Sunday Bloody Sunday (U.K. 1971)

The Gist:

Alex, a divorced woman (Glenda Jackson), and Hirsch, an older Jewish gay man (Peter Finch), are both involved with the same younger man, an artist named Bob (Murray Head). They each know of the other, and both are, or at least claim to be, content with the situation, of only being part of Bob's life rather than the whole, but life can be difficult and things change.

Comments:

Unlike many of the previous movies I've mentioned here, this is not a small independent "gay" flick. This is Schlesinger. This is a Film with a capital "F."

It's also very good. These are well defined characters driving the story forward. More so, while two of the characters are gay/bi, their sexual orientation is just part of who they are rather than their sole driving motivating factor. This is something we still don't get that often in movies when it comes to minorities. People who are people rather than people who are a label and nothing else. 

They may not be the happiest of people, but that's just because of what this story is, of settling, compromise and acceptance. It is not a punishment for breaking the rules of heterosexuality. In context of time, the early 70's, it's pretty amazing, letting a gay character just "be" instead of being a clown, villain, or victim. This is some groundbreaking stuff here. Treating a kiss between the male characters in exactly the same manner as a kiss between a male and female character is still considered edgy to some extent. 

Even the focus of the movie, on Hirsch and Alex, the older people of the story rather than on younger Bob is is an unusual choice considering how youth obsessed culture was then and now. Although frankly, as written, young artist Bob is the least interesting of the trio, so that is maybe not that surprising. 

It's not a happy cheerful story, and is at times very 1970's "FILM," so may not appeal to everyone, but it is worth trying if you're in the mood for a "FILM" instead of just a "flick." If nothing else, Peter Finch's final monologue is worth seeing. 

Women:

Many 

People of color: 

One man 

Gratuitous nudity:

Some nudity, but debatable if the word gratuitous applies. 

• Director: John Schlesinger
• Writer: Penelope Gillatt
• Actors: Peter Finch, Glenda Jackson, Murray Head
• 110 min
• IMDB

Love Or Whatever (U.S. 2012)

The Gist:

When a man rapidly approaching his thirtieth birthday proposes to his boyfriend, he quickly finds himself single and his life a confusing disaster. When he meets a new man will he mess things up, or learn to accept a chance at "love or whatever?" 

Comments: 

I kind of sort of almost liked the movie, though I'm not sure why since the best thing I can say about it is that while it is not good, at least it's not terrible. An opinion I suspect wouldn’t hold up if the movie were examined too closely. 

The protagonist acts like an idiot (not too uncommon a trait for leads in romcoms), he treats people poorly, and is extremely unbelievable as a psychologist. The jokes are not particularly funny (the worst bit being an ongoing, repeating joke about a woman who had been mauled / molested by a wild animal). The lone bisexual man's sexual orientation is played as an outdated offensive bi-phobic joke. The joke being that he likes both men and women because he is indecisive, immature, and can never make up his mind. 

Reversing the train of thought and looking for good things, the actor playing the womanizing lesbian sister does a good job, and she puts some much needed energy into the movie. Although thinking about it, insatiable womanizing lesbian minor character is rapidly becoming a tired cliche in gay flicks. 

Yeah, I'm quickly changing my opinion about likening it. I'm not however changing my opinion that that movie while not good, is at least not terrible. 

Women:

Yes

People of Color:

Yes? Maybe? No? The only real rule I have for this category is that someone of color has a speaking role. Even just one line would qualify for a marginally yes answer. The only nonwhite people who appear in the movie are some of the sister's "show up for one scene only" sexual conquests. Despite having seen the movie only a couple days ago, I’ve already forgotten if any of them had actual lines. 

Gratuitous nudity:

Minor, a couple of not strictly necessary butt shots 

• Director: Rosser Goodman
• Writer: Dennis Bush, Cait Brennan
• Actors: Tyler Poelle, Jennifer Elise Cox, Joel Rush
• 84 min
• IMDB

First Period (U.S. 2013)

The Gist: 

A girl set on having a great 16th birthday party next weekend is faced with a problem. Her family has just moved into town and she doesn't know anyone yet, so she only has five school days to become popular at high school. A prospect that Heather, the current reigning most popular girl in school is not exactly thrilled with. 

Comments: 

The movie is a farce of 80's high school comedies with the protagonist and her new best friend, the school's 'freak' girl both being played by men. There's also the school's mean girls who are both named Heather, pretty much all the speaking roles played by people who haven't been teenagers in quite some time, insane teachers, lots of 80's "valley talk," the near lack of adult roles, the near lack of actual classes, and other high school movie cliches amped up and played for laughs. 

While there are some problems and minor issues, the movie more or less succeeds at being a camp high school farce. Thing is I didn't particularly like it. A case where my tastes don't align with the majority, because poking around online it looks like that for the most part people enjoy the movie and think it's really funny, cute and engaging, while I was largely indifferent to it. 

My lack of enjoyment aside, if you're into high school movie farces, or like campy, wacky movies with male actors playing women, then it may be worth checking out. 

Women: 

Yes 

People of Color:

Yes

Gratuitous nudity:

No

• Director: Charlie Vaughn
• Writer: Brandon Alexander III
• Actors: Brandon Alexander III, Dudley Beene
• 100 min
• Note: While there are some gay characters in the movie, it's the adult male actors playing teenage girls camp aspect that gets it included in lists of LGBT movies. 
• IMDB

Speechless (Wu yan)(Hong Kong / China 2012)

The Gist:

A mute, naked, western man is found along the side of a river in a town in mainland China. After being taken in by the police, he is sent to the local hospital where he and Xiao Jiang, a nurse, develop a bond with each other. When it is eventually decided to send the mysterious man to a mental asylum, Xiao Jiang decides to take a risk and flee the town with the mystery man in tow. 

Comments (with some spoilers):

The movie is rather good. The story is interesting, it is gorgeous to look at, is mostly well done, and well-acted. Not to say there are no issues with the movie. There are, mainly with pacing. 

Towards the end of the movie there is an extended flashback explaining what happened to traumatize the stranger into muteness, so spoiler, the mystery is solved. The problem with this is that the flashback is long enough that it changes the flow of the movie, and the transition from flashback back to the current story ends up feeling somewhat awkward. The final fate of the characters is also somewhat confusing, to me at least. They are just in a new situation with no explanation given as to what happened between the climax of the story and the end of the story to put them there.

Once the stranger’s backstory is shown it also made it hard to keep up the suspension of disbelief thing going. Essentially, the fact that the police can’t figure out who he is makes them seem incompetent. 

It is sounding like I didn't like the movie, which is incorrect. These issues don't negate that the movie is good and the story intriguing. It's definitely worth trying. Assuming you don’t mind subtitles (or speak Mandarin that is).

Content wise aside, the story behind the making of the movie is interesting as well. It seems that because permission to film it would be denied by the government, it was filmed in secret in mainland China. 

Women:

Yes

People of color:

Yes

Gratuitous nudity:

There is some nudity in the movie, but I would argue that it is not gratuitous as it is used to help tell the story. At the beginning highlighting the mute man's sense of innocence, and during later scenes to well, esplaining that would be a spoiler.

• Director: Simon Chung
• Writer: Simon Chung, Lu Yulai
• Actors: Pierre-Matthieu Vital, Qilun Gao, Yung Yung Yu, Jian Jiang
• 92 min
• Mandarin and English (at least that's how it's listed on IMBD, actually there's barely any English dialogue)
• IMDB

Rhythm and Blues (U.K. 2000)

The Gist:

In London, an attractive man named John befriends a skinhead, Byron, and though Byron in extremely swift order: is convinced he should be become a hustler; joins a gay male escort service; and is chosen for hire by an older, eccentric, rich American called Bad Daddy for a night of debauchery. As all this is going on a mysterious serial killer hustler, "The Rent Boy Ripper," is murdering his clients.

Comments:

First off, the movie is largely bad. It's a gay, hustler, murder thriller, comedy; and it doesn't particularly "do" any of those adjectives very well. 

There are occasional humorous moments, but overall the movie is not that funny. The thriller / mystery part of the story alternates between being mildly interesting and boring. The acting ranges from bad to adequate, which is not helped by occasionally confusing dialogue. That last bit is in reference to dialogue / editing, as the movie has people occasionally referencing conservations that only take place in deleted scenes. 

Negatives aside, the movie has an odd charm to it, a sort of low budget, sad, Britishness to it that made me not mind how bad it was. Then again maybe I didn't mind that the movie sucked because I think Paul Blackthorne (John) is hot. 

Regardless of how prurient thoughts affected my judgement, the movie is not worth watching. Unless you're into comedic hustler thrillers that aren't particularly humorous, thrilling, or good that is. 

Women:

Yes

People of color:

No

Gratuitous nudity:

Women, yes. 
Men, teasingly nearly, but no actual nudity 

• Director: Stephen Lenhoff
• Writer: Michael Jones
• Actors: Angus MacInnes, Ian Henderson, Paul Blackthorne
• 98 min
• IMDB

Hold Your Peace (U.S. 2011)

The Gist:

Grouchy guy Aiden is asked by his grumpy ex-boyfriend Max to be his best man at his upcoming commitment ceremony / wedding to Forrest. Thing is Aiden is single, and worse still in love with Max. In order to not appear totally lame Aiden, asks his best friend's other gay friend Lance to go with him to the commitment ceremony / wedding and pretend to be his new boyfriend Brick. There Lance/Brick immediately falls for Max's fiancé Forrest, and pretty much what you expect to happen happens.

Comments (with a major spoiler that in reality is not):

The problem with "pretty much what you expect to happen happens" is not that the story is predictable, but that that it was told badly. The production is uneven, the acting is all over the place from bad to adequate, and the characters are boring. Well, at least the leads are. 

Part of this is that both protagonist Aiden and his ex-boyfriend Max are rude jerks. You can see when the story switches gears and goes to "Aiden's learned his lesson so feel sorry for him now," but you never move away from thinking he's annoying (or at least I never did).

Aside from two bothersome guys, there's fiancé Forest, who is played as perfect, and effeminate twink Lance/Brick who might have been interesting if the script hadn't called for him to spend most of his onscreen time weeping. The advice giving female best friend ends up being the least annoying of the characters, but that's not saying much. 

The major spoiler is this, not that the couples you know will end up together end up together, but that it happens suddenly right at the end of the story. With a snap of the fingers, poof everyone is running off with who they should be with no attempt at dialogue or explanation. Not even the expected "Hey I know we were supposed to get married but i've fallen in love with someone else, sorry 'bout that." While going off in an unexpected direction can be good, in the case it feels more like lazy writing. 

So uninteresting characters in an obvious story that is told poorly. Not surprisingly I wouldn't recommend watching it. 

Women:

Several, though primarily in one scene only. 

People of color:

Yes

Gratuitous nudity:

No

• Director: Wade McDonald 
• Writer: Wade McDonald 
• Actors: Chad Ford, Scott Higgens, Aleisha Force
• 96 min
• Note: I have not dealt with the Bechdel test in these write ups. Simplified, the test asks if a work includes at least two women who talk to each other about something other than a man. Frankly most of the movies I talk about here would fail to pass due to lack of female roles. This movie passes because during a bachelor party scene the guests, mainly women, are ALL far more interested in getting drunk than in congratulating the "happy couple." The fact that the minor characters don't even care about the lead roles amuses me more than it should. 
• IMDB

Love's Coming (ใช่รักหรือเปล่า)(Thailand 2014)

The Gist:

Four teenage boys, Zee, Arm, Pid, and Gump are best friends, and things are great, except that Gump hasn't been around lately because he is always too busy tutoring his neighbor Nai. Because of this sudden prioritizing of his hot male neighbor over his friends, Zee begins to wonder if Gump is gay, so he gets the group, and a gay 'uncle' (who prefers to be called Aunt Alexandra), to come up with a series of overly complicated plans to find out the truth about Gump and Nai.

Comments:

It's a largely cute movie with a plot that doesn't make too much sense because instead of a series of ever more elaborate traps and goofy shenanigans to get Gump to come out of the closet, they could have simply just asked him at the beginning of the story if he was in love with Nai or not. Then again that would have made for a very short movie. As is, this is wacky teen comedy so some silliness is to be expected. Also, these are teenage boys, more so straight teenage boys, and teenage boys are known for doing stupid things, so this is less of an issue here as compared to other movies where everything could have been resolved in ten minutes had people just actually talked to each other like real adults instead of movie adults. 

Which leads us to 'Aunt Alexandra.' He's very much a movie version a person, more so a movie version of a camp gay man. Luckily he's written just slightly deep enough to be more than just someone to be laughed at. You get to sympathize with him as well. 

While he isn't really an issue for me, there are some problematic "comedic" scenes. The most glaring being when, as part of the "is he or isn't he" hijinks, the straight teen boys find themselves at a pool with some speedo wearing gay guys showing off their bodies. The boys reaction to the sight of non-hetero men wanting to be objectified is to freak out and get physically ill. Gay panic is funny you all. Yes. Sarcasm. 

Despite this and some other clunker scenes, for the most part the movie is harmless fluff, and mostly positive as it becomes clear that the boys care about their friend Gump and will support him whatever the truth turns out to be. 

Women: 

Mothers, and a girlfriend, so yes

People of Color:

Yes

Gratuitous nudity:

No. Though there are lots of shots of shirtless and swimsuited Thai guys if you're into that. 

• Director: Naphat Chaithiangthum
• Writer: Naphat Chaithiangthum
• Actors: Korn Khunaitpapisiri, Suraphat Kirivichien, Norrapat Sakulsong, Chanon Santinatornkul, Suttinut Uengtrakul
• 108 min
• Thai
• IMDB 

The Foxy Merkins (U.S. 2013)

The Gist:

A young naive gay kid, new to hustling, is shown the ropes by a more experienced hustler and they make a connection, becoming friends and more, despite the more experienced hustler being, or at claiming to be, straight, as they do what they can to survive the tough life on the streets. 

Now take the cliche filled hustler movie you've pictured in your head and turn into a comedy with adult women in place of skinny gay twinks. 

Comments:

The movie was made by the same people who did Codependent Lesbian Space Alien Seeks Same. This time instead of low budget, extremely quirky and decidedly odd comedy riffing on bad 50's sci-fi movies, we have  a low budget, extremely quirky and decidedly odd comedy riffing on hustler movies. 

The two leads have great chemistry together, and overall it's a funny movie, though given the subject matter it helps if you're familiar with the genre, specifically Midnight Cowboy and My Own Private Idaho. Many of the jokes and situations only really make sense if you are familiar with the source material, otherwise the requisite "search to find my lost mother" or the required "men are incapable of loving another man" speech are not so much funny as just confusing. Although in case with the reversed genders it's now "women can't love other women," which comes off as very strange and nonsensical, and presumably is part of the intent and source of much of the humor. Other jokes, such as having the clothing store Talberts be THE place for lesbian prostitutes to hang out at are a bit more straightforward.

While I enjoyed it, it's not exactly a great movie. It does have a lot of issues. Not all the jokes are funny, some, such as the harassing cops sequence go on for too long; and there is no real plot, just our leads drifting in a vaguely Private Idaho direction with occasional Midnight Cowboy imagery. The basic idea of the movie is a problem as well, as unlike the Science Fiction of Codependent Lesbian Space Alien, not everyone has seen hustler movies which limits its audience to a large extent. 

So while I liked it, I'm not sure I'd recommend it. At least not without a lot of caveats. That you be a fan of quirky low budget movies. That you can easily ignore the lack of plot. That you know your hustler movies. But mainly that you have a very odd-ball sense of humor, because this is no where near 'normal' comedy territory.

Women:

Yes

People of color:

Yes 

Gratuitous nudity:

Yes

• Director: Madeleine Olnek
• Writers: Lisa Haas, Jackie Monahan, Madeline Olnek
• Actors: Lisa Haas, Jackie Monahan
• 81 min
• IMDB

Go Go G-Boys (Dang Wo Men Tong Zai Yi Qi) (Taiwan 2006)

The Gist:

Hong decides to pretend to be gay and join the "gays only" G-Boys contest, hoping to use the winnings to pay off his ever increasing credit card debt incurred by his shopaholic girlfriend. His best friend Shin joins the contest because being gay he is of course hopelessly in love with Hong and will do anything for him, since that's exactly what the gays do; martyr themselves whenever possible for straight dudes. 

As this is going on other things are happening. Minor unimportant stuff like a crazy man threatening to bomb the contest. 

Comments:

I spent a few minutes looking around online for information about the movie and didn't find too much, and no actual professional reviews. What I did find were people commenting how funny the movie was, how sexy the actors were, and how much they loved finally finding a non-depressing gay movie with a happy ending.

I guess I'm a stick in the mud because while admittedly the leads are cute, I thought the movie was bad. 

The story is flat and considering it is a romantic comedy it is not that funny, despite all the crazy, wild antics going on. Perhaps worse, the romance you are supposed to be rooting for, given it involves a gay guy dead set on being a victim in his desire to have a tragic unrequited love for his idiot straight friend, is problematic at best. 

On the plus side, a subplot about a young guy finding love and having to come out to his father because he joined the contest was sort of sweet, even if it made no sense (it didn't occur to the young man that joining an all gay contest would tip his father that he was gay).

While the movie spends far too much time making dumb gay jokes, once it settles down and begins to focus on the contest, it actually treats the contestants as "normal" characters instead of gay caricatures. Well, almost at least.  

So I guess depending on viewpoint it's either a fun non-depressing movie or it's not really worth watching. 

Women:

One

People of color:

Yes

Gratuitous nudity:

No, though there are several men in skimpy swimsuit scenes. 

• Director: Jong-jong Yu
• Writer: not listed 
• Actors: TAE, Chen-Kang Tang, Yu Fa Yang 
• 90 min
• Cantonese
• IMDB 

The Way He Looks (Hoje Eu Quero Voltar Sozinho) (Brazil 2014)

The Gist: 

Leonardo (Leo) is a young blind teenager who is beginning to rebel against the restraints put on his life by his overprotective parents. Also, his relationship with his best friend Giovana is strained when a new classmate, Gabriel, enters their lives. 

Comments:

I pretty much loved everything about the movie, from story to actors, it is fun, romantic, and well, utterly and totally adorable. The movie is super cute. Which could mean utterly schmaltzy and corny, but luckily doesn't. While it is sweet and charming, it manages to not be too saccharin. 

It is also well acted. Ghilherme Lobo does a particularly good job at portraying someone who is blind. The way the movie is shot enhances this. Many scenes are primarily close ups or filmed so that things in the distance are blurred with only the immediate foreground in focus, recreating in a way the way Leo 'sees' the world. 

While the majority of reviews and articles I've seen about the movie are positive and glowing with praise, I have come across a couple of, if not entirely negative, at least not overly impressed comments. It seems some people felt it unrealistic because a few bullying classmates are 'merely' mean jerks instead of being physically violent. An opinion I don't agree with it. Bullying does not have to be physical and as is, some bullies are just common every day assholes who'd find it funny to make fun of their blind school-mate instead of beating him up. 

The movie is based on a short, I Don't Want to go back Alone (Eu Não Quero Voltar Sozinho) (2010). Based may not be exactly the best description since the short was apparently made as a sort of pilot to raise funds for the feature film. The short is essentially a simpler version of the story and if possible, even sweeter. 

Both are definitely worth seeing. 

Women: 

Yes

People of color:

Yes 

Gratuitous nudity:

Minor nudity, but what there is in my opinion straddles the line of gratuitous and natural. 

• Director: Daniel Ribeiro 
• Writer: Daniel Ribeiro 
• Actors: Ghilherme Lobo, Fabio Audi, Tess Amorim
• 96 min
• Brazilian Portuguese 
• The American title, The Way He Looks, presumably references both that Gabriel is cute and how Leo "sees" the world.  It is not a literal translation of the original Brazilian Portuguese title, Hoje Eu Quero Voltar Sozinho. That would be something more like: "Today I Want To Go Back Alone," apparently referencing Leo's feelings of wanting to be independent.  
• IMDB