THEGAYUK

Tag: DVD Genre Biopic

The latest DVD reviews for LGBT and gay films which are centred around true stories.

  • DVD REVIEW | Milk

    Powerful, heartfelt and a strong testament to a force with that was Harvey Milk, the first openly gay political powerhouse that ran for major in San Francisco in the late 70s.

    Sean Penn, plays the central role of Harvey Milk and putting aside the hotly debated discussion of whether gay men should fill the roles of gay character’s in the films, I feel that Penn does a brilliant job. No ham involved. A remarkably sensitive portrayal of this pioneer in a backwards, gay loathing, back stabbing system. Of course, there is a certain bit of eye candy – that being one Mr James Franco who we’ve been seeing a lot of recently.

    Although his part is short, Franco brings a personal life to Milk’s political life.

    It is easy for us of a certain age, to forget or not to acknowledge those who went before in the equal rights cause and I say films like this need to be produced more and more, so that we never forget, how and why we are able to live in the western world freer than we’ve ever been able to.

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

     

  • DVD REVIEW | Telstar, The Joe Meek Story

    You may not have heard of Joe Meek, but will certainly have heard his musical productions and songwriting.

    DVD REVIEW | Telstar, The Joe Meek Story

    Joe Meek was a pioneer of the 60’s music landscape. Joe Meek was a gay producer and songwriter, who wrote the hit “Telstar”. Set in the homophobic 60’s Britain, where to be gay was still illegal, the film delivers a power marker to how far the gay movement has come.

    The film follows Meek’s life just before “Telstar” became a worldwide success and follows his downfall into a mental breakdown that would eventually lead to murder and suicide. Telstar is an incredible journey of success and depression, of sexual exploration and exploitation, of madness and paranoia – with a hint of the paranormal thrown in for good measure.

    The casting for this film is very strong, Con O’Neill plays a magnificently, out of control Meek. Delving into a delivering a truly brilliant performance of a tone deaf musical genius. The film’s strengths are it’s brilliantly comic (albeit all true) characters and it’s thought provoking end – the demise of Joe Meek.

     

     

    Available to buy on Amazon and iTunes