Big Gay Picture Show

Taking a look at the world of film through gay eyes - news, reviews, trailers, gay film, queer cinema and more

Taking a look at the world of film through gay eyes - news, reviews, trailers, gay film, queer cinema & more

The Happy Prince (BFI Flare Review) – Rupert Everett takes on Oscar Wilde’s post-prison life

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The Happy Prince has been a true passion project for writer, director and actor Rupert Everett. After years of trying to get it to the screen he’s finally been able to make the movie, which looks at the lesser known story of what happened to Oscar Wilde after was released from prison following his sentence for gross indecency with men.

Knowing his fame/infamy means staying in Britain is impossible, Wilde (Everett) heads for the continent. We first see him ill and barely surviving in Paris, still trying to live it up (beyond his means), but only just hanging on. The film then flashes back to his arrival in France when things seemed very different. Friends including Robbie Ross (Edwin Thomas) and Reggie Turner (Colin Firth) are keen to help him build a new life. He’s got money thanks to a stipend from his estranged wife and after two years of hard labour the sun of France gives Oscar a sense of optimism. [Read more…]

Film Stars Don’t Die In Liverpool (Blu-ray Review) – They’re also only a little bit bi, apparently

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In the late 1940s and 1950s Gloria Grahame was a big name Hollywood actress, known for the likes of The Big Heat (1953) and Oklahoma! (1955), as well as winning an Oscar for The Bad and the Beautiful (1952). However, her star power soon faltered.

Film Stars Don’t Die In Liverpool picks up her story in the 1970s, by which time Grahame (Annette Bening) is appearing in theatre in Britain. The older star meets the much younger Peter Turner (Jamie Bell), with a May-December romance developing. Grahame is flattered by the attentions of the younger man, while Turner is impressed by his beau’s celebrity – something that’s beguiling and exotic for a working-class Liverpudlian lad. [Read more…]

Jabberwocky (Criterion Blu-ray Review) – Terry Gilliam’s first directorial fantasy returns (including its little gay Easter Egg)

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In 1977 Monty Python had made their TV series and their first film, The Holy Grail, but hadn’t yet brought us Life Of Brian or The Meaning Of Life. In amongst this came Jabberwocky, which wasn’t a Python movie (although their production company was involved), but marked Terry Gilliam’s first movie as a solo director, and starred Michael Palin and Terry Jones.

The result is a movie that’s semi-Python, with echoes of the zany, off-the-wall humour, but which is still its own beast.

Palin plays Dennis, an apprentice cooper in a fantasy medieval kingdom. He’s desperately in love with Griselda (Annette Badland), and so to prove himself – and after a falling out with his father – he sets off to the city to make his fortune. [Read more…]

Whitney: Can I Be Me (DVD Review) – Love, drugs, sexuality & a singing legend

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There is no doubt that Whitney Houston had a truly incredible voice. Indeed, she’s a strong contender for being the great popular singer of the 20th Century. However, the last few years of her life and her tragic death have rather overshadowed that talent. The documentary, Whitney ‘Can I Be Me’, is partly an attempt to find some balance, putting the drugs and career problems in the context of her wider life and family.

To many the most interesting aspect of the documentary will be how it presents one of the key aspects of Whitney’s life as a relationship with a woman. It presents us with what is essentially a love triangle between Houston, her long-time friend Robyn Crawford and her husband, Bobby Brown. The film tries to confirm the rumours that Crawford and Houston were once together in a relationship, and indeed many of those close to her believe they were indeed once in love and are happy to say so in interviews. Although it cannot 100% confirm they were lovers, they were certainly closer than most friends, even after Houston had married Brown. [Read more…]

Wild Awakening (DVD Review) – Things get a little gay & homoerotic on a Spanish horse farm

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I feel like I should have watched a few telenovelas before viewing Wild Awakening. Although I’m far from an aficionado of the genre (and I’m more than ready for someone to tell me I’m completely wrong about it), but Wild Awakening shares the heightened reality, love for over the top drama and intrigue, and the slight sense where you can’t decide whether it’s a knowing spoof or not.

Young Emma and her gay brother Toni are the owners of a riding school, having inherited the business when their parents died. On the farm a group of (often shirtless) men work, led by the homophobic Ramon. [Read more…]

Taekwondo (BFI Flare Review) – A young gay man becomes a spy in the world of sexy straight boys

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Marco Berger has made his name with gay-themed fare such as Plan B, Absent and Hawaii, all of which have been interested in growing sexual tension between men. Martin Farina meanwhile brought us the documentary Fulboy, about a group of straight footballers, where the gayness came through the voyeuristic eye of the camera. Here the two Argentinian directors come together for Taekwondo, which is both voyeuristic and about sexual tension at the same time.

It’s summer, and Fer (Lucas Papa) has invited his new friend German (Gabriel Epstein), to come for a vacation at his house, where there’s a pool, sauna and a bit of luxury. There’s also a group of other young men, all of whom have known each other for years, and who have an easy camaraderie. Casual nudity is common, as is talk about sex. When together, they are partway between grown men and boys. [Read more…]

Chevalier (DVD Review)

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A group of men are out on the Aegean Sea on a luxury yacht for a fishing trip. Fed up with the games they usually play, they decide to take things up a notch by holding a contest to decide who is the best of them in general. Absolutely everything can be judged, from their ability to build flatpack furniture and their fitness, to how nice their underwear is and whether they can get an erection. The winner will be the Chevalier, and get a small ring to show it.

Inevitably, the men’s egos get involved and as each competes to the best, they begin to take things to the extreme and find any and every flaw they can about the others. With their pride on the line, things start taking increasingly absurd turns in ways that could tear their friendships apart. [Read more…]

Summertime (La Belle Saison) (US Cinema Review)

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It’s the early 1970s and Delphine (Izïa Higelin) is a young French woman working on her father’s farm. Her parents are keen to marry her off, but Delphine is secretly seeing a woman, which doesn’t last when her partner announces she’s marrying a man. Escaping the rural life, Delphine heads to Paris, where she falls in with a group of radical feminists, including Carole (Cécile De France).

Although Carole has a boyfriend, she and Delphine start to fall for one another, but their happiness is ruined when Delphine’s father has a stroke and she feels the need to go back to the farm to run it. Eventually Carole follows her, staying there as Delphine’s ‘friend’, but as people begin to realise the truth it causes an increasing amounts of problems. [Read more…]

Focus (Blu-ray Review)

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Before Focus went in front of the cameras there was huge amount of interest in it in Hollywood, with the likes of Ryan Gosling, Emma Stone, Ben Affleck and Kristen Stewart all being attached at one time or another. However, in the end it went to Will Smith and Margot Robbie as the two leads.

After watching it, I kind of wondered why so many people were so keen on it, as while fairly fun and decently entertaining, there’s very little to set it appear from a hundred other con-artist thrillers. [Read more…]

Portrait Of Jason (US DVD/Blu-ray Review)

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Much of queer history has been lost because by necessity it had to be hidden, but in more recent years there’s been a risk of many things disappearing simply because it’s marginalised and nobody’s been properly taking care of it. Portrait Of Jason was in danger of going that way, despite the fact it’s been acclaimed by many as one of the most important early gay-themed documentaries. Even the legendary Ingmar Bergman described it as “the most extraordinary film I’ve seen in my life.”

However, thanks to the likes of the Academy Film Archive, the UCLA Film & Television Archive, crowdfunding and the sterling work of Milestone Films, the movie has now been restored and given a proper release, allowing a new generation to take a look. [Read more…]