THEGAYUK

Tag: Film Review

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

  • FILM REVIEW | Folsom Forever

    ★★★★ | Folsom Forever

    Mike Skiff’s illuminating new documentary on the Folsom Street Fair, one of San Francisco’s iconic gay events, starts off by dispelling a few of the myths that surround its 30-year history.

    Initially, the Fair was created in 1984 as part of a growing protest movement that objected to the enforced gentrification of what previously had been one of the most blighted areas of the city. The inhabitants of the skid row houses and the working men bars were being forced out as the authorities bulldozed their way through the area to put up shiny new expensive buildings.

    This was also the height of the AIDS crisis, which would go on to decimate the city’s gay population so the advent of the Fair created an opportunity for much-needed fund raising. Audrey Joseph a local activist stressed the point that the presence then of so many women supporters, who were the most accepting of AIDS victims, helped create a crucial space without judgments at the Fair.

    The whole area known as South of Market was already home to a plethora of leather bars which local historian Jack Fritscher Ph.D. explained had sprung up as bolt holes for gay hyper-masculine men who were not interested in the stereotypical roles that were most prevalent in the community at the time. Dr Fritscher who also worked for Drummer the now defunct leather magazine talked about the oft-misunderstood leather and BDSM community who came into its own then by promoting their safe sex practices. He explained said the whole concept of successful BDSM is sexual acts within agreed lines of limits to make sure each part is safe and pleasurable. It wasn’t an argument that sat well with the Authorities who at the time were panicking like everyone else and wanting someone to blame for this uncontrollable epidemic.

    Skiff added: “In the 1970s, Folsom Street was the West Coast’s mecca for anyone on their leather journey in life and his movie goes on to explore why the Folsom Street Fair couldn’t have got started anywhere else but San Francisco.”

    When someone talks about Folsom Street Fair now, the leather and fetish elements of the historic outdoor celebration of sexual diversity are likely what come to mind, and it follows the tradition of where members of the LGBT community are given the space to explore the full spectrum of their sexuality and queerness.

    It’s the one time of the year when those into kink and fetish can literally dress anyhow and do anything they want and the Fair security staff who police the streets will only stop them if they engaging in full on sex. Evidently that you can do in any of the bars on the strip.

    Nowadays the Fair is not only a major social event it is also one that has an enormous economic impact on the city. Demetri Moshoyannnis the Executive Director estimates that San Francisco benefits to the tune of some $35.4 million in revenue, and the Fair itself raises some hundreds of thousands in profits that it distributes to fund important local non-profit organisations.

  • FILM REVIEW | A Most Violent Year

    ★★★★★ | A Most Violent Year

    Ok, a film that’s set in 1980 (my era) and stars Oscar Isaac (W.E. and Inside Llewyn Davis) and Jessica Chasten (Interstellar and Zero Dark Thirty), along with some killer outfits and one hell of a story – who wouldn’t want to watch this?

    The storyline follows Abel Morales (Isaac), an honest and hard working man, as his ethics collide with brutal violence at a time when New York is facing an unexpected and unprecedented spike in violent crime. Abel is building his business, following the American Dream, over-stretching himself in order to expand in what appears to be a sensible way.
    Having borrowed heavily to fund this expansion, his business is hit by opportunistic thieves, and he finds himself taking matters into his own hands in order to protect his interests. Alongside this, his wife, from a very distinctly NY “family”, is itching to get in there and sort the matter out if her husband can’t!
    While searching for those responsible for these crimes, he attracts the attention of an ambitious Assistant District Attorney (David Oyelowo – Interstellar and Selma) who is out to make a name for himself and needs a victim to do it.
    This film has the look and feel of a classic thriller from the Serpico and Godfather era, the use of language and mannerisms are spot on. The colours and settings echo the early ’80s perfectly, with the costumes showcasing power dressing NY style. Chasten has some killer outfits and hair-dos and knows how to work ‘em!
    With a strong supporting cast that includes Alessandro Nivola (American Hustle and Coco Before Chanel), Albert Brooks (Drive) and Elyes Gabel (World War Z and Spooks), this film showcases the underbelly of a city, pitting good men against what can seem impossible odds.
    Director JC Chandor did an amazing job on this film and I for one was dumbfounded that it didn’t generate any interest at the major awards – showing how unfair these shindigs can be.
    This is a perfect pizza and beer movie and a distinct 5 stars, I paid good money to see this first time round and wouldn’t hesitate to do so again.
    Buy on Amazon

  • FILM REVIEW | Italy

    ★★★★★ | Love It or Leave It. In 2009 I remembered being totally enamored with an irrepressible young Italian gay couple that documented the struggle of acceptance of gay rights in their country and being totally horrified about the vitriol and power of the far right political parties that seem to make the American Evangelistic Conservatives seem like real sweethearts by comparison.

    (more…)

  • FILM REVIEW | Candid Love

    ★★ | Candid Love

    Filmmaker Kurtz Frausun’s voyeuristic record of an ill-fated relationship between two desperately troubled men is a disturbing sight that raises all sorts of questions.

    The first one of which is why they even allowed the intrusive camera into their lives at a time when they are both clinging on to the last vestiges of hope as their worlds continue to unfold in front of their (and our) eyes. Frausun even jumps in front of the camera at one point to question the morality of being a witness to this highly personal situation especially when it soon becomes apparent to us, if not the two men themselves, that it is doomed.

    Jon is gay and bi-polar and Daniel his partner is a recovering alcoholic and suffers from depression and has still not recovered from the love of his life who is his (ex) wife of 11 years. He doesn’t identify as gay per se but admits to dating gay men in the two years since his marriage fell apart. Jon is his second boyfriend and they are fast approaching their first anniversary when Daniel’s father is suddenly taken to hospital with an aneurysm.

    The ‘story’ starts after Daniel has rushed from the apartment he shares with Jon in Texas to his father’s bedside in Wisconsin. A quick session of events follow resulting in the father’s death and Daniel needing to deal with both planning the funeral and taking care of his mother even though it is clear from the morose and confusing phone conversations with Jon that his depression has really kicked up a notch or two and that he will not be able to resist slipping back into hitting the bottle again.

    In all of his conversations, first on the phone and then when he eventually comes back to Texas, he uses Jon as a verbal punching bag, although judging from his disclosures, sometimes in the past he resorted to physical violence as well. His is obviously a deeply unhappy man struggling with his mental health issues who makes no secret that his ‘relationship’ with Jon started falling apart just after two months and as he goes into detail of its disintegration, it’s remarkable that he even considers continuing wanting to be with someone he has such scant regard for and seems to positive loathe.

    Jon is not much better as all he does is complain to the camera about how miserably unhappy he is with the state of affairs between the two of them and the only thing that makes it all bearable is smoking. Legal and illegal cigarettes.

    It’s infuriating at times watching these two people’s obvious pain as they just stumble around directionless and as the totally unsatisfactory compromise that they clumsily piece together hasn’t a chance in hell in succeeding, doesn’t make their reality any less unpalatable. I simply have no idea why they put themselves through it all let alone why they allowed the camera to record it. I for one, wished they hadn’t.

    ‘Candid’ means straightforward and honest, and frankly, neither Daniel nor Jon were capable of really ever being this. Plus of all the emotions they showed in the 60 minutes of this film there was very little ‘love’, if any at all.

  • FILM REVIEW | Rosewater

    This rather tense drama opens with Iranian journalist Maziar Bahari been awoken by Investigators in his mother’s house in Tehran and subsequently hauled off to jail. Then in a flashback, we see Bahari in London 11 days previously with his heavily pregnant English wife discussing his assignment from Newsweek Magazine to cover the impending Presidential Elections in Iran. They are both aware of the danger particularly as both his late father and sister had both been imprisoned by Ayatollah Khomeini for being communists.

    When Bahari arrives in Tehran a chance meeting hooks him up with a young driver who zips him around the city on his motor bike introducing the Journalist to his own liberal minded friends who are concerned that the present corrupt regime will rig the Elections to insure that their Candidate running against the incumbent President fails completely. When their worse fears are realised and the Government falsely declares that the President has been reelected with a landslide majority, the streets of the city are overrun with hundreds of thousands of protesters. The authorities react by sending out armed troopers to fire into the crowds, and when Bahari captures some of this on video that is shown on US TV, he has become a wanted man.

    He is thrown into solitary confinement in Evin prison and is accused of being a spy for the CIA, the MI6, or any other Western organisation his captors claim are set on bringing the downfall of the Iranian Nation. Its a combination of paranoia and panic as the Investigator clutches at straws to make his claims stick. Bahari is blindfolded most of the time, and he establishes some sort of relationship with his tormentor…. known as Rosewater for his predilection for spraying himself liberally with the scent … who seems to bumble his way through their daily sessions of interrogation without gaining any information or a ‘confession’ from Bahari after several weeks.

    As time passes and ‘Rosewater’ is pressured by his Superior to get a ‘result’ he taunts Bahari more and deprives him of anything to read and feeds him with ant infested food, but beyond depriving him of his liberty and hope, he surprisingly never really resorts to physical torture that one may have expected

    This re-telling of the ghastly imprisonment of London based Iranian Newsweek Journalist Maziar Bahari in a Tehran jail for 118 days is the directing/writing debut of US TV journalist Jon Stewart whose own celebrity rather overshadows that of his subject.

    Whilst Stewart does an admirable job, he still doesn’t quite succeed in overcoming his main difficulty in maintaining the tension in a true story the greater part of which is just about these two men in jail, that we already know the outcome off, and that Bahari will survive.

    Gael Garcia Bernal however does an excellent job portraying the scared imprisoned journalist, and Shohrer Aghdashloo steals all her scenes in the cameo role of his mother.

  • THEATRE REVIEW | The Full Monty, UK Tour 2015

    ★★★★ | The Full Monty, UK Tour 2015

    In 1997, a film about unemployed steel workers turning into unlikely strippers became the most successful film in the UK (until it was overtaken by Titanic), garnered four Oscar nominations and cemented the phrase ‘the full monty’ into popular culture.

    Set in Sheffield, a group of ex-steelworkers with seemingly very little in common, other than their unemployment, band together in a get rich quick scheme, whereby they plan to rival The Chippendales by becoming strippers and giving the audience a little something extra – by going all the way. Gary, needs money as he is on the cusp of losing contact with his son, overweight Dave has a big body image problem, Horse has a rather (ahem) “small” problem and Loomper has his own secret hidden in his closet. But despite their unlikely sex symbol status, the whole community waits to see whether they really will go ahead with their scheme and whether they will go the full monty.

    Not to be confused with the musical version of The Full Monty, which was produced in 2000, this version is a straight play, which forgoes thin plot and thinner characterisations which simply link musical numbers, and instead provides a play with heart, rounded characters, a genuinely funny script (particularly in the second act) and, of course, the ending that the predominantly female audience were waiting for.

    Despite a few rather dubious Sheffield accents (you can’t fool the home crowd, you know), the cast worked well as an ensemble. Andrew Dunn (“Dinnerladies”) and Louis Emerick (“Brookside”) provided the better performances of the evening; both with effective yet understated performances, whilst Gary Lucy (“Eastenders”) provided the eye candy.

    The show is beautifully written by Simon Beaufoy, who wrote the original story and received an Oscar nomination for his screenplay for the film. The story of the play very closely mirrors that of the film itself, with all of the key plot points, pivotal scenes and music being extrapolated, but despite the running time of the play being approximately 40 minutes longer than the film; it never feels like it is padded out. What does come across much more in this production is the social commentary hidden beneath the comedy and narrative and there is a real balance between the humour, sadness and optimism portrayed. Despite the characters initial differences, there is a genuine feeling of friendship which permeates the play, accompanied by a strong sense of family, loyalty and acceptance.

    Overall, the show remains a feel-good, funny and enjoyable show, which I have to say I enjoyed much more on second viewing, and the whoops of delight by the time the curtain fell proved it was a real crowd pleaser.

    The Full Monty is currently playing at Sheffield Theatres until the 23rd May 2015. For information and to purchase tickets visit www.sheffieldtheatres.com.The play is taking a break over the summer, but will be embarking on another national tour in the autumn.

  • FILM REVIEW | Private Romeo

    ★★★★★ | Private Romeo

    Over a weekend eight male high school cadets are left behind when the rest of the McKinley Military Academy go away on an exercise and they are ordered to carry on with their studies regardless.

    In the English Literature Class, they are studying ‘Romeo and Juliet’ and the two young men reading the leads begin to take it all very seriously and live their roles as the star-crossed lovers for real.

    Rather than the city of Verona, the setting is the hallway, gym and dorms of the School, and whilst the script is punctuated with occasional references to their daily routine, it sticks faithfully to Shakespeare’s glorious text. It transforms the piece into a modern-day gay tragedy.

    This totally enchanting production by writer/director Alan Brown of shirtless teenagers falling in love with each other and spouting this magical prose is a real breath of fresh air. The energy and exuberance of the talented young cast oozes through, and what they may occasionally lack in technique certain more than compensates with such enthusiasm which makes all of their performances so very watchable, especially Hale Appleman as Mercutio.

    This is not one for Shakespearian purists but if you ever had the same good fortune of ever catching Joe Calcaro’s play ‘Shakespeare’s R & J’ (which I was lucky enough to see Off Broadway in the late 1990s) which served as the inspiration, then you will love this one.

    A refreshing wee gem of a movie.

  • FILM REVIEW | Futuro Beach

    ★★★★★ | Futuro Beach

    Karim Ainouz’s mesmerising melancholic drama starts and ends in a very similar fashion.

    In the opening scenes we see two motor bikers racing across the sand dunes and when they reach the end of the beach discard their bikes and clothes and run off into the high rolling waves. They soon get caught in riptides and despite the efforts of the lifeguards, one of them drowns.

    Donato one of the lifeguards is so shaken by his first ever death whilst on patrol, he takes it upon himself to break the sad news to Konrad the swimmer who they had managed to rescue. He is repaid for his kindness by Konrad working out his grief on him sexually. The two men spend the next few days together whilst the authorities search for the missing body. When it’s time to give up on that, neither of them are prepared to let go of each other, so Donato makes the decision to leave his sun-kissed beach in Brazil to try life with Konrad in his native Germany.

    In the second chapter of the story that Ainouz has called ‘A Hero Cut in Half’ (the first was ‘The Drowner’s Embrace’) we see the two lovers trying to make a go of urban living in the middle of a dreary winter in a country that is alien to Donato. They almost seem to succeed but Donato obviously misses not only Aryton his younger brother that he was extremely close too and his mother, but he feels he cannot live without a beach. The fact that he doesn’t catch his return flight to Brazil when his visit is over is covered in the third chapter called ‘A German Speaking Ghost’.

    It’s 8 years later and Donato has a new life, still swimming, but now as a maintenance diver in a city aquarium. He and Konrad are no longer an item but still important to each other as is apparent when an angry Aryton turns up on his doorstep unannounced. It appears that Donato had abandoned his family when he decided not to return back to Brazil and they have had to fend for themselves ever since. Now all grown up, and with their mother dead, Aryton wants to confront the brother he so idolised and who ruthlessly deserted him without a single word.

    Together the three men try and establish some form of forgiveness and reconciliation to be able to move forward. The final scenes are of them in the middle of winter roaring down the fog-drenched Autobahn to a stark desolate beach. It has another kind of beauty totally different from their precious Futuro Beach back home but just as stunning, and it’s where they realise that this is where home is now.

    Ainouz’s movie, co-written with Felipe Braganca, is light on plot as it focuses much more of the sensuality of each moment. There are certain pivotal scenes, which are sparse of dialogue where he allows the camera to remain much longer than the norm with such riveting effect. Whether it be Donato letting off steam dancing rather manically in a club, or when he and Konrad are making rough and passionate sex together, or in the closing scene of the final motorbike ride. It’s also clever that the script is guarded in revealing too much detail or any real insight into the three men and we are simply left to observe and imagine what emotional state they are in at any time.

    It is unquestionably a real visual treat from the wild untamed uninviting ocean in Brazil to seeing young Aryton acting out his ‘Speed Racer’ fantasy racing through the deserted streets of Berlin. The acting is astoundingly good with award-winning Brazilian actor Wagner Moura as the over sensitive Donato, handsome German Clemens Schick who’s prior claim to fame was that he played a baddie in ‘Casino Royale’, and young Jesuíta Barbosa, who stole our hearts last year in ‘Tatuagem’ was the bewildered Ayrton.

    Futuro Beach is one of those movies that linger with you for days as you run it through your mind time and time again. It’s Karim Ainouz’s fifth feature film. And it’s been 12 years since he gave us ‘Madame Sata’, and this new one is every bit as good, if not better as that. Winner of the Sebastiane Award for Best LGBT film at the San Sebastian Film Festival, it was nominated for a Golden Teddy Award at the Berlin Film Festival too.

    P.S. Interestingly enough Mr. Ainouz is a Brazilian who has now settled in Germany, so maybe there is part of his life in this story too.

  • FILM REVIEW | Hooked Up

    ★★★ | Hooked Up

    Technology is moving so fast and we now own more powerful processing power in our pockets (I mean your phone) than ever before. The cameras are better, image storage immense thanks to cloud storage and video quality crisper than ever.

    So, when I got the chance to review a horror movie filmed entirely on an iPhone, you can imagine how it piqued my curiosity, I am after all, a complete iFan.

    The storyline is fairly straightforward for schlock horror movie fodder, two stereotypically loud Americans go to Europe to get drunk and get laid. Both come across as quite unlikable characters, and in a horror movie, I always found you need to invest some feelings towards at least one character – otherwise why watch?

    With this, I didn’t really care for either – felt no emotion that one had just split form his long-term girlfriend, didn’t care what happened to them but was curious about the film and how it looked as it was shot on a phone.

    However, once they get to Barcelona and get out there, things take a more interesting turn and, after picking up two girls, they are invited back to one girls “grandmothers” house for the usual rumpy-pumpy. I must stress, the grandmothers house was supposed to be empty and said rumpy-pumpy did not include the grandmother.

    And this is where the film gets interesting. Obviously, there are nasty things going bump in the night, lights going out, strange happenings, lots of blood and a bit of gore – but the best thing for me was that the iPhone filming felt right?

    I know that sounds odd, but not once did I question why they were filming things – I use my phone all the time, without it, I feel like someone cut off my hand. To use one to film and take images whilst on holiday is now normal so this film didn’t feel contrived in that sense.

    Co-writer and director, Pablo Larcuen, has a good stab (yes, i went there) at writing something that tries to move the found footage genre along a little by the inclusion of something we all own – a smart phone.

    The performances are, on the whole, good with my only issue being the characterisation I mentioned earlier – give me one person to care about and I’ll stick with a film to the bitter end to see what happens. When you don’t really care, you’re just looking for the inventive ways they’ll die!

    My other issue, and not just with this film, but with all found footage films is who found the film?

    A decent 3 stars – it won’t set the world alight but a decent watch with a good pizza and a nice white wine.

  • FILM REVIEW | Beyond The Walls

    ★★★★★ | Beyond The Walls

    This unexpected and rather remarkable film from first-time writer/director David Lambert realistically scrutinises the intimate details of the rise and fall of an edgy gay relationship, devoid of stereotypes.

    It premiered at Cannes Film Festival during the Critics’ Week (picking up an award) and most of the reviewers then made a point of commenting that after Andrew Haigh’s very successful Weekend and Ira Sachs’ Keep The Lights On that there is a now a new movement of realism in gay cinema. And very refreshing it is too.

    Drinking rather heavily in a Brussels’ bar one night, Paolo a young slim youth catches the eye of Illir a hunky bearded Albanian bartender and ends up waking in his bed next morning. Bisexual Paolo slinks back to his girlfriend but she eventually throws him out two days later, and Paolo now homeless, persuades Illir to put him up even though the barman knows that shacking up together after just a couple of dates is not a good idea.

    However thrown together, love blossoms between the inexperienced young man and his ‘daddy’ figure boyfriend and everything is going really well until Illir, a part-time musician leaves town for a gig and ends up being arrested and jailed for possessing hash and resisting arrest. The clingy dependent Paolo is distraught and makes every visit to jail emotionally explosive, and Illir conscious of the tough guy image he wants to maintain in front of his cellmates, tells him never to return again.

    Paolo eventually hooks up with an older successful businessman who he clearly doesn’t love, but the relationship empowers him to mature and find his own sense of worth. Halfway through Illir’s jail sentence, Paolo is still willing to jeopardise his own freedom by smuggling in some hash, but later by the time Illir is eventually freed, Paolo can resist Illir even though he is obviously still in love with him.

    Like both Weekend and Keep The Lights On there is no fairytale ending where everyone lives happily after: it is what it is. The relationship reaches giddy heights but both men in their different ways accept that it has run its course and that they cannot turn the clock back.

    The story dips a tad in the later part losing the excellent pace that it started out with, and although by no means a perfect film it has much too highly recommend it. ‘Realism’ does not mean gloomy and Lambert obviously has a keen sense of humor and has written a couple of funny and affectionate scenes like when the normally closeted Illir grabs the microphone in the supermarket to ask anyone if they could point out the condoms so that he and his boyfriend could have a good afternoon making out. Plus there are the two lead actors Guilluame Gouix and Matila Malliarakis who are perfectly cast to add to the rawness of the piece. Well photographed too.

    We’re giving this a high rating because not only is this a refreshingly enchanting heart-warming movie from this newbie Belgian filmmaker, but it strives (and succeeds) to help break the mould and not make this very real story into the usual frothy lightweight gay movie.

  • FILM REVIEW | Broken Gardenias

    ★ | Broken Gardenias

    Jenni is a misfit and a nerd. She is so clumsy that she breaks most of the plant pots at the nursery where she works and that really annoys her boss.

    Her self-absorbed roommates all but one ignore her, and she is totally friendless. It gets even worse after she is hospitalised and loses both her job and her home. Clutching one cardboard box of her worldly possessions she makes tracks to the nearest park and sets about hanging herself from a tree.

    Even this does not go to plan as she is cut down and rescued by Sam (short for Samantha) a feisty lesbian with a buzz cut and ripped jeans and a great big grin. ‘This’ she tells a downcast Jenni ‘is the face of a nice person’. Something she feels the need to point out after listening to the miserable girl pour out her tale of woe as it seems likely that she has never encountered a nice person ever before in her life.

    Part of the story is Jenni’s father who she hasn’t seen since she was brought to the city and dumped there when she was very little. He is still in Los Angeles. Maybe. Jenni is very sketchy about details, but that doesn’t deter Sam who declares that they will set off for LA in search of him immediately. Even the fact they do not have a car, or even the faintest idea where in the vast city he will be is considered irrelevant by the overly optimistic Sam.

    Their road trip is littered with characters that Sam just shrugs off, but which wind up Jenni even more. When they arrive in the city and the search for the father starts, Sam has a detour when she runs into an old fling who invites her… and Jenni… to a wild party. Whilst Sam goes off to make out with her ex, wide-eyed Jenni ends up tripping on a psychedelic cupcake and getting into some bedroom action that she didn’t didn’t count on. She freaks out and then as she has angered the owner of the house as well, runs off into the city and is really on her own now. The question is will she survive, and will she find her father? Even more important will we have lost interest just like Sam does?

    Broken Gardenias is billed as a dark comedy and is the work of first-time director Kai Alexander whose bio states that he spent his childhood with his parents who were part of a travelling circus which may account for the bizarre roster of characters the two women encounter. The script is by newbie writer Alma S. Grey who also plays Jenni.

    The sole bright spot of this film is the performance of Ashley Morocco as the bubbly Sam as asides from this the movie just simply fails to really engage, and for a comedy, it is painfully unfunny.