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

Brokeback Mountain The Opera (DVD Review)

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Yes, there really is a Brokeback Mountain The Opera. It’s not a satire like Jerry Springer The Opera; it’s a proper, legit opera, and even has a libretto by the creator of the original short story it’s based on, Annie Proulx. It was originally written to be performed by the New York City Opera’s programme that creates new works around ideas and stories that are familiar to a younger, less elite audience. However when General Director Gerard Mortier moved from New York to the Teatro Real in Madrid, he took the piece with him.

It is initially an odd mix. Watching big, tough burly cowboys singing in a singularly operatic fashion takes some getting used to. I’m sure you’re familiar with the story though. Jack Twist and Ennis Del Mar meet when they are hired to look after sheep one summer on Brokeback Mountain. Initially Jack finds it difficult to connect with the quiet and somewhat taciturn Ennis, but soon they bond and embark on an intense love affair. [Read more…]

The Case Against 8 (DVD Review)

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For those of you who don’t keep up with the gay rights struggle in the US, in November 2008 a measure was put on the California ballot – Proposition 8 – that sought to add to the state’s constitution that marriage should be solely between one man and one woman. It was particularly contentious as for several months gay marriage had been legal in California, meaning that when the electorate voted for Prop 8, 1000s of same sex marriages were suddenly invalidated.

The Case Against 8 follows what happened after that, when it was decided that the best way forward to ensure marriage equality was legal in the most populous US State was to launch a court case that would seek to find Prop 8 as being against the overall US Constitution. [Read more…]

I Am Divine (Review)

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“Divine was the burlesque of John”

After premièring in the US at South by Southwest in 2013, I Am Divine finally hits the UK shores. It tells the story of how drag artiste Divine, aka Harris Glen Milstead, became John Waters’ cinematic muse and an international drag icon.

I Am Divine is a definitive biographical portrait of Divine, best known as the drag queen that ate dog poo in Pink Flamingo’s. The documentary honours Divine in just the way he always craved — as a serious artist and immortal star. Unfortunately, he died days before shooting began for Married with Children, where Divine was finally due to be taken seriously as an actor. [Read more…]

More Than Honey (Cinema)

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I’d like to coin a new genre of documentary, called the ‘Aren’t humans assholes’ genre. It’s becoming increasingly popular, where whatever the subject, at some point it has to get around to how people are screwing everything up. I’m not saying we aren’t screwing things up, but in everything from David Attenborough docs to More Than Honey, there’s an inevitability that at some point you’ll have to feel a bit guilty. [Read more…]

Oliver Stone’s Untold History Of The United States (DVD)

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The fact this is ‘Oliver Stone’s’ Untold History Of The United States should give you a hint that this is not a series to toe the party line. Through its 10 episodes, Stone is determined to be as contrarian as possible, often to great effect but sometimes taking things a little too far. To be fair it’s an inevitable by-product of the project, which sets out to give the other side of US history – or at least what Stone seem to think is the other side, even when he’s saying things that most people now agree is true but which he seems to think is hidden knowledge. [Read more…]

Vito (DVD)

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I often turn into an old man when it comes to most people’s knowledge of gay history, or rather their lack thereof. For many people there was Oscar Wilde, Stonewall and then somebody decided equal marriage would be nice, and that’s about it. You can kind of understand the ignorance, as LGBT history is so resolutely ignored in schools that you’d be forgiven for thinking there isn’t one, so anything that comes along to remind us it was a long, complex path to get us where we are is very welcome. [Read more…]

Call Me Kuchu (DVD)

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Call Me Kutchu takes an intimate and thought provoking look at the state of affairs for members of the LGBT community in Uganda, against the backdrop of the kill the gays bill.

In recent years the world has become aware of the negativity shown towards gay men and women in Uganda, and this film shows us what activists in the country are doing to try and make inequality a thing of the past. It also shows us the final year of gay rights activist David Kato towards the latter half of the film, which will evoke strong emotions from the audience, some of you may even cry. [Read more…]

British Legends Of Stage & Screen (DVD)

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At the end of British Legends Of Stage & Screen I got the distinct impression that you weren’t allowed to be an actor from the 1940s to the 1980s unless Sir Laurence Olivier said so. I’m sure it wasn’t quite as strict as that, but of the eights actors interviewed here, seven have Olivier based stories and six owe a large chunk of their early success to him. The only ones who don’t are Glenda Jackson and Christopher Lee, but even he claims to have snuck onto the set of Hamlet and hung around in the background. [Read more…]

The Island President (DVD)

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The Island President tries to give a human face to climate change, following Maldives President Mohamed Nasheed. The movie opens with a quick history of the man, who was educated in England before returning to The Maldives and working for years to bring democracy to the autocratic islands that had been ruled by the same man since 1978. He was arrested and tortured numerous times, had to go into exile before going back and managing to help force change and become President in 2008.

Rather than just resting on his laurels, Mohamed quickly realised that the biggest issue facing The Maldives is climate change and that if it isn’t stopped, the islands may literally sink under the waves in the next 50 years. The film follows his attempts to raise the profile of the issue and affect change ahead of the Copenhagen Climate Change Summit in December of 2009. [Read more…]

Four Horsemen (DVD)

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It’s very rare that something actually makes me angry, but Four Horsemen did. The documentary tries to deflect criticism by saying during the voiceover that some will dismiss it as socialist when it isn’t, but my problem with it wasn’t with its viewpoint, but that as an argument it’s absolutely hideously constructed and an altogether frustrating experience.

Made in the wake of the banking collapse and economic crisis, Four Horsemen attempts to explain what happened, why we haven’t learned any lessons from it, and why western society is on the brink of collapse and unable to come to terms with the fact its version of civilisation may have peaked. Much of it is stuff many will have heard before, especially as the economic collapse has been picked apart in detail by numerous different voices. It doesn’t help that Four Horsemen has little new to add, and most of what it does have to say has been said better by others – the wonderful The Shock Doctrine and Inside Job spring to mind. [Read more…]