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

Date and Switch (U.S. 2014)

The Gist: 

High school seniors and best friends Michael and Matty have the traditional teen sex comedy movie problem, they are "still" virgins. So they decide to deal with it in the traditional movie way and pledge to lose their virginity by prom. Except that they aren't in a traditional teenage sex comedy and things get confusing for Michael when Matty comes out of the closet and life goes off in directions he was not prepared for. 

Comments: 

Looking around online it seems a lot of people didn't like the movie that much, or at least that critics didn't much like it. I on the other hand thought it was a fun goofy twist on a high school based comedy. 

Which is not to say it's a great movie. The jokes don't all work, the story and editing could be tighter, and as is traditional for a high school flick, the leads all seem far too old to play teenagers. Also somewhat distractingly, the actor playing Matty either gained or lost weight during the filming. Given the way movies aren't shot in chronological order, it is noticeable (and amusing) how he occasionally gains or drops a few pounds from scene to scene. 

All this aside, it still ends up being a better example of a high school virgin sex comedy. Not that there's a lot of sex going here, since the whole losing your virginity in time for prom thing is just a loose framework to support the real core of the movie, of learning to grow up and dealing with life changing. 

While I liked it, I'm not sure I'd recommend it, or least not without the caveat that you already be predisposed to liking high school comedies, otherwise the angst filled teens will only annoy rather than amuse.

Women: 

Yes, moms, girlfriends, students, workers,...

People of color:

A few

Gratuitous Nudity:

Very brief booty

• Director: Chris Nelson
• Writer: Alan Yang
• Actors: Nicolas Braun, Hunter Cope
• 91 min
• IMDB

Loose Cannons (Mine Vaganti) (Italy 2010)

The Gist: 

Not wanting to be part of the family pasta business, young Tommaso has figured out a way to be free of family obligations. He will come out to his family during an important business dinner and get disinherited by his homophobic father, allowing him to return to Rome to be with his boyfriend. Just as he is about to do so, he is beaten to the punch by his older brother who comes out instead, giving their father a heart attack and throwing both family and business into turmoil. 

Comments:

This is a beautiful movie. Scenes of Italy, of homes, villas, towns and beaches are all travel brochure gorgeous. It makes you want to visit. 

The people in the movie however aren't quite so picture postcard perfect. Everyone is not merely a character, but a "CHARACTER;" drunkard aunt, diabetic wise grandmother, both of the gay brothers, business associates daughter, you can't swing a cat without hitting someone with both a major character flaw and a hidden past. The grandmother's past making up the "emotional heart" of the story as the movie shows people trying to figure out a way to balance family obligations and self fulfillment/personal happiness. 

On top of this the movie spends far too much time with the parents reacting badly to their son coming out of the closet. At one point a character complaining about the provincial homophobic attitude of the parents, exclaims "It's 2010!"

Meaning that they should get over themselves and be more accepting of their son. The exclamation could apply to the plot line itself. This specific type of coming out story, well-to-do parents more concerned about their social standing and facing fears of embarrassment, has been done over and over again, so that these sections of the movie end up being dull.  

So over all, the movie is mostly good, if flawed and occasionally boring whenever it focuses on the parents. Then again, the beauty of Italy largely makes up for the dull coming out plot. 

Women:

Several

People of color:

Not really, just a couple background extras with no lines

Gratuitous nudity:

No

• Director: Ferzan Ozpetek
• Writer: Ivan Cotroneo, Ferzan Ozpetek
• Actors: Ricardo Scamarcio, Alessandro Preziosi, Ennio Fantichini
• 110 min
• Italian
• IMDB

Shut Up and Kiss Me (U.S. 2010)

The Gist:

Ben wants a relationship. Which leads him through questionable dating services, and questionable help from his friends, until he meets Grey, who may just be Mr. Right. Except that they have a major problem. Protagonist Ben wants a monogamous relationship and and potential boyfriend Grey does not. 

Comments (with a major spoiler because there's no real way to talk about the movie's primary problem without mentioning how it ends. Then again it's a romance dramedy so is the ending really that surprising?):

First off, the movie is not very good. There's lots of low budget problems, from a couple of rooms in a house obviously staged as every setting from gym to restaurant to office, to poor dialogue, to characters disappearing with no explanation, to acting levels that are all over the place from mostly good to outright terrible. All things that can be more or less ignored. What can't be ignored is the ending and how the story runs out of steam and collapses in in itself. 

Monogamy vs nonmonogamy should be an interesting topic for a movie. Creating your own rules by rejecting heteronormative demands for monogamy, or choosing the fulfillment found in remaining faithful to one person. This is more than enough to fuel a story. 

Except that none of this is dealt with in any depth beyond having Grey repeatedly say that nonmonogamy is important to him while never explaining why, and protagonist Ben repeatedly saying that monogamy is important to him while also never explaining why.

The movie goes along as expected, where they break up, but then abruptly ends with them back together again with no real change in the status quo and no explanation of why Ben suddenly decided he was okay with Grey having sex with other men other than just saying that he did. The lack of explanation makes it seem as if the movie is an argument for settling for less than what you want in a relationship. I'm pretty sure that's not what the creators intended, but unfortunately it feels like the skill level was not high enough to do more than that. 

The other movie I've seen writer/actor Ronnie Kerr in, Saltwater, is more or less the same basic story with the same problem. Two men, apparently perfect for each other, have one irresolvable issue that they can't work out that prevents them from being boyfriends. Except that they do suddenly get together at the end of the movie with seconds to spare, not by showing them dealing with the problem, but rather only with a quick line of dialogue just saying that they did. 

I like Ronnie Kerr as an actor, and he does "regular gay guy" well enough, but so far the movies I've seen him in are kind of bad. 

Women: 

Friends 

People of color: 

One sassy employee 

Gratuitous nudity:

Yes

• Director: Devin Hamilton
• Writer: Ronnie Kerr
• Actors: Ronnie Kerr, Scott Gabelein
• 787 min
• IMDB 

Let My People Go (France 2011)

The Gist:

After a very bad day at work involving a dead man, a bag of money, and a huge fight with his boyfriend Teemu, Reuben leaves Finland to go home to Paris to his family and their assorted problems and strife just in time for Passover.

Comments:

This movie is an example of a “I’m both gay and ethnic, and ain’t that a hoot!” comedy. Think “My Big Fat Greek Wedding, but where the protagonist is gay and there (usually) isn’t a wedding. If done right, it can be amusing. If not done right, it can end up just a lazy collection of gay and ethnic jokes.

In this case the movie lays it on extremely heavy with the "I'm Jewish" humor, but for the most part it comes across as inoffensive in intent, as Reuben's family argue and grumble, providing most of the drama as he tries to deal with both them and his boyfriend. 

Ultimately it’s a cute, if unsubstantial, movie, with cute actors in unsubstantial roles. Not required viewing, but not bad if you do. I'd say something to play in the background while multitasking doing something else, but given that it is subtitled (dialogue is in Finish, French, and English) that may be a bit hard to do. 

Women:

Yes

People of Color:

Nope

Gratuitous nudity:

A couple of minor incidental butt shots

• Director: Mikael Buch
• Writers: Mikael Buch
• Actors: Nicolas Maury, Jarkko Niemi
• 96 min
• Finish, French, English
• IMDB

Altitude Falling (U.S. 2010)

The Gist:

Against a backdrop of a near future dystopian America that implants its citizens with ID tracking chips, an older man meets a younger guy (with connections to his past) and they fall in love. 

Comments:

The idea of the loss of secrecy due to technology is topic in need of discussion, but in this movie it ends up being boring. Part of the problem is that for a movie being sold as a suspenseful science fiction flick there is very little suspense or action. It also gets bogged down in some of the stereotypes of low budget movies such as bad acting. The young gay guy is very painful to watch at times. 

There's also the fact that more focus is given to the romantic pairing between older guy and young gay then the world they live in. Although this focus may not be surprising given that cross generational romance seems to be a common theme in writer/director/lead actor Paul Bright's movies. 

Even if you have no issues with someone dating a barely legal person more than young enough to be his son, this particular relationship is still questionable because as the story explains older guy is romancing the estranged son of his best friend (whom he also lusted for back in college).  Instead of a testament that when it comes to love, age doesn't matter, the details make the relationship seem creepy. 

Romance aside the oppressive government plot is also strange. Apparently in a decade or so the United States becomes a capitalist / communist / fascist dictatorship, where a female president passes laws directly, forcing people to ride bikes and grow their own food in federally run community gardens. Dialogue makes it seem that all these contradictory adjectives are an un-ironic comment on the Obama presidency (because using hope as a campaign slogan was bad?). 

In short, this is a whole lot of words to say that the movie is "meh."

Women:

The young gay's mother and grandmother

People of color:

If there were any, I blinked and missed them

Gratuitous nudity:

Maybe? I saw none, but an actual real review of the movie mentioned nudity. I saw it online so I guess that version was edited.

• Director: Paul Bright
• Writer: Paul Bright
• Actors: Paul Bright, William Diamond
• 93 min
• Note: The title is mentioned in dialogue as being a bit of Orwellian government double speak. In this global warming disaster affected near future it's not the oceans that are rising, but rather mountains (altitudes) that are lowering. 
• IMDB

The Man of My Life (L'Homme de sa Vie) (France 2006)

The Gist:

A French family holiday in a large house in Provence. As summer rolls on, the middle-aged husband becomes close friends with the middle aged openly gay neighbor, forming a relationship that as it deepens challenges the basic truths both men have built their lives on. 

Comments (with spoilers both minor and perhaps technically more than minor):

Looking around online it seems that some people hate this movie because of long conversations between the two leads as they discuss and argue about the nature of love, passion, and freedom; and mysterious (or at least odd) happenings, such as a strange breeze that forever blows through the kitchen.  All reasons that I liked it and rather enjoyed it. 

From the description and the fact it gets included in lists of gay films, the expectation is that the two male leads fall in love and this would nothing more than a coming out story set against some rather gorgeous scenery. What it actually is a lot more complicated then that and a much better movie because of that complexity. Well, better as long as long conversations about the nature of love, passion, and freedom don't bore you. If that sounds sounds dull, then the movie would be tedious. 

Women:

Many

People of Color:

No

Gratuitous Nudity:

Nude swimming happens

• Director: Zabou Brietman
• Writers: Zabou Brietman, Agnès de Sacy
• Actors: Bernard Campan, Lea Drucker, Charles Berling
• 114 min
• French
• IMDB

Guys and Balls (Männer wie wir) (Germany 2004)

The Gist:

Ecki is the golden boy star goalie of his town's football (soccer) team. That is until he's accidentally outed one drunk night after a bad game. After he is kicked off the team for being gay, he vows to form a gay team to play against his former teammates, heading out to the big city to do just that.

Comments (with spoiler):

This is pretty much the definitive "Gay athlete joins a gay team to victory" movie. That is: 

1. Athlete comes out/is outed.
2. Athlete gets kicked off team.
3. Athlete joins an existing or forms a new rag tag gay team
4. Gay team plays his old straight team and wins proving that gays are just as tough as the straights! 

While all this technically counts as a spoiler, the story should not be a surprise to anyone who's ever seen a movie before. While fairly predictable, the movie is actually fair to good, though with some issues. 

Considering some of the jokes, and that the gay team ends up being an assembly of assorted gay stereotypes, it's pretty clear that the movie was written/intended for a wide audience not too familiar with gay culture. Although to be fair, the S&M guys and others are much less over the top than you would expect in an American movie.

Despite this, it's still worth a watch if you feel like something unchallenging and cute, though obviously not if you hate soccer.

Women: 

Sister, mother, would-be girlfriends, in other words, the real world

People of color:

A few of the gay teammates

Gratuitous nudity:

Some minor locker room stuff as a joke

• Director: Sherry Horman
• Writer: Benedict Gollhardt
• Actors: Maximilian Brückner, Dietmar Bär
• 106 min
• IMDB

Theft (AKA: Theft of the Drag Queen’s Wig) (U.S. 2007)

The Gist:

In a small Texan town, an up and coming Christian preacher decides that the quickest route from small town preacher to big time TV evangelist is for her to go after the local gay leather bar by framing it's new owner for arson. While this is happening, a stranger comes to town and secrets will be revealed. 

Comments:

There's something about this movie that makes it seem mean to just write that it is bad, there's an earnestness about it, but bad is the best adjective for it. Acting is meh to okay, and how a small Texan town manages to have enough local leather enthusiast gay men to not only support a gay bar, but one that "specializes" as a leather bar is never explained.

The focus is split between three main things: the overacting antics of the preacher, unfunny drag comedy skits at the leather bar, and the bar owner and stranger falling in "like" with each other. Of the three story lines, only the "romance" manages to be sort okay, but sort of okay doesn't compensate for the rest of the movie being boring and poorly acted. 

Women:

Preacher and church goers 

People of color:

At least one of the background leather guys though I don't think he had any lines, so technically no

Gratuitous nudity: 

Partial? Maybe? I saw it yesterday and it's already proving to be unmemorable

• Director: Paul Bright
• Writer: Paul Bright
• Actors: Mathew Burnett, Cynthia Schiebel, Patrick Henderson
• 90 min
• Note: While Theft of the Drag Queen's Wig appears to be the original working title and Theft the final title, both titles are in use at different websites as it's actual title.
• IMDB