Tuesday, January 12, 2016
Loving
Today's film is about mourning.
A gay man mourns his lover lost in an accident and the lover's mother shares the grief.
It is not an easy relationship.
But they stick with it.
And it is wonderful to see. Emotional yet fulfilling.
The film maker cares about our feelings and can be trusted to carry them to a good conclusion.
No spoilers here. It is just a loving film and love does not harm. It may hurt. But that is a different thing.
And I should mention that some of the erotic scenes are as sexy as any I have seen. They are not by any means gratuitous. They show the depth of love between the two men. Shows not tells.
Very nice.
I will get this film for our own collection, hence a 5 out of Netflix5.
Saturday, January 03, 2015
Short and sweet
Today's movie is one film about four relationships.
One movie, four situations in which the stories are separate but share similar themes even though the principals never meet. They show heartbreak and happiness in a fair distribution to those who try to love. Or try not to.
It is very well done and the stories are quite enjoyable.
The challenge is to see the connections. Points are being made here. But they are subtle and actually fade in comparison to the lovely and sometimes painful situations. The film is worth seeing again to make these connections and also for experiencing the shear pleasure of the men and their times together. It is anything but porn but it is very erotic nonetheless.
There is a very short film as a kind of bonus.
A five out of Netflix5 because I already bought the DVD!
Friday, November 14, 2014
Back to the closet
It is hard to remember that in a lot of places, gay men still go through the excruciating process of self discovery with no place to claim the place they have found.
A bit of history will show us that we are not really all that far from the time when all of us were faced with the choice about whether to "practice" our identity or to stay put, to be in the closet.
Today's film explores that dilemma again. Again, again, again. Some day this kind of film may be unnecessary but today it is still possible that some men will see this and take the leap that many of us did a long time ago.
Snails in the Rain (2013) is not a great film but it is an honest one.
An Israeli movie, it shows the local version of the universal dilemma. What do you do when you discover that you are gay in a straight culture?
This is not a good news coming out story. Actually two stories. Parallel. Sort of.
That is the problem. The resolution depends on a kind of gimmick with another closeted gay man who we do not know very well. Actually, the guy who is writing our hero anonymous love letters. We don't know a lot about him and should. I think.
I bought this because it is the only way I could see it but I will probably not watch it again. Although the eye candy is pretty compelling it doesn't save the day.
A 3 out of Netflix5 for this one.
The snails? I guess a metaphor shoved in at the end. Not very effectively.
Tuesday, July 01, 2014
Gay mess
If you can mismanage a simple story with handsome anti-heroes, gorgeous night action in Paris and some beautiful French countryside, this film manages to do it.
The plot wanders. Halfway in I wasn't sure it was the same movie. It never regained its footing.
A hustler meets another hustler and improbably fall in love. Not because they are hustlers but because there is so little chemistry between them that even the sex scenes do not ignite. Pretty but palid.
The two get into some trouble, one of them has a predilection for thievery and they soon become a predatory couple stealing from their johns. Most of the clients keep quiet but every so often one does not and calls the cops. They run to some other city which still looks like Paris but I don't know where it is.
They reconnect with a woman, have threesomes, take on her son as a sort of mascot and generally just go off the rails. Another client comes by and they kill him. The boy has had enough and goes out into the snow and is found. The cops come. They arrest the two men. What a mess.
I skipped ahead but did drop in for the ending. Not a total bailout. Not a happy ending. Well, how could it be?
A 2 out of Netflix5. A long time since I had a real stinker. In French. Half assed subtitles. Even I could tell.
Sunday, May 11, 2014
Old style
Today's film is an old style coming out film in that there are tragic results.
An Australian film. They have a lot of gay product coming out there. Or, at least, it seems that way.
Here, two teenagers fall in love and find their gay identities together.
It is a beautiful love story and, unfortunately, it has to make a statement and add tragedy at the end. Not a spoiler really but since I was taken in by the Netflix happy description I was not ready for it.
It actually seemed a bit forced. Things, while uphill, are going well and then suddenly they are not.
It is not the old style "punishment for being gay" theme but a more political one which seeks to demonstrate the tragedy of homophobic parents who will not accept their gay kids.
I would still have watched the film if only to support gay made films. I can handle the ending. I just wish it wasn't added in a tacked on kind of way.
This earns it a 3 out of Netflix5.
Wednesday, April 30, 2014
Finding the truth
Today's movie was a quest film.
It was not received well. No distribution, no reviews. One knucklehead "don't like" on the IMDb site.
Too bad. I liked it very much and tried to give another review but I couldn't figure it out.
Theo is looking for someone who knew his Dad who died, suicide, he found him, when he was ten.
He finds his Dad's best friend George. Finally. It takes a long time because no one will tell him outright about his Dad but keep referring him on to others. When he discovers that George is the one who knows most, he sets out for the Alps where George has isolated himself.
He finds out his Dad's story. And George's.
The usual thing. The loyal husband and Dad could not bring himself to go off with George or, wait a minute. Is that what really happened? We find out. So does Theo.
In a way, do does George.
There is a lot of talk but it is the kind of talk I wanted to hear. And see. It is filmed in the Alps, for the most part. Extraordinary. Breathtaking.
This is a gay movie only because some of the people in it are gay. Theo does not know this before he searches for his father's story. The realization of the truth is not a big deal. It is the truth. He finally knows.
This is a wonderful film. I bought it on someone else's say so. It is one more example of a great film that gets buried. Totally. I found out about it because someone reviewed the DVD in their blog. Almost word of mouth.
I have it. I will watch it again. It is a keeper. So, it is a Netflix5 out of 5.
Oh. It is filmed in the Alps, for the most part. Extraordinary.
Wednesday, October 02, 2013
Serious business
Today's film is a gay theme with serious issues at hand and none of the usual fluff.
The issue is spousal abuse and the dance that two people go through, the abuser, the victim, somehow jointly culpable together.
Fight, make up, fight again with escalation and way too much appeasement and forgiveness.
A gay man moves from rural Virginia to San Francisco to be with his boyfriend/lover. Living together for the first time it becomes clear that the SFO one wants a boy at home that he can order around and kick around when the boy rebels.
But the boy is in love and gets not one bit of reinforcement for his dependency in the San Francisco gay scene.
Finally, a hustler, with whom he forms a serious but non-sexual relationship helps him detach and stay detached.
Along the way we all find out that the "gay heaven" of the gayest city in the world can be pretty unhappy, unfriendly and unsupportive.
This is not your usual gay film. Not a lot of sweetness and light here. The other people that are dated are grim. A delicate matter as stereotypes could be a problem here. This film avoids those pitfalls.
The relationships that do work are the human ones. The hustler, a straight woman with a great drag look, a woman who looks like a drag queen. I have met some of these. Special.
There are the conventional gentlemen who are so boring and conventional. The quick trick artists. A cavalcade of experience. I have met one of every one of them.
The time warp is used here back and forth. The through line shows the boy getting on a bus and riding and remembering. I assumed he was leaving the city and going back to where he came from.
Surprise endings here (we are supplied with two) help show that the boy has grown into a man and is happy with himself and the world around him.
I do not think this is a spoiler because without the feeling that he was OK while all this happened to him and better at the end helps us endure the pain that he has to go through.
There are no punches pulled here. People get, well, punched.
I really really liked this film. It has heart and what is more, a main character who has the stuff.
A 5 out of Netflix5. I ordered it for our small collection of great DVDs.
Wednesday, April 17, 2013
MEMORIES
Today's film was the BBC production of
Christopher and His Kind (2011)
I have seen it before but I wanted something easy for me today.
This is not a run through of the stage musical based on the same material. It stands on its own legs and is very good.
Isherwood is a gay hero today and rightly so.
He was bravely out all his life. A model. And he did it when the nazis were running wild at the beginning of the bad time in Europe.
It is a very nicely appointed production and does the job.
The film is bravely out as well.
An automatic 5 out of Netflix5 as I have seen it before and will see it again.
Monday, February 11, 2013
FAME
Spoiler alert!
Today's film was a gay version of the old chestnut. Like the prince who hides among the commoners, a movie star meets a gay man who helps him home from a drunken bout of gutter diving.
The good samaritan doesn't watch American films so he has no idea of who his guest is.
The rest of the film has an element of hide and seek and whether they will bridge the chasm between them once the cat is out of the bag. So to speak. In this case, a 20 something hunk who is truly star material.
What makes it gay is that the guest makes the opening moves with a "good morning" blow job.
I suppose that this doesn't sound like the kind of film everyone would enjoy and that is exactly true.
You need a certain background of deprivation that comes from years of watching straight fairy tales and wishing you could have the prince instead of the girl in the picture.
Or at least someone like you could have the prince.
At last. Fantasy realized.
Well, not entirely as it is not me that is getting the nice wake up call.
It takes a while for them to resolve all the confusion and difficulty but once they do there is a nice soft landing.
There is a "best friend" in this, a female, who sort of fucks this up. She is what is known, or used to be known pre-PC, as a fag hag. Now they are "just friends". No relationship in sight for her so grab onto the gay man who is no threat.
We get to see a lot of Paris. Very nice. The boy is found lying in the gutter on a street which leads to the Moulin Rouge which is seen just out of frame. Nice touch.
We see a lot of the men too. Both are quite attractive and they have fun together and so do we. Nicely handled.
All said and done, I really liked this film. The other gay man in the house liked it too.
You can't get this at Netflix. It is probably too new to make it onto their rather abundant gay list. But if it were, I would give it a 4 out of 5 meaning I would be happy to see it again.
Given that I went out and bought it for our collection it is almost assured that I will.
Oh. The title!
Rue des Mauvais Garçon / Bad Boy Street (2012).
The title has nothing to do with the film but I can see that the film maker saw the street and was inspired to build a movie around it. Come to think of it the movie star is the kind of bad boy that you would want to stick around with.
They do pass the street sign as they wander around Paris.
Monday, October 01, 2012
GOING BACKWARD
Today's movie would have been in the "gay film fest" had it come out in time.
A newish couple are getting settled when an ex of one comes back to LA from his five years away in Spain.
The reunion is a little complicated. The two exes fool around. The new partner holds his own. The end.
It is a situational character study. Not a sitcom. A sitcter.
The production it lavish and rich. Since this was made from a short film, there is a lot to fill in and this is done through many lingering shots of small, atmospheric items. Cups, planes in the sky, off center shots. Bodies. This is LA so no one is out of shape. Not even the obligatory heteros. Funny that in gay films there is the straight buddy or, in this case, brother.
Luscious color.
The soundscape is as rich. Radio. The traffic. Ambient sound.
The sex scenes are just about right. Not too explicit yet hot enough to hold the attention.
I liked it a lot. I enjoyed all three men and the other attached characters. There are no big messages here. No drama. None at all really. A little if you are rooting for one side or the other. But there are no sides, it turns out.
The ex is a rolling stone and is not going to gather much moss. This is foreshadowed early on.
I will give it a 4 out of Netflix5. I wouldn't mind seeing it again. It is an eye feast.
Friday, July 13, 2012
CELIBATE?
Today's film was Gay Favorite #50. I waited for Netflix to offer it when it came out in DVD but had to buy it.
It is worth the money.
God knows there are a lot of gay priests in there and they do passionately love the church as they love the men/man they are involved with. I have known dozens.
The interesting thing is that gay priests seem to have a lot less ambivalence about having sex than the straight ones do.
In any case it is not my issue.
The film is about moral choice and is best when it veers away from the canon law and just shows people's lives happening and most of all forgiveness.
The film is redeemed by its actors. Tom Wilkinson as a compassionate older priest (with a live in female companion), Robert Carlyle as the lover and the really really great looking Linus Roache as the priest in question.
Wound into the gay/celibacy thing is a situation of child abuse that comes up in confession and what to do about that?
There are stereotypically stiff necked hierarchy and some laughs.
I liked it a lot more for the human element. I am out of gas on even thinking about the hypocrisy and cruelty of the RC church and its dogma.
I will give it a 4 out of Netflix5.
The love scenes are gorgeous. So is Robert Carlyle an old favorite. Well, not old but I guess by now he actually is. 2012-1994=18. He is 51 now. A kid. He has also had work done.
What I love about the movies is the forever young part.
Friday, July 06, 2012
LONG AND SHORT OF IT
Today's gay film was a collection of shorts
None of these is easy or comfortable.
The first is a bit of adolescent testing in a swimming pool and is, actually, very nice.
The second is a Southern Gothic piece on the style of Deliverance. Not bad but a bit disturbing here and there.
Another has a cousin visit with another older boy who has many answers for the younger one. None of this is homoerotic in a literal sense and yet all of it is in that the experiences together helped form the adult gay man. See? Loving straight kids can do a lot of good.
The fourth is longish and is based on the experiences of two closeted men in the Israeli Army. Nothing happens and everything does.
These are not the best shorts that I have seen but all of them have a unique quality all their own and no, they are not all positive goody two shoes homo films. Some bad things happen here and there. Like life.
I had seen two out of the four in the past. I wouldn't want to see it again. So a 3 out of Netflix5.
Monday, June 25, 2012
HISTORY TODAY
Today's gay film was
A gay writer and artist meets an old man who turns out to have been a part of the Harlem Renaissance with Langston Hughes, Zora Neal Thurston and other luminaries.
This, at a time, when he is trying to find his own identity within the black and intellectual cultures.
Through an effective use of flashbacks, the two periods are compared and examined. Parallels are drawn. A lot happens.Some threads get lost. An affair with a white friend, presumably straight before they come together gets lost. But it is great to see develop.
This is a first film with a lot of a first film's ardor. It is chock full of ideas and theories. Sometimes, some threads get lost.
It would be nice to see a remake with a bit more experience at scene and story building.
The quality of the film making itself is first rate. The period stuff is really fun to watch. It was a fascinating time.
I will give this a 3 out of Netflix 5.
Thursday, June 07, 2012
BUSY DAY
A meeting this morning for an hour.
Then I had a setup call about my cataract operation.
I go for the pre-op on July 1st and then have the right eye done on July 18th. The second eye will be done two weeks later on August 1.
I am a little unclear about what and how I do while I only have one eye corrected with a new lens and the other uncorrected, But since this is a routine deal I am sure there is an answer.
By the middle of August when I have my "vacation" in San Diego, I will be done with it. I hope.
Later in the day we ran out of dogfood kibble and made a family run to PetSmart. Fun.
And, I had time to see a favorite gay film
This is a mind bender with one actor playing two roles or is it the same character in a different time zone?
In any case the attraction between the men, one Chinese, the other Swiss, is palpable.
Very touching and one cannot be sure why. I am going to get it and take another few looks. There is no way we would mine seeing the beautiful photography and the jumbled story elements any day and any time.
A 5 out of Netflix5.
Friday, May 25, 2012
THRILLER
Today's gay film was the Donald Strachey mystery
This one is about an illegal legal firm, child pornography and some other stuff.
There is more chasing and some more action.
This time, Don's husband Tim is in the action a lot more and, consequently, there is a lot more of the couple to watch. Very nice.
In all of these, the story gets a little twisted. It is always the same for me with mysteries. I enjoy them but by the time we get to the end and have it "solved", I am mostly not too interested. The important part is the process of getting there.
This is fine television which is what they were made for. Prime time features.
Very enjoyable and Chad Allen.
What more could we ask?
A 4 out of Netflix5.
Monday, May 21, 2012
DIRTY COPPERS
Today's gay film was
Interesting film that precedes the golden era of gay film production which began in the aughts and continues today. This would be the precursor of the four film noir Lytton Strachey detective films I will be seeing.
The idea of having some serious drama and even detective stories that simply involve gay characters in the most "usual" way is something that has evolved. There are still the silly camp films and the coming out stories.
Gay men are never, ever over telling their coming out stories to each other. It is the critical ingredient of every first date. And we love to hear others'. Anytime.
Oh, the film/
Well, a closeted gay cop, deep closet, encounters a hustler for whom he actually has some feelings. As he is working undercover detecting drug dealers in a hustler bar, he is conflicted when he "saves" the young man from suspicion for another unrelated crime.
Well, it is related but we don't know that at the time.
It is a little low budget and a bit awkward at times but quite enjoyable.
A 3 out of Netflix5. And everyone but the bad guys are pretty good looking.
Thursday, May 17, 2012
COVERING ALL THE BASES
Today's gay film was
Two things. This film shows what a bland, watered down, unimaginative business movies have become.
It will rock your sox.
Inventive, transgressive, awesome.
Man, Fellini took risks.
And it is probably not really a gay film per se as it is a comprehensive look at so many variations on sexual preference that you cannot keep count. It has to be see to be believed.
Why did I see it? Because you can always see Fellini and profit. But also, the two young men who are featured throughout are in a relationship with each other and that frames their experiences together and apart for the entire film.
It is a buddy movie and a road movie.
Cornucopia.
Visual feast.
I had forgotten the inventiveness of the Fellini scenery and characters.
Great.
Granted there are a few places where it wanders and I actually nodded off a bit but then that would quickly be interrupted with some really grotesquely funny change or, I would just look around and see the rich and abundant variety going on in any scene.
It is a 5 out of Netflix5 for sure.
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
FIGHTING TO GET TO THE DANCE FLOOR
Today's gay movie was
Prom Queen: The Marc Hall Story
I suppose we should be used to films about getting gay boys and girls to a prom with a date of their choice. But it is still remarkable that this shit is so important to the moral guardians.
So here we are in Canada where this case actually set precedent in the matter of a conflict between Catholic teaching (it is a parochial school) and human rights law.
Marc Hall wants to take his boyfriend and sticks with it with the support of his family and friends and the law.
What is really nice about this is the way the film is constructed. A mockumentary sort of. Funny and touching at the same time.
Very good.
There is a special feature with the actual Marc Hall, his boyfriend and his parents as well as other principals to this story.
I liked it a lot and got teary. Just what we want for a hot afternoon.
Interestingly the story does not involve sex or the sexual aspect. It is about blatant discrimination against gays in the matter of dancing in public in an unofficial school activity.
Familiar subject in a creative setting.
Scroll down at the link and see Marc Hall make a visit to the web site.
Thursday, May 10, 2012
SLOW BURN
Today's gay film was the documentary
Drag balls in NYC, all gay men, not the drag you think it is.
These balls are not the ones I heard about and never, ever even thought of attending in "those" days. They have many categories including "straight" (all these men are black gay men), sports, military, business. The point is to look just like the real thing. You know. Just like all of us. Dress for success.
Only here they really do not look like the "real thing". They look like queens who are acting out their idea of reality in a melodramatic way.
Here is where "vogueing" comes in. Strutting your stuff.
Some of this is intentionally ironic or camp. Other parts are not.
The documentary is pretty good. In the tradition of don't tell, show, and let the viewer draw their own conclusions, it is very well made.
And by now, 20 years later (can that be?) it is a historic document and all the more valuable for it.
Always interesting, sometimes upsetting, we here the spokespeople who tell us what is going on. They are the burners themselves.
I did not want to see this when it came out because I was so homophobic about drag then.
But then I watched it when the DVD came out, quite late actually. I enjoyed it and gave it a 3 out of Netflix 5. This time, I would give it a 4. It's climbing in the charts.
For more about all this see Ball Culture on Wikipedia. Very good rundown.
Tuesday, May 01, 2012
REDOING THE PAST
Today's gay film was
This is a fringe film. Made on the fringe on a low budget.
A movie maker who has failed to "make it" gets invited to a festival for young film makers as a judge.
He reluctantly decides to attend and, as a result, meets himself as he was when he was a student.
OOOoooommmmmaaa music.
Through living out some critical past with the younger himself he manages to change the outcome of his career. Or doesn't.
This is a nifty little film which I enjoyed very much. There are rough spots, the second bananas emote too much, but the stars do a great and convincing job with some material which makes suspending disbelief critical. It worked. I had a few tears. I cared.
The people are good looking. And the production values are very good too.
A side note is that one of the stars is Sean Paul Lockhart who used to be the porn star Brent Corrigan. He is very good. I didn't get it. Who he was but he looked familiar. And what sex there is to see in the film does not involve him. More a boy next door, lover who has always been at your side without consummation. Until later.
He is very, very cute and has a stunning story. See at the link.
