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

1:54 (BFI Flare Review) – Things get extremely dark for a bullied gay teen

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At BFI Flare, 1:54 was a rather polarising movie, with some praising the dark repercussions of teen homophobia it explores, whilst others felt it was all a little contrived – one person even called it exploitative.

Tim (Antoine Olivier Pilon) is a teenager who has spent years being bullied, which has grown increasingly homophobic in nature. His only friend is Francis (Robert Naylor), and while both feel an attraction to each other, they both ignore it, at least in Tim’s case because of the fear of what will happen if others – particularly the group led by the unpleasant Jeff – discover he really is a ‘fag’. [Read more…]

Centre Of My World (BFI Flare Review) – First love & dark family secrets for a young gay man

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Based on Andreas Steinhöfel’s bestselling novel, Centre Of My World follows gay teenager Phil (Louis Hoffman), who returns from a summer camp to find that his unorthodox single mother, Glass (Sabine Timoteo) and twin sister Dianne (Ada Philine Stappenbeck), aren’t speaking to one another, but no one will tell him why.

When he returns to school, he meets new boy Nicholas (Jannik Schümann), who he immediately starts to fall for. Initially Phil just watches his new crush from afar, but then Nicholas decides to make a move, and the two begin both dating and having passionate sex. Phil’s best friend Kat (Svenja Jung) initially isn’t sure about this newcomer, but soon the three of them are fast friends. [Read more…]

Torrey Pines (BFI Flare Review) – Gender dysphoria & mental health get a stop-motion film

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There aren’t many LGBT-themed animated movies, and most of the ones that exist are short films. Torrey Pines is a bit of an exception then – a 60-minute stop-motion film, that takes on issues such as a youth experiencing gender dysphoria and mental health problem.

It’s based on director/animator Clyde Petersen’s own childhood, following him when he was a young child called Whitney, a girl on the edge of puberty, experiencing the sense that she does not want breast and to get periods, but still at a time when she is more child than adult. [Read more…]

Jewel’s Catch One (BFI Flare Review) – An inspirational look at an LGBT activist & her nightclub

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Although some may not have heard of the Jewel’s Catch One nightclub, for others it’s a legendary venue – the Studio 54 of the West Coast – that for over 40 years welcomed all, but mostly gay men and women, and was a particular refuge for the African-American LGBT population of LA. It also became a hangout for celebrities, and hosted a Madonna album launch.

This documentary looks at the club and more particularly the woman who founded it, Jewel Thais-Williams. Hers is a remarkable story. Despite having little money, she bought the bar that later expanded into the club at a time when women in California weren’t even allowed to be bartenders (unless they owned the bar). She wasn’t just a woman in a man’s world, she was a black woman in a white man’s world, and she was also a lesbian. [Read more…]

After Louie (BFI Flare Review) – AIDS, generational changes, gay life & Alan Cumming

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After Louie is one of the higher profile titles at this year’s BFI Flare London LGBT Film Festival – largely because it stars Alan Cumming. He plays Sam, an artist working on a documentary about his friend, William, who died during the AIDS crisis. However, he discovers that few people are that interested in his project.

He meets the much younger Braeden (Zachary Booth), initially assuming the young man must be a rent boy, and so pays him for sex. Braeden also has a boyfriend, but starts to see more of Sam. They start to challenge each other’s assumption, with Sam angry that the younger generation don’t seem to care about the AIDS crisis and the battle against heteronormative culture he and his friends engaged in. Braeden meanwhile shows him that his generation have a very different experience of the world – and HIV – and that while Sam’s generation’s battles helped pave the way for that, it’s impossible for younger people to truly comprehend what it was like to watch so many people die amidst a society that didn’t care and in many cases attacked them. [Read more…]

Different For Girls (BFI Flare Web Series Review) – The lesbian housewives of London?

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The new web series Different For Girls received its World Premiere at the BFI Flare London LGBT Film Festival last night, before going online worldwide from March 18th. It’s an attempt to fill the void left by the lack of lesbian TV programming, with a show that looks like it could/should have been on a traditional television channel, but made – by necessity – on a much smaller budget. Nevertheless, they’ve pulled together a good cast, including Guinevere Turner (Go Fish, The Watermelon Woman,), Caroline Whitney Smith (Her Story), and Rachel Shelley (The L Word).

The five episodes of Season 1 introduce us to the slightly soap opera lives of a group of women in London’s Chiswick district. There’s Gemma, who’s dating Jude, but who’s also getting married to a guy – to satisfy her parents and his acting career. Jude though hasn’t really cut ties with her ex, Nicola, which isn’t making things easier with Gemma. Nicola is supposed to have moved on and has a wife, Brooke, and kids. Even so, Nicola has a hard time committing to this supposed domestic bliss, and if having an affair on the side. Brooke may not know that, but she does know her partner is neglecting her home life. [Read more…]

A Very Sordid Wedding (US Cinema Review) – Back into the mad lives of the residents of Winters, Texas

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Del Shores’ Sordid Lives has had quite a life. It started out a play, before becoming a movie in 2000. The film quickly developed a cult following and spawned a prequel TV series in 2008. Now it’s gotten a sequel. While the likes of Olivia Newton John, Beth Grant and Beau Bridges from the original film don’t return, Bonnie Bedelia, Leslie Jordan, Lorna Scott, Rosemary Alexander and others all return for this new visit to Winters, Texas, where the people are still a little nuts, even if some of them have softened over time.

It’s 2015, and Ty (Kirk Geiger), who was coming to terms with his sexuality in the first film, is now legally married to a man. His mother, Latrelle (Bedelia), is still living in Winters, but isn’t quite as difficult a person as she once was, although she’s still got an edge when pushed. However, when she discovers she’s going to become a grandmother, she realises perhaps she’s still got a bit of a journey to go on to really open up her heart. [Read more…]

Dropping The Soap (VoD Review) – Jane Lynch & Paul Witten head into a campy soap opera world

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The web series Dropping The Soap has been in the works for several years, but it’s only now that it’s arriving on VoD platforms, including the LGBT-centric streaming service, Dekkoo.com. It’s a 10-episode series, taking us into the mad world of the (fictional) US soap opera, Collided Lives.

Julian Draker (Paul Witten) is the star of Collided Lives, an egotistical man, obsessed with getting enough close-ups, maintaining his soap star status and ensuring nobody else upstages him. However, he has stiff competition from co-star Kit Knockers (Kate Mines), who would like nothing more than to knock Julian off his perch and become Collided Lives’ main star. [Read more…]

Kings, Queens & In-Betweens (US VoD Review) – Inside the surprisingly bright LGBT drag world of Ohio

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Who knew that Columbus, Ohio was a hotbed of drag? Well, I expect a lot of the LGBT residents of the city knew, but it’ll come as a surprise to most of the rest of us. Director Gabrielle Burton delves deep into that world in her documentary, Kings, Queens & In-Betweens.

Across its 90-minutes the film attempts to highlight the diversity of the drag world, which isn’t just about gay men going on stage dressed as caricatured women. There are also drag kings, some identifying as women, some men and others living between the two genders. Likewise, while most of the drag queens are happy to pull off the costume and makeup, and live as men for the rest of their lives, the documentary introduces us to at least one for whom drag became an outlet until they transitioned to living as a woman full-time. [Read more…]

Call Me A Ghost (Gay Adult Short Film Review) – Can porn explore sadness?

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A few months ago we reviewed explicit filmmaker Noel Alejandro’s short film Thank You, which impressed us by creating porn that felt more grounded and real than most. Now he’s back with Call Me A Ghost, which brings a touch of the supernatural to hardcore gay movies.

However, perhaps the most surprising thing is that it’s porn where the main character is sad. Mixing sadness and depression with sex isn’t unheard of in other sorts of movies – often shown as an act of desperation or the need to feel something, with the actual sex depicted as a negative thing. Things are different here, with the sex bringing connection and erotic charge. It may not ‘solve’ the main character’s melancholia, but neither is it depicted as the symptom of something bad. [Read more…]