Eighteen (2005 Canada)

The Gist:

Young Pip has run away from home after an incident involving his father and brother. As he tries to survive on the streets he listens to his eighteenth birthday gift from his grandfather, an audiotape where his grandfather describes his own eighteenth birthday as a British soldier in World War Two.  

Comments (with no real spoilers):

First off, despite being included in lists of "gay" movies, it isn't really a "gay flick." While it does have gay characters and some subplots are driven by homophobia (and astonishingly bad parenting), the two leads are straight. Which means the actual gays are minor characters and the focus of the movie is to parallel hetero Pip life as a homeless runaway against that of his hetero grandfather trying to survive the war.

I looked around for reviews of the movie and didn't find many professional reviews, but I did find lots of regular people gushing over it, loving this movie to death. I didn't. Which is not to say it's bad. Parts of it are good and while there are some problems here, it at least tries. More so it attempts to be ambitious, which frankly is not too common. 

One of my issues is of simple suspension of disbelief. Basically, while he more or less does a good job with the role, the idea that the actor playing Pip is just barely eighteen pushes credibility beyond the breaking point. Even characters on a TV show where young thirty-somethings play high school kids would look at him and wonder what the heck was going on. As is the guy playing hustler Clark is also far too old for his role. 

The other issues I have are a bit subjective. The movie is too soap opera melodramatic for my taste and there is a lot of story / points to cover crammed into its running time, so some if not most things don't get quite enough time to be dealt with properly. 

Women:
Yes

People of color:
One scene has one guy with a couple of lines

Gratuitous nudity:
I saw the movie last week and have already forgotten if there was any nudity, so um, maybe? 

• Director: Richard Bell 
• Writer: Richard Bell
• Actors: Paul Anthony, Brendan Fletcher, Ian McKellen (voice only), Alan Cumming
• 106 min
• IMDB

Cloudburst (Canada 2011)

The Gist: 

Stella and Dot, life partners for 31 years, face being forcibly separated as Dot's granddaughter wants to put her grandmother into a special care home. They decide to fight for their right to stay together by taking off to Canada to get married.  Along the way they pick up a male hitchhiker. Dramedy ensues.  

Comments with an unimportant spoiler:

We are in deep in Hallmark style movie territory here with a story of two older women working to overcome an obstacle. In this case a crisis created because one of the women never came out to her granddaughter. A granddaughter who apparently has never realized that grandmother's curmudgeon, take no shit from anyone, butch dyke roommate is actually her grandmother's long time lover. 

Despite touching on serious subjects such as the lack of rights faced by many elderly queer couples, over all it is a rather goofy movie tending to focus more heavy on the comedy aspect of "dramedy" rather than drama.

Besides the two women, there is also the young hitchhiker. The spoiler is this: he remains a bit of a cypher. Apparently the guy is no longer welcome in his family home, but the reason why is never quite explicitly spelled out. Because he is gay? Bi? Straight? A dancer? A hustler? Who knows? Then again, it doesn't really matter as the movie is appropriately enough not about him, but rather about the two women. 

While not a must see movie, its not bad for what it is, a melodrama of the week style flick, and if nothing else, Olympia Dukakis seems to be having a grand time playing a cranky, strong willed, foul mouthed old dyke. 

Women:

Yes

People of color:

No

Gratuitous nudity:

Yes, though oddly enough for a "lesbian" movie, only of the male variety. Then again, all the scenes involving nudity are done as comedy since it seems nothing is more hilarious looking than a naked man.

• Director: Thom Fitzgerald
• Writer: Thom Fitzgerald
• Actors: Olympia Dukakis, Brenda Fricker, Ryan Doucette
• 93 min
• IMDB

Outrageous! (Canada 1977)

The Gist: 

In late 1970's Toronto, Robin Turner is frustrated with his life and bored with his job as a hairdresser. His best friend Liza moves in with him after she releases herself from a mental institution. As she tries to deal with life outside the institution she encourages him to do what he longs to do, to perform onstage as a female impersonator. 

Comments: 

The movie has an interesting origin, based on "Making It," a short story by Margaret Gibson, which in turn was based on her real life, from when she and Craig Russel were roommates. Craig Russel being the lead actor. In effect he is playing a fictionalized version of himself a few steps removed from his real life as a famous female impersonator known for his skill at 'becoming' famous celebrities such as Tallulah Bankhead, Mae West, and Betty Davis, and singing instead of lip syncing. 

The movie is very "grimy big city dirty" 70's in feel and despite being billed as a comedy, is somewhat dark, perhaps not surprising given the story deals with mental illness, frustrations of life, and is set during winter where everything seems bleak and covered in grey dirty slush. 

The time period makes it pre-AIDS, but despite it's late 70's post Stonewall setting, it is in many ways pre "gay lib" in feel as well, at least in the scenes set in Canada. There seems to be a more active 'gay life' during the New York scenes, but while in Toronto things are more repressed. At one point a character, a hair salon owner, says a line to the effect that he would lose business if the clients knew one of their hairdressers was gay, or even worse a drag queen. A statement that barely makes sense today. 

Despite my repeated description of it seeming a dour story, it is a good movie and an interesting look at life several decades ago and as such shows ways that things have improved or not both for gay life and for people dealing with mental illness. 

Even if none of that sounds interesting to you, if nothing else, it's worth watching for scenes at the end of the movie featuring Craig Russel's act, which is rather fun, though understandably a bit dated in references. 

Women: 

Primarily the roommate, but a few others as well

People of color: 

Not really

Gratuitous nudity:

No

• Director: Richard Benner
• Writers: Richard Benner, Margaret Gibson
• Craig Russel, Hollis McLaren
• 96 min
• IMDB

Half a Person (Canada 2007)

The Gist: 

Two young men, best friends since high school, one gay and outgoing, the other straight and somewhat introverted, take a trip to Toronto that will change their lives. 

Comments with one probably obvious spoiler:

A take on the classic road trip movie story where two people take a life changing trip together. In this case a straight introvert (i.e., frustrated with his dead end life) and his outgoing gay best friend (i.e., self absorbed ass). 

Classic set up or not, it seems many folks don't like the movie. Some because they didn't like the acting (I thought the acting was adequate), others because there was no "story" (which I also disagree with, there is a story, just not a very "loud" one). 

It also gets some hate because despite being included in lists of gay movies, it is not. While I'm not sure that alone makes it worthy of hate, it is true that the focus of the story is on the sad straight guy rather than the gay best friend, and as is, gay best friend's being a self-absorbed ass is far more important than his sexual orientation. 

Which is not to say that there is no "gay" happening in the movie. Gay guy has a boyfriend, although he spends most of the movie ignoring him, and depending how you interpret a scene, there may or may not be an implication that the two leads friendship once became physical in high school. But for the most part, the "gay" in the movie is just minor detail in a story of a young man realizing that he has to move on with his life and leave behind his childhood, including his best friend. 

As is clear from my comments, I didn't hate the movie, although while I thought it was fairly well done for what it is, I would only recommend it if you have an extremely high tolerance for 20-something straight white male angst, because that is essentially 99% of the movie. 

Women: 

Two

People of color:

No 

Gratuitous nudity:

No

• Director: Adam Santangelo
• Writer: Adam Santangelo
• Actors: Nigel Smith, Micheal Majeski
• 70 min
• IMDB