THEGAYUK

Category: Review

  • FILM REVIEW | Do I Sound Gay?

    When journalist David Thorpe found himself single again in his mid-forties he started to angst as to what could possibly be so wrong with him that he should be dumped so unceremoniously. His immediate thought was that the problem must be his voice, that he had always hated, and how it must now be a turn off for other men too. It propelled him into jettisoning his job working for a non-profit housing association and embarking on a journey to ask the world at large the question that had been nagging him for years… do I sound gay?

    ★★★★★

    Thorpe’s somewhat light-hearted investigation starts with him accepting that he dislikes gay-sounding voices, especially his own and he wonders if with professional help it can in fact be changed. A very pushy speech therapist has him working on his ‘nasality’ and long vowels to get a ‘go-too’ voice whatever that maybe. She, thank goodness, is not the only figure that Thorpe seeks advice from and his interviews with some legendary gay figures make both sound, and also hilarious, contributions to his quest.

    Satirist David Sedaris admits that his own remarkably effeminate sounding voice means that he is regularly mistaken on the phone as a woman. Disarmingly frank Sedaris confesses that he actually feels good when a stranger tells him that he doesn’t ‘sound gay’ even though he had believed himself to be ‘beyond all that’. Project Runway’s Tim Gunn says he was appalled when he first heard his voice, but has learned to live with it and love it even. ‘If people hear my voice and call me gay, I’ll say thank you. I’m proud of it’.

    Sex columnist Dan Savage adds a touch of seriousness to the topic by commenting that ‘hating your voice is the last vestige of internalised homophobia.’ On the other hand actor Jeff Hiller handles the reality of the roles that his ‘gay voice’ will limit him too with remarkable good humour and a healthy dashing of some wicked wit. ‘If the gay role is a meaty part, they will always cast a straight actor. If the part is a gay guy with a hot body then I obviously cannot play that. So I just play the sad self-hating bitter queens’, he says roaring with laughter and adding ‘ I’ll take those ugly girl roles because at least I get to work.’

    Thorpe sprinkles his immensely watchable documentary with some lively vox populi, and also his own friends are on hand to lend their voices too even though they do not share his concern that the subject matter is really that important. When at the end he pushes them to give an opinion of his newly trained voice they all tell him that they cannot notice any difference in how he sounds at all. However what they (and we) perceive by now is that his voice didn’t change, but he did.

    As his most entertaining journey draws to a conclusion Thorpe realised that there was nothing wrong with sounding like he does, and equally there is nothing wrong with being a gay man having a gay voice. He was very content to have taken on his quest summing it up his reasoning of ‘if you cannot handle the answer then it’s a question you’ve got to ask.’ We’re glad he did.

  • BOOK REVIEW | The Art of Being Normal by Lisa Williamson

    ★★★★★ | The Art of Being Normal by Lisa Williamson

    I think it says a lot about me as an individual that my attention span in these social media days seems to have dwindled to the point where if it’s more than 140 characters, I get bored.

    I have a stack of great books waiting to be read, or started and tossed aside as one thing or another distracts me.

    That is until this book dropped through the letterbox.

    I honestly can’t remember the last time I relished an authors words so much, felt so deeply in-volved in the plot, felt it resonate on a personal level – basically, found that rare thing, a truly un-put-downable book.

    The storyline is one we can all understand to some point – the slightly kooky outcast group, not the A-crowd, but individuals who have their own voices. Think a good John Hughes film (Pretty in Pink, etc) Bullied at school? Tick.Small group of geeky friends? Tick. Fancy someone you can’t have? Tick. Odd family life? Tick.

    The list is endless, but Lisa Williamson, the book’s author, has the talent of drawing you in and making you feel this book could be about you (in a general sense) without detracting from her own storyline or making any of it seem trite or generic.

    Putting it bluntly, she makes you feel you belong to this story – and a bloody good story it is too.

    In a nutshell, it’s about 2 boys and their lives as they grow and meet. One is a troubled teen, shift-ing from school to school, not much of a family life, not much of a home, no real friends. The other is from a good family, good home, but has a deep secret and deals with it as only teenagers can, and do, daily.

    David Piper has the secret, he wants to be a girl. He’s obsessed to the point of writing everything down in his book, from his penis size to how visible his Adam’s apple is, all in the name of not wanting to look like a man.

    Leo Denton wants to simply be invisible. However, his first few days at his new school ensure that this is going to be impossible.

    After Leo stands up for David against the school bully, an unlikely friendship begins to form and grow – but the secrets they all have are about to come out and things will never be the same.

    This book isn’t another teen drama; it looks at the subjects it covers sensitively but also with humour. The subjects covered aren’t simple, and on some level may have been felt by most of us – being an outsider, wanting to belong, wanting to be invisible, fear of bullying, fear of our families, lack of friends… the list is endless but Lisa tackles these themes so well.

    If you are looking for a good holiday read, pick this. It’ll make you laugh, it’ll make you cry, but it’ll never bore you!

     

    by Chris Jones

  • FILM REVIEW | 50 Shades Of Grey From A Gay Perpective

    ★★★★ | 50 Shades Of Grey

    Since its release in 2012 in book form, the Fifty Shades trilogy has been destined to hit the big screen; and this Valentine’s Day the first finally did, starring the delicious Jamie Dornan and beautiful Dakota Johnson as the leads, and a supporting cast, including Eloise Mumford, Luke Grimes, and pop ‘singer’ Rita Ora. All in all, the film was great if you haven’t read the books. If you have, prepare to be (ever so slightly) disappointed!

    The film, based on the novel of the same name, follows the story of Christian, a BDSM-made sex God played by Dornan, and Anastasia (“just Ana”) Steele, naive student of English Literature. from their first meeting at Grey’s workplace to Ana’s departure after being belted by the dreamy Christian Grey. Throughout the film, the relationships between the characters are explored; including Ana and roommate Kate, played by the radiant Eloise Mumford. The plot highly differs from the book, but still gets across a few key points.

    Despite following a straight relationship, the film is still to be enjoyed by the LGBT+ community. Although we don’t see much of Dakota and Jamie’s bodies, what we do see is sure to not disappoint! For the ladies, we have Ana undressing constantly, desperately, showing her lady bits. For the men, we have Christian’s deliciously peachy bottom shown sporadically throughout the film. The film also inspires new things for the bedroom for all couples – ranging from the use of floggers, not spontaneous fumbles in your garden shed.

    Most of the cast is pleasing, though. For me, Eloise Mumford’s portrayal of Kate Kavanagh is the best performance in the film. Luke Grimes does well in his brief appearances as Christian’s brother, Elliott – and also gives the film a sexy rugged feeling. On the down side, the casting of Rita Ora as his sister, Mia, is the most disappointing casting of the film. Her four lines would be missed if you moved.

    The film, which isn’t as good as its paper counterpart, can be enjoyed by all, and has many pleasing qualities, although many down sides feature, especially the fact that neither Ana or Grey have gay fantasies. The film is set to be released on DVD and Bluray on May 8, 2015, and can still be seen in a few cinemas.

  • FILM REVIEW | Straight Acting

    ★★★★ | Straight Acting

    To most ‘out’ gay men “straight acting” is a derogatory term that is the equivalent of self-loathing. This rather inspiring and enthusiastic wee documentary is one man’s journey coming out of the closet and seeking to define his own concept of being gay when he felt he didn’t fit in with any of the stereotypes that he had known to date.

    Spencer Windes was the middle child of a middle-class Mormon family who always did what was expected of him, most of the time that is. At 19 he went off to be a Missionary as his church told him to do, and then he returned home to find a girl, get married and start his own family. Trouble was it didn’t turn out quite like that as Spencer Windes was a deeply closeted gay man and he just hoped that Jesus would sort him out. And we all know how well that usually works out!

    At 31 years old, a deeply unhappy four times college drop out Spencer, now weighing some 300 lbs, was unemployed and still living at home. And then the planes crashed on that fateful day on 9/11 and this was the epiphany that changed his life. On the plane that crashed into the field in Pennsylvania one of the heroes who had tried to stop the terrorists was Mark Bingham. He was not only a big burly (handsome) man, but he was also openly gay. He was also a member of San Francisco FOG a new all openly gay Rugby Team, and that part blew Spencer away. To be out and gay was one thing, but to be able to play a rough contact sport like that was totally another.

    It inspired him to start losing waiting and sign up to join the LA Ironsides even though he had never played rugby in his life before. Much more importantly it opened his eyes to what was a startling concept to him (and other gay men who live rural lives in particular) to all the alternative gay ‘lifestyles’ that now existed, and which became the subject of this movie.

    He went to gay rodeos in the Mid West and met the riders, and to New York to meet gay hockey players and interviewed men who had also struggled with initially opening the closet door, but once they got a taste of what was the other side, came out fully. The universal message from them all was that they had found a gay lifestyle where they fitted in, and were now happy in the own skins at last.

    He also followed the journey of the (eventual) success of his own rugby team as it flew to London to complete in the Gay Rugby World Cup poignantly named after Mark Bingham, and there is one very emotional scene where Mark’s mother makes a wee speech to the hoards of excited gay rugby players.

    This is no dazzling or profound highly polished documentary but simply the highly personalised account of one very likeable young man’s journey of discovery that I think a lot of others struggling with their own identity would find both uplifting and touching. I really warmed to it, so much so that I can’t wait to start playing rugby! No really, I will.

  • BOOK REVIEW | An Honest Life – Faithful and Gay, Geoffrey Hooper

    Before I review this book I must declare a bias, I know the author.

    Geoffrey Hooper is a 75 year-old gay man that lives in the same village as Andy and I. In the two years we’ve known him he has become an integral part of our life here in Mid-Wales. He has a huge heart, can drink us under the table and used to be an Anglican vicar!

    So when he told us he’d written a book my first instinct was to be afraid – what if I didn’t like it, what if it was bad?

    I needn’t have worried – An Honest Life is a very interesting tale indeed.

    Written in his own words, the narrative recounts key moments in Geoffrey’s life from birth to the present day. It’s the story of a how through being many different versions of himself including a husband, a father, a divorcee, a lover, a counsellor and a priest he has discovered who he is and ultimately embraced his life as a gay man.

    Geoffrey was born a humble greengrocers son on the eve of the Second World War. Growing up in a world before any of the gay freedoms we enjoy today, his path begins with self-denial and fitting in at all costs. It’s hard for me as a reader to contemplate the reality of being gay at the time but Geoffrey’s story offers me a glimpse into a world that I – as a young (ish!) gay man – should never forget.

    The book looks at the two distinct themes of homosexuality and faith, and how they both push and pull the author relentlessly throughout his life.

    The narrative has an almost essay-like feel (especially in the later chapters) which is easy to read in large chunks. I devoured the whole thing in a couple of sittings as each stage of his life led the author closer and closer to what he refers to as his ‘true self’

    Parts of the book left me desperate for more detail – there are specific sections with fleeting references to relationships and experiences that beg to be explored further and in more visceral depth. In a memoir this fascinating it can be somewhat frustrating for the reader to be teased with the hint of an encounter and then left to wonder how it played out. But in a story involving living people I can see the need for discretion, especially considering the subject matter.

    If, like me, you’ve had any sort of experience with organised religion (I went to Sunday School, sung in the choir etc) then this book will have something to say to you. I turned my back on the Church as I grew up and had even less to do with any form of religion once I came out, however reading Geoffrey’s story and seeing how he has kept spirituality in his life throughout his tumultuous journey resonated with me long after I finished the book.

    Homosexuality and religion are such an explosive mix – An Honest Life, is a great read if you have any interest in how being both faithful and gay can cause harm, demonstrate unconditional love and ultimately lead to peace.

    Although written as one man’s story, this book will resonate with you as a reader if you’ve ever struggled with your faith, your identity or with the way the rest of the world sees you.

    So I guess that’s everyone then.

  • THEATRE REVIEW | Barnum, UK theatre tour 2015

    ★★★ | Barnum

    Cameron Mackintosh’s new production of Barnum charts the rise and rise of one of America’s most famous showmen, Phineas T. Barum, whose showmanship and panache for the spectacular led him to become one of America’s richest men. Starting off with a small sideshow, brick by brick he builds his entertainment empire into the greatest show on earth, whilst all the time being supported by his patient and understanding wife. The balance between his dreams and her grounded reality are evident, but his love is tested when he meets beautiful opera singer, Jenny Lind.

    Barnum, as a show itself, is perhaps not best remembered for its storyline, which is thinner than the usual musical; nor for its particularly memorable songs. The show itself is a fairly episodic affair, with the set pieces being broken up by scenes, mainly between Barnum and his wife, which carry the narrative. However, what this production will be remembered for is an absolute abundance of colourful, joyful energy during the big numbers, assaulting the senses with rousing singing and spectacularly choreographed routines. Filling the stage with a plethora of circus skills, including tumbling, ribbon work, silks, tightrope waking and balancing, there is no denying the fact that this is a performance which has been polished to within an inch of its life.

    Playing very much to his strengths, Brian Conley won me over in his performance as Barnum, as his wry smile and casual banter with the audience kept him just on the right side of being the confident, consummate showman; both as the character and in himself.

    Whilst this may have been Conley’s show, he was supported by a large and talented cast, including Linzi Hateley, Kimberly Blake and Landi Oshinowo, a packed out ensemble of very talented dancers and circus performers and a live orchestra. The scale of the production is impressive and it is clear to see the budget, quality and experience behind the production itself, with not only the visuals being bold, brash and ballsy, but in also the technical presentation of the show being wholly impressive, nowhere more evident than the superb lighting designed by Paule Constable.

    With its colour, vibrancy, sense of fun and its full throttle energy, Barnum may well be very much style over substance; but the style it has is undeniably top notch.

    Barnum is currently playing at the Sheffield Lyceum Theatre (www.sheffieldtheatres.co.uk) until Saturday 11th April 2015, before continuing on its national tour (www.barnummusical.com) calling at Leeds, Milton Keynes, Liverpool, Plymouth, Southampton, Canterbury, Birmingham, Salford and Cardiff.

  • ART REVIEW: Alexander McQueen God Of The Runway: Savage Beauty

    When the retrospective work of British fashion designer Alexander McQueen was exhibited at Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York in 2011, tickets moved quicker than Naomi Campbell’s mobile during a hissy-fit.

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  • FILM REVIEW: Kink, The no-holds-barred documentary on Kink

    KINK.com is the largest producer of online BDSM porn movies in the USA and was started by Peter Ackworth, a Brit, from his Dorm Room at school in the UK in 1997. Now based in an enormous defunct Armory Building in San Francisco with many of the original facilities untouched as they make prefect sets for a lot of the perverse activity that now fills the building.

    Kink produce movies for the 30 odd different sites they now operate and they cover the whole Bondage and Sado Masochism spectrum from slave training, rope bondage, femdom, gay public Sex, bondage gangbang, female domination, submissive women, lesbian bondage, shemales, naked wrestling, pissing, and sex machines etc etc. And in this no-holds-barred documentary you get to witness several of the extreme films being made …. I hope the participants were acting in part at least because what they allowed their bodies to be subjected too looked awfully painful from where I was sitting.

    Filmmaker Christina Voros set out to go behind the mystique of the industry and as she is being shown around the building there is a hilarious scene where she cannot make herself heard above the din coming from the other end of the floor, Ackworth explains there is an orgy underway… not something you hear every day. She interviews several of the directors who, with the odd exception, are very matter of fact about their work and how they want to simply be the best in their genre. Occasionally one will try to intellectualize what they are about, but when they tried to align this to an art form, they get twisted up in more knots than the models on set.

    There is also something rather wholesome about the big family atmosphere that permeates throughout the whole company… and it is rather fascinating to watch the directors and management have their monthly meeting to discuss their success. Why they ask, have the ratings for ‘Divine Bitches’ soared whilst ‘Electo Sluts’ is on the decline? Why indeed, but evidently there are fashions and trends that must be watched even in the sex industry.

    The fly on the wall approached worked well and Ms Voros allowed us to witness it all without narration and more importantly, without judgement. Was it shocking? In parts, yes but not the graphic sex but more the aggressive bondage parts in particular. Did we learn anything? Well, yes… thanks to a Dominatrix we know how to stand on an erect penis in stiletto heels without causing any pain. Was it entertaining? To an extent, but it is essentially one big Advertorial for the Kink sites, which lessens its impact and certainly its importance as a general essay on the S + M industry. Would we recommend it? Certainly if you want to be reminded how boring your own sex life really is.

    One our favourite anecdotes was when one of the models had just finished a very intensive hardcore slave/submission movie and dressed in his white terry robe he walked into the main office and was politely asked how his scene had gone. He replied very matter-of-fact “I got f***ed good”. And there you have it.

    by Roger Walker-Dack

  • FILM REVIEW | Blind

    Blond thirty-something year old Ingrid has lost her sight abruptly to an undiagnosed condition and now, depressed and unsettled, she just whiles away in the stark white high-rise apartment in Oslo that she shares with Morton her architect husband.

    ★★

    She refuses to ever venture outside at all and actually suspects that Morton actually sneaks back in the middle of the day and just spies on her silently. In the deliberate and slow pace at the start of this story we see Ingrid sitting with her laptop on the window sill peering out into the void and we are not sure what she is up to as we hear her thoughts in the voice-over.

    Turns out that she is actually writing a piece of fiction that she vividly imagines as she sits there in her darkness.  At the centre of her story is Elin a single mother who has recently moved to the city from Sweden and lives in an apartment building opposite the one that Einar lives in and spies on her all the time when he is not engrossed watching pornography on his computer. And then Ingrid writes her husband into the piece, and that’s when the movie goes in a totally different direction mixing imagination with reality.

    Saying it gets complicated is a gross understatement especially when the pace steps up with Ingrid’s imagination running wild and Elin, also blond and not physically dissimilar, starts dating Morton and goes blind too. For once I had no idea what to make of this all when I viewed it at Sundance last year, but people around me were quick to compare it to a Charlie Kaufman movie (Eternal Sunshine of The Spotless Mind, Adapation + Being John Malkovitch) which I guess makes a lot of sense.

    The reason that it was on my ‘watchlist’ in the first place is its because it’s the directing debut of writer Eskil Vogt who was responsible for one of my favourite movies of 2013 Oslo, August 31st.

     

  • FILM REVIEW | Out In The Dark

    ★★★★★ |  Out In The Dark

    Nimr is in Tel Aviv to visit his old friend Mustafa in a gay bar where he works since moving from Ramallah. Once there he meets Roy a very flirtatious your lawyer who gently puts the moves on equally handsome Nimr who is quickly smitten and is soon ready to make a night of it. However, he is offered a ride for the daunting journey home so they reluctantly say their goodnights. Nimr promises to call, but the chances of that are slim, as he is a Palestinian and is there illegally, and Roy is an Israeli Jew.

    However back home psychology student Nimr is offered a place on a special course in Tel Aviv and along with that comes a permit to enter Israel at any time he wants. It’s something that his militant older brother hates, but on the other hand, something that a very surprised and delighted Roy loves. As the young couple gets to spend time together, within a short time it is clearly not the only thing Roy loves, and the feeling is obviously mutual.

    Whilst Nimr must remain totally closeted to all his family back home in Ramallah for fear of his own life, in Tel Aviv, Roy takes him to formally meet his liberal parents who don’t actually welcome their son’s Arab boyfriend with open arms as he expected them too.

    And then suddenly the two men’s somewhat precarious lives together now becomes outright dangerous especially after the Israeli authorities deport the very flamboyant Mustafa. Once home he is beaten to death for the dishonour his (very open) homosexuality has brought on his family. Soon after the Israeli Authorities suspect Nimr’s brother of terrorist activities and having his own arsenal of weapons, they then take Nimr’s travel permit away unless he will agree to spy for them.

    He refuses and so they ensure that the elder brother knows of his gayness which is, just cause, for the family to at once disown him and beat him to death. In the only act of compassion, we see towards any gay person in this film, the brother allows him to escape back to Israel where it looks like the Authorities may even finish the job for him.

    This heart string tugging story of forbidden love from LA based Israeli newbie director/writer Michael Mayer follows in the well-trodden footsteps of filmmaker Eyton Fox (Yossi & Jaeger, The Bubble) with this story of how being gay just adds yet one more obstacle to living in this troubled region. Mayer’s convincingly real love story between these educated young men works really well because of the chemistry between his two talented lead actors Nicholas Jacob & Michael Aloni.

    What makes it even more interesting is the fact that whilst its the deeply entrenched extreme politics that are the main cause of the couple’s problems, the story never focuses on their own beliefs but purely on the disastrous effects it has on them. And to my knowledge, it’s also one of the very few gay films that have ever dealt with barbarous ‘honour’ killings.

    It is nigh on impossible to find an Israeli or Arab movie with a gay romance that doesn’t involve a great deal of danger and death (Fox’s recent sequel ‘Yossi ‘was a rare exception). It’s all the remarkable then after the horrors that Nimir and Roy went through that the overwhelming feeling that one came away with from this movie is the fact there is hope. It’s probably one of the reasons why it’s picked up almost a dozen Awards in Festivals worldwide already. Many of them as Audience Favourite.

    Be warned, as well as having you reach for the Kleenex, this movie will in parts, make you very angry/horrified too. It is, however, a definite ‘must see’.

     

  • REVIEW: eDermastamp – Our Lunchtime Facelift

    It is with some hesitation that I do anything to interfere with my face. Creams yes, pills yes, needles in the face in the name of a more youthful complexion? I wasn’t so sure.

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