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

REVIEWS

Cinema, DVD and Blu-ray reviews

Mary Marie (DVD)

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After the death of their mother, two sisters decide to spend a final summer in the house where they grew up. The sisters, Mary and Marie, are very close – almost too close – living a pretty much co-dependent life. Into their life comes Peter, a handyman who’s meant to be working on their house. Despite seeing the two women in bed together, he continues to flirt, and while Marie shows an interest in him, he decides he prefers Mary. But can the women’s bond survive this man’s intrusion into their life?

This first film from co-writer/director/actress Alexandra Roxo looks absolutely gorgeous, and is proof that the rise of digital filmmaking is allowing no-budget films to have a look that 10 years ago would have been impossible. The visuals are languorous and romantic, with lots of shots of nature and dust floating on the wind. [Read more…]

The Lucky One (Blu-ray)

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While Zac Efron could do with a few bona fide hits, there’s no doubt that’s he’s got all the prerequisites for stardom – looks, talent and a rather endearing way about him. He certainly brings all that to The Lucky One, but rather like Charlie St. Cloud, he’s let down by a script and tone that takes things a bit too literally and often undermines itself even if it does have its heart in the right place.

Cut straight from the Nicholas Sparks (The Notebook, Dear John) novel template, Efron is Logan, an Iraq soldier who sees a picture of a beautiful woman on the battlefield. Bending down to pick it up saves him from a violent death, which makes him start to think of the woman as a kind of guardian angel. [Read more…]

Circumstance (Cinema)

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Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had better now watch Circumstance, as he’s apparently convinced there are no gay people in Iran (although the fact his regime has arrested and even executed quite a few would rather undermine that position). Although if he does watch the film, he can probably unfairly claim it’s all down to Western influence and young people wanting that pesky thing called freedom.

Atafeh and Shireen are two teenage Iranian girls whose friendship extends into a romance and sexual relationship. They secretly frequent underground parties, flirt, drink and dream about being able to go somewhere they can do all these things openly and without censure. The first half of the film delves into this side of Iranian culture and young people straining against the confines of a system that wants to supress them, particularly if you’re a woman and/or gay. [Read more…]

The Imposter (Cinema)

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Many have said that you should go into the docu-drama The Imposter not knowing anything, but the fact is not that many people about are going to pick a film at the cinema they literally know nothing about. So if you do fancy watching it completely cold, I’ll say you’re in for a fascinating ride but stop reading now, although if you do want to know a little more, then read on. However I’m not about to be a complete spoiler asshole, as I won’t tell you much more than you’ll discover in the first five minutes of the movie.

In 1994 in San Pedro, Texas, 14-year-old Nicholas Barclay went off to play basketball with his friends, but somewhere on his way home he went missing. Three and a half years later his mother receives a phone-call telling her that beyond all expectations, Nicholas has been found terrified and disoriented in a phone box in Spain, apparently after escaping from a child sex ring. [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…]

Elles (DVD)

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Despite the fact Elles’ director is Polish, this is the French-est of films – with an interest in bourgeois life, prostitutes, sex, nudity and a slightly pretentious tone, despite the fact it doesn’t really have anything that smart to say. And that’s about as French film-y as you can get.

Juliette Binoche is Anne, a middle-class wife, mother and journalist, whose latest assignment takes her into the world of students who pay for their education through prostitution. She interviews two of the women and is surprised that they don’t paint the picture of desperation and degradation she expected. The further she delves into their lives, the more it affects her own, as she gives up being teetotal and begins to rebel against the staid patriarchal aspects of her homelife. [Read more…]

African Cats (Blu-ray)

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Once Upon A Time, Disney wasn’t just known for Mickey Mouse and animated movies, it also used to make nature films, bringing the wonders of wildlife to children. Over time, this beloved project of Walt himself rather got lost in the shuffle, but now it’s back with a new imprint called Disneynature, which produced this look at Lions and Cheetahs on the African savannah.

To help them, Disney went to some of the best in the nature filmmaking business, who inevitably worked for the BBC Natural History Unit, including Alistair Fothergill, the former head of the unit who was also the brains behind The Blue Planet and Planet Earth. He co-directed African Cats alongside Keith Scholey, who also got his training at the Beeb. [Read more…]

Take This Waltz (Cinema)

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I still can’t quite believe the little girl from 1980s Canadian TV import Ramona is now all grown up and an accomplished actor, director and writer. Take This Waltz is Sarah Polley’s third movie as a director, following All I Want For Christmas and the excellent Away From Her. In some respects it’s a rather standard story – someone is tempted to cheat on their spouse when something seemingly more exciting than the dullness of everyday marriage comes along – but what make it slightly unusual is that in this one it’s the woman who’s thinking of playing away.

Michelle Williams – who’s fast become one of the most fascinating and accomplished actresses of her generation, and also oddly interested with starring in movie about the breakdown of relationships – plays Margot, who meets the dashing and rather good-looking Daniel (Luke Kirby) while on a research trip to a living-history colonial fort. [Read more…]

Woman In A Dressing Gown (DVD)

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Although not as famous as the likes of The Loneliness Of The Long Distance Runner and Saturday Night And Sunday Morning, many credit Woman In A Dressing Gown as the place where the British Kitchen Sink Drama began. It was exceedingly unusual on its 1957 release for taking the small, personal crisis of a normal family living in a block of flats as its main subject, setting a precedent for a lot of the gritty, working class life movies of the 1960s.

Yvonne Mitchell plays Amy Preston, a housewife who seems happy (at least on the surface) in her life as mother of Brian (Andrew Ray) and wife of Jim (Anthony Quayle), even if the dinner is rarely on the table on time and the flat is normally a bit of a mess. Jim is less happy though, straining against his less-than-perfect domesticity and a wife he feels has changed since they married. He’s started seeing a young woman from his office, Georgie (Sylvia Syms), who is utterly devoted to him and wishes for him to leave Amy. Although Jim says he doesn’t want to hurt his wife, he eventually decides he must tell Amy he’s stepping out with another woman and wants a divorce. [Read more…]

360 (Cinema)

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Very loosely based on Arthur Schnitzler’s 1900 play La Ronde, Fernando Meirelles’ movie tells a series of interconnected tales, stretching across the globe, all of which are loosely ties by looking at sexual politics and the ties of human connections, no matter how brief.

Meirelles showed his skill with complex ensemble tales with City Of God, but 360 is a slower affair, more meditative than the driving energy of his Brazilian favela movie. Amongst the many stories are Jude Law and Rachel Weisz’s married couple, who both find themselves in adulterous situations. Anthony Hopkins is an older man looking for his lost daughter, who makes a random connection with a young Brazilian woman. Ben Foster is fresh out of prison after a six-year stretch for paedophilia, trying to withstand the temptations and distractions of the outside world. There’s also a prostitute sent to an appointment with a brutish Russian businessman, while her sister makes friends with a man outside, whose marriage is on the rocks. [Read more…]