Movie Reviews -
Gay Themed

This one's a light, fun musical comedy through and through. I wouldn't exactly call it a gay film in the strict sense, but with so much of it built around drag culture and the way the two main characters end up finding a home for themselves within the LGBT community, it definitely earns a spot as a queer friendly watch. It's not trying to be deep or serious in any way, but purely as entertainment, I had a genuinely good time with it. The plot's pretty straightforward. Connie and Carla have been best friends since they were kids, and now they're struggling singers and performers trying to make it, even though their boyfriends don't seem too thrilled about their dreams. Everything changes when they witness their club boss getting murdered and have to run for their lives. They end up choosing LA as their escape since it's far enough away that the criminals won't be able to track them down. Once they settle in, they stumble into a drag club completely by acc...

This documentary is nearly twenty years old now, and it follows a gay couple as they navigate the stressful and exciting journey of their first pregnancy through surrogacy. You get to see it all— the hope, the nerves, and the dramatic hurdles they have to clear along the way. Back in the day, this was probably a massive deal, but since I’ve known a few gay couples who’ve gone through this exact process, some parts felt a bit dated to me. I liked bits and pieces of it, but I also felt like the film stays pretty surface-level. It doesn't really dive into the deep, complicated reality of life after the baby actually arrives. If only raising a kid were actually as simple as this movie makes it look! Erik and Mark have been together in New York for ten years, and since they feel solid in their relationship, they decide they’re ready to raise a child. They start the hunt for a surrogate and eventually connect with Wen, a wife and mom from Maine who agrees to carry the baby for a standard...

A highly awkward blending of gay porn and political satire, I am very curious to know what was the pitch that the filmmaker made to whoever decided to finance this film. I have seen a lot of garbage, a lot of that can also be found here on my blog, but this one is almost down there almost challenging all the others in the category. I mean there was more than enough graphic sex, for this to not be termed as porno-'something' film. In the name of story, I am not even sure if there was a point being made. Some random dominatrix woman decided to call herself leader and sole female member of titular Berlin revolutionary group inspired by Reich, Marx and legendary 70s German anarcho-terrorist organisation. Some members of her gang kidnap a wealthy young man, whom she orders to have sex with another man, because “Heterosexuality is the opiate of the masses" (whatever that means). Pretty soon there are a few groups who become a subject to man to man sex. All this time random sloga...

This a queer anti-bullying horror movie can be best described as the porn horror genre in which almost last 30 minutes or even more is just porn. The acting and the direction of the film was so bad; even college students can make better movies for their project than this weirdness. Do not let a sexy inviting poster fool you. Zaffo is a geeky, part time high school janitor and pizza delivery boy. He is bullied by the high school cool kids, other employees, and even the pizza clients. According to his insecurities and sexual fetishes , the worst bullies are a group of high school jocks. During a particularly fraught incident, the high school coach catches the jocks mid-bullying and lines them up against the wall for a dressing down laden with homoerotic tension. Despite the coach’s punishment, Zaffo exacts his own revenge by kidnapping a bunch of the boys, hypnotizing them and forcing them to perform sexual acts on each other against their will before he covers them in cheese and kills t...

Romance and rivalry are the two primary components of this film. I wouldn't call this a gay film, per say because the focus is on the mother, but given her sons are gay, this film definitely warrants a review here forepeople who might be interested in prominent gay characters being featured in a film. The film was overall a fell good film where, I guess the importance of family and th bond is what comes to the forefront despite the sexuality. Jen runs a successful restaurant business with best Chicken rice in Singapore. She has three sons whom she raised single handedly. Two of them are openly gay. Daniel is a successful pilot, who lives with Tim and then Harry, a dafdy gregarious guy who has a new boyfriend every other week. Jen has all her hopes on her third son Leo to get her grandchildren. Leo, as of now is young to sexually discover himself, but he does spend a lot of time with his best friend Batman. Jen's best friend is Kim Chui, who has loved her for years and runs anot...

This film reminded me a lot of the Hong Kong film Suk Suk, which was also about growing love between two elderly man. Of course, this film came much before Suk Suk and also differently executed, but at the core of it, you can't help but think of the similar setup. BBC has given us some interesting made for TV films and commentaries involving queer storyline and this is another one of those stories where the message is that you are never too old to make changes in your life. We are introduced to our two protagonists. Ray is retired can driver, but also an aging footie thug who loves to get involved in brawls. He has two kids and multiple grandchildren. His kids are very much part of life, but ever since his wife died few years back, he lives on his own and his family and friends are his only company. And then we have Jim, who has just retired from teaching in a public school where he was also a student. Fate brings them together when Ray takes Jim from school in his cab on the retir...

This is actually a pretty bad film. The only good thing is that its is less than 50 minutes of torture. Actually if done right, this could have been an interesting premise, but the makers went on some weird tangent where at some point just nothing made sense anymore. Apparently this is inspired from the true story of a serial killer who used erotic asphyxiation to commit his murders and then eventually shot himself. First 1-15 minutes are spent in silence setting up a premise where our serial killer meets various young gay men, have sex with them and kills them by strangling them. One day, a young 17 year old boy is cruising a park doing photography and he chances upon the dead corpse of this serial killer who has shot himself. Questioned by the police and his father who is part of the investigation, he becomes obsessed with the string of murders linked to sexual encounters with young men, and his curiosity contributes to an art project as well as his own drive to experience how the mu...

To be honest, I really don't think that this 4 part BBC mini series needs to be documented here. Yeah, the main character was gay, but besides that the homosexuality angle is not really the core of this series. London, early 1960s. Harry Starks is a dangerous mobster, a club owner who loves money, rent boys, and Judy Garland. He's an East End gangster who, in grandiose Kray Twins style tradition, is not only prone to streaks of madness, depression and a violent temper, but homosexuality. His penchant for Spanish Inquisition style justice has handed him the Fleet Street moniker of "Torture Gang Boss". He revels in a nether world of minor celebrities, fund raisers, boxing, showbiz, gambling clubs and philanthropy, for the sake of public image. We witness story of Harry Stars through 4 main characters in his life Teddy's Story: Racketeer Harry Starks sees Teddy Thursby, an impecunious peer of the realm with a predilection for young men, as a means of joining the Esta...

This is a film about unconventional people and their unconventional lives. The sequence, place and chronology is out of order and it keeps moving from present to multiple flashback sequences. The film is directed in a poetic sort of way, where sometimes not much is happening but as if you are witnessing a trio's life in front of you. We meet Stephanie, a transsexual who has been reduced to turning tricks as a prostitute. The flashbacks show her as a young boy, Pierre. We also meet her Bisexual Russian boyfriend Mikhail and another male lover Jamel, who also is dealing with some family issues while working as a gay prostitute in Paris. As the story develops, we see Stephanie leaving Paris to care for her terminally ill mother, together with Mikhail and eventually joined by Jamel. The film shows us through multiple scenes how the trio come to meet, the events of their past, how Stephanie's relationship with her mother is finally being amended. There is no end or beginning, just a...

This is the second installment in the three part Daydream Obsession series. The good thing is that after watching the first film, I knew what to expect and went in with very little expectations. The bad thing is that this film is equally bad, soft porn and nothing to much write home about. Clayton’s obsessions are in the past, he tells his video journal. He has moved on from Brian and has finally found love with Luke and they have dated for six months now. Mostly he is content, but something makes him think that Luke may be cheating. He decides to follow Luke around to see who he is cheating him on with so that he can punish those people as well. In the process he ends up threatening a homophobe, a girl who is Luke's colleague and finally a young friend of Luke. Clayton’s obsession and joy with overpowering those home wrecking victims lead him on a delusion filled path of naked men playing with themselves and plenty of full frontal nude shots.  Not much has changed in this version....

Touted as a film that follows an overly complicated exploration of racism, homophobia, family dysfunction, police corruption, prejudice (racial and gender), and most important gay homophobia! What it ends up being is a contrived and confused film which is all over the place stretched beyond belief before it starts to make a point. William Boyals is a successful lawyer from south, who is gay and he keeps himself busy with work. he is off and on seeing another guy in the city. In a small neighborhood of New Orleans, a young gay man is killed outside a gay bar. When the local cops dismiss the murder as a suicide and refuse to do anything about it, his mother reaches out to Boyals for help. When he comes to town, he meets a lot of people, untrustworthy cops, closet black gays unwilling to help, hateful white trash and finally his mother that disowned him when he came out of the closet to be a successful gay man. Boyals is attacked by different men and he struggles to find the killers....

I had to fast forward this film(?) to even live through it. I hate it when even after the end you can't say whether it was a real documentary or a drama film shot in documentary style. I guess we will call it docudrama or mockumentary. The film essentially is about the male sex workers (gigolos) in Beijing, China. We see interviews with many young boys telling us their stories of how they came into this business and how they need the money. We hear how they go targeting their customers, what are the things they keep in mind and so on. But sadly there is no proper character development on any of the main protagonist. They could be easily interchangeable. The production values are really bad. Yes, you do hear the stories of these young boys and how these men have been forced into the business sometimes by hook or crook and most times just to meet their basic needs. This film seems to have been made just for the sake of it. If someone seriously wants to showcase the plight of mal...

Yet another one of those films, which I cannot decide if they should be reviewed here or not. Given that this played in a few LGBT film festivals, I am gonna write a very short review. Besides the fact that most characters in the film are gay, there is nothing queer about it. There are no talks of love, closeness or nothing. For some, this may be a good thing, because it shows that the film is focussed on the core subject; but for others (people like me), it is a slight disappointment. Because truth be told, I would have never touched this movie of not for the gay context. Gavin is a comic book nerd and a lawyer for a company developing new technology. He is good friends with the scientist Robert and one day an accident happens and Gavin realizes sudden subtle changes inside him. One night after a party, Gavin jumps to save a hot guy from hate crime on an alleyway, thereby realizing his powers for the first time. With the help of scientist Richard, he realizes that he now has ener...

This film was a little unreal in my opinion. The context and the chemistry and everything seemed a little too convenient. I mean, i agree, that most times, stories are not meant to be real, but I feel there should be a believable path or execution to bring things together. Why would an 18 year old fall for a hustler is beyond my imagination. The film is not even that old. It came out in 2004. Its hard to go back and judge in the past but I doubt , even then I would have thought any better of it. Cliff, lives a sheltered life with his very open-minded mother and 10-year old sister Cookie. Just when his boring 18th birthday celebration is bringing him down, his sister surprises him with Vodka and a joint and asks him to go to town and lose his virginity. Cliff finds himself among hustlers and takes liking for a guy named Butcher. Their attraction is mutual and he has a fun night but doesn’t have sex. That’s cos Butch sees sex only as something to do for money and not for emotional i...

I think I saw this film long time ago but I really can’t remember much (including the fact of I have even seen it). I started to like the film initially, especially since the lead was quite cute in a very interesting sort of way. Its difficult to describe his looks. Anyway, as the movie progressed, boredom started taking over and i wasn’t sure where this film was headed. I believe that the film was not just about the male protagonist. Equally important was his relationship with his best friend Marie. We meet Loic, a twenty year old very beautiful guy, who works in a chocolate factory by the day and spends pretty much all his nights having anonymous sex either online or through cruising the streets. All he cares about his physical satisfaction, until he meets Lionel (whom we never see), who is more interested in Loic’s personality , history, likes and dislikes rather than going to bed with him. And this is a new feeling for Loic. He shacks up with his best friend Marie, who works a...

It is such a shame when a very promising premise comes alive on screen in a very naive and uninteresting way. Sure this film came back in 2004 but film-making wan’t so ordinary then. Such a film made in 80s would have been a lot more acceptable but I found the screenplay and the treatment leaving a lot to be desired. It seems that makers just wanted to incorporate all kinds of stuff in their film rather than focus on the core story line. The film is told in flashback by means of the lead character Henry by a reporter and the events being discussed happened 6 months ago. Henry, a teenager, is the only son of Republican senator, who is up for re-elections. Being conservative, the senator condemns homosexuality, not knowing Henry himself is gay. The senator plans to kick off his re-election campaign at a luncheon at Henry's college campus and he expects Henry to deliver his introduction so that he can influence the youth of today. Henry doesn’t have a good relation with his fathe...

This was a weird film to understand. I tried hard and wanted to understand and was hoping that something logical will come out of it but unfortunately it didn’t. It doesn’t mean that film was bad or story was odd. The problem according to me is the way the treatment was done of the film. Constant flashbacks and pretty much no explanation of anything that happened in the past just adds to more confusion. Having to write the synopsis now itself is a task because that will completely depend on what my understanding of the film was. By the way, also it is not really a gay film. It might be gay interest because of Clemen's character but thats it. Leo is Sugar, Clemens is Orange. Together, they are two ten-year-old boys who are inseparable, really close friends. Cut to current day, when Leo is all grown up, running a club and has jus stated a romantic relationship with Lena who turns his feelings upside down and awakens his inner child, the one still searching for unconditional frie...

What an utter piece of garbage this was. I mean common. You can’t just make anything in the same of visual masterpiece. In my opinion this is the height of self-indulgence. What use is a film, if only 10 people are going to watch it? I just read that when it was screened at Cannes, people left the screening and then boo-ed it but then later it was given jury prize and suddenly everyone started praising the film. This is just ridiculous. Keng is a soldier assigned to a post in a small city in rural Thailand. Everyone likes him in the village but his heart is set on Tong, who he meets in a truck in the village. They start blossoming a friendship which slowly turns into romance. They have a connection between them and we just see the two guys taking random country trips and walking along jungles and killing time. Then suddenly film shifts into a second act, following some ancient Thai fairy tale. Tong has now disappeared and is believed to have become a ghost tiger. We then suffer th...

This film is more like an extended version of a short film. The essence and thought is nice to portray  a tale of love and longing and confusion between two young lovers but somewhere it misses to hold your attention. Win and Krit are best friends from school. But while Win longs of the day he will start to raise a family, all Krit wants is to take his relationship with Win to the next level. Win may not think himself to be gay, but his relationship with Krit is an essential component of his existence and the two frequently spend long days hiking through the wilderness together. Krit even has a scrapbook filled with pressed flowers from their many hikes. One day, the lifelong friends take a hike with two women. In this specific trip that the film focusses on, Krit feels he is loosing Win to the girls and also in general in his life. He is heart broken. The film doesn't end on a happy note. Krit ultimately looses his love to a girl but he makes his peace with life. Credit to ...

This could be termed as one of those coming of age gay teenage stories. It could also be termed as something that holds your interest, except I believe that I am watching this film quite late in the game. I believe, if I had seen the movie earlier and maybe with a better frame of mind, I may have actually enjoyed the film. But hey, i can't have control over everything , so I will have to review this film as I felt after watching it. Ethan Mao is living very comfortably in his suburban home with his chinese family. When his step-mother finds out that he is gay, she manipulates her husband and Ethan is booted out of the house. Ethan starts living off the street as a hustler where he meets Remigio, a part time hustler and drug dealer. For some reason Remigio take instant liking for Ethan Mao. For thanksgiving when Ethan Mao gets to know from his brother, that the family is going to be away for a while, he decides to visit home to get some of his mother's stuff but fate has so...