Using oral histories, this documentary explores a very particular chapter of New York gay life in America. In 2014, a box packed with hundreds of letters was discovered in an LA storage unit. The letters, dating back to the 1950s, were addressed to a young man named Reno Martin, who would later become Hollywood agent Ed Limato. After Martin left home to pursue a career in radio, his closest gay and queer friends continued writing to him simply to keep in contact. Each letter is signed under a fake name and closes with a request to burn it once it's been read, which says everything about a time when being gay—or appearing in drag—could land you in jail. The filmmakers managed to find the surviving writers, now in their eighties and nineties, turning what could have been dry historical research into something deeply personal and intimate. The filmmakers tracked down the original letter writers, several of whom are still alive, and had them speak openly about what it meant to live on the margins in those days. They've also assembled amazing archival photos and footage, bringing back the drag pageants and smoke-filled backrooms that once acted as a home base for the LGBTQ community, all under the constant weight of fear and oppression. At the time, you could legally be fired, beaten up, or worse simply for being gay. Closeted people who wrote love letters or anything that exposed their sexuality would nearly always tell the recipient to destroy them afterward, terrified they could end up in the wrong hands.…
Review of Arthur J. Bressan Jr.’s film Juice, which follows a gay photographer who must find new models for a magazine. Light and sexy. With this feature film, Arthur J. Bressan Jr. delivers a lighter, more modest work, immersing us in the daily life of Jim, an adult gay magazine photographer (Michael Christopher, very well endowed by nature)…
Sadly, this series falls into the same trap most GMM shows do. I really wanted it to be good because the premise genuinely had potential. And honestly, it starts out strong: playful, funny, with a fun little love-scam angle running through it. But around episode four or five, it slips back into the same worn-out formula every other show like this uses, leaving very little that sticks with you. There are twelve episodes, each roughly fifty five to sixty minutes long, so it demands a serious time commitment, yet it never offers enough charm to make all that feel worthwhile. The story centers on cousins Pai and North, both heirs to a rich, influential family. Pai is doing well in business, while North keeps wasting family money on ventures that fail. We first meet Tim, whose random encounter with Pai gradually turns into a slow-burn romance. But it is revealed pretty quickly that Tim had been after Pai from the beginning, intending to make him fall in love so he could secure a comfortable life with a wealthy man, while secretly also dating several rich women on the side. At roughly the same time, North meets U during a hiking trip and immediately falls for him. This comes right after North's breakup, and in a moment of impulsiveness, he proposes to U right there, even offering him money to agree. Since U is broke, he accepts the money and marries North, only learning afterward just how wealthy North's family really is. Eventually, U and Tim uncover one another's scams and…
This coming-of-age movie follows two teenage guys who seem completely opposite on paper, even though they’re both carrying baggage from their past. We get to watch them deal with it and fall for each other along the way. It starts off feeling like a teen rom-com, then becomes something much more personal by the end. Not gonna lie, I have no idea why they chose the English title they did, because the original title translates as Fifteen Days, and that fits so much better. Apparently it’s based on a book, and honestly, what makes it work is how straightforward it remains throughout. It has this warm, sunny vibe, and it’s not only about two boys falling in love. It’s really about learning to quit hiding after spending years trying not to be seen. Felipe is sixteen and has been insecure about his weight for years because other kids gave him hell about it growing up. He’s openly gay and lives with his mom, who’s a major presence in his life. When summer comes around, he’d honestly rather sit inside binge-watching things and reading manga than head outdoors to swim. Then Caio, his neighbor and the guy Felipe’s had a crush on since childhood, winds up staying at their house for two weeks while his parents are gone. Like that isn’t awkward enough already, Felipe realizes that he and Caio haven’t even talked in years. They drifted apart, and Felipe has convinced himself that Caio is one of those straight jock guys who could never be interested in someone like him.…
How can there be such a dearth of stories that these vertical filmmakers keep recycling the same 5-6 story permutations and combinations, just mixing and matching them? It’s like some old fantasies are being brought to life in these formats. I’m really starting to lose it completely. Then you read all these random, glowing, made-up reviews online and wonder whether people are even watching the same thing I am.Liam and Noah are stepbrothers, though not many people know it. Noah’s girlfriend actually likes Liam and tries to seduce him. Meanwhile, Liam has secretly been crushing on his stepbrother Noah. Since Liam can’t have Noah, he suggests that maybe the girl should ask Noah for a threesome. That’s when a drunk Noah shows up, against his better judgment, and the two finally kiss. Noah is now confused too—whether he is gay and how he can be attracted to his stepbrother. The story moves slowly, with the two men gradually realizing each other’s good points and falling in love. Of course, the evil girlfriend tries to ruin everything by exposing their secret and threatening to get them out of the hockey team, but her plans fall flat. In the end, they get love and acceptance from everyone.This BL was good for the emotional pull of showing Liam always wanting Noah while Noah remains unsure about his feelings. There isn’t as much drama and evilness as you see in some of the other vertical gay shows. The two boys were quite good-looking, and Noah’s nerdy look was pretty hot. But Liam is the…
Review of Romas Zabaraukas’s film Standing Tall (The Activist), which immerses us in a film noir-flavoured investigation set against the backdrop of LGBT rights. A political thriller at the heart of LGBT struggles in Lithuania, the film sees Lithuanian director Romas Zabaraukas return after winning us over with the referential, political cinema tinged with homoeroticism of his feature film Falling for Ali. He is back with a story that is even more committed—and rich in nuance…
Review of Pedro Pinho’s film Laughter and the Knife, which follows a bisexual Portuguese engineer on an odyssey in Guinea-Bissau. A contemplative arthouse film poised between immersion and cinematic journey. To say the least, Laughter and the Knife is a film that has to be earned: a contemplative arthouse film (and therefore one that…
Review of the BL series Secret Relationships, which follows a young man caught in a love square involving three very different—and possibly toxic—admirers. Secret Relationships is a Korean BL series centred on a tense love square set in Seoul. Jeong Da-on (Kim Junseo) is a delicate, cute, hardworking boy. Although he comes from a modest family and has an unstable father addicted to gambling, he has managed to build a career through hard work and dedication. He has also found a benevolent patron in the handsome, well-to-do Sin Jae-min (Kim Ho-young), who acts somewhat like a protective big brother, always kind and always there when Da-on needs help. We understand that the young man has a crush on his mentor but hesitates to confess his feelings to him…
A review of Lucas Santa Ana’s film 300 SWEET WORDS (aka “300 letters” / “300cartas”), which plunges us into the heart of a particularly toxic gay breakup. After Bromance and Diary of a Teenager, Argentine director Lucas Santa Ana turns to a breakup film with the deceptive aesthetics of a colourful romantic comedy…
Review of Juan Briseño’s film The Suspended Breath (Seré breve al momento de morir). A tense gay love triangle set in the world of dance. A low-budget Mexican film, The Suspended Breath immerses us in the daily lives of two gay dancers, Sebastián (Martín Saracho) and Arsenio (Joan Kuri). The two young men fall deeply in love. Their whirlwind happiness heals Sebastián’s wounds and calms his self-destructive tendencies. But when a new choreographer, the highly authoritarian and sadistic Mikael (Mikael Lacko), joins their dance company, things become more complicated…
Review of Sam Wineman’s film HAG. A passionate thriller about a gay man and an obsessive female friend who does not wish him entirely well. What would Fatal Attraction look like if its characters were a gay man and a woman obsessed with him? It is not necessarily a question we had asked ourselves, but one that…
A review of Noel Alejandro’s film The Mirror, an original and poetic short film about a gay breakup. Noel Alejandro continues to explore his favourite themes—loss, disappearance, and reality blending with the fantastical when emotions become too heartbreaking—which he intertwines with his cinema of bodies. Since his earliest films, the director has used explicit scenes as a cinematic language in their own right: a climax of the plot, a kind of purgatory between the worlds of the living and the dead, those who remain and those who have left…
