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

Sex Of Angels – Iris Prize Best Feature Winner Review

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Dancer Bruno is happily in love with his girlfriend, Carla…or so he thinks. Then martial artist and fellow dancer Rai steals his heart. Now the sensitive Carla must overcome her jealousy and accept her boyfriend’s tryst with Rai, but can she keep from falling for him herself? This simple narrative explores the complex issues that arise when three people share feelings but cannot choose which person is the one for them.

Some films are so unassuming in their simplicity you casually approach them with no expectations of nuanced complexity, rich narrative substance and convincing portrayal of subtly accentuated characters. Then they simply blow you away. [Read more…]

Best of Iris Prize 2012 Short Films – Day 1, Part 2

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Click here to read Part 1.

El Nido Vacio follows a rather manic sex therapist as she attempts to confront her son about a certain “member”, which seems to be troubling him. It opens the door to crises at work and conspiring with her insubordinate maid. Given the premise, there is a pressure on the film to deliver on humour, which it does ‘Carry On’ style. The acting is joyously tongue-in-cheek and you share the actors’ sense of fun as they play out the ridiculous narrative. The film is shot very well and every cut is in perfect time: the editing and shot-length is pitch-perfect. The laughs are many and the actors leave you with a smile; this short delivers no messages but entertains well. [Read more…]

Best of Iris Prize 2012 Short Films – Day 1, Part 1

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As most of the filmmakers here at Iris are saying, festivals like the Iris Prize are vital to the industry. They give budding film-makers the opportunity to prove their worth and explore the genres which influence them. The quality of some of the films so far has inspired confidence: lesbian and gay cinema is successfully delivering important messages to audiences subtly, and with great effect. From the character exploration of Prora (Stephane Riethauser) and What Are You Looking At? (Faryal) to the cinematic excellence of It’s Consuming Me (Kai Stanicke) and Days of Awe (Rehana Rose Khan), the new standards are making this niche available to all audiences, and not just those in the LGBT community. [Read more…]

Iris Prize Festival Opening Night Film Review: Yossi

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Yossi, sequel to director Eytan Fox’s 2002 movie Yossi and Jagger, is a story of recovery. The eponymous character, played superbly by Ohad Knoller, is a workaholic doctor struggling to find meaning in life and love in Tel Aviv, having lost his lover in the conflict with Lebanon.

Yossi is faced with the demons of loneliness and desperation, compounded by his age and weight being pushed well past their ‘best before’. Unable to address his sexuality with his work colleagues, he must stave off advances from an amorous nurse, and extricate himself from compromising nights out with a fellow doctor; one who is determined to show Yossi a good time, albeit with women. All the while he toes the line of a more seedy gay-scene. [Read more…]

Suicide Room (DVD)

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The Polish film Suicide Room is a strange beast; a tale of teenage angst and depression set partly in the real world and partly in a CG online realm (the titular Suicide Room). Dominik (Jakub Gierzal) is a rather emo teen, who’s surrounded by friends and thinks life is his oyster. However, after he’s dared to snog a good looking guy by his friends, he finds his sense of acceptance spiralling downwards, which gets worse when he has an orgasm during a particularly frenetic judo bout with the boy he kissed. His former friends begin mercilessly making fun of him online as his private struggle with his sexuality takes a very public form. [Read more…]

Into The Lion’s Den (DVD)

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A few years ago, gay themed horror films were pretty much unheard of, but very slowly more of them have been emerging, although it’s not exactly like we’ve had a flood. Now a new one has arrived in the form of Into The Lion’s Den, which also marks the first UK release from a brand new British branch of the successful US LGBT distributor Breaking Glass Pictures/QC Cinema.

The film sees three gay friends, Michael (Ronnie Kroell), Johnny (Jesse Archer) and Ted (Kristen-Alexzander Griffith), on a cross-country road trip heading for the big city. Johnny is busy shagging his way across the country, something the others have reservations about. When they arrive in a small town, Michael just wants to go to sleep, but Johnny drags them all to a rough looking bar, where he’s organised to meet someone for sex. However the evening turns out to be far more dangerous that any of them expected. [Read more…]

Modern Family – Season 3 (Blu-ray)

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Before Modern Family came along, a lot of TV pundits were all ready to pronounce the death of the US sitcom. Then the series came along, became a darling of the critics and found huge audiences too. It’s managed to keep up the quality through its first three seasons, so that just a few days ago it picked up five Emmys.

It’s a great show, where strong writing and good direction come together with one of the best casts ever assembled for a television show. The acting really is top notch (it’s notable that when Julie Bowen and Eric Stonestreet won their Emmys for the show, they had to beat out four of their castmates, who were nominated in the same categories) and it’s not just the adults, as the kids are all great too. Much of the time with sitcoms, you’re sort of having to forgive the younger cast members their lack of comic skill, but here they’re all great – even four-year-old Aubrey Anderson-Emmons, who plays Lily, has her moments. [Read more…]

Beauty (Skoonheid) (DVD)

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Beauty is an interesting yet eerily creepy South African film that takes a look at how the sexual repression and frustration of someone in a homophobic environment can impact and severely mentally scar a person.

The film centres on Francois (Deon Lotz), an openly racist and homophobic married South African man in his forties, who, after indulging in sexual activity with men in private, becomes obsessed with the son of friend. As the film moves along and develops, we see Francois’ repressed homosexual feelings gradually sending his mental health into decline, and the attraction he feels towards Christian (Charlie Keegan), his friend’s son, turn into a loathing which culminates in a horrific and unpleasant encounter that will leave most viewers uneasy. [Read more…]

The Hollow Crown (DVD)

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One of the by-products of this year’s Cultural Olympiad and the Summer Of Shakespeare was the BBC’s ambitious plan to bring the Bard’s Henriad tetralogy (sorry, it’s Shakespeare and therefore long words are compulsory) to the screen. Under the title The Hollow Crown we get Richard II, Henry IV Part I, Henry IV Part 2 and Henry V, which cover one period of British history from the rise of Henry IV and the usurpation (another good long word there) of Richard II, through the reign of Henry’s son, Henry V.

While the three Henrys tell one interlinked story with many recurring characters, Richard II is a bit of a play on its own, even though it deals with some of the same people. It’s also probably the least known of the plays, often regarded as one of Shakespeare’s more difficult texts, but as Rupert Goold’s two-hour take on the tale proves, it’s also one of the richest. [Read more…]

Be Mine (DVD)

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Be Mine is gay themed romantic comedy that tells the tale of a gay man who is about to be married, as he recounts the time he was a kissing virgin, waiting for that first snog.

At first you may think the film sounds like it could be another light hearted comedy in the way that Another Gay Movie was, but where as Another Gay Movie had hilarious characters and a plethora of laugh out loud moments, Be Mine has none of those. Overall it isa bit like what the secondary characters were up to during the house party of the first American Pie film, only this party is quite possibly the worst I’ve ever seen in a film, with around 20 guests and that’s being generous. [Read more…]