THEGAYUK

Tag: Movie Genre Romance

  • FILM REVIEW | Hidden Away, A Spanish Teenage Gay Love Story

    Don’t be fooled into thinking that Hidden Away is just another boy meets boy love story with a less than great cover photo of its two male leads. It’s a very well told and acted Spanish teenage gay love story that’s very heartwarming and enduring as well. ★★★★

    Hidden Away is not told as a simple coming of age story, and it’s not told in chronological order, which makes understanding and piecing the film together a bit confusing. Director Mikel Rueda has decided to tell the story in a way in which is supposedly meant for the viewer to put themselves into the characters shoes. So it opens with Ibrahim, a 14-year-old young man, walking along the road hitchhiking, escaping from something which we won’t know until the very end. He’s from Morocco, but had gone to Spain a few years back looking for a better future. He’s been living in shelters, hoping to get his official papers so that he can stay in Spain. He lives in Bilbao, fully settled, attending school and living in a shelter for boys just like him. Then there is Rafa, also 14, Spanish, living with his parents. Rafa hangs out with boys just like himself, yet there’s one thing different about Rafa. He doesn’t like girls. There is one girl in particular who practically throws herself at him, but he just doesn’t reciprocate, much to the horror of his friends. Even though Ibrahim and Rafa’s paths initially cross (at one point in a club urinal), they don’t meet until a bit later in the film. And there’s a spark. A spark that at first betells an evolving and very close friendship between the young men, but then evolves into more than that. While there is no actual sex scenes in this film, Rafa and Ibrahim’s bond appears to be more than just physical, it’s emotional as well.

    Ibrahim gets mixed up with a local gang that gets him to sell drugs, while Rafa whiles away the time looking for any reason to be with him. They initially bond over a cigarette, but their friendship, and romance, blossoms after they spend a day together hanging out and going bowling. It’s a relationship that we know is too good to be true. And when Ibrahim receives a letter from the government wanting to extradite him back to Morocco, he sees no other way but to run away, with Rafa by his side.

    It’s the performances that make this film fantastic. German Alcaruz as Rafa brings an innocence to his part, a young man who knows what he wants and doesn’t care what his friends think. His facial expressions will melt your heart – Alcarazu gives a believable and touching performance. Adil Koukouh is also very good as Ibrahim. He’s bigger and more mature looking than Rafa, but he also has a special something that makes Rafa’s attraction to him seem very credible. Also very very good is Joseba Ugalde as Rafa’s best friend Guille. He knows he’s losing Rafa to Ibrahim and he’s OK with it, even when Rafa and Ibrahim have to go on the run, there’s a very touching scene when Rafa and Guille say goodbye to each and Guille tells Rafa that’s he doesn’t quite understand what is going on.

    Hidden Away is a bit difficult to comprehend in the beginning as the scenes do jump around, and the subtitles on this film are quite small and at times hard to read, but stick with it till the very end and you will be rewarded with a love story that’s unique in it’s telling and at it’s very core is a film that tells the story of young love, young love that we’ve all experienced.

    Available to by from Amazon

     

  • FILM REVIEW: From Beginning To End

    There is good taste, and then there is incest.

    It’s surprising that we can sit and watch a lot of suspect and even deviant behaviour amongst (consenting) adults on the silver screen, but this is one topic that we feel is just a tad too icky even for us. Especially when it comes in the form of a melodramatic Brazilian telenova that is short on both substance as well as clothing, and is to all intents and purpose nothing more than a pretty piece of soft porn.

    It starts with two young half brothers, one 6 years old and the other 12, who are a little too close to each other for our comfort zone, and for their mother too who suspects there may be more here than what meets the eye. Flash-forward to the boys as grown men, one of the fathers dies, then the mother passes away too, and the boys seek solace in each other. Well that’s their excuse as they have barely stopped lusting after each other since they were kids.

    We are convinced that it’s not just lust, but real love, which is put to the test when the younger brother who is a potential Olympic swimming champion is told by his coach that he must move abroad to train. To Russia no less. Oh come on coach, you mean to tell us there are no decent swimming pools closer to Brazil?

    Love conquers all though and even a very pretty girl cannot steal the old brother away from his one true love, and this all plays out to a rather deafening over-laden heavy strings soundtrack. And we guess they will happily ever after? Who knows? More importantly, who cares?

    Why see it at all? Well the boys/men are rather stunning beefcakes that even with this limited script prove that they can actually act, and also writhe around naked together looking very sexy but without doing the act (it’s soft porn after all). It was a big box office hit in Brazil when it was released in 2009, and it has now surfaced on Amazon where you can waste £4.49 and more importantly 90 minutes of your time.

     

  • FILM REVIEW | Blackmail Boys

    When gay art student Sam ‘came out’ to his parents they disowned him and cut him off without a cent.

    Faced with high tuition fees, rent and living expenses to find in Chicago, he resorted to turning tricks as it pays so much better than any other manual labour. However when Aaron his long-term long-distance boyfriend moved to town and in with him, he resented the way that Sam earns his living.

    The first time one of Sam’s paying clients came for his weekly rough and tumble, the more worldly Aaron recognised him as an infamous gay-bashing bigot that had just written yet one more book denouncing the ‘evil ways of homosexuality. After his ‘appointment’ was over Aaron suggested that when the man came back for his next hook-up, that he should secretly film the whole naked encounter and use it to blackmail him. Not only would it possibly expose the hypocrite to the whole world, but if he wanted to buy the tape to keep them quiet, they could make enough money to insure that Sam could retire from his call boy career.

    It was a rather inconsequential plot for a lightweight movie made by the somewhat anonymous Shumanski filmmaking brothers from South Africa. Like their previous gay-themed movie Wrecked there is an abundant amount of full frontal nudity and explicit sex that at times just feels like porn with a plot. Its redeeming feature is its mumble core approach to filming (not often used in gay movies) that gave the whole piece an edgy feel to it.

    On the acting side indie actor/director Joe Swanberg who’s first ‘big’ feature Drinking Buddies was recently released to critical acclaim, plays the angry client Andrew Tucker. Looking at Swanberg’s resume to date you can see that he rarely keeps his clothes on through a whole movie, so it seemed no big deal for this straight actor to have explicit gay sex on screen. Interesting also to see young Nathan Adloff (playing Sam) in front of the camera after being so very impressed with his own writing/directing debut in a delightful sleeper from last year’s Nate & Margaret.

    It’s a harmless piece of boy-lite fare that by trying to push our buttons by what it thinks is daring, will only have us reaching for the remote control to skip over all those parts which fall flatter than some of the sexual encounters, to get to the end quicker.

  • FILM REVIEW | Out In The Dark

    ★★★★★ |  Out In The Dark

    Nimr is in Tel Aviv to visit his old friend Mustafa in a gay bar where he works since moving from Ramallah. Once there he meets Roy a very flirtatious your lawyer who gently puts the moves on equally handsome Nimr who is quickly smitten and is soon ready to make a night of it. However, he is offered a ride for the daunting journey home so they reluctantly say their goodnights. Nimr promises to call, but the chances of that are slim, as he is a Palestinian and is there illegally, and Roy is an Israeli Jew.

    However back home psychology student Nimr is offered a place on a special course in Tel Aviv and along with that comes a permit to enter Israel at any time he wants. It’s something that his militant older brother hates, but on the other hand, something that a very surprised and delighted Roy loves. As the young couple gets to spend time together, within a short time it is clearly not the only thing Roy loves, and the feeling is obviously mutual.

    Whilst Nimr must remain totally closeted to all his family back home in Ramallah for fear of his own life, in Tel Aviv, Roy takes him to formally meet his liberal parents who don’t actually welcome their son’s Arab boyfriend with open arms as he expected them too.

    And then suddenly the two men’s somewhat precarious lives together now becomes outright dangerous especially after the Israeli authorities deport the very flamboyant Mustafa. Once home he is beaten to death for the dishonour his (very open) homosexuality has brought on his family. Soon after the Israeli Authorities suspect Nimr’s brother of terrorist activities and having his own arsenal of weapons, they then take Nimr’s travel permit away unless he will agree to spy for them.

    He refuses and so they ensure that the elder brother knows of his gayness which is, just cause, for the family to at once disown him and beat him to death. In the only act of compassion, we see towards any gay person in this film, the brother allows him to escape back to Israel where it looks like the Authorities may even finish the job for him.

    This heart string tugging story of forbidden love from LA based Israeli newbie director/writer Michael Mayer follows in the well-trodden footsteps of filmmaker Eyton Fox (Yossi & Jaeger, The Bubble) with this story of how being gay just adds yet one more obstacle to living in this troubled region. Mayer’s convincingly real love story between these educated young men works really well because of the chemistry between his two talented lead actors Nicholas Jacob & Michael Aloni.

    What makes it even more interesting is the fact that whilst its the deeply entrenched extreme politics that are the main cause of the couple’s problems, the story never focuses on their own beliefs but purely on the disastrous effects it has on them. And to my knowledge, it’s also one of the very few gay films that have ever dealt with barbarous ‘honour’ killings.

    It is nigh on impossible to find an Israeli or Arab movie with a gay romance that doesn’t involve a great deal of danger and death (Fox’s recent sequel ‘Yossi ‘was a rare exception). It’s all the remarkable then after the horrors that Nimir and Roy went through that the overwhelming feeling that one came away with from this movie is the fact there is hope. It’s probably one of the reasons why it’s picked up almost a dozen Awards in Festivals worldwide already. Many of them as Audience Favourite.

    Be warned, as well as having you reach for the Kleenex, this movie will in parts, make you very angry/horrified too. It is, however, a definite ‘must see’.

     

  • FILM REVIEW | Heartbeats

    ★★★★★ | Heartbeats

    If you have ever had an unrequited love, especially one in your (distant) youth then this wonderfully witty tongue-in-cheek movie from the remarkable multi-talented filmmaker Xavier Dolan will really appeal to you.

    The story is of a love triangle. Twenty-year-old best friends Marie and Francis spot Nicolas, a stunning Adonis, at a dinner party, and they both fall for him big time. Nicolas adores attention so encourages them to the point where they destroy their close friendship and become bitter rivals to win his heart. Nicolas is very self-absorbed and affected and it is impossible to tell if his androgynous personification will eventually reveal whether he is gay or straight. The three of them have sleepovers in Francis’s bed but nothing at all happens, and then one day they ago away to the country for the weekend, and after this life, for them, all will never be the same.

    As the story progresses Mr Dolan edits in some hilarious anecdotes in interview form from strangers whose love lives also fell part. The man definitely has a way with words.

    There is something totally entrancing about this second feature from Canada’s wunderkind filmmaker and as much as one can pick holes with annoying (and almost clichéd) touches like some of the slow motion scenes, you really sense that this is no ordinary movie from any ordinary director. Mr Dolan’s first movie I Killed My Mother a totally stunning and hilarious semi-autobiographic piece won 3 Awards at the Cannes Film Festival (and another 23 other Awards around the World) in 2009 when he was a mere 19-years-old.

    Sadly the US Distributor went into financial difficulties and the movie, trapped in legal no-mans-land, has never been seen beyond the Festival Circuit to date. Now at the ripe old age of 22, he has written, directed, starred, co-produced, edited, and designed the sets and the costumes for Heartbeats, which also picked up an Award at Cannes last year. He is an enormous precocious talent and I think this, his early work, shows that he is going to be one of THE most important filmmakers of the future.

    You would be a fool to miss this one.

  • FILM REVIEW | Last Straight Man

    But will he remain one, if Lewis gets his own way?

    It may be every gay man’s dream to sleep with a straight man and it’s even hotter when he happens to be your best friend too. Closeted Lewis has always had a secret crush on his best friend Cooper but has never ever let on until the night before Cooper is about to marry his girlfriend and the two-man have just drunk a wee too much at the stag party and their conversation turns to sex. All the other guys have left and as Lewis and Cooper start to clear up the hotel room where the party had been held, the talk gets dirty and personal. Well-endowed Lewis is keen and Cooper is curious and so the two end up in bed together after discovering that they both love blowjobs.

    Next day Cooper gets up and goes and gets married and lives happily ever after with his wife. Until the same time next year that is, and the two men meet up back in the same hotel room and take up where they left off. This anniversary tryst becomes an annual date in their calendar and for one night a year Lewis, previously self-identified as bi-sexual, transitions into gay, and straight Cooper still refuses to accept that he is anything else even though he lets Lewis penetrate him as he insists that they never kiss.

    What is clear though is over the next 12 years that they are both very much in love. With each other that is. One year Cooper tries to fight his feelings and refuses to show up for their date, claiming he doesn’t want to put his marriage at risk, and then in a later year when he has not only overcome his resistance, is imploring Lewis to f**k him as hard as he can. It just so happens that he may have left it too late as perpetual bachelor Lewis finally has a boyfriend and is anxious not to do anything that may jeopardise his new relationship.

    In this very likeable boy-lit movie it is interesting that although this may have started out as Lewis’s crush, it is, in fact, Cooper who is living out his fantasy. As their relationship develops it makes both men question their feelings and emotions and they learn that they cannot be easily defined in a conventional way as they accept their love for each other. It’s helped with very convincing performances from the two handsome leads Scott Selland Mark Cirillo who look comfortable in and out of the clothes.

    Be warned though before you get to the scenes of these two hunks thrashing around naked, you have to sit through the scary opening moments of the movie when the stag party stripper insists on pushing her mammoth naked breasts way to close to the camera. And I won’t even tell you about her party trick where she can pick a coin up by her … well, you can imagine.

    This cute wee drama is entertaining and amusing, although trust me, Cooper really is anything but ‘the last straight man’.

     

    by Roger Walker-Dack

  • FILM REVIEW | The Rewrite

    ★★★★ | The Rewrite

    I have a confession to make – I’m a sucker for a good old-fashioned rom-com. Cary Grant? Yes please! Doris Day? Just my cup of tea! Tom Hanks/Meg Ryan? I’m in heaven!

    Give me star-crossed lovers and a little “will they, won’t they” and I’m a happy bunny.

    And this vehicle for Hugh Grant gives you just that. It’s not earth-shattering, it’s not life-changing, it doesn’t answer the meaning of life but it is funny, it is warm and it is actually a good story.

    Hugh Grant plays a once successful Hollywood screenwriter, one who seemingly had it all, wife, son, glittering career, wit and charm to boot, but then, as these things will, they fade.

    The career stalls, film work dries up, the wife moves on to someone more successful and takes the son with her, and the charm and wit only go so far when your fast approaching fifty and broke.

    This is where his wise-cracking agent comes in, offering work at a small college on a screenwriting course, and off Hugh goes.

    A little far fetched, but this is a Hollywood movie, not real life. Stick with it as we watch Hugh go through the ups and downs of campus life, and also through a student or two…

    He finds his mojo for writing amongst his students, but learns quickly that the film industry is still as fickle and maybe, just maybe his future lies elsewhere.

    Hugh Grant gives his usually good performance, where he basically plays himself, Marisa Tomei plays one of his older students and puts in a solid performance playing her elfin self, and Allison Janney gives a poker face performance as a gargoylesque Jane Austin fanatic faculty member.

    I liked this film a lot, I didn’t love it and here’s why. There was something slightly creepy about a 50-year-old sleeping with students, and at times, you look at Hugh and think, is this it? What else can you do? He is starting to look out of place in this type of film, too old to be running after 18-year-olds.

    But until something else comes along, I do still enjoy him in these roles, and can’t wait to see where he goes next as he has mentioned in interviews that he wants to direct – but none of this detracts from this film, I’d see it again, and give it 4 stars!

  • FILM REVIEW | You And The Night

    The opening sequence of French writer/director Yann Gonzalez debut feature starts with confusion that never really eases up through this avant-garde art-house film. ★

    CREDIT: Les Rencontres D’Après Minuit
    CREDIT: Les Rencontres D’Après Minuit

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  • FILM REVIEW | The Way He Looks

    FILM REVIEW | The Way He Looks

    The lazy summer is over and Leo and his best friend Giovana are back in High School for the new term when curly headed new boy Gabriel joins the class for the first time.★★★★★

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  • FILM REVIEW | Reaching For The Moon

    ★★★★★ Reaching For The Moon | Elizabeth Bishop was something of a self-absorbed cold fish. When she finished her tenure as US Poet Laureate in 1950, she was 40 years old, alone in N.Y., and suffering with ‘writers block’. At the suggestion of her friend and fellow poet Robert Lowell she decides to go to South America for a long vacation.

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  • FILM REVIEW | The Perfect Wedding

    ★★★ | The Perfect Wedding

    Paul used to be a drunk. He also used to be Roy’s boyfriend. Two years later and both men have moved on with their separate lives. Paul goes to AA Meetings regularly and is now sober, thanks to Zack his Sponsor, and he lives at home with his very supportive parents in the their rather lush waterfront home in Florida.

    Paul’s sister Alana is engaged to be married and is coming home for the Christmas holidays to start planning a lavish June wedding. Besides her overly-enthusiastic mother, Alana also has her two best friends coming to help work out the details too, trouble is, one of them is Roy, her brother’s ex, and both men are nervous at meeting again for the first time after their messy breakup.

    Roy is also concerned that as he is still single, he may be perceived as a loser, so he persuades Gavin another ex boyfriend to tag along and pretend that the two of them are a couple.

    There was a time a decade or two ago, when almost every gay movie dealt with the ‘A’ issue i.e. AIDS.

    Thankfully at least cinematically we have moved on and this rom-com tackles three more big ‘A’s ‘ instead: alcoholism, adoption, and Alzheimer’s. It almost seems at times with this issue packed story that bestselling romantic author Suzanne Brockman had deliberately penned a script (with her husband Ed Gaffney) about two guys falling in love where being gay was so ordinary that it is almost over looked.

    The Gaffney’s actually wrote this for their gay son the actor Jason T Gaffney who did his mom and pop proud with his turn as Gavin who everyone seemed to fall in love with at some time or another.

    And in case you had guessed that Paul and Roy had seen the error of their ways and fallen back together, then you would have been wrong. The couple whose marriage rounds out this film (after Alana’s had hers) is that of Roy’s two exes who found each other irresistible.

    Thanks to some good performances, a very impressive location and some deft direction from newbie Scott Gabriel this small-budgeted indie movie is definitely one of the better ones of this genre. Touching and tender with very likeable characters that one wanted to find happiness… even if it’s the kind that only happens in the movies… and not a single stereotype in sight.

    It had plenty of eye-candy, and for once they didn’t keep disrobing when the story lagged at all.