Movie Reviews -
Gay Themed

First of all I would like to give a big thank you to the makers of the film for showing us this bitter truth and ugly reality of one of the aspects of Section 377 in India. The incident occurred six years ago, in 2010, but the film's themes – the violation of one's privacy, imposing one's morality on others, intolerance, and society's ten Professor Siras is a 64 year old man who teaches Marathi at Aligarh Muslim University. He is shown living a very solitary lonely life busy listening to his favourite singer’s old classic songs. As part of the sting operation, he is caught and filmed having sex with a rickshaw-puller from worker class and is subsequently suspended from his position in the university just 4 years before he is supposed to retire from the university. Deepu, is a budding journalist, and when he reads this whole story, wants to help the professor. After initial misunderstanding, he finally manages to strike a bond with the professor; something that star...

Coming Out (UK) Quirky comedy about deaf identity - a deaf teenager reveals a personal secret to his hearing mother. Why does he have ‘dirty’ magazines and videos hidden in his room? What will his father say when he finds out? The unexpected revelations question whether family life will ever be the same again. You can easily draw parallels with being Gay. Wonderful film! Keep Breathing (Israel) A young man’s strong feelings for his ex turns into an obsession when he starts stalking him and even turns up at his girlfriend’s house. Better sense prevails and he is back to reality with support of his best friend. Just Tonight (USA) Two strangers meet on a hookup app with very different expectations of how the night will go. For one, its the first time and for the other, its just a getaway from his boyfriend. Listen (UK) A government worker, who spends his time monitoring phone-calls, becomes inspired by a series of conversations between a gay son and his mother. Duvid (U...

This was an interesting weird film. I don’t think I still completely understand what exactly happened with the whole twist, but to be honest I really don’t care. Yes, the film is confusing, yet pretty straight forward and it still keeps for an engaging viewing. It never lets you bore besides the confusion that it adds. Also I don’t think it is a gay film per say. Yes there is a gay couple and yes maybe  they try to seduce the straight guy but thats that. 40-year-old Anna brings her much younger lover, Stefan, to her childhood home. She meets her old school friend Bernd and his boyfriend Marc of 20 years. The protagonists stay in a secluded location )of this house in east Germany) for a few nights, the house serves as a pressure cooker of emotions and sexual tensions. There is open-pit mine activities going o the town that sends occasional small quakes in the region. The metaphor also is important since it is the similar quakes thats happening in Anna’s life. Marc, who is a well ...

Taking a very important and crucial moment in gay rights history and reducing it to mere background for a coming-of-age story is not cool. The title and the trailer of the film creates expectations from the viewers, especially the ones who had witnessed the ordeal but alas! To be honest, I have not seen many films on the subject, so I am no expert to say whether the said events are shown to reality or not, but I can still very confidently say that, the title should have been used to make a better film with more facts. Danny, is a small town Indiana boy who arrives to New York after he is discovered to be having an affair with his football team-mate. Danny’s father who is the coach can’t deal with it and the boy is exiled. He arrives on Christopher Street in Greenwich village and is befriended by Ray, an androgynous, who slowly starts falling in love with Danny. He also gets support from other trans members and hustlers (mostly street living LGBT members). The entire group hangs ar...

Now this would be a first for me. An entire film about journey based in sea, essentially a sea trip (not a road-trip) movie of coming out and finding love along the way. Almost entire narrative happens in sea. The film is actually shot in a very documentary style like where even the conversation between the 2 characters is told to us as a monologue from one of the protagonists point of view. An interesting experiment I would say! Marek is helping out his mother on her farm an dreams of going to university to Berlin. But plans change and instead he decides to follow his dream of becoming a sailor. While waiting for his boat to sail, he meets Jean, a fellow sailor, youngest on the boat and they befriend each other. Marek’s first introduction to Jean is when he sees him getting intimate with another man. In the ship while Marek is training, a bond starts to develop between the two men which eventually leads to occasional sex sessions. But, alas, Marek is looking for a long-term boyfr...

Timothy Conigrave’s bestselling memoir Holding the Man, an intimate account of his 15-year relationship with lover John Caleo, was published in 1995 and adapted into an award-winning stage production in 2006. This time the script gets moved into a cinematic version. I have neither read the book , nor have I seen the play , so I will be able to judge the film as standalone. Even if I thought the movie was a little confusing, it does give you a feeling of what AIDS involves and how it effects loved ones. At 16, Tim, a budding actor has hots for his classmate John, who also happens to be this aggressive soccer player. This is in 1976 in Melbourne when being gay was probably not the easiest thing. Anyway the two start having an affair and are really too much into one another. Their parents soon find out, when John’s father discovers a love letter written by Tim to John. They are forbidden to meet each other but true love knows no bounds. Time moves and they are in college and are very...

An interesting idea and thought to showcase a day in the life of two closeted gay Muslim teenagers in Brooklyn. When I read this one-liner summary, I was definitely intrigued because there is so much that can be done in this subject and space. So I was really looking forward to it. I would summarise this film as a very simple indie film that gives you a glimpse into something that you may have not experienced first hand. Reserved Naz and outgoing Maalik have formally taken their friendship to the next level, though the religious teens have yet to declare their sexuality to family or friends. They make money by buying lottery tickets, oils and other small items from a local convenience store and hawking them on the streets for a profit. At the start of the day, an innocent encounter with an undercover cop selling guns catches the attention of a FBI agent. The outrageous unfairness of her harassment of them loops into the larger theme of Muslims in New York becoming accustomed to su...

Some of My Best Friends (a terrible name)was an American sitcom shown on CBS shown in 2011. The series was inspired by the film Kiss Me, Guido. The show was cancelled after season 1. Its a shame that it was cancelled because guess what, despite full of stereotypes and caricaturing every character, this is still funny. I personally would have been very interested in watching what happens next but I guess we will never find out. Warren is a gay man living in Manhattan. When his bf leaves him, he needs to find a room mate to pay bills. Italian guy Frankie replies to his ad for GWM looking for roommate thinking that it means ‘uy with money’ instead of ‘Gay while male’. The two end up sharing an apartment, alternately clashing and learning to respect each other. They are surrounded by an assortment of secondary characters who are all hilariously funny. Frankie’s pushy mother, his browbeaten father, his dumb straight best friend. Then we have Warren’s sister and his closets gay friend a...

The Image (UK) The image being painted by an artist comes to life to terrify the life out of him (and us). The imagery is stark and disturbing, & the sound effects oppressive. The film presents the shockingly homoerotic relationship between a painter and the young man who was his inspiration. An homage to the impossible love. Julekveld (Norway) [Christmas Eve] it is Christmas Eve and Emil is coming home for dinner with his family after a long absence. His family is in for a big surprise. The family is a mix of transexual, gay, transgendered. When Emil comes home with a biological female as his girlfriend, all hell breaks loose. De vuelta (Spain) [Back Again] Alex returns to his village after long absense and goes out with friend Jordi to celebrate San Juan’s night. In summer storm they take shelter in an old abandoned house where they used to play when they were kids. There they have to face conflicts from the past, where the games were also of sexual nature. Baby Cak...

An excellent subject, a different take on gay relationship from the point of view of the battered wife but only if the direction could have been as effective as the basic story plot. The director has understood the subject well but has handled the situations in a very superficial manner where as a viewer you don’t empathise with any character at all. Alice and Frank are a happy couple with 3 kids and have recently moved to their new home. They have been married 18 years and have no issues at all and are a perfect family. One day Alice finds gay porn in browsing history of their home computer. Frank doesn't deny that the links are his and initially cites his interest as a sexual curiosity. Alice, though visibly uncomfortable, doesn't react in a cinematically conventional way. She opens up a dialogue about the subject and asks if Frank would like to experiment with threesomes. Frank dismisses it and tries to suppress his feelings but eventually can’t continue to fake and tel...

The way to win at checkers (every time) is not something that this film will teach you. Instead, it’ll teach you about the unfair nature of ‘fair’ systems, and how life is for the lower class residents of Thailand. What may seem like a story about 2 gay lovers facing the possibility of being drafted into the military; it is actually not that. The story’s focus is more on the brothers and the relationship they share. The fact that elder brother is gay and has a lover is just another aspect of the story not the primary aspect. The film is told in flashback when 21 year old Oat gets summoned for military lottery. He recounts the days and events, when his elder brother Ek had to go through the same. A decade earlier, after their father passed away, Oat and his elder brother Ek were living with their aunt. Ek worked at a local bar as bartender to support his family. He has been dating Jai, a rich young man from a respected family, since he was in high school. Despite everyone warning h...

Why do they do it? Maker come up with an interesting idea but then they put in every stereotypical events and things they can think of and then make the film just plain ordinary. The story of a man coming out to his closest buddies on his 24th birthday and how the friends react and response is the basic premise of this light-hearted comedy. Adam is a young garage mechanic who spends most of his time with his longtime best friend Chris. The other 2 of the quartet are Nick and Ortu and they do everything that you can think of stereotypical straight guys doing at evenings in a small american town including beer, games, chicks and gay jokes. On his birthday Adam break the news that he is gay. Chris tries to act cool and ok but others are haplessly frank in their bafflement. Upon realizing how vulnerable his best friend may feel in light of coming out, Nick devises a plan to help everyone acclimate to Adam’s sexuality by helping him find a man all his own. This leads the friends down s...

This is a historical film in the whole transgender movement. Showcasing the life of Lili Elbe, the first male to female transition, her brave and pioneering spirit remains an inspiration today. Eddie Redmayne very deservingly is getting all accolades and nominations for his brave performance but in my mind, its Alicia Vikander who steals the show. More on that later. Einar is a very successful landscape painter. He lives with his wife Gerda, also a painter, but not as successful yet. Living in Copenhagen, they live a bohemian and carefree life. An innocent game starts when Gerda asks Einar to pose as a girl for her and then join her as a woman to one of the artists ball as Lili. Initially Einar is able to keep Lili as his alter ego and both hubsanad-wife are having fun but we soon realise that the problem could be seeded much deeper. When Gerda starts painting Lily in her feminine state, she starts getting very popular and gets serious attention from art dealers. When it becomes h...

I know I have not reviewed many lesbian films here but its because of the simple fact that I haven’t seen many. There are realign excuses for that but I feel there are so many gay themed films out there, so I end up watching only those lesbian films that get quite popular. Needless to say that with Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara being nominated for Oscars, everyone’s expectations are already high and that was one of the reasons for me also to watch this film. The film is set in 50s. Therese is a young girl, who works behind a toy counter. She has a boyfriend and a group of male friends but something is missing. One day Carol, a very elegant blonde appears in the store. Their first interaction is business-like, but in reality it is a flirtatious scene, pierced with the thrill of danger. Carol and her husband Harge are separated and are fighting over their young daughter. We are given an indication that its probably Carol’s lesbian past with her closest friend Abby that is a reason ...

I can’t believe that I had not heard of this film before. Even more surprising is the fact that why is this film not popular among international circuits! It’s a shame. This film deserves to be seen for many reasons. A film that deals with very important subject of Balkan homophobia, but thankfully not in a dramatic. sad or depressing way. This film is perfect combination of cheekiness, humour, entertainment yet making a very strong point across. Gangster Lemon meets veterinarian Radmilo when his dog gets shot. They part but are destined to meet again. Radmilo’s boyfriend Mirko is an artist who also helps planning weddings. Mirko is also part of the LGBT activist group trying to organise pride parade in Belgrade. Doing that is no easy task because they get harassed and beaten up all the time. Lemon is now ‘reformed’ and runs  judo clubbing his finance Pearl is working with Mirko planning her wedding. The eventual meeting of the two couples goes horribly wrong with Lemon’s viol...