Plan B ( Argentina 2009)

The Gist:

Bruno wants his ex girlfriend back. Granted, it is not as if she is totally out of his life, she is still occasionally sleeping with him. An affair her new boyfriend Pablo does not know of, but now that Bruno can't "have" her as an actual girlfriend, the affair is not enough. His first "plan" to get her back, to simply ask her to dump the new boyfriend in favor of Bruno is met with a resounding no. So he switches to "Plan B," where he will come between Laura and Pablo by becoming Pablo's friend and seducing him thus causing Laura and Pablo to break up. An admittedly unusual tactic. More so considering both men are straight, but who exactly is Bruno tricking in this scheme? 

Comments:

This is Marco Berger's first movie. I'm a huge fan of another one of his other films Hawaii, and this has several similarities, shared themes, to that story. A slow measured tale of two men hanging out together over the course of a summer learning about each other and becoming friends, and a call back to childhood and innocence symbolized by memories of playing with view-masters as kids. You know, those plastic toys that let you see slides of photos. Then again, if you're younger than middle aged, maybe you don't. 

It's an interesting story, and despite his plan of seduction making no sense at all, Bruno jumps into it with a certain charming, if underhanded gusto, flirting with Pablo in a more or less easily plausible denial sort of way. The story could have been played for goofy laughs, but is dealt with seriously here, which makes for a more complicated story than the set up implies. It's well done and worth seeing, as long as subtitles and an unhurried character development heavy story don't bother you that is.

Women:

Yes

People of color:

Yes, though not exactly

Gratuitous nudity:

No, though there are several underwear scenes, scenes that as they work to show the growing trust and friendship between the two leads doesn't fit the description of gratuitous 

• Director: Marco Berger 
• Writer: Marco Berger
• Actors: Manuel Vignau, Lucas Ferraro, Mercedes Quinteros 
• Note: Manuel Vignau who plays Bruno here, also stars in Hawaii, where he plays Euginio a gay middle class writer.
• Spanish. Argentine Spanish specifically, so a couple of unusual word choices if you're not familiar with it. 
• IMDB

The Men Next Door (U.S. 2012)

The Gist:

Facing his 40th birthday alone because all his friends have bailed on him, things are not looking good for Doug. Until he meets his new hunky 30 year old neighbor and they hit it off. Although in truth things were not really that bad for him, after all he is also dating a hunky 50 year old as well. At least things weren't bad until the 30 year old and 50 year old meet each other and it turns out they are father and son. 

Commentary:

Despite the daddy / son porn set up, and the occasional gratuitous (and frankly distracting) penis shots, this is not a kinky porn video, but rather a romantic comedy. One with issues. The lead's main personality trait seems to be that he's indecisive then again everyone else comes off as shallow, so maybe being wishy washy isn't too bad. There's is also a bit too much reliance on goofy comedy that's not so much with the funny. 

My main problem with the movie is the overindulgence in the indie gay flicks MUST have nudity stereotype. A scene with two friends talking should have the viewer paying attention to dialogue, not to wonder why one of them is standing around wearing only a shirt without pants or underwear showing off his dick for utterly no reason at all. 

There are plenty of ways to include nudity in a movie that makes sense and helps push the story along, but that is not what happens here. Instead the near random use of it gets distracting, and for me at least it leads to wondering about the thought process actors use when deciding whether to play nude roles or not, the casting process, and what their contracts look like. In other words, pulling me out of the story entirely. 

All that aside, it's not exactly a bad movie. The acting is, well, not horrible, and the story is sort of interesting (if overly melodramatic). In the end it, it's just a mostly average, fluffy gay flick.

Women:

One

People of color:

None

Gratuitous nudity:

Yes

• Director: Rob Williams
• Writer: Rob Williams
• Actors: Eric Dean, Michael Nicklin, Benjamin Lutz
• 84 min
• IMDB 

Vegas in Space (US 1991)

The Gist:

The Empress Nueva Gabor's girlimium gems have been stolen! Gems that are vital to the continued safety of Vegas in Space, capital of the planet Clitoris! Captain Dan Tracey and his crew are sent to discover the culprit, but as it is a women only world, they must first change their sex in order go undercover as showgirls from Earth to solve this mystery and save the planet. Not an easy task considering the number one suspect is Veneer, the Queen of Police. 

Comments:

As is probably clear from the plot description, this is a very camp movie. More specifically, a very low budget, day glow Barbarella aesthetic, drag queen, comedy homage to bad sci-fi B-movies. Apparently the movie has a reputation of being so bad you must absolutely watch it. Thing is, I don't think it is terrible. Rather it lives right on the edge of bizarre and great. 

From what I can tell, people look at the bright artificial colored fake fur covered sets, the wacky rambling over the top story, all the roles played by both men and women done up in drag, rude humor, the use of both color and black and white sequences, varying acting skills, the very basic idea of a planet of women who all act like mad drag queens instead of actual women, and especially the city of Vegas in Space itself,  a model consisting of a perfume bottle covered table with little plastic flying saucers and rocket ships on string waving above, as proof that the movie is a schlocky mess. 

I look at the same and see a very intentional point of view created by drag artists with the desire to perform and bring their dreams to life, shaped by the constraints of a very low budget. A budget low enough it took a couple years to film and even longer to finish the post production work, so that it is more of a product of an early 80's San Francisco performance art mind set than the 1991 release date would suggest. The time from filming to release was long enough that some of the cast died from AIDS related causes before it was finally screened. 

Despite my liking it and thinking it successful at what they were trying to do, I do admit it is a very strange beast of a movie, and not something everyone would enjoy. However, it's worth seeing if you like camp or drag or want a look at what drug fueled, sleep deprived drag artists would do in 1980's San Francisco when given access to a camera. 

Women:

All the women are played by both women and men, so regardless if we are talking about character or the actor playing the role, the answer is yes.

People of color:

Maybe? I'm not really sure. Many of the roles involve heavy, bright green or other loudly colored makeup, so it's not really clear.

Gratuitous nudity:

Not exactly, there are a couple of breasts on display, but appropriately enough given the movie they are are obviously fake. The intent seems to be not so much gratuitous as intentionally outrageous.  

• Director: Phillip R. Ford
• Writers: Philip R. Ford, Doris Fish
• Actors: Doris Fish, Miss X, Ramona Fischer, Lori Naslund, "Tippi"
• 85 min
• Color, and Black and White
• Note: The director has the story of the making of the movie as a one entry blog. It's an interesting read and includes lots of photos and videos.
• IMDB

Oy Vey My Son Is Gay!! (US 2010)

The Gist: 

A gay man comes out to his family. A family that is not merely Jewish, but are instead JEWISH! His boyfriend is already out to his family who are similarly not merely Sicilian, but SICILIAN! The two families must learn to accept each other as the boys look to not only to live a life together, but to do so as adoptive fathers. 

Comments: 

The acting and production are more or less okay, but over all the movie is not so much more or less okay as much as it's boring. 

Boring for a couple of reasons. It is not merely an "I'm both gay and ethnic and ain't that a hoot" comedy, but one doubled, so that both gay guys have over the top families allowing for a lot of over the top ethnic jokes, and frankly there's a very low limit to how many Jewish and/or Italian jokes can be chucked at the audience before it gets monotonous. 

The other issue pushing it towards dullness is that the focus of the movie is primarily on the Jewish parents, dealing with the "shock" of their son being gay. What did we do wrong? How could he do this to us? My son better be the "man" of the relationship!  How will my gay son affect my social standing in the community? Why is he choosing to embarrass me this way? The usual predictable stuff, that has been rehashed repeatedly in this type of movie to the point where I could not be bothered to care about anything happening on screen anymore 

Women: 

Several 

People of color: 

Not really 

Gratuitous nudity 

No

• Director: Evgeny Afineevsky
• Writers: Evgeny Afineevsky, Menahem Golan
• Actors: John Lloyd Young, Jai Rodriguez, Lainie Kazan, Saul Rubinek
• 90 min
• IMDB

Hawaii (Argentina 2013)

The Gist:

Martin has returned from Uruguay to his old hometown in Argentina to spend the summer before his job in Buenos Aires begins. Unfortunately through circumstances beyond his control he ends up homeless. While looking for temp work he meets Eugenio, an old childhood friend who is house sitting the home he grew up in while writing a novel. Eugenio offers Martin work and as summer rolls on they reconnect. 

Comments: 

It seems that while many people love the movie and think it excellent, there is a vocal minority who find it dull and pretentious. Some because it takes a calm slower pace to tell its story of two men bonding. I don't agree with this position, but I do understand it. The complaint I don't quite get is from people annoyed that the two leads do not immediately leap on top of each other and play out a "sexing up the hired help" gay porn scenario.

Frankly it's a better movie because of this. Instead of immediate satisfaction, we have the equivalent of fore play. Actually that isn't quite right. The feeling of the movie is more pre-fore play. It's intentionally extending the moment right before you touch a lover for the first time, when everything is possible. So despite not turning into quick and easy porn the movie is still very sensual and filled with sexual intensity and the ache of desire.

If not clear I'm one of the people who love the movie and think it is very good. The acting is excellent, the story interesting, it is well told in use of sound and dialogue and lack of dialogue. The movie does not ignore that things would not be that easy for our protagonists. There are class and socioeconomic issues they need to work through. Eugenio is an experienced upper middle class writer, while Martin, essentially an unemployed immigrant, is very much not. 

It has enough depth that it can handle multiple viewings and I think it's worth trying out. But with the qualifier that it may not be worth it if you can't deal with slower paced movies. 

Women:

Technically yes, though barely. Then again, it's a very minimal cast, little more then the two leads. A two hander as the movie folks call it.

People of Color:

Showing the oddity of this category (or at least the oddity of what exactly Latino can mean) if this were an "American" (i.e. USA) movie, I'd be inclined to count the cast as Latino and say yes. But given the movie is Argentinean, I'd still count the cast as Latino and say no. 

Gratuitous nudity:

There is some slight nudity, but given the way the movie is filmed and the story told, I would argue that it is not gratuitous.

• Director: Marco Berger
• Writer: Marco Berger
• Actors: Manuel Vignau, Mateo Chiarino
• 102 min 
• Spanish (Argentine / South American Spanish, so slightly different than the Spanish most North Americans, at least those of us in California or the Southwest, are used to)
• IMDB

2 Minutes Later (US 2007)

The Gist:

After insurance investigator Michael Dalmar's twin brother, a famous photographer, goes missing, he partners with private detective Abigail Marks, pretending to be his own arrogant brother in order to find out what has happened to him. 

Comments with minor spoilers:

We have a movie playing around with mystery movie cliches and expectations by giving us a womanizing lesbian detective and a relatively passive gay man as her partner. Although reversing gender expectations is about as far as it messes around with the mystery formula. All the other expected cliches are still there. Monologue voice over narration. Private eye who used to be a cop. Guns with unlimited bullets. Good twin, evil twin. People making stupid decisions. People acting oddly in odd ways to ensure clues are had (such as carrying around a stamped, self addressed envelop in order to mail yourself the MacGuffin). A detective in very thin stiletto heels that make you cringe in sympathetic pain as she runs towards a shoot out.

Okay. Maybe not that last one, especially since a real lesbian, "lipstick" or not, would have taken those shoes off before running into danger. Regardless, for the most part this is a standard mystery movie, although not a fair play one, and one painted over broadly in "gay," so throw gay flick cliches into the mix as well. Most notably lots and lots of male nudity. Seriously, a lot. The missing brother's job as famous *sshole photographer allows for far more floppy penises than usual in a gay flick. 

Cliches and penises aside, the movie is neither particularly good nor bad. but rather just ok. The acting is adequate and the story is told more or less competently. The movie was obviously designed for sequels, although as far as I can tell there have been no further adventures of our queer detective team. 

Women:

Yes

People of color:

Yes

Gratuitous nudity:

Yes. Lots

• Director: Robert Gaston
• Writer: Robert Gaston 
• Actors: Michael Molina, Jessica Graham 
• 78 min
• IMDB

Food of Love (Spain/Germany 2002)

The Gist:

18 year old Paul, an aspiring pianist with a promising future, is hired to be a page turner at a concert for a world famous pianist where he becomes an instant object of attention for both the pianist, Kennington, and Kennington's agent/boyfriend. Six months later while on holiday in Barcelona with his mother, Paul once again meets Kennington, where after some astonishingly cheesy pickup lines are said, they begin an affair that will impact their lives.  

Comments (with spoilers important and not):

Our young Ganymede is apparently so attractive that older gay men fall into such strong lust with him they easily ignore the fact that he's a self-absorbed cruel brat. A good thing for Paul considering he has a thing for older guys he'd never have a chance with if they paid attention to his personality. 

Beyond Paul, his mother is written as a hysterical willing victim (her husband having left her for another woman, and her son continually berating her for the crime of existing), and the Kennington and his agent/boyfriend are both little more than scared jerks. The end result of all this angst and people acting badly is that I never got around to caring about any of them.

I was instead distracted by a minor detail. Paul goes to New York for schooling. Once there he comes out of the closet and starts building his identity as a gay man, right at the same time as he goes from gifted, promising, upcoming musical talent to being merely competent with limited future. I assume there is not supposed to be a correlation between the two, but it's easily read that way, and the idea that being openly gay and happy destroys his musical talent seems... odd. 

Regardless of my issues, it's a good movie. The story is well told and well acted (more or less). I just didn't care about it. 

Women: 

Just two of any importance, Paul's mother and his music teacher. 

People of color:

No

  

Gratuitous nudity: 

Some quick butt shots

• Director: Ventura Pons
• Writer: Ventura Pons
• Actors: Kevin Bishop, Paul Rhys, Juliet Stevenson
• 112 min
• Based on the novel The Page Turner by David Leavitt
• IMDB

The Wishmakers (U.S. 2011)

The Gist:

A dancer goes to West Hollywood and moves in with two friends from college. All three make a wish to find love, then more or less ignore this as they instead try to find success in their careers. People talk, talk some more, then two men dance. 

Comments (with unimportant spoilers): 

The movie is sort of "meh." The acting is okay, and production values adequate (except for a lone cheap looking green screen scene that is). The main problem seems to be that there just isn't much here. 

The dancer is given the most "plot." Meaning that he is saddled with a quick blink-and-you'll-miss-it coming out story combined with dating shenanigans. Unfortunately it's all old territory, nothing new, and ends up being the dullest of the three storylines. 

The other two friends have occasional scenes that hint at a much more interesting movie, but they aren't really expanded upon. One friend is only interested in sleeping his way to success, but his character is never developed beyond being a jerk. The third friend is genderqueer? Asexual?  It is never made clear, and as he is written as a performance artist "weirdo" who is never NOT performing, the value of whatever he says is largely negated by his outlandish appearance.

These hints of a better movie are just that, short bits and pieces, leaving the majority of the movie a boring slog as it rehashes old jokes about bad dates and how "everyone in Los Angeles is a horrible person," and fills up the running time with montage after montage.

Women:

One overbearing crazy actress played by Sally Kirkland, who apparently is the only woman living in Los Angeles

People of Color:

Everyone in Los Angeles is white except for one person

Gratuitous nudity:

A butt shot

• Director: David Grotell
• Writer: David Grotell
• Actors: Justin Martindale, Ari Sorrentino, Vincent de Paul, Sally Kirkland
• 88 min
• Note: The movie is occasionally referenced online as Wish Makers of West Hollywood. This appears to be the original (if not final) title of the movie as well as the title of a short film by the same director made in 2010. The Wishmakers is presumably the short film expanded upon.
• IMDB

Between Something and Nothing (U.S. 2008)

The Gist:

Small town boy Joe goes to a famous art school in Providence on scholarship and befriends fellow student Jennifer. They cope with the ever growing ridiculous demands of school by constantly partying. Also, Joe has a secret life where he is obsessed with a local hustler and becomes a hustler as well. 

Comments:

It seems that art school is filled with self indulgent, rich, pretentious, asshole kids who are terrible people, who are taught by self indulgent, incompetent, pretentious, asshole teachers who are terrible people incapable of actually teaching. Also, Providence is filled to overflowing with male prostitutes who are assholes. The only sane response to all of this assholery is to drink heavily, do drugs, become a hustler, have sex with as many men as possible, act like a jerk, and use these experiences to fuel your art. 

From reading up a little about him, director Todd Verow tends to create somewhat aggressively stylized movies featuring stories that are neither hollywood standard nor gay / romance / drama cliche. He also revisits themes such as sex and injects autobiographical elements from his life into his movies, such as when he attended art school and apparently worked as a hustler.

Many "hustler movies" tend to feel forced and emotionally manipulative and while this doesn't quite escape all of the traps of the tragic gay hustler trope, the autobiographical feel (that it has some sort of resemblance to reality) combined with the use of digital video (which makes it feel more "personal" than film would have), and the somewhat drifting narrative helps makes this a better movie than many of its brethren. 

It's an interesting movie, well done, and I must admit rather sexy (once Joe gets a Mohawk and loses his ability to wear non-ripped shirts he goes from cute boy next door to smoking hot). 

While I think it's good, actually recommending it would depend on your reaction to experimental movies. While not totally "out there" (it does have a plot and is told in a fairly straightforward manner), it could seem boring and rambling if you're uninterested in the story or the way it's told. 

Women: 

Yes

People of color:

Yes

Gratuitous nudity:

Yes

• Director: Todd Verow
• Writers: Todd Verow, Jim Dwyer
• Actors: Tim Swain, Julia Frey, Gil Bar-Sela
• 105 min 
• IMDB

Pooltime (US 2010)

The Gist: 

A 40-something gay man claiming he is bored with his stereotypical life of partying and one night stands, invites three friends over (his best friend, an ex-boyfriend, and a former hook-up) to see if one of them would make a good husband. He then remembers why they wouldn't. As this happens, bizarre people drop by, and a dubious lesson on how to get laid is given to a straight teenage nephew. 

Comments: 

The opening credits feature swimming speedo clad men and it's arguable that this is the highlight of the movie. Well, perhaps that's too mean. Although from all the underwater crotch shots and scenes where the camera is focused on their bodies rather than say, their faces, as the principles talk, it seems like the movie mainly exists as an excuse to watch skinny barely dressed men. 

"Mainly exists," because beyond the skin, there's not much else here. Just a mix of adequate to strangely bad acting, the standard boring jokes about how everyone in West Hollywood is a terrible person, and the idea that after a couple decades of meaningless partying, protagonist David is finally ready to settle down. Although that last bit is questionable. If he really were ready to settle down, why would his tactic to find a husband consist of revisiting old failed relationships? As is, the movie has already decided which of the three prospects is his perfect partner. They both know it as well, but are too wussy to do anything about it. 

In addition to his half hearted husband quest, there are some questionable lessons provided, that romance is foolish, that if you're gay only anal sex counts as "real sex," and that people never change. 

There is also a lesson for a young teenage nephew, who gets lectured by the gays on dating girls and how to get laid. He needs to become the straight version of them, a vain metrosexual concerned with looks and money and style over substance. They also teach him that girls are manipulative creatures and will get pregnant just to get a man. Poor sad nephew, being straight sucks. Then again, if these guys are any indication, being gay isn't much better. 

So yeah. Maybe the opening credits of swimming speedo clad men really is the best part of the movie. 

Women: 

A few: a party crashing mom, one mean sister, and a neighbor 

People of color:

A couple 

Gratuitous nudity:

No actual nudity, though there is lots of skin showing thanks to skimpy "gay" swimwear

• Director: Mike Donahue
• Writer: Mike Donahue
• Actors: Marcus Harwell, Jeffrey Patrick Olson, Mark C. Hanson, Junes Zadhi
• 87 min
• IMDB