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

Heartstone (Cinema Review) – Gay and straight teens come of age in remote Iceland

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The Icelandic movie Heartstone arrives in the UK fresh from a very successful festival run, where it impressed audiences and picked up over 30 awards. That’s not bad for a movie from a country with a population of just 332,000 people. That’s about the same as the city of Coventry. Despite its size, it has a surprisingly thriving film industry, to the point where a large chunk of the population must spend at least part of their time making movies – and surprisingly good ones.

The film follows a group of teenagers in a remote fishing community. It’s a place where they’re left to their own devices a lot of the time, as parents are either absent or ill-equipped for their role in shaping young minds. The focus is Thor (Þór – Baldur Einarsson), who’s on the point where he’s frustrated his body is developing as fast as some of his friends, but he’s certainly becoming more interested in girls. His best friend is Christian (Kristján – Blær Hinriksson), with the two of them pretty much inseparable. [Read more…]

Princess Cyd (US Cinema Review) – Life opens & changes for a teenage girl in the lesbian-themed film

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Stephen Cone has been building a pretty strong reputation as a writer/director with contemplative LGBT-themed films such as Henry Gamble’s Birthday Party and The Wise Kids. Indeed, New York’s prestigious Museum Of The Moving Image has just finished the ‘Talk About the Passion: Stephen Cone’s First Act’ season, which featured a selection of his film, including his latest, Princess Cyd.

The titular Cyd (Jessie Pinnick) is a 16-year-old who lives with her depressed single father. For the summer she goes to visit her novelist aunt, Miranda (Rebecca Spence), which will both get her away from her dad for a few weeks, and allow her to catch up with her mom’s side of the family, who she hasn’t had a lot of contact with since her mother’s death. [Read more…]

Even Lovers Get The Blues (DVD Review) – Friends try to figure what sex and life mean in the LGBT-themed movie

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The Belgian film Even Lovers Gets The Blues follows a group of friends in the aftermath of the death of one of their number. After a night of fun and passion for all of them, Hugo keels over and dies while his girlfriend, Ana, is taking a post-sex shower.

This potent reminder of mortality has a profound effect on all of them. Ana is left reeling from the death of her lover, and tries to fill the gap in her life and deal with her grief by sleeping with a variety of men. Louis seems to wants his girlfriend, Leo, to have a baby, but she seems unsure and both have difficulty communicating about it. Dahlia and Graciano meanwhile have issues with their sex life, as Graciano is finding it difficult to stay aroused and his attempts to bring intimacy back to their relationship fail. Things change one drunken and drugged up night when he sleeps with their promiscuous gay friend, Arthur. [Read more…]

Alpha Delta Zatan (VoD Review) – It’s homoerotic frat boy murder time

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You know the bits at the beginning of a porn scene where they have some plot (the plumber’s here to work on your pipes etc.) or where men get themselves all sexually frustrated by working out? Well, this is kind of like the feature-length version of that, except with no sex at the end.

Set in a frat house at a top university, right from the beginning we know this is a dangerous place as a man is stalked and killed by someone wearing a harlequin costume. When a new pledge comes into the house, he’s at first pleased to have been chosen for this prestigious frat, which is known to produce the future leaders of America. However, he soon starts to realise something strange is going on, as his fellow frat members start disappearing, he has dreams about someone wearing a harlequin mask and a slightly older guy known as ‘Frat Dad Brad’ begins being increasingly demanding. [Read more…]

The Ornithologist (DVD Review) – Things get strange and a little gay in the wilderness

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João Pedro Rodrigues’s The Ornithologist got a fair amount of attention at film festivals, mesmerising many (and winning awards in the process), while rather perplexing others. However, a film inspired by the wanderings of St. Anthony of Padua and from a director not well known for making particularly accessible movies, isn’t likely to be straightforward.

The Ornithologist of the title is Fernando, who is out on his own in the wilds looking for black storks. After his kayak is caught in the rapids and destroyed, he is rescued by two young, Chinese women who are on a pilgrimage. However, his rescuers soon reveal a darker side, with Fernando ending up in his underwear tied to a tree. [Read more…]

B&B (DVD Review) – Things get deadly for a gay couple during a trip to a remote hotel

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Gay couple Marc (Tom Bateman) and Fred (Sean Teale) have won a case against a Christian bed and breakfast owner who wouldn’t allow them to share a bed. In order to gloat/revel in their victory, they have returned to the B&B, where the owner, Josh (Paul McGann), has decided everyone will now have to have single beds, whether they’re gay, straight, married or single.

They also meet Josh’s teenage son, Paul (Callum Woodhouse), who appears to be hiding his sexuality from his homophobic father. There’s also one other guest, a hulking Russian called Alexie. Marc is convinced that Alexie might also be gay, while Fred thinks he may be there for more sinister reasons, especially when he realises the Russian’s tattoos could mean he’s a killer. [Read more…]

Teenage Kicks (DVD Review) – Tragedy changes a young man’s life in the gay-themed Aussie film

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Back in 2009, director Craig Boreham made the acclaimed short film Drowning, starring Miles Szanto and Xavier Samuel (who went on to appear in the likes of The Twilight Saga: Eclipse and Fury). Teenage Kicks is the long-gestating feature-length version of that short, which despite the passage of eight years brings back Szanto in the central role. It continues Australia’s recent run of strong, sometimes raw, gay-themed films.

Mik (Szanto) is a young, second generation immigrant, who’s keen to get away from his family and head off somewhere new with his best friend Dan (Dan Webber). Things change however when Mik’s brother dies in an accident – a collision Mik witnessed but pretends that he didn’t. [Read more…]

Palace Of Fun (DVD Review) – Things get psychosexual & a little gay in Brighton

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Lily and Jamie are enjoying the fact that while it’s summer, they have their parents posh Sussex house to themselves. This idyll is disrupted when Lily brings her brand new boyfriend, Finn, into the house for the weekend.

Jamie seems uncertain about this interloper, who is gettin in the way of his time with his sister. However, when he discovers a secret about Finn, it sets off a series of events where blackmail develops into Jamie finding ways to satisfy his sexual desires and need for power. [Read more…]

Prom King, 2010 (Iris Prize Best Feature Winner Review) – Will a young man find Hollywood love or just feel like a gay imposter?

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Charlie (Christopher Schaap) is a young gay man in college. He has grown up watching classic Hollywood movies, which have filled his head with the idea that love should feel like it’s in slow motion and in Technicolor hyper-reality. However, as he negotiates romance, friendship and the realities of being gay in the 21st Century, he soon discovers things aren’t going to be as simple as they are in an old black and white romances.

Over the course of his college career Charlie looks for love, getting very close to it with some guys, but spectacularly failing with others. As he discovers, hot waiters who take your anal virginity, or friends you might have feelings for don’t offer ‘happily ever after’ just because it would be neat if they did. It may not just be his need for a fully symphonic Hollywood love story that’s the problem though, as it can be tough just to find your place in a gay world that you don’t quite feel like you belong to. [Read more…]

Iris Prize Festival LGBT International Short Films 2017 – Part 3 (Short Film Reviews)

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The Iris Prize Festival has now drawn to a close, but its still worth seeking out some of the excellent short film that competed for the world’s largest short film prize, the Iris Prize. We’ve already posted our thoughts on the first 23 short films that screened across the festivals five days, and below you can find reviews of the final 12 (presented in screening order – opinions are mine and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts of the overall jury).

Click here for Iris Prize Festival LGBT International Short Films 2017 – Part 1
Click here for Iris Prize Festival LGBT International Short Films 2017 – Part 2 [Read more…]