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

North Sea Texas (Cinema)

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While adolescence is one of cinema’s favourite subjects (and for various reasons a virtual obsession in gay and lesbian cinema), few films find a balance that feels as if it’s getting to the truth about ‘coming of age’. Bavo Defurne’s North Sea Texas does just that, telling a familiar story yet managing to make it feel fresh, acutely observed and charming. Much of this comes from evoking a strong sense of the early 1970s, great cinematography and excellent performances from a mostly inexperienced cast. It doesn’t hurt either that the strong characters avoid clichés.

Pim (Jelle Florizoone) is a teenager living with his floozy former beauty queen mother in a Belgian coastal town. His mother is more interested in how Pim makes her feel than the boy himself, although this does give him a small amount of freedom to lust after his next door neighbour, Gino (Mathias Vergels). [Read more…]

This Must Be The Place (Cinema)

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What is it with Hollywood and unimaginative film titles? In this case it can be forgiven as it refers to a song by the Talking Heads, and not some ill thought out, Channel 5 afternoon  film drama. I suppose ‘Ex Rockstar Turned Nazi Hunter’, or ‘Cheyenne’s Odyssey’ might have been too obvious.

This Must Be The Place played in competition at the Cannes Film Festival 2011, and is certainly quirky enough to have gone down well. The film is directed by Paolo Sorrentino (his first English language film, having won the Cannes Prix Du Jury in 2008 with Il Divo) and stars the incredible talent that is Sean Penn. [Read more…]

The Adopted (DVD)

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Melanie Laurent came to international prominence with a superb performance in Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds and was seen more recently in the Oscar-winning Beginners. Here she turns director for a family drama that’s involving if imperfect.

Marine (Marie Denarnaud) is a young woman who was adopted as a child and is now virtually inseparable from her adoptive sister, Lisa (Laurent). They’re so close that she is virtually the second mother of Lisa’s young son, Leo. Then Marine meets Alex (Denis Menochet), or rather he meets and pursues her. The two begin a fledgling relationship, which Lisa seems to resent, although their feisty mother is all for it. Marine starts to waver, unsure whether relationships are for her – despite the fact the rather charming Alex seems utterly devoted – but then a shocking event changes all their lives and forces Lisa and Alex together over the future of Marine… and her unborn baby. [Read more…]

Life Is Beautiful – 15th Anniversary Edition (Blu-ray)

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Even now, 15 years on, it seems almost impossible that Roberto Benigni managed to pull off Life Is Beautiful. Setting what is essentially a slapstick farce in a concentration camp is one hell of a gambit and could have gone horribly wrong. Indeed, the most interesting part of the new, hour-long documentary included on this Blu-ray edition is the discussion about what is a suitable depiction of the Holocaust and what isn’t, and the fears many involved had before they made the movie that the film not only couldn’t work, but could even end up being cheered by Holocaust deniers.

Benigni managed it though, using humour to highlight and contrast against the horrors the characters face. Indeed part of the movie’s power is that nothing about the concentration camp is funny – it never jokes about that – and it’s the place’s very grimness that Guido is trying to hide his son from. It is humour in the face of tragedy, and comedy that’s a testament to the human spirit. [Read more…]

Swinging With The Finkels (DVD)

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Sometimes a movie comes across as trying so hard to hit the buttons of popular success that it has all the charm and fun sucked right out of it. Meet Swinging With The Finkels. With a multi-national cast, sex and relationships as a subject, lowest common denominator jokes and an utterly predictable plot, it’s like someone sat down and made a checklist of everything that’s worked in Brit-coms in the past 20 years and then tried to distil it into a single film, and in doing so created something utterly anaemic.

Alvin and Ellie Finkel (Martin Freeman & Mandy Moore) have been married for years and are feeling bored with one another. The romance is gone, neither can be bothered with sex and their whole relationship is feeling stale. After talking about the various options to spice things up, they decide to try a bit of wife swapping. Will it work, or will it just highlight the cracks in their marriage they’re trying to paper over? [Read more…]

House Of The Rising Sun (DVD)

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Ex-con Ray (Bautista) is working as a doorman when a group of armed men force their way into the club where he’s working and open fire, killing the owner’s son. While Ray has been trying to go straight, he finds himself being blamed by his boss for letting the men into the club and told he must find the robbers. As he digs digger, he starts to realise the police are as dirty as the mob that surrounds him, and his own criminal past makes him a prime suspect in the case. Ray struggles to solve the crime and to clear his own name, while also attempting to protect a beautiful young woman (Amy Smart). [Read more…]

Murder By Decree (DVD)

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Sherlock Holmes is famously the most adapted literary character of all time, appearing in more different film and TV incarnations than anyone else. Nowadays we have Robert Downey Jr. and Benedict Cumberbatch representing two different but rather 21st Century Sherlocks (whether set in the modern day or not), but in 1979 Christopher Plummer donned the deerstalker, with James Mason as his Watson.

Rather than being based on any of Arthur Conan Doyle#s original stories, Murder By Decree tries to raise some extra interest by getting Sherlock involved in the Jack the Ripper killings. When the gruesome Whitechapel murders begin, Holmes expects to be called in by the police, but they’re rather deliberately keeping him at arms-length. [Read more…]

Prayers For Bobby (2009)

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Despite Golden Globe and Emmy nominations, Prayers For Bobby never got a DVD release in the UK, although it has been shown up on British TV (which is where I saw it for this review). You can sort of understand why it never made it to DVD, as while it stars Sigourney Weaver – who puts in a superb performance – it feels very much an afternoon TV movie, with all the sentimentality and melodrama that suggests. That said, it’s undoubtedly moving.

Based on a true story, the film is about the devoutly religious Mary Griffiths (Weaver) and her teenaged son, Bobby (Ryan Kelley). Bobby is having a tough time dealing with his sexuality. He confides that he might be gay to his brother, who proceeds to tell the rest of the family. Mary is adamant that Bobby can change and that with the help of the church he can become straight. While Bobby initially agrees to this as he desperately wants to be normal and have the acceptance of his family, he comes to realise he can’t change. [Read more…]

Presque Rien (2000)

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In the years since it was made, Presque Rien has become a firm favourite of modern gay cinema, managing to be sexy, moving, dramatic and have something to say, while never forgetting to be entertaining.

18-year-old Mathieu is on holiday with his family at a seaside resort when he meets local boy Cedric. The two begin a passionate romance, having fun, skinny dipping, sunbathing and making love in the dunes.  However for Mathieu the relationship isn’t just about holiday fun, but an escape from his severely depressed mother, moody sister and the aftermath of the death of his brother. However his sudden secrecy and long hours away make his sister and aunt suspicious. [Read more…]

Bent (1997)

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It amazes me how many gay people know a pink triangle is a gay symbol but they don’t know why. However as gay history isn’t taught in schools, many don’t realise there is a long and complex history of homosexuality that goes beyond Ancient Greece and Oscar Wilde. Bent is based Martin Sherman’s play and stars Clive Owen as Max, who lives a decadent gay life in 1930s Germany, not caring who he hurts and feeling his looks and charm will get him everything he wants.

However as the Nazis’ power increases, life gets increasingly difficult for gay people and the net closes in on Max, who eventually gets rounded up and sent to Dachau. Once there he denies he’s gay, preferring the yellow star of David saying he Jewish to the pink triangle admitting he’s gay, as he knows Jews are more likely to survive than homosexuals. There he meets Horst (Lothaire Bluteau), who isn’t ashamed of wearing his pink triangle, and despite the difficulties and torments of concentration camp life, the two men form a complex bond. [Read more…]