Skip to main content

Mala Noche (English/Spanish) [Bad Night]

This film must have been something when it came way back in 1986. It definitely seems way ahead of its time. Not just to have a full on gay story but also the dark and gritty direction path it chooses to show the story with. the narrative’s driving force—blind, unembarrassed homosexual lust—is established in a matter of seconds.

Walt is a young lower-class shopkeeper who lives a necessarily minimal existence. He longs for Johnny, a young Mexican immigrant who frequents his store often and who in turn repulsed and intrigued by his friendly advances. Johnny and his best friend Roberto always hang around. Walt makes his first pass at Johnny by offering him $15 to sleep with him. He refuses, so settling for second best, Walt takes Roberto home and they have sex. However, he does not give up on trying to win over Johnny. He befriends them and the trio hang out together goofing around. One day Johnny suddenly vanishes and both Walt and Roberto don't know why. They become close friends and Walt thinks maybe he can get Roberto but he eventually is killed by police. Johnny comes back after he was forcibly sent back to Mexico and reaches out to Walt as a friend. But hearing about Roberto angers him and he just leaves Walt's place. Maybe Walt will have to move on.

The chemistry and the interactions between these 3 individuals could be an interesting study. It's like three individuals, lost in a barely navigable jungle of a big city, users and abusers but also friends and lovers. They all need each other for money, for comfort, for fun and have some ulterior motives too. There is a bit of power play. Walt throws money but the Mexican boys know they have youth hand charm. And isn’t imbalance of power the basis for a certain kind of sexual attraction? Its interesting how Walt comes to assume a quasi-parental role, teaching them to drive, take care of them and drive them for holidays even though he is a young boy himself. Actor playing Walt is very charming IMO. He is likable, decent, relatively well-adjusted, confident in his own skin and sort of knows most people in the neighborhood. Yes he is desperate for Johnny and he admits. And Johnny takes full advantage of the situation. The film's direction is very unique. Shot in black and white, most scenes are unusually dark and sometimes hard to comprehend. The film just follows 3 men with their relationships unbalanced by age, language, money, race and sex. 

This film was quite decent, especially given it came out moons ago. The film is not slow, but somehow doesn't move beyond Walt willing to do anything to be with the boys. I fail to understand his desperation when he himself is quite handsome and charming. Still worth a watch. (5.5//10)

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The Shortest Distance is Round 3: Fallen Flowers

Continuing with the weird trilogy of "The Shortest Distance", I am so glad that finally I am done with part 3 and won't have to deal with this again in future. Thankfully, as of now the makers have not announced any further parts; which will save all of us on this earth from the embarrassment of watching this in near future. After the first 10 minutes are used in sort of recapping bits of first two parts, the story moves forward. Haruto is now starting to have feelings for Ruka, the mysterious pole dancer from second part. In a fit of rage, Ruka ends up killing the goat man and to save him and Haruto, Shibahara asks them to go underground. Meanwhile Shibahara continues the search for Seiya (the guy who had cut off Haruto's penis). It turns out Seiya is now also taking care of the original club owner from part 1. Both of them were released after they had informed Shibahara of Aoyama's secret location. Shibahara tortures Seiya's boyfriend leading to Seiya killin

One Summer Night (Korean)

I really wanted to like this film but for non native speakers, these movie leaves a lot to be understood and the way scenes were unfolding in front of me, I wasn't sure many times what was really going on. The story had potential button getting any back story on any of the characters limited my ability to empathize with any of these actors. Film starts with two North Korea military guys Yong Joon and Jae Sung having sex and they are caught red handed and they run. Three years later we see Yong Joon in Seoul leading a very mundane and poor life. He has a boyfriend Tae-Kyu, who is a weird guy. He is carefree, doesn't do any work and is completely emotional and financially dependent on Young Joon. In fact, even Yong Joon will go to any lengths to protect him , fend for him and taking care of him to the extent of even taking up prostitution. Suddenly one day Jae Sung appears in their life again. His motivation is not clear but it is obvious he wants Yong Joon back in his life, who

Ultimate masturbation: Shigoki no yama (Japanese) [The Ultimate Masturbation]

I would never know what was the point behind making this film. Was it supposed to be a comedy, cos it wasn't. It wasn't even porn. It was just a silly attempt at making something absolutely senseless and ridiculous. The story, as well as direction is equally shoddy. You could laugh for having seen something so bad, but I wouldn't call that comedy. An old man runs a camp about gay masturbation. The explanation given is that gays masturbate for pleasure unlike straight men, for whom the act is seen as shame or because they can't find a woman. One day a straight man shows up and wants to join the camp for his thesis. After discussion, he is allowed in. Rules include that you can masturbate together, you can masturbate one another, but there is no fellatio or anal sex. Some students of course breaks rule. The teacher then talks about 2 forms of masturbation which gives ultimate pleasure. He shows one without touching and then refuses to talk of the other. Somehow suddenly,