Movie Reviews -
Gay Themed

This Greek documentary celebrates the radical roots and ongoing bravery of queer performers who defy gender norms, especially in more conservative societies. The film takes portrait of ten provocative, gender-exploding artists from Greece’s queer underground. One after the other, they introduced themselves, their type of drag, their message and their influences. After these solo sections, they all get together to discuss the drag sphere in Athens, what it means to do this art and how it is met by the Greek society. Habit-clad, heavy make-up-wearing Er Libido hands leaflets encouraging unsuspecting drivers to support abortion. Aurora Paola defaces the Greek flag by painting the Albanian one on top of it (potentially a criminal offense?). Veronique plays opera for the police. These subversive artists seek to infuse the deeply conservative European capital with a message of tolerance and hope. They vigorously confront racism, xenophobia, LGBTQ-phobia, fascism, jingoism, and the dirty mach...

Inspired by the French. Neorealism style of film making, John tells the struggling story of LGBTQ sex workers in Hollywood, LA. It's a thought-provoking, emotionally charged journey through a world that remains largely hidden from mainstream cinema. Personally, I have never enjoyed. That style of film making and I am also not sure what really was the maker trying to tell us through this film. There have been many more better made documentaries that show us the plights of LGBTQ sex workers. John is an eighteen year old Latino male prostitute, living in the poorest area of Hollywood, L.A. He often steals condoms and medicine from the local stores to support himself, due to his inexperience in the hustling world. Peaches is a black trans prostitute, who often helps John financially. Miguel is an older hustler that teaches John how to please men. John often spends his night wandering through the street, looking for older men to buy him for the night. His clients, men who come from all ...

Told in three parts, Patrick Carpentier’s “The Irregularity of the tearing” is a three part cine-diary intimate journey along the author’s transient love stories: two and a half years of sensuality to question intimacy, an exploration of desire and reason. Part one, “God is a Dog” (2004) is shot on Super 8 and confronts the film makers remembrances of childhood memories and how they interact with his adult love encounters.  Section two, “Les 9 mardis” (The 9 Tuesdays) (2005) deals with the absurdity of the passage of time. Time that reopens and closes past wounds, time that re-opens and cures childhood wounds, time that brings a rhythm to the impossibility of loving, time that provides the courage to continue and to go through mourning. The final installment is “Combat”asks the viewer: how can one let go in a world where one learns not to? Is it possible to reach the end of desire? The tale of two young men both deeply in love who can only express their feelings through acts of phy...

Another one of those trashy shows from Signal23TV. This one can easily be classified as glorified porn if the first episode and the others that follow are to be seen and believed. With 10 episodes of about 18-20 minutes each, the show started well. At least there was supposed to be a story, but soon you realize that the target audience is very different. I like porn as much as the other person, but what I do not want is to be tricked into watching a series which ends up being porn. Tex is released from prison and enters the new world where he enters a journey of finding himself. He is a prison inmate serving time for attempted murder when he lashed out on a gay basher and almost kills him. Tex is a dark soul and is very disconnected with the world because of his past. His life changes when he is released from prison on a new program and has to transition to becoming a law abiding citizen again. Johnson is assigned to his case as a parole officer and is challenged to breakdown the walls...

I must have missed watching this during cove times for some reason. And now when I watched this now, it feels so laughable to be honest. This is obviously a low-budget production that looks like it was sort of thrown together. The production frankly is just awful, and editing made it hard to follow the story. They certainly packed a lot in this short series like love, homophobia, trans rights, rich exploiting poor, made up friends etc etc. The show has 8 episodes of about 20 min each average. We have three main characters in the show - Nico, Prince and Julius. The series starts with Nico saving Julius in a motorbike accident. In a drunken state, Julius kisses Nico. Few months later, we now see that Nico actually moved to this place from his province and he left his younger brother to fend for himself after his parents died. Prince is his neighbor, who one days saves Nico when some local goons are trying to rob him. Two lonely individuals become good friends taking care of one another. ...

Femme is a complicated movie. It is a tough look at anti-LGBTQ+ violence and what vengeance might look like. However, that’s where things get morally shaky and as audience, you question things that unfold in front of you on whether they are morally correct or not, surprisingly not for abuser's pot but from victim. is a really well-worked-through story with tense developments and reversals; it keeps you on the edge of your seat, wondering what these two folks would do next. Jules is a popular drag artist, full of enthusiasm and sauciness and has two close friends (one of them is also secretly in love with him. After his performance, he steps out for a smoke and locks eyes with a shifty stranger across the street. Later on the same night, Jules crosses the same man, Preston, at a shop and the two trade insults after Preston mocks Jules. With his buddies cheering him on, Preston follows, beats, and humiliates Jules while one of them records the incident. This is a brutal homophobic at...

Finding love for gay men has never been easy. Even though this documentary came back in 2011 and I am only seeing it now more than 10 years later, a lot of topics being discussed here are still very relevant. I know that most of us gay men are always looking for the next best thing, or we may be dealing with our own childhood issues trying to push ourselves back in the closet etc, which makes it hard for us. This documentary tries to shed light on why many gay men have the desire to be in long-term relationships, but sometimes find it difficult to make them work. Understanding the effort and commitment required, along with the rewards, of a long-term relationship is important for many gay men and couples. Through interviews with gay men currently looking for the "one" and discuss the struggles they find from within the community and themselves.  Also featured are a married couple from Massachusetts who discuss the methods they have used over their long-term relationship, incl...

“Mango Yellow” is a provocative tale of low-rent losers set in the coastal town of Recife, Brazil. Like characters out of some Carnival hell, a macho butcher and his born-again wife, a forlorn barmaid, a sinister sadist and the gay manager of a flophouse called the Hotel Texas run in and out of each other’s lives in a film as sloppy, sluttish, scruffy and vital as they are. Though the film struggles to reach a meaning beyond its own shock value, it has the kind of in-your-face transgressiveness that some critics look for in a film so that it can make festival rounds. This is definitely not a gay film at all, but one of the main characters is gay and we see a bit of his mindset behind doing things that he does. We have a sexy waitress running a bar who regularly has to shoot down advances from various men. Issac, is one such guy, lives at the Texas Hotel, where Dunga, a gay man, works as a handyman. Dunga is attracted to Wellington, a butcher who delivers meat to the hotel. Wellington, ...

This film was much fun to watch. An ode to a lot of Hollywood action cop buddy movies with a gay twist is how this film can be best described. Of course, you need to remember to not take this film seriously. It's a spoof, and a parody of sorts of all the films in this genre. It is not even close to a perfect movie, but it manages to be a whole lot of fun for those in the mood for an action comedy. And I sure enjoyed it. Detective Bussi is Iceland’s most famous and toughest cop in leather jacket with glasses bashing bad guys. He is trigger-happy, he is a brat, always angry and he has no respect for the rules. He’s a loose cannon but he gets results. Enter Hörður. He is the cop from neighboring town, very tough, a dapper, muscular, pansexual former model. There have been a series of bank robberies and no money stolen and police is perplexed. Man behind these robberies is Rikki, who it turns out used to model with Hoarder but quit after an accident. The police department makes the two...

The film addresses many of the hypocrisies associated with Peruvian society’s attitude towards homosexuality, and also ties in this attitude with prevalent racist attitudes towards the Indian population. It tells the story of the early adulthood of a gay upper-class Peruvian man, Joaquin, who struggles to live up to everyone’s expectations and to come to terms with his own desires. I have seen only a handful of Peruvian films with gay theme, so this was a welcome change. I am very confident that I had seen this film before because memories were all coming back, but I watched it again and this time I can write the review here as well. The story is primarily about Joaquin, a boy who doesn't fit into the traditional definition of masculinity in Peruvian society. His father takes him for hunting hoping that this will make a man of him He is just 15. In the trip Joaquin tries to make sexual advances to the local Indian boy and is rebuffed badly. When he finishes school, his father takes...

Bare documents the creation of an all-male, all-naked modern dance piece by Belgian dancemaker Thierry Smits; from audition to opening night. Told with neither an erotic whisper nor a juvenile giggle, Bare celebrates the male body in all its complexity, might, and vulnerability. Anima Ardens features 11 male dances, all of whom appear completely nude for the duration of the performance. The furiously hypnotic energy of the performance invites audiences to explore the male body, which rarely receives the same level of aesthetic consideration in fine art as female nudes do. This doc films the 11-month preparation for Anima Ardens and offers a window into a unique artistic collaboration. The auditions introduce a unique dynamic that transforms as the film progresses. Smits asks his prospective dancers if they have read the performance description in full and understand that the piece is to be done in the nude. Several dancers are visibly surprised and uncomfortable as they begin crossing ...

I have mixed feelings about this show. These days there are plenty of murder mystery shows and it's important to keep viewers engaged in the story. The show opens with the brutal murder of a gay sex worker in the toilet of Mahim train station and this is where the story begins. The show and story is good but the show takes forever to come to a point. There are so many side stories and every 5 minute conversation is starched into  20 min scene. The show tries to educate and empathize with gay community in India because still it is considered a big taboo in that society. The show takes a gritty yet empathetic look at gay life in the Mumbai underbelly. In the male public urinals of Mahim station, a mutilated body is found. The victim is discovered to be a young gay sex worker; soon enough, another sex worker turns up dead with clue being given on who the next target would be. IT turns out that two police constables are next in line. This will take expertise of Shiva Jende, an inspecto...

This indie feel film could have been so much more. But even in its almost 2 hours of run time, it takes forever to come to the point. The film is about a man in his early 30s discovering things about his sexuality, something we have seen plenty of time before. Is he bored, is he lonely, is he scared of relationship - there is no deep exploration of any of that. Sure love can hot you anytime, but what was it that this film was trying to say? The story is straight forward. Ryan, a man in his 30's works from home mostly and has a roommate. He is consumed by loneliness, living an uneventful life with a dull job that just about passes the time. Ryan is secretly struggling with his sexuality and finding comfort in online encounters with men, usually on video and never in person. At a birthday party for his friend Brad, Ryan meets Brad’s boyfriend Sam and the two hit it off. Ryan and Brad quickly become close and before either of them realizes it, they start having an affair. The next hal...

I had no idea that anime films have been there for such a long time. This film came out back in 1987. The film is a very bizarre story of two male lovers, if you can call that, probably inspired by manga. A tragic romance between Gilbert and Serge,  two students at an all-boys boarding school in late 19th-century France. The film is set in late 19th century in France. Son of a viscount and a Roma prostitute (both deceased), Serge is intelligent, sweet, talented, and alienated by his family due to his heritage. Upon being sent to his new school, he rooms with Gilbert, a gorgeous loner of a boy who sells his body for reasons unknown. He is ostracized by the school's pupils and professors for sleeping with most men in the school. We are never told the reason. His promiscuity is the result of a lifetime of neglect and abuse, as perpetrated chiefly by his ostensible uncle Auguste Beau. The man has physically, emotionally, and sexually abused Gilbert since he was a child. His manipulatio...

Yet another one of those instantly forgettable Pinoy series. I cant really pin point at where does the problem lie. Is it the story, the acting, the direction, the production value or somewhere it is just a combination of all. I guess latter. This show was supposed to have 7 episodes, but I could find only the first 6, each of about 15-20 minutes. Since I did not see the actual finale, I dont know about it, but I can confidently say that I can easily guess how this will end. The title likely comes from the fact that our leading character here wants to learn how to make love to a man. Russel is a young virgin gay man. He wants to lose his virginity to the man of his dreams when he falls in love. He has long harbored a crush on Jake and he always imagines various sexual scenarios of him. We dont know how he knows him or how he finds his sexy pictures to paste them over his walls. Anyway, his friends tell him that rumors are he is a prostitute so Russel needs to be careful of his crush, b...

It was March 2014 that England and Wales legalized gay marriage and John and Bernardo became one of the first officially married gay couple. So for its 10 year anniversary and many gay weddings later, BBC One celebrated it with this documentary hosted by Tom Allen. He decides to a arrange and become wedding planner for a dream wedding for one couple – Adam Johnson and Dan Mackey of Brighton – and interviewing those who helped make it happen; while also recounting the history of how things were in the past and how did we come about to be where we are today. Adam and Dan have been a couple for ten years – the same time as equal marriage has been legal. Tom Allen opens his contacts book and magics up some celebrity help for wedding singer, celebrity baker from Bake-Off for a ten-tier cake.A personal stylist designs the outfits and a celebrated choreographer also helps the couple prepare for their first dance. Some beautiful flowers and bouquets are designed by florists. In between all thi...