since he is very much in his own world of dreams and fantasies. There is a news that mountain lions are roaming around free and that students must be careful. Hs best friend is joey, another not so cool kid in school. But Logan respects the mountain lion and is appalled at the fears that have spread like wildfire about the animal in the school. He is happy when an older student Rodeo, a ninth grader who spends most of his time alone, turns out to share his feelings. He claims to have seen a lion in woods and bef...

I am shocked that not once did anyone think of this subject. I absolutely LOVED this film. Most things about it. I have not been so excited about a film in a long time now. Apparently, its based on the filmmakers own experiences, and this is a comedy, drama but most importantly a really heart warming and refreshing tale of dealing with the fear of HIV that the teenagers today absolutely positively need to see and have access to. I really don't know if this film is making the right noise, but it absolutely should. With an incredible cast, this film could go places with the right kind of promotion. And this is how you should make teenage gay love stories.  Set in 2011, the film is about Caleb, an 18 year old, 'weird' teenager whose only friend is Dara. The duo work together in a South Florida convenient store. The summer has just started and he has recently been told that the last guy he slept with after breaking up with his ex, has just been diagnosed with HIV and apparently...

This indie college campus sex thriller, in my opinion, was desperately trying to be the 'I know what You did Last Summer' genre, but in the process fails badly. The makers had a good story on hand, but below average and wooden acting and clear lack of motivations make it hard to keep your focus on what unfolds in front of you, because there is a whole lot of fluff and so less of actual story movement. Brian is a college freshman who has just moved in to his dorm. While settling in, he finds a thumb drive, which has a hidden folder with multiple videos of a webcam model with multiple different kinds of clients, with one including something that looks like the murder of the model. Brian becomes obsessed with trying to uncover the mystery and in this his brother/friend who also lives close to university helps me. We also meet Jeremy, Brian's dorm mate, who has a girlfriend but is secretly struggling with his sexuality. Jeremy and Brian end up sleeping together one night and no...

This is a done to death story. Especially watching it so close to the heels of Thai show with Tonhon couple, I felt as if I was watching just the repeat version of the Thai show. I am not saying that anyone copied it, but for such basic stories, its the execution that matters, and I think Vietnamese BL series have a long way to go. This show was thankfully just 5 episodes averaging to 17-20 minutes of run time, so it was a relatively easy watch. Nhat and Van have been friends since childhood. When they go to college, they decide to join same program and live together. In college Nhat gets a girlfriend, oblivious to the fact that Van has been in love with him. Van takes care of Nhat at home cooking and all but also feels heartbroken. Meanwhile Nhat's girlfriend feels that he talks a lot about Van and is there more to their friendship. One drunk night, Van professes his love to Nhat, who is very confused by everything going around him, because he is very close to Van but has never co...

The shootout at the Orlando gay club is a news that many of us will forget anytime soon. But this is not the first time that anything like that has happened. When school shoot-outs have not awakened the conscious of politicians, killing of queer members is definitely not going to make a difference. Through this documentary, we follow a group of 9 individuals, who travel from L.A. to D.C. to attend an anti-gun rally after the 2016 Pulse Nightclub massacre which left behind 48 dead organized by an inexperienced hair dresser. We meet Jason, who is struggling to make any difference after the brutal massacre and decides enough is enough. Without political experience, he decides to hold a national rally to demand LGBTQ+ equal rights, fight the NRA, and challenge America’s obsession with gun violence. When people all around the country are also struggling with what and how to do their part, this documentary maker, gathers 9 individuals to make the journey to Washington for this rally. These i...

This is a low budget, low production story of the employees in an LA office  where the daytime TV show "The Love Judge" is written and produced. This film tries to chronicle lusts and love of men and women working here, their fears, aspirations, relationships, drama. It's a slice of life story trying to be realistic. Loud mouthed producer Jo of the station has just announced that she will be quitting the show in two weeks. The race for new role is between Mark and Paul, two best friends. Mark is just coming to one year anniversary of his boyfriend's death from AIDS. He has been sulky and moody ever since, but his best friendJeremy, who is a writer on the show tries to keep his spirits up. We also meet Bill, the straight guy who has just broken up with his girlfriend and who also flirts with both Mark and Jeremy. Mark tells Jeremy that he thinks Bill is interest din him, unaware of the fact that Bill and Jeremy have been secretly having an affair and sleeping together ...

This is a short and sweet-ish Filipino gay series, but I am not sure what was the point this show was trying to make. I think this was one of the shows where you are not supposed to put to much of your head. Just watch with dead pan face, assume what's happening in front of. You is possible and just go along with the ride. The story is about 5 siblings and their mother. The mother's birthday is approaching on Saturday but the kids (4 brothers and a younger sister) are all pretending to now remember it because they want to give a surprise party. While this is the overall plot, all the 8 episodes are spent on showing us the love stories of the four brothers. The eldest one is secretly liked by the house helper, a very effeminate Jeneviv. The next two boys have a girl best friend since they were kids but neither of them actually realizes how much they love their girlfriend, until another guy comes and take those girls out on a date. And then we have the youngest brother, a shy an ...

Romance and rivalry are the two primary components of this film. I wouldn't call this a gay film, per say because the focus is on the mother, but given her sons are gay, this film definitely warrants a review here forepeople who might be interested in prominent gay characters being featured in a film. The film was overall a fell good film where, I guess the importance of family and th bond is what comes to the forefront despite the sexuality. Jen runs a successful restaurant business with best Chicken rice in Singapore. She has three sons whom she raised single handedly. Two of them are openly gay. Daniel is a successful pilot, who lives with Tim and then Harry, a dafdy gregarious guy who has a new boyfriend every other week. Jen has all her hopes on her third son Leo to get her grandchildren. Leo, as of now is young to sexually discover himself, but he does spend a lot of time with his best friend Batman. Jen's best friend is Kim Chui, who has loved her for years and runs anot...

This was a very weird film and even after watching the whole thing, I am not sure what was the film was trying to say. Reading more online about the film, apparently it's a story of a drifter who was sexually abused as a child and the trauma it causes. To be honest, if you do not have this context, there is absolutely no way for anyone at all to understand what's going on this film. Alex just drives around aimlessly in his van occasionally photographing and renting motel rooms for Craigslist encounters that seem to double as opportunities for petty theft. In between all this, there is a series of web videos of a girl whispering to her audience and offers “vibrational peace”. Alex follows her and using his own camera is trying o make videos to impress this girl. Eventually Alex tracks down an older man, who possibly abused Alex. He brings a teenage boy over for dinner, and seems to hope he’ll catch John trying to do something to him; but much is left unsaid on this topic, even a...

Tonhon Chonlatee is such a silly series with whacky surreal humor and guess what, I loved it. I am trying to think so hard, what was it about this show that connected with me. I mean the story was basic, done to death many times, the production values are no different from many other Thai BL shows that we have seen in the past; I think its the cast who are very enthusiastic and realistic, to an extent, which made this show a good watch. ALso the show doesn't take itself very seriously until maybe last two episodes. It's a fun filled, playful  and goofy yet charming take on trying to ship two men together, one of whom is straight as they come and the other is madly in love with him. Ton and Chon have been childhood friends and neighbors, but Ton's family moved to Bangkok years ago. Chon is very much in love with Ton even after all these years and his mother and his best friend know about this. He does understand this is one sided love since Ton is straight and has a girlfrie...

This is the last installment of the 'En Of Love' trilogy. As with the other two, they are all pretty independent of each other and can be watched separately, even though some of the characters reappear in all three stories. This story is about love at first sight, where a playboy has an instant attraction for a high school boy and wants to pursue him despite his friends doubt whether he can ever be serious about anyone. One night, Nuea attends a house party with his friends, where he sees Praram. HE is captivated by his smile and decides to pursue Praram, laying on the charm until his target becomes his boyfriend. Nuea introduces himself to Praram at school. He is incredibly friendly and charming around him. Praram accepts his kindness, but doesn’t understand why this stranger is so interested in him. However, Praram is actually the younger brother of Gun, who’s currently dating Nuea’s friend Bar. Gun is protective of his brother and remains skeptical whether a playboy like Nue...

Love Mechanics is the second installment of the En of Love series. Consisting of 4 episodes of about 30-40 minutes each, it is an easy watch, although its still a very messy and boring watch. Just slightly better than its predecessor, it share a lot of the same problems. The only good thing here s that the leads have more charisma here. Mark had a crush on Bar but his heart gets broken. He gets drunk and meets Vee who knows Mark from common friends circle. See sees how drunk Mark is and is making sure that he is ok. In the process the two guys end up kissing. The next morning they are both embarrassed, especially since Vee has a girlfriend. But Mark starts having feelings for Vee and See feels the same and keeps finding excuses to spend time with Mark. But when Vee's friends tell him that his girlfriend has been cheating on him, he can't take it and he becomes a couple with Mark. The next two episodes focus on their courtship, jealousy, return of ex-girlfriend, more misundersta...

This 4 part Thai BL series is one of the three stories featured as part of 'En of Love' franchise. I am really hoping that this story is not an indication of what is to come because that will be a problem. The story is beyond basic, with some the worst actors sans any charisma whatsoever, dull characters and boring interactions. (Tossara refers ti the hashtag that the couple gets from their last names) Gun is a popular medical student. He has a crush on Bar, an engineering student who comes to swimming a lot. Gun knows about it and is always print to watch him although he never makes a move. One day, when Bar loses a personal memento at the pool and posts online message seeking to retrieve it, Gun makes contact with his and confesses his love without hesitation and asks his permission to pursue him. Reluctantly Bar agrees, much to the amusement of his  engineering friends. But Gun is persistent. He constantly shows up everywhere, determined to make Bar notice him. Eventually th...

Hindi film industry in India is definitely taking a good few steps in projecting queer characters and creating a story around them. There have been enough cases when gay stereotypes were forced into films just for comic relief. But only rarely has  Hindi cinema shown gay characters who are not fodder for laughter and jokes. They are sure and confident (maybe) of their sexuality , they own it but there struggle is same as everyone else with respect to how to get people around them accept who they are. This film takes us a on a journey of marriage of convenience. Shardul is the only make cop in an all female police station. He is a body builder and a very macho portraying guy hiding a secret. His family desperately wants him to get married. But courtesy a creepy dating app, he gets to meet Suman, a female physical education teacher who is a closet lesbian. Shardul convinces her to get married to him so thatchy can keep their families off their back. The situation seems mutually benef...

Its not even been a year since I saw the original Japanese series. I knew about Hong Kong version, but I wanted to take a break in between before I saw this. I am glad I took the break, but despite that the memories of the original show were quite intact. Surprisingly, this faithful remake of the very popular show stays faithful to the original, keeps the zany humor alive and keeps for a fun watching experience even for folks who have seen it before. Having said that, this is a Lot of time investment at 15 episodes of almost 45 minutes each. Tin,  friendly real estate agent, is a mess in personal and professional life. He is very disorganized and as a result always at the bottom of scoreboard in office. When a new employee Muk joins the company, the friendly and nice Tin and him becomes friends. Since Muk is looking for. Place to live, Tin offers him his spare room in exchange for Muk doing all household chores, cooking , cleaning etc. Their boss at work is KK, who is a calmed and ...

The purpose behind this documentary is to explore the arguments for the human rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people through the lens of religious, scientific, cultural, civil and legal paradigms. A spectrum of studies, opinions and interpretations are represented and discussed. We follow a day in the life of Christians, Rene Sugar and Kelly Smith, and their family and learn how they reconcile and live within a culture that is often prejudiced towards them. We tell fascinating stories from various world and religious mythologies that are, more often than not, inclusive towards LGBT like characters because of the value they offered their respective culture and humanity as a whole. Discover why these people think they are born equal. This was a very ordinary documentary in my opinion. The only one, and actually very significant difference here was the religious views from a lot of multiple religions and what they have to say. It was interesting to see representations fro...

This part documentary and part drama fantasy film is centered around a research project on the policing around urinals and washrooms in Ontario, Canada where gay men were constantly arrested for sexual acts. The film tries to show the lengths that the cops would go including use of plain clothed agents who would entice you and video footage to make easy arrests. Sadly, the execution of the film is absolutely bizarre and totally weird and awful for common audiences like me. A mystery man brings together a group of dead, gay artists including Sergei Eisenstein, Dorian Gray, Yukio Mishima, Frida Kahlo and Langston Hughes to investigate a police response to the dilemma of wash-room sex in Toronto. The artists have seven days in which to report on the ethics of police tactics. The artists infiltrate the police only to discover that they themselves are under surveillance as a political subversive group. The artists explore and report on the evolution of toilets and wash-room behavior. The on...

This 2012 docu-drama focuses primarily on two transgender friends from Kolkata, India. The director follows their life over the course of a few years, documenting their life, their struggles as trans people, poor social backgrounded how they have to resort to being a sex worker. Chiranjit and Bubai are two young transgender friends from Kolkata. Hailing from poor and uneducated families, they confronted social castration from a tender age. However, it helped strengthening their bond as friends. Bubai, often mistreated in his family, seeks love and care outside. He falls in love with a boy only to be dumped for a 'real' girl. Chiranjit, an only child, is relatively accepted by his parents. He wants a good job. But nobody wants a feminine boy in company. In 2009, they joined Manas Bangla, a non-profit organization working in LGBT advocacy and HIV awareness. Their job is to generate consciousness amongst high risk youth and bring them in for blood test. Months pass and now  Bubai ...

I don't remember seeing a film with absolute minimal dialogues and the story being told just by the characters, by your surroundings, by their interaction and with their eyes. IT sill doesn't warrant a full length feature film, but thankfully the cinematography of the film is quite beautiful. The quietness and visually arresting setting offer a picture of everyday life and young love in China that is rarely seen onscreen. The story starts with Li, who works with dolphins in an ocean park following a guy and then beats him and his friend mercilessly. We are then shown the story in flashback. We meet Ren Yu, who looks like a Chinese pop star and impersonates him in karaoke to make money. The duo are roommates and lovers. Ren Yu is bisexual and is open to having sex with anyone. As vacation time starts, the duo meet a girl. Three characters are more and more fascinated and drawn to each other, when the one night they try betel nut that brings about sexual revolution and experiment...

A gay vampire love story in my books is already a disaster. But thats based on all the weird  and extremely stupid American horror gay vampire films that are more about skin show and nothing else. So I was hoping slightly better form this 8 episode Korean drama. But this show also suffers from a convoluted story and an extremely shallow romance. Even though the episodes are only about 10-ish minutes, the show keeps getting worse and dumber by the minute. Jun Ho is a vampire living between humans. His health is deteriorating since he killed a human. Now the only way for him to save himself from dying is to drink from a "pure blood" human who has fallen for him. A rare species, Jun Ho finds a pure blood guy Min Hyun in his class and he develops interest in him. When Min Hyun gets all attention from the hot Jun Ho, he of course falls for him and spends time with him unknown of his real motives. As time passes, the two fall in love more and more with each other and Jun Ho increas...

Two people in supposedly straight relationships have a chance encounter leading to an unrequited love form the crux of this film. An unrequited love that may not lead to a happy ending, this film reminded me on one of my favorite Peruvian films of all time at quite a few places but this film does not  come even close to that. Its just the setting an idea of people growing and changing in their quest for love over a period if time is always intriguing. Jason is a marine biologist, who wife of 7 years is dealing with sickness, probably cancer. On a work assignment h needs to go tot he island of Polo to lead the rehabilitation and preservation of a fish sanctuary. There he meets Dennis, who is also his assistant. Jason slowly gets to know Dennis' family and their struggles being poor. Meanwhile Jason's dying wife is trying to set her husband up with her friend after her passing. As days go by, Jason and Dennis develop romantic feelings for each other, eventually giving in to their...

This dramatic film from back in 1971 isa film about one night in a bar. Its Christmas Eve and in Manhattan's Greenwich Village, a group of gay men and lesbians meet at the mob-owned Blue Jay Bar to talk about their lives and relationships. While watching this film, I couldn't help but noticed myself thinking of the film 'The boys in the Band' a lot.  Trust me, the premise of the film, as I mentioned above, is just that. A group of friends talking about random things for a good 110 minutes, which are neither juicy, exciting or anything that I would care about. Every aspect of stereotypical gay literature is shown here. There is a confused married man, a new kid on the block from Nebraska, a self hating hustler, a mother drowning her son for being gay, a straight guy in a gay bar by mistake. Being shot in a real location, the production lacks fitness. The lighting is dark and shadowy and at certain points even out-of-focus making it all seem quite amateurish. But if you f...

I am not very sure yet what o make of this dark comedy thriller. It has some real obnoxious characters, a motive, glossy actors, high production but something still is missing in the film. To me, it felt like a cartoonish mess of a film that tries hard to be smart but fails in every way. The film starts with George (a good looking gay man) and his step mom Lux going to a seedy bar to pick up a man for Lux for sex. They meet Joe, whom they bring back home. He is quite impressed by their wealth, but it turns out that the owner is George's dad who  doesn't give this duo any money. They spit venom for the old man. Turns out Joe is a hitman and he offers to kill the old man for them. The trio succeed in this mission, but when it time comes to the will, it turns out that the old man had put only the house in the name of his wife and son and rest all of his money has gone to his illegitimate daughter. The trio look for daughter and Joe along with George find her and kill her. Right ar...

This was one of the oddest films I have recently seen. Had the film just focussed on just the core story, it might have been slightly interesting, but presenting this as a documentary drama with a LOT of documentary footage of multiple pieces of history and artists, left me utterly confused. These scenes take up almost more than half of the film and it was just hard for me to keep my energies focussed on anything meaningful. Set in Ottawa in 1979, we meet a young Peter Cort, a researcher writing a book on male circumcision. He reaches out to a freelance typist Peter Koosens to get his manuscript typed to be sent to a publication. Peter K has a sexual obsession with Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau and regularly doctors photographs to depict himself and Trudeau in romantic entanglements, which leads him to constant check in with cops. The two Peters start a bond with each other. They later meet another Peter  who at different times seduces both these men separately and have se...

You would think that what could a show like this have to offer! A simple drama that depicts the ordinary every day sweet life with funny and hilarious anecdotes of a gay couple in their 40s. Sounds really simple, but I was absolutely amazed by how much I enjoyed the simple yet very very heart warming show. At 12 episodes of around 30 minutes each, each episode features an extended cooking segment showing us some mouth watering yummy Japanese recipes which makes the whole series even better. I know it sounds absolutely weird, but trust me on this one. Also, how come I didn't know about this until now.  40 something Shiro and Kenji are a gay coupe who live together in an apartment. Shiro is a lawyer by profession, who is not out at work and is not very comfortable with people knowing about his sexuality. In contrast Kenji, is a flamboyant and eccentric hairdresser who wears his heart on his sleeve. They are in a committed relationship. Shiro's way to wind out every day after work...

This documentary has its heart in the right place but gosh! It is so bland and boring to watch. Don't get me wring, like I said, these stories are important to be told, but if you want the attention of your audience, you do have to put in that extra effort. What's the point if no one is even gonna watch it. Istanbul and Turkey will always have a special place in my heart, so a documentary from the country focusing on o parents of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender individuals, and the intimate stories they share in front of the camera does sound good. We meet about 7-8 parents, who recount their growing up years and how and when they found out their kids were gay, lesbian, trans etc. They share their experiences very intimately, recounting every little detail (sometimes hard to talk about). And share their stories. They are personal. And then they talk about how through support groups, they eventually got to know one another. How these groups are helping not just kids but m...

This short film (just under an hour) is a character study of sorts of an again gay man in New York city. This film came way back in 1989and I am sure it must have traveled through many festivals. The film may not change your life but it made me think of the times of 80s and 90s, when being gay wasn't easiest and what life could have been like for a gay man. Also salute to the courageous film makers who dared to tell different stories. From a story perspective there is not a whole lot thats happening. 60-something old Biel lives alone in his flat in New York. As he walks through the streets of New York, seeing different places, triggers the three loves of his life and his past. Told us through fatbacks, we are told how he once had a girlfriend, but one summer changed things. A random meeting with a stranger man changes him and he finds himself more attracted to men. The guy, though, treats Bill as a source of money after great sex (probably he is into drugs). Somehow Bill manages to...