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

GAY INTEREST MOVIE REVIEWS

The latest gay interest film reviews from BGPS

Iris Prize Festival LGBT+ International Short Films 2020 – Part 3 (Short Film Reviews)

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Now it’s time for the final part of our round-up of the shorts that competed for the 2020 Iris Prize for Best International LGBT+ short. It’s a prize worth £30,000, which allows the winning filmmaker to make another short film. The selection below includes the short that walked away with that award, so which film won this year’s Iris Prize, you can find out below?

All the films that screened as part of the Iris Prize Festival are available to view on a pay-as-you-go basis to viewers in the UK until the end of October 2020 – Find out more here.

Read our reviews of the other 2020 Iris Prize Shorts: Part 1 and Part 2 [Read more…]

Iris Prize Festival LGBT+ International Short Films 2020 – Part 2 (Short Film Reviews)

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This year’s Iris Prize Festival went online, allowing viewers across the UK to take a look at some of the world’s best LGBT+ short films. There were some great films available, so if you’ve already taken a look at what we thought of the films from the first three programmes, you can see below what we thought of the next selections, which included everything films about coming out as trans in rural Uganda, to the insecurities of losing your virginity.

All the films that screened as part of the Iris Prize Festival are available to view on a pay-as-you-go basis to viewers in the UK until the end of October 2020 – Find out more here.

Read our reviews of the other 2020 Iris Prize Shorts: Part 1 and Part 3 [Read more…]

Iris Prize Festival LGBT+ International Short Films 2020 – Part 1 (Short Film Reviews)

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While this year’s Iris Prize Festival went online, that certainly didn’t affect the quality of the shorts competing for the £30,000 LGBT+ International Short Film prize. Here’s our thoughts on the shorts from the first three programmes.

All the films that screened as part of the Iris Prize Festival are available to view on a pay-as-you-go basis to viewers in the UK until the end of October 2020 – Find out more here.

Read our reviews of the other 2020 Iris Prize Shorts: Part 2 and Part 3 [Read more…]

McQueen (Blu-ray Review) – An exhilarating look into the life of the gay fashion legend

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I’ve often thought that if I ever had enough money that I could spend it on high end fashion, the first place I’d head is for Alexander McQueen. While in this documentary the fashion label’s namesake and founder, Lee Alexander McQueen, says in an archive interview that he can’t see the brand going on without him as the driving force, following his untimely death it has continued to find success and present the unique McQueen style thanks to the creative direction of his right hand person, Sarah Burton.

The documentary itself focuses on Lee, following his story from working class East End London lad through his apprenticeship in Savile Row, MA at Central St. Martin’s, founding his own fashion label in his early 20s, his appointment as Creative Director at Givenchy and on through the growth of the Alexander McQueen brand thanks to a partnership with Gucci. It does this via extensive archive footage as well as interviews with those closest to him, including his sister and nephew, along with the circle of friends and colleagues who worked alongside him over the years. [Read more…]

Iris Prize Festival LGBT+ International Short Films 2018 – Part 3 (Short Film Reviews)

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The final three programmes of short films in competition at the Iris Prize LGBT+ Film Festival were certainly an intriguing bunch, ranging from the complex and somewhat sinister to the very silly. The six-day celebration of LGBT+ film is centred around its justly prestigious Iris International Prize. This is the most valuable LGBT short film prize in the world, worth £30,000, which allows the recipient to make another short.

So, what were the films that rounded out the competition like (can read about the others in Part 1 and Part 2)? [Read more…]

Iris Prize Festival LGBT+ International Short Films 2018 – Part 2 (Short Film Reviews)

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The second day of the Iris Prize Film Festival brought another trio of eclectic film brought together into themed programmes. The six-day celebration of LGBT+ film is centred around its justly prestigious Iris International Prize. This is the most valuable LGBT short film prize in the world, worth £30,000, which allows the recipient to make another short.

You can read about what we thought about the films from Day 1 by clicking here, but read below for Day 2. [Read more…]

Iris Prize Festival LGBT+ International Short Films 2018 – Part 1 (Short Film Reviews)

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The ‘gay short film Oscars’, the Iris Prize, is happening in Cardiff, Wales as I post this. The six-day celebration of LGBT+ film is centred around its justly prestigious Iris International Prize. This is the most valuable LGBT short film prize in the world, worth £30,000, which allows the recipient to make another short. The first of the 35 films in competition have now screened, and once more it’s an eclectic and fascinating bunch, covering a range of themes concerning sexuality, gender and more.

This year the screenings of the shorts have been brought together into thematic groups, so take a look below to see our thoughts on the Iris Prize International Shorts from Day 1 of the fest.

Click here to read Iris Prize Festival LGBT+ International Short Films 2018 – Part 2 [Read more…]

My Friend Dahmer (Cinema Review) – The infamous gay serial killer as a teen

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Often I like to watch films that I know nothing about besides the title so that it doesn’t taint my viewing experience, but having seen this movie I feel that having prior knowledge of the protagonist’s horrific crimes would have enabled me to have gotten more out of this film.

Having grown up in England and not having an interest in serial killers, I had never really heard of Jeffrey Dahmer and the 17 men and boys he murdered between 1978 and 1991. I read his Wikipedia page after seeing this movie and it shed a lot of light upon things that were hinted at, both subtly and explicitly, throughout the film. [Read more…]

Dating My Mother (US VoD Review) – Kathryn Erbe, Kathy Najimy & a young, gay man

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Mike Roma had great success with his web series, Danny The Manny. Now he’s segued into the movies with Dating My Mother, which he both writes and directs. The semi-autobiographical movie follows Danny (Patrick Reilly), who’s finished studying film at college in LA and is now back in small-town New Jersey while he works out what to do next. [Read more…]

The Misandrists (DVD Review) – Bruce LaBruce takes us into a rather gay world without men

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Bruce LaBruce has long been a provocateur, making the sort of movies that seem designed to push buttons and get people talking. Often they’re so busy pressing thosee buttons that there seems little point to the film other than to get people out of their comfort zone – but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. He’s mixed explicit gay sex and Nazi skinheads in Skin Gang, gay porn and zombies in Otto, and even when he went comparatively ‘mainstream’ with Gerontophilia (and I use the word mainstream advisedly, as it’s merely mainstream for LaBruce), it’s about a relationship between a teen and an octogenarian.

With The Misandrists LaBruce keeps pressing buttons but focuses on something that hasn’t played a huge part in his career so far – women. The film is set in a dystopian world where the FLA – the Female Liberation Army – has holed itself up isolated in the woods as it plots its revolutionary take on a world without men. Unsurprisingly no men are allowed inside the building, but when new recruit Isolde spots an injured young man who she knows is also being persecuted by the authorities like they are, she decides to hide him in the FLA’s stronghold. [Read more…]