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  • FILM REVIEW | Truth

    ★★★ | Truth

    When middle-aged Jeremy turns up at the coffee shop for a first date with Caleb a young barista he met online he thinks he has hit the jackpot. The boy is a hottie and a total charmer too, and before you can say ‘I’ll have a latte’ the two men are sitting on the couch holding hands and gazing into each other’s eyes. Back home in Caleb’s rather large house, the sex is hot (it’s sensuous rather than explicit) and a good time is had by all.

    Caleb wakes up alone next morning with no sign of his new silver fox lover who has left without even a phone number and who remains incommunicado until he shows up unannounced at the coffee shop three days later. His explanation for his absence is feeble but Caleb thinks ‘this’ could be the real thing so he just accepts Jeremy’s lame excuse. They have some great make-up sex and declare their undying love to each other and are prepared to live happily ever after. But it’s what they don’t tell each other over the next few months that is going to shape their futures and not in a way that either had hoped and wanted.

    Pill popping Caleb suffers from a borderline personality disorder and has not disclosed that the mother he claimed had died is a psychotic alcoholic, who had abused him, is now in an institution. When Jeremy hearing part of the story thinks he is helping by locating the mother, Caleb, and the plot, start to fall apart.

    Jeremy it turns out has also his own big secret and when Caleb uncovers this nine months into their relationship he loses it completely. This overwrought melodrama suddenly changes tack and turns into a psychological thriller as Caleb holds the older man captive until he learns the whole truth.

    Caleb is played by Sean Paul Lockhart, who in a previous life was Brent Corrigan a porn actor/star. To give him full credit Lockhart gives his all, clothed and often naked -and shows that he put in a very credible performance even given some of the howlers that pepper this whole script.

    Written and directed by Rob Moretti (Crutch) who also cast himself to play the part of Jeremy which was probably not the best decision. Moretti is a competent actor but had he kept behind the camera he may have noticed that there were too many histrionics (don’t get me started on the foul-mouthed speeches of Caleb’s over-the-top mother…). And including such a loud dramatic soundtrack will (sadly) not drown out some of the wince making script.

    There’s a message in here somewhere about child abuse and how it can create monsters about the victims too, but the oddest thing about a movie with a title like this, is none of it seemed remotely truthful at all.

    If you are a fan of Brent Corrigan than you will like seeing him all grown up and showing so successfully that he has a life beyond porn. His wardrobe/costume provider quite rightly gets its own mention in the Credits: it’s Andrew Christian.

  • FILM REVIEW | In Bloom

    ★★★★ | In Bloom

    This is the rather gritty story of a hip very young gay couple in Chicago’s ‘Boystown’ coming to terms with how tough one’s first love can be.

    Kurt is a small time drug dealer who supplies pot to his peers, whilst Paul his boyfriend of two years has a dead-end job in a local grocery store that he can barely tolerate. When the long summer starts, they are having fun and very much into each other and seem the perfect couple, but some seven months later they have separated and can barely talk to each other.

    Everything had been going well with them until one night one of Kurt’s good-looking customers puts the moves on him, and although he initially resists Kevin’s advances does it opens his mind to the possibility that there is more to life outside of his cosy relationship with Paul. Suddenly that starts to look painfully inadequate to him now, and in a fit of impulse he starts a ‘break-up’ that he will only regret when it is far too late.

    If that is not bad enough, the real world outside is even scarier than usual right now as there is a serial killer on the prowl whose victims have all been young gay man from the area. With Kurt making late night deliveries to hip parties all over he is probably more at risk than most.

    This look at contemporary edgy youth culture is the work of a 22 year newbie filmmaker Chris Michael Birkmeier who based this work of fiction on his own story of when he broke up with his first ever boyfriend. The plot is steeped in innocence and naivete and full of well-meaning intentions. It’s a remarkable debut feature and as such one can overlook the slow-moving story line that almost grinds to a halt at times.

    Credit too for the great wee cast full of untried talent, and very good photography too.

    The comparisons between Mr Birkmeier and the French/Canadian wunderkind Xavier Dolan who picked up Awards at Cannes for his first movie at the tender age of 19, are natural. Especially when Birkmeier makes no bones of the fact that he is a big Dolan fan. But there is very little similarity in their work and this movie is of a much simpler construction and far more straightforward. The two young filmmaker’s works complement each other, rather than complete.

    No doubt at all that C M Birkmeier (as he bills himself) is one to watch in new queer cinema, and I for one cannot wait to see how he follows this fascinating first movie.

  • FILM REVIEW | Mixed Kebab

    Much better is Guy Lee Thys’s movie “Mixed Kebab”, which details the love affair between a closeted Turkish Muslim boy, living with his ex-pat family in Antwerp and a completely out Belgian boy. ★★★

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  • FILM REVIEW | Dream On

    ★ | Dream On

    Dream On has almost too much dialogue, most of it stagily delivered, and betraying its origins in a play.

    Set in the 1980s, it is a tale of two teenage boys coming to terms with their sexuality and falling in love, but has not one whiff of the charm of, say “Beautiful Thing”, also coincidentally originally a stage play.

    The main character, Paul, is initially so gormless, one wonders why the slightly more worldly-wise George even bothers with him. He remains completely without charm throughout the film, though we are expected to believe that he has achieved some sort of transfiguration in the final scenes.

    I remained unconvinced. Well-meaning but way too earnest for its own good, “Dream On” is the directorial debut of Lloyd Eyre-Morgan.

    Available to buy / view on: Amazon

  • FILM REVIEW | Sexual Tension: Volatile

    TLA issue a DVD containing six short films about men who do not always get what they want, SEXUAL TENSION: VOLATILE brings together two award-winning filmmakers (Marco Berger and Marcelo Mónaco) for the first volume in a series of erotic short films.

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  • FILM REVIEW | Elliot Loves

    Elliot is an idealistic 21 year old gay man living in New York. (more…)

  • FILM REVIEW: Four More Years

    David is a Swedish politician with a stellar career ahead of him.

    He’s also a bit of a silver fox and cuts a fine figure in a business suit. After an unexpected political defeat leaves him feeling adrift, he bumps into fellow politician Martin and the two quickly fall in love. This isn’t the usual romantic comedy though. David is from a strict Baptist family, straight and married. Martin is openly gay and a senior politician for the opposing party. It’s a relationship fraught with issues.

    The film is a gentle comedy which follows the men through a series of turbulent events and the usual misunderstandings and mix-ups. The humour is subtle, rather than raucous, and the film is beautifully compiled with artful shots and stylish views. What raises the film above the romantic comedy genre is the quirky way it deals with him being gay.

    Interestingly, the film doesn’t portray David’s sexuality as a major problem; more of a shock to him. The scene where his wife reflects on him being gay is hilarious and unexpected. Instead the film concentrates more on what it means to fall in love with someone who you aren’t supposed to fall in love with.

    Overall the film was actually quite touching and the three main characters were likeable and engaging. This is definitely a film which leaves you feeling a bit better about the world. Recommended for a rainy autumnal afternoon.

  • FILM REVIEW | Bad Boy Street

    Finding passed out hunk Brad (Kevin Miranda) on the streets of Paris, Claude (Yann de Monterno) takes him home and a passionate romance ensues, however Brad it seems isn’t exactly who he says he is.

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  • FILM REVIEW | The Mission

    ★★★★ | The Mission

    The Mission contains enough heart, energy and soul for any audience to forgive the rough around the edges finish. It outweighs many of its more polished, bigger competitors in its intentions and message.

    Set in the Mission district of San Francisco, Che Rivera (Benjamin Bratt) is an admired, macho, tattooed and well respected man. Bus driver, single father, recovering alcoholic, ex con and spends his spare time fine-tuning his beloved customised ‘low rider’ (that’s a vintage automobile for the uninitiated). Living with him is his treasured only son Jesse (Jeremy Ray Valdez) who has a secret not yet told to his father. You start to understand why as the story progresses. Upstairs, Lena has just moved in. A strong, fiercely independent and earthy woman, who works at the shelter for abused women. Lena begins to fall for Che, until a side of him is revealed that she fears she’s seen the results of all too often at the shelter. Upon the discovery of his son’s sexuality Che violently disowns his son in a gritty on-street spat, a difficult, heartbreaking scene to watch in gay cinema; it tears the two apart. The neighbourhood, an audience to the event, learn about Jesse’s sexuality, which sends homophobic ripples through the Latino community. The writer’s intentions may have been to focus on the relationship between father and son, but overwhelmingly the focus falls on the Latino community, and how it might play a role in the way fathers treat their gay sons.

    The story is told with truth and empathy for Che, Jesse and Lena; the casting is brilliant and crucially credible. Valdez, plays his Latino homosexuality with dignity, sensitivity and courage. His worry, isolation and the confinement of his sexuality is played exceptionally (I fell in love with his doey eyed, submissiveness.) Yet, strangely, we don’t hate his father – although we should. Instead we desperately want his father to understand and to accept. It could be clichéd, but it isn’t, we’re being allowed to participate in this bittersweet, intimate, father/son journey.

    Che’s tolerance gets an invigorated jolt, when his son is attacked on the streets of Mission, but there are pot holes along the way. He refuses to accept Jesse’s boyfriend, who for all intents and purposes comes from a different planet; monied, middle class, educated and white. The stark opposition makes the relationship, at best, two-dimensional, a more powerful script may have demanded another Latino boy for real punch and grit.

    Che, with the loving of a good woman (Lena), starts to welcome Jesse back into his life, but feels a little incongruous, in the respect that by satisfying Che’s love-life he is able to accept his son’s.

    The language is sometimes simplistic and the resolution premature for it to really feel believable. I like my loose ends tied up – The Mission’s resolve feels clunky. However the theme and issues buried in this film are vitally important – the teenage ‘coming out story’ from – and for an entirely new generation. I applaud the movie makers for The Mission’s integrity, worth and ambition.

    Available to buy / view on: Amazon

  • FILM REVIEW | Our Paradise

    Despite its lack of motive, this film nurtures a disturbing subculture of achieving status by taking what’s not yours to take.

    Something deeply dark and disturbing yet visually enticing awaits viewers for this French drama about a 30-something hustler whose neurosis about ageing is, we assume, turning him to a motiveless murderous monster. After finding a younger man (Dimitri Durdaine) lying dazed, damaged and suffering from memory loss in the cruising grounds of Bois de Boulogne, Paris, Vassili (Stephane Rideau) shrouds his new muse, becoming a hybrid of pimp/lover figure to his new squeeze. After a client, who Vassili believes he had murdered, is discovered living in Paris, the two lovers and now accomplices are forced to go on the run.

    Our Paradise is an enigmatically beautiful piece of cinematography with much thought given to ensuring that the characters are either corpulently grotesque or fallen angelic beauties, not in equal measure, however. Angelo is the fallen angelic beauty – both inside and out. Vassili’s world is full of these gross, bloated and aged individuals who, one imagines used to be paying trade, now, with fresh blood, and Vassili’s burgeoning potbelly hindering his prospects; the fallen angelic beauty reignites business. One odd scene, Angelo is examined by a doctor, ostensibly to see whether the boy was raped shoves a camera into the boy’s anus and describes his findings ‘smooth as silk.’ This is, however, as far as character probing goes. Uncomplex and a little two dimensional in some respects the characters are more animalistic in their pursuits. Durdaine is almost entirely detached from his character, which adds to the rather chilling but lonely portrayal of Angelo.

    Durdaine plays an almost perfect twink to Rideau’s inflated frame and the audience is given many opportunities to revel in his nakedness, which of course is wonderful and does distract from some the many questions that the film’s lack of motive throws up.

    One of the key issues explored is the often mismatched relationships between younger gay men and their respective elder partners. The narrative doesn’t judge, but merely outlines the possible issues faced by such relationships, most notable replaceability for a younger, newer, fresher model and the power struggle between the monied and the beneficiary.

    The supporting cast is superb, their performances loiter in the mind as an uneasy feeling engulfs you. Sterling performances from supporting cast Béatrice Dalle and a young Mathis Morisset who shows acting promise far beyond his years.

    The brilliantly translated subtitles really draw you into the action, distracting the audience from analysing our anti heroes’ intentions. Why the film is called Our Paradise remains, annoyingly elusive, as paradise is unobtainable for Vassili and Angelo. The ending makes the film feel a little pointless and if you’re looking for a bow to wrap up the little details you certainly won’t find it in this film.