Movie Reviews -
Gay Themed

I've seen anime tackle the Omegaverse before, but this Chinese show  Desire  is really pushing the envelope by being one of the first live-action versions of an Omegaverse book. Just a heads-up on how this world works: Alphas are the aggressive, dominant leaders, with S-class Alphas being the best of the best. Betas are just regular, neutral working-class folks who don't really stand out. Omegas are the nurturing, submissive ones who can get pregnant whether they're male or female. Then there’s the rare, mythical Enigmas, who actually have the power to tame an Alpha and turn them into an Omega. This series is a massive time commitment with 16 episodes that run over 50 minutes each, so you really have to pay attention to the two main BL romances and the big corporate drama happening in the background. The heart of the show is about Hua Yong and how obsessed he is with an S-class alpha named Sheng. Sheng is a total package—loaded, incredibly handsome, and a shark in the busin...

This documentary is a really intimate and level-headed look at the homophobia in Uganda, and it gives a voice to both the gay activists on the ground and the people who are out to get them. I’ve had this on my watchlist for ages because I actually spent some time in Uganda back in 2014 right when that law was being passed, so I had some personal history there that made me want to see it up close. I finally just got my hands on it recently. The title refers to "Kuchu," which is the local word they use for homosexuals. What’s wild about this film is that we don't just hear from the brave few activists standing up for their rights; we also see the people on the other side. Their hatred and bigotry honestly feel like some deep-seated pathology, and seeing their methods is a terrifying look at how mob violence actually gets started. The film is partly built as a portrait of David Kato, who was the first man in Uganda to come out publicly, but it also interviews several other g...

I gotta say, this story actually kicked off on a decent note—even though I’ve definitely seen something super similar before about a guy traveling back in time. But man, it didn't take long for it to just turn into your typical, cliché high school love story. It hits every single BL trope that’s been done to death over the years. You're basically expected to just throw logic out the window for everything that happens, but honestly, even if you manage to do that, the storytelling is just so mundane, boring, and unoriginal. It’s ten episodes long, and each one runs about 45 to 50 minutes. So, the plot follows Win, a young student who’s trying to put together a high school band. He ends up falling for Nut, the guitar player. But here's the twist: Nut has a brain tumor, and neither the band nor his parents have any clue. He somehow talks his doctor into keeping it a secret, promising he’ll come clean right after the band's big competition, because winning one of those has a...

This indie flick is basically the story of a gay teenage romance that’s found and then lost, all wrapped up in a Halloween party setting. Honestly, that’s the best way to put it. It’s got a super thin plot—maybe just a one-liner about a guy trying to find some closure—so it feels way more like a character study than an actual, full-blown love story. The movie jumps back and forth between these really intimate flashbacks and the present day, where a lot of scheming is going on. It follows the relationship of Anatole, who’s semi-closeted, and Liam, who’s a total bleeding heart. They’ve been broken up for a bit, but Liam is still hurting like it just happened yesterday. He’s dead set on getting a second chance, so he sneaks into this exclusive Halloween party because he knows for a fact Anatole is going to be there. Once he’s inside, this girl catches him and threatens to blow his cover unless he agrees to babysit her creepy little "ghostly" brother while she runs off to hook up...

This one is a pretty interesting movie. It was apparently marketed as a gay film, but I honestly don't think that’s the right way to label it. The main character isn't even the gay one here. It’s really a deep, emotional story about a tense relationship between a father and a son, where it’s actually the dad who is gay. You kind of pick up on hints about it throughout the whole movie, but it isn't until he actually says the words out loud that you feel those familiar "coming out" vibes and the weight behind them. The plot itself is fairly straightforward. Young Jonathan spends all his time working on the farm and looking after his dad, who is really sick with cancer. His aunt helps out with the farm work, but there's some kind of major drama between her and her brother, so she refuses to actually go see him while he’s dying. Between the farm chores and trying to manage all these delicate family problems, Jonathan barely has a second for himself. When a female ...

I honestly had no clue that people were making vertical BL shows in Ukraine, but this production definitely comes from there. I’m not 100% sure if they actually filmed it on the ground in Ukraine, but the production house is based there for sure. Plus, you can totally hear a clear accent that makes it pretty obvious the series was put together somewhere in Europe. Like most of these vertical BL dramas, the story hits on the usual themes of friendship, falling in love, doing what you're told, and a whole lot of mixed signals. The story follows Jake, an orphan from a poor background who beats the odds and snags a scholarship to this super elite college. Aside from one close buddy, literally nobody likes him there, and they spend all their time putting him down. The big shot in town, William, is part of that crowd, and the two of them end up getting into a few messy situations because of it. As a punishment, the principal forced them onto the same basketball team. That’s when William ...

So, there’ve been a bunch of movies and shows about the whole John Gacy nightmare—that serial killer who raped and murdered over 33 young guys in Des Plaines, IL. This version is eight episodes, an hour each, and it really digs into one of the worst spree killers and sexual predators we've ever seen in America. What’s wild is that the violence you see on screen is almost totally psychological. The show doesn’t really get into the weeds of the court case; it’s way more interested in how they actually caught him after that last missing person report came in. It spends a ton of time on the victims, their personal stories, their families, and just how much this whole thing wrecked the people left behind. It all starts with the frantic search for Rob Piest after his parents tell the cops he’s missing. Gacy is the guy everyone points to since he was the last one seen with him, but the cops find nothing at first. They decide to shadow him for a few days, and slowly, the truth starts bubbl...

Pieces Of Love (Nigeria) Nigerian short film that delicately explores the intersection of love, vulnerability, and self-discovery in the most unexpected of places. In the wake of this emotional upheaval, Tobe temporarily moves in with an old friend—what begins as a simple act of comfort soon deepens into something more intimate. Over the course of a single week, the shared space becomes a quiet sanctuary where unspoken feelings surface, and a slow-burning emotional bond blossoms into love. Bad acting but heart is in right place with a restrained portrayal of queer love in a society where such expressions are often silenced. Gayniggers From Outer Space (Denmark) The film from 1992 follows a group of intergalactic homosexual black men from the planet Anus, who discover the presence of female creatures on planet Earth. Using rayguns, they proceed to eliminate females one by one from Earth, eliciting gratitude from the previously oppressed male population. Before leaving the planet, they l...

This Taiwanese series is a 10-episode run, with each part clocking in at about 25 minutes, and it tells the story of two childhood best friends finally figuring out they’re in love. I know the whole "friends-to-lovers" thing has been done a million times, but this one actually hit home for me. I think what made it work was how every single episode flashed back to them as little kids, showing exactly how their bond started and grew over the years. It made the whole relationship feel much more real and relatable. Junxi and Han Tuo have been inseparable since they were kids, usually hanging out in a trio with another girl. Back in the day, Tuo was this super shy, lonely kid who would just sit by himself on the playground while the other kids played, mostly because things at home were a total disaster. Junxi was the one who kept reaching out and making sure he wasn't alone. Fast forward to university, and Tuo has transformed into a total heartbreaker with girls constantly cha...

This coming-of-age movie really dives deep into the messy, complicated feelings of being a teenager. It’s about a sixteen-year-old boy figuring out his sexuality and capturing those delicate moments when you start to pull away from your family to find your own way, even if it feels risky. When it comes to the actual plot, I’ll be honest: there isn’t a whole lot going on. The movie is much more about setting a mood, building an atmosphere, and exploring that early sexual longing, so it definitely asks for some patience from the audience. The story follows a family of five—mom, dad, and three sons—on a cycling vacation from Barcelona to Germany. They spend their days biking along the Danube River and their nights crashed out in tents and campsites. The oldest son is sixteen-year-old Didac, and along with his two younger brothers, he seems pretty bored and exhausted by these unplanned biking trips. Through conversations with his parents, we find out that Didac has a crush on a boy named G...

For a long time, Scotland really didn't "do" gay. Being gay was considered dangerous and taboo, and it actually stayed illegal there until the 1980s. It’s pretty wild to think about how a country that seemed to take such pride in its prejudices managed to flip the script and end up with some of the best gay rights in Europe. Back then, homosexuality was just something that families, churches, doctors, and society in general chose to totally ignore. Dr. Jeff Meek, who wrote  Queer Voices in Post-War Scotland , explains that there was basically a total ban on even talking about same-sex desire. While gay men had been targeted by strict laws since the late 19th century, same-sex contact between women was never actually made illegal. Gay men existed, obviously, but they didn't fit that "tough guy" image of Scottish masculinity, so they were forced into the shadows—meeting in public toilets or secret parties. If you got caught, the fallout was brutal: you could f...

This film is a really moving drama from Singapore about a drag queen who heads back home to look after his mom as she struggles with dementia. It’s a super heartwarming story that uses a bit of deception to pave the way for healing and self-discovery, exploring themes like family and identity along the way. I haven't actually seen a ton of queer cinema coming out of Singapore, so seeing an LGBTQ+ narrative handled with such an open heart was a really nice change of pace. The plot kicks off with Jia Hao, a drag queen who has been away from home for years, returning for the funeral of his abusive father. His brother is constantly traveling for work, so when their mother starts showing clear signs of dementia, Jia Hao decides to step up and become her full-time caregiver since healthcare is so pricey. During one episode where his mom completely forgets who he is, he impulsively pretends to be her daughter just to keep her calm. From there, the movie turns into a tender story about Jia...

Honestly, this is one of the worst Thai BLs I’ve sat through in a long time. Just about everything that could go wrong with a show did go wrong here. The plot is incredibly weak and packed with so much filler that nothing meaningful ever actually happens. They try to give one character a backstory, but it adds absolutely zero value—if anything, it just makes the whole situation feel more ridiculous. The romances are totally flat, and they lean into those tired, "jealous female" clichés that are just so annoying to watch. The whole thing was a total train wreck across ten episodes that somehow dragged on for 55 minutes each. The mess revolves around two main couples. You have Knight, who has been crushing on Mild for a while and constantly flirts with him to try and win him over. Mild’s older brother, Kan, used to be friends with Knight but now constantly tells him to stay away from Mild. Meanwhile, there’s this "casanova" type named Per who is chasing after Kan; Per...

Set against the backdrop of amateur soccer in Cuba,  Delantero  is a pretty solid coming-of-age story centered on a young guy trying to figure out—and at first, totally deny—his own sexuality. It’s a quick watch at just over an hour long, so it doesn't demand too much of your time. Interestingly, it was originally released on Cuban TV years ago but only finally made its way over to the US in 2025. The story follows a teenager named Freddie, who lives with his dad in a small Cuban town. Freddie is deep in the closet, and while his dad is oblivious, the local rumor mill is already starting to whisper that he’s gay. After Freddie comes home one day all bruised and bloody, his worried father demands to know what happened, but Freddie covers it up by claiming he was fighting over a girl. To keep him safe from further trouble, his dad sends him to Havana to stay with his aunt. While there, he hits it off with a guy on a local soccer team who convinces him to join the squad. However,...

I’ve been dying to see this movie ever since I heard about its big debut at Cannes. It’s a bummer I missed it on the big screen, so I had to sit tight until it finally hit streaming. While it might look like your typical slice-of-life gay romance, it’s really more about two people finding a deep bond during a pretty rough patch in their lives. It’s a very tender look at two guys just trying to figure out how to exist when everything feels a bit broken—dealing with being fatherless, being single, and feeling like the life they knew has been totally uprooted. The story kicks off in Mumbai with 30-year-old Anand, whose father has just passed away. He travels back to his ancestral village with his mother to handle the cremation and the ten days of traditional rituals that follow. We find out that Anand was actually open with his parents about being gay, especially after a former lover left him to marry a woman. Once they’re back in the village, his mom warns him that the neighbors are goin...

This Korean series is a really lighthearted and sweet story that manages to be both charming and surprisingly easy to relate to. On the surface, it’s about a high school teacher finally meeting his absolute favorite celebrity crush and seeing where that leads, but there’s actually a bit more going on under the hood. The show is a quick watch, made up of ten episodes that each run for about 25 minutes. The plot centers on Aejoon, a contract high school teacher who is a massive fan of a singer named Siyeol. Siyeol’s music basically saved him during some of his darkest times, so Aejoon is totally obsessed, even though he keeps his poster-filled room a secret from his coworkers and students so they don't make fun of him. His life gets turned upside down when Siyeol actually shows up at his school to film a reality show called  Go! School Teacher . The production team needs a real staff member to show Siyeol the ropes, and to everyone's shock, the idol handpicks Aejoon. Aejoon is in...

Shine  is a period drama set back in 1969 that brings back the stars from  KinnPorsche , placing them right in the middle of all the political chaos happening in Thailand at the time. To be totally honest, there is a lot going on in this series—way more than I was actually ready for when I started it. I feel like if I’d known exactly what I was getting into and really focused on every little detail, this could have been an incredible experience. I think I’ve just become so used to the usual, simple Thai BL tropes that this one caught me off guard in a bit of a negative way. The plot is pretty dense, and even though there are only eight episodes, they are massive—most run over 70 minutes, and the finale is basically a 90-minute movie. The story centers on Trin, an idealistic young professor who just got back from studying abroad. His world gets complicated fast as he gets sucked into community work and the gritty student protest movements of the era. He’s trying his best to hel...