Movie Reviews -
Gay Themed

This one came out in 1988 and was apparently HBO's very first gay themed TV film. It was adapted from a play and that becomes obvious pretty quickly because almost the entire thing takes place inside an apartment with just two people talking through their grief and going back and forth about whether that grief even belongs to both of them equally. The story picks up after the death of a man named Colin. His ex-wife Marion, who was with him for over a decade, and his lover Arthur, who was by his side through the brutal final months of living with AIDS, are brought together in the loft they've both inherited half of as per Colin's will and now need to sell. What follows is the two of them sitting with old grievances and new ones, circling each other, confessing things, and slowly working through a shared loss that neither of them quite knows how to carry. Marion reveals that she herself has been infected with the virus. Arthur, understandably but also a little selfishly, want...

This Indian series is being sold as a story about a gay man falling for his straight best friend but honestly, at its heart, it's really about friendship and what friendship can look like when it gets complicated and messy and emotionally loaded. It's available on the YouTube channel of Last Leaf Pictures, seven episodes of about 30 minutes each. I had mixed feelings throughout and a big part of that comes down to how I felt about one of the lead characters, but more on that in a bit. Anshul and Kavith are the two men at the centre of everything. They first meet on a train heading to Delhi, both of them not really ready to go back to their hometowns. They get off midway, turn around and head back to Mumbai to give themselves one more shot at the life they want there. Anshul is an aspiring actor with a young son back in Delhi living with his grandmother. Kavith is gay, freshly out of yet another relationship, his 17th by his own count over the years. The two strike up this unusu...

I kept putting this one off for the longest time, honestly not sure why. Some part of me had convinced myself it probably wasn't going to connect with my LGBTQ world but wow, was I off. This film completely caught me off guard. It's this clever dark comedy that somehow manages to be genuinely funny and deeply serious at the exact same time, and it's packed with surprises from start to finish. The film brings together Roman and Dennis, two young strangers who cross paths at a support group for people who've lost a twin. That kind of grief is so specific and so strange that really only someone who's been through it could even begin to understand it. Roman is this quiet, physically imposing guy whose sudden bursts of rage are all the more unsettling because of how still he usually is. Dennis is skinny, openly gay, and has this sharp self deprecating humour that he uses like a shield. They're completely different people but tragedy pulls them together and that bond ...

If you watched Season 1 of Gaycation and loved it, Season 2 picks up right where it left off, that same blend of travel show and real documentary that made the first season feel so genuine. Elliot Page and Ian Daniel are back and this time they're taking us to Ukraine, India, France, and the Deep South in the US. There's also a special episode that deals with what the Trump administration's policies meant for LGBTQ+ people. The main season is four episodes of about 45 minutes each and then that special wraps things up. Ukraine is the first stop and they land in Kyiv just before the country's second ever Pride march. The tension is real, you can feel the weight of both Russian influence and the Orthodox Church hanging over everything. They sit with activists who are genuinely risking their safety just to walk through their own city, a march that needs riot police because counter protesters are right there ready to get violent. One of the most affecting moments is meetin...

There haven't been many films about aging gay men , so its always nice to see a film trying to address the subject is some capacity. This film is not as much about love but more about what could happen to certain gay men in the prime of their life when their families don't want them anymore and they are so lonely. Friendships and love/admiration can bring a spark in your life anytime of the day. Friendship between two old men becomes love in their own way. Slightly-unkempt, tired, and frail, Philippe Lanctot moves into an old age home. He is single and apparently his younger sister used to take care of him, but now after his death, he is almost forced to be in this community and he is not happy about it and is almost grumpy. The staff there tries to cheer him up but it's like he has given up on life. Suddenly a man named Victor arrives in his room on wheelchair. He is brash, talks a lot, has no theory of personal space or boundaries and is a chatty Kathy. Philippe finds him...

So this one is basically a documentary about what it means to be transgender, what transition actually looks like, and how medicine is stepping in to help people get there. Instead of just following one person, they decided to show a bunch of different people all at different stages of their journey. Smart idea honestly. The whole thing is just about an hour long. We meet Charlotte first, she's a trans woman and she works in this very old school, very masculine railway maintenance job. Her part of the story is really about the social stuff, not surgery or anything medical, just the everyday reality of telling your coworkers, changing how you dress, asking people to use a different name and pronouns, and just living with that fear of how people are going to react. Then there's Jamie, a trans man who's just starting his medical transition. His story is a lot about testosterone treatment and what it feels like when your body slowly starts to catch up with how you've always...

Love in Protocol (Korean Mini-Series) - 2026 4 episodes of average 10 minutes each. The main character is a researcher running a clinical study on human behaviour. He asks deeply personal questions, getting his test subject to open up about himself. These two men have already met before. Years ago, they developed a close bond over their private tutoring sessions. Nothing romantic happened back then, but those unresolved feelings have resurfaced. A boring romance with barely any emotions at all and even storewide it has really nothing new to offer. Setting a romance inside a psychological experiment seemed intriguing, but it ends up being a big yawn. The kissing scene at the end was decent but the story doesn't give any opportunity for either of the actors to show their potential. Awakening the Steppe (Chinese Mini-Series) - 2026 A carefree vet and guesthouse owner, Amur, who lives in a grassland encounters an injured Singaporean traveler, Lei Ze Xin. Lei Ze Xin is here to fulfill h...

Set in the coastal town of Latina, Italy, the series explores adolescence with an honesty that is both disarming and deeply immersive. It masterfully explores gender fluidity, sexuality, and the struggles of modern youth. I wouldn't call this strictly a queer show but then a good part of it I about the lead hiding the true nature of his gender fluidity and how a lot of things happening around him is because of the guilt/secret that he is hiding regarding it. So in that regard, I would say that the show expands on familiar coming-of-age themes but pushes them into more complex, fluid territory. Season 1 is 8 episodes each of about 45 minutes. The central characters are two brother Andrea and Marco, both high school students and not legal yet. Marco is outwardly confident but secretly struggles to connect with others, while Andrea, the more outgoing of the two, wrestles with his gender identity and expression. Told via time jumps between present day and recent flashbacks, Marco’s tur...

There are bad films and then there is this! Awful doesn't even begin to describe how bad and totally unnecessary this film is. How does one rate a film less than zero? This film could be used as a torture to make people sit through this and try to not laugh at the absurdity and sheer bad acting/direction all around. The film is about this comedian and wife. They have apathy marriage and the husband keeps joking to his wife that she is having affair with her best girlfriend (which she is, it seems). After the comedian's sudden death, a man shows up at the funeral saying that the husband was involved in an affair with a mute rent boy and now that he is dead, the wife needs to pay the dues that are owed. She is not surprised by learning of the revelation. This is when the "girlfriend" steps in and says she will take care of it. Meanwhile, the mute rent boy finds some sort of admiration and attraction for the wife, which is never clearly explained. He wants out for himsel...

This one is based on a true story and it really stays with you. Adam is a young trans man from Egypt who's seeking asylum in the UK and the situation he's stuck in is honestly maddening to watch. He can't get prescribed testosterone until his asylum is granted, but he can't get his asylum granted until he proves he's serious about transitioning. It's a total catch 22. The film was actually presented as part of the BBC's Lights Up festival, which was this big showcase of UK theatre adapted for TV and radio during the time when all the theatres in the country were shut down. It takes a little while to settle into what you're watching but once you do, it's genuinely heartbreaking. Adam was born female in a very conservative Egyptian family and always felt completely out of place in his own body and life. His mum would constantly remind him to be more ladylike, calling him princess, all of that. There's a point where things feel hopeful because Adam ...

A Thai BL series in vertical format, made to be watched on your phone. I've come across a few English ones like this but a Thai vertical drama was new for me. And going in I already knew what to expect because this genre has its clichés down to a science. Sure enough, this one delivers a full on toxic revenge-to-romance, enemies-turned-lovers plot with plastic surgery, messy hookups and drama piled on top of more drama. It was originally made as a 60 part show but I watched the whole thing in one go. Honestly I don't even know why I keep watching these vertical dramas. They're so bad but there's something so weirdly fascinating and stupid about them that you just can't stop. Bing had a rough childhood, bullied constantly and traumatized about his looks, bad acne and a couple of kids who made his life miserable. Fast forward and he gets plastic surgery, comes back to town as this hot guy that everyone suddenly wants a piece of, including the same boys who used to bul...

Even if you've already seen the Sean Penn film, this 1984 documentary about Harvey Milk hits differently. When I found out it had won the Oscar for Best Documentary that year, I was curious to see what it covered and how much of it might have actually fed into the feature film we all know. Watching it now, it feels like so many things at once, a piece of archive history, a political case study, a study of a city, and something genuinely emotional to sit through. The filmmaker builds this really vivid picture of Harvey Milk by weaving together old stock footage with interviews recorded nearly a decade after his assassination, and by the time it's done you walk away with a deep admiration for the man and everything he managed to do. Milk worked under San Francisco mayor George Moscone on a city supervisory board that was headed by Dianne Feinstein, and he wasn't just fighting for gay rights, he was speaking up for everyone who felt left out of the system. We get a look at his...

If you've ever been curious about the world behind gay strip clubs, this OUTtv docu-series tries to give you a peek into that life. Set in Wilton Manors, Florida, which is known as one of the most LGBTQ+ dense cities in the whole country, Stripped Down was created by Matt Cullen and follows six gay male strippers who live and work together in South Florida. Six episodes, about 22 minutes each, and it tries to balance the glitzy nightlife stuff with the more personal, vulnerable side of who these guys actually are. The six men share both a living space and a whole lot of emotional baggage. Crush Daddy is South African born and comes with one of the more compelling backstories of the group, a former Division I basketball player who went through addiction and rebuilt his life through stripping and adult content. Silas packed up and moved from New York to South Florida chasing opportunity and that restless energy comes through. Jax is the more reflective one of the bunch and has even w...

To start with, the version of this movie I watched was just terrible. It looked so old that I felt like I was watching something from the 1950s. Since it came out in 1985, the movie doesn't shout about the main character being gay; instead, it gives you small, subtle hints. But even if the picture quality had been perfect, it wouldn't change the fact that this movie is really strange and just plain boring. The story takes place in the city of Querétaro in 1957. It shows the mean things, violence, and hate that gay people had to deal with in Mexico during that time, especially in small towns. The main character is Jardiel, a young guy who lives with a mother who controls everything, a sweet father, and several brothers and sisters. He is secretly in love with his friend Carlos, who he went to college with and now works with. When Jardiel finally gets the nerve to tell Carlos how he feels, Carlos says no. This rejection sends Jardiel into a deep sadness, which gets even worse bec...

Season 2 picks up right where the first one left off, staying focused on LGBTQI+ pioneers, changemakers, and the broader rainbow community in New Zealand. It keeps shining a light on diverse voices from Aotearoa, including gay Māori men, and runs for 6 episodes of about 26 minutes each. The season kicks off with community activator and actor Grayson Goffe heading over to Australia to be part of the 50 years of world gay pride celebrations in Sydney. He spends time with First Nation leaders and meets trailblazers from the world of stage and screen, drag queens included. Episode 2 keeps us in Sydney where Grayson attends his very first Mardi Gras, connects with First Nation icon Crystal Love, and marches across the Sydney Harbour Bridge alongside tens of thousands of people celebrating 50 years of queer liberation. Episode 3 shifts gears and introduces us to actress and presenter Aroha Newby and her partner Pooja who are hoping to start a family. Since there's very little information...

It's one of those in-between films, not quite a short and not quite a feature, clocking in at just 50 minutes. Hard to know where to file it honestly. But it's got a simple charm to it, part comedy, part sexual awakening story, and it does just enough to keep you watching without demanding too much from you. So Basil is this classic womanizer type who runs the moment any girl starts catching feelings. After a hookup with Lily, she gets fed up and puts a curse on him, nothing ritualistic, just pure frustrated girl energy, basically wishing that he feels everything he's put all those women through. That same night, his childhood best friend and roommate Theo gets his heart broken when his girlfriend turns down his marriage proposal. The two guys sit there consoling each other, one thing leads to another, and suddenly they're kissing and then sleeping together. The morning after, they both just pretend it didn't happen. Basil eventually goes back to Lily looking for so...

The premise of the series might be a little too simple to take it seriously and make It believable, but sometimes simplicity is the way to go. I liked that the characters here are straight forward, there are no malicious evil people out to Destry relationships. It's just two individuals, with their own personalities and what they actually are and what they become when they are with each other. The show is 8 episodes of about 25 minutes each average. The plot follows an asocial but ambitious fashion student, Chiaki, whose ultimate goal is to design clothes for his favorite model, AE. He doesnt talk much to anyone in class and just focuses on himself. Opportunity knocks in the form of a design competition for students, where the winners will have their clothes worn by AE. The theme is 'human connection', and the outfits will be judged on the runway.. However, Chiaki is forced to team up with his clumsy classmate, Enaga. Chiaki isn't close to him and dislikes Enaga's t...

This drama from Tunisia isn't strictly a "gay movie," but at the same time, maybe it actually is. It follows the lives of two siblings, Mehdi and Hind, as they navigate some really messy situations. Mehdi is struggling through a secret relationship with another man while trying to decide if he should just go through with an arranged marriage to a woman. Meanwhile, Hind is forced to deal with her current life while digging up family secrets that have been hidden for a long time. I haven't really seen many Tunisian films that talk about being gay, so even though I wouldn't label this a "gay film" first and foremost, the fact that it treats the subject with the respect it deserves—rather than just using it for a joke—is exactly why I wanted to talk about it here. Hind is a thirty-year-old actress who is currently starring in a play directed by her husband, Taoufik. The weird part is that the play is actually based on the real, tragic life stories of Hind an...