Jacqui Weaver is memorable as a mother who mourns the death of her son – a drag queen – in the terrific new film Stage Mother.
Maybelline (great name), married to very conservative Jeb (Hugh Thompson) who never quite accepted the fact that he had a gay son, goes to San Francisco to discover the life her son Rickey (Eldon Thiele) led. There she is met with scorn by her son’s lover Nathan (Adrian Grenier) who knew how Rickey never did quite get along with his parents. But she is also thrown aback to discover that her son owned a gay/drag bar, a bar that Nathan manages and which includes a bevvy of drag queens, among them the fabulous Dusty Muffin (Jackie Beat) and Tequila (Oscar Moreno).
Maybelline is lucky enough to be put up by her son’s friend and neighbour Sienna (a fierce and sexy Lucy Liu) with her adorable baby. It’s no real surprise and shock where the story takes us as the queens (including Mya Taylor – who was fantastic in Tangerine) warm up to Maybelline, who transforms their show (Maybelline is a choir director back in Texas) while at the same time transforming their lives. Will Maybelline sell and go back to her boring husband and life or will she add a bit of spice and magic to make the bar her own?
Weaver is wonderful as Maybelline – it’s a part that seems was tailor-made for her – it’s a perfect fit. At a bit over 90 minutes, there is a lot jam-packed into the film – smoothly directed by Thom Fitzgerald.
To say it’s a gay old time is an understatement. It’s instead a grand old time, and get ready for a very emotional ending.
‘STAGE MOTHER’ has arrived, ahead of its now earlier theatrical release across the UK and Ireland from Friday 24
A young man is sent to prison for killing another man in The Prince – a film which is not your typical prison movie.
The Prince (El Principe), a homoerotic prison drama, out now, is set in a 1970’s Chilean prison. Jaime (Juan Carlos Maldonado), secretly in love with his best friend, in a fit of jealous rage stabs and kills him when he has a dance with another man. Then it’s off to prison for Jaime, 20, young, sexy and good looking – he’s going to be eaten alive in prison. Put into a cell with four other men, one of them named ‘The Stallion’ (Alfredo Castro) takes Jaime under his wing, and then some. They maintain an unlikely romance, while two of their other cellmates cop with each other. But not everything is black and white. A rival gang leader lives on the other side of the prison but’s in the showers, where they all shower together, and where the men are shown in all their glory, becomes dangerous territory.
’The Prince’ is raw, bold, brave, intense and explosive, and it seems to have come out of nowhere. In a country (Chile) where a film like this might not be acceptable – it’s a welcome surprise that it is as good as it is. Grainy looking to give it a completely dark and old look and feel about it, and with very good acting to match – Director Sebastián Muñoz has made a memorable hard-hitting prison drama that is very good and sexy. Hell, even the poster is hot!
Meanwhile, another young very good looking prisoner, who is the lover of the other leader, takes a liking to Jaime and pursues him like mad. But after an incident with The Stallion’s cat tension and rage build up in the prison where it’s every man for himself.
Available On-Demand on all major platforms and on DVD on 7th December
David France is quickly becoming one of the best documentary filmmakers of our generation.
In 2012 he brought us the riveting How to Survive a Plague – about the early years of the AIDS epidemic and the ACT UP activists who fought for their lives. Then came 2017’s The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson, about a well-loved drag queen and gay activist who was found dead off the West Side Piers in Manhattan in 1992. Now he brings us another important documentary for and about the LGBT community – Welcome to Chechnya.
The film follows David Isteev, who along with the Russian LGBT Network, helps gays and lesbians escape from Chechnya, a country where, in 2017, its government started a gay purge where over 100 men were (allegedly) detained and subject to torture, with many being murdered. This had kicked off because in February 2017 a gay Chechen man had been arrested for drug offences and arresting officers discovered contact information for other gay men on his phone. These men were caught, and they, in turn, turned over more names to the authorities, escalating to a point of crisis. But not only were these gay men subject to arrest and torture, Lesbians were also subject to the same fate.
In the documentary, David attempts, by all means, to free ‘Anya’ who is seeking help because her uncle has threatened to tell her father, who is a high-ranking Chechyan government official, that she is a Lesbian if she doesn’t have sex with him.
But the focus of this harrowing documentary is the Moscow safe house where these refugees are taken to temporary accommodation to play the waiting game until a country, any country, can take them in. The focus of the documentary is our hero 30-year-old Grisha. He was arrested and tortured in Chechnya but managed to escape, and left the country. But it left his family vulnerable to the authorities so they, in turn, were smuggled out of the country into a safe house.
Grisha is reunited with his boyfriend ‘Bogdan’ in scenes that are emotional and loving – these two men really care and love each other. But Grisha doesn’t want to remain silent and anonymous the rest of his life, he wants to come out publicly to expose the Chechnyan Government for the atrocities they inflicted on not just him but on perhaps what could be hundreds of victims.
The film also introduces us to the brave Olga Baranova, who helps the refugees in the safe house with any and all that they need. She is like a mom (she herself has a young son) to the occupants.
While Anya is successfully smuggled out of the country, she is placed in an apartment and told not to go out – but after three months it appears that she is getting extremely restless and very lonely.
Meanwhile Grisha and his family are quickly moved to another country after suspicious people knock on their door and threaten to come back the next day. It’s harrowing, and director France was very fortunate to have not only Grisha’s family but the others allow him to film them in, at times, situations that could’ve exposed them. Some airport scenes, filmed undercover, are nail biting.
All of the subjects in the film have had their faces digitally disguised to protect them. This is such the fear that they have. While Chechnya technically is a federal republic of Russia, it appears to have self and independent rule by Ramzan Kadyrov, who appears to have waged an operation to ‘cleanse the blood’ of LGBT Chechens. He is shown in interviews in the documentary denying there are any LGBT people in his country. But he is shown in a photo with Zelim Bakaev, a Chechen pop-singer, who, in August 2017 disappeared after going back to Chechnya to attend his sister’s wedding. His mother has demanded justice but the government has not even started an investigation. He is presumed dead.
France’s access to these people is just incredible. Also incredible is that over two years, the Russian LGBT Network has managed to resettle 151 people fleeing Chechnya, many of them coming through the shelter. Welcome to Chechnya is an important documentary not just for our community but for the world to know what exactly takes place in Chechnya to our own people.
Welcome to Chechnya
In Russian, Chechen and English with English subtitles Not rated Running time: 1 hour, 47 minutes Playing: 8 p.m. June 30 on HBO; also available on HBO Now and HBO Max BBC iPlayer.
Very intense and dramatic, The Ground Beneath My Feet is a pure psychological thriller that will mess with your head.
German with English subtitles, and released in Germany last year, the film follows Lola (Valerie Pachner), a very competitive business consultant. She tries to constantly outdo her co-workers, working very hard on a case that might take her to associate principal level. Lola, who gets by on 6 hours sleep, sleeps more in hotel beds than in her own bed and hits the exercise room at the crack of dawn for an intense workout. She’s having an affair with her boss Elise (Mavie Hörbiger), and she has a sister with mental and emotional problems and who is in a mental institution.
So to add to the pressure of her job and the illicitness of her relationship, Lola works like crazy to get a deal through the finish line, but she’s also struggling to visit her sister Connie (Pia Hierzegger) and needs to make decisions that impact her life, especially more so when Connie is released. It’s a lot to juggle, and Lola is constantly on the go go go, and even her co-workers worry about her lack of rest. But strange phone calls from a stranger who claims to be her sister, and strategic games that her co-workers play against her shows that Lola’s world is not as perfect and calm as she would like to believe it is.
Released to great reviews, and competed for the Golden Bear at the 69th Berlin International Film Festival, Director Marie Kreutzer brings us a taut, nail-biting psychological thriller where Pachner is at the heart of it all and brilliantly takes her character through an emotional rollercoaster.
The Ground Beneath My Feet is available to stream or download from all major UK digital platforms – including Sky Store, Virgin Media, Amazon, Apple TV, Google Play and the BFI Player.
Willem Dafoe gives one of his best performances as a film director struggling to come to terms with life.
Dafoe is the title character – ‘Tommaso’ – an older American ex-pat living in Rome. He is putting together a new film from his roomy apartment he shares with his young (29) Moldovan girlfriend Nikki (a stunning and very good Cristina Chiriac, and Director Abel Ferrara’s real-life wife) and their three-year-old daughter Deedee (Anna Ferrara – Chiriac and Ferrara’s actual daughter). Tommaso also teaches an acting class and is surrounded by young attractive wannabe actresses who literally throw themselves at him – He is definitely not short of female attention. He is also taking Italian lessons to learn the language better – though he speaks it pretty well, and attends alcoholics anonymous meetings – he used to be a drunk – and recounts stories to his fellow members about this wild and crazy days.
He seems to be settling down and is happy in his mid-life, but something just doesn’t seem right. Is it him? Is it his relationship with Nikki? Could it be the pressure of the new movie that he is putting together (which is very dark, and deals with death)? Why does he feel himself ready to unravel at any moment. And if he does, what’s going to happen?
This is Ferrara’s first dramatic feature since 2014’s ‘Pasolini‘ – which also starred Dafoe – and is easily his and Dafoe’s best collaboration to date because the subject matter works well for both of them. ‘Tommaso mirrors events in Ferrara’s life 16 years ago when he moved out of post-9/11 New York City to Italy where he, in his words, ‘got a girl knocked up.’
Dafoe, who has yet to win an Oscar (he’s been nominated four times) is superb. Dafoe will be honoured with a golden statuette one day – perhaps not for this film. But in ‘Tommaso,’ it shows that Dafoe is one of the best actors of our generation, and he’s getting better with age.
I always look forward to the release of a Woody Allen film because I know exactly what I’m going to get. But this time, with A Rainy Day in New York, we get Woody in top form.
This release has been met with controversy as several of its stars have denounced Allen over 1992 sexual abuse allegations of one his children with Mia Farrow that resurfaced with the start of the Me Too movement near the end of 2017 after Allen had finished this film. Several of the film’s stars donated their salaries to organizations involved in the Me Too movement. Amazon, who financed the film, refused to release it, calling it unmarketable, but eventually, the distribution rights went back to Allen and he was free to release his own film.
The delay in releasing this film made 2018 a year in which no Woody Allen film was not released since 1981.
Irregardless of whether you don’t want to watch this film because of Allen, it still has the special Allen touch where he makes Manhattan a magical place where anything can happen. Well in this film, anything does happen. Timothée Chalamet (Call Me By Your Name) plays Gatsby (an appropriate name), a college student in upstate New York whose girlfriend Ashleigh (Elle Fanning) gets an opportunity to interview eccentric film director Roland Pollard (Liev Scheiber), a character that could actually be Allen. Gatsby comes from a very rich family, but he also makes money from high stakes gambling, so he has lots of money for him and Ashleigh to do the finest things in Manhattan at no expense. But when Ashleigh meets Pollard, the troubled director takes a liking to her and invites her to a private screening with his producer Ted Davidoff (a very good Jude Law).
But, in true Allen form, Ashleigh’s day turns into a madcap adventure where she eventually winds up with hot and sexy star Francisco Vega (Diego Luna). While Ashleigh is busy with the stars, Gatbsy continues to wait for her and bumps into his ex-girlfriends’ little sister Chan (a dry Selena Gomez). As Gatsby waits and waits for Ashleigh, he doesn’t want his upper elite parents to find out he is in town as they are holding an exclusive party that evening and he just doesn’t want to go, plus he’s enjoying his time with Chan. While all this is taking place, rain continues to fall, because it’s a Rainy Day in New York.
Allen’s style of filmmaking hasn’t changed much – he uses the same style – and it works – especially in this film. His last few films, including 2017’s Wonder Wheel, were not his best, and A Rainy Day in New York is his best since 2013’s Blue Jasmine in which Cate Blanchett earned an Oscar for Best Actress.
A Rainy Day in New York is humorous, romantic, fun, with a plethora of famous actors ( Sukie Waterhouse, Rebecca Hall and Cherry Jones make appearances – though Gomez is the only false note in the film). Chalamet carries the film with his charming and romantic character. I will continue to look forward to future Woody Allen films – his next one is Rifkin’s Festival – shot in Spain last year and hopefully will be released later this year. I can’t wait.
A Rainy Day in New York is available on Premium On-Demand platforms from 5 June
The soapiest of gay soap operas arrives in the form of From Zero to I Love You.
Scott Bailey stars as Jack Dickinson, very handsome and successful, with a fun and lively and attractive wife Karla (Keili Lefkovitz), two adorable daughters, and of course a perfect job. But soon enough he realizes this is not who he is when he meets handsome Peter (Darryl Stephens), and this meeting turns Jacks life upside down. And while he knew he had a bit of a gay side to him, he didn’t really comprehend that this could eventually lead to him falling in love with another man. But Scott is not quite ready to leave his family, and Peter gets tired of waiting around, so they break up.
So Scott goes back to the straight life, his wife gets pregnant, and Peter lands quickly into another relationship that quickly leads to an engagement. But a chance (and very coincidental) meeting Karla has with Peter’s best friend who happens to tell Karla about the now finished affair. After this shock reveal Scott and Karla end their marriage while Peter gears up for his wedding. Scott is now a truly free gay and he’s left with meaningless one night stands while still pining for Peter. But of course there’s no surprise how this film ends once you get the soap out of your eyes.
Filmed over the course of four and a half years (it looks it) and giving us the old tried and true story of a ’straight’ man who turns gay is a plot we’ve seen quite a few times, and again in this super melodramatic film.
While the cast are all fine in their roles, and leading man Bailey is pleasant to look at, there is very little for us to take away from this film which has an ending that wraps things up all too neatly.
Enjoy t he shirtless scenes of Bailey – he’s sexy!
A woman disappears in the snowy mountains of France – and it’s her death that links several people together in the very dramatic French film ‘Only the Animals.’
The opening shot in this film is of a black man with a goat on his back riding a bike through the streets of Abidjan, then the film quickly moves to France. But the goat scene is a metaphor for when, later in the film, a man (Damian Bonnard) carries a woman’s dead body, on his back, in the mountains to find her a final resting place. But who is this dead woman?
It’s the journey to get there that’s extremely intriguing where we discover the link between several people. Alice (Laure Balamy) is a social worker who checks on people in and around her area. One of her clients is Joseph, who she’s also having sex with. Her husband Michel (Denis Ménochet), meanwhile, is having an online love affair with attractive young woman Marion (Nadia Tereskzkiewicz). But she’s actually a gang of men in Adijban who are scamming Michel for a lot of money. But the woman whose photo he is sent by these men does actually exist and coincidentally winds up near his village.
Why is she there?
Because she is tracking down Evelyn Ducat (Valeria Bruni Tedeschi), a very well-to-do attractive woman she met at the restaurant where she works, and after a brief affair between them, Marion wants more. But as the story winds up, and the drama and tension builds, we soon discover who the dead woman is, and how her death will change all of the characters lives.
‘Seules Les Betes (Only the Animals)‘, directed and co-written by Dominik Moll, based on the novel by Colin Niel, is engrossing from start to finish.
Each character’s thread is enough to give the viewer bits and pieces to the story, without giving to much away. It’s the intertwining of the characters lives that is unique and clever, with excellent acting. And while a couple of the connections between the characters are a bit too easy, Only the Animals will keep you engrossed for all of its two-hour running time.
‘Only the Animals’ is exclusively now available on Curzon Home Cinema.
A film about the author J.D. Salinger that was originally shot in 2016 is now released in the UK and is actually not half bad.
‘Rebel in the Rye’ is about J.D. (Jerome David Salinger) and the years leading up to him writing what is perhaps the most famous novel of all time – Catcher in the Rye. It’s a book that almost everyone has read at least once while a million copies are still sold every year.
The film did have its premiere at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival and a U.S. release followed – earning an eye-watering pittance of $154,326 total – it was hardly enough to recoup its cost. ‘Rebel in the Rye’ stars Nicholas Hoult as Salinger, but more worringly Kevin Spacey plays his mentor and teacher Whit Burnett. It was in 2017 when Spacey was accused of molesting actor Anthony Rapp when he was young, then more molestation allegations against Spacey surfaced. But if this did not happen Spacey could’ve picked up awards for his performance in this film – he’s fantastic.
We see a young Salinger taking a stab at writing with the encouragement of his mother Miriam (Hope Davis), and much to the dismay of his father Sol (Victor Garber) who wants his son to follow him into the cheese business. With Burnett’s mentorship, Salinger keeps on churning out short stories in the hopes of getting published, amidst the backdrop of WWII. Soon enough Salinger is drafted and is off to war (finding out in the papers this his girlfriend Oona (Zoey Deutch) has ran off with Charlie Chaplin). These events lead to a breakdown where he is sectioned in a mental hospital for the horrific things he saw during the war. But his persistence of writing about a fictional character (Holden Caulfield) keeps him going, keeps him alive until he sees his dream come true, all with the help of his agent Dorothy Olding (Sarah Paulson).
Costumes, set and art direction and the acting are all fine, with Hoult very believable as Salinger, and with strong direction by actor Danny Strong, who also wrote the film. But there is one person who you can blame for the failure of this film. In ‘All the Money in the World’ (2018) all of Spacey’s scenes were redone by the actor Christopher Plummer (who received an Academy Award nomination for his effort). ‘Rebel in the Rye’ could not do this because it already had been premiered and released, so it was too late. This film flopped because of Spacey. But it’s actually quite a good film. If you can overlook that Spacey is in it, seek it out, it’s worth it.
Rebel in the Rye is now available to buy and stream
A film with a title Butt Boy and a tagline ‘assume the position’ surely has to be watched, no?
The title does have a sexual connotation but this is not what the film is about – in a way.
Butt Boy is actually a dramatic horror film where you’ll laugh because it’s just so ridiculous!
The story is about one man with a mundane job and a mundane family – he has no joy in life whatsoever! Then one day he goes to see his doctor for a physical where the doctor does the inevitable finger up the ass prostate exam. However our hero, former alcoholic Chip (Tyler Cornack – who also wrote and directed this plum role for himself – not), really enjoyed the prostate exam. He enjoyed it so much that when he gets home he starts to insert more items up his arse, including butt plugs. But these items go up and then inside him. Soon enough household items, his dog, and then people go up there. Yes, you read that right – his butt starts sucking up people.
At an AA meeting Chip is assigned to be the sponsor of new guy Russel (Tyler Rice), a police detective. After a child goes missing at Chip’s company on bring your child to work day, Russel is coincidentally assigned to the case. And while he doesn’t quite want to investigate Chip despite all evidence that seems to point to him, Russel goes missing too, and I don’t have to tell you where he winds up! It’s hard to believe plot that just keeps getting messier and messier until the penultimate final scene that’s truly explosive!
Critics have been harsh to this film, yes it’s bad. But it’s a film that’s not meant to be taken seriously (come on – with a title like that you can’t take it seriously). Good turns by Rice and Shelby Dash who plays Chip’s frustrated wife elevate the film a bit, but it’s ultimately a film that will definitely take your mind off real-world problems!
Available on Amazon and all good digital retailers.
If you want underwear that looks fantastic, feels great and is extremely sexy then look up a Fabulous British brand called Rebel Empire.
Rebel Empire has underwear for people who do not care about what others think! It is designed for people who are confident in their own skin, who answer to no one and those who #seeknoapproval – basic underwear for unique persons just like you and me.
Both men’s and women’s styles come in chic black. Rebel Empire’s gold metallic label is beautifully displayed on the front and the garments are extremely comfortable. They fit so well they feel tailor-made to your own body and look ultra-sexy. For the men, The Brief includes a contour pouch and lower rise that is made from premium quality cotton and feels like a second skin. Produced with breathable technology and sized from XS to XL, you can get this high quality and comfortable item for £37 which is a snip as you will feel both seductive and confident wearing it.
The Trunk is available for £39.
The women’s pieces are smoking hot. The Bralette is supersensuous and it is a look that could be both outerwear and underwear.
At £44, there is a modified scoop neckline and a racerback style. The material has a peached silky feel and tone on tone trim. The Thong (£24) has a perfect framing of rear cleavage, twisted seam for added comfort, ultra low rise and both pieces are premium quality cotton with breathable technology. Again the renowned gold-plated badge labels these items.
Rebel Empire underwear is a huge breath of fresh air from your typical high street brands. You must treat yourself – it is quality, comfort and sexiness all rolled into one.
Wear it on the beach or even the gym. So go on – get your rebellious and provocative kit on because that’s what it’s all about!
