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

Mapplethorpe: Look At The Pictures (Cinema Review)

By Leave a Comment

Many people know the name Robert Mapplethorpe and the fact that he took some pretty rude photos. However, the man himself has become somewhat lost in the mix. Indeed, perhaps the best known thing about him happened after he died. His exhibition The Perfect Moment caused protests in many of the cities it travelled to in the US, which launched a national conversation about whether the government should subsidise such ‘shocking’ art. It also resulted in a court case that tried to convict one of the exhibition spaces showing The Perfect Moment with obscenity.

That’s not the only thing that’s tended to obscure the man behind the myth, as well as meaning many people know little about the breadth of his art. Other things that sometimes overshadow a fuller appreciation of Mapplethorpe include his relationship with Patti Smith, as well as particular images that tend to overwhelm everything around them (such as the infamous self-portrait where he has a bullwhip stuck up his ass). Indeed, many watching this documentary may be surprised about how many his non-sexual images they recognise, without knowing he was the man behind them. If nothing else, Look At The Pictures is testament to what a good photographer he was. [Read more…]

Peter de Rome (DVD Review)

By Leave a Comment

Starring:
Director:
Running Time:
Certificate:
Release Date:

Back in 2012 the British Film Institute released what is undoubtedly one of the most explicit DVDs ever given an 18 certificate in the UK – The Erotic Films Of Peter De Rome. It was a collection of what are essentially hardcore gay porn short films, which isn’t the sort of thing you’d normally think the BFI would be involved with. They were a bit special though, as they were the work of Peter de Rome, who made them in the 1960s and 70s, at a time before there was such a thing as a gay porn industry. They are extremely rare looks at how gay life – and more particularly gay sex – was back then, as well as being influential in the direction gay erotica took.

The documentary Peter de Rome takes a look at the man’s life, putting his films in the context both of what the filmmaker was trying to do, and the world in which he created them. The film features plenty of interviews with de Rome – in fact he essentially acts as a tour guide to his own life. After serving in the Air Force during the Second World War, de Rome was Involved on the side of the film industry and led a transatlantic existence for most of his life, spending part of his time in the UK and the rest in New York. [Read more…]

Mexican Men (DVD Review)

By Leave a Comment

Starring:
Director: ,
Running Time:
Certificate:
Release Date:

I’ve written on more than one occasion that some of the most interesting queer cinema around is coming out of Central and South America. This new release focuses on the work of Julián Hernández (Broken Sky, Raging Sun Raging Sky) and Roberto Fiesco, who have often collaborated together (such as Fiesco producing Hernández’s film). Mexican Men brings together five gay-themed short films, the first directed by Fiesco, with the others helmed by Hernández.

So are they any good? Take a look below. [Read more…]

Straight Outta Compton – Director’s Cut (Blu-ray Review)

By Leave a Comment

Oftentimes having the subject of a biopic involved in the production ends up watering it down to the point it’s completely neutered. However, we should have probably guessed that wouldn’t have been too much of a problem for the members of NWA, who made their name by being honest about their lives and the world that they came from.

Even so, it’s taken a long time to get the project off the ground, and even just before it arrived, some wondered whether the subject matter would have genuinely wide appeal. However, with a great critical reaction and a gross of $160 million just in the US, it certainly defied expectations. It undoubtedly helped as well that the film arrived just at the right moment too, as the Black Lives Matter movement was rising and distrust of US law enforcement made the message of songs like ‘Fuck tha Police’ seem as timely as when they were first written. [Read more…]

A Girl At My Door (DVD Review)

By Leave a Comment

Starring: , , ,
Director:
Running Time:
Certificate:
Release Date:

South Korean actress Doona Bae has had a fair amount of success in the West, thanks to home-grown movies such as The Host and Sympathy For Mr. Vengeance and becoming one of the Wachowskis’s favoured actors in the likes of Cloud Atlas, Jupiter Ascending and Sense8. With A Girl At My Door she returns to the Korean peninsula to play Young-Nam, who after a minor scandal is sent to a small, rural town to be their police chief.

Told to keep her head down, she immediately begins to ruffle feathers when she discovers a man called Yong-ha beating his daughter Do-hee. He is not impressed about being told what to do, as he feels he runs the town – and most agree, as most people’s livelihoods rely on the crooked and corrupt economy he has set up. [Read more…]

Chemsex (UK Cinema Review)

By Leave a Comment

Starring:
Director: ,
Running Time:
Certificate:
Release Date:

If you go onto Grindr it’s not unusual to see someone’s headline including something like ‘PNP’, ‘Chem’, ‘T’, ‘Tina’ or similar. Indeed, for quite a while I didn’t have a clue what these meant, and was quite surprised when I discovered it involves an entire subculture of gay men. However, as the documentary Chemsex shows, for some mixing drugs and sex is far more than just an occasional aberration. It can go far enough that it almost becomes a way of life, no matter the repercussions or whether they are in control of it.

Directors William Fairman and Max Gogarty explore what they term a gay healthy emergency in London (and it’s undoubtedly true you see a lot more ads from ‘chem-friendly’ guys in the UK capital than most other places), spending a year talking to men who are part of the Chemsex world, from those just starting and see it as an adjunct of the BDSM they’re interested in, to those who are so far down the rabbit hole they’re in the grip of drug-induced psychosis. [Read more…]

Love Is The Devil (Blu-ray Review)

By Leave a Comment

John Maybury’s 1998 film about the relationship between painter Francis Bacon (Derek Jacobi) and his lover George Dyer (Daniel Craig) gets an HD upgrade from the British Film Institute with this Blu-ray release. The movie focuses on one period of Bacon’s life in the 1960s, when Bacon was already a lauded artist, considered by many as the greatest living British painter.

Bacon wakes up one night to find small-time thief George Dyer robbing his apartment/studio. Instead of calling police, Bacon invites Dyer into his bed. The thief accepts, which marks the start of an intense relationship between the two – one of whom is a rarefied figure in the world of art, while the other is a working class criminal. Initially their mismatched social status doesn’t matter, partly as their sexuality and attitudes means both feel like outsiders, but soon cracks begin to show. [Read more…]

Pasolini (Blu-ray Review)

By Leave a Comment

Starring: , ,
Director:
Running Time:
Certificate:
Release Date:

Abel Ferrara’s movie about director Pier Paolo Pasolini’s final day in 1975 has been described as ‘non-linear’, ‘cubist’ and ‘kaleidoscopic’, which should be a good hint that this is not a straightforward, simple movie. This is a movie for those who enjoy their films on the artier side and don’t mind something that asks them to piece things together to create a moment in someone’s life. It also helps if you know a little bit about Pasolini before you watch it.

Pasolini was a true artistic polymath, distinguishing himself as a poet, writer, film director, political figure and cultural philosopher. His leftist politics made him a controversial figure to some, although many couldn’t see past the ‘shocking’ elements of his work – but as Pasolini puts it, “To scandalise is a right, to be scandalised is a pleasure”. [Read more…]

Drown (DVD Review)

By 1 Comment

Starring: , , ,
Director:
Running Time:
Certificate:
Release Date:

This Aussie drama is about a group of young men who all belong to a surf lifesaving club. Len is a long-time member and the most successful of the group, having won numerous championships and lifesaver of the year awards. His life is shaken up with the arrival of the younger Phil, who saves someone from drowning on his first day and proceeds to show he could well be a challenger to Len’s crown.

However, it’s not just his fitness and lifesaving skills that Len has difficulty with, but also the fact he is attracted to the young man – something he doesn’t want to deal with. Phil meanwhile is well aware that he is gay and he has a boyfriend, even if he keeps that quiet at the club. Tension begins to grow, and as Len finds it increasingly difficult to deal with his feelings, they threaten to erupt in extremely dangerous ways. [Read more…]

Jess & James (DVD Review)

By 1 Comment

Starring: , ,
Director:
Running Time:
Certificate:
Release Date:

South America has emerged as a bit of a powerhouse when it comes to LGBT cinema in the past couple of years, and that continues with the Argentinian Jess & James.

James is a young man fed up with living with his demanding mother. He meets the extremely hot Jess and they immediately have a sexual encounter. The next day James impulsively decides to go and find James and invite him on a roadtrip. Despite Jess being in bed with a woman, he agrees to go, and the duo head off into the countryside. [Read more…]