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Gaycation: Season 1

By Golu
Gaycation  is a mix of a travel show and a deep-dive documentary that feels incredibly personal. It follows Elliot Page and best friend Ian Daniel as they head out to explore what life is actually like for LGBTQ+ people in different corners of the globe. Instead of just hitting the tourist spots, they really get into the nitty-gritty of the local cultures in Japan, Brazil, and Jamaica. The first season is made up of four main episodes, each about 45 minutes long, and it wraps up with a heavy special episode about the tragic Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando. In Japan, the pair hangs out in Tokyo , looking at the weird mix of high-tech living and old-school traditions. They check out a place where you can actually rent a friend, party in the tiny bars of Ni-chōme, and even see a "friendship marriage" at a temple. The most intense part is when a young guy uses their cameras to finally tell his mom he's gay, which shows how much pressure there is to just "fit in"...
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Days Of August

By Golu

I honestly think the people who made this movie had big dreams that their budget just couldn't keep up with. It’s got a cool sci-fi concept at its core, but the way they actually put it together leaves a lot to be desired. The biggest headache for me was how they handled the flashbacks—they kept jumping around without making it clear where we were in the timeline, which left me feeling pretty lost. While the gay romance is a huge part of the story, the movie actually spends way more time on the fight between the mean government and the rebels. It really tries to lean into that contrast between a cold, scary dictatorship and the warm, secret bond between two guys from totally different walks of life.

The whole thing takes place in a version of America run by a brutal police state, with the city of Harpswell serving as the home for a growing rebellion. We follow Godfrey, whose dad, Thomas, is actually the tyrant running the whole show. Even though Godfrey was born into a rich, powerful family, he’s secretly writing for an underground rebel paper to take down his own father's system. The story picks up years after his boyfriend, August Dupree—a guy from the poor, struggling class—was killed. Godfrey finds August’s old book of poems, and as he reads them, we get those flashbacks showing their secret romance. August was part of the group the government was trying to crush, and while they were having this hidden affair, August was also deep in the resistance. In fact, he didn't get killed for being gay; it was because of the fact that he is from rebel class (even though he himself was never part of any antisocial activity). Reading the journal forces Godfrey to face a ton of regret about his past and the choices he made while the city was on the verge of a revolution.

To be totally blunt, this movie has a massive "indie" feel—at times, it almost looked like a high school project. If it actually was a student film, I might be a bit nicer, but I’m just looking at it as a regular viewer. While the romance was sweet, it felt kind of tossed in there. It wasn't like their families were upset about them being gay; it was the massive gap between the rich and the poor that kept them apart. There’s a scene near the end where August finally introduces Godfrey to his mom so they can have a little bit of peace together, but it felt like too little, too late. The actors themselves were fine, but the movie throws way too many side characters at you before you even get to the main couple, so I never knew who I was supposed to care about.

Between the confusing timeline and the clunky execution, I really didn't have a good time watching this one at all. (2.5/10)

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