I've always had kind of a love hate relationship with Chinese historical BLs. Some are genuinely excellent, but then there are others that cram in so much plot that keeping track of all the layers of betrayal and scheming gets exhausting, and I end up checking out mentally. Part of the issue is also just how much content is out there in this space, so something really has to stand out to keep me hooked. In this case, the production value is genuinely impressive, top tier stuff, but story wise, I just couldn't bring myself to actually care about these characters. There's a ton of political scheming and backstage manipulation running throughout. Somewhere in the middle of all that chaos, a hostage ends up falling for his own Prince Charming. The show runs eight episodes, each around 50 to 60 minutes long. After spending three years guarding the border, Fifth Prince Yin Qi gets called back to the capital because of a secret letter, only to end up walking straight into a deadly...
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When hopeless romantic Tate, prepares to get hot and heavy with a man he meets off a phone app, things take a turn for the worse when they both discover they’re both tops. What starts off as a potential bedroom tango ultimately ends up in a battle of wits and strength to prove who’s pitching and who’s receiving. A bit racist since the white guy assumes that Asian guy will always bottom. The competition goes into muscle, who is hung, wrestling etc.
Rafa is a young transgender and gay man living in a small town. He has resigned himself to the belief that he will never find another man who accepts him, until he meets Henrique, a boy from São Paulo who seems to see Rafa for who he truly is. However, after the events of one night that lead to Rafa's death and subsequent return as a supernatural being, he realizes that he will never be accepted by cisgender society. Fueled by this realization and the circumstances of his death, he seeks vengeance.
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Two lovers torn apart by addiction confront each other one more time at the spot where they met. The plot is simple and pointless doesn't aim anywhere, besides there’re some not necessary elements, like the stranger in the park. Only a drama about a failed relationship, with no message or reflexion. Boring
This animated short (animated with clay back-lit on glass, the film shimmers like stained glass in motion) pays tribute to two men with Down syndrome who shared an intimate and profoundly loving relationship that deeply affected the filmmaker. An interesting film, although somehow it failed to touch me emotionally as ideally a subject like this should. Nonetheless a different yet brave attempt.
A Brazilian immigrant in Brooklyn tries nude modeling for the first time to pay for immigration papers. His client is a creep and asks to be naked with him while drawing basically pseudo-abstract nudist things and he's okay with it until he feels unsafe when he's grappled harshly while they were making out. He continues the job and cums on one of the drawings before saying his time is up and leaving the apartment.
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I found this a bit depressing. It's a subject worth examining, but it leaves you wondering what the filmmaker is trying to say. Alex is a paramedic who saves lives on London’s gay chemsex scene, but can he save himself from it? He goes to an orgy and meet the guy whom he had saved and together they take G and drugs with caution. Th message was not clear but at least we get to see a whole lot of handsome naked men.
This stop-motion animated short film follows the blossoming relationship of Dula and Eden, two teenage Black boys, who refuse to hide their love in a society wrought with homophobia and racism, so the pair create their own safe paradise where they can explore the themes of identity, belonging and sexuality. Nothing is better than being able to live freely as you are and in your own skin without persecution. Beautiful !!
A gay Brazilian immigrant who was just kicked out of his apartment struggles to find a new room while his personal life falls apart as well as the city around him. His prospective landlords are deeply intrusive, and their demands frivolous. The guy is extremely frivolous and working in sauna gives him ample opportunity for sex. It is awkwardness that prevails in these strange interactions, which serve to highlight that even a city as progressive as Berlin is not as welcoming for foreigners as many of us would like to think.
At the end of a night out at a Jerusalem gay bar, Aaron does not find his bag. Without the bag he cannot return home. Sefi, the bartender, tries to help him. Their fates will be linked tonight. Sefi takes him back home and offers him stuff that he thought Aaron is missing. (Religious subtext here). The two end up spending the night together with Sefi telling him how and when he escaped it all.
A queer teen dreams of taking her crush to the prom but fears it will disappoint her grandmother. On her way to work, she meets an elderly woman who's hidden a truth of her own. (this whole thing felt so unnecessary to me) Can they help one another confront the cost of keeping secrets before it's too late? This film could have been so much better but IMO falls short of the premise it paints initially. There were better ways to show Parker coming to terms with her sexuality and accepting it and inviting her crush to the prom.
Dark comedy short. Antek, a polite and secretive teenager from a wealthy family, invites a drug dealer, Kuba, with whom he is hopelessly in love, to his villa under the pretext of another drug transaction. Antek does not know, however, that Kuba is visiting him on a mission he received from his father and brother. The drug dealer's family suspects that Antek is selling the drugs he buys from them. Surprisingly Kuba ends up kissing Antek and suddenly parents are back.
On May 21, 1990, roughly 1,000 activists and members of the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP) marched to protest the lack of available drugs to treat HIV/AIDS. Dr. Anthony Fauci, then director of the NIAID, watches as the activists march around his building, demanding inclusion in his clinical research committees. Meanwhile, a young gay filmmaker captures the events of the protest while attempting to deliver a package to Fauci. As the demonstrations threaten to upend the scientists' work, both men are forced to reckon with the meaning of power and responsibility. Important subject but the film sadly fails to capture it.
Mateo, a writer, invites his friends, including his ex-boyfriend for a weekend and proposes a game: share their best memory of him, and he’ll choose a winner. Actually Mateo has cancer and this is his last chance before he gets a doctor to euthanize him. Without judging the process itself, this film is a journey through the shared memories that bind us. Somehow the emotions in the film are missing for a film dealing with such a sensitive subject.
Four men gather to curse one of their ex-boyfriends by invoking the Holly King, an ancient elemental being, and end up biting off a little more than they can chew. IT seems like one of these four guys had planned everything to get rid of the other three. Decent idea but somehow it was't clear how/why it all started. (But at least you get to see 4 men with their dicks flopping)
Emmett is new to dating men. Theo is not. Their date seems to be going well but when they kiss, Theo realizes that he is probably just an experiment for Emmett and makes it earlier. It is awkward. Emmett takes a bold move to restart everything, more confident of himself and his second first kiss with a man. An average film, nothing much tot all about.
Emilia and Mateo (always dreaming about school jock boys) are 13-year-old kids who have been inseparable since childhood. They´re often bullied and ridiculed, but they find solace listening to the Spice Girls. Now they have a chance to meet their musical idols if they´re brave enough to enter a video dance concert. As they rehearse their dance routine, they confront their own insecurities and bullies, but their friendship and determination keep them going. Their journey to Miami is fraught with obstacles, but they never give up on their dream of meeting the Spice Girls.
An unyielding attachment to the partner he lost in the AIDS crisis of 1980s New York propels a lonely gay man to connect with his estranged family. This film could have been so much more but it scratches the surface, The guy visits, talk to a couple of members and then leaves. There is no talk or discussion or drama, so I felt a bit unsatisfied.
Desperate for a last-minute haircut the night before his wedding, a fancy client enters a cheap barbershop. But he´ll get more than he bargained for when the barber recognizes him as someone from his past. I like the way it keeps flipping who holds the power throughout the short and love the outburst at the end. This could actually be moved to a full fledged film.
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Set in 1727, this short film follows two young sailors who are stranded together following a shipwreck. As they discover the true nature of their feelings for one another, the man are taken in a storm where friendship and faith collapse. The crew gets together to punish them in the name of the lord but destiny has other plans. There is lots of seascape photography, and very little dialogue to augment this short film about faith, loyalty, tragedy and love; so overall strictly ok.
New Rio, 2054 AD. The Order of Truth wreaks havoc on the streets, killing every being that has special powers. Renowned witch Dahlia is determined to beat the Order and assembles a clan of trans and queer people, each with their own supernatural talent. The fate of the city is in their hands. In the future, many people are trans - but only a few are witches. This was such a weird film by all means.
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