THEGAYUK

Author: Roger Walker-Dack

  • FILM REVIEW | Tiger Orange

    Wade Gasque’s debut feature, which he co-wrote with lead actor Mark Strano, is an interesting drama about the conflict between two estranged gay brothers who are trying to reconcile after the death of their father. ★★★

    Their sexuality is one of the few things the siblings have in common as Chet is quiet and reserved and has never left their small hometown or ‘come out of the closet’. His younger brother Todd, on the other hand, escaped to LA when he just 18-years-old to try his hand out as an actor, and he is out, proud and very loud.

    Chet is a workaholic and when he is not running the family hardware store in town, he leads a solitary life just eating dinner in front of the TV every night. Todd never bothered to return to town for his father’s funeral but now breezes back when he ends up both jobless and homeless with no other options or prospects in sight. If his rebellious streak is not enough to upset Chet’s calm equilibrium, then at the same time Brandon one of his schoolboy crushes also turns up and between the two of them, force Chet to deal with his reality.

    This very simple indie melodrama that is presently playing the Film Festival circuit is attracting attention simply because of the curiosity value with it starring porn performer Johnny Hazzard going legit. Under his real name Frankie Valenti, he plays Todd and puts in a much more credible performance than one may have suspected, and he proves to be a strong focal point of the drama.  He is very charismatic and easily shows that he doesn’t have to be naked to grab our attention.

    It’s a well-produced and well-crafted movie that thanks to some good acting, and a pleasing visually look, really belies its low budget. Well worth a look when it is released on DVD/VOD later this year.

  • Tylenol hire out gay Oscar winner Dustin Lance Black to shoot TV Ad

    Many forward thinking major corporations are getting far more inclusive in their advertising these days, and US drug company Johnson & Johnson went one further by hiring out gay Academy Award winner Dustin Lance Black to shoot their latest campaign for Tylenol.

    It features a same-sex prom couple and two gay dads and has a voiceover that declares, “Family isn’t defined by who you love, but how.” Manoj Raghunandanan, Senior Director of Marketing for Johnson and Johnson’s McNeil Consumer Healthcare, told Advertising Age that the ad was representative of his company’s commitment to celebrating how “families look and feel different [now] than they did before.”

    Here’s a sneak preview of it before it is launched on American TV later this month.

  • FILM REVIEW | The Invisible Men

    ★★★★★ | The Invisible Men

    Louie is a 32-year-old Palestinian who tries to live his life unobtrusively hidden away from society’s prying eyes. He has no legal right to live in Israel, and thus without papers he must continually avoid any confrontation with the police or officialdom, as if he returns back across the border he risks the very real death threats from his own family and all simply because he’s gay.

    This remarkable award-winning documentary from Israeli filmmaker Yariv Mozer tracks Louie as he goes about his daily life in Tel Aviv. A somewhat shy, introverted and extremely likeable young man, Louie survives by doing odd jobs of work and constantly moving apartments as he tries to keep one step ahead of the authorities all the time. On the several times he is caught, the police deport him back to Ramallah, but yet somehow this quiet resourceful man soon manages to very soon sneak back into Israel once again. It’s a harrowing existence and when he relates the lurid details to Mozer of how his family tied him up and tried to slaughter him like an animal, you know that he has no other choice if he wants to live.

    After what seems like just one to many deportations, Louie contacts a refugee law centre at the university and discovers that there is a possible way out from this predicament. Under international law he can apply for asylum in another country (that will be chosen for him) and resettle there. There are no guarantees he will be awarded this and he is warned that his chances of succeeding are slim. A skeptical Louie is put in touch with Abdu another gay Palestinian who has already been accepted and is about to leave for his yet unknown new country/home. Abdu, an outgoing extrovert, is totally opposite to Louie and he shows his new timid friend a whole underground gay movement that Louis finds hard to believe.

    Months later when Louie gets word that he has won a much coveted asylum place, he starts having very serious second thoughts. Israel has been his home for the past 10 years, and although it has been a scary and dangerous existence, he feels a great draw as this is where he believes he truly belongs, despite all the pain and heartache that he has been through, he really wants to stay.

    Mozer tells Louie’s emotional charged story without disguising his own attachment, but he does sensibly refrain from making any comment at all on the tense political situation that engulfs this whole region. It’s a humanitarian tale that will shock most of us living in the West to realise (or be reminded) that being gay in any Arab country puts your very life at risk, and being Palestinian in a country where you are illegal, which in Louie’s case was his birthplace, seems so very unjust.

    An extremely moving heartbreaking story that is sensitively documented, and that will rightly jerk you out of your comfort zone… it’s very definitely unmissable.

    P.S. Louie is safely living somewhere in Europe coping with the snow, but as Yariv Mozer has told us he’s ‘the only gay in the village’. However he’s alive and well and even getting some assistance to help him heal his emotional scars. He is one of the lucky ones.

  • FILM REVIEW | Triple Crossed

    ★★ | Triple Crossed

    After he had finished his posting serving in the military in war-torn Afghanistan during which time he witnessed his best friend being killed, Chris Jensen is struggling to adapt back into civilian life. Unable to find a job, as no one seems prepared to want the services of a somewhat damaged ex-serviceman, he has resorted to living in his car.

    Out of the blue, he gets a call from Jackie who wants to offer a job that he would like to turn down. Her recently deceased half-brother has left his controlling share of the family’s multi-million business to his boyfriend Andrew, and she is having none of it. She wants to get his share but doesn’t want to pay a cent for it, but she is however prepared to pay Chris a handsome sum to kill Andrew so she can get her own way.

    He is desperate enough to take on the assignment but first he goes to check out his ‘target’ who naturally turns out to be as hot as hell. The two men are soon grappling with each but not quite in the way Jackie had wanted as they are naked and in bed. The question then is to kill or not? Not an easy one to answer as the title of this drama implies everyone has their own agenda, and so we are never sure how this will play out.

    What makes this small-budget indie stand out from others of this genre is that it marks the debut of Sean Paul Lockhart; aka ex-porn star Brent Corrigan behind the camera as well as in front for a change. Although it is full of the good intentions the movie does sadly fail to be a thriller in or out of the bedroom even though it does have a gun-toting finale.

    Sean doesn’t ever quite manage to convince us that he really did go to war, although he does put in a pretty good performance as a potential new boyfriend for Andrew who seems to have soon forgotten his ex dead one. If you are a fan of Sean aka Brent then you’ll want to see this,but if you are not, then you may just want to wait for a rainy afternoon when you have nothing better to do.

  • Laverne Cox gets her own wax work

    Orange Is the New Black star Laverne Cox will not only have her very own wax figure at Madame Tussauds’ but she will also be the first transgender celebrity to have such an honour.

    One small snag for is that it will be be in their San Francisco Museum.

    Cox’s figure will be revealed during a San Francisco Pride press conference on June 26 and will be on display at the exhibit in Fisherman’s Wharf.

    In a statement from the San Jose Mecury News, Cox expressed a great deal of gratitude when talking about her achievement saying,

    “I am so deeply honoured to have been asked to be a part of the Madame Tussauds legacy…I hope that this will be a source of inspiration for everyone who encounters it to believe that their dreams matter and are possible.”

  • YouTuber Comes Out To Grandma

    YouTuber Loren Baldwin took advantage of vlogger Amy Hill’s music video ‘Coming Out’ to break her own news to her Grandmother.

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  • Understanding Sexual Orientation and Gender Identities

    US based TEEN LINE published their latest excellent educational video called LGBTQ: Understanding Sexual Orientation and Gender Identities.

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  • Eurovision Singer Goes Gay In Hot As Hell Music Video

    Iranian-born Norwegian singer Tooji – real name Touraj Keshtkar – who represented Norway in the Eurovision Song Contest in 2012 with the song Stay has just issued his latest music video.

    He is as hot as hell which is where some say he may end up at after seeing him not just come out as gay but practically jumping a handsome priest in a church.

    Have a glass of very cold water beside you before you watch this one.

     

     

    @RogerWakerDack

  • What is an old drag queen doing up here? John Cameron Mitchell Thanks Support For Hedwig

    “What’s an old drag queen doing up here?”

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  • Sir Patrick Stewart Supports Anti-Gay Marriage Bakers

    Long time very vocal ally of the gay community Sir Patrick Stewart shocked many of his fans the other night during an interview on BBC’s Newsnight by publicly supporting the Northern Ireland anti-gay marriage bakers.

    Gay rights activist Gareth Lee had commissioned Ashers Baking Co., a Christian-owned bakery in Northern Ireland, to make a cake that was decorated with “Support Gay Marriage’ which they refused to do, quoting their religious beliefs. So Lee sued them and won the case, and the bakery now plans to appeal the decision.

    Later on Facebook Sir Patrick wrote:

    “As part of my advocacy for Amnesty International, I gave an interview on a number of subjects related to human rights, civil rights and freedom of speech. During the interview, I was asked about the Irish bakers who refused to put a message on a cake which supported marriage equality, because of their beliefs. In my view, this particular matter was not about discrimination, but rather personal freedoms and what constitutes them, including the freedom to object. Both equality and freedom of speech are fundamental rights—and this case underscores how we need to ensure one isn’t compromised in the pursuit of the other.

    “I know many disagree with my sentiments, including the courts. I respect and understand their position, especially in this important climate where the tides of prejudices and inequality are (thankfully) turning. What I cannot respect is that some have conflated my position on this single matter to assume I’m anti-equality or that I share the personal beliefs of the bakers. Nothing, absolutely nothing, could be further from the truth. I have long championed the rights of the LGBT community, because equality should not only be, as the people of Ireland powerfully showed the world, universally embraced, but treasured.”

    Sir Patrick’s last movie role was in Match when he played a gay dance professor.

  • Preview Of I Am Cait Hits The Internet. Internet Goes Mad For It

    The US cable company E TV today released the first preview of Caitlyn Jenner’s new reality tv show ‘I Am Cait’ due to be aired from July 26th.

    No release date has been set for the UK …. but we will update you as soon as we know