Movie Reviews -
Gay Themed

Dealing with sensitive subjects in films is never easy. The film makers here take a muted, almost ambivalent stand on the subject, which show sis the questionable relationship between a 29 year old man with a 15 year old boy. As a film, it is a pretty straight forward execution without much drama trying to show as 'matter of fact' events and what/how happens. I guess it is left to the audience to make their own morality decisions. (Although looking at the film's dvd poster, which features only the younger male, rather than the duo which should have been the case for a film whose title has names of two protagonists) Eban returns to his hometown Christmas from Seattle. He is a bit vague about the reasons he has come (which we later find out). Killing time growing through local shops, he sees a young 15 year old handsome boy Charley and rather insistently strikes up a friendship on the pretense of swapping lessons about guitar and being lonely etc. You can tell that Eban likes...

I am not sure why am I even wasting my time watching this film. This is like a soft porn, almost in the category of those Japanese Pink films with paper thin storyline. As audience you constantly question, why this film was even made and did anyone actually watch the film at all? A British soft-porn film about a young lad who travels to Manchester you get a couple of cock shots but not many, the sexy guys on the cover make up for that. The story is about this journalist or a film maker interviewing a porn star about how gay porn films are made and focusing more on Jake, a popular star. Told in multiple flashbacks, we are told story of Jake, how he realized his sexuality in school, his hook up with a school mate. He eventually comes to London and accidentally meets this guy who is being interviewed. He teaches him the ropes of picking up older gay men and become a rent boy. Eventually he gets indoctrinated into the world f gay pornography and more money. The film says it is a satire and...

I had mixed feelings about this film. A subject like this could offer viewers a very moving experience , but somehow I just didn't connect. And this is no fault of the makers. I think the subject itself was ok but to make a full fledged film probably ended up making it gloomy rather than a touching and moving fare. Thankfully two brilliant performances save the day. Estranged brothers Ryan and Theo meet anther father's funeral. Growing up Ryan was the perfect son, while Their was good fo nothing drug addict. The duo reconnect trying to get to know one another better. Theo realizes that he hardly knows anything about his brother Ryan, his wonderfully fabulous gay life past. Ryan also reveals that he has AIDS and that he will eventually die soon, making Theo realizes that he wants to do everything he can to make his brother's life comfortable. The film involves Theo getting comfortable with Ryan's life. Meeting his friends and taking good care of him in hospital and home,...

Who would have ever thought of a lead gay cartoon character. This animated series is almost 20 years old, but somehow I wasn't even aware of it. Queer Duck was the first animated series to have homosexuality as its predominant theme and is about a "group of American gay animals" with their personalities seemingly "based on gay white men." There are 20 episodes each of about 3 minutes long, so its an easy breezy watch. Queer Duck is the lead character who is known to gossip about anything and everything, especially on the phone while watching television. Over the course we find out he has Jewish mother in denial of his sexuality, a straight brother, a nephew and lesbian sister. 'Openly Gaytor' is Queer Duck's boyfriend. He is insecure and shy and usually a voice of reason. One of their friends is Bi-polar Bear, who often makes bad jokes and no one else but he finds it funny and finally Oscar Wildcat, an urbane alcoholic cat, who has a deep dislike for...

I wasn't very excited by the title of the film, but it wasn't half as bad as I thought it could be. This film is kept together by some brilliant acting by its leads, both the younger and the older version of the same character. The film and dialogues are sharp and funny yet emotionally touching too. The story wasn't just focused on the gays as comfort gays but it also tell a story of a great friendship, being true to yourself and acceptance. "Comfort Women" were women who were forced into sexual slavery by Imperial Japanese army. Markova is an older flamboyant gay man who lives with other older gay men in a home. One day when he sees a documentary about comfort women, his past rushes back to him and he decides to tell his story. He manages to find a reporter his story, his family and friends. Growing up as Walter and one of the four siblings, his older brother used to bully him and beat him for him so flamboyantly gay. But Walter never understood why it was being ...

A film like this that was made for TV in 2000, has its heart in the right place. But it gets so repetitive with its fallouts and redemptions so often that it gets tiring to watch. With all the positivity that the film tries to evoke, these factors take away from the film to reach higher goods. This is a story of redemption which tries too hard to make people cry and manage that with having a lead character being a famous drag queen. Holiday Heart is a very famous drag performer who is yet to get over her boyfriend's death. She hopes to go to Paris to restart her life. One day he meets teenage Nikki and her mother Wanda who are being abused by Wanda's boyfriend, and Holiday invites them to live in the next door spare apartment that he owns in a building. The three eventually become a unit and start living happily as family. The sis until,Wanda falls for Drug dealer Silas and ultimately reverts to her habits if using drugs, prostitution and being a good for nothing mother. After ...

It's going to be really hard to put this film in a specific genre. An uninhibited romantic satire, a racy sex comedy are just some of the adjectives that comes to mind while I write this. I can very well see people pointing out all sorts of problems with this film, but I will be honest I quite enjoyed the humor and acting. It was quite different and the gags were all in the right place. Alain is a middle age lawyer, who wants them all, another way to say he doesn't know what he wants. He likes both men and women (men more than women) and perpetually runs away from commitment and prefers token his freedom. There is so much going on in his life. His boss/work partner wants to marry him. She fears being lonely and even though they both know they can't love each other, they both openly talk about making beautiful babies and living together. Surprisingly, she gets pregnant the first night they sleep together. Then you have a young boy Christophe, who is totally smitten by Alain....

The film when released in 2000 was one of the first ones by, about and for African-American gay men. Of  course, by now we all have seen plenty of those but at that time this was a big deal. Surely, from a story perspective it all all the 'necessary' elements of drama, humor, emotion to keep the audience engaged and busy and like the film. 21 years later, its sometimes hard to appreciate all the good work that happened years ago, but even today this was not a bad film to watch at all. The story is about 4 friends. Marcus is hopelessly romantic and refuses to just have one night stands, also because he is scared off by AIDS paranoia. Then there is Hill, who on his 30th birthday finds his boyfriend cheating on him, so he walks out the next day. The life of the group is drag diva Chris, who apparently has a steady boyfriend whom no one had ever met and finally the baby of the group, Latino rich kid Dante who is on the one-trick-a-day diet. All these individuals are going through t...

This film had received amazing reviews all over and I believe has also won multiple international film festivals. Naturally my expectations were high, and sadly they were not met. A non-linear format of story telling needs a lot of patience and somehow after 30 minutes into the film, I completely lost interest and was barely able to finish through the film. Charlie is no longer with his boyfriend Chris. He prowls on the streets (either hallucinating or with dreams) of manhattan looking for a man he saw several months earlier.  harlie has other encounters with men who care but he finally meets Dean, who is unabashedly racist, sexist and homophobic. Nevertheless, Charlie, pretending to be straight, buys Dean drinks and smokes a joint with him. Dean takes Charlie to a gay cruising area looking for victims, but Charlie is able to warn away the intended target. We soon find out that  Dean and his buddies had murdered Chris several months ago in a hate crime and Charlie is here...

This was a very interesting film, filmed in a very guerilla style probably using video cameras and what not. The violence somehow still seamlessly weaves throughout the film which is filled with social realism. The film does take us through the grim reality of the city of Medellin in Colombia, which thankfully I know a lot more about having recently watched the Narcos series. I was, hence, thankfully able to relate to the film better. 50-something Fernando meets 16-ish young handsome gay boy Alexis at a party and instantly has a liking for him. They both get into a very organic relationship naturally. Fernando has recently moved back to his city after years and they both walk around talking about the changes that this city has gone through. Alexis, though super young, does carry a gun with him, like most people in Medellin, just in case, he ever gets attacked for his own safety. Even though Fernando has come home to die, his sarcastic views on the city and everyday robbery, violen...

I am not too sure about this film. It was well made but something was really odd about the whole thing. I just couldn’t connect with the characters. When the lead says, no one understands him, I was in same category, because everything weird or strange in life was somehow oddly romantic for him, including someone’s rape. I mean, we have to draw a line somewhere. The film shows three different possible outcomes when a couple decides to break up. Ryan is a struggling writer who has been with his boyfriend Joel for 3 years now. On their third anniversary, Ryan meets Leo, a college student and they hit it off immediately. Apparently Leo is the only one who understands Ryan’s off taste in movies, books etc. Though he loves Joel, Ryan feels stifled by the relationship's stability and senses that Joel doesn't appreciate his artistic temperament. Ryan decides to leave Joel and this is where 3 different scenarios are shown. In the first version, Ryan gets together with Leo and the ...

Dustin Lance Black is the name that became famous, at least for me, after his phenomenal oscar winning speech for Milk. So, when I realized that this film was directed by the said man, my expectations were high, but, to be fair to the man, this film came much before Milk came and hence I had to give him some slack even in terms of expectations. The film is actually a simple yet vulnerable story of a young man's search for independence and sexual discovery; the people who he meets along this journey, the deceit, the loneliness and perhaps a chance to love. Young and very innocent 19 year old Jared arrives in LA from Georgia and books himself in a hostel. Jared’s room mate is hustler and he needs to use his room with clients often. Jared has no choice but to live with this arrangement. During one such time,, is when he meets Robert, openly gay, they become friends and even share a kiss but Jared is still an inexperienced man and doesn’t know what he wants. He soon finds a job as...

A romantic comedy is exactly the right phrase to describe this film. The film is about gays and friendship and how a group of gay friends deal with their day to day life dealing with friendship, love, drama, acceptance, family and romance. Not to be taken very seriously most times, the film does manage to send some messages across as well but in a very subtle way. Because it is an ensemble film, it never really focuses on one specific character. Petty much every character gets ample scope and hence it also does give a soap opera feeling sometimes. The film is set in gayville, West Hollywood and follows life of gay friends. They hang out at coffee shops, clubs and each other's homes. We meet Dennis, a photographer who often holds the group together and hosts a lot of parties; Cole, a very handsome, charismatic actor and room mate with Dennis who often ends up with other people's boyfriends and can't stick to a guy for more than 2 weeks maximum and breaks their heart; Be...

This movie spans across almost 50 decades of life in a small town in Homer, Connecticut. Actually the film could easily have been 3 major episodes, which are not really related to each other except the location but yet all share the common ground. They fall in the category of queer (lesbian or gay, in this specific case). I wonder when this was shown on TV, whether it was shown as one long film or as three different episodes. The film is narrated through the eyes of a character, whose job is to raise the town's flag every day. In 1954, when he is 6 year old, he witnesses the arrival of Dorothy from navy, one of the first woman veteran in town. When she is out looking for job, rumor soon spreads out that she was dismissed by the army on charges of sexual deviance. There is only one woman in the town who comes out to support her and even listen to her version of the story. Dorothy is confused about her sexuality and while her visits to a gay bar with one of her gay friends from ...

This film is not just a story about friends and friendship. Rather the film focuses on deeper issues of living with HIV, alcohol issues among gay youth and finally the challenges and insecurities that most people have in relationships, be it gay or straight. The film primarily focuses on these different aspects throughout the film where the central characters in my opinion are 2 friends. Sam and Bastl are very close friends. After having diagnosed with HIV, Sam goes into depression and alcohol. Sam is an afro-german wannabe singer. He leaves his boyfriends house and find another place to live which is completely run-down. His friend Bastl deeply cares for him. We see that Sam meets another guy Rainer and completely falls in love with him because this guy likes him despite his HIV status. They break-up because Sam finds him cheating with another guy and throws him out of the aptt. He is trying to get his life back together and move on without the fear of Aids. Meanwhile, both Bastl a...

This film is filled with great performances, a heart-touching plot, an underdog winning and the circumstances that feel too real. It will be wrong to categorize this film as strict gay-film but I think this definitely falls as a gay cult classic given the nature of the lead character and the storyline. 11 year old Billy lives with his widowed father and older brother, who work in a coal mine factory which in on a strike. One day when his father takes him for boxing class, he immediately dislikes it and chances upon a ballet class that issuing the same gym. Unknown to Jackie, Billy joins the ballet class. When Jackie discovers this, he forbids Billy to take any more ballet. But, passionate about dancing, Billy secretly continues lessons with his dance teacher. His teacher thinks that Billy deserves to study at the Ballet school in London but both his brother and father prohibit him from doing so thinking that everyone will think Billy is gay. Over Christmas, Billy learns his best f...

I am not very sure what was the point of the director behind this film. I mean this could have been an excellent play (which I believe it is based on) but from a theme perspective, it was a little confusing. The film is a commentary on relationships and sexuality. It did shows how a self-indulgent bisexual man restructures the lives of 3 people as he introduces them to new sexual adventures. 50 year old suave businessman Leopold picks up a shy 19 year old boy Franz and brings him back to his house. They both indulge in a verbal game of seduction. Their motive is clear but they play with words. Franz tell Leopold about his girlfriend Anna and how they are going to get married and Leopold tells him about his fiance. Act 1 concludes with Franz lying naked waiting for Leopold. Act 2 shows the 2 men living together, just like a married couple, fighting over every little thing. Franz is in stay home wife mode taking care of Leopold. Meanwhile Leopold is clearly a tyrant in his own plac...

This film is a very sweet story about two teenage boys who frequently engage in "Krampack" which is apparently Spanish slang for masturbation. It is about sexual awakening in the teenage years focussing on best friends Nico and Dani. A key is that the title characters are not sleazy party animals, taking advantage of women and not thinking twice about it, but sensitive and confused. Without guidance, reasoning is tough for them...especially because they are searching for who they really are, which means also coming to terms with their sexuality. Dani is spending his summer at his parents beach house. When his parents have to leave for work, his friend from grade school Nico comes to visit him like every summer. At the house, he is tutored by Sonia, a young woman and Marianne who comes to cook the food. Nico and Dani who have been the best of friends have resorted to the "krampack" to relieve their sexual frustrations in the absence of girls to sleep with. Dani is p...

Another one of those films which needs immense patience to watch it. I have that at times and then there are times when I just can't wait for a film to finish. Unfortunately, when I saw this film, I was in the second category. Reading reviews online tells me that this film is supposed to be a masterpiece but I nowhere felt that. In fact I dont even know why this film is classified as gay cinema. Yes, there are naked fit men all over but that itself doesn't qualify it for gay cinema. Galoup is an officer at a French Foreign Legion outpost in the Gulf of Dijbouti, where he enjoys a close relationship with the Commanding Officer and works with a team of fit young men who work hard all day and play hard all night. When Sentain, a new recruit, joins the troops, Galoup believes that it upsets the delicate balance between the C.O. and the other men. Sentain is well-liked by his comrades for his good humor and selfless nature, and his virtues make him the C.O.'s new favorite. Galo...

The fact that this film had Javier Bardem was the primary reason for me to watch this film. I had no clue that this film was based on a real character of that of late Reinaldo Arenas, Cuba's most charismatic literary voices. The film is made in a documentary way and it touches on his childhood, but concentrates on the '60s and '70s, during which time Arenas was considered a counter-revolutionary by the Cuban government because of his writing, as well as his homosexuality.  As a young man, Arenas is singled out by his teachers and encouraged to further his skills as a writer -- no easy task, considering the Castro regime's censorship of any work considered to be subversive or anti-authoritarian. Still, the author manages to smuggle his work out of the country through friends, who arrange for one of his novels to be published in France. Not only persecuted for his creative beliefs, the openly gay Arenas is jailed on a bogus sex charge; he escapes internment only to be ca...