Stories of Our Lives is an anthology of five short films with LGBT themes from the East African republic of Kenya. It was made by the Nairobi-based art and activist group The Nest Collective, many of whose members prefer to conceal their identities to avoid possible persecution under Kenya’s notoriously draconian anti-gay laws. The film is still banned in it some country. The five dramas are mostly personal and domestic inspired by true incidents. ASK ME NICELY Kate, a rebellious young high school girl, meets first-love Faith, a fellow student. They begin a secret relationship, until the school principal takes action to separate the two by suspending Kate from the school. Back at home, Kate impulsively has a sexual encounter with a boy in her neighborhood. Two weeks later, Kate and Faith have an awkward reunion leading to their separation. RUN After negotiating a business deal, Patrick stumbles upon a local gay bar with his homophobic best friend, Kama. Patrick later returns to the clu...
Reggie, Richard and Melvin are flamboyantly gay guys who had been best of friends since they were elementary school kids. They all have their share of problems, and we see a nice funny intro to all three. Soon Reggie is diagnosed with leukemia and he seems to be depressed. To keep everyone's spirits up, Melvin suggested that the three of them take a short break from their jobs and drive around the various scenic spots in Camarines Sur. Along the way, the three had several adventures -- mostly happy, some sad, some strange, some risky -- which made them discover more new things about each other. We see Melvin reconnecting with his estranged father who accepts his son of who he is. We are also told that Richard has been hiding a secret from his friends. He is dying of cancer and has very few days left and his friends find out only when it is too late a the dies. Reggie starts chemo and fights it completely only to die in a robbery and as you can expect, something funny happens with Melvin too.
The idea of the film is to underline the importance of having good friends in anyone’s life. These three have their own share of misunderstanding but things are eventually ironed because their friendship is more important. Richard's secret does come as a surprise because suddenly the film takes a serious turn. But the final afterlife scene, we realize it’s really their way of showing not to take things too seriously. After all is said and done, they’ve really spent the best days of their lives together and they’ve accepted each other for what they are, warts and all. As I said before, most of the gags do not hit right. Some of them are really funny and I found myself smiling at the silliness of it all , but they worked. Unfortunately, overall as a whole product, this gay comedy leaves a lot to be desired. The makers tried to add plenty gratuitous shirtless beefcake shots of several young men for the gay audience to ogle at, and I have to admit they were successful at that. But overall I would say that the film was not that funny or worth even spending time. (3.5/10)
Comments