THEGAYUK

Tag: LGBT Movie Review

Read the latest LGBT+ film reviews from THEGAYUK.

  • FILM REVIEW | Eastern Boys

    ★★★★★ | Eastern Boys

    Filmmaker Robin Campilio’s disturbing new thriller sharply contrasts two different sides of society in contemporary France with a very chilling effect.

    The first chapter of his four-part story is a near cinéma vérité scene of the Gard de Nord where a gang of Eastern European youths is trailing the platforms and aimlessly but obviously set on something illegal. One of them is a skinny baby-faced hustler who catches the attention of a 50 year-old businessman with whom he plays cat and mouse game throughout the station environs. When the youth allows himself to be cornered, they strike up an arrangement to meet at the man’s apartment the next day.

    What wealthy Daniel thought would be a hot date with this young Ukrainian turns out to be a frightening home invasion when the entire gang arrive and strip his luxury apartment completely bare. Taunted by the cocky Russian ringleader Boss with some overtly sexual advances, Daniel seems both terrorized and aroused at the same time.

    The third chapter opens with the surprising return of Marek the hustler … the time on his own … who offers to have sex as they originally had arranged. Despite the boy’s total indifference as he lays naked and motionless on bed Daniel still penetrates him, but the moment that it is over Marek quickly dresses and leaves without uttering a word. What is assumed would just be a one-off visit, is in fact repeated. At first its infrequently and then quite regularly but just as the youth starts to experience real feelings for Daniel, the older man decides that he wants to develop what they have into a non-sexual friendship.

    It is obvious that both of them are still threatened by the hold that ‘Boss’ and the gang have over Marek, who still lives with them in a hotel full of other illegal immigrants in the suburbs. The only way for them to ever be free of the menace is to move away, but Boss has Marek’s only papers … his passport …. stored away in his safe. Their concern that trying to retrieve this will be nigh on impossible and extremely dangerous proves to be well-founded.

    The relationship between Daniel and Marek is powerfully erotic especially as this sharp-suited savvy business man who has been viciously robbed by the boy and his thuggish pals, is yet somehow still attracted and is prepared to expose himself to potential danger again. And the different relationships that both of these men have with the charismatic but completely scary and unhinged Boss is both mesmerizing and unnerving.

    The movie, which picked up the prestigious Horizons Award at the Venice Film Festival, was beautifully filmed, and had stunningly convincing performances from all three protagonists. (Olivier Rabourdin who looks like he could be Kevin Spacey’s twin played Daniel).

    The morality of portraying all the immigrant boys in such a stereotypical manner is questionable, but that aside, this excellent drama will definitely rank as one of the best gay themed movies of this year.

    Available from Amazon | iTunes

  • FILM REVIEW | The Circle, Der Kreis

    The Circle (Der Kreis) is a Swiss docudrama written and directed by Stefan Haupt. The film depicts the social scene that revolved around Der Kreis, a gay publication in Zurich in the 1940s and 1950s, which was used as a scapegoat for the murders of several gay men in the city. Der Kreis (The Circle) was a Swiss gay magazine that was published from 1932 to 1967 and distributed internationally. ★★★★

    CREDIT: The Circle
    CREDIT: The Circle

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  • FILM REVIEW | Southern Baptist Sissies

    ★★★★ | Southern Baptist Sissies

    Fourteen years ago writer Del Shores followed his gay cult classic play ‘Sordid Lives’ with another dramedy that takes a hefty swipe at the conservative Baptists stance on homosexuality.

    Since its premiere, it has been very successfully performed extensively in regional theatres throughout the USA, but unlike its predecessor it has never found its way on to the silver screen, either big or small. Until now that is. Last year rectified Shores this omission when he directed a theatrical production in LA which he filmed in front of a live audience to make Southern Baptist Sissies the movie.

    The action is set in Shores’s beloved Texas and it follows four ‘good Baptist’ boys from childhood to their early twenties as they all struggle with their sexuality in varying ways. Mark is the most outspoken (and acts as the narrator) and questions how their Church can preach love and forgiveness whilst passionately decrying homosexuality; Andrew was the first to embrace Jesus as his saviour and men as his potential partners and is the one who wrestles most with the conflicting pressures that they bring. Benny is the most open of the group and has not only fully embraced his gayness but has welcomed it with open arms as he develops his career as a drag queen entertainer. On the other hand T.J. a real jock is in complete denial of his deep attraction to Mark and would rather marry a woman than accept who he really is.

    There is a great deal of melodrama with each of the young men all getting more than a couple of moments in the spotlight to say their heartfelt pieces, some of which come off as preachy as one of their Pastor’s sermons. Shores certainly knows how to get his cast to use the Bible like Google where there is an answer for everything.

    Then asides from this there are a couple of hardened and embittered bar flies, an older gay man and his new best lady friend, both hardened drinkers and chain smokers, who humorously dissect their lives with a constant flow of funny stories and comments on the proceedings as they sit in a gay bar.

    It’s an odd mix of highly emotional soul-bearing and chest beating on the one hand which is blended in with some really gloriously funny passages. It’s not always 100% successful but its very talented young cast that play alongside several veteran actors who are regulars in Shores productions deserve credit for their impressive performances which make the piece gel as well as it does. They include actor/producer Emerson Collins (‘Sordid Lives: The Prequel’), William Belli (‘Rupaul’s Drag Race’) doing all his own singing as Benny, Luke Stratte-McClure (‘All Together Now’) as T.J. and Matthew Scott Montgomery (‘So Random’) as Andrew. However, even the combination of cute appeal and talent still couldn’t stop them all being upstaged by Leslie Jordan and Dale Dickey with their scene-stealing outrageous bar gossip routines.

    It was definitely a bold decision to film it as a staged play, and for the most part, it works very well indeed. With simple interlocking sets the action flows quite naturally but whereas a running time of 140 minutes works well in a theatre, it drags on the screen and could have comfortably lost at least 30 minutes with ease.

    It is essentially a wonderful play about coming-of-age that shows little sign of becoming dated with time as the situations these young men face are universal and just as relevant today as when they were first written. This especially includes Andrew’s final resolution which sadly is the same decision many troubled souls still reach today.

  • FILM REVIEW | The Third One

    ★★ | The Third One

    Argentinian director’s Rodrigo Guerrero’s second feature is a very slight and charming tale about a one night stand that may change a young man’s outlook on life and love.

    We first see 22-year-old near-naked Fede at his laptop on a chatline talking to Franco. The conversation soon gets very intimate and graphic and in case we don’t get where this is leading too, Guerrero has inserted some very short clips of gay porn films. Franco is in his early 40s and partnered and when all three men agree they like the look of how this hook-up is progressing they invite the young man over for dinner and more.

    There is no ambiguity to the invitation and over the course of the meal, the three men chat at length about their backgrounds, their families and their lives so far. It is all very innocent and so completely friendly in such a way that it actually seems like the couple are looking to adopt the younger man rather take him to their bed and sexually ravish him. But this is what happens once desert has been served but as the action is photographed mainly from the waist up it is sweeter and somewhat wholesome than salacious.

    There is a lot of grunting and groaning and smiling and then some penetration.

    Next morning with still no genitalia on view the men leave for work and the boy leaves for college after they all say their fond farewells and promise to repeat the night very soon. The closing credits roll as we see young grinning Fede day-dreaming in Class his mind still on the events on last night as if he had just lost his virginity. (Not true).

    Sweet film, very good acting, but it really only had the makings of a short, and certainly not a full-length feature to promote this overly optimistic idea that sometimes (!) online hook-ups can be like a fairy tale after all.

    Released by TLA on 8th December

  • FILM REVIEW | Big Gay Love

    ★ | Big Gay Love

    Ringo Le’s comic drama admirably tackles the concept that even in our physique obsessed culture, gay men who are socially inept and more than pleasantly plump can still get their chance at a big romance.

    The lonely soul in this instance is Bob, who is a chubby successful party caterer in LA who has made enough money to buy his first house but desperately sad as he has no-one to share it with. For some reason (insecurity?) his only friends are a couple of vapid vain gym rats who are as self-centered as his mother who was once a famous Pin Up Girl.

    When at one of his own parties, he meets Andy a handsome beefy accomplished chef & restaurant owner, and budding writer to boot, who actually fancies him, Bob’s low-self esteem kicks in big time. The trouble is for Bob… and for us too… that once Le sets up the scenario the initially promising story disintegrates through a series of convoluted and somewhat ridiculous plot twists and the whole mishmash becomes one annoying big pity party for Bob.

    The cast includes the talented Jonathan Lisecki (the writer/director/actor of ‘Gayby’) and handsome Nicholas Brendon (from ‘Buffy The Vampire Slayer’) but with zero chemistry between them and a very stilted script, both of them looked as uncomfortable as we felt by the time the final credits rolled. They would be lucky to find a small gay love at best!

    Big Gay Love = Big Gay Yawn.

  • FILM REVIEW | Hollywood To Dollywood

    ★★★★ | Hollywood To Dollywood

    One of the very first things you learn from this enchanting wee documentary is that when you are growing up gay in a Southern Baptist family in a small North Carolina town you worship both God and Dolly Parton in equal measure.

    Handsome identical twins Gary and Larry Lane, now in their mid 30’s, got as far away as they could from their childhood homes when their family struggled to come to terms with the fact that they are both gay. Now they are living the lives they always wanted in West Hollywood, these inseparable brothers are desperate to fulfil their long-held dream. They want to present Dolly Parton with a movie script they have written for her based on her life story, and they also want their families to finally accept them for who they are.

    This film then is of their road trip in an RV christened ‘Joleen’ right across the country to Pigeon Forge Tennessee where Dolly is scheduled to appear in person at her famous theme park and where they are planning to get the script into her hands. They also hope that once their family see the finished documentary it will help them appreciate the fullness of the rather wonderful lives they have shaped for themselves.

    Before the start of the journey they persuade a few of their LA celebrity friends to read through the script and give them advice and any tips. They include Oscar Winning Scriptwriter Dustin Lance Black, and actors Leslie Jordan, Chad Allen & Beth Grant. None of them is immune to the boy’s infectious charm and boundless good humour.

    On the road with Gary’s boyfriend Mike doing most of the driving, the twins spend a lot of time verbalising about how childhood and in particular the rejection by their mother when at aged 25 they finally came out to her. She would not believe them and tried to make them swear on the Bible that they were not gay, and when they refused, she fell apart. Even now none of the rest of the family or their neighbours knows. Such treatment would have devastated most people but not these good-natured resilient twins who are still determined to be accepted regardless how long it takes them.

    The rest of the trip seems to be spending time with other people who also worship at the shrine of ‘Saint’ Dolly and who are so excited to give testimony with such fervour on camera as to how she has enriched all their lives. And when the boys arrive at their destination actually manage to get a brief meeting with Dolly herself, she is so welcoming and graciously accepts the script, they feel like they have died and gone heaven.

    Whether the script was any good, and whether Dolly liked it at all is really irrelevant. What makes this film so endearing is the twins unshakable faith in themselves and the people they love. And Miss Dolly Parton, who I would chose over God any day.

  • FILM REVIEW | Hockney : A Wonderful Gush-Free Tribute

    ★★★★ | Hockney : A Wonderful Gush-Free Tribute

    David Hockney, O.M. C.H. R.A. is possibly the greatest living English artist and is considered a ‘national treasure’.

    A painter, draughtsman, printmaker, stage designer and photographer he has been a major presence on the art scene since he first caught the public’s eye when taking part of Young Contemporaries Exhibition at the Royal College of Art in 1962 (who subsequently initially refused to let him graduate). His move from his dull northern hometown of Bradford to the bright sunshine of L.A. just two years later was a major turning point and where this quiet Englishman found happiness and his metier. It was also where he found the first of many bottles of peroxide for his hair.

    Hockney’s life has been examined many times previously but this new documentary by filmmaker Randall Wright, whose previous subjects have included Lucien Freud and the ubiquitous Sister Wendy, is probably by far the most definitive. Helped by the fact that Hockney gave him unfettered access to his vast personal treasure trove of archives which included some great footage of home videos and a seemingly less collection of photographs, it gives such a full picture of the great man and his life.

    The charismatic Hockney made great friends of other famous artists on so many levels and those still living gave a fascinating insight into their friend and peer. Particularly touching was an interview with Don Bacardy who spoke of the time that a very young Hockney turned up on his doorstep of the Hollywood home that he shared with his lover Christopher Isherwood. Hockney had been openly gay since his Royal College days even though homosexuality was still illegal in the UK, but this was the first time he had met a partnered couple and it was quite a shock for him.

    Hockney’s sexuality was an important element of both his life and his work as the public first discovered with his acclaimed ‘Bigger Splash’ series of pictures that featured his young naked lover Peter Schlesinger that started making waves in and out of his pool. An obviously highly emotional man, a fact that is nowhere more apparent than his moving account of the impact of AIDS in the ’80s which so decimated his circle of friends and acquaintances.

    Wright expertly weaves his film back and forth from Hockney’s childhood in a post-war Britain still rationing its food, to his current sojourn in his beloved Santa Monica home where at the age of 77 although painfully deaf, he is still working on new pieces of art. The ‘journey’ in between shows a man obsessed with his art and bent on continually exploring new techniques and ideas that are very uniquely his own. His famous ‘polaroid’ pictures of the ’80’s have progressed into a whole new wave of art he now makes on his iPad.

    It is undoubtedly a wonderful gush-free tribute to this iconic artist and quintessential Englishman who up to a couple of years ago was still living part of his year in the bracing seaside town of Bridlington. What it lacks, however, is any mention of Hockney’s personal life after his tempestuous relationship with Schlesinger decades ago. All mention of Hockney’s later relationships, including one with John Fitzherbert that lasted over two decades, were completely omitted which seems odd given the importance that Hockney places on his close friendships.

    (*C.H. = Companion of Honour, and O.M. = Order of Merit both extremely high honours that are awarded by The Queen)

  • FILM REVIEW | Campaign Of Hate: Russia And Gay Propaganda

    ★★★★ | Campaign Of Hate: Russia And Gay Propaganda

    Uber gay porn king Michael Lucas has kept his clothes on in front of the camera for a second time with his new documentary about the plight of gay men and women in Russia. It is a vast improvement on his first attempt at getting serious with his ‘Undressing Israel’ movie where life for the stream of hot gay hunks he interviewed couldn’t have been any rosier. Here Russian-born Lucas (born Andrei Lvovich Treivas) was back in Moscow his birth city to discuss that being a homosexual during Putin’s regime can be a serious danger to your health.

    It’s hard to get past a culture where the first time young gay kids learn anything about their sexuality is when they open their Soviet Encyclopedia and turn to the letter H. There for homosexuality they read just three facts. 1: it’s a sickness, and 2: a harmful influence of the West, and 3: it;s a crime for which you can go to prison for. And it doesn’t get much better for when the boy turns into a young man he will not just be mocked and humiliated by society but gay bashed several times and quite severely.

    The personal accounts of the gay Russians trying to lead normal lives, albeit almost all of them in the closet, were grim and depressing. Given the fact that they have to deal with so much sheer undisguised hatred every working day, it is no wonder that all of them without exception would choose to leave and move anywhere else in the world to live if they could.

    One of the commentators that Lucas interviewed made several good observations about in this present tough economic climate in Russia, Putin needs to distract people’s attention from his main problems and focus them on other media grabbing agendas. The harassment of gay people is one such target especially as they are considered a soft option and will not fight back. It has eerie overtones of the old Bush campaign that stirred up the US conservative wing about gay marriage in such a way that they would be sure to turn out to vote on Polling Day and at the same time re-elect him. Coincidentally our economy was in ruins then, but somehow that was hidden from us at the time.

    The rhetoric spouting by one of the vehemently anti-gay legislators as he justified his unequivocal hatred of the LGBT community was barbaric and heinous and he refused to accept either reason or factual information. When Lucas informed him that there was data that showed that the largest single group of people who committed suicide in Russia where young gay teenagers, I thought the man would explode with rage.

    Some of the gay and lesbians that Lucas interviewed tried to put a brave spin on the situation saying that things were definitely improving and that LGBT was now becoming accepted as part of the general protest. The majority of the others, however, thought it was just getting worse.

    Lucas’s interesting film probably didn’t say anything new, and it avoided drawing its own conclusion as to what lie ahead for the gay community there. It does however quite rightly serve as a wake-up call for those of us that live in the relative freedom of the West, lest we should ever think that gay rights are the rights for everyone.

  • FILM REVIEW | In Their Room: London / Berlin / San Francisco

    US Filmmaker Travis Mathews is a professional voyeur.

    His documentary movies all focus on gay men and their intimacy and are very raw and explicit. His most successful project to date is ‘Interior Leather Bar’ where he, and a somewhat obsessed James Franco, pieced together what they thought maybe the content of the chunk of William Friedkin’s 1980 gay classic ‘Cruising’ that the Censors insisted on being deleted. Before this however, Mathews embarked on series of videos, that have now been released under the banner of ‘In Their Room’.

    The first ‘episode’, a 20 minute short, was filmed in Mathews hometown of San Francisco where armed with just a simple video camera he visits 8 men alone in their bedrooms. Some are clothed, some naked, some are silent or reticent to share, whilst others are happy to expose every intimate detail of their thoughts about love and sex. Although it is always mainly the latter.
    The second film, shot in 2011, continues to voyeuristically document what goes on in the minds and bedrooms of urban gays. Now in Berlin, Mathews lingers on the tension and circular nature between intimacy and loneliness by documenting a handful of gay men as they troll the web looking for hook-ups or love. It is the only film in which he actually features a coupled pair, and is probably the most explicit of the three films.

    The third and final film made last year focuses on 8 gay men in London. I’m not sure if it was deliberate on Mathew’s part, but the bed-sitting rooms of his subjects this time around look decidedly squalid. Again he manages to draw out the men’s most private thoughts and aspirations as they talk aimlessly as he films them doing the banalest daily tasks. It is also the one episode when the vulnerability and loneliness of urban gay men really starts to seep through.

    The work is an interesting experiment, which although shares nothing new with us, at least gives us a moment to reflect on parts of our lives that many gay men have difficulty discussing. The series is definitely not for everyone, but at least you don’t have to have a Masters Degree in Counselling Psychology (like Mathews has) to appreciate it.

    Out December 2015

  • FILM REVIEW | Boys, Tender and Touching Coming Of Age Film

    The two boys in question are 15-year-old Dutch schoolboys who get thrown together when their athletics coach selects them to be part of a 4 man relay team. They seem an unlikely pair of friends at first as Sieger is reserved and a little uptight mainly because of the fact since his mother died, he has to try to keep the peace between his wayward brother and strict father. Marc on the other hand is outgoing and adventurous and lives with his fun-loving family and a younger sister he adores.

    ★★★★

    The boys bond after practice one day and in an impulsive moment when they are are larking about swimming together in a lake Marc leans forward and kisses Sieger squarely on the mouth. He responses by returning the kiss, but once they are out of water and dressed, he nervously blurts out that he is not gay, before cycling off and leaving a bewildered Marc alone.

    Sieger’s old pal Theo, also part of the running team, persuades him to go on a double date with two local girls. When they are out at the fairground together the four of them run into a surprised Marc who is positively shocked and somewhat hurt when Jessica leans forward and gives Sieger a passionate kiss right in front of him.

    This very tender and touching coming of age story about this confused young boy who wants to fit in with the norm of what he thinks is expected of him has some very neat twists and turns and is not as predictable as it seemed at the outset. As he struggles with his sexuality, he is so aware of his father’s disillusionment with his brother that he believes he least should not disappoint him too. On top of this, they all live in a most idyllic corner of the lush Netherlands countryside which is not just a visual treat but somehow evokes memories of more innocent times.

    With great performances from the very young cast, this entertaining made-for-TV movie will hopefully get to the wider audience it deserves now it is being released worldwide.

  • FILM REVIEW | The Circle, aka Des Kreis

    ★★★★★ | The Circle, aka Des Kreis

    Even though he led a very closeted life, Ernst Ostertag went out in public to a gay ball held by The Circle Magazine and met and fell in love with Robi Rapp, a drag act who was performing there that night, who would later become his life partner. The year was 1956, and the city was Zurich, and although homosexuality was not illegal in Switzerland, gay men were not only just ostracised by society but also lived in real fear of losing their jobs and being shunned by their families.

    This hybrid of a movie: part documentary & part fiction is the true story of how this chance encounter would survive all the pressures of an intolerant and bigoted public, and the harassment of the police and authorities, to become 60 years later, the first ever same-sex couple to have a Domestic Partnership registered in Switzerland.

    Back then Ostertag was a young and somewhat naive French Language teacher at a Girls School who risked the wrath of the Principal by wanting to introduce his pupils to avant-garde work by Albert Camus. Off-duty he discovered the existence of The Circle, a gay erotic art and poetry bi-monthly magazine that was the first if it’s kind in Europe when it was founded in 1942. The magazine was sold by subscription only and the membership list was heavily guarded at The Circle’s office, but occasionally the publishers organised get-togethers, like the Ball that Ostertag met his man.

    The murder of one of their number served as a thinly disguised excuse for a campaign of persecution by the Police whose biggest weapon was exposing the men publicly for being gay. It was enough to cause Ostertag’s School Principal, a married man with two children, to take his own life.

    This is a fascinating glimpse into a post War War 2 mixed fortunes of a gay community in Europe before the onslaught of freedom that was about to occur with the swinging 1960’s (although maybe not quite in Switzerland). Rupi’s mother was very theatrical and not only acknowledged her son’s sexuality but also welcomed his lover into the family with open arms, whereas Ostertag’s conservative parents were so very formal and cold, that he never came out of the closet to his sister until he was 70 years old.

    The movie which so excellently portrays all the emotional stress on these young men who struggled to come to terms with their own sexuality, works best with the dramatised flashbacks thanks to some masterly performances, particular by the two lead actors playing the lovers Matthias Hungerbuehler and Sven Schelker. The interviews with the present day Ostertag and Rupi, now in their 80s, are extremely touching, but really add little to the narrative itself.

    ‘The Circle’ aka Des Kreis won both the prestigious Teddy for Best LGBT Documentary at the Berlin Film Festival, where it also picked up a coveted Panorama Audience Award too. I think it is surely set to become a firm audience favourite too when it does the Film Festival rounds now.

    Highly recommended.