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Showing posts from February, 2013

Beautiful Thing (UK)

I don't know why I had been pushing to watch this film a second time. I remember watching it before and really liking it but hey, I had to watch it again for my blog. And I am so glad that I did it. This is the finest, most emotional, heart-touching movie about self discovery, coming of age teenage love story, you will ever see. Although the film came out way back in 1996, it is as relevant today as it was then. The characters and situations are perfectly developed and realized, ringing true in almost every scene. Jamie, a teenage guy lives with his single mom,Sandra, who has ambitious plans to run her own pub and string of lovers, current being a hippie named Tony. Jamie's classmate and neighbor Ste lives next door and Jamie has total crush on him. Ste lives with his drug-dealing brother and abusive father. One night when the father ends up beating Ste too much, Sandra brings him home and lets him sleep over with Jamie. Ste and Jamie sleep on the same bed 'top to toe

Come Non Detto (Italian) [Tell No One]

I absolutely loved this film. This film was comical, funny, emotional , romantic, had family values. In short it had everything that makes my heart feel glad with happiness and satisfaction. There wasn't a single moment in the film that got me bored. The film was not too lengthy , which kept everything interesting. Everything was right, without over-acting and subtle. It doesn't mean the film did not have flaws. It did and I will talk more about those later. Mattia has just finished college and is about to move to Spain for job. Reality is he wants to be closer to his boyfriend. Tonight, there is a family dinner for his farewell. Mattia has told his boyfriend Eduard that he is out to his family and they are all ok with it but reality is Mattia is struggling hard to tell the truth. Every opportunity he got, something came up and he couldn't tell. Eduard decides to give him surpass on the family dinner night, so that he can meet family in person. Now begins hilarious que

Misconceptions

This film was not bad at all. It might have been annoying for a couple of reasons here and there but overall it did its job. Thankfully the film was not over stretched and it just focussed on the core issue that it was supposed to do. This film is not just about being gay or anything, it is also about relationships, religion and God. Parker and Miranda are a religiously and conservative couple in the south living their daily life. They lost their son 5 years ago to a disease. One day Miranda sees a documentary on TV on a doctor who misspending his life saving kids from the same disease that their son had. She also saw how the doctor Sandy and his partner Terry have been looking all over for a arrogate mother for their child. She prays to lord and gets message that she should become the surrogate mother to the child. When she finally does, and Terry comes to visit her in her small town, that is when Parker finds out and all hell breaks loose. Parker has always been the guy for an

No Ordinary Love

Maybe six years ago, when I was brand new to the world of gay cinema, and had this been one of the first movies I had seen, I might have liked this film a little a bit. But today, I don't feel so. And don't get fooled by this poster. There was so much taken for granted in this film along with a little too many characters and a plot and sub-plots just to make the film longer, I guess. Each sub plot gets suffered from this because, the film makers could not focus more on any specific story vs the other. Kevin owns a house and has roommates Wendy, Andy and Vinny. One of the room-mates Tom just does and we find out later that he was originally Kevin's boyfriend before deciding to change his sexuality and dating Wendy. Vinny is an 18 year old boy, whom Kevin met somewhere and is letting him stay for free. Andy is a hunk who is gay but is very interested with neighbor lady, whose son is Vinny's best friend. Vinny is totally in love with him but he is all macho latino gu

Britain's Gay Footballers (Documentary)

An interesting documentary for the subject. It starts with the right context that when there are gays everywhere, how is it possible that in the game of football, which is so popular, how can be no gay men anywhere in the world. Are there gays but they are just not out or is it something else. Amal Fashanu starts this documentary. Her uncle , in the history of UK, has been the only footballer who came out as being gay and who committed suicide in 1988. So, as part of this documentary, she is on a mission to not only find out about gay footballers but also go deep in her family history and find out the real truth behind her uncle's story. She interviews her mother, her father and some popular gay footballers and goes deep in the story and finally manages to get just one interview with the only openly gay footballer in Sweden who is doing really well for himself. I had a lot of issues with this documentary. Parts were just ridiculous and naive and fake. Her finding out about h

Formula 17 (Mandarin)

This movie was so silly yet so enjoyable. I guess it depend son my mood. I was open for some silliness and the Taiwanese queens just did the trick for me tonight. The 3 friends of the main character in this film were just too good and hilarious. A totally adorable wonderful happy movie that will make you giggle and squeal and completely believe in love, even if it's just for the duration of the film, this one is not to be missed. Tien is a young guy, still a virgin, because he is looking for love and not lust. He moves to Taipei for summer and starts living with is buddy who works in a bar and is in a long distance relationship with an American guy. Tien gets a few propositions but he in search for genuine love. Enter Bai Tieh-nan, the seducer of the area. Bai Tieh-nan has the reputation of being total heartless bitch, sleeping with  anew boy everyday. Tien somehow gets attracted to him. Despite everyone's warnings, Tien can't help get attracted to wards Bai Tieh-nan.

Zus & Zo (Dutch)

I still don't know why the film's title is so. I thought that they were probably the names of the characters but it wasn't it. Another interesting tidbit is that this film was actually nominated for oscars, which I was quite surprised when I found that out. This film is about feelings and true love. The film has a soap like story line but it is funny, loving and totally watchable. The film is about Nino and his 3 sisters. Nino is gay and the sisters are shocked when they find out suddenly that Nino is marrying a girl in 3 weeks. It turns out that as per his father's will, he can only inherit the property, a lavish hotel on a beach in POrtugal, only if he marries. He needs money and so he is marrying. The 3 sisters are mad because now this means they would not get the money. The three of them gang up together to figure out how to tell Nino's fiancé Bo all about this and get them to not marry. This is where the fun begins. All three sisters have their own issues

Alive And Kicking (UK) [Indian Summer]

This is such a great movie with a very unique and unconventional love story. I am sure I saw this movie before but of course couldn't remember it. The film shot in 1996 is centered around AIDS epidemic. Mix this with dance, the movie was pretty realistic with some excellent performances by its lead actors. Tonio is the lead dancer of a dancing school by Luna who is aging old woman suffering from Alzheimers. Tony lost his lover from Aids a year ago and his best friend and also his dance instructor is now dying. His best friend and dance troupe are always with him because Tonio is also HIV positive. Its just dance that he lives for. A chance encounter with a therapist changes his life. Tonio had seen Jack at his friend's funeral and later finds out that Jack is a counselor. Despite his initial rebuffs, Tonio finally gets around and they start seeing each other. At the same time, Tonio is offered the lead in the dance company's old success 'Indian Summer'. Tonio c

68 Pages (Hindi)

I have never been in such a dilemma about rating a movie. It is all about wearing 2 different hats here. If I look at the entertainment point of view, there wasn't much in the film, but from an education perspective, specially in and for Indian community, this film could have proved to be huge change, only if the indian government had done public screenings of the film and it wasn't just limited to festival circuits. The story is about Mansi, an aids counselor, in a public health office in Mumbai, India. The film focusses on her and her five counselees whose story revolve with or around AIDS and HIV positive. We meet a bar dancer who is the only source of income for his family. When he has no option left with him after the bar is closed , he takes up prostitution and is forced to do unsafe sex because otherwise no one gives him money. We also meet an aging prostitute, who is diagnosed with HIV by accident. Suddenly all her clients are gone and now all she worries is about

Fuego en el Alma (Spanish) [Fire in the Soul]

This film is actually a collection of three short dramas focuses on the interconnectedness of Puerto Ricans living in both New York and on the island, while addressing the devastating effects of September 11, 2001. Three stories of couples passion, jealousy, doubt and infidelity - couples that are burned by sudden and unexpected feelings and are pushed to make the decision that will change their lives, forever. The first story follows frustrated baseball player Millo, whose efforts at getting noticed by a talent scout result only in an offer to become a coach. He takes his frustrations out on his wife, Luisa, whom he abuses physically before she finally decides to take some action of her own. She leaves him to go to New York, and her day of departure is September 11. In the second story, a pilot leading a double life maintains a family in Puerto Rico while keeping a gay lover, who is a flight attendant with whom he works. His life is rerouted, along with his plane, on the morning

À cause d'un garçon (French) [You'll Get Over It]

There have been a lot of teenage coming-out films. It all depends on how they are done and thats what makes or breaks the fate of the film. The subject in this film has been handled with sensitivity, reality, emotionally and bravely. This film does its job to a good extent but still leaves us with a lot unanswered and desired. More on that later. Vincent is a high school kid who is also the school swimming champion. His best friend is Stephane and Noemie forms the third in this close group. Noemie loves Vincent but he never gives another thought. Stephane thinks of Vincent as his brother and they have been childhood friends. A chance meeting with a new kid in school, changes life of Vincent. There is apparent attraction between the two. Vincent knows he is gay but has always hide his feelings. But meeting this guy, spills the bean in public and somehow the news is leaked in the school. This is where the problems begin. Suddenly the hero of the school is not a hero anymore. He is b

I Was A Teenage Werebear (Short Film)

The only reason I saw this film was for Sean Paul Lockhart, who I think is pretty cute. A short film of about 30 minutes, this was set as a musical on a beach and is meant to be cheesy and funny (which I did not  think so). If anything it was a little annoying. Our main protagonist Ricky is in closet and has a girlfriend but can't help getting very attracted to the leader of a group of misfits at school. Talon, the group leader is yummy and Ricky just swoons over him and Taylor knows it. When Ricky is being bullied in school, Talon protects him. We soon se that Talon and his gang becomes a bear (gay term for bulky hairy guys). Because Ricky is now in love with Talon, he gets bitten and gets the same trait. Will their love for each other cure them? Lockhart as Ricky is the only thing good about this movie. As a confused teenager, he brings good charm and goofiness in his character. It is good to see him move on from his porn days to doing a good job at true acting. Talon is a