Review of In Your Arms (Malanova) by Roberto Cuzzillo. A sensitive drama about a gay couple whose daily life is shaken when one of them discovers he is HIV-positive. With this introspective and sensitive feature film, director Roberto Cuzzillo addresses a subject that remains rare in contemporary gay-themed cinema. We follow…
Review of the film “Hetero: What Is Your Secret?”, aka “Straight”, by Marcelo Tobar, starring Alejandro Speitzer. A bi man torn between his girlfriend and his lover. The French title of this feature film is not very appealing, but we gave it a try because the lead role features…
Originally premiering on HBO Max, this is honestly one of the most distinctive queer stories out there, centered on those particular points in life when you have no choice but to grow up quickly, when discipline, tenderness, and genuine sacrifice become non negotiable. It’s a deeply moving portrayal of accidental gay parenthood, following a hard partying twenty something gay model whose entire world shifts when he’s forced to raise his niece. There are eight episodes altogether, and I’d genuinely recommend taking your time with this one and letting it sink in rather than speeding through it. The series opens with a gay orgy and introduces Filip, a model caught up in drugs, parties, sex, and pretty much refusing to take anything seriously, including his work. He has the looks and the sharp jawline, and he assumes that means he can get away with anything—until his sister gives him an ultimatum and tells him to move out, because he’s essentially been living off her while she raises her one year old by herself. Things then take a devastating turn when she dies in an accident, leaving Filip suddenly responsible for his niece, Tosia. Since he grew up in the foster system himself, he chooses to pursue legal guardianship, but it means facing a mountain of problems: lawyers, social workers, and the foster system, all while knowing Poland is not going to easily give a child to a single gay man. This is where his chosen family becomes especially important. There’s Kiki, his sister’s friend and a single mom who is separated…
This movie was simply weird. I went in really wanting to like it, but the pretentious, overly poetic atmosphere, along with the choppy editing that jumps back and forth in little five- to ten-second bursts, made the whole thing feel stretched out for absolutely no reason. It was way too self-indulgent, if you ask me. Honestly, this could've been cut into a fifteen-minute short without losing a thing. I also still have no idea what was going on with the women dancing along the beach while this overwrought, flowery narration played over it. The story moves at a snail's pace toward a confrontation you can spot coming from a mile away, and it only gets more boring as it approaches. By the time it finally happened, I'd completely checked out as a viewer, even though the film has two genuinely good-looking guys in the lead roles. The premise is pretty straightforward. Lorena and Diego are attempting to make a new life for themselves in a small coastal town, both anxiously beginning new jobs—she's a baker and he's a teacher. Separately, they each meet a thoughtful young man named Vicente, and his love of art pulls them both toward him. Lorena brings him into a film project she's working on, while Diego is drawn to him in a way that makes it increasingly difficult to keep burying his attraction to men, something that has quietly been straining his marriage all along. So as Diego and Vicente begin something on the side, with Diego constantly doubting himself and never fully embracing it,…
Love in Protocol (Korean Mini-Series) - 20264 episodes averaging 10 minutes each. The main character is a researcher conducting a clinical study on human behaviour. He asks deeply personal questions and gets his test subject to open up about himself. These two men have met before. Years earlier, they formed a close bond during their private tutoring sessions. Nothing romantic happened then, but those unresolved feelings have come back. A boring romance with barely any emotion at all, and overall it really has nothing new to offer. Setting a romance within a psychological experiment sounded intriguing, but it ends up being one big yawn. The kissing scene at the end was decent, but the story gives neither actor any chance to show their potential. Awakening the Steppe (Chinese Mini-Series) - 2026Amur, a carefree vet and guesthouse owner living in the grasslands, comes across an injured Singaporean traveler, Lei Ze Xin. Lei Ze Xin is there to fulfill his dad's wish, and Amur saves his life, making it seem like a light, sweet romance might bloom from this unexpected meeting. But actually, he is there to thank Amur because his dog saved his life. While the landscapes are really stunning, their love story appears out of nowhere and is totally unbelievable. The characters are already declaring their love and talking about spending the rest of their lives together, even making plans to open a pet clinic together. The show feels rushed and unrealistic. Apart from the beautiful scenery, there isn’t much that truly stands out or stays with you after finishing…
This is basically a documentary about what being transgender means, what transition really involves, and how medicine can help people get there. Rather than focusing on a single person, it follows several people at very different points in their journeys. Honestly, that was a smart choice. The whole thing runs for about an hour. Charlotte is the first person we meet. She's a trans woman working in a very old-school, very masculine railway maintenance job. Her story is focused on the social side of things rather than surgery or medical treatment: the day-to-day reality of telling coworkers, changing the way she dresses, asking people to use a new name and pronouns, and dealing with the fear of how everyone might respond. Then there's Jamie, a trans man at the beginning of his medical transition. A lot of his story deals with testosterone treatment and what it's like when your body gradually begins to match the way you've always felt inside. Then there’s Vinessa, who is in San Francisco having gender confirmation surgery. They actually show the surgery on camera, and honestly, I did not need to see that. We also hear from a few other people along the way besides these three. The documentary gives a decent amount of attention to the science too, including whether biology or brain development may influence gender identity, how puberty blockers work for trans teenagers, what gender dysphoria is, and whether gender is more of a spectrum than simply male or female. What I liked was that it never tries to make any of…
There haven’t been many films about aging gay men, so it’s always nice to see one that tries to tackle the subject in some capacity. This film is less about love and more about what can happen to certain gay men in the prime of their lives when their families no longer want them and they are deeply lonely. Friendship and love/admiration can bring a spark into your life at any time. The friendship between two old men becomes love in its own way.Slightly unkempt, exhausted, and frail, Philippe Lanctot moves into an old age home. He is single, and apparently his younger sister used to care for him, but after his death, he is almost forced into this community. He is unhappy about it and nearly grumpy. The staff tries to lift his spirits, but it feels as though he has already given up on life. Then a man named Victor suddenly arrives in his room in a wheelchair. He is brash, talks constantly, has no concept of personal space or boundaries, and is a real chatty Kathy. Philippe initially finds him very annoying, but soon begins warming to him, and the two develop a strong friendship in which Victor shows Philippe that being around other people is not so bad. Victor gives Philippe the gift of living in the moment. In return, the well-heeled Philippe arranges outings for dinner and to a botanical garden and, without Victor knowing, becomes his benefactor when Victor’s children get stingy. During one heartfelt conversation, Victor explains that he was married before realizing…
If you watched and loved Season 1 of Gaycation, Season 2 carries on from exactly where it left off, with that same mix of travel series and proper documentary that made the first season feel so real. Elliot Page and Ian Daniel return, this time heading to Ukraine, India, France, and the Deep South in the US. There’s also a special episode exploring what the Trump administration’s policies meant for LGBTQ+ people. The main run consists of four episodes, each around 45 minutes long, before the special brings it all to a close. Ukraine is their first destination, and they arrive in Kyiv shortly before the country’s second ever Pride march. The tension is palpable; Russian influence and the Orthodox Church seem to weigh on everything. They speak with activists who are truly putting their safety on the line simply to march through their own city, with riot police needed because counter protesters are nearby and prepared to turn violent. One of the most affecting moments comes when they meet a gay soldier who cannot come out to the people he serves beside, and it says a lot about how nationalism and war can make queerness feel like a betrayal. They also get a look at the underground rave scene, where music and dancing have quietly become resistance in their own right. In India, the series takes on a huge contradiction: a colonial-era law criminalising gay sex remains on the books, while the culture itself has a long history of hijra and third gender traditions. In Delhi and Mumbai, they…
I put this one off for ages, and honestly, I’m not even sure why. I’d somehow talked myself into thinking it probably wouldn’t connect with my LGBTQ world, but wow, was I wrong. This film totally blindsided me. It’s a smart dark comedy that manages to be properly funny and seriously heavy at exactly the same time, with surprises all the way through. Roman and Dennis are two young strangers who meet at a support group for people who have lost a twin. It’s such a specific, strange kind of grief that only someone who has lived through it could really start to understand. Roman is quiet and physically imposing, and his sudden flashes of rage feel even more disturbing because he is normally so still. Dennis is skinny, openly gay, and armed with sharp self deprecating humour that he uses as a shield. They could not be more different, yet tragedy brings them together, and their connection holds even after Dennis tells Roman he is gay, partly because Roman’s late brother was gay too. The two of them quietly start filling the space left by losing a sibling. Then, around 20 minutes in, the film rewinds and reveals something that changes absolutely everything. Dennis had met Rocky, Roman’s twin, slept with him once, and become completely obsessed. The day he turned up to surprise Rocky was the same day Rocky died in a car accident. Dennis, then, essentially made up a dead twin brother so he could get close to Roman through the support group. Even Dennis is not…
This Indian series is marketed as the story of a gay man falling for his straight best friend, but honestly, underneath that, it’s really about friendship—and what happens when friendship becomes complicated, messy, and emotionally charged. You can watch it on Last Leaf Pictures’ YouTube channel; it has seven episodes, each around 30 minutes long. I had mixed feelings the whole way through, and a lot of that came from how I felt about one of the leads, but I’ll get to that shortly.At the heart of it are Anshul and Kavith. They meet for the first time on a train bound for Delhi, with neither of them particularly ready to return to their hometowns. They get off halfway through the trip, change their minds, and head back to Mumbai for one more chance at the lives they want there. Anshul is an aspiring actor whose young son lives in Delhi with his grandmother. Kavith is gay and newly out of yet another relationship—his 17th, by his own count over the years. They form an unusual friendship, and because they are both financially struggling, they become roommates. Eventually, they grow truly close, supporting one another emotionally and financially in a way that begins to resemble family. Anshul is warm, fair, and open with everyone around him. Kavith completely adores him: he pampers him, fusses over his son, and gazes at Anshul with a starry-eyed devotion that Anshul clearly enjoys receiving. But Kavith is intensely needy where love is concerned. For him, it is never about anything physical; it is all…
Released in 1988, this was apparently HBO's first-ever gay themed TV film. It was adapted from a play, and you can tell almost immediately, since nearly all of it unfolds in an apartment with two people talking through their grief and arguing over whether that grief belongs equally to both of them.The story begins after the death of a man named Colin. His ex-wife Marion, who spent more than a decade with him, and his lover Arthur, who stayed at his side during the brutal last months of his life with AIDS, meet in the loft they have each inherited half of under Colin's will and now have to sell. From there, the two sit with old resentments and fresh ones, orbiting each other, making confessions, and gradually trying to process a loss neither quite knows how to bear. Marion discloses that she has also been infected with the virus. Arthur, understandably, though also somewhat selfishly, wants to believe his grief is the more valid one. They're both shattered, and both need somewhere to direct the blame. Yet as more comes out and their defenses lower a little, the dynamic between them changes, and the tension slowly gives way to understanding and the start of a genuine friendship.What I appreciated was how little the film tries to make any of this big or dramatic. The characters respond as real people probably would: messily, inconsistently, and not always sympathetically. Both lead actors handle it well, and the writing captures how genuinely complicated relationships like these can be. Still, the constant back-and-forth…
This Thai mini series is bad and packed with red flags that make you question so many of the protagonists' motives, and yet somehow, you still wanna keep watching until the end. It is only 10 episodes, 10 minutes each, but it should come with multiple trigger warnings. I thought we had moved past the rape era in the BL world being justified in the name of love a few years back, but apparently not!Pakin kidnaps Venus, the heir to a luxury hotel, and keeps him captive in the unforgiving wilderness. He holds Venus responsible for making his younger brother fall in love with him, then breaking his heart, which led to his brother committing suicide. Venus pleads and begs, insisting it must have been his twin brother Saturn who did this, but Pakin refuses to hear any of it. He rapes Venus, forces him to do household chores, and subjects him to other atrocities. Meanwhile, the hotel heiress grandmother worries about where the town grandsons have disappeared to and asks her trusted advisor to find them. Her evil niece, meanwhile, has been eyeing the entire property and is unhappy that grandma plans to put everything in the twins' name. It turns out she was behind Venus being kidnapped all along. Once she learns about Pakin's younger brother's suicide, she makes Saturn leave the country out of fear for his life and tells Pakin that Venus is Saturn. Anyway, some kind of bond slowly begins to form between Pakin and Venus, and once the truth comes out, everything falls into…
