The two boys in question are 15-year-old Dutch schoolboys who get thrown together when their athletics coach selects them to be part of a 4 man relay team. They seem an unlikely pair of friends at first as Sieger is reserved and a little uptight mainly because of the fact since his mother died, he has to try to keep the peace between his wayward brother and strict father. Marc on the other hand is outgoing and adventurous and lives with his fun-loving family and a younger sister he adores.
★★★★
The boys bond after practice one day and in an impulsive moment when they are are larking about swimming together in a lake Marc leans forward and kisses Sieger squarely on the mouth. He responses by returning the kiss, but once they are out of water and dressed, he nervously blurts out that he is not gay, before cycling off and leaving a bewildered Marc alone.
Sieger’s old pal Theo, also part of the running team, persuades him to go on a double date with two local girls. When they are out at the fairground together the four of them run into a surprised Marc who is positively shocked and somewhat hurt when Jessica leans forward and gives Sieger a passionate kiss right in front of him.
This very tender and touching coming of age story about this confused young boy who wants to fit in with the norm of what he thinks is expected of him has some very neat twists and turns and is not as predictable as it seemed at the outset. As he struggles with his sexuality, he is so aware of his father’s disillusionment with his brother that he believes he least should not disappoint him too. On top of this, they all live in a most idyllic corner of the lush Netherlands countryside which is not just a visual treat but somehow evokes memories of more innocent times.
With great performances from the very young cast, this entertaining made-for-TV movie will hopefully get to the wider audience it deserves now it is being released worldwide.
Even though he led a very closeted life, Ernst Ostertag went out in public to a gay ball held by The Circle Magazine and met and fell in love with Robi Rapp, a drag act who was performing there that night, who would later become his life partner. The year was 1956, and the city was Zurich, and although homosexuality was not illegal in Switzerland, gay men were not only just ostracised by society but also lived in real fear of losing their jobs and being shunned by their families.
This hybrid of a movie: part documentary & part fiction is the true story of how this chance encounter would survive all the pressures of an intolerant and bigoted public, and the harassment of the police and authorities, to become 60 years later, the first ever same-sex couple to have a Domestic Partnership registered in Switzerland.
Back then Ostertag was a young and somewhat naive French Language teacher at a Girls School who risked the wrath of the Principal by wanting to introduce his pupils to avant-garde work by Albert Camus. Off-duty he discovered the existence of The Circle, a gay erotic art and poetry bi-monthly magazine that was the first if it’s kind in Europe when it was founded in 1942. The magazine was sold by subscription only and the membership list was heavily guarded at The Circle’s office, but occasionally the publishers organised get-togethers, like the Ball that Ostertag met his man.
The murder of one of their number served as a thinly disguised excuse for a campaign of persecution by the Police whose biggest weapon was exposing the men publicly for being gay. It was enough to cause Ostertag’s School Principal, a married man with two children, to take his own life.
This is a fascinating glimpse into a post War War 2 mixed fortunes of a gay community in Europe before the onslaught of freedom that was about to occur with the swinging 1960’s (although maybe not quite in Switzerland). Rupi’s mother was very theatrical and not only acknowledged her son’s sexuality but also welcomed his lover into the family with open arms, whereas Ostertag’s conservative parents were so very formal and cold, that he never came out of the closet to his sister until he was 70 years old.
The movie which so excellently portrays all the emotional stress on these young men who struggled to come to terms with their own sexuality, works best with the dramatised flashbacks thanks to some masterly performances, particular by the two lead actors playing the lovers Matthias Hungerbuehler and Sven Schelker. The interviews with the present day Ostertag and Rupi, now in their 80s, are extremely touching, but really add little to the narrative itself.
‘The Circle’ aka Des Kreis won both the prestigious Teddy for Best LGBT Documentary at the Berlin Film Festival, where it also picked up a coveted Panorama Audience Award too. I think it is surely set to become a firm audience favourite too when it does the Film Festival rounds now.
★★★★ | Pulp: A film about life, death and supermarkets
Gangly geek Jarvis Cocker is the most unlikely looking rock-star ever, but seeing the front man of the British indie-pop group PULP ignite frenzied crowds of a packed stadium, you realise that he is, in fact, one of the very best.
His quintessentially English band enjoyed enormous critical and commercial success in the late 1990s before calling it a day at the height of their fame in 2002. Cocker then went on to establish a new career as a solo artist and combined this with a weekly radio show and some filmmaking too.
Much to their many fans delight the band reformed in 2011/2012 for one more major tour of the US and the UK. The final performance was in their hometown of Sheffield, a working class industrial city well known for its droll Northern humor and where they have long been regarded as local heroes. This mutual love affair was clearly evident with Cocker and all the band members relishing with pride at being considered as such a major part of their community’s culture, as equally was the gushing praise from their diehard fans.
This documentary from German-born New Zealander Florian Habicht which he made with Cocker, is an affectionate look at both this last Concert and the city and its people who are such an integral part of the Pulp phenomenon. Habicht infuses the concert footage with some quirky talking-head pieces from some colourful and eccentric locals and even includes a middle-aged ladies choir belting out Pulp’s most famous hit ‘Uncommon People’ which is considered an anthem in this area. Cocker himself comes over as an extremely likeable funny man which is somewhat of a surprise given the rather dark lyrics of the songs that he pens and performs. In fact, his acute observations of everyday life, and also those of sexual frustration, account for a great deal of the band’s popularity.
This joyous wee tribute to this disarmingly charming man will totally delight not just his fans but also anyone who has any passion for British indie-rock. Although why Habicht insisting in calling it ‘A Film about Life, Death and Supermarkets’ is beyond me.
Violent prison dramas with raw angry men desperately displaying their machismo just to survive the regime of brutality that pervades in jails always have an underlying tone of homo-eroticism in them. ‘Starred Up’ with a brilliant career-making performance from 23-year-old Jack O’Connell is one such movie especially as it has the near-obligatory shower scene that ends in a naked fight.
★★★★★
O’Connell plays troublesome teenager Eric Love who has been moved from a juvenile detention facility as they cannot handle him any more. Unlike the other inmates banged up in this adult jail, he doesn’t want to get out, as the reason he has forced the authorities to send him to an adult prison, is that his father, who he barely knows, has been serving time there for the past 14 years.
The back-story as to how these two ended up being incarcerated is vague to say the least but it’s not that important as its the attempt at reconciliation between father and son that is the focus of the story. He may only be 19, but Eric is a hardened criminal who knows how to work the system, which only serves to enrage the corrupt prison guards who are determined that they will not be beaten by this youth, even if it means actually having him killed. Their undisguised anger is matched by the determination of a do-gooder volunteer social worker who is insistent that he can cure Eric, and maybe even his father, by some simplistic anger-management.
It gets a tad confusing on occasion when the men’s shouting matches become incoherent, but one doesn’t need subtitles to get the gist of the violent action most of the time. This is essentially Eric’s story and of the way that he has deliberately chosen to develop into manhood. We are never sure either because of the script, or O’Connell’s mesmerizing performance, if the boy actually loves his father or really wants him dead.
Directed by David McKenzie (‘Young Adam’, ‘Hallam Foe’) from a script by Jonathan Asser based on his own experiences as a prison social work. Even with strong supporting performances from Ben Mendelsohn as the father and Rupert Friend as the social worker, this film, one of the very best prison dramas for a long time, completely belongs to Eric, thanks to O’Connell’s portrayal. We are bound to see a lot more of this actor as he destined for stardom.
P.S. Starred Up is a term used in the UK to describe the early transfer of a criminal from a Young Offender Institution to an adult prison.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zE4ziBfu0JA
by Roger Walker-Dack
★★★★ The Riot Club | The atrocious unsocial behaviour of a group of very wealthy privileged college-age offspring of England’s landed gentry whose utter contempt for the poor is matched by their assumed rights of trashing and vandalising other people’s properties, seems a odd topic for a movie.
UK film distributor Peccadillo Pictures much-acclaimed series of gay short films BOYS ON FILM has a new 12th Edition called CONFESSIONS.
Like all the previous collections this shockingly-good compilation of movies from mainly first-time filmmakers around the world features different stories about the lives of young gay men. As the title indicates the theme of this latest collection is about exposing private lives and uncovering secrets and presenting a choice or whether to keep hiding or to confess?
Of the nine powerful tales, there are three standouts that make this anthology one of the best to date. From Australia, SHOWBOY written and directed by Samuel Leighton-Dore is the moving story of Julian a young football player. After the unexpected death of his mother, he finds himself struggling to support his depressed, unemployed father while fighting to keep safe the secret he once shared with his mother. He’s not only gay, but performs drag shows too.
From the Netherlands, CRUISE PATROL written and directed by Bobby de Groot & Arjan van Meerten is a gloriously highly stylised animated movie about what happens on a long and dusty road where a routine cruise patrol takes a strange turn and spirals totally out of control.
Finally, from Belgium, HUMAN WARMTH directed by Christophe Predari, is the tale of Antoine’s desire. His passion and his love is so overwhelming that he has to stay close to Bruno. He loves his warmth and he needs it. But as with any relationship, soon comes the time of detachment and what will happen if Antoine’s body stops responding? It is by far the most erotic and sensuous piece of the collection.
Short films offer a wealth of different experiences and these ones, in particular, are wonderfully thought-provoking too. They should be applauded also for their high production values despite the micro budgets they were made off, and for the fact that gives gay audiences an opportunity to experience new talent behind and in front of the camera.
Anna has just turned 40. She’s a chubby Cuban/American lesbian filmmaker, lonely, depressed and with more than a generous helping of self-pity that she loves to wallow in. At her birthday party to mark her entry into middle-age she wears a giant vagina costume which may get her the odd performing gig at a trendy museum but it isn’t going to get her laid tonight. Undaunted and back in her friend’s L.A. garage next morning where she has been living for some months now, she maps out her annual birthday goals. They are the exact same ones she has had for several years and never even gets close to achieving. She wants to a) make a movie, b) lose 20lbs and c) find a girlfriend.
She thinks she may start on the third one just a few nights later at a screening of one of her Short Movies which seems to delight a very attractive girl in the audience. Katya is stunningly beautiful but she is also a bit of cold fish and a pretentious cultural snob. Nevertheless in conversation with her later Anna is so mesmerised by the fact that Katya is even spending time with her, she listens to the younger girl egg her on to make a new movie. Anna only agrees as she thinks this may be a way to get into the girl’s panties.
To impress her potential girlfriend Anna decides to make an all-lesbian version of Edward Albee’s classic ‘Who’s Afraid or Virginia Woolf’ and encouraged by Katya describes the project as ‘a post examination of lesbo-phobia’. I’m not sure about that, but what I do know when this film about making a film gets to this part, it’s all downhill from now on. There was the possibility that this remake of one of Elizabeth Taylor’s Oscar-winning roles would be good as Guinevere Turner (The L Word) would be playing Martha, but as Katya persuades the love-smitten Anna to tone down all the famous histrionics, then that lost all of its steam too.
This movie is based on the real life of its writer/director/star Anna Margarita Albelo who bears a passing resemblance to Lena Dunham (‘Tiny Furniture’ ‘Girls’) whom I am guessing she may aspire to be.
However, unlike Ms Dunham who is a Golden Globe/Emmy-winning all-rounder gifted powerhouse, the very inexperienced Ms Albelo lacks her fine sense of humour and her talent to act. In this piece, she is sadly her own worst enemy as her stilted writing may have fared slightly better if her role had been played by a real actress.
Full of good intentions this micro-budget movie had some potential especially when the cast also included Carrie Preston (‘The Good Wife’) and also young Agnès Olech who did a fine turn as Julia the girl who really fancied Anna, But for a comedy it took itself way too seriously which really dampened the humour. There is one moment that is funny for the wrong reason when Katya is trying to be deep and profound with Anna and says ‘Remember what Jean-Luc Goddard said and shit on your audience as much as possible!’. For the record, M. Goddard did not say that, but I must admit that occasionally it felt that Anna had believed he did.
For the record, by the end of the year, Anna achieved two of her goals. I’ll leave it to you to find out which two.
There’s a lot of hype surrounding the new film Interstellar, which opens on Friday.
It’s directed by Christopher Nolan, the man who brought us the billion-dollar grossing films (each!) The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Returns. He also brought us 2000’s smart and highly intellectual film Memento and 2010’s highly confusing Inception. Also upping the hype around Interstellar is that it stars recent Academy Award winners Matthew McConaughey and Anne Hathaway, multiple Oscar nominee Jessica Chastain, as well as Oscar winners Michael Caine, Ellen Burnstyn, and in an uncredited/unbilled but pivotal role in the film, Matt Damon. Also by the look of the trailer, it looks visually and experimentally stunning. It’s on the path to be this year’s Gravity.
Interstellar is a lot of things. But according to Nolan, it hinges on the provocative question of humanity’s place in the stars. Interstellar means ‘occurring or situated between stars,’ and that’s basically what the movie is all about. It’s also about Black Holes, distance galaxies, uninhabitable and habitable planets, spaceship travel, and what drives the plot is the relationship a father has with his daughter.
Set in the near future when an agricultural crisis has hit Earth and there is not enough food to eat and the population is slowly dying. The land is very dry and there are massive sandstorms that engulf the planet. With the possibility of the extinction of humans, a dangerous and daring mission takes place to look for planets outside of the universe where humans can move to, survive, and most importantly, reproduce. It’s a mission that goes above and beyond the barriers of time and space, defying not only gravity but inter-galaxy travel as well. It’s an experimental mission that’s not only very dangerous, but life altering as well.
Cooper (McConaughey) is a former test pilot and engineer who’s now a farmer because that is what is needed in this decaying, dry new world. The only crop that is left on earth is corn, so this is what he grows at his vast farm, with the help of his father-in-law Donald (John Lithgow) and his two children – teenage son Tom (Timothee Chalamet) and daughter Murph (Mackenzie Foy). Cooper hears of some sort of experimental space project going on in his area, so he drives off attempting to find it, at the same time finding Murph in the back of the car when she was told to stay home. She’s as much of a space geek as her father.
They find the compound, or actually, the compound finds them, and they both get whisked into the underground bunker. It’s actually a fortress made up of scientists and engineers, led by Professor Brand (Caine). He leads the project for the search of a planet in perhaps another universe that can sustain the human race. A project which includes a newly built spaceship.
So Cooper (without the blessing of his daughter) and Brand’s scientist daughter Amelia (Hathaway) and two others blast off into space, into the darkness, on a mission that seems impossible. But what Cooper doesn’t know is that 13 other astronauts had previously attempted the mission, and all have not been heard from since. And to add drama to the story, Amelia was in love with one of them.
It’s the space mission (and Cooper and Murph’s relationship) that drives Interstellar. And what a drive it is. Nolan takes us into space and beyond like no other filmmaker has. We are transported into another universe, through black holes, to other planets. One planet has waves the size of the Empire State Building, while another is caked in ice, where they find one of the 13 astronauts alive – Dr. Mann (Damon). And this is when Coopers’ and Amelia’s mission strays off it’s course, in a detrimental way. One hour on this planet equals 20 years on Earth, so the more time spent there, the more time Cooper’s children grow up, and old, without him.
What Interstellar tries to do is use the magnitude and grandeur of space as a backdrop for exploring the relationships that Cooper has with his children, especially his daughter. It’s also about all kinds of things – our lives on earth, what will happen when our earth can no longer sustain us, who are are, and it makes us look at the relationships we have. It basically asks us to examine, all this, and more, in its 169 minutes. London-born Nolan successfully puts the audience into space, and McConaughey successfully makes us believe that he’s got the passion for being in space, but Interstellar leaves us mere mortals behind in a film that is a bit overwhelming, mind-bending, demanding and a bit confusing. And the sound quality is not the best, the music and noise at times drown out what the characters are saying in a few crucial scenes. And with two recent air space accidents in the last couple weeks, no one is really in a rush to get to space.
Written by Nolan and his brother Jonathan, Interstellar is a movie bigger than it can handle, and what we can handle.
CHRISTMAS is the campest of all the holidays we celebrate : it’s the season of both joy and sheer excess, and should always be a great deal of fun. To help you have a gay old time we have trailed our extensive Film Library to give you.
A L’INTÉRIEUR aka Inside. If you are big fan of horror flicks, then this is a real sick Christmas one for you. If this not a genre you like then STOP READING NOW. This exceedingly nasty French movie made in 2009 starts with a baby dying in utero in a car crash. This becomes one total bloody fest as one very pregnant woman attempts to stop a stranger in her manger from cutting her unborn baby out of her tummy before it’s fully cooked. It’s on this list as it is as camp as hell. Literally.
A MERRY FRIGGING CHRISTMAS. We’ve included this brand new one even though we haven’t seen it …yet … as its one of the last movies that the late great ROBIN WILLIAMS made. This mad-cap comedy also stars Candace Bergen, Oliver Platt, Lauren Graham, and Jeffrey Tambor.BUY IT
ERNEST SAVES CHRISTMAS. Santa travels to Orlando to pick his successor before his magic runs out. When he arrives, he just happens to meet Ernest, a bumbling taxi driver who is filled with holiday joy. Ernest drops Santa off so he can meet with the next Santa, Joe Carruthers but forgets Santa’s magic bag in the trunk. This very silly comedy is a great way to just laugh that excessive Christmas Day dinner off.BUY IT
GO. This is a wonderfully funny action flick that follows several separate storylines on one very strange Christmas in Los Angeles and Vegas. For purposes here it’s worth noting that the most Christmassy of the storylines involves insanely hot Timothy Olyphant as a drug dealer in nothing but sweatpants and a Santa hat who holds Katie Holmes hostage. BUY IT
GREMLINS. THE star of ”Gremlins” the mogwai is a small, furry, fictitious creature that looks something like a cuddly teddy bear with the ears of a rabbit, a Bambilike nose, eyes as round and deep and dark as glass buttons, a sweet disposition and a physical nature more unstable than hydrogen gas. When Rand gives one to his son Billy (who fervently does not believe in Santa) as Christmas gift, all hell lets loose in their small town. Silly fun.
MEET ME IN ST LOUIS. Christmas without Judy Garland would be unthinkable and the best one we think to watch over the holiday is this classic film: one of her very best. After all. MGM promoted this as ‘Technicolor Romance of Gaiety and Song’. Exactly
MIRACLE ON 34TH STREET. The original version 1947 earned this Santa Claus Edmund Glenn a Best Supporting Actor Oscar, in a movie that never leaves a dry eye in the house.
THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS. In Tim Burton’s delightful animated movie Jack Skellington, king of Halloweentown, discovers Christmas Town, but doesn’t quite understand the concept. A wee gem of a film.BUY IT
THE SILENT PARTNER. This camp almost forgotten Canadian gem from 1978 stars Christopher Plummer as a very hammy psychopath Santa Claus whose attempt to rob a Bank is foiled when the timid Teller (a very young Elliot Gould) beats him too it. Also stars an almost unrecognizable John Candy and Suzannah York.BUY IT
WHITE CHRISTMAS. This list would not be complete with one of the all-time camp Christmas movies that in 1954 Paramount claimed was ‘the most fabulous music and mirth show in motion picture history’. Starring Bing Crosby & Danny Kaye but our favorite track is Rosemary Clooney and Vera Ellen singing the original version of Sisters.BUY IT
Every day on his way to University, linguistics student Boaz stops at the Post Office to check his mailbox to see if there is a letter telling him he has been awarded a Scholarship to continue his studies in Jerusalem. One day however, inside the box he finds a letter he has not been expecting, is a note from a secret male admirer who says that watching Boaz from afar is the highlight of his day.
The place is Tel Aviv and the year is 1989 when homosexuality was secretive and closeted and encounters only happened in the dark shadows of night. It was also the time before computers and emails when the mail was still the main way to communicate. Boaz has been happily living with Noa his adoring girlfriend for over a year now, and his life is seemingly as perfect as it can get. Now when these unsolicited letters start arriving he gets thrown off kilter and they suddenly reignite memories he had chosen to forget when he almost hadam intimate encounter with another man during his Military service.By the time the third letter has arrived, Boaz’s curiosity to the author’s identity has turned into paranoia, as he believes that every man he encounters in the street, on the bus, in the library is staring at him in a lustful manner. The fact that Boaz is played by Yoav Reuveni a rather stunning ex-international male model turned actor would make this a totally feasible assumption. It is however Noa, who suspicious of Boaz’s sudden change in attitude at home, who finds the letters and correctly puts two and two together to work out who the real writer is.
Boaz is now desperately struggling with his sexual identity so much so that when the 4th letter arrives and demands that he agrees to a pre-arranged way of signaling if he is in fact interested in returning his admirers affection, that he gets in such a state that he is about to explode. Or do something to vent out his anger and confusion that he may somehow regret.
This rather intriguing drama about repressed homosexual feelings and desire acutely brings back an era when lust was often hidden and unrequited. The movie was based on a short story by Yossi Avni Levy who is (most intriguingly) currently the Israeli Ambassador in Serbia. It was directed and written by Yariv Moser (who co-starred in it too) best known for his two excellent documents ‘My First War’ and ‘The Invisible Men’. Moser’s decision to cast first-time actors paid off well as Mr. Reuveni in particular turned in a pitch perfect turn as the perturbed Boaz.
And knowing how to keep his audience completely glued to the screen Moser heightens the air of homoeroticism with having Boaz constantly take showers at the drop of a hat too.
Have you ever want to like something so much, looked forward to seeing something so much, eager with anticipation?
And then it happens and its, umm, well, it’s, not quite what you thought or expected?
A film that includes the inimitable Amelie actress Audrey Tautou and the quirky actor from Populaire, Romain Duris, and has a storyline that reads like a William Burroughs script, and I really expected something kooky, something off the wall?
I’d read about it before it came out – in itself a long protracted event as it seemed to take forever to get a UK cinema release. Based on a popular French novel by Boris Vian, it takes place in a fantasy version of Paris, where cars fly, pianos make cocktails and people stretch whilst skating – and not just their muscles!
I hate to spoil the stories when doing a review of a film or DVD, so I won’t go into details on this score apart from the well-publicised basics – boy meets girl, falls in love, marry and then girl becomes seriously ill as a flower starts to grow in her lung… as it does.
The boy then has to use all available funds to buy a flower to help heal his girl and takes all sorts of odd jobs to fund this. The rest is available on the DVD for you to watch.
One word used a lot in reviews and write ups on this film is “whimsy” and it’s a great word to sum this up – it is whimsical in the extreme but it lacks some of the finesse of either Amelie and Populaire – though both actors and the rest of the cast and crew give it their all and do a good job.
The director is responsible for Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Be Kind, Rewind and it kind of shows, the story takes all kind of twists and turns, but the special effects are not up to the expected level and seem amateurish and at times awkward. The story doesn’t follow the normal narrative trail but seems to waver as it moves towards its end.
I didn’t hate this film, how could you? But I didn’t love it and ended feeling disappointed and a little let down. Whether this is down to me and my high expectations or the film and its production, I’m not sure… As always, I’d urge you to watch and decide for yourself. I do think its worth watching, but don’t expect the usual Tautou or Duris fair….
I’d give it a 3 out of 5 stars, I wish it was more
