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...
In a shoebox flat, Reuben prepares a birthday party for his partner Harry. However, when Reuben starts hearing violent noises from the couple living next door, his morbid curiosity takes over. Harry deeply loves his boyfriend Reuben, but after being humiliated by a failed birthday party, many drinks consumed, shows us that none of us truly knows what we are capable of. For Reuben he comes to realize that violence isn’t always on the outside, sometimes it’s with us all along. A very powerful film.
Three young black trans women pushed to the margins of their community decide to push back by staging a robbery targeting San Francisco's most exclusive luxury brands. The movie highlights the pervasive nature of anti-Blackness and, particularly, how the evils of capitalism affect the Black community. An interesting film for sure (based on a true story), but are we justifying the actions here?
When his visiting son Jackson sits down with him in the local pub, hesitantly moving towards a grand revelation, closeted dad Rich begins to fear that Jackson might be about to reveal himself as queer also, so hatches the perfect plan to show Jackson just what it means to be a real man; by rigging the pub raffle and snaffling the grand prize of a Christmas turkey for themselves. The film is getting rave reviews everywhere but somehow I did not connect with it.
Set in a sweltering, claustrophobic flat, we are immersed in a hazy confrontation between a trans man, Owen, and his on-and-off lover, Seán, following the life-altering result of a pregnancy test. Tactile and sweaty, a thick atmosphere lingers in Seán’s apartment. Hazy cinematography conjures the erotic warmth which pours from an intense heatwave, the weather acting as a physical manifestation of the claustrophobic circumstances Owen finds himself caught up in.
This is a documentary about Asian Purrrsuasion, the Welsh Ballroom community, and being a queer South Asian in Wales today. Alia, Muz and Aiman, the co-founders, use this space to simply speak about themselves. Of finding liberation from life’s difficulties in community, performance, and self-expression. We’re thrust into fast-paced and upbeat moments, dipped into the slow and harsh realities of difference, then communally rejoicing in the presence of freedom, community, and love.
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A man with a bitter view of love travels to Cap Vermell after his fiancé breaks off their wedding. There he encounters people who make him question and rethink what real love is and can be. These include a yoga instructor, a young boy falling for a girl, a gay couple and some employees working there. Not a gay short film, but the gay couple give our lead a new perspective on love and relationship. A touching story in beautiful location about rediscovering life and love after heartbreak.
Jorge, an ambitious restaurant manager, waits for his grandfather to give him the blessing of owning it. Kiko, the restaurant’s first delivery rider, first catches the heir apparent’s ire before his trust, and then his heart. Yet acts of kindness and kinship clear the way for them to find love in an Ilocos town that, ultimately, doesn’t mind their romance. Somehow the film seems incomplete to me.
When JJ, a teenaged boy, accidentally kicks a football into a stranger’s backyard, little do either of them know of the kind friendship the two will share. The stranger, Dorothy, is an elderly woman who largely lives alone except for the occasional visit from her domineering, self-serving grandson. Dorothy’s massive collection of plays and JJ’s love of acting and the theatre establish a strong kinship in their first unexpected meeting. She will help discover JJ the truth about himself.
In a series of dreamlike digital vignettes, two wild fairies engage in an increasingly intense erotic ritual. Through lyrical poetry and oneiric imagery, the film mythologizes the homosexual practice of “cruising”: clandestine sexual encounters in public spaces. These sensual, magical encounters take place in-between worlds. Spaces not yet completely retaken by nature but no longer the domain of man either. A very weird film indeed.
A broke birthday party clown finds out his mother is dying during the gig from hell. He needs the money. The Wife refuses money after a dismal performance and the husband then seduces him for a bj but then refuses to give money. The clown loses his temper and series of attacks happen but the man eventually gets his money. Another word short film IMO.
Actor-filmmaker Joel is casting for an actor to play opposite him in a scene that will recreate a sexual assault based on his own life and he chooses Calvin, a handsome and physical imposing actor. During rehearsals, when the two men are alone on their lunch break, a tender connection begins to form between them, one that is in sharp contrast with the dynamic between the characters they are portraying. The film grapples with the question of whether revisiting such traumatic events in one’s own work is “brave” or “self-absorbed”. A unique film.
Kieran (gay) and Katie (lesbian), two amoral queers in their 20s, host an open house at their Bushwick apartment in a desperate attempt to find a subletter. There’s just one catch…the apartment is infested with bed bugs. This was a very funny film, just to see the two leads scrambling through making it day by day and the eclectic mix that comes to see their house.
Ricky prepares backstage for another sold out performance. He appears composed until he's handed a mysterious envelope. Inside is a handwritten letter from his first love, someone he hasn't seen or heard from in years, and a phone number. He dials it and what follows is a quiet, intimate phone call that reopens old wounds, rekindles forgotten feelings, and challenges the life Ricky has built since. Gorgeously shot!
Comedic shorts by a young queer filmmaker re-imagining three iconic moments from Jesus' life if he was gay, specifically The Last Supper, The Birth, and The Crucifixion. Funny and short but I think more could have been done. It somehow feels incomplete and rushed.
On a cold night in NYC, after missing curfew at a shelter, T-a homeless queer teen-searches for a way to get off the streets. But as the night gets colder and he's exhausted all options, he makes a tough choice for his survival. This could mean him having sex with a poz man and get infected himself, at least that way he wont have to be on streets. An emotional, real and important film.
Ditto, a lonely alien living on a distant planet, stumbles upon a phone left behind by an astronaut. As he explores this mysterious device, he becomes more and more consumed by the idea of who he thinks this astronaut is until, finally, he is faced with the challenge of reconciling his fantasy with the person when the real astronaut returns. A film about our very human tendency to fall for the idea of someone rather than face the truth of who they actually are.
A broke queer man, Jason, attends a hook up with an older man on the promise of cash, but finds himself pulled into a twisted, unexpected and harrowing request that forces him to confront deep questions of life, death, and the price of human connection in unexpected, darkly humorous ways. The twist at the end was unexpected but also weird at the same time.
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