Komrades (2003)

5 лет заняло у канадского режиссера Стива Коккера исследование темы гомосексуализма в российской армии. Фильм основан на интервью, которые он брал у солдат и моряков в Санкт-Петербурге. Первого парня он встретил около крупнейшего военно-морского училища, и он согласился встретиться с режиссером вечером. И так солдат за солдатом, матрос за матросом - выстраивается картина жизни в российской армии. Некоторые курсанты лежат обнаженные на постели Коккера и общаются с ним в таком виде. Многие из них напоминают моделей студии BelAmi... Некоторые откровенны изначально, а некоторые раскрываются только под воздействием алкоголя.... В общем, фильм просто бесценен для любителей парней в форме.

It took 5 years for Canadian director Steve Cokker to make a research about homosexuality in Russian army. The film is based on his interviews with soldiers and sailors in St. Petersburg. The first guy he met was from largest Naval Academy, and he agreed to meet with him one evening. He shared what it is like and how soldiers get intimate with another soldier, a sailor with another sailor. In his hotel he met some other boys who are at ease being naked in his bed whilst telling their stories. Some of them have to be under the influence of alcohol for them to share their true experiences. Shooting the film is almost having the same experience as if you are in a Belami studio. In general, the film is simply priceless for fans of guys in uniform.




A documentary worth seeing... sometimes you'll laugh... at times you'll feel so bad.

Sam Fooi - 心灰 (1999) First Love and Other Pains

男孩与寡居的姑妈一起生活。他的英国文学课老师是一个中年外籍教师。在第一堂课上，老师向同学门推荐了一本英国小说，福斯特的《莫瑞思》，这本书讲述了剑桥大学两个年轻男子悲哀的爱情故事。男孩被自己的老师吸引，四处追逐着他的身影。

A young man pursuing a degree in English Literature lives with his widowed aunt. On the first day of his class, his middle-aged professor requires them to read a British novel about a sad love story between two young Cambridge men written by Foster. And suddenly the young student falls for his professor and starts chasing his shadow.

An inter-generational and interracial affair that's probably still taboo to the West but not in Asia whereby some gays (and even straights) opt for "gweilo" lovers for some financial security reasons and for their being unique in colour. The plot is somehow flawed and the acting maybe amateurish but it's still worth watching.

200 American (2003)

A gay owner of an ad agency is nursing a broken heart and to escape his dreadful melancholy, he hires a rent boy for sex one evening. He is surprised that the guy he hires is actually decent, sweet and smart so he finds him a position in his company. He then learns that he is actually Australian and he is only hustling to raise a certain amount to obtain an American green card. On the other hand, the owner's right hand man has fallen for the hustler and vice versa, that's when the tension starts amongst those involved...

An honest simple story that is worth seeing... maybe not as great as the other films you watch but it ain't bad compared to most independent films. Considering the budget constraints and everything, the only flaw I find is that all three major characters are good-looking. I'd expect the owner to look more ordinary so that it would be more credible to use his greens to have some overnight fun. But I bet the presence of good looks is purely a marketing strategy.

In the Gloaming (1997)

The directorial debut of the late Christopher Reeve is a made-for-cable movie about the effects of AIDS on a family. Danny (Robert Sean Leonard) returns home to his parents to be with them in the final days of his battle against AIDS. The stress of the situation brings out the tensions and anxieties that the family members have been quietly bearing for years. Danny's mother (Glenn Close) grows closer to her son through the tragedy. His father (David Strathairn) struggles with the reality of his son's life and illness.



Also starring Whoopi Goldberg and Bridget Fonda, IN THE GLOAMING is a simplistic film that is precisely directed to perfection that it won't waste a second of your time. All scenes in this one-hour piece are equally important; and Glenn Close and Robert Sean Leonard's performances make it more than just another AIDS-related family film.

Save Me (2007)

A deft exploration of the controversial ex-gay movement, the story follows Mark (Chad Allen), a drug-addicted young man who overdoses and finds himself at the mercy of his disapproving family. Their solution to Mark's problems is to check him into a Christian run ministry overseen by Gayle (Judith Light), who believes she can help cure young men of their 'gay affliction' through spiritual guidance. At first, Mark resists the efforts of Gayle and her loving husband Ted (Stephen Lang), but soon finds solace and brotherhood with several of the members, including Scott (Robert Gant), who is battling family demons of his own. When Mark and Scott begin to find their friendship developing into an unexpected romance, both are forced to confront the new attitudes they're beginning to accept, and Gayle finds the values she holds as an absolute truth to be threatened.



I have mixed feelings about the story of the film probably because of the presence of religion but I was immensely affected by its lead charaters as the actors' fine portrayal of the roles made the film worth watching from beginning to end.

Clay Farmers (1988)

Mike, a young hired hand in California is working a small farm with a close friend, Dan. Mike is content on the farm and obviously attracted to the handsome Dan. Dan seems to be attracted to Mike as well but is a drifter and not happy as a farmer. He longs to finish out the contract and move on to a big city, perhaps with Mike. Gary, a boy from the next farm over, befriends them during their daily chores. Gary lives with his abusive father, a stepmother and a stepbrother. Gary is drawn to the camaraderie of the young farmhands in part to avoid his problems at home. When an innocent session of skinny-dipping is misconstrued by the boy's father, the young hired hands soon find themselves unjustly suspected of wrongdoing in a suddenly hostile small town.



CLAY FARMERS is definitely worth one's time though it has some flaws which is rather acceptable being aware that it's a low budget production. The story has so much depth in it that you ought to understand it with your heart & brain at the same time. The two leads' acting is definitely commendable!

Six Degrees of Separation (1993)

Two socialites find their view of the world changed when a young gay man takes advantage of their preconceptions in this thoughtful comedy-drama. Flan and Ouisa Kittredge (Donald Sutherland and Stockard Channing) are a married couple who have built highly successful careers as art dealers catering to Manhattan's upper crust. The Kittredges are entertaining friends one evening when a young black man named Paul (Will Smith) appears at their door. Paul says that he's a close friend of their children, with whom he attended boarding school, and he's just been mugged and needs to get off the street for a moment. Flan and Ouisa invite him in, and they are immediately taken by Paul's intelligence and charm; he offers to prepare dinner, regales them with stories about his father, Sidney Poitier, and ends up spending the night at their apartment. However, the next morning Flan and Ouisa discover that they've been had; Paul is actually a con artist from the streets who has been pulling the wool over the eyes of many of their friends -- and his actions are beginning to have serious consequences.



SIX DEGREES OF SEPARATION, an adaptation from a stage play, is an intellectual dramedy that made me laugh out loud from the beginning to almost the end. It is a film you should not miss!

Jet Boy (2001)

A thirteen year old street hustler (Branden Nadon) searching for love hooks up with a man (Dylan Walsh) of questionable past. Gradually, a bond forms between the two, but will their old ways keep them from developing true love and respect for each other?



JET BOY may have some flaws but it is certainly a very moving film that will touch your heart. A good watch this holiday season to remind us all that we should love our neighbours... every single day in our existence.

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Bent (1997)

This is a screen adaptation of an award-winning play about the persecution of homosexuals by Nazis during World War II. In Germany, the Nazi party's program of genocide against any and all perceived "enemies" is coming into full swing when the party begins a violent purge of homosexuals in its membership. Max (Clive Owen), a bisexual playboy, is attending an orgy thrown by drag queen "Greta" (Mick Jagger) and featuring a number of party members when the festivities are raided by the police; Max and his lover Rudy (Brian Webber) escape, but they are later arrested and sentenced to a concentration camp. En route to the camp, Max betrays Rudy and arranges to be given a yellow identification star, marking him as a Jew, instead of a pink triangle, which would signify him as gay; while the Jews are destined to be executed, gay prisoners receive even more brutal treatment from the guards. While incarcerated, Max meets Horst (Lothaire Bluteau), an inmate who proudly wears the pink triangle. Max and Horst fall in love with each other, and Horst's bravery leads Max to accept his sexual identity.

BENT is truly one of the best films ever made for its genre. Based on a theatrical production, this powerful and moving film made in Britain mainly demonstrates the most evil practice or treatment by humans that act more like beasts than humans. It’s certainly a film for everyone!

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Wonder Boys (2000)

A fed-up wife, a missing Marilyn Monroe jacket, a murdered pet, a pregnant lover, a stolen car, a thoughtful student, a transvestite date, an insistent editor, an unfinished novel... just some of the issues English Professor and novelist Grady Tripp has to deal with one weekend. Then he discovers a new wonder boy, James Leer, his most gifted student. Soon, the aging wonder boy rediscovers himself...

WONDER BOYS... a truly brilliant film... an experience of a lifetime!

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When Night Is Falling (1995)

This Canadian drama tells the tale of Camille, who works at an uptight Protestant college as a professor of mythology. She has been going out with career theologian Martin for three years, but it appears her real true love is her dog, Bob. Bob dies in a tragic car accident and poor Camille is devastated. She is so upset that she grabs the wrong clothes from the laundromat. The clothes belong to the beautifully predatory Petra. Camille discovers the error and returns them to Petra's workplace, an avant-garde circus in an empty warehouse where Petra confesses that she switched them on purpose so she could seduce Camille. Camille demurs. Petra begins following her, and gets to kiss her in the lobby. Eventually the persistent Petra succeeds and the two become lovers.

WHEN NIGHT IS FALLING is a romantic drama from Canada that exudes so much love and tenderness. The lead actresses' performances are so sensually delightful that I really enjoyed seeing them together... no matter what they do!

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Trembling Before G-d (2001)

Built around intimately-told personal stories of Hasidic and Orthodox Jews who are either gay or lesbian, this unprecedented feature documentary shatters assumptions about faith, sexuality and religious fundamentalism. It portrays a group of people who face a profound dilemma on how to reconcile their passionate love of Judaism and the Divine with the drastic Biblical prohibitions that forbid homosexuality. As the film unfolds, we meet a range of complex individuals -- some hidden, some out -- from the world's first openly gay Orthodox rabbi to closeted, married Hasidic gays and lesbians to those abandoned by religious families to Orthodox lesbian high-school sweethearts. Many have been tragically rejected and their pain is raw, yet with irony, humor, and resilience, they love, care, struggle, and debate with a thousand-year old tradition.

TREMBLING BEFORE G-D is an international project with global implications that strikes at the meaning of religious identity and tradition in a modern world. For the first time, this issue has become a live, public debate in Orthodox circles, and the film is both witness and catalyst to this historic moment. What emerges is a loving and fearless testament to faith and survival and the universal struggle to belong. Certainly this film is a MUST-SEE!

(In ENGLISH, YIDDISH & HEBREW with ENGLISH & SPANISH subtitles)

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Quinceañera (2006)

This film takes a real look at what happens when teenage sexuality, age-old rituals, and real estate prices collide. It is fueled by the racial, class, and sexual tensions of a Latino neighborhood in transition. Magdalena (Emily Rios) is the daughter of a Mexican-American family who runs a storefront church in Echo Park, Los Angeles. With her fifteenth-birthday fast approaching, all she can think about is her boyfriend, her debutante dress, and the Hummer Limo she hopes will carry her on her special day. But a few months before the celebration, Magdalena becomes pregnant. When her father learns about it, she is thrown out of the house immediately without any second thought. She then runs to her great-great uncle Tomas (Chalo Gonzalez), an old man who makes his living selling champurrado (a Mexican hot drink) in the street who is already looking after Carlos (Jesse Garcia), her cousin, a tough-looking cute cholo who was thrown out by his parents for being gay. When a crisis arises, the three of them pull together as one family.

It’s no wonder why QUINCEAÑERA grabbed the major awards in Sundance for it is no ordinary film. It is a film that has given a better insight of the Latinos living in the US and remarkably, the majority of great acting is provided by amateurs. Brilliant!

(In ENGLISH and some parts in SPANISH with ENGLISH subtitles)

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Somersault (2004)

This is the story about Heidi (Abbie Cornish), an emotionally fragile teenager who runs away from home after copping off with her mum's boyfriend. Stuck in a dead-end Aussie town, she gets attention through sex and strikes up a rickety relationship with troubled farm hand Joe (Sam Worthington). Both compelling and worrying, the film is haunted by the unshakeable sense that something terrible is about to happen.

SOMERSAULT is yet another winner from Australia. It is a simple and realistic story of a teenage girl running away from home then learning hard lessons. Great direction and acting that deserve the highest acclaim in the film business.

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The Black Baloon (2008)

When Thomas (Rhys Wakefield) and his family move to a new home and he has to start at a new school, all he wants is to fit in. When his pregnant Mother (Toni Collette) has to take it easy, he is put in charge of his autistic older brother Charlie (Luke Ford). Thomas with the help of his new girlfriend Jackie (Gemma Ward) faces his biggest challenge yet. Charlie’s unusual antics take Thomas on an emotional journey that cause his pent-up frustrations about his brother to pour out.

THE BLACK BALLOON is an earthy depiction of an adolescent autistic boy and how his family copes up with him in their daily lives. It is a tender portrait of love under pressure within and outside of the immediate family. Outstanding story & direction and great portrayals from the lead cast are the keys to your unforgettable viewing pleasure. It is a very realistic film that should be digested by every human being!

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The Journey of Jared Price (2000)

19-year-old Jared Price (Corey Spears) leaves his home in Georgia to start a new life in Southern California. With only a backpack and a few hundred dollars in his pocket, he sets out his journey. He checks in to a youth hostel with very little privacy and a prostitute for a roommate. He befriends Robert who also stays in the same hostel but he soon discovers that Robert wants more than friendship. Jared gains employment as a personal caretaker for Mrs. Haines, a wealthy, old blind woman and he unexpectedly falls into a deceptive relationship with her affluent 35-year old son Matthew (Steve Tyler). When the relationship becomes personally destructive, Jared once again sets out another journey... his admittance of his sexual preference and the realization of who he really wants to be with...

THE JOURNEY OF JARED PRICE is an independent film that is a cross between drama and erotica obviously with a lot of romance and hot sexual scenes. It is just an ordinary film enjoyed by the many...

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Feed (2005)

Whilst keeping a close watch over the underbelly of the internet, Phillip Jackson (Patrick Thompson), a hot shot cyber crime investigator in Sydney, finds a suspicious website for Feeders & Gainers -- the weird world of fat erotica; a sexual subculture where fat-admiring men known as “Feeders” seek out obese women called “Gainers.” But one of these men -- Michael Carter (Alex O'Loughlin) -- may be going too far as he is feeding his charges to death and publishing details online. Phillip tracks him to Toledo, Ohio, and goes there with no official order determined to uncover the sinister underworld. What he discovers may cost him his life… and even his sanity.

FEED is an Indie film from Australia that is stylishly made albeit low budget. In spite of that, it successfully exhibited one of the darkest depths of human sexual depravity. In fact, it is a good film but its theme would make some of you feel otherwise. I’d say watch it... to witness what you probably have not seen before. You have been WARNED!

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Caffeine (2006)

Inside the Black Cat Café, a coffee house in London, a neurotic young man unexpectedly runs into his ex-girlfriend while whacked out on killer dope, a highly strung lawyer finds out that her husband-to-be is a transvestite, a friend reveals that he's been arrested for exposing himself in public, a possessive boyfriend discovers that his girlfriend is an ex porn actress, an elderly lady goes ballistic when she mistakes a patron for her ex husband and the manager of the cafe struggles with the revelation that her boyfriend cheated on her in a threesome... a string of incidents happen in just one day!

CAFFEINE simply is a film about some characters we probably have encountered in our lives and how they attempt to repair fractured relationships. It's certainly a nice film to watch over a cup of coffee.

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EuroTrip (2004)

This is a story about Scott Thomas (Scott Mechlowicz) who is devastated after being dumped by his girlfriend Fiona (Kristin Kreuk) who has been sleeping with the lead singer of a college band (Matt Damon). To avoid more humiliating pains, he joins his three friends -- Cooper Harris (Jacob Pitts), Jenny (Michelle Trachtenberg) and Jamie (Travis Wester) -- travel across Europe in search of his German pen pal Mieke (Jessica Böhrs), whom he initially mistakes for a guy, when "he" is really a girl. Realizing he has feelings for her, they visit London, Paris, Amsterdam, Bratislava, Berlin, and Rome, getting into all manner of awkward and embarrassing situations along the way.

EUROTRIP is a 2004 American comedy that is really surprisingly hilarious and what makes it really funny in general are the wrong notions of Americans about Europe and the Europeans. Unfortunately, it’s not for family viewing as some scenes and some of the languages used are not meant for minors.

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Clapham Junction (2007)

This is a provocative and powerful single drama about the mixed experiences of several gay men during 36 hours in South London, and the devastating consequences that unfold when their lives collide. From a civil partnership ceremony to a heated dinner party, five separate stories are woven into the fabric of modern day London from school and work, to bars and clubs, during one hot summer’s night in the capital.

CLAPHAM JUNCTION is a revelation that is so true that it hurts those that didn't accept it. The roles played by Paul Nicholls, David Leon, Luke Treadaway and Joseph Mawle are exceptionally moving. A MUST-SEE for everyone!

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