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

La Cage Aux Folles (Criterion Blu-ray Review) – 40-years on the gay classic returns in HD

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We have reviewed 1978’s classic La Cage Aux Folles before, so if you’re just interested in the movie, you can click here to see what we had to say about it. The movie has just had a Criterion Collection release in the UK, so here we’ll concentrate on this first Blu-ray appearance in Britain.

As the film opens it seems like the HD upgrade isn’t going to be worth it as the first few shots in the drag club are quite soft and grainy. However, as soon as the action moves into gay couple Renato (Ugo Tognazzi) and Albin’s (Michel Serrault) apartment, things improve considerably, with the picture getting sharper and more detailed. [Read more…]

Hidden Kisses (Baisers cachés) (US DVD Review) – A secret gay kiss leads to major problems for two teens

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At a party teenagers Nathan and Louis share a secret kiss. What they only realise later is that someone saw them, took a photo and put it on Facebook. Only new boy in school Nathan is recognisable in the picture, leading to plenty of speculation about who the other boy is. It also means that Nathan has now been outed, including to his unsuspecting father and his classmates, who soon start making life difficult for him.

With his teachers prevaricating over how – or even whether – to help him and the abuse getting worse, Nathan also has to deal with the fact his dad is struggling with the realisation he has a gay son. Louis isn’t helping either, as he says the kiss was just an experiment. However, he may only be saying that because he has deeply homophobic parents who he knows would reject him. [Read more…]

B&B (DVD Review) – Things get deadly for a gay couple during a trip to a remote hotel

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Gay couple Marc (Tom Bateman) and Fred (Sean Teale) have won a case against a Christian bed and breakfast owner who wouldn’t allow them to share a bed. In order to gloat/revel in their victory, they have returned to the B&B, where the owner, Josh (Paul McGann), has decided everyone will now have to have single beds, whether they’re gay, straight, married or single.

They also meet Josh’s teenage son, Paul (Callum Woodhouse), who appears to be hiding his sexuality from his homophobic father. There’s also one other guest, a hulking Russian called Alexie. Marc is convinced that Alexie might also be gay, while Fred thinks he may be there for more sinister reasons, especially when he realises the Russian’s tattoos could mean he’s a killer. [Read more…]

Political Animals (US DVD/VoD Review) – Taking a look at the first four gay California state representatives

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Alongside the ‘great men’ theory of history, we also have a tendency to think in ‘great events’, and that the things that have changed society fell out of the sky fully formed. That’s certainly been true of gay rights, where you could be forgiven for thinking no one had considered there should be more equality until Stonewall in 1969, or that the whirlwind of gay marriage in the US was a couple of overtures (the legalisation in Massachusetts in 2004, and Prop. 8 in California) before the Supreme Court decision in 2015. However, there was a lot more to it than that, laying the political groundwork for what was to come.

Political Animals is a look at the first four openly gay people to be elected to the California state legislature, all of them women (although there were previous gay elected officials in California – not least Harvey Milk – they’d operated on a more local level, rather than state-wide). However, as well as looking at the women themselves, the film is keen to show the work they did promoting gay rights in California, particularly in terms of legislation that helped pave the way for gay marriage. [Read more…]

Tickled (DVD Review)

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Often the best documentaries are the ones that end up taking a different direction than originally planned. With Tickled, that left-turn occurred slightly before they decided to make a film, when New Zealand journalist David Farrier stumbled upon the little-known ‘sport’ of competitive tickling.

Known for reporting on unusual, quirky subjects, he fired off an email to the company behind the ‘tournaments’, Jane O’Brien Media, only to be met with threats of lawsuits, and an immediate obsession with the fact Farrier is gay. The woman writing back to him was adamant there was nothing gay about competitive tickling, despite the fact only young, often shirtless men were involved and the whole thing seemed, well, pretty gay. The messages from Jane O’Brien Media got more extreme, anti-Semitic and homophobic, and it was only at that point a decision was taken to make a documentary. [Read more…]

Lazy Eye (US Cinema Review)

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By all rights, Lazy Eye should be a dull film. The vast majority of it is just two men by themselves, chatting about things. However, thanks to some good performances and a thoughtful take on aging, love and life, it’s far more interesting than you might expect.

Dean (Lucas Near-Verbrugghe) is a graphic designer working in film in Los Angeles. He gets an unexpected message from Alex (Aaron Costa Ganis), the lover who disappeared from his life 15 years before. They arrange to meet up at Dean’s isolated second home near Joshua Tree, where passions almost instantly re-ignite – indeed for Dean they’ve reignited even before Alex shows up. [Read more…]

Front Cover (US Cinema Review)

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Asian-American Ryan (Jake Choi) is a stylist, struggling to make it up the ranks. He gets an unexpected assignment dressing a top Chinese film star who’s coming to the US for a photoshoot and to raise his US profile. The star, Ning (james Chen), only wants a ‘Chinese’ stylist, which is why Ryan gets the job, even though he’s lived in the US all his life and has somewhat been running from his Asian heritage.

The connection between the two is initially fractious. Ning is spoiled, difficult and entitled, while Ryan is more interested in what the assignment might mean for his career than his client. Things get even worse when Ning realises that Ryan is gay, which causes the star to fire the stylist. Ning is unprepared to deal with someone who doesn’t hide their sexuality or express any shame about it, but it soon becomes clear that his reaction isn’t pure homophobia, as he might have a few secrets of his own. [Read more…]

Hot Pursuit (Blu-ray Review)

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Hot Pursuit must have seemed like a slam dunk. Get two popular actresses who’ve had comedy success, give them a script that’s a little similar to The Heat and bring in a director who had a big hit with The Proposal. However, the resulting movie flopped at the cinemas and has an abysmally low rating of 7% on Rotten Tomatoes.

To be fair to it though, it’s not as dreadful as that might suggest. You can almost feel the critics reacting to the fact it all very forced – a movie that from the ground up feels cynically contrived to pander to the audience and as a result ends up lacking real heart. However, everyone involved is obviously extremely keen to please, rather like an overly keen party host, where you can appreciate the effort even if you wish they wouldn’t try so hard. [Read more…]

Soft Lad (DVD Review)

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Brookside and Hollyoaks actor Leon Lopez heads for the writer and director’s chair with Soft Lad, which follows David (Jonny Labey), a young gay guy who is having an affair with the older Jules (Daniel Brocklebank). What seriously complicates things is that Jules is David’s brother-in-law, and they are having sex behind David’s sister’s back.

David wants more, but Jules is still in denial about his sexuality (even if he can’t hold his jealousy about David in check) and both know there will be major fallout if the secret comes out. After an argument with Jules, David meets Sam (Craig Stein), who offers him the relationship he really wants. However, Jules’ lies cause more problems than David ever expected. [Read more…]

Kissing Darkness (DVD Review)

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Vampires have always been a little bit gay, but Kissing Darkness wants to take that further with a film that comes across as if Twilight had been made in the style of a gay porn movie – except without the hardcore sex.

A group of gay friends (plus a token straight guy) head off for a weekend at a remote cabin. However their fun time isn’t just spoiled by tensions amongst them, but by a strange spirit they awaken after messing with a Ouija board. The ‘witch’ seems to have a problem with the gays, and works her way through the group, turning them into bloodthirsty vampires who do her bidding. [Read more…]