THEGAYUK

Category: Review

  • FILM REVIEW | Eastern Boys

    ★★★★★ | Eastern Boys

    Filmmaker Robin Campilio’s disturbing new thriller sharply contrasts two different sides of society in contemporary France with a very chilling effect.

    The first chapter of his four-part story is a near cinéma vérité scene of the Gard de Nord where a gang of Eastern European youths is trailing the platforms and aimlessly but obviously set on something illegal. One of them is a skinny baby-faced hustler who catches the attention of a 50 year-old businessman with whom he plays cat and mouse game throughout the station environs. When the youth allows himself to be cornered, they strike up an arrangement to meet at the man’s apartment the next day.

    What wealthy Daniel thought would be a hot date with this young Ukrainian turns out to be a frightening home invasion when the entire gang arrive and strip his luxury apartment completely bare. Taunted by the cocky Russian ringleader Boss with some overtly sexual advances, Daniel seems both terrorized and aroused at the same time.

    The third chapter opens with the surprising return of Marek the hustler … the time on his own … who offers to have sex as they originally had arranged. Despite the boy’s total indifference as he lays naked and motionless on bed Daniel still penetrates him, but the moment that it is over Marek quickly dresses and leaves without uttering a word. What is assumed would just be a one-off visit, is in fact repeated. At first its infrequently and then quite regularly but just as the youth starts to experience real feelings for Daniel, the older man decides that he wants to develop what they have into a non-sexual friendship.

    It is obvious that both of them are still threatened by the hold that ‘Boss’ and the gang have over Marek, who still lives with them in a hotel full of other illegal immigrants in the suburbs. The only way for them to ever be free of the menace is to move away, but Boss has Marek’s only papers … his passport …. stored away in his safe. Their concern that trying to retrieve this will be nigh on impossible and extremely dangerous proves to be well-founded.

    The relationship between Daniel and Marek is powerfully erotic especially as this sharp-suited savvy business man who has been viciously robbed by the boy and his thuggish pals, is yet somehow still attracted and is prepared to expose himself to potential danger again. And the different relationships that both of these men have with the charismatic but completely scary and unhinged Boss is both mesmerizing and unnerving.

    The movie, which picked up the prestigious Horizons Award at the Venice Film Festival, was beautifully filmed, and had stunningly convincing performances from all three protagonists. (Olivier Rabourdin who looks like he could be Kevin Spacey’s twin played Daniel).

    The morality of portraying all the immigrant boys in such a stereotypical manner is questionable, but that aside, this excellent drama will definitely rank as one of the best gay themed movies of this year.

    Available from Amazon | iTunes

  • FILM REVIEW | My Old Lady

    ★★★★ | My Old Lady

    Mathias Gold thinks his luck has finally changed when he inherits an imposing apartment in the centre of Paris from his late father who he was estranged from for decades. Approaching his 60’s, Mathias is a recovering alcoholic and after three failed marriages and three unpublished novels, he hasn’t a cent in the bank, and had to scrape around to find the airfare to fly in from New York to claim his property. What he finds in the Marais is a large two-floor apartment with a private garden that is worth several million euros, but it comes with an unexpected catch.

    There amongst the once grand salons is a 92 year old Englishwoman Madame Girard who had sold the apartment to his father 40 years prior but under an archaic French property law as he paid less than the going rate, she not only gets to live there for the rest of her life, but also gets a monthly stipend too. Horrified and pleading poverty Mathias persuades Mde Girard agrees to let him stay in exchange for paying rent whilst he tries to think what to do next. A plan that doesn’t meet with the approval of Chloe her daughter who also lives in this rambling dilapidated house.

    As the story unfolds we learn that Mde Girard’s relationship with Mr Gold Snr was not confined to the property transaction as they were lovers too for some decades. As the plot thickens we get to appreciate that this frail looking ancient widow is a wily old bird who has a very full and happy past, something which seems to have completely eluded the icy unmarried Chloe or the bitter and self-loathing Mathias.

    As Mathias tries against the odds to scheme to take control of the apartment he falls off the waggon and starts rapidly working his way through Mde Girad’s impressive wine cellar, and at the same time Chloe is plotting to try and keep the status quo. They are both such unlikable characters that it’s impossible to have empathy for either of them even when they clumsily fall into a too convenient happy ending.

    The playwright Israel Horovitz adapted his own play for this his movie directing debut and has left some of the very speechy monologues in which actors so love. Kevin Kline giving a beautiful performance playing the unhappy Maurice makes the most of the rants he gets to give, whilst the sublime Kristin Scott Thomas as Chloe does well with the little that she is given to work with. The movie, of course, belongs to the old lady, as it should, as played so beautifully by Maggie Smith, the grand dame herself a mere 80 years in real life. It is one of her quietest and most understated performances for years but it is still so powerful and compelling. Her character is the only one who enjoys life and Dame Maggie subtlety ensures that we definitely know this.

    It’s this ‘A’ list acting and the location of Paris exquisitely shot in a dim dusky light that makes this otherwise ‘thin’ story jump on to a ‘must see’ list. Dame Maggie alone is worth the price of the movie ticket.

  • RESTAURANT REVIEW: Rosa’s Thai Cafe, Chelsea

    Rosa’s Thai Cafe which have venues situated in; Spitalfields, Soho, Westfield Stratford, and Carnaby, recently opened their first restaurant that has a bar inside in Chelsea, which I visited recently with a friend.

    The restaurant was quite busy with clientèle appearing to be well off, middle-aged socialites. The restaurant eventually reached maximum capacity which felt a little cramped at times. As much as the large novelty Christmas tree adorned with quirky cute toy stuffed crabs was a talking point, and good show, it probably didn’t help with the spatial availability.

    Obviously inspired by their festive deco, my friend ordered the Soft Shell Crab – crispy crab topped with Thai herbs, shallots, and spicy fresh chilli sauce. This starter came served with a fresh salad of peppers which was a really nice cool contrast to the crispy spicy crab.

    I went for the Spicy Pork Patties – lightly deep fried spiced marinated minced pork with galangal, lemongrass, garlic and chilli. These were cooked really well being uber crisp on the outside and tender, herby and well spiced on the inside. It came served with a smokey honey sauce that was so good I could have done with the double the amount served. Lovely.

    In the space between courses, even with a busy restaurant, the staff were so attentive always ensuring that our water and wine were topped up as required and done so with such stealth it almost gave the impression we had magic never ending glasses.

    For a main I chose the Grilled Jumbo Prawns with spicy fresh chilli sauce, and cooled steamed vegetables. Unfortunately, this dish was really underwhelming. My reason for this being that the prawns had been butterflied and cut in half and not stated to be served in that manner on the menu. I felt they were overcooked and awkward to eat picking the flesh out of the charred outer half shells. It took the fun out of jumbo prawns for me. The cooled steamed vegetables were verging on raw, however, I would much rather vegetables be overly al-dente than mush. The side I chose was Garlic Brown Rice- and considering the amount of crispy garlic it had on top of the rice, it was rather bland unfortunately.

    After then seeing and tasting my friend’s main course, however, I would be interested in going back to Rosa’s Thai and exploring the other curries they have on offer. My friend had Salmon Red Curry- deep fried salmon fillet in light batter in Thai red curry and Thai herbs. The fish was beautiful and the curry sauce it came in was superb. An array of flavours elegantly executed with nothing too overpowering which so many curries can be. The coconut rice that we paired with this was also delicious.

    Lacking a dessert menu the restaurant do offer a coconut or green tea ice cream (not homemade unfortunately) of which we had and shared both. Both these flavours beautiful, my favourite being the green tea. They don’t appear on any menu so you will have to ask and I recommend that you do as it was a really lovely end to the meal.

    It’s a shame my main was not what I was expecting, but the flavours of the other dishes we tried were really good and the fact the restaurant was packed mid-week with locals shows that the Rosa’s Thai in Chelsea must be doing something good. Next time I visit a Rosa’s Thai I will most certainly be having one of their curries.

    REVIEWED BY: by Jordan Lohan
    ADDRESS: 246 FULHAM ROAD LONDON SW10 9NA
    VENUE PHONE: 020 3773 8384
    WEBSITE: http://rosasthaicafe.com/chelsea
    STAR RATING: ★★★ (explained)
    PRICE: ££ (explained)
    TIPPING POLICY:

  • FILM REVIEW | The Circle, Der Kreis

    The Circle (Der Kreis) is a Swiss docudrama written and directed by Stefan Haupt. The film depicts the social scene that revolved around Der Kreis, a gay publication in Zurich in the 1940s and 1950s, which was used as a scapegoat for the murders of several gay men in the city. Der Kreis (The Circle) was a Swiss gay magazine that was published from 1932 to 1967 and distributed internationally. ★★★★

    CREDIT: The Circle
    CREDIT: The Circle

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  • REVIEW | Transparent

    ★★★★★ | Transparent

    After Netflix’s phenomenal success creating original content for its streaming service with two Award winning television series, now Amazon has also stepped into the area which was once the sole territory of network and cable television with the launch of Transparent its very first own series. If you haven’t caught it yet (it’s free for AMAZON PRIME subscribers) then you’re missing out as it is one of the most innovative and enjoyable family dramas that has been seen on television for years.

    It’s the story of Mort Pfefferman who has indulged and spoilt his grown-up children for years and now that he has retired he wants to share with them something that is important to him. When he asks them to gather to hear his news, they all just assume that it’s going to be something very tragic, like having terminal cancer.

    What they are not prepared to learn is that Mort is going to become Maura. This is the female who has been trapped inside him since he was a kid, and now he wants to be true to him (or rather her) self.

    The news doesn’t go over too well as these three self-absorbed siblings are all wrapped in their own lives, none of which are going too well. Sarah the oldest one feels trapped in an unhappy marriage and when Tammy her old college roommate with who she had a serious fling with shows up again, she finds an escape route.

    Jay the middle one is a successful music producer and probably the most selfish of the three. He is used to dating girls young enough to be his daughters, although that goes a little sour when one of them double crosses him at the record company where he works. He finds salvation in religion. Well to be more precise, in dating the female Rabbi. His past will catch up with him in the end as is revealed in the final episode of this first series.

    Then there is Ali the directionless brainy one who is too bright to hold down a day job so still relies on her father for handouts that she euphemistically calls ‘loans’. Her love life is equally impossible to define and when she starts dating a trans man, her brother Josh jokes that there he is now no longer the only one in his family that still likes ‘pussy’. Except his mother, but the mere thought of even contemplating his aged mother’s sex life is rather stomach turning.

    She remarried soon after divorcing Mort years ago and her ancient new husband is now fading fast. A fact that Shelly is annoyed about as not only is looking after him as his sole career a great deal of hard work, but it interferes with her own life.

    Amazon has billed this as a ‘downbeat comedy’ but what it is, in fact, is a wonderfully warm and funny series about the extraordinary journey that Maura is taking with such spirit and determination and how her choices are playing out with her family. It’s an astonishing career-defining performance from veteran actor Jeffrey Tambor who imbues the character with empathy, dignity and resilience even through the transitioning process is not always easy or comfortable. Maura may not be the most natural or charming of women, but somehow Tambor compels us to be so completely drawn to her and so wanting her to succeed.

    Great supporting cast that includes Jay Duplass, Melora Hardin, Gaby Hoffman, Kathryn Hain and Amy Landecker. However, the only other scene-stealer in the piece (besides Tambor) is veteran actor Judith Light playing the classic Jewish mother/widow to the hilt.

    The series is created and directed by Jill Soloway (Producer ‘Six Feet Under’) whose father revealed his own transitioning to her just three years ago. Although she claims that this is not at all autobiographical, she does nevertheless handle this potentially controversial subject superbly showing both remarkable insight and understanding. They were a few mumblings when the idea was initially announced that they not going to cast a transgender actor in the lead but no-one could possibly have portrayed Maura as superbly as Tambor. (Soloway did, however, make this a trans-friendly production hiring 20 in the cast and crew, and more than 60 trans men and women were employed as extras.)

    Transparent is both bold and groundbreaking and is sophisticated quality programming that is usually the Hallmark of BBC or HBO, and I cannot wait for Series 2 to arrive.

  • FILM REVIEW | Southern Baptist Sissies

    ★★★★ | Southern Baptist Sissies

    Fourteen years ago writer Del Shores followed his gay cult classic play ‘Sordid Lives’ with another dramedy that takes a hefty swipe at the conservative Baptists stance on homosexuality.

    Since its premiere, it has been very successfully performed extensively in regional theatres throughout the USA, but unlike its predecessor it has never found its way on to the silver screen, either big or small. Until now that is. Last year rectified Shores this omission when he directed a theatrical production in LA which he filmed in front of a live audience to make Southern Baptist Sissies the movie.

    The action is set in Shores’s beloved Texas and it follows four ‘good Baptist’ boys from childhood to their early twenties as they all struggle with their sexuality in varying ways. Mark is the most outspoken (and acts as the narrator) and questions how their Church can preach love and forgiveness whilst passionately decrying homosexuality; Andrew was the first to embrace Jesus as his saviour and men as his potential partners and is the one who wrestles most with the conflicting pressures that they bring. Benny is the most open of the group and has not only fully embraced his gayness but has welcomed it with open arms as he develops his career as a drag queen entertainer. On the other hand T.J. a real jock is in complete denial of his deep attraction to Mark and would rather marry a woman than accept who he really is.

    There is a great deal of melodrama with each of the young men all getting more than a couple of moments in the spotlight to say their heartfelt pieces, some of which come off as preachy as one of their Pastor’s sermons. Shores certainly knows how to get his cast to use the Bible like Google where there is an answer for everything.

    Then asides from this there are a couple of hardened and embittered bar flies, an older gay man and his new best lady friend, both hardened drinkers and chain smokers, who humorously dissect their lives with a constant flow of funny stories and comments on the proceedings as they sit in a gay bar.

    It’s an odd mix of highly emotional soul-bearing and chest beating on the one hand which is blended in with some really gloriously funny passages. It’s not always 100% successful but its very talented young cast that play alongside several veteran actors who are regulars in Shores productions deserve credit for their impressive performances which make the piece gel as well as it does. They include actor/producer Emerson Collins (‘Sordid Lives: The Prequel’), William Belli (‘Rupaul’s Drag Race’) doing all his own singing as Benny, Luke Stratte-McClure (‘All Together Now’) as T.J. and Matthew Scott Montgomery (‘So Random’) as Andrew. However, even the combination of cute appeal and talent still couldn’t stop them all being upstaged by Leslie Jordan and Dale Dickey with their scene-stealing outrageous bar gossip routines.

    It was definitely a bold decision to film it as a staged play, and for the most part, it works very well indeed. With simple interlocking sets the action flows quite naturally but whereas a running time of 140 minutes works well in a theatre, it drags on the screen and could have comfortably lost at least 30 minutes with ease.

    It is essentially a wonderful play about coming-of-age that shows little sign of becoming dated with time as the situations these young men face are universal and just as relevant today as when they were first written. This especially includes Andrew’s final resolution which sadly is the same decision many troubled souls still reach today.

  • FILM REVIEW | The Third One

    ★★ | The Third One

    Argentinian director’s Rodrigo Guerrero’s second feature is a very slight and charming tale about a one night stand that may change a young man’s outlook on life and love.

    We first see 22-year-old near-naked Fede at his laptop on a chatline talking to Franco. The conversation soon gets very intimate and graphic and in case we don’t get where this is leading too, Guerrero has inserted some very short clips of gay porn films. Franco is in his early 40s and partnered and when all three men agree they like the look of how this hook-up is progressing they invite the young man over for dinner and more.

    There is no ambiguity to the invitation and over the course of the meal, the three men chat at length about their backgrounds, their families and their lives so far. It is all very innocent and so completely friendly in such a way that it actually seems like the couple are looking to adopt the younger man rather take him to their bed and sexually ravish him. But this is what happens once desert has been served but as the action is photographed mainly from the waist up it is sweeter and somewhat wholesome than salacious.

    There is a lot of grunting and groaning and smiling and then some penetration.

    Next morning with still no genitalia on view the men leave for work and the boy leaves for college after they all say their fond farewells and promise to repeat the night very soon. The closing credits roll as we see young grinning Fede day-dreaming in Class his mind still on the events on last night as if he had just lost his virginity. (Not true).

    Sweet film, very good acting, but it really only had the makings of a short, and certainly not a full-length feature to promote this overly optimistic idea that sometimes (!) online hook-ups can be like a fairy tale after all.

    Released by TLA on 8th December

  • FILM REVIEW | St. Vincent: Grinning From Ear To Ear

    ★★★ | | St. Vincent: Grinning From Ear To Ear

    Vincent with no visible regular means of support and with a not a single friend in the world other than Felix his rather mangy Persian cat, is a cantankerous old drunk. When Maggie a newly single mother and Oliver her 12-year-old son move into the house next door, things get off to bad start between them and him, and it looks like they will be added to the long list of people who Vincent loathes. Then one day when Oliver gets inadvertently locked out of his house when his mother is trapped at work, and Vincent becomes a reluctant babysitter.

    Always desperately short of cash, mainly due to his very unsuccessful gambling habit, when Vincent realises that looking after Oliver every night after school will actually earn him some money, he signs up for the job albeit begrudgingly. However unbeknown to Maggie, Vincent sees no reason to change his normal routines and drags the boy around all his regular seedy and totally inappropriate haunts. When he discovers that the boy is being picked on at school he teaches Oliver how to break the bully’s nose, which to everyone’s surprise he successfully puts into practice the very next day.

    There are two people in Vincent’s life that he actually likes. One is a pregnant Russian stripper called Daka, and the second is Sandy an elderly woman suffering from Alzheimer’s who lives in a seniors centre. As the story unfolds it slowly becomes obvious why these women warrants special attention. Eventually, Vincent also starts to bond with his geeky charge and their relationship is really cemented when Oliver manages to change Vincent’s losing streak at the race track.

    Center strand to the story is that at the Catholic School Oliver attends each of the pupils is encouraged to nominate a person from their everyday lives to be a Saint. Despite his drinking, gambling and hanging out with hookers, Vincent is Oliver’s choice for canonization which seems an unrealistic fit with the Catholic Church, but this is the movies after all.

    This debut feature written and directed by newbie filmmaker Ted Melfi is purely a vehicle for the great comic actor Bill Murray who now specialises in playing old curmudgeons. He is unquestionably funnier than the movie itself, which although has some good comic moments, is just a little too sweet and syrupy which is not a good fit with Vincent’s grumpy personna.

    Melissa McCarthy has very little to do as Maggie, Naomi Watts as Daka seems as uncomfortable as we are listening to her silly Russian accent, and Chris O’Dowd is painfully unfunny as the school priest.

    However young Jaeden Lieberher playing Oliver puts in a fine performance and there was excellent chemistry between him and Mr Murray.

    It’s not the laugh-out loud comedy it sets out to be, but it will have you grinning from ear to ear some of the time.

  • FILM REVIEW | Big Gay Love

    ★ | Big Gay Love

    Ringo Le’s comic drama admirably tackles the concept that even in our physique obsessed culture, gay men who are socially inept and more than pleasantly plump can still get their chance at a big romance.

    The lonely soul in this instance is Bob, who is a chubby successful party caterer in LA who has made enough money to buy his first house but desperately sad as he has no-one to share it with. For some reason (insecurity?) his only friends are a couple of vapid vain gym rats who are as self-centered as his mother who was once a famous Pin Up Girl.

    When at one of his own parties, he meets Andy a handsome beefy accomplished chef & restaurant owner, and budding writer to boot, who actually fancies him, Bob’s low-self esteem kicks in big time. The trouble is for Bob… and for us too… that once Le sets up the scenario the initially promising story disintegrates through a series of convoluted and somewhat ridiculous plot twists and the whole mishmash becomes one annoying big pity party for Bob.

    The cast includes the talented Jonathan Lisecki (the writer/director/actor of ‘Gayby’) and handsome Nicholas Brendon (from ‘Buffy The Vampire Slayer’) but with zero chemistry between them and a very stilted script, both of them looked as uncomfortable as we felt by the time the final credits rolled. They would be lucky to find a small gay love at best!

    Big Gay Love = Big Gay Yawn.

  • FILM REVIEW | Hollywood To Dollywood

    ★★★★ | Hollywood To Dollywood

    One of the very first things you learn from this enchanting wee documentary is that when you are growing up gay in a Southern Baptist family in a small North Carolina town you worship both God and Dolly Parton in equal measure.

    Handsome identical twins Gary and Larry Lane, now in their mid 30’s, got as far away as they could from their childhood homes when their family struggled to come to terms with the fact that they are both gay. Now they are living the lives they always wanted in West Hollywood, these inseparable brothers are desperate to fulfil their long-held dream. They want to present Dolly Parton with a movie script they have written for her based on her life story, and they also want their families to finally accept them for who they are.

    This film then is of their road trip in an RV christened ‘Joleen’ right across the country to Pigeon Forge Tennessee where Dolly is scheduled to appear in person at her famous theme park and where they are planning to get the script into her hands. They also hope that once their family see the finished documentary it will help them appreciate the fullness of the rather wonderful lives they have shaped for themselves.

    Before the start of the journey they persuade a few of their LA celebrity friends to read through the script and give them advice and any tips. They include Oscar Winning Scriptwriter Dustin Lance Black, and actors Leslie Jordan, Chad Allen & Beth Grant. None of them is immune to the boy’s infectious charm and boundless good humour.

    On the road with Gary’s boyfriend Mike doing most of the driving, the twins spend a lot of time verbalising about how childhood and in particular the rejection by their mother when at aged 25 they finally came out to her. She would not believe them and tried to make them swear on the Bible that they were not gay, and when they refused, she fell apart. Even now none of the rest of the family or their neighbours knows. Such treatment would have devastated most people but not these good-natured resilient twins who are still determined to be accepted regardless how long it takes them.

    The rest of the trip seems to be spending time with other people who also worship at the shrine of ‘Saint’ Dolly and who are so excited to give testimony with such fervour on camera as to how she has enriched all their lives. And when the boys arrive at their destination actually manage to get a brief meeting with Dolly herself, she is so welcoming and graciously accepts the script, they feel like they have died and gone heaven.

    Whether the script was any good, and whether Dolly liked it at all is really irrelevant. What makes this film so endearing is the twins unshakable faith in themselves and the people they love. And Miss Dolly Parton, who I would chose over God any day.

  • THEATRE REVIEW | Accolade, St James Theatre

    ★★★★★ | Accolade, St James Theatre

    London, 1950: Private and public worlds collide when on New Year’s Day author Will Trenting’s knighthood attracts the glare of the British press. Happily married novelist, Will, has been leading a double life. Drawn to the seedier side of life, he’s been mixing with London’s ‘low-life’ and indulging in debauched sex parties and drunken debauchery. Will is forced to battle against the exposure of his secret life, its effect on his family and friends and the double standards of a society bent on destroying him.

    Rising star Director Blanche McIntyre (Best Director 2013, UK Theatre Awards) directs Emlyn Williams’ tale of sex, scandal and blackmail. As relevant now as when it first shocked audiences in 1950, this gripping thriller was awarded Time Out’s Best Off West End Production and three Off West End awards including Best Production when it was presented at the Finborough Theatre in 2011.

    Playwright Emlyn Williams was openly bisexual, balancing his marriage and family life with a series of flings. Coming out as bisexual ahead of most of his contemporaries, Williams’ play echoes his own private life. Surprisingly, the play passed the strict censorship rules of the early 1950s and still retains a freshness and salacious yet sympathetically drawn power to shock in 2014. This is a superior play and a worthy revival of a piece that was sadly neglected and mostly forgotten for many years. Shades of Coward and Rattigan exist but this play has a daring boldness that wasn’t always evident in works of the era.

    The staging and cast are pitch perfect with no weak links in the powerful nine-person line-up. The versatile set invokes the feel of the early 1950s and manages to echo the play as the walls slowly close in along with the world Trenting inhabits.

    I’d heartily recommend catching this rare gem at the St James Theatre.

    Accolade runs until the 13th of December 2014

    Buy tickets here: http://www.stjamestheatre.co.uk/theatre/accolade/

    by Chris Bridges