Romeos

(2011, Germany, Sabine Bernadi) - ***

A sweet German film that tells the story of a teenage Trans Male (Female to Male) and his transition to his gender identity. As a result of intolerance, he is placed in the girls dorm and develops relationships with boys.  He falls for the bad ass gay boy and the story evolves round the exposure of his birth gender.

This film shows two issues for the transgender community. First, the extent of discrimination and lack of knowledge that exists from the non-trans community - straight, gay, lesbian and bi. The film manages to do it in a non dramatic or preaching way which make it a less issue driven film.

The second is the differentiation of trans issues from sexual orientation. The fact that the lead character fancies men and there are no questions of whether he had made a mistake is very clever. Although we do have the LGBT community, I always feel the trans strand is slightly misplaced. I understand the trans community has been included for solidarity but the grouping always marginalises them. I think the LGB can be supportive while separate and there is a wide section of LGB people who are ignorant towards trans issues.

Overall a thoughtful and clever film.

Shut Up and Kiss Me!

(2010, USA, Devin Hamilton) - ***

On first visiting Shut Up and Kiss Me!, it has all the makings of a low budget, naff gay film. Poor camera work and slightly wooden acting. However, if you can see beyond this, this film turns into a little sweet delight.

It captures the story of Ben, a 30 something single gay guy as he embraces the dating world. He goes from date to date unsuccessfully until he meets Grey, a guy who has a philosophical different opinion of monogamy from him.

The film goes out of its way to make Ben a straight guy who just happens to date men. All his friends are straight and he believes in monogamy, while Grey cannot commit in a relationship. I struggle to see how characters can be so black and white. I would imagine that Ben will have some gay friends and the element of Ben's innocence makes his character a bit 2-D.

Despite its amateur film production and its simplistic story line, Shut Up and Kiss Me is quite a sweet story which covers some of the specific issues gay men find when dating. At 78 minutes long it is the perfect length.

Definitely worth a go! 

Into the Lion's Den

(2011, USA, Dan Lantz) - **

Despite the bad acting, the start of Into the Lion's Den was extremely promising. A road trip film with three gay guys on a voyage to Manhattan. The complexities of gay men were evident: a guy who has just found out he is HIV positive, a rich guy who wants to experience life and a slightly older guy who is a man whore. I thought this film would be about them finding themselves. Stereotypical and unoriginal, yes, but I thought this had potential. How I was wrong!

The guys end up in this dodgy straight bar. At this point the film goes AWOL and completely loses it and turns into a barmy horror film where the guys are tortured and raped by a straight couple. I really did not know why they bothered at this point. The only redeeming feature was the beautiful Ronnie Kroell and that was purely for the eye candy.

A missed opportunity.

Laurence Anyways

(2012, Canada, Xavier Dolan) - **

Laurence Anyways is the third film by the young prodical gay director Xavier Dolan. I have to say this is by far his weakest. This is FAR too long than it needs to be (2 and a half hours) and a little self indulgent. It deals with the issue of how a relationship changes when one admits that they want to change their gender identity. The first half captures the story extremley well and maybe he should have stopped there but throughout the film there are flashes of brilliance in the newly typical style of Xavier Dolan.

I am actually going to focus on Dolan more than this film because I am so inspired by his direction. In case you have not heard of him, he has two other films: I Killed My Mother and Heartbeats and he is only 24 (bastard). He manages to capture the traditional French cinema (he is from Quebec) with his own version of artistic brilliance. Small moments of colour and sound contrast well with typical continental picture and he delivers queer cinema in a completely unique way while maintaining the accessibility of his features. He manages to stay clear of any Pedro Almodovar comparisons as his films are 'gay' rather than 'camp'

I cannot rate him high enough. If you compare him to where Almodovar was at the same point of his career he could have an amazing future. I am hoping Laurencce Anyways is a small blip.

Sasha

(2010, Germany, Dennis Todorovic) - **

There are a number of cliches in any average gay film, including:

• the nervousness of browsing the gay mags in a newsagents
• unrequited love
• come out to their best female friend who confesses her love for him
• the father reacts angrily 

Sasha had this all. Sasha, the older son of a Montenegro family who moved to Germany 20 years ago as a result of the Yugoslav conflicts, is madly in love with his piano teacher as he prepares for an audition. He admits best friend Jiou, from a Chinese family, of his feelings. Following news that his teacher is leaving for Vienna, he falls apart and his sexuality is exposed to his family.

What was good about this film was the story of two different 'alien' families. I loved the Montenegro family and their reminiscing about their native country. In particular, I love the fact the parents want to give their children their full chance to reach their potential having lost their opportunity. Although growing up being gay can be one of the worst periods of a gay boy's life but the gay angst ridden moments have been done a million times in the same way. I would have been more interested if the story had taken place in Montenegro and showed homophobia in that society.

Montenegro are improving their legislative record on LGBT rights in order to help with EU membership but homophobia is still entrenched within their culture. Even so, I think the family would had been 'Germanised' enough to be a little more accepting than they were.

A nice try but could do better.

Going Down in LA LA Land

(2012, USA, Casper Andreas)
**

Pretty boy Adam (Matthew Lewindski) arrives in Los Angeles from New York to rescue his struggling career as an actor. As he tries to create a career for himself, he racks up a lot of debt with his also failed actress friend Candy. In desperate need for cash, he tries his hand at a number of jobs and ends up working as an office assistant at a gay porn studio. With debts continuing piling up, he decides to use his pretty boy looks in porn films as well as turning to escorting. Can he save himself? Will someone save him?

Some of Going to LA LA Land was mildly enjoyable, but the film suffered from one major flaw: the entire premise of the story. The main character was from New York but the film made out as if a whole new world of drugs and sex had opened up to him. I have never been to the USA but I imagine an openly gay, pretty boy from New York may have been around people who do drugs or rent boys before. Even if he had not taken part, he would have made a conscious decision not to do so. So I do not know why the film makes out he is innocent where a whole new world for him the minute he moved to LA.

In addition to this, the film makes the mistake of making Adam good until he delves into pornography. I hate such a two dimensional perspective as interesting characters are ones whose good points and flaws are recognised.

This is a bog standard 'gay independent' film where the eye candy is high and the acting and content is low. This film is about 20 minutes too long and plays out like a daytime TV movie with its level of melodrama. The film spends way too long with Adam getting further and further into debt, so the rest of the story is squashed in at the end.

Some of the acting and characters were dire. I hated the best friend Candy in particular, as the OTT 'fag hag'. Also Nick, (played by the director), was irritating as the drug addict who gets Adam into the business.

Scenes like when Adam starts losing it and downs red wine (WTF?) as if it was strong vodka let this film down a lot. Dramatic scenes like this were actually comical throughout the film. There were small nuggets of entertainment but not really worth the time you invest in it.

If you like preppy muscle boys getting their clothes off, watch this. Otherwise avoid.