THEGAYUK

Tag: Film Review

All the latest film reviews for LGBT themed films and others.

  • FILM REVIEW | Angel With Tethered Wings

    It seems like Steven Vasquez the director/writer/cinematographer/editor wants to corner the market in low-budget gay horror mystery movies the rate he is turning them out these days.

    This new one like his last recent one (Errodity) is essentially another piece of soft-core pornography, but this time with an extended and tangled plot, and where the script is as flaccid as the penises and the only thing stiff is the acting.

    It’s billed as a ‘back-from-the-grave revenge flick’, which is in three parts and is the story about a pair of gay twins, and their brother. I think. Anyway, there is a bad twin who is a callous producer of twink porn who owes the mysterious Carmine an awful lot of money that he plans to replay when a geeky Texan coughs up big time to have sex with the main porn star. The money disappears after the Texan has had his end away, and the rest of the movie is spent chasing the money and the Twink too.

    It’s not all played out chronologically so the rather lame story is not that easy to follow, and I wouldn’t be giving too much away by saying that soon after the Twink and his brother (!) come back as vampires, most of the cast get shot one way or another. Now that the Twink is dead he very sadly misses his boyfriend although they dated for just two days. However, the fact that he is played by a real (and hot) porn star Addison Graham makes that totally understandable. He actually puts in a very convincing performance even when he is fully clothed.

    Nearly everyone at one time or another gets completely naked and there are lots of full frontals and also some very noisy un-erotic simulated sex scenes, once even played out to some church lady singing ‘Ave Maria’.

    Making ambitious low budget gay movies like this is not easy and through sheer lack of resources often the script and the acting suffers. In this instance, it was both, and maybe if Vasquez hadn’t been trying to do everything behind the camera himself he would spot that too.

    If you are a fan of gay zombie B Movies then you may want to even try this, as there are not many others in this genre. If you are a fan of Mr Graham and want to literally see more of him (!) then you may want to check out some the steamy movies he stars in for Michael Lucas’s Studio.
    On Dvd/VOD July 13th from TLA

  • FILM REVIEW | Tiger Orange

    Wade Gasque’s debut feature, which he co-wrote with lead actor Mark Strano, is an interesting drama about the conflict between two estranged gay brothers who are trying to reconcile after the death of their father. ★★★

    Their sexuality is one of the few things the siblings have in common as Chet is quiet and reserved and has never left their small hometown or ‘come out of the closet’. His younger brother Todd, on the other hand, escaped to LA when he just 18-years-old to try his hand out as an actor, and he is out, proud and very loud.

    Chet is a workaholic and when he is not running the family hardware store in town, he leads a solitary life just eating dinner in front of the TV every night. Todd never bothered to return to town for his father’s funeral but now breezes back when he ends up both jobless and homeless with no other options or prospects in sight. If his rebellious streak is not enough to upset Chet’s calm equilibrium, then at the same time Brandon one of his schoolboy crushes also turns up and between the two of them, force Chet to deal with his reality.

    This very simple indie melodrama that is presently playing the Film Festival circuit is attracting attention simply because of the curiosity value with it starring porn performer Johnny Hazzard going legit. Under his real name Frankie Valenti, he plays Todd and puts in a much more credible performance than one may have suspected, and he proves to be a strong focal point of the drama.  He is very charismatic and easily shows that he doesn’t have to be naked to grab our attention.

    It’s a well-produced and well-crafted movie that thanks to some good acting, and a pleasing visually look, really belies its low budget. Well worth a look when it is released on DVD/VOD later this year.

  • FILM REVIEW | The Invisible Men

    ★★★★★ | The Invisible Men

    Louie is a 32-year-old Palestinian who tries to live his life unobtrusively hidden away from society’s prying eyes. He has no legal right to live in Israel, and thus without papers he must continually avoid any confrontation with the police or officialdom, as if he returns back across the border he risks the very real death threats from his own family and all simply because he’s gay.

    This remarkable award-winning documentary from Israeli filmmaker Yariv Mozer tracks Louie as he goes about his daily life in Tel Aviv. A somewhat shy, introverted and extremely likeable young man, Louie survives by doing odd jobs of work and constantly moving apartments as he tries to keep one step ahead of the authorities all the time. On the several times he is caught, the police deport him back to Ramallah, but yet somehow this quiet resourceful man soon manages to very soon sneak back into Israel once again. It’s a harrowing existence and when he relates the lurid details to Mozer of how his family tied him up and tried to slaughter him like an animal, you know that he has no other choice if he wants to live.

    After what seems like just one to many deportations, Louie contacts a refugee law centre at the university and discovers that there is a possible way out from this predicament. Under international law he can apply for asylum in another country (that will be chosen for him) and resettle there. There are no guarantees he will be awarded this and he is warned that his chances of succeeding are slim. A skeptical Louie is put in touch with Abdu another gay Palestinian who has already been accepted and is about to leave for his yet unknown new country/home. Abdu, an outgoing extrovert, is totally opposite to Louie and he shows his new timid friend a whole underground gay movement that Louis finds hard to believe.

    Months later when Louie gets word that he has won a much coveted asylum place, he starts having very serious second thoughts. Israel has been his home for the past 10 years, and although it has been a scary and dangerous existence, he feels a great draw as this is where he believes he truly belongs, despite all the pain and heartache that he has been through, he really wants to stay.

    Mozer tells Louie’s emotional charged story without disguising his own attachment, but he does sensibly refrain from making any comment at all on the tense political situation that engulfs this whole region. It’s a humanitarian tale that will shock most of us living in the West to realise (or be reminded) that being gay in any Arab country puts your very life at risk, and being Palestinian in a country where you are illegal, which in Louie’s case was his birthplace, seems so very unjust.

    An extremely moving heartbreaking story that is sensitively documented, and that will rightly jerk you out of your comfort zone… it’s very definitely unmissable.

    P.S. Louie is safely living somewhere in Europe coping with the snow, but as Yariv Mozer has told us he’s ‘the only gay in the village’. However he’s alive and well and even getting some assistance to help him heal his emotional scars. He is one of the lucky ones.

  • FILM REVIEW | Triple Crossed

    ★★ | Triple Crossed

    After he had finished his posting serving in the military in war-torn Afghanistan during which time he witnessed his best friend being killed, Chris Jensen is struggling to adapt back into civilian life. Unable to find a job, as no one seems prepared to want the services of a somewhat damaged ex-serviceman, he has resorted to living in his car.

    Out of the blue, he gets a call from Jackie who wants to offer a job that he would like to turn down. Her recently deceased half-brother has left his controlling share of the family’s multi-million business to his boyfriend Andrew, and she is having none of it. She wants to get his share but doesn’t want to pay a cent for it, but she is however prepared to pay Chris a handsome sum to kill Andrew so she can get her own way.

    He is desperate enough to take on the assignment but first he goes to check out his ‘target’ who naturally turns out to be as hot as hell. The two men are soon grappling with each but not quite in the way Jackie had wanted as they are naked and in bed. The question then is to kill or not? Not an easy one to answer as the title of this drama implies everyone has their own agenda, and so we are never sure how this will play out.

    What makes this small-budget indie stand out from others of this genre is that it marks the debut of Sean Paul Lockhart; aka ex-porn star Brent Corrigan behind the camera as well as in front for a change. Although it is full of the good intentions the movie does sadly fail to be a thriller in or out of the bedroom even though it does have a gun-toting finale.

    Sean doesn’t ever quite manage to convince us that he really did go to war, although he does put in a pretty good performance as a potential new boyfriend for Andrew who seems to have soon forgotten his ex dead one. If you are a fan of Sean aka Brent then you’ll want to see this,but if you are not, then you may just want to wait for a rainy afternoon when you have nothing better to do.

  • FILM REVIEW | Kidnapping of Freddy Heineken

    ★★★ | Kidnapping of Freddy Heineken

    This film is a true sleeper, it had a limited cinema release earlier this year but now gets a DVD release.

    It tells the true story of the 1983 kidnapping of Freddy Heineken, the head of “that” brewing dynasty. It goes inside the gang responsible and shows their family links, how it escalated. It shows how these individuals went from owning a successful building company through to one of the worst recessions the world has seen that hit everyone, and finally to show how they planned and executed one of the biggest kidnappings in history.

    It stars Jim Sturgess (21, Cloud Atlas), Sam Worthington (Avatar, Clash of the Titans), Ryan Kwanten (True Blood, Home & Away) and Mark van Eeuwen as the main components of the group who, after being turned down for loans to help them through this tough period, and having their only piece of real estate occupied by squatters and therefore open to long and expensive legal battles to free it up, turn to crime.

    This film paints them all as dreamers, people who didn’t want to live in the real world, people who wanted their boats and mansions and cars back, people willing to do anything, ANYTHING to get their old lives back.

    So, along comes the idea, after a successful bank job that will keep them afloat and food the new scheme.

    The rest of history, and makes for a bloody good film. The back-story is intriguing, the plan ingenious and the rest of the film is gripping.

    Anthony Hopkins puts in a great turn as Freddy, showing little concern for his own safety and having fun with his captors as the whole scheme unravels.

    This film scored a terrible 27/100 on Rotten Tomatoes, but I enjoyed it. It is entertaining, the story is intriguing and the cast put in good performances. It is no frills, no major special effects, but this means it doesn’t detract from the actual story, which is, for me, how it should be – the story is centre stage.

  • FILM REVIEW | Testament of Youth

    ★★★★★ | Testament of Youth

    This is one of those titles you may know, you’ve seen it somewhere or have heard of the author, Vera Brittain… it rings bells.

    But you may be like me, know of it but not know it? I’d heard of it, I’d seen the cover, I knew the author (not personally) but it didn’t appeal enough to buy, beg or borrow a copy to read.

     

    I’m glad I didn’t now – I’m glad I waited for this lush, rich adaptation which only makes me want to whizz out and buy a copy to read it and savour every detail.It’s an epic tale, set against the fight for women’s rights, struggles in Edwardian England that then faces the First World War, and all that this entails for the youth of that time – the lost generation.I can only imagine what it was like, but this film helps show it – the life of privilege for upper middle classes, women wanting equality and suffering for it, the horror of going to war and the horror of waiting at home for news of loved ones.It only briefly touches on it in one scene, but it also mentions the love that dare not speak its name, as Vera’s injured brother clutches to a letter from a fellow officer.This is an amazing adaption; the script is rich with Brittain’s words, the scenery gritty and pretty in equal measures and the acting superb.

    Kit Harrington and Alicia Vikander are perfect as the slightly awkward lovers, separated by war and a society that still insists on chaperones for young unmarried couples.

    They are more than ably supported by Taron Egerton as Vera’s brother, Miranda Richardson as a stand offish Oxford tutor, Dominic West as Vera’s father, the list goes on…
    For all its epic proportions and massive story – this is still a very personal film and I defy you not to be touched by it.

  • FILM REVIEW | Sexing The Transman

    When the opening credits roll in Buck Angel’s new documentary and you see that it is an ‘I Love My Vagina Production’, you know that this is going to be a no-holds-barred look at demystifying the whole aspect of sexuality of trans men.

    What the charismatic handsome hunky Angel does is fill this highly unusual ‘sex education’ movie with scenes of explicit sexual activity to ensure that we are shocked enough not to forget his message of how liberated these men became after transitioning.

    In a series of in-depth interviews Angel talks to a several FtM (female to male) trans people about how they felt alienated from the bodies that they were born with and their decisions to transition into a male persona. They all had a great deal in common as they discussed the surgeries to get rid of their breasts, and how the effects of taking testosterone changed their lives in ways they never expected.

    Before transitioning some of them had played the traditional female roles with their boyfriends, some of them were in relationships with lesbians, but once all the hormone treatments kicked in, they all seemed to notice that their sexual libido shot through the ceiling and they started to be much more fluid and open to all different types of people to have sex with. Most of them also followed the same route that Angel took and opted not to have ‘bottom surgery’ with the end result that have started to be proud of the vaginas that had disgusted them previously, and now they were being penetrated and actually enjoying it.

    They all unanimously agreed that transitioning had changed their lives completely and for the better. Some of them are now in relationships, some have sex with other FtM guys like themselves, some like sex with men, some others like it with women. In terms of gender they all feel male. In terms of sexual orientation, they are very different – some of them are heterosexual (they like sex with women), some are gay (they like sex with other men or FtM men) and some like to experiment with men, women and FtM guys.

    As an outsider, it is often hard to get beyond our preconceived ideas of gender and the labels that society insists that we all use. One of Angel’s talking heads was the comedienne Margaret Cho who perfectly articulated her take on it all. Her sexuality had been ‘straight’ and then ‘lesbian’ and then she realised that she loved men sexually, and trans men in particular. She now identifies, as being queer as that, she feels, is not limiting and it makes sense to her as ‘gay’ simply doesn’t cover who she is. And she aptly sums up the feelings she shares with many trans men by saying that she is happy with strap on’s…’a dick is a dick, whether it’s been bought or grown.’

    The message that is loud and clear in Angel’s film is that the effects of injecting so much testosterone is that it makes you aware of many more possibilities and that your sexuality is never finite whatever your gender is. I am however also convinced that we would have completely grasped that concept without nearly all of the film’s subjects getting naked and playing with themselves on camera.

    Above everything, Angel is a powerful advocate for making this community visible and giving them a voice, for which he needs to be applauded for.

  • FILM REVIEW | Seek

    Twenty-something-year-old Evan Brisby is ambitious. Currently working on a gay magazine that covers the local community in Toronto his hometown, he aspires to bigger things and so sends samples of his writing to The Gazette, one of the city’s daily newspapers.

    ★★★

    He doesn’t get offered a job but the editor is suitably impressed to give him the assignment to write a freelance piece on the city’s nightlife, something that shy Evan is not really an expert on. He does, however, accept the challenge, as he knows that this could be his big break, and he also knows that Aidan his colleague at the gay magazine will be able to connect him up with exactly the right sort of people.

    Aidan comes up trumps and hooks him up with Hunter who despite the fact he is Evan’s age is evidently THE king of the night who runs clubs and hosts parties that are the best in the city. It is also obvious that Jordan quickly takes a shine to his interviewer who is so single-minded and determined to get the best story he can, is totally oblivious to his new admirer. Evan is also distracted by the fact that he cannot shake of the memory of a recent ex who very inconveniently keeps popping up in his mind and his dreams quite regularly.

    This micro-budgeted homegrown movie from first time writer/director Eric Henry is evidently partly autobiographical and besides being a fond love letter to the city of Toronto, is very much about different kinds of acceptance. When Evan is not shadowing Hunter for his article he is still doing his regular writing job that includes interviewing people like the gay couple into fetish sex, or the straight couple who have embraced the husband’s cross-dressing. Even when he is off-duty having a drink he has an uncomfortable encounter with an old man looking for company. Very admirable reminders about everyone needing to find their own path to happiness, but still a tad too preachy and really unnecessary to the flow of the story.

    Kudos to the fact that the production values of the piece that are much higher than one has come to expect from movies of this type. Henry helped this by making good casting calls using Adrian Shepherd-Gawinski a very impressive newbie as Evan, Ryan Fisher as Hunter, and hunky male model/actor Matthew Ludwinski as Evan’s lost love, even though the script he gave them had more than the occasionally grimacing moment.

    The whole affair is an enjoyable boy-lite romance that may not stretch your mind too much, but if this is a genre you like, will nevertheless put a big smile on your face when you see that everyone does in fact live happily ever after in the end.

     

     

  • FILM REVIEW | Freaks (1932) Cinema Re-release

    ★★★★ | Freaks (1932) Cinema Re-release

    Hollywood Classics presents a cinema release of “Freaks” – in cinemas from 12th June 2015

    This classic opens with a sideshow barker shouting about his latest addition, without showing it immediately builds some tension, as you want to see this freak. The audience around the cage gasps and screams and so sets the scene for that back-story, the story of how the freak came into being.

    A beautiful circus trapeze artist, Cleopatra, takes an interest in Hans, a dwarf who works in the circus sideshow away from the main ring. She has ulterior motives though as her interest is more about Hans and his inheritance than in Hans himself. Hans has his head turned by this beauty, and forgoes his loving finance to pursue this highflying love.

    What he isn’t immediately aware of is that she is carrying on an affair with Hercules, the circus strongman. At their wedding party, a drunken Cleopatra tells the sideshow freaks just what she thinks of them – huge mistake and this group of friends close ranks and plot. Together, the freaks decide to make her one of their own.

    Tod Browning, the director and producer, drew on his own experiences in the fairgrounds and circuses of America to create this once shocking film. He was given leeway by the studio system to create this horror after his success in creating Dracula. He intentionally showed the “freaks” to be the ones with a code of honour and a sense of justice and the so-called normal cast as the ones with murderous intentions.

    Tod also managed to interweave sub-plots that built on the “freaks” having normal lives, such as the co-joined twins who each have romances, the armless wonder who performs everyday tasks with her feet – remember folks, in 1932, these were shocking images, things never before seen, hence their place amongst the circus sideshows.

    It seems impossible to believe now, but after test screenings in New York, the film was pulled after one lady threatened a lawsuit – claiming the film had been so shocking, she had suffered a miscarriage! The film was butchered and reduced from its original 90 minutes to just over 60, with some of the more shocking scenes removed. There were extended images of the freaks attacking Cleopatra and the scene where Hercules, her lover, is castrated was also removed.

    The initial barker scene was added to give it some context, but despite this and the other cuts, it lost money on it’s second release and despite Brownings earlier work with Lon Chaney and Bela Lugosi, his career was effectively over – Hollywood doesn’t forgive or forget easily!

    The film was considered overly exploitative over here and was banned in the UK for over 30 years but even with mainly negative reviews, some saw this as a masterpiece, a true gem of film-making with even the Rotten tomatoes site giving it an overall thumbs up, stating that time has been kind to this film and the US National Film Registry adding it to its archives as being culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.

    It isn’t easy to watch, in this age of PC conformity, you do question its making, it’s potential to exploit – but if you can, put that to one side and consider it in it’s historic context.
    Take a peek if you can, in its intended surroundings – aim for a real cinema with Rococo fittings and real organ music. Failing that, go see it at your local multiplex, but DO GO SEE IT.

    A huge 4 stars – not as scary as it once was, but excellent historical perspective and amazing cast

  • FILM REVIEW | Meet The Fokkens

    69-year-old identical Dutch twins Martine and Louise Fokken give a new meaning to the word sexagenarian. Both of them have been working as prostitutes in Amsterdam’s red light district for almost 50 years now, and Marianne is still plying her trade daily. (Louise retired 2 years ago when arthritis meant she ‘couldn’t get one leg over each other’ any more)!

    ★★★★★

    In this truly delightful documentary we discover that they are a wonderfully colorful irascible pair of Rubenesque women who have such joie de vivre. The film starts with following elderly Martine as she catches the bus from the suburbs clutching her tiny chihuahua (which she NEVER ever seems to put down) and en route to work calls in at the convenience store to pick up another box of 144 condoms. Immensely affable she greets everyone she meets with her big smile and constant chatter as if she is just heading for another day at the office.

    Setting up her room she hangs her accouterments to show to passing strangers that she offers dominatrix and other kinky services for her ‘naughty’ men, and then dressed very provocatively sits in her large window enticing then to come in. The fact that all the ‘working girls’ in adjoining ‘windows’ are barely 20-years-old seems to hardly bother this old trooper at all.

    The sisters explain that very few of the punters want full intercourse but just to simply ‘get their rocks off,’ and the film includes some hilarious scenes with Martine and her gentlemen callers and how easily she can get them to be satisfied. What should be regarded, as an intensely sexual experience seems to be harmless and a somewhat funny episode for the men who appear to enjoy the free cup of coffee afterwards just as much.

    The sisters are inseparable and do literally everything together and live in their own apartments that are in buildings opposite each other. They dress in the same bright gaudy clothes, finish each other’s sentences and clearly are each other’s best friend. We see them in conversation with each other and also alone talking unguardedly straight to the camera about their lives to date. The information they reveal is somewhat patchy which makes their story even more intriguing. When Louise was 19-years-old and already a mother of 3 children her physically abusive husband ‘forced’ her into working, as a prostitute and Martine seemed to follow almost to support her sister’s indignity and precarious situation.

    They touch on the fact that they made so much money in the early days, but now stuck in municipal housing there is no sign of it at all. They are fiercely independent and talk about the days when they broke away from the organised crime ‘pimp’ system and even opened up their own brothel at one time. And there is a scene when Louise is reconciled with one of her daughters but no real explanation is offered as to why the child grew up with foster parents. It’s almost like there is a whole another movie to be made here.

    The sisters own pleasure now is in painting bright garish canvases of scenes of their life in the Red Light District. Like the women themselves their artwork can best be described as somewhat naive. They do however make for a wonderful scene towards the end of the film when they are exhibited in a Gallery and all their old cronies turn up to show their support and their genuine love for these two unstoppable women.

    They are two good-natured women with an infectious sense of humour who have obviously led a tough life yet appear to bare no scars or even deep resentments even, and the final scene where they are frolicking together in the snow like a couple of silly schoolgirls shows what a wonderful resilient couple they are.

    A sheer joy to watch, and even enough reason to check up flight schedules to Amsterdam.

    by @RogerWalkerDack

  • FILM REVIEW | More Than Friendship

    ★★★ | More Than Friendship

    Twenty-something-year-olds Lukas, Mia and Jonas have been best friends since their childhood, but then three years ago this all changed.

    They fell in love with each other and became a very happy ménage-a-trois. They decried society’s contempt for their unusual relationship and became totally committed to each other even though it meant making a break from their parents who vehemently disapproved of their arrangement.

    Since then once a year every summer the trio went on a camping trip together touring the countryside where they were able to be completely free from everyone’s prying eyes and pointed fingers. This year, however, is different as Lukas has just been diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer and although the tight-knit lovers agree to take an oath that the holiday should be focused just purely on joy, they soon realise that it is difficult to completely forget that this will be their very last summer together.

    The trip starts off all light and love and it is surprising that they actually get to their first destination as they cannot keep their hands off each other and are always making out in the back of the van. However, it is inevitable that they cannot avoid the elephant in the room especially when Lukas shares with them the Living Will that he has written that gives them both control over his final days rather than his estranged parents.

    When Jonas gets taken sick and is rushed into hospital the trio’s joy and hope deserts them and is replaced with fear and grief and they have also to deal with the anger of Jonas’s parents who turn up and insist that the Doctors keep him alive even though that is against his express wishes.

    This sophomore film from German writer/director Timmy Ehegötz is overly melodramatic even given its themes. The three good-looking young leads play their parts passionately but despite this, it still seems that there is not enough actual chemistry between them to convince us that their relationship is as deep and real as the script would have us believe.

    This well-meaning movie is full of energy and brimming with enthusiastic performances and has a lot to commend it for particularly, in its attempt to de-mystify the whole thruple relationship concept.