THEGAYUK

Category: Film

  • FILM REVIEW | Behind The Candelabra

    ★★★★ | Behind The Candelabra

    According to director, Steven Soderbergh, the Hollywood studios refused to finance “Behind the Candelabra”, so it ended up being made as a TV movie by HBO.

    t seems the movie was deemed too gay (post Brokeback Mountain, really?) and so, though it is getting a cinema release here in the UK (out on June 7), in the USA, it will only be seen on television.

    If I’m honest, the movie does rather betray its origins as a TV movie, albeit a very enjoyable one with high production values and excellent performances.

    Production designer Howard Cummings, and set designer Barbara Munch-Cameron went to great pains to ensure the movie looks authentic, and many of the props, the pianos and the cars, are actually ones that Liberace himself owned, found on extensive scavenging trips to various antique dealers and prop buyers; some on loan from the Liberace museum. Liberace’s Las Vegas mansion and Los Angeles penthouse are revealed in all their lavishly over the top, glitzy, rococo splendour and the costumes, by Ellen Mirojnick, are detailed reproductions of ones worn by Liberace and Scott Thorson.

    Not wanting to make a traditional biopic, Soderbergh has concentrated on the period spanning the relationship of Liberace and Thorson, adding a short coda that takes in Liberace’s death from AIDS and his funeral, and is mostly based on Thorson’s book “Behind the Candelabra”. During this period, Thorson gained a lot of weight, then lost it again, and both Liberace and Thorson underwent plastic surgery.

    Even if one knows little about Liberace, the story is a familiar one, basically a celebrity marriage that goes wrong. The end of Liberace’s relationship with Thorson is already there in the beginning. When Thorson first meets Liberace, we also meet Liberace’s current lover, a relationship that has obviously soured, so it is no surprise when the scene is replicated later in the film, this time with a young dancer taking the Thorson role, and Thorson taking the role of the disgruntled lover. There is no doubt about the love and affection the two men have for each other at the beginning of the relationship, but things take a bizarre turn when Liberace decides he would like to adopt Thorson, and asks Thorson to undergo plastic surgery to make him look more like Liberace’s younger self.

    Having settled into domestic bliss, they have both gained weight, and the idea comes to him after Liberace sees himself on TV on the Jonny Carson show, declaring he looks like his father in drag. He enlists the help of Dr Jack Startz, a plastic surgeon and dietician (brilliantly played by Rob Lowe, with a completely immobile face). Quite how the make-up department achieved the amazing before and after transformations I am not sure, but they have done so brilliantly.

    Soderbegh’s direction is not always sure footed, and the film drags a little in the middle, which might be less noticeable in the context of a TV movie. He does however get wonderful performances out of his all star cast. Aside from the aforementioned Rob Lowe, there are some great cameos from Dan Ackroyd, Scott Bakula and Debbie Reynolds (remember her?), but the movie succeeds or fails on the work of its two stars, and both Michael Douglas and Matt Damon give faultless performances. Damon is thoroughly believable as the star struck young innocent who gradually descends into drug addiction, and Michael Douglas quite simply gives one of the best performances of his career.

    It would have been so easy, and so tempting, to overplay the role and come up with a clownish caricature, but Douglas completely avoids that trap, and comes up with a performance of great subtlety. If the movie had a cinema release in America, he would no doubt be in line for an Oscar. As it is, surely he’ll walk away with the Emmy.

    Available to buy / view on: Amazon | Amazon Prime | iTunes

  • FILM REVIEW | The Year Dolly Parton Was My Mum

    ★★★★★ | The Year Dolly Parton Was My Mum

    I rarely gush, especially when sober, but fasten your seat belts – I’m about to.

    I’ve just been fortunate enough to spend 1 and 1/2 hours in the company of some of the most wonderful talents around, including Dolly Parton.

    The Year Dolly Parton Was My Mum is one of those rare things, a film that manages to be both funny and serious, mixing the genres of road movie and coming of age – with Dolly Parton added into the mix (did I mention that already?)

    The story is simple:

    Eleven year old Elizabeth has a solid, simple life. That is until a run-of-the-mill school assignment alters her life, and the lives of the people around her forever. She’s struggling to cope with the usual pre-teen issues – boobs and periods, mean girls and then suddenly added to this, the fact she was adopted.

    She puts 2 and 2 together to get 3, and sets off to meet what she assumes to be her real mom, Dolly Parton, at a concert over the border in the US.

    What follows is a cross country chase (although with Elizabeth on her Chopper bike, this isn’t Fast or Furious!) when her adoptive mother overcomes her issues about her perfect life to re-ignite her relationship with her daughter – genetic or not.

    The film perfectly captures the feel and colour of 1976, the music of Dolly is used throughout and although she doesn’t actually appear in this indie flick, her presence is everywhere, including new versions of old classics by the likes of Nelly Fertado and Martha Wainwright.

    I won’t spoil this any more for you, but treat yourself. Pour a Cinzano and lemonade, don your best flares and fly away collar shirt and treat yourself to some pure escapism.

    Director Tara Johns makes a brilliant first feature, having penned the film also. The film succeeds because it feels personal, it feels real, and, most of all, it engages you and makes you feel good.

    I’d give the film 6 out of 5 if it were possible.

    Buy On Amazon | Buy or Watch On iTunes

  • Liberace coming to a cinema near you

    Matt Damon and Michael Douglas star in a brand new film about the excessive, piano playing, Betty White dating, ‘I’m not homosexual’ Liberace.

    Before Elvis, before Elton John, Madonna and Lady Gaga, there was LIBERACE – infamous pianist, outrageous entertainer and flamboyant star of stage and television. A name synonymous with showmanship and extravagance, he lit up every stage he performed on, as bright as his candelabras and with a unique flair that gained him millions of devoted fans across the globe.

    In the summer of 1977, handsome young stranger Scott Thorson walked into Liberace’s dressing room and, despite their age difference and seemingly different worlds, the two embarked on a secretive five-year love affair. To the outside world Scott was an employee, at most a friend, but behind closed doors his life with Liberace was an intense rollercoaster of hedonistic fun, flamboyance and excess.

    Starring Michael Douglas as Liberace and Matt Damon as Scott Thorson, BEHIND THE CANDELABRA tells the fascinating true story of their glamorous life together and their tempestuous relationship — from the glitz and glamour of the early days in Las Vegas to their very bitter and public break-up.

  • Gay Movie Looking For Crowd Funding

    In order to raise money to film the ‘Vignettes’ they are crowd funding – using a company called ‘Indiegogo’.

    It’s a relatively new way of raising money to produce independent work and you can donate at the following link:

    http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/four-play-movie-the-vignettes.

    There are a series of perks available upon donation. It’s not simply giving over money.

    A target has been set at £2000 – but this is the bare minimum the ‘Vignettes’ can be produced with.

    The aim is to overshoot this target.

    The best way for these campaigns to work is by having continual activity in the funding. Whilst massive donations are greatly appreciated – they definitely are – having a constant amount of smaller donations raises awareness of the campaign.

    The campaign ends on the 17th of May and then the ‘Vignettes’ shoot the weekend of the 18th and 19th of May.

    You can also follow on Twitter @FourPlayMovie

    And like the official Facebook page:Facebook.com/FourPlayMovie

  • 6 Greatest Sex Scenes From Gay Cinema

    6 Greatest Sex Scenes From Gay Cinema

    Forget those porn movies – Gay characters are becoming more and more prominent in mainstream cinema.

    Films that explore the relationships between same-sex couples are increasingly seen in the multiplexes as opposed to being the preserve of the art-house or independent cinema circuits. There have been a number of pivotal moments in cinema whereby films with wider appeal have either hinted at or graphically displayed on screen gay or lesbian sex. From Personal Best to The Crying Game, The Rocky Horror Show to My Beautiful Laundrette, there is a welcome increase in both serious and light-hearted looks at the gay community. But with it, comes an increase in sex scenes, which can arouse you, make you reflect or fill you with romance. Here are six of the best, which, for a variety of reasons, are ones which are of note.

    6. Threesome

    Intellectual Eddie (Josh Charles) is in the closet. Heading to college, he finds himself sharing a dorm with Stuart (Stephen Baldwin), a jock and serial womaniser. But due to an administrative error, their other roommate is Alex (Lara Flynn Boyle), a feisty young woman who is down as a male on the college records. But the complications start as they grow closer. Stuart loves Alex and wants sex with her. Alex loves Eddie and wants sex with him. And Eddie loves Stuart, hiding his desires to have sex with him and secretly checking him out at every opportunity. The three of them become firm friends and, of course, sex gets in the way. Until that is, they think that they have found the perfect solution….

    But will the three of them end up in a ménage a Trois and will Eddie ever get his desires towards Stuart fulfilled? A mostly shirtless, muscular Baldwin brother plays the all-American depraved teen with lustful desires towards his female roommate, but who gets more of an education at college than he probably imagined when he filled out his application.

    BUY ON AMAZON

    5. Shelter

    Zack is an aspiring artist trapped in a life of supporting his dysfunctional family and caring for his nephew, until his best friend’s gay brother, Shaun (Brad Rowe), comes back from L.A. As the two hang out and surf together their feelings for each other develop among the waves, surfboards and wetsuits. Not only do they hide their relationship for Zack’s benefit, who is struggling with his new found feelings, Shaun encourages Zack to take control of his life and follow his ambitions. But not before the two of them have engaged in plenty of bedroom activities.

    If a hunky surfer, a semi-twink and lots of manly dudes in wetsuits is your thing, then this film may be for you. The beautiful boys find time to kiss, cuddle and caress each other in the California sun, the highlight of this film is an early morning romp whereby the boys nearly get caught by their brother and best friend.

    BUY ON AMAZON

    4. Wild Things

    In this steamy thriller, two girls accuse a high school counsellor of raping them in a convoluted extortion plot. But as the key players in the plan find themselves increasingly mistrusting of the others, Suzie Marie Toller (played by Neve Cambell) attacks Kelly Lanier Van Ryan (Denise Richards) in a swimming pool, but the attack turns to lust as the two girls kiss passionately and undress each other, whilst all the time being observed and filmed by a police officer hiding in the undergrowth.

    The swimming pool scene is one example of how this film strides out where other erotic thrillers (Basic Instinct, Showgirls) feared to tread by showing erotic lesbian sex scenes with partially nude Hollywood starlets. After watching this, it becomes clear why they stayed in the pool to cool off.

    BUY ON AMAZON

    3. Beautiful Thing

    Teenage life on a London council estate is difficult for Jamie, who has a crush on his handsome classmate and neighbour, Ste (played by the very beautiful Scott Neal). In Beautiful Thing, Ste has his own problems with his dysfunctional family and alcoholic father. Love slowly blossoms between the two boys as they deal with an interfering neighbour, visit their first gay bar and grow into their sexuality.

    The catalyst for all of this is when Ste is beaten by his father and spends the night at Jamie’s. Sleeping “top to toe”, Jamie starts by massaging Ste’s bruised body, but this turns into much more as the two boys end up kissing and subsequently sleeping together. But what makes this scene so special is that it is a beautifully tender moment which takes you back to your first love and maybe even reminds you of those fledgeling fumbles you once had.

    BUY ON AMAZON

    2. Bound

    In this film noir fuelled movie, Violet (Jennifer Tilley) wishes to escape her violent criminal boyfriend and so engages in a clandestine affair with a sexually charged ex-con, Corky (Gina Gershon) and the two of them plan to rip off $2 million of mob money. Double-crossing, violent criminals and underhand tactics cannot detract from the explicit sexual aspects of this film.

    The two women are beautiful and their first encounter is a breathy, whispered and intimate one. Whoever thought that showing someone your tattoo would lead to such an erotic encounter? But their second encounter is why this film makes the list. As the camera pans around the two women, their graphic intimacy is clearly shown and the passion of the two women for each other really shows.

    More visually detailed than your usual mainstream Hollywood film, this was a groundbreaking film at the time and settles in a high position in this list.

    BUY ON AMAZON

    1. Brokeback Mountain

    Ennis Del Mar (Heath Ledger) and Jack Twist (Jake Gyllenhaal) are two Cowboys who find themselves with only each other for company whilst working high up on the slopes of Brokeback Mountain. With nothing but a supply of whisky and each other, they find a way to pass the time, leading to some fairly rough initial intimacy and huge feelings of guilt. But as the years go by, they share something more special than either of them ever anticipated and what starts off as a drunken fumble becomes a deep love for each other, although Ennis struggles more with it than Jack, who wants them to be together.

    Who could resist Heath ledger and Jake Gyllenhall dressed as cowboys and engaging in some manly fun? Their first encounter in the tent, involving some spit and a few minutes of grunting is perhaps the best-known sex scene in the film, despite a number of other more romantic encounters as the years go by. But the film makes the list not for this scene or for the tantalising prospect of the two leads in various states of undress, but for the most romantic scene whereby, on a fishing trip, Ennis approaches Jack and simply folds his arms around him in an emotional embrace. Who says that romance is dead?

    BUY ON AMAZON

  • FILM REVIEW | I’m So Excited

    I am a huge fan of Pedro Almodovar, and have loved every one of his films that I’ve seen. That is, until now.

    The title of his latest movie might be I’m So Excited but it left me singularly unexcited and unenthusiastic. I’ve never been so disengaged from an Almodovar film in my life and I’m still trying to work out what went wrong and why I found it so dreary. Was it the stilted dialogue, the wooden acting (even from Antonio Banderas and Penelope Cruz, who put in a couple of cameos), or the implausible storyline? Well, to be honest, most Almodovar movies have somewhat implausible and surreal plots, and that’s never bothered me before. In fact, that’s part of their charm.

    The film is billed as a comedy, but, apart from a few isolated one liners, I found it distinctly unfunny. Maybe the humour was dissipated by my having to read the subtitles (I don’t speak Spanish), but I’ve never found language to be a bar in previous Almodovar movies. The fact that the majority of this movie takes place within the confines of the business section and cockpit of a plane certainly doesn’t help, and, because of this, nowhere is there the kind of visual richness normally experienced in one of his movies. In addition, I found the camp antics and stereotypical behaviour of the all gay air stewards rather insulting. Haven’t we moved on from this kind of camperie? Honestly they could have been played by Liberace, Larry Grayson and John Inman and you wouldn’t have noticed the difference.

    I’m guessing the film is an allegory, the plane being a metaphor for the disastrous Spanish economy, the somnolent economy class passengers being representative of the majority of the populace, who are kept in the dark about what’s going on, whilst the ruling classes, in business class, run around like headless chickens, but I could be wrong and, quite honestly, I don’t really care. It is just one big self-indulgent bore, naïve and badly executed. Unless you’re particularly partial to watching undragged up drag queens mime to the Pointer Sisters, then I’d say avoid.

    Available to buy / view on: Amazon | Amazon Prime | iTunes

     

  • FILM REVIEW | She Male Snails

    ★★★★★ | She Male Snails

    An exceptional art based film employing experimental film work to explore androgyny, living beyond a conformity of gender; visually fulfilling for any art film lover.

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  • FILM REVIEW | How To Have A Relationship

    A series of film shorts exploring the complexities of relationships.

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  • FILM REVIEW | Les Invisibles

    ★★★★★ | Les Invisibles

    A refreshingly honest and prevailing documentary film following the lives of eleven elderly gay men and women, something which has had little representation in gay culture.

    A superb collection of intimate autobiographical stories on what it was like growing up being gay and the pain of suppression. Somehow it seems more sincere coming from elderly people with incredibly fascinating memories to share. It was so easy to become affectionate towards these unashamed individuals and their lives.

    The film uses a collection of personal photographs and home footage to reveal the memories. At intervals the exceptional cinematography oozed of beauty.

    Although these individuals grew up in a different society as what we live in today, it is still touching to hear similar experiences of growing up being gay, and in particular, other peoples reactions to being gay. Some came from a time where it was scandalous to even claim to be proud of being gay.

    This film really made me think. It reminded me of the importance of acceptance in others, and acceptance in oneself. It made me proud to be part of a community of shared experience. But most of all it made me proud that a film has been lovingly and unpretentiously made which is honest and real. The highlight of the film festival so far.

    Outstanding

  • FILM REVIEW | Fragments

    A series of spectacular experimental short films which explore memory and gay culture. Art lovers prepare to be amazed…

    1. Kiss ★★★★

    A superb silent composition consisting of a single couple in frame, kissing. The black and white film has an air of romanticism and sexual lust about it. Following on from this, the same clips are played, but this time in colour and with the sound of kissing. This was a less attractive portrayal. An excellent arrangement of film and artistic questioning.

    2. Birthplace ★★★

    A spoken memory about growing up in a strong family unit which radiated out into the village culture. This is juxtaposed with a grainy Super 8 film full of exaggerated hue. Nostalgic and heartfelt.

    3. Things Art Different Now ★★★

    A film with a kind of painterly image quality. Single face shots are placed into context through a memory of persecution and the painful sadness of friends dying. A ghostly reflection on the AIDs epidemic.

    4. Happy ★★★★★

    This short displays a lyrical based approach with strong conceptual integrity. There is a continual flux of beliefs and desires through this duality of religious speech versus popular culture icons, such as Judy Garland. Outstanding and poignant dichotomy. The one to watch!

    5. Postface  ★★★★

    An exploration into the life of Montgomery Cliff, where an accident left him in pieces. The film work replicated this idea through a fragmented pausing and playing of film; a very experimental approach. It is suggestive of the consequences of his accident. Although this type of work probably will not be understood by the majority of people, it certainly comes highly commended for all the experimental art film lovers out there.

    6. I’m Leaving on Wednesday ★★★

    This looks at love and memory of this love though a footage style of filming. The passion when eyes lock together, the closeness, the feeling, the companionship. A gentle film.

    7. Pop! ★★

    This short film is like a collaged composition; a mash up between film, words, music and artistic overlay. Slightly confusing and ambiguous.

    8. How To Talk To Kids ★

    With a miminal music overlay, reminiscent of Sigur Ros, this film wasn’t as well executed as it could have been. Forgettable.

    9. Like Rats Leaving A Sinking Ship ★

    Poetic in expression, but incoherent in storyline. However, this incoherence perhaps adds to its beauty.

  • FILM REVIEW | Keep The Lights On

    ★★★★ | Keep The Lights On

    Keep the Lights On is a powerfully charged plot following two men from New York City, Erik (Thure Lindhardt) and Paul (Zachary Booth), through an emotional wave of events.

    Their initial casual sex encounter forms a beautiful relationship which is explosive, climatic and heart-warming, creating a dichotomy of emotive highs and agonising lows. These fundamental parallels are significant, questioning how one can think they know someone, but at the same time know so little about their drive and purpose. But what are the implications of having casual sex with a stranger?

    The movie is set across a period of time, as the storyline gradually increases in momentum. The main couple are easy to relate to, joyfully expressing those heart warming feelings of being in the early stages of a relationship – the closeness, the ecstasy, the contentment. But along with the greatness of any relationship comes the sadness. The film explores the difficulties and strains of alcohol and drug abuse, but how much can a partner support and guide before they can take no more?

    The film work is a mature and honest investigation into a couples intimate bond. It doesn’t try to make a point of this being a gay relationship, which is usually my biggest criticism. It is simply a love story full of anguish and confusion like any other. With poignant shots throughout the movie and set to a stunning soundtrack, it has to be placed right at the top of the must see movie category.