THEGAYUK

Category: Review

  • FILM REVIEW | Ida

    ★★★★★ | Ida

    It’s hard to decide exactly what period this new cinematic masterpiece from Polish filmmaker Pawel Pawlikowski is set in with its austere dramatic settings that look like they have remained unchanged for centuries. This unforgiving bleak countryside that seems to have escaped any attempt at modernization is in fact 1962 but you have this sinking feeling that this part of rural post-war Poland is probably still exactly the same today.

    Ida is an 18-year-old Novice at a large decaying rather remote Convent and is just about to take her final Vows. The Convent has been her home since she had been abandoned as an orphaned baby, but now the Mother Superior tells her that she does, in fact, have one living relative, an Aunt who she should go visit before she makes her ultimate commitment to God.

    She has two major shocks awaiting her at the end of her long bus journey when she finally meets her Aunt. Not only does she discover that she is Jewish by birth, but she also quickly realises that her Aunt, is a former high-ranking Communist Party Public Prosecutor who has transgressed into an alcoholic chain-smoking woman who seems to bed every man she meets. The sheltered young nun-to-be, however, seems to take it all in her stride and announces that she wants to go back to her home village just once and visit her parents grave.

    An initially reluctant Aunt agrees to drive her there, as she needs to prepare Ida for the harsh reality of the situation. The parents had been slaughtered in the Pogrom in the War and even now the local anti-Semitic Communist population are in denial of their complicity as in many cases they then stole the lands left by the murdered Jews. This was the case of her own parents and it took the fearless tenacity of the Aunt to uncover the actual facts.

    Along with their road-trip, they give a lift to a handsome young saxophonist who is en route to play at a Ball in the next town. Ida doesn’t realise at the time that he will turn out to be one of the reasons that she questions her vocation and her ‘calling’ to serve God.

    The tense melodramatic story is as uncompromisingly bleak as the landscape it is set in, and it’s twisting plot lines as both women’s lives unfold in front of our eyes makes for compelling viewing. The reason for their sadness is understandable and the outcome is, therefore, inevitable as neither of them can really carry on as before with the knowledge that they have unleashed.

    It is unquestionable one of the most powerfully moving films of the year to date. Completely stunning on so many levels but even so, it is the superb black & white cinematography that so carefully framed each single shot that took this movie to a whole another level. Faultless award-worthy acting by two sublime actors Agata Trzebuchowska and Agata Kulesza who had great chemistry as the two completely different woman who really had so much in common.

    Completely unmissable.

    P.S. The rather surprising detail about this movie that will undoubtedly go down in the annals of Polish cinema as a national masterpiece, is that it’s director and co-writer Pawel Pawlikowskin was born there but has actually lived and worked in the UK and France most of his life. Interesting then seeing the country, as he must remember it from his own childhood.

  • FILM REVIEW | Reaching For The Moon

    ★★★★★ Reaching For The Moon | Elizabeth Bishop was something of a self-absorbed cold fish. When she finished her tenure as US Poet Laureate in 1950, she was 40 years old, alone in N.Y., and suffering with ‘writers block’. At the suggestion of her friend and fellow poet Robert Lowell she decides to go to South America for a long vacation.

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  • THEATRE REVIEW: You Should Be So Lucky, Above The Stag

    ★★★ | You Should Be So Lucky, Above The Stag

    For their opening play of the new season, Above The Stag have chosen a madcap comedy from the pen of Charles Busch, a New York writer and drag artist, who also played the male lead in the original New York production of the play.

    A modern day Cinderella story, the play concerns Chris, a shy and slightly eccentric electrologist who accidentally electrocutes and kills his customer, the elderly Mr Rosenberg, unexpectedly inheriting Rosenberg’s millions. This sets off a chain of crazy events, including appearing on a TV reality chat show, under the guidance of his fairy godfather Mr Rosenberg, who returns as a ghost to take care of his surrogate son, and make sure his wishes are carried out in the face of his vengeful daughter disputing the will.

    Apart from one brief scene in the TV studio, the entire action takes place in the one room of Chris’s Greenwich Village apartment, a very clever and elaborate set by David Shields. Busch is a seasoned writer, his writing reminiscent of 1930s screwball comedies, and the laughs come thick and fast.

    I had my reservations, though and these were much the same as those I had with last year’s Gay Naked Play, also directed by Andrew Beckett. Too much of it was played on one frenetic level, with a surfeit of mugging to the audience, and an energy level far in excess of what was needed in this small house. Chris Woodley’s Christopher started well, and in his first couple of scenes with Colin Appleby’s warmly gentle Mr Rosenberg, created a touching portrait of a slightly lost young man, but as events got more and more out of control, so too did his performance. Stacy Sobieski was on firmer ground as Christopher’s completely over the top drama queen sister, Polly, as was Ellen Vernieks as Rosenberg’s daughter, Lenore, but they too would benefit from reining things in occasionally, as could Lucas Livesy’s Walter.

    The role of the TV host Wanda Wang is being shared by several actors. On the night I attended we had a nicely nuanced performance from Ishani Basu.

    Maybe the pacing will settle down a bit as the play gets further into its run. An entertaining evening none the less.

  • BOOK REVIEW | Camp Carnage (Night Terrors) by Elliott Arthur Cross & Josh Winning:

    The tagline for this kindle edition runs: “Schools out, and so are they. This summer’s going to be killer…” and it does exactly what it says on the tin! If you like your slasher movies Scream style crossed with Eating Out humour and a smidgeon of Nancy Drew, you will love this book.

    Set in the late ’80’s at a remote summer camp with a difference… this isn’t all macrame pot holders, shared showers and Eskimo rolls… this is more seething hormones, furtive fumbles and aversion therapies! This camp is for gay teens to straighten themselves out, or so their parents hope. Under the puritanical leadership of Katherine Creevey, Billy and his friends settle in for 6 weeks of therapy, tasks and campfire tales.

    However, someone has other ideas, and one by one, the campers disappear. Billy, the lead character, joins up with budding lesbian Jem to solve this mystery – a mystery that leads them back 3 years to a mysterious fire at the original Camp Genesis.

    There is plenty of horsing around, teen angst and slasher action. This is one very well written book, with decent, rounded characters, few (if any) stereotypes, comedy aplenty and a plot that draws you right in! The era is well recreated, the tense pitched just right.

    For me, the sign of a good fiction book is when I can see it clearly in my head? If the author has done their job, it appears like good cinema – and this did that perfectly.

    Do yourself a favour, buy it, toast some marshmallows on the fire pit and keep one eye firmly over your shoulder… just in case!

  • APP REVIEW: misterbnb

    Come on, have you heard of Airbnb in terms of renting space to stay somewhere fabulous… or at least interesting? It’s a simple way to search for accommodation space in cities around the world.

    Now, take that concept and add in gay landlords and you have misterbnb… a site and app that lets you book accommodation across the globe, safe in the knowledge it’ll have style (I know, a total stereotype!). It also takes the guess work out of a potential host being gay friendly or not?

    The app offers a massive choice of locations and types of homes starting from around 30 euros, a choice of 65 countries (and growing) on the go and mirrors the sites offerings. Fancy a short stay in Paris? Tick! New York in the New Year? Got it! Pride in Berlin? You betcha!

    This app works on iPhone, iPod touch and iPad and has such a simple interface – tell it where you want to stay and it’ll search and list for you. I’m in love with the Loire, and it even returned solutions there from 40 euros a night.

    This app works both ways too – and who doesn’t love that! If you’re a landlord with space to rent, sign up and get renting! It doesn’t have to be a total house or flat either – this site rents spare rooms – and even on occasion, sofa beds!

    That last piece is the only word of caution I’d offer – read everything on the place you’ve chosen before you pay up! There are some really useful reviews on there, so use this app to its fullest!

    All bookings are automatically insured by misterbnb – so you do have peace of mind – but you are able to contact your host direct with questions and there are some really good examples in the reviews of hosts/landlords going so far out of their way for their clients! Some wait up tip the wee hours for their renters to arrive on flights – and there are also some brutally honest reviews! Some are quite entertaining!
    Download the app or pop over to the site and give it a look-see.

  • THEATRE REVIEW | Ballad of the Burning Star – National Tour

    ★★★ | Ballad of the Burning Star – National Tour

    Glamorous drag queen, Star, invites you to join her on a cabaret filled journey into the heart of the Middle East. Armed with a pair of killer heels, a deadly troupe of dancers and a handful of stories from both sides of the conflict, you are taken on a journey like no other to examine the individuals, families and communities who find themselves in the Ballad of the Burning Star is undeniably a bold piece of theatre. Credit is due to anyone who attempts to explain the complexities of the Middle East conflict via the medium of Cabaret, using a drag queen, a Star of David mirror ball, a musician called “Camp David” and a troupe of military dressed Diva’s. It was also undeniably confrontational, never shying away from its explosive, in your face style and being uncompromising in its portrayal of both sides of the conflict. It is equally bold in its physical, stripped back presentation – it is a show which stands on its own two feet, without the need for a set, props or a multitude of elaborate costumes.

    There were a number of very good ideas contained within the piece and as you peel back the layers, you begin to realise what an incredibly smart piece of writing this is. The way in which Star vacillates between caring host and dictator-like dominator of the Starlets, the way in which taboos are openly challenged, and the almost military precision drills of the dance routines are all reflective of the subject matter of the piece, and make the point with a sarcastic overtone and dark undertone. There is also the way in which the story comes full circle, how the events culminate at the end and how the circular narrative of the piece mirrors why the ongoing conflict still rages.

    But unfortunately, it the show never comes together in a way which allows it to reach the full potential of those good ideas. There were a number of aspects of the production which pulled it down – the almost identical troupe of Starletts playing different roles within the story led to poorly defined characters which were not always easy to identify during the narrative. The choreography became very repetitive very quickly and the majority of the presentation was reduced to nothing more than people shouting loudly, wailing or screeching at each other, which led to the loss of any actual dramatic impact. But as the closing lines of the show were delivered (in complete contrast to what had gone before and in a very powerful way) you realise what this show perhaps could have been with a little more restraint.

    That said, whilst not being particularly impressed upon immediately leaving the theatre, this show has really stayed with me for the last few days and for some reason, I have not been able to stop thinking about it. The more I have thought about it, the more I have realised what a clever piece of theatre this really was. It is just a real shame that the constant shouting and screaming undermined the value of the subject matter and the presentation of what was actually a very powerful, thought provoking, inventive and intelligent piece of theatre.

    Ballad of the Burning Star is now on national tour. Further information, details of the tour and booking details can be found at http://www.theatreadinfinitum.co.uk/productions/ballad-of-the-burning-star

  • BOOK REVIEW | Gaysia – Adventures in the Queer East by Benjamin Law

    ★★★★ | Journalist Benjamin Law is an Australian with Asian roots. In Gaysia, he takes us on a tour of Asia showing us all things gay across the continent.

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  • Gay Webseries Review | Eastsiders

    ★★★★ | Eastsiders

    Cal and Thom are both in their late 20s and been together for 4 years as a couple in Silverlake California, when their relationship is severely tested after Cal discovers that Thom has been cheating on him with Jeremy.

    As they explore the consequences of how this infidelity will effect them there is a great deal of anger and pain as they try to work through the angst, for what is best for both of them.

    Thom is an aspiring writer and Jeremy is one of the handful of people who turned up his poetry reading and stayed on for a private session afterwards. This handsome young man not only gives Thom the admiration for both his work and his personality that he craves, but he also demands little in return which Thom finds a refreshing change from a hyper analytical Cal who dissects every nuance of their life together to the point of distraction.

    Cal is a budding photographer who works as a receptionist in a Gallery to pay his share of the rent. He also is quite partial to a drink or two and seems to constantly knock back a whole bottle of whiskey before he feels able to tackle anything and everything that upsets him. On one such occasion he goes to confront his ‘rival’ Jeremy. The one Thom cheated with, and the two men get drunk together and end up in bed which, come next morning, is another thing that Cal will bitterly regret.

    Cal constantly turns to his best friend Kathy every time he is having another meltdown but she has her own problems, including an unplanned pregnancy by her boyfriend, Ian, with whom she is petrified at making a commitment with.

    Amid all the drunken outbursts that seem to permeate throughout this intriguing dark comedy about the sad and funny mess that this tight wee group of LA folk seem to make of their lives, we are never sure if any of their slightly precarious relationships will survive. With Cal and Thom it is essentially a case of whether the lies tear them apart or if they are just stubborn enough to stay together for ever.

    Written, directed and produced by Kit Williamson, who also played the neurotic Cal, this whole story started out as a Web Series in December 2012. Appropriately the first episode was about an ‘End of The World Party’ ostensibly as it takes place on the day of the supposed Mayan apocalypse, but it ends up taking on a totally different meaning for Cal after Thom drops his bombshell. The first few episodes soon attracted a great deal of attention and a Kickstarter campaign to fund the filming for the rest of the series before it was picked up by LogoTV to run on their website.

    The impressive and somewhat surprising thing about all the episodes being joined together now is that there is a such a remarkable fluidity with all the individual scenes that the plot flows seamlessly into one very absorbing whole movie. What’s even more compelling is that Williamson has very successfully created an edgy and intense dramatic comedy that shows a slice of contemporary gay life in L.A., which refreshingly does not just focus on his characters sexual orientations as his major plot point.

    He shares credit for the success with the talented cast that he assembled which included Van Hansis (‘One Life to Live’) playing Thom, Constance Wu (‘Stephanie Daley’) as Kathy, John Halbach (‘Wallflower’ TV Series) as Kathy’s boyfriend Ian, and Matthew McKelligon (‘Interior Leather Bar’) as Jeremy ‘the other man’. Mr Williamson himself has an impressive resume which includes playing Ed on TV’s Mad Men.

    Watching this won’t make you want to move to Silverlake or crack open a bottle of whisky, but it will intrigue you enough to want to see how the story continues if and when there is another series/movie.

  • FILM REVIEW | Wish I Was Here

    ★★ | Wish I Was Here

    Aiden is evidently a very lousy actor. He’s so bad that even though he lives in LA he hasn’t managed to score even a bit-part role for some years now.

    He does insist though that he must ‘follow his dream’ and selfishly refuses to give up even though his nearest and dearest must pick up the slack for him. His wife Sarah has a monotonous data-processing job at the Water Company just to put food on their table, and his father pays the fees for the private Jewish school that both of his children, Grace and Tucker, attend. This however now has to change as his father announces that as he has been diagnosed with terminal cancer and wants to spend all his money on alternative therapies, he can no longer fund the kids’ schooling.

    Aiden’s response to this new development is to try and get accepted as a charity case at the school hoping they may forgo the fees, and when this fails, decides he will home school the children instead. It’s something that he clearly has no skills for, but then again, it’s obvious that he’s not actually qualified to do much at all beyond attending auditions.

    Pre-teen Grace who is a very earnest honours student wants to continue learning how to become a devout Jew, whereas her younger sibling Tucker would rather play video games than participate in his father’s attempts to teach him anything. Meanwhile, Sarah has to work in a cubicle with a creepy man who insists on talking about what he calls his penis voice and when she complains to her boss, she is just rebuked and told that she should be grateful she even has a job. Aiden’s father’s treatments fail and his health is now declining rapidly and he is desperate to make amends with Aiden’s slacker brother who seems to hate the entire world, except for the cute woman next door. But somehow Aiden still manages to make most of this all about him.

    There are more than a few similarities between Aiden on screen and his creator/writer/director Zach Braff (although Mr Braff is a good actor) as both are well-meaning and full of good intentions but in this movie are ultimately doomed to fall well short of their goals. This comic drama about the angst of a middle-class Jewish family ‘struggling’ in LA is at best mildly amusing, but for the most part is very flat and annoying. The fact that Mr Braff totally funded his sophomore movie from Kickstarter donors may be the clue as to why this rather undisciplined story, free of any Studio input, seems to have allowed him to indulge him in taking swings at many of the things in LA that seem to really peeve him with such an unfunny script.

    There are touches of the disarmingly charming Braff who has delighted audiences in his TV sitcom Scrubs for years, but not even a glimpse of the wit or humour of Woody Allen that he claims to want to aspire too. The high points are the poignant performance by Mandy Patinkin as the father, and a resilient Kate Hudson doing her best with the little she had been given as Sarah.

    After being so enamoured with his debut movie Garden State, a break-out Indie smash ten years ago, I was so looking forward to Braff’s follow-up, and it is just a disappointment then to find it is so less accomplished and enjoyable than one would have expected.

  • THEATRE REVIEW | Ghost from a Perfect Place: Arcola Theatre, London

    ★★★★★ | Ghost from a Perfect Place: Arcola Theatre, London

    Multi award-winning playwright Philip Ridley returns to the Arcola with his contemporary classic Ghost From A Perfect Place, a scorchingly dark comedy where a monster from the past meets the monsters of the present.

    Twenty years after its premiere at Hampstead Theatre, Ghost From A Perfect Place has its first major revival under the direction of Russell Bolam, following his critically-acclaimed production of Ridley’s Shivered (Southwark Playhouse 2012).

    Back in the 1960s, Travis Flood led a gang that terrorised East London. Now, after an absence of many years, he returns to find his old turf in the clutches of a new kind of gang with a new kind of leader. Rio, the ruler of a mob of girls, instantly captivates Travis with her haunting beauty but soon a shocking story begins to emerge and it is one that shatters both their distorted memories.

    A stark half burnt out council flat in Bethnal Green sees Torchie (played by the excellent Sheila Reid) entertaining the returning gangster, Travis Flood (Michael Feast) as he waits to meet up with her prostitute granddaughter, Rio for sex. Torchie fondly regales him with tales of their ‘heydays’ and unfurls the terrible story of how her life fell apart.

    Ridley’s play is both hilariously funny and horrific in equal measures. The audience both laugh and wince as the play hurtles towards (a not unexpected) yet shocking conclusion. The cast are excellent with Sheila Reid (Madge from Benidorm) showing her skill as an actress. Michael Feast is a superbly edgy yet absurd Travis Flood and the two are more than ably supported by a cast of three young actresses as the terrifying Rio and her disciples.

    This production is a real triumph for the Arcola and the staging and direction are faultless. This is theatre at its gritty best and Ridley’s play has lost none of its relevance to disconcert, even after twenty years.

    Ghosts from a Perfect Place runs until 11/10/14

    Buy tickets here: http://www.arcolatheatre.com/production/arcola/ghost-from-a-perfect-place-by-philip-ridley

  • FILM REVIEW | The Perfect Wedding

    ★★★ | The Perfect Wedding

    Paul used to be a drunk. He also used to be Roy’s boyfriend. Two years later and both men have moved on with their separate lives. Paul goes to AA Meetings regularly and is now sober, thanks to Zack his Sponsor, and he lives at home with his very supportive parents in the their rather lush waterfront home in Florida.

    Paul’s sister Alana is engaged to be married and is coming home for the Christmas holidays to start planning a lavish June wedding. Besides her overly-enthusiastic mother, Alana also has her two best friends coming to help work out the details too, trouble is, one of them is Roy, her brother’s ex, and both men are nervous at meeting again for the first time after their messy breakup.

    Roy is also concerned that as he is still single, he may be perceived as a loser, so he persuades Gavin another ex boyfriend to tag along and pretend that the two of them are a couple.

    There was a time a decade or two ago, when almost every gay movie dealt with the ‘A’ issue i.e. AIDS.

    Thankfully at least cinematically we have moved on and this rom-com tackles three more big ‘A’s ‘ instead: alcoholism, adoption, and Alzheimer’s. It almost seems at times with this issue packed story that bestselling romantic author Suzanne Brockman had deliberately penned a script (with her husband Ed Gaffney) about two guys falling in love where being gay was so ordinary that it is almost over looked.

    The Gaffney’s actually wrote this for their gay son the actor Jason T Gaffney who did his mom and pop proud with his turn as Gavin who everyone seemed to fall in love with at some time or another.

    And in case you had guessed that Paul and Roy had seen the error of their ways and fallen back together, then you would have been wrong. The couple whose marriage rounds out this film (after Alana’s had hers) is that of Roy’s two exes who found each other irresistible.

    Thanks to some good performances, a very impressive location and some deft direction from newbie Scott Gabriel this small-budgeted indie movie is definitely one of the better ones of this genre. Touching and tender with very likeable characters that one wanted to find happiness… even if it’s the kind that only happens in the movies… and not a single stereotype in sight.

    It had plenty of eye-candy, and for once they didn’t keep disrobing when the story lagged at all.