THEGAYUK

Tag: LGBT Movie Review

Read the latest LGBT+ film reviews from THEGAYUK.

  • FILM REVIEW | My Straight Son

    ★★★★ | My Straight Son

    Diego a successful fashion photographer in Caracas has commitment phobia but the very night he is about to tell Fabrizio his Doctor boyfriend that he will move in with him after all, is the same night that Fabrizio is the victim of a vicious fatal gay bashing. It is also the same night that Armando, his estranged teenage son, turns up from Spain to stay with him for a few months whilst his mother goes to London to study for a Masters degree.

    This very melodramatic first 24 hours sets the tone for a hectic story packed full of characters that deliberately sets out to tug at your heartstrings for the next two hours. Father and son are like strangers and must learn how to adapt to each other. Armando to the unknown homosexual world of a father grieving for his partner that he had never met, and Diego to the closed attitude of his adolescent son.

    Added to the mix are both Diego’s own parents and Fabrizio’s too who are completely homophobic and are obsessed with watching Venezuela’s most popular TV Chat Show with its buxom bigoted host who loves to stir up fear of the unknown with her inflammatory remarks. Plus Diego’s female assistant/friend that keeps going back to her abusive boyfriend who beats her up most days, and the penniless transsexual choreographer who has to subsidise her modern dance troupe by still doing her lip-syncing drag act at a gay club at night to pay the rent. Between them all director/writer Miguel Ferrari insures that he covers the whole gamut of social issues from gay parenting and partners rights to gender identity.

    Despite its (too) many layers and all its plot complications there is something very compelling about the unraveling of the relationship between the father and son that ensures our investment in watching to the end to see how its all going to turn out. Maybe it’s the sonorous tones of the orchestra’s lush string section that pervades the dramatic soundtrack, or just seeing a cute nervous Armando mastering the art of the Tango so that he can win the heart of his new Internet girlfriend?

    It’s sweet and funny and immensely moving with some very fine performances from this handsome and talented cast, plus there is more than a hint of Almodovar about the whole thing. The movie has been wowing audiences already and in Spain it won the Best Foreign Picture Goya (their Oscars) when it still had the original and much better title of ‘Azul y No Tan Rosa’ which literally translates into ‘Blue, and Not So Pink’, and it should do just as well as here even with its newer clumsier title.

    Highly recommended.

  • FILM REVIEW | I Am Divine

    ★★★★★ | I Am Divine

    As Jeffrey Schwartz’s excellent new documentary I Am Divine is released in the UK, The Gay UK’s film critic Roger Walker-Dack caught up with legendary filmmaker John Waters for a few personal words about his muse and great friend Divine.

    John told us ‘When it comes toI Am Divine I have let Jeffrey be the one to speak, as it’s his film in this instance he’s the one who deserves the attention. I’m STILL shocked that Divine is dead! Divine had a great life in the UK, and he’d be thrilled that the film is being so well received.’

    Glen Milstead aka Divine was unquestionably John Water’s finest actor and muse. Not simply because of his talent that was as outsize as his physique, but because like Waters he was both totally fearless and dared to push the boundaries of bad taste as far as he possibly could. And he did it all in such outrageous style and unfettered enthusiasm that made him such an iconic cult figure.

    In filmmaker Jeffrey Schwartz’s new very upbeat documentary into this unique entertainer and character, we learn that Divine had always dreamt of being a movie star since he was a kid who had been picked in and bullied at school as being both effeminate and fat. And he did deservedly become one and was just about to parlay his major underground success into the mainstream with a (non-drag) part in a nationally syndicated TV sitcom when he dropped down dead in Hollywood after a massive heart attack the very day before filming was due to start. He was just 42 years old. Manager, Bernard Jay poignantly claimed that as Divine was at the peak of his career, he had at least died happily.

    Divine and John Waters both grew up in Baltimore and met when they were teenagers. They made anarchic campy home movies together at the beginning with exaggerated characters in outrageous situations with hyperbolic dialogues. They were never meant to be shown outside of their wee band of local actors that included Mink Stole, Edith Massey, and David Lochary (the latter becoming a big love of Divine’s life before his own untimely death). But word got out and soon people were clamouring to see the films that got bigger and even bolder.

    Water’s ‘trashy trilogy’ ‘Pink Flamingos’, ‘Female Trouble’, and ‘Desperate Living’ cemented Divine’s reputation as a movie diva, in particular, Flamingos which earned him the title of ‘the filthiest person alive’ after the notorious scene where he actually ate dog faeces. And after these successes, he also started to diverse his career taking starring roles in Off-Broadway shows, and becoming a very successful disco recording star. He added a whole new meaning to the word ‘fierce’!

    Many of the interviewees that Schwartz included gave Divine great credit for expanding the concept of the drag queen from brash female impersonator into something much larger, more subversive and less gender specific. Yet without a single exception, none of the TV chat show hosts that interviewed him could deal with the fact that Divine was sitting opposite them in men’s clothing calmly stating that ‘she’ was a character that he played and not the person he actually was off the screen.

    Matinee idol Tab Hunter recounted the joy he had at working with Divine on two very successful movies ‘Polyester’ and ‘Lust in The Dust’. These were followed by ‘Hairspray’, which turned out to be Divine’s biggest hit and very last movie.

    Schwartz beautifully captures both the joyous nature of Divine’s flamboyant life and also the great sense of sheer enjoyment he had. He includes the completely tasteless clip from ‘Eat Your Makeup.’ in which Divine played Jacqueline Kennedy in a grotesquely amusing re-creation of the Kennedy assassination just two years after the event. But he also shows the scene from ‘Multiple Maniacs’ where Divine’s character is raped by a giant lobster! A perfect epitaph.

    Someone said towards the end of the movie … ‘after him, no-one can ever now be called Divine … he OWNS that title’. Too true.

    An unmissable flawless movie.

    The fabulous UK and Irish Cinema and VOD release of I Am Divine is one week away!

  • FILM REVIEW | Love Is Strange

    FILM REVIEW | Love Is Strange

    ★★★★★ | Love Is Strange

    Love Is Strange one of the most talked about gay movies of the year has been wowing both crowds and critics in the US since it opened in August. The New York Time’s Movie Critic recently said it would be his personal pick for the Best Picture Oscar. Now it is finally about to open in UK Cinemas, here is our take on this superb love story.

    In Ira Sach’s follow-up to his highly acclaimed 2013 hit Keep The Lights On, love is also extraordinarily wonderful too. It’s the tale of George & Ben a devoted couple who have enjoyed a somewhat glorious life together in Manhattan for the past 39 years. Now that same-sex marriage is legal in NY they decide to have a joyous wee ceremony surrounded by their close friends to tie the knot and make it all ‘official’. Everyone is happy for the two men now in their late 60s, except for George’s employers who had been blissfully aware of his relationship with Ben in the 12 years he had taught music at their school. Marriage, however, was too much for them, the Catholic Church that is, so in an act of Christian charity they unceremoniously fired him on the spot.

    With Ben already retired and George unable to find another job the men soon ran out of money and very reluctantly had to sell the Co-op Apartment that they had lived in for decades. Sadly none of their friends in the city had a spare room to put the couple up in, so for the very first time since they had met, they had to split up whilst the hunt for a new affordable Manhattan apartment continued.

    George moved in with a couple of handsome young gay cops next door and crashed on their couch. The trouble was that his new ‘landlords’ had a seemingly endless list of young friends who loved to hang out at the apartment and party all hours, usually whilst sitting on George’s ‘bed’. Ben, on the other hand, was given a bunk bed in his great nephew’s room, something the young rebellious teenage bitterly resented.

    As time passed, and with no sign of a new apartment for the newly weds, tensions got very strained. George could hardly bear living in party central and getting little sleep, and Ben seemed stuck in the middle of an escalating feud between his great nephew and his parents who saw eye to eye on nothing. It was when the latter eventually erupted and the boy was grounded after being caught out being led astray by a much older school chum, that there was a breakthrough between him and his old gay ‘nuisance’ Uncle. In a very touching scene when the boy broke down and didn’t just share but actually listened for once, he learnt from Ben about being true to himself and loving who he wanted too without shame.

    It’s impossible to say where things led to from this point without giving spoilers in what is such a beautiful and touching story. It’s a neat lesson in hate (the Church), and in tolerance (the family) and a perfect example of love that is quietly understated and without histrionics.

    George and Ben are portrayed so exquisitely by veteran actors Alfred Molina and John Lithgow and are the perfect epitome of a devoted couple completely in love and who totally idolise each other. The very obvious chemistry between the two on screen is completely convincing and they are a sheer joy to watch.

    There is absolutely nothing ‘strange’ about George and Ben’s love especially as it is the focus and example to all the other couples in this charming story whether they are gay or straight.

    Mr Sachs has created a fine feature about mature love that shouldn’t just be niche marketed as a ‘gay film’ as it deserves and will delight a much wider audience.

    P.S. And I am thankful to him too that this is one ‘gay theme’ film that doesn’t have the obligatory nudity.

  • FILM REVIEW | Moonlight

    FILM REVIEW | Moonlight

    ★★★★★ | Moonlight

    Moonlight film review

    A tender, heartwarming story of a young black gay man growing up in 1980’s Miami is the story of the critically acclaimed film Moonlight.

    I had to see this film a second time to fully relive and understand and absorb the nuances and emotional impact it delivers. Moonlight is about Chiron, and the three chapters of his life. Played as a wide-eyed young boy by Alex Hibbert, as a teenager by Ashton Sanders, and then as an adult by Trevante Rhodes – we get to see him grow up while having to endure lots pain and heartbreak is his life.

    Chiron is not like the rest of the other boys in school. He is constantly picked on (he’s smaller than the rest), his father is not in the picture, and his mother Paula (an excellent Naomie Harris) is a drug addict who is slowly spiralling into desperate drug addiction.

    The Miami housing project where Paula and Chiron live is controlled by drug dealer Juan (Oscar-nominated Mahershala Ali), who lives there with his girlfriend Teresa (a very good Janelle Monåe). Juan just happens to be Paula’s drug dealer. But Juan also becomes a father figure to Chiron, and Chiron starts spending lots of time at his apartment. He’s looked after there, is fed and cared for by Tereaa, he gets meals there that he never would get at home. But as Chiron grows up, he becomes more aware of his sexuality, and as a teenager has a thing with fellow friend Kevin (Jharrel Jerome), whom he’s known since they were young boys, and it’s this act that changes Chiron’s life forever.

    We then see Chiron as a 24-year old ex-convict, muscled up, dealing drugs and still coming to grips with his sexuality. All of a sudden he gets a call from Kevin (now played by a very charismatic André Holland). Chiron still has feelings for Kevin, so he gets up the courage to meet up with him. It’s in these moments where we hold our breath, not really knowing what’s going to happen. All we want is for Chiron to be happy, to be in a relationship, to lead a happy life with someone he cares about and loves – and that’s all he really wants too.

    Moonlight is an exquisite depiction of self-discovery, of a disenfranchised young black man meandering through life who is on a personal journey of self-discovery. Moonlight is based on the play Moonlight Black Boys Look Blue by Tarell Alvin McCraney. It’s a beautifully shot movie (by James Laxton) and its colours are as beautiful as a Miami sunset. The acting is amazing – all three who play Chiron are fantastic, but it’s Sanders whose Chiron has to go through lots of pain and agony, and being beaten up by homophobic school bullies. The music, by Nicholas Britell, is very subtle and sets the right mood. Moonlight has won lots of film awards and is on track to give ‘La La Land’ a run for it’s money at the upcoming Academy Awards. Kudos to director and writer Barry Jenkins for bringing a rich, moving story of a young black gay man to the big screen – it’s a story that’s not been told before – and it works so fine.

     

    Available to pre-order from Amazon

     

  • FILM REVIEW | Akron

    FILM REVIEW | Akron


    ★★★★ | Akron
    Two young college men fall in love but are linked to a tragedy that took place years ago in the excellent ‘Akron.’

    Hispanic Benny (Matthew Frias) and white All-American Christopher (Edmund Donovan) meet on the football pitch on their college campus. They have an instantaneous attraction to each other, and start dating. Benny still lives at home with his parents which includes his warm loving mom Lenora (an excellent Andrea Burns) and his lawyer father and younger sister. Benny’s parents are very accepting of his homosexuality, but they not quite over the loss of a son who died many years ago.

    Benny and Christopher start spending a lot of time together – they really like each other and are a good match. They decide to go to Florida to stay with Christopher’s mom Carol (a good Amy Da Luz) where they plan to spend a perfect and romantic spring break. However, Christopher’s mom opens up to Benny about the tragedy that befell both their families years ago – a tragedy that’s probably worst of it’s kind. It leads Benny to question his relationship with Christopher. He was starting to fall in love with Christopher but the revelation by Christopher’s mom changes everything, enough so to have Benny’s parents forbiding him to see Christopher anymore. Benny has to make some adult decisions, but does he decide with his heart or does he listen to his family?

    ‘Akron’s’ truly a romantic film about two young men in love and events that make them grow up very fast. It has an undertone of sadness, yet it overcomes this to bring us a film that is heartfelt and emotional. And it’s got a first rate cast – both Frias and Donovan are very good, and Burns is excellent and natural as Benny’s mother. Directors Sasha King and Brian O’Donnell give us a movie, from a script by O’Donnell, that will pull at your heartstrings. Superb music by Bill Snodgrass sets the tone for each scene – creating the music in Dublin, Ireland where he played composed the score and played every instrument himself. Make sure you watch ‘Akron.’

    ‘Akron’ will be released April 10th on DVD / VOD by TLA Releasing

  • FILM REVIEW | Uncle Howard

    FILM REVIEW | Uncle Howard

    ★★★★ | Uncle Howard

    Howard Brookner was three days shy of 35 when he died of AIDS in 1989.

    Who was Howard Brookner? He was an American film director and famous for his college thesis documentary on William S. Burroughs – the American novelist who was also a member of the beat generation. Brookner also wrote and directed the feature-length film Bloodhounds of Broadway – a period comedic ensemble that starred several big names including Matt Dillon, Jennifer Grey, Anita Morris, Julie Hagerty, Randy Quaid, and Madonna.

    But Brookner was more than just a film director – he was also an uncle, an uncle to Aaron Brookner. And Aaron has made a film about his uncle in a moving documentary simply titled Uncle Howard.

    Aaron, 35 years old, was inspired by his uncle to make movies. In the documentary we see home video footage of Howard hanging out with Aaron when he was a kid, with Howard parading Aaron around on his shoulders. These scenes are touching and sentimental because it sets the tone of the short relationship Aaron had with his uncle, an uncle who passed away when Aaron was only 8-years-old, an uncle who made such an impression on him that decades later Aaron would want to make a documentary about him. Aaron’s early memories of Uncle Howard included being on the set of Bloodhounds of Broadway, a film that turned out to be Howards only major studio film, and unfortunately, he passed away before its release.

    Aaron wanted to seek out Howard’s original film footage for his Burroughs documentary, and found it in a place called The Bunker in lower Manhattan, the former home of Burroughs. There are scenes of Aaron watching the old tapes which are then inter-spliced with the actual film footage, which gives us, and Aaron, a glimpse of the early work of his uncle, an uncle with high doses of passion and talent. The old footage also includes glimpses of Allen Ginsberg and Andy Warhol, while both new and old footage shows Jim Jarmusch, with Howard in the 1980’s, and then with Aaron in the present day.

    The writer Brad Gooch gives us a raw insight into his ten-year relationship with Howard, while discussing the loss of Howard and many friends during the height of the AIDS pandemic, scenes that are emotional, touching and sentimental. But what most pulls at the heartstrings is Aaron’s conversations with Howard’s mother, Elaine, who walks down memory lane with Aaron about the life of Howard and how he was taken from them at such a young age. Uncle Howard is a film with a personal touch, and Aaron has successfully delivered a fitting tribute to an uncle who died way too young.

    I wish I had an Uncle Howard.

  • FILM REVIEW | The Pass

    FILM REVIEW | The Pass

    ★★★★ | The Pass

    CREDIT: Grapevine Digital

    Two footballer players end up scoring with each other in Ben A. Williams feature film debut The Pass, which was recently featured at London’s BFI Film Festival.

    The Pass take place in a ten-year time span which tracks the relationship between two Premiership football players. There’s always been some kind of chemistry and attraction between James (an electric and very good Russell Tovey) and Ade (Arinzé Kene – Hollyoaks – also very good). We meet both of them while they’re sharing a hotel room in 2006 in Bulgaria right before one of their first big matches. They’re both very young, and they’re also both very fit, masculine and extremely sexy, and they spend the first third of the movie in their tight white underwear.

    James and Ade are talking lads stuff, having a laugh about other players, and watching a video that was taken of another player having sex. The sex talk continues, and the banter goes something like ‘getting as hard as your sister sitting on my face.’ They’re playing around with each other; it’s hot, it’s erotic, it gets brutal and homophobic, plus, we find out later, it leads to more than just talk.

    The Pass takes us beyond the hotel room to tell us the story of the relationship between these two men, but especially about the relationship James has with himself. He’s all man, a star footballer, with all the trappings of stardom; money, women, celebrity, and eventually a wife with two kids. But he’s also battling with his sexuality, and even though he buys whatever, and whomever, he wants when he wants it, the thing he wants most is out of his reach. And when he’s questioned about his sexuality by a woman who has been paid to videotape having sex with him, he wants to go through with it, just to prove to the world (and obviously to himself) that he’s not gay. He’s a man who is not able to accept who he is and who he really wants to be with.

    The Pass is 88 minutes of purely charged up adrenaline. It’s a movie that’s full of dialogue, dialogue that goes from playful banter to sexually-charged hi-jinks, up to and including the final third scene of the movie, which involves a hotel bellboy that’s a bit over the top. But it’s not to take away from a movie that brings up a real issue – that there is not one out gay football player in the game now.

    Let’s hope this film opens up the dialogue that it’s fine for a player to come out of the closet. Originally produced for the Royal Court Theatre in 2014, The Pass makes an excellent transition to the big screen. Kene brings a real toughness kindled with a bit of softness to his role, but it’s Tovey who owns the movie. He’s never been better; his James is battling with his sexuality while at the same time trying to uphold his image. Tovey is electrifying and is at the top of his game. This is one pass that you have to catch.

    The Pass is out in cinemas this Friday.

  • Film Review | SHARED ROOMS

    Film Review | SHARED ROOMS

    ★★★★ | Shared Rooms

     

    Shared Rooms gay film review
    CREDIT: Rico MJPublicity

    The story of a set of three couples grappling with life, love, and children is told in the new gay comedy ‘Shared Rooms.’

    Set in Los Angeles, these three couples are all somehow connected to each other. There’s married couple Laslo (Christopher Grant Pearson) and Cal (Alec Manley Wilson) who live in a very cosy home and make fun of their friends with children – always telling themselves that ‘they are not that couple’ who ‘always have to arrange play dates for their children.’ And then there are roommates Julian (Daniel Lipshutz) and Dylan (Robert Werner). Dylan travels 36 weeks out of the year for work, so Julian rents his room out to strangers on LGBTQBnB while he’s away. But Dylan comes home early from a business trip to find a stranger named Frank Turner (David Vaughn) in his bedroom, so he has to share Julian’s bed, a thought, and fantasy, Dylan has had for two years! And finally third couple Sid (Justin Xavier) and Gray (Alexander Neil Miller), who casually meet up on an app called Manfinder. They instantly connect, while Sid shares with Gray a deep dark secret about his past, and lucky for us, they spend all of their time together naked.

    These men all happily share their lives, and their rooms, with other men, during Christmas, however, there is drama lurking in the background. Houseguest Frank Turner is in town to look for his long-lost kidnapped brother, and Cal’s gay nephew Blake (a very good and natural Eric Allen Smith) arrives after having been kicked out of his parent’s house.

    Shared Rooms, by writer and director Rob Williams, is cleverly written and very cute and funny. It’s like watching a gay version of Modern Family – everyone is a bit dysfunctional yet sweet and charming in their own way. Everything wraps up a bit too easily at the end, culminating in a New Years Eve Party where everyone has found what they were looking for (if only life were that easy), but it’s a funny and cute journey to get there.

    Available on Amazon and iTunes

  • FILM REVIEW | Burning Blue

    FILM REVIEW | Burning Blue

    ✮ | Burning Blue

    burningblue_art

    In 1995, I saw a play in the West End called Burning Blue. It was a brilliant telling of a story about the relationship between two gay men in the US Navy in the 1980s. It was brilliant, memorable, and award-winning. A new film version of the play has just been released and it’s quite the opposite.

    The play was written by David Milne Greer and is based on his experiences as a US Navy Aviator in the 1980s. The fictional story is about an investigation into a naval accident that turns into a gay witch hunt and is based on Greer’s knowledge of the treatment of gay men in the US Navy. Two Navy fighter pilots – Daniel (Trent Ford) and Will (Morgan Spector) – live and work aboard a Navy destroyer in very close quarters with other servicemen.

    An accident that involves Will is investigated by the higher ups and puts their unit under intense scrutiny. Complicating things is the arrival of a third pilot Matt (Rob Mayes), and he and Daniel fall in love, causing Matt to leave his wife. But this type of behaviour was not accepted during the ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ era; homosexuality in the Navy was just not allowed, and there were serious consequences for out gay men. Needless to say, Daniel and Matt’s relationship can’t endure the Navy’s ant-gay policy, and then suddenly theirs, and Will’s, lives are changed forever when another accident happens.

    You would think a film about this timely subject would expertly crafted and well told. Well, it’s not. The pacing and acting of the movie are just horrible; scenes go on for a longer than they should, the acting (unfortunately), is stiff and wooden, and quite a few of the dramatic scenes are funny. Burning Blue has the look and feel of a Murder She Wrote episode, and it lacks the drama and intensity of the stage play. Burning Blue only gets one star – for tackling the theme of gay love in the military – but it tackles it very badly.

    Now available to watch on digital download on iTunes and  Amazon

  • FILM REVIEW | Beautiful Something

    ★★★★ | BEAUTIFUL SOMETHING

    Four gay men, all with issues in their lives, experience a night of mystery and sex in the beautifully told Beautiful Something.

    Writer Brian (Brian Sheppard) is sexy and picks up guys in bars and on the street – but they love him and leave him. Then there’s Jim (Zack Ryan), a wannabe actor who doesn’t realise that the man he lives with really really loves him. And that man is Drew (Colman Domingo), a tortured and passionate artist who uses Jim as his muse and model. And then there’s Bob (John Lescault), a wealthy talent agent who is chauffeured around town picking up men but not necessarily for sex. It’s one night in Philadelphia, and these men’s lives intertwine in search of meaningful connections on a night when anything is possible.

    After a one night stand that for some reason goes horribly wrong, Brian goes for a walk and meets Jim, who’s just had a bust-up with Drew. They are immediately attracted to each other and have sex in the house that Jim shares with Drew. Drew, meanwhile, is so involved in his artwork that he’s doesn’t realise that Brian and Jim are downstairs getting it on. But this is not enough for Jim, and after Brian leaves and not wanting to stay home, Jim goes for a walk and is picked up, and intrigued by, Bob. They share a meal only after Bob tells Jim that if he’s an actor he must get out of the car. So Jim lies to Bob and they have dinner and eventually go back to Bob’s palatial home. Meanwhile, Brian looks up an old flame and Drew wonders what is really going on in Jim’s head. All this drama takes place in one sublime night, with the sprinkling lights of Philadelphia providing a romantic and perfect backdrop to the movie.

    Beautiful Something beautifully explores the need for us gay men to seek out romance and adventure in the hopes of finding something, anything, meaningful. Director and writer Joseph Graham successfully captures a night these men, nor us, won’t forget.

    With excellent and realistic performances throughout, Beautiful Something, inspired by real-life experiences, will put a twinkle in your eye and the optimism of love in your heart.

    Available on DVD & Digital HD on November 7th, 2016

  • Film Review | Theo & Hugo – sexually charged and romantic

    ★★★★ | Theo & Hugo

    Two men meet at one of Paris’ most popular, and notorious, gay sex clubs, and then embark on an evening with lots of twist and turns, in the new film Theo & Hugo.

    You might think you’re watching a gay porn film as the first 20 minutes of Theo & Hugo is full-on man-to-man action – erections and anal sex are all on full display, filmed at L’Impact – a naked gay sex club in the Marais district in Paris. Theo & Hugo, In French, with English subtitles, is shot in real-time, and it’s in that club where Theo and Hugo meet, at exactly 4:27 a.m., amongst the writhing and moaning group of men who are all enjoying each others’ company.

    While there, Theo and Hugo connect sexually, intimately, and emotionally. They then decide to leave the club together to carry on their night with each other. But what wasn’t discussed while they were having unsafe sex at the club was the use of a condom to prevent HIV transmission, as Hugo (Francois Nambot) tells Theo (Geoffrey Couët) that he is HIV+.

    What transpires after is a rollercoaster of a night for both of them, when Theo goes to the hospital to get PEP (Post-exposure prophylaxis), a medication that should kill any traces of the virus that might be in his system.

    Romantically, and responsibly, Hugo joins him there. They then wander the streets of Paris, on a night that could turn out to be either very romantic or very tragic, with the ramifications of HIV staring them right in the face, and the possibility that their encounter could be more than just an encounter.

    Is Theo & Hugo a porn film or is it a film with an important message? This is something that you will have to decide, but nonetheless, it’s guerrilla and gay filmmaking at its finest. And Kudos go to the actors for ‘baring it all’ in scenes that are relevant to the message of the film, and to writers and directors Olivier Ducastel and Jacques Martineau for bravely, and successfully, having the balls to make this controversial, yet romantic and engaging film.