THEGAYUK

Author: Roger Walker-Dack

  • FILM REVIEW: Girlhood

    Life is pretty bleak in this concrete jungle of soulless tower blocks of shabby apartments on this housing complex in a poor rundown suburb of Paris.

    Sixteen-year-old Marieme is hoping that one day she will break out of there so for a better life so she does her school work, plays American football, and then goes home to look after her younger siblings whilst her mother is out all hours doing cleaning jobs to keep the family together.

    However when Marieme learns that her grades are not enough to continue high school she gives up being a good girl and falls in with a gang of three girls who seem to wreak havoc wherever they go. At first, Marieme sits on the sidelines observing the girls led by a real toughie who calls herself Lady, but she soon gets drawn into their questionable activities when they slack off school every day. She swaps her braids for a more glam look and starts copying their more outrageous dress style. It’s not long until she is the one menacing other kids on their way to school to relieve them of every cent they have to fund the gang’s nefarious agenda.

    They use the money to check into a hotel to try on all the clothes they have stolen from the mall, get wasted on a diet of booze and pot noodles, and give a full rendition of Rihanna’s Diamonds. It’s their idea of a high life, sad as it is.

    Things change when Lady gets roundly beaten in a fight with a member of another gang, so an emboldened Marieme … known by the girls as Vic … steps up to the plate and takes on the victor and beats her up. It delights Djibril one of her brother’s friends who she has been hooking up with in secret, but it infuriates her bully of a brother, and when he threatens her, she knows it is time to leave home.

    In this situation the only way out is to start selling drugs, which she does for another gang in return for a share in a safe house in another neighbourhood. As tough she has become, this is very much a man’s world, and despite all her efforts, she is still a girl.

    It’s the third feature from French filmmaker Céline Sciamma and although it doesn’t quite have the same resonance of her award-winning Tomboy but it does nevertheless pack a powerful punch. It’s a bleak grim reality that these tough bad girls inhabit and come-of-age in but Sciamma does at least infuse it with a glimmer of hope…. and some compassion too. It’s zillion years away from the cosy life of Boyhood!

  • FILM REVIEW | Blackmail Boys

    When gay art student Sam ‘came out’ to his parents they disowned him and cut him off without a cent.

    Faced with high tuition fees, rent and living expenses to find in Chicago, he resorted to turning tricks as it pays so much better than any other manual labour. However when Aaron his long-term long-distance boyfriend moved to town and in with him, he resented the way that Sam earns his living.

    The first time one of Sam’s paying clients came for his weekly rough and tumble, the more worldly Aaron recognised him as an infamous gay-bashing bigot that had just written yet one more book denouncing the ‘evil ways of homosexuality. After his ‘appointment’ was over Aaron suggested that when the man came back for his next hook-up, that he should secretly film the whole naked encounter and use it to blackmail him. Not only would it possibly expose the hypocrite to the whole world, but if he wanted to buy the tape to keep them quiet, they could make enough money to insure that Sam could retire from his call boy career.

    It was a rather inconsequential plot for a lightweight movie made by the somewhat anonymous Shumanski filmmaking brothers from South Africa. Like their previous gay-themed movie Wrecked there is an abundant amount of full frontal nudity and explicit sex that at times just feels like porn with a plot. Its redeeming feature is its mumble core approach to filming (not often used in gay movies) that gave the whole piece an edgy feel to it.

    On the acting side indie actor/director Joe Swanberg who’s first ‘big’ feature Drinking Buddies was recently released to critical acclaim, plays the angry client Andrew Tucker. Looking at Swanberg’s resume to date you can see that he rarely keeps his clothes on through a whole movie, so it seemed no big deal for this straight actor to have explicit gay sex on screen. Interesting also to see young Nathan Adloff (playing Sam) in front of the camera after being so very impressed with his own writing/directing debut in a delightful sleeper from last year’s Nate & Margaret.

    It’s a harmless piece of boy-lite fare that by trying to push our buttons by what it thinks is daring, will only have us reaching for the remote control to skip over all those parts which fall flatter than some of the sexual encounters, to get to the end quicker.

  • Talking Gay Is Not Easy When You Are Straight

    We have a language of all of our own which just comes with the whole package of being gay.

    Whilst we all understand each other, it’s much tougher for straight guys to cotton on to what the hell we are saying.

    Talented Youtube Vlogger Davey Wavey quizzed three strapping straight men about their knowledge of our ‘dictionary’ and here are his hilarious findings.

    @RogerWalkerDack

  • FILM REVIEW | Wild Tales

    ★★★★★ | Wild Tales

    Pretty model Isabel is on a business trip and strikes up a conversation with a gentleman the other side of the aisle of the plane.

    They quickly discover that they have a mutual acquaintance in Gabriel Pasternak who Isabel used to date and whom the man had once turned down for a College Grant. The woman seated in the row in front hears their conversation and proffers up that she once taught this same Gabriel Pasternak. Very quickly they establish that everyone on board had some sort of dealings with Gabriel, most of which had not ended happily, and they also discover that he had not only gifted them all their plane tickets but was one of the crew on board.

    This is first of six extraordinary and wonderfully wicked hilarious short stories that all end badly and have one thing in common. I.e. vengeance. Created by Argentinian filmmaker Damián Szifrón each one is magically bizarre and all, nothing less than brilliant, show his delightfully warped imagination

    In the second tale called ‘The Rats’ which is set in a remote roadside diner, the waitress discovers that her sole customer that night is a loan shark who had driven her father to kill himself. The cook, a tough female ex-con, declares that merely rebuking the man is not enough and she is determined that this will be his last meal ever. It’s followed ‘Road to Hell’ which is the bloodiest episode of the set, with its tale of road rage that so gets out of control when an arrogant hot-shot yuppie in an expensive Audi tries to belittle a country redneck in his beat up wreck. The fourth of Szifrón’s yarns ‘Bombita’ is about an unfortunate demolition engineer who is having a really bad day. His car is impounded when he stops for one brief moment to pick up a birthday cake for his young daughter. He is forced to pay a hefty fine to the rude staff at the compound to retrieve it, and then gets screamed at by his wife for completely missing the child’s party. It’s the last straw for her and she demands a divorce and so his car is towed away again and he literally explodes.

    The penultimate tale is the only really serious one that is totally devoid of any humour. It’s the story of a very wealthy family whose son has killed a pregnant woman in a hit-and-run accident and they try and bribe their gardener to take the rap instead. Their ploy almost falls apart when everybody, including the Police, seems to want to ensure that they get the heftiest share of the hush money.

    The rather spectacular finale has the very apt title ‘Till Death Do Us Part. It’s set at a Jewish wedding reception where the bride loses her big smile when she suddenly discovers that her groom has been having carnal knowledge with a very pretty younger girl in his office. The bride loses it big time and is determined that not only will her new husband suffer, so too will his family and inevitably all the guests too in an outrageous seemingly endless slapstick performance.

    The pace never lets up in the entire 2 hours that for once just flies by as you sit on the edge on your seat unable to even guess what could possibly happen next. What is really quite delicious though is Szifrón’s subversive humour which sets this unique piece really apart and must be a major contributing factor in the movie getting a Best Foreign Picture Oscar Nomination. It also benefitted from an excellent cast, a stunning soundtrack from Gustavo Santaolalla, and the fact that it had the Almodovar Brothers as its Producers.

    Wild Tales is really one wild ride that you will not want to miss. In UK cinemas now.

  • COMMENT: #NoToArmani – Yet Another Person Telling Gays What To Do

    What is it about super-rich fashion mavens who have been more than happy to take our pink pounds (and dollars) to fuel their luxurious lifestyles to then turn around and trot out their rather obnoxious homophobic opinions?

    First there was Dolce & Gabbana who riled up Sir Elton John and most of the gay community when they publicly decried gay parenting, and now it’s the turn of billionaire 80-year-old Giorgio Armani to bite the hand that feeds him with his totally unacceptable comments.

    Armani told The Sunday Times Magazine:

    “A homosexual man is a man 100 per cent. He does not need to dress homosexual.

    “When homosexuality is exhibited to the extreme – to say: ‘Ah, you know I’m homosexual,’ – that has nothing to do with me. A man has to be a man.”

     

    Really Giorgio? I guess we cannot stop these men who profit from a homosexual sensibility making these public announcements to the media to drum up some publicity for themselves BUT we can stop buying any of his clothing.

    I say #notoarmani.

    Despite never admitting to being gay Armani told Vanity Fair in 2000,

    “I have had women in my life. And sometimes men,” he said at the time. “But you know very well that to do this work one must have a free mind.”

    Opinions expressed in this article may not reflect those of THEGAYUK, its management or editorial teams. If you’d like to comment or write a comment, opinion or blog piece, please click here.

  • Even Kids Are Saying Yes To Gay Marriage In Ireland

    The folks behind the “YES” Campaign in Ireland’s Referendum for Marriage Equality are doing such an amazing job.

     

    Hot on the trail of the Video we shared with you the other day comes another wee heartwarming film about what children think of it all. If this doesn’t move those voters who are still sitting on the fence on the issue, then nothing will.

     

  • FILM REVIEW: Drink Me

    ★★★ | Drink Me

    Young gay couple James and Andy seem to have everything, especially an extremely busy sex life.

    Life in the rather comfortable house they share couldn’t be more perfect and James wants to make it all even more permanent by getting down on his knees and proposing marriage. However timing is everything and Andy fesses up that he has just been laid off from his job, which puts a dampener on any ideas of paying for an expensive wedding right now.

    After he has trouble finding new work, money gets tight for the couple so James suggests taking in a lodger. Sebastian a handsome stranger moves in and all seems well until housebound Andy realises that the new member of the household is hiding a secret. He suspects that Sebastian could be the killer who has been stalking the streets of their neighbourhood and responsible for so many people seemingly disappearing into thin air. He will not have to wait long to find out the truth.

    This brand new thriller made on a micro-budget on by husband & husband team Daniel & Richard Mansfield is a rare genre i.e. gay vampire drama. Strangely enough it is not nearly as frightening as the overly dramatic soundtrack intonates it should be, and the slight plot unfurls at such a slow pace that there are neither any real scares nor surprises. It does however possess more male full frontal nudity than I have ever seen outside of a porn movie, and full credit to both director and cast, as they ensure that most of it is highly erotic.

    The movie following on from The Secret Path that the Mansfields made last year proves again that this young couple of talented British gay filmmakers are definitely a pair well worth watching.

     

  • Irish Gay Marriage Vote: Bring Your Family With You

    A recent poll in Ireland found that 76% of adults believe that that same–sex couples should have a right to marry, now they just have to get them to the Polling Stations on May 22 to vote YES on the national referendum o marriage equality.

    The Irish LGBT advocacy group BeLonG To Youth Services has produced a touching ad to make sure people get out and vote … We defy anyone to watch this and not start to get watery eyes.

    If the referendum passes, (or hopefully ‘when’) the following line will be added to the country’s constitution: “Marriage may be contracted in accordance with law by two persons without distinction as to their sex.”

    Share this video with anyone you know who may know an Irish voter.

     

  • Cate Stuns As Carol

    It was announced in Paris today that legendary gay auteur TODD HAYNES will be screening his new film in competition at the Cannes Film Festival this year.

    Carol based on a novel by Patricia Highsmith (The Talented Mr Ripley) stars the one and only Cate Blanchett stars in the titular role as a 1950’s-era married woman who begins a romantic same-sex relationship with a young store clerk played by Rooney Mara. It also co-stars Kyle Chandler and Sarah Paulson

    Haynes’s previous movies include Far From Heaven, I’m Not Here, Velvet Goldmine and he also directed the award-winning TV remake of Mildred Pierce.

    Carol will definitely be on our list of favourites at this year’s Festival and we will track its progress to a cinema near you hopefully later this year.

     

  • FILM REVIEW: A Second Chance

    It’s only the ‘goodies’ that get a second chance in this new rather overwrought melodrama from Danish Oscar winning director Susanne Bier as the ‘baddies’ evidently do not deserve to dig themselves out of the hell holes of lives they have ended up with.

    ★★★

    (more…)

  • Why Do I Get Erections Every Morning? Five things guys should know about their junk

    Have you any idea why you always wake up with a woody each morning even when you are alone?

    Or do you know if it’s really OK for your penis to curve to the side? If you have answered ‘no’ to both of these then you need to check out this video from Buzzfeed who consulted a doctor to ask the questions that every gay man wants to know the answers too.

    As gay men, we usually pride ourselves on having a deep intimate knowledge about the male body. Being men logically holds that we’d know a thing or two about the ins and outs of our own physiology, right? The thing is, though, men are notoriously bad about dealing with basic health needs and a lot of what we assume to be true about our bodies is based on false assumptions.