THEGAYUK

Category: Review

  • THEATRE REVIEW | Compulsion

    ★★★ | Compulsion

    What’s your secret? What do you do in private that you wouldn’t share with anyone? What happens if the quiet, secret compartments in our heads start to invade our consciousness? And if the curtains are torn down for all to see, could we survive? Would we adapt or die?

    Tom Staunton’s a nice guy. A genuinely nice guy. A little damaged and a little quirky. Who isn’t? But his secrets and compulsions are coming to the fore in a very public way that he can’t control. The voices in his head won’t keep quiet. They have to be heard. What’s his secret? Why is it tearing him apart? Is any part of our nature as human beings too shameful for others to see?

    Join Tom as we examine the dark corners of his mind. Meet the different facets of his personality that hold power over him and witness the incidents in his past that have made him who he is.

    Compulsion is a darkly comic journey into one man’s sub-conscience. Tune into the noise in his mind that simultaneously tortures him and helps him to keep going. Witness the struggle of having to live with oneself.

    As I arrived at the theatre, I was amazed to see an empty stage with just two actors and a chair. I knew this was going to be a true Fringe performance. As I sat down and began to cool down, I was instantly drawn in. Evidently, we were dealing with a gay man being haunted by the different elements of his subconscious. We were presented with three variations of his psyche played by Kim Maouhoub, Paul Storan and Nigel Fyfe.

    We were immediately transported into Tom’s mind by the exquisite use of lighting that matched perfectly with the angst dealt Declan Cooke’s character. Kim Maouhoub, who had an air of Helena Bonham Carter, played her parts brilliantly. Each new character portrayed was performed beautifully with excellent characterization. The other two actors, Paul Storan and Nigel Fyfe were also great with real determination and emotion in their performance.

    The only downside was the length; it only lasted just under 50 minutes with the majority of the time being the scene changes. An interruption which I feel could have been done better. I would have liked to have seen the play developed more and made into more of a developed narrative rather than a glimpse into his innermost thoughts. Furthermore, the LGBT themes seemed to be a bit cliché; a gay man with an abusive past that had been accused of being a paedophile. It is these clichés that I wish were avoided. Instead I would have liked to have seen a deeper dive into Tom’s mind and even perhaps not having a clear and concise answer to why he felt the way he did, however all in all an excellent and true Fringe performance.

    More details in the link below:
    https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/compulsion

    Or feel free to ‘Follow’ them on Twitter: @thecompulsion or ‘Like’ the page on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/We-Keep-You-Company-thecompulsion/533083020145519?sk=timeline

    Final words: An interesting production with clichéd themes. Definitely worth a view if you’re in the area especially for Kim Maouhoub. Not bad!

  • FILM REVIEW | Magic In The Moonlight

    ★★ | Magic In The Moonlight

    Within a few minutes after the opening of this movie… Woody Allen’s 46th, and probably one of his most tedious … it is very obvious that the magic in the title refers strictly to the staged tricks created by the two leading characters and not to the film itself.

    Allen’s very thin story, set in Europe some time between the two World Wars, is about a famous English professional illusionist who’s stage persona is a very crass Chinaman complete with Fu Manchu moustache (which I’m guessing that Allen must have considered was not racially offensive). Wei Ling Soo aka Stanley is recruited by his best friend Howard to unmask an American psychic who he believes is faking her way into the bosom of a wealthy American Family vacationing in their chateau on the French Riviera. Sophie is aided and abetted by her scheming mother in order to get their hands on some of their fortune and marry the gormless heir of the family.

    It turns out she really is a fraud but for totally different reasons than the ones that we expect, but by the time that the pompous sarcastic Stanley has uncovered this, we have lost all interest anyway. Forget the sleight of hand tricks he plays, as its the plot that is so slight to the point of being so transparently obvious.

    Cold-hearted cynical Stanley with his very unemotional fiance back in London naturally falls in love with Sophie but as she is practically 30 years younger, we are as uncomfortable about this age-inappropriate romance as Stanley awkwardly appears to be as well.

    Colin Firth makes heavy going of his portrayal of Stanley, and a radiant looking Emma Stone fares little better in this very stilted script that gives neither of them much of a chance to shine. The only cast member that relieved the fast encroaching boredom was the wonderful Eileen Aitkens as Stanley’s Aunt, even though her part was very small.

    Kudos though for the stunning period costumes and very glorious sets and locations which at least gave us something pretty to look at, but not enough to stop me nodding off from time to time.

    P.S. Look closely in the scene set in a Jazz Club for the fleeting glance of the singer who is none other than the fabulous Ute Lemper.

  • THEATRE REVIEW | Odd Shaped Balls, Etcetera Theatre, London

    ★ ★ ★ ★ | Odd Shaped Balls, Etcetera Theatre, London

    After a four-week run at The Edinburgh Festival with stellar five star reviews and award nominations, Miller Theatre Productions returns with Odd Shaped Balls for a limited run at the Etcetera Theatre in Camden.

    Odd Shaped Balls is a new play exploring the difficulties faced by gay sports stars through the eyes of a young rugby player. Brothers, Richard D Sheridan (playwright) and Chris Sheridan (actor), forged the show after witnessing a real life incident of homophobic bullying in the sport that they love.

    When rising rugby star James Hall is publicly ‘outed’ by his ex, his life becomes a struggle of dealing with increased media attention and the pressures of being labelled a role model on and off the pitch, while trying to adapt to changes in his personal relationships. The show takes an honest and often comical look into the changing room banter of male sports teams and their relationship to their fans and how it can intimidate players to live a lie.

    With rave reviews and a fascinating subject matter, this play looks like it’ll be well worth checking (as does Chris Sheridan, judging by the publicity shots).

    Odd Shaped Balls is on at the Etcetera Theatre from 18th to 20th of September.

  • ALBUM REVIEW | Lines And Circles, O-Town

    ★★★★ | Lines And Circles, O-Town

    O-Town’s decade out of the pop limelight is a long time. In fact, some might say it’s a lifetime. Countless wannabes have flounced in and out of the charts, Mega stars have been created and wasted, sales have plummeted, and everything is starting to sound like everything else. The music industry is nothing like it was back in 2003. It was before the iPhone and iPod. People still bought CDs, and a band, arguably the last ‘out of the box’ boy-bands, O-Town went their separate ways, breaking the hearts of girls and gays worldwide.

    Well, boys and girls, they are back, with their best, most honest and commercially viable album for a world that is unrecognisable since their last output.

    What you’ll notice is that Lines and Circles is a straight-up pop record, crafted with strong melodies and a grownup sensibility in its production. No tricks needed. These guys have spent the last 10 years honing their craft and each of these tracks is a gem and deserves radio play in its own right. Their voices, with ten years of living, have become soulful, chilled; yet still retain a power and sexiness that made the lads successful in their formative years. They are back and this time it’s on their own terms.

    If you’re looking for teeny boppery hyped up crap, this album isn’t for you. If you’re looking for boy-band or rather man-band 2.0, then O-Town have excelled in bringing this to you in the shape of Lines And Circles.

    Highlights: The epic Skydive, the stripped back and unexpected Buried Alive and the anthemic Lines And Circles.

  • FILM REVIEW | Obvious Child

    ★★★★★ | Obvious Child

    The movie opens with a very confident Donna in the middle of her stand-up comedy routine in a small nondescript bar in New York. She is extremely funny and disarmingly honest as she talks candidly about the absurdities of her own life.

    The small audience loves it and applaud her enthusiastically when she finishes her Set. All that is except her boyfriend who had been standing at the back of the room listening to a stream of highly personal jokes made at his expense. Then minutes later the two of them are together in a rather busy unisex bathroom and he dumps her. Not for the jokes but because he has been sleeping with her best friend for some time now.

    Suddenly life doesn’t seem quite so funny for this part-time comedian so she takes to her bed with a large bottle of wine and her phone. The more she drinks, the more she leaves a series of ugly voicemails on her (now ex) boyfriends machine.

    Days later she’s back on stage and recounts this new development that resulted in her being a reluctant single again but she is so bitter and angry that she totally alienates the dwindling audience. This calls for more drinking in the bar afterwards and when she is well-plastered allows herself to be picked up by Max a clean-cut preppy business studies graduate who seems a fish-out-water both in this Dive and also in Donna’s bed where he ends up later.

    Fast forward a few weeks and Donna discovers she is pregnant. She knows that the baby is Max’s but, as she tells Nellie her roommate, she doesn’t know how it happened. She was sure they had condoms and that she had even helped Max open the packet, but she was unsure if in their drunken stupor they had actually used them.

    What Donna has no doubts about is that she will have an abortion, but when in a series of coincidences, she keeps running into Max again, she feels an obligation to at least share the news with him. The trouble is she never knows how too. She tries to confide in her puppet-making very supportive father and even in her rather cold micro-managing Professor mother but she fears losing their support. Naturally, when she does break down and break the news they are in her corner anyway and back her choice completely.

    But still left with having to deal with Max, she invites the unsuspecting (and very sweet) man to watch her perform at the Bar the night before the ‘procedure’ is scheduled, the date is February 13th. She is brutally upfront with all the details regarding the unwanted pregnancy and her chosen route and has her slightly shocked audience laughing along with her. Except, Max who runs out into the cold.

    This wonderful, refreshing, heart-breaking comedy that bravely dares to tackle the oft-taboo subject of abortion head on is the work of director and co-writer Gillian Robespierre and is based on the successful short film she had made a few years earlier. Both Donna and Max are very believable characters, thanks to a combination of some excellent writing and great performances, and even though they are so totally opposite on many levels they are a good fit. This is, despite the plot I have outlined so far, a romantic comedy after all. There are still some moments of great pain and struggle as Donna wrestles with the finality of her choice and I think it is also very important to note that even with its very honest and open approach to abortion, no-one in this story treats the subject glibly.

    There is also a rather wonderful unexpected ending that so refreshingly steered cleared of all of the usual cliches but as it includes spoilers I have omitted covering it here.

    This is indie movie making at its best and I loved it now just as much and when I first saw this at Sundance.

  • FILM REVIEW | Man At Bath

    ★ | Man At Bath
    Emmanuel is a man of very few words, a hustler and the live-in lover of Omar.

    They live in an apartment in a tower block in Gennevilliers, a working-class suburb of Paris. When Omar announces that he is going to New York for a week to work on a film project, an angry Emmanuel punishes him by brutally sexually assaulting him. After that, as Omar goes to leave, he tells Emmanuel to move out of the apartment by the time he returns from his trip.

    Emmanuel wiles his way seemingly having sex with half of the men in his neighbourhood, some for money, and others just for the hell of it. It’s hard to tell as he is one very emotionless cold fish. He does have the idea of trying to contact Omar in New York but as he is so detached from real life, he somehow thinks that the only way to do this is by the defunct Telegram system.

    Omar, on the other hand, is traipsing around New York videoing his friend Chiara Mastrioniani (playing herself) promoting her latest movie. Along the way, he manages to pick up a skinny Canadian film student who becomes an obsession for both his sexual appetite and his camera too.

    Despite trying to desperately read between the lines trying to discover any deep or disguised existentialist meaning, that sadly is the total sum of it. The movie is the latest from French filmmaker Christophe Honoré whose somewhat indulgent output in recent years has gone from quite bizarre (Beloved) to downright bad (Let My People Go) and this one fits neatly in both camps.

    I’m not sure if the whole affair was meant to be a vehicle to ‘legitimise’ the gay porn star Francois Sagat’s move into mainstream films because if it was, it was a complete and utter failure. I kept thinking back to Manhola Dargis of The New York Times when she once wrote about Janet Jackson: ‘how can I put it gently? She is a woman of very limited facial expressions!’ Ms Dargis has evidently not seen Mr Sagat on the screen, as he has none!

    When the very short muscular Sagat strips his clothes off every other scene despite his erect penis he fails to imbue the act with any sexuality at all, which doesn’t make this even a half-decent piece of soft porn.

    Evidently, the whole project had been commissioned by the writer/director Olivier Assayas on behalf of the Theatre de Gennevilliers, and Honore took his own inspiration from a local Impressionist painting entitled Man at Bath. The end result is hardly something that would make me want to visit Gennevilliers, or even sit through another Honore movie in the near distant future.

  • FILM REVIEW | Happy Christmas

    Jeff and Kelly are trying are trying to do a balancing act juggling their freelance careers whilst bringing up their 2year old son Jude.

    It’s slightly off kilter right now as Jeff is managing to work on pre-production of his next movie, but Kelly has got writer’s block since she completed her first book so has settled for full-time homemaking for the time being. The couple is however quite happy and things are going along relatively smoothly until they get a holiday visit that shatters their peace and throws the household into disarray.

    The visitor is Jeff’s rather volatile sister Jenny who’s just had a bad breakup with her latest boyfriend and she flies into town for some much needed TLC, in return for helping them out with some childcare. It is soon apparent that self-absorbed Jenny is incapable of looking after herself let alone a small helpless baby. On her first night, she goes to a party with an old friend and gets so totally wasted and passes out that Jeff is forced to go collect her in the middle of the night.

    The next time Jenny gets totally drunk is when she is babysitting young Jude at home and this time she almost manages to burn the whole house down. It then takes a lot of persuading on Jeff’s part to convince his very sceptical wife to give her sister-in-law another chance. Kelly does eventually reluctantly agree and the two women very slowly start to bond. Jenny actually encourages her to her back to writing by telling her to set aside her planned second novel and instead write a sexually explicit trashy novel to make some fast ready money.

    Suddenly Jenny has a purpose too and she looks less likely to self-destruct and even grabs herself a new beau and starts to date the family babysitter (and pot dealer) Kevin and surprisingly looks that she might live happily ever after all. Possibly.

    This is the latest movie from prolific filmmaker Joe Swanberg who as usual directs, writes and stars in it too. I will confess that I am a fan as even when the plots are slight (as this one is) there is a cast of well-rounded characters whose interplay with each other as they cope (and enjoy) their daily existence makes for fascinating viewing. Swanberg injects it all with his own tempered sense of humour, and in this instance is aided by the presence of Lena Dunham playing Carson, Jenny’s best friend. But then he always shrewdly casts his movies with what appear to be his mates Melanie Lynskey as Kelly, Anna Kendrick as Jenny and Mark Webber as Kevin.

    I’m generally on the same page as Charles Laughton when it comes to children in movies, but even I could not help but be seduced by scene-stealing baby Jude played by Swanberg’s own son.

    After last year’s Drinking Buddies this is probably Swanberg’s second most accessible work to date and part of his continued evolving from a filmmaker once known as the king of mumblecore. Long may it continue.

  • GIG REVIEW | James Blunt, Moon Landing Tour, Doncaster Racecourse

    ★★★★ | James Blunt, Moon Landing Tour, Doncaster Racecourse

    On a warm summer evening, Doncaster Racecourse presented the closing concert of James Blunt’s Moon Landing tour. Without the need for flashy pyrotechnics, elaborate sets or backing dancers James Blunt kept the crowd entertained for his 90 minute set with just his voice, his guitar and a four piece backing band.

    Blunt rattled through some of his singles and a number of fan favourites from his four multi-million selling albums. He quite rightly concentrated on the more up-tempo songs with only a few of his slower songs nestled neatly between the upbeat numbers. Blunt casually chatted with the audience and encouraged them to join in with a number of the songs. The crowd absolutely relished in singing along to “You’re Beautiful”, “Carry You Home” and his closing numbers “Bonfire Heart” and “1973”. But there were very few songs where the audience couldn’t help singing along, mainly encouraged by Blunt, which led to the crowd feeling part of the experience as opposed to detached observers.

    “High”, “Wisemen”, “Goodbye My Lover”, “Stay the Night”, “I’ll Be Your Man”, “Satellites” and “Same Mistake” were amongst some of the songs performed over the course of the show. Blunt defied the media persona that has been created around him by coming across as charismatic, enthusiastic and as someone who clearly loved every minute of being on stage. His band was fairly note perfect and the mixture of sound between the vocals and the instruments was perfectly balanced, meaning each instrument could be easily heard. The stage and lighting were functional, with a simple presentation enhanced only by a few projected backdrops. But, to be fair, the show was more about music than spectacular presentation and the straight forward staging served to allow focus on the musicians and song writing, rather than being style over substance.

    It is unfortunate that James Blunt is really a victim of his own success. Having the biggest selling album of the last decade, selling 20 million singles and 17 million albums is no mean feat, but for some reason, the media and the public have seemed to taken a dislike to him. However that does not necessarily detract from the quality of his music, the surprisingly good live performer that he is and how much the huge crowd genuinely enjoyed the show.

    James Blunt was the final concert in Doncaster Racecourses Music Live events, which has also seen the Kaiser Chiefs playing earlier this year. Having never been to a concert with a dress code before, the whole day was incredibly enjoyable with 7 flat races presented over the course of the afternoon followed by the concert. There was the opportunity of being able to enjoy dressing up for the occasion, mixing with the smartly dressed crowd and enjoying the relaxed atmosphere of the day at the recently refurbished venue; even without any knowledge of horse racing or a desire to have a flutter.

    James blunt is touring the UK later in the year and details can be found on his website at http://www.jamesblunt.com/home.htm?force=show

    Doncaster Racecourse hold a number of racing events throughout the year, the next one being on the 24th august to raise money for breast cancer charities. Details can be found at http://www.doncaster-racecourse.co.uk/

  • THEATRE REVIEW | Dogfight, Southwark Playhouse

    ★★★★ | Dogfight, Southwark Playhouse

    San Francisco 1963 is the setting for this powerful musical, receiving its European premiere at The Southwark Playhouse. A bunch of marines are on their final night of shore leave before heading off to fight in Vietnam and decide to play a cruel and misogynistic game. They each pool their money; pick up the plainest girls that they can find and compete for who can pull the worst of the bunch and gain the prize money.

    Based on the 1991 movie of the same name starring River Phoenix, Dogfight premièred Off-Broadway in 2012, when it won the Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Musical and was nominated for 5 Outer Critics Circle and 2 Drama Desk Awards.

    Eddie (Jamie Muscato) meets waitress Rose (the talented and powerful newcomer Laura Jane Matthewson) and what starts as a slightly brash testosterone fuelled piece evolves into something much more tender and touching between the two leads. The supporting cast is excellent too, giving sterling performances. Peter Duchan’s book is well written and the music and lyrics by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul are a perfect bend of humour, pathos and warmth. There’s a wordy Sondheim-like quality to some of the numbers that work well within the context. The choreography is good (if slightly restricted by the smallish space) and the almost bare stage is cleverly used to recreate various scenes.

    Southwark Playhouse has really picked out a gem in this award-winning premiere. There’s a moving and enthralling story, superb acting and singing and the piece delivers everything it promises and more (including a lot of hot young marines in their underwear, I couldn’t not mention that one).

  • FILM REVIEW | The Notorious Mr Bout

    ★★★★★ | The Notorious Mr Bout

    According to this new documentary from filmmakers Tony Gerber and Maxim Pozdorovkin, it would seem that everybody has wildly exaggerated polarising ideas about who Viktor Anatolyevich Bout really is. None more so than Mr Bout himself who considers himself simply as a devoted family man and a highly successful international entrepreneur, and the D.E.A. who claim that his illegal arms trading and gun-running activities have rightly earned him the title of Merchant of Death. It seems that the truth may lie somewhere in the middle.

    After the fall of communism in his native Russia, Bout was determined to embrace the newly permitted capitalist society and so bravely entered the world of import/export. At first he traded in anything he could lay his hands upon, but then hit on the fact he could make even more money by buying up old Russian planes and starting a cargo service in the Third World. As well as shipping produce and home electronics he and his rather dubious partners included Bulgarian made arms in the consignments that they flew around some of the more troubled countries in Africa.

    Bout is undoubtedly a larger-than-life colourful character. One of his many excesses was his love of his video camera and whilst it made for some very intimate and extraordinary footage for this film, he also shot footage when he was cavorting with several warlords and some very shady despots, and that provided damning evidence when the authorities decided to go after him. The D.E.A. set up a covert sting operation in Bangkok where it was alleged that the shipment of arms he was selling were intended to be used to kill Americans, so he was arrested and extradited to the US where he was made an example of, by being given an excessively long jail sentence.

    According to investigative journalists who had met Bout out in the field, he was really very small fry in the world of arms trading and he did not in anyway justify either the reasoning or the ferocity of the way that he was pursued. The D.E.A. could have felt that they had been taunted by the brazen way he carried out his activities, which frankly were fueled by both his love of the limelight and his sheer naivete.

    Bout’s loyal wife Alla is a constant presence throughout the film (the very dated archival footage of their wedding is particularly wonderful) and she dutifully plays along as his supportive partner. As she deals with her husband’s trial she also proclaims her innocence too, but whilst she may not have been explicitly involved, it is hard to believe that she didn’t know what her husband was up too.

    At the end of this excellent and compelling documentary it’s clear that the ‘notoriety’ in the title really split between Bout’s activities but also with the questionable motives of the D.E.A. At Bout’s trial, the Judge made a point of mentioning that prior to the entrapment operation that the D.E.A. had set up, there was no evidence at all that Bout had broken any American laws.

    It seems that they wanted to make a scapegoat/example of someone and so they chose Viktor Anatolyevich Bout. This is a distraction from the main picture as just before the credits role, someone makes the point that most arms trafficking in the world is done by Governments trying to help their friends, and this is rarely considered illegal.

    Highly recommended

  • FILM: A Man, His Lover and His Mother

    Lorenz Meran is a successful middle-aged gay writer who is struggling with writer’s block when he gets called back home after his elderly mother has a stroke.

    Rosie is a feisty old bird and unlike Lorenz and his perpetually unhappy sibling Sophie, she seems to be the one member of this family who likes to have some fun. A little too much now given the fragile state of her health but whatever happens, she is determined not to give up chain smoking or even admit to the fact that she is an alcoholic.

    The parental home is a small town in eastern Switzerland, a far cry from Lorenz’s hedonistic life in Berlin of one-night stands that he chronicles in his novels, but as his mother’s health declines he very reluctantly finds himself back in the house he never thought he would ever have to live in again. He does, however, have a diversion one night when he has an ‘encounter’ with Mario a grandson of his mother’s friend, but as he dresses and prepares to leave the next morning he discovers that the boy had actually been a big fan of his work for some time. So without discussing it at all, Lorenz panics and hastily dashes off telling a startled Mario that he would never have had sex with him if he had known he was just a groupie.

    The plot unravels slowly as the family are hesitantly drawn together by their mother’s decline, and Sophie has to finally deal with her own failing marriage, and both siblings make the startling discovery that it wasn’t in fact their mother who had been having ‘affairs’ when they were young as they had always suspected, but it had been their overbearing and distant father, now long dead. And all his lovers were in fact men.

    Jaded Lorenz’s humor never seems to lighten as he tries to deal with his impatient Literary Agent from afar, and with sullen Chantal a young neighbor of his mother’s who he suspects is supplying Rosie with alcohol. If that is not enough, at his mother’s insistence, Mario turns up to help doing oddjobs about the house.

    And then just when you are about to despair about this family, Rosie reluctantly but with her usual style, decides to make a go of living in the Seniors home that they forced her into, Sophie gets back with her estranged husband for another reconciliation, and Lorenz stops being angry and suspicious of the world just in time to realise that the long term love of his life that he has always wanted is actually there on his doorstep in the shape of Mario. And to top it all, his writer’s block disappears as he sets about writing his latest novel based on Rosie, and the ‘triangle’ he discovered when he explored his father’s past.

    The movie is the latest work of Swiss gay filmmaker Marcel Gisler (who like Lorenz was born in Altstätten and works in Berlin, however I could not establish if this is an autobiographical piece). Gisler’s movie output is infrequent at best… the last one was 14 years ago… his usual fare are more explicitly gay and complicated, and this one is definitely his most refined and subtlest. Lorenz’s long struggle for happiness is finally determined by resolving the questions that arise from the troubling nightmares he still has about his father, and from being able to accept and enjoy the love of his family simply for what it is.

    It all works… albeit a little drawn out… not just because of the script with its scattered passages of dark humour, but also because of the two excellent central performances. The veteran Swiss Actress Sibylle Brunner, in her first ever leading role, is rightly picking up awards for her devastatingly wonderful turn as Rosie, and Swiss actor Fabian Krüger is pitch perfect as the dour faced Lorenz who waits until the last reel to smile.

    This movie is being hailed in some quarters as New Swiss Cinema and worthy of a world audience. I’m not sure if I really knew much about ‘Old Swiss Cinema ‘to make any comment, other than to say it definitely is well-worth seeing.

    A Man, His Lover And His Mother is Available to buy on DVD from Amazon