Author: Team Dekkoo

Jane Lynch and Paul Witten, stars of ‘Dropping The Soap’, on why Hollywood actors stay in the closet

The folks over at Gay Star News published a great interview with Jane Lynch and Paul Witten. Besides discussing their hilarious series, ‘Dropping the Soap‘ they also talk about why so many gay stars in Hollywood stay in the closet.

If you haven’t had a chance to watch ‘Dropping the Soap‘ we suggest you binge watch it immediately. With what’s going on in the world these days everyone could use a good laugh.

New this week on Dekkoo – 6/2/17

Set in the summer of 1984 in Sandusky, Ohio, teenager Eric Hunter is terrified and exhilarated by his sexual attraction to Rod, a college student and co-worker at a local fast food joint. But, Eric’s sexual awakening is complicated by his new romance with his best friend Maggie. ‘Edge of Seventeen‘, a gay classic, is now available on Dekkoo!

Alan Turing set in motion the computer age and his World War II code-breaking helped save two million lives. Yet few people have heard his name, know his tragic story, or understand his important legacy. In 1954, Turing committed suicide at age 41 after being forced to undergo chemical castration because he was gay. He left behind a lasting legacy and lingering questions about what else he might have accomplished if society had embraced his unique genius instead of rejecting it. ‘Codebreaker‘ is now available on Dekkoo.

Dean and Ian are having relationships problems mostly caused by…him. Watch ‘Tonight‘ on Dekkoo.com!

in ‘The Dark Place‘, Keegan Dark returns to the the heart of California’s wine valley to make peace with his long-estranged family. Instead, he finds a harrowing mystery that endangers his life and those he loves.

Yuki Morimura is by all accounts a disappointment. The only thing the substitute teacher has going for him is that he is the concertmaster of an amateur orchestra. When music prodigy Kei Tonoin is recruited to be the orchestra’s first true conductor a battle for dominance begins. One that is driven by lust. ‘Fujimi Orchestra: Cold Front Orchestra‘ is available now on Dekkoo.

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Coming next week: “By turns a frightening home-invasion drama, a tender love story
and a tense hide-and-seek thriller, with far more control over these unsettling
tonal slides than initially seems feasible.” –  Variety

DEKKOO DISPATCH 021 – ‘OUT IN THE DARK’ AND ‘VICTORY DAY’

Title – ‘Out In The Dark‘

Director – Michael Mayer

Starring – Nicholas Jacob, Michael Aloni, Jameel Khouri, Alon Pdut

Release Date – September 27, 2013

Title – ‘Victory Day‘

Director – Alina Rudnitskaya

Release Date – 2014

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Happy #Covfefe day everyone! Today I want to feature two films that highlight the struggle of Non-U.S. attitudes towards LGBTQ rights and the people that have the bravery to stand up for love.

The short documentary ‘Victory Day‘ is a really touching look inside the lives of 6 LGBTQ couples living in Russia – a country that has time and time again refused to accept LGBTQ people as normal citizens. While homosexual sex was decriminalized in 1993, there are still no laws on the books that prohibit discrimination against LGBTQ citizens, meaning you can still be fired from a job or kicked out of your apartment. It’s also illegal to expose children to anything other than heterosexual relationships in books, movies, textbooks, etc. Since that law passed in 2013 (here we call it the ‘gay propaganda law’) there have been numerous arrests and censoring of Hollywood movies like the new ‘Beauty and the Beast’.

The short film goes into depth with the 6 couples about how they got together, their struggles with family, friends, and co-workers, and their views on the current political climate. The beginning of the short is definitely a bit chilling with the juxtaposition of Russia’s Victory Day celebrations consisting of tanks and soldiers with discussions of how long the couples have been dating, but overall it’s an uplifting journey because of the bravery of all 6 couples. If you’re curious about how normal LGBTQ people live their lives in Russia this is the doc for you.

Now we shift from Russia to Israel, a country that is unique in the Middle East for being very accepting of LGBTQ people. While you can’t marry inside the country you can be married somewhere else and then Israel will recognize that marriage. You can also adopt and anti-discrimination policies have been passed. However ‘Out in the Dark‘ decides to focus on the interplay of sexuality and politics between Israel and Palestine. The movie has a great combination of sexiness, political intrigue, and thrilling action.

The movie focuses on a cute, young Palestinian named Nimer. He studies Psychology and travels to Tel Aviv for his studies. His friend Mustafa introduces him one night to a ridiculously sexy Israeli lawyer named Roy. The differences between them are numerous – wealth, privilege, and citizenship to name just a few. But as in all the great romance movies they fall in love despite everything. Unfortunately things get complicated once
Mustafa gets caught by his Palestinian friends for being queer which then suggests Nimer might be queer as well. One of the most intriguing/disturbing facts about this film is it’s portrayal of how crossing over a simple border can completely change how society views you. You can be celebrated in Israel, but killed in Palestine.

However all seriousness aside, ‘Out in the Dark‘ is a stunner of a film. It played at almost every single LGBTQ film festival and has gotten rave reviews. It’s packed full of romance and action and it’s just an awesome film. Watch it tonight!

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Watch ’em with: Your friends who have no clue what’s happening outside of Rupaul’s Drag Race.

Mix it with: Russian Vodka.

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DEKKOO DISPATCH 020 – ‘WE ARE ANIMALS’ AND ‘ANOTHER GAY MOVIE’

Title – ‘We Are Animals‘

Director – Dominic Haxton

Starring – Daniel Landroche, Clint Napier, Drew Droege, George Alvarez

Release Date – June 28, 2013

Title – ‘Another Gay Movie‘

Director – Todd Stephens

Starring – Michael Carbonaro, Jonathan Chase, Jonah Blechman, Mitch Morris

Release Date – May 3, 2007

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Heya Dekkoo-ers! Hope you’ve all been having a good week. Mine started off great via a Facebook Live stream of the annual Naval Academy freshman graduation ceremony where they attempt to climb a greased up monument shirtless. You can’t take your eyes off the struggle!

This week I want to continue the sexy vibes with two visually inventive and wild films starting with ‘We Are Animals‘.

The short film by director Dominic Haxton (we’ll be introducing you to many of his great short works in the next weeks) takes place in a dystopian future society where HIV positive citizens have been quarantined from the rest of society and given pills that keep their libidos in check. The main character has reluctantly joined with the oppressive government not so dissimilar to the Jews that helped out in the concentration camps, but once he meets a sexy member of the opposition his allegiance starts to shift.

I really love how this short film is able to set-up so much mood and world-building in such a short amount of time. Of course it really helps that the two main characters have such an sexy and radical rapport that deals with sexual confidence, the oppressed conquering the oppressor, and releasing the inner animal. A little ultra-violence also goes a long way too! Oh and a Drew Droege cameo is always hawt.

After the climactic ending to ‘Animals’ it’s time for a Gay Classic! When Todd Stephens made ‘Gypsy 83’, the follow-up to the honest and charming ‘Edge of Seventeen’, he encountered film distributors and executives saying either ‘It’s too gay!’ or ‘It’s not gay enough!’. Todd had so much difficulty with the film that he decided that he was going to
make the gayest film ever! Enter ‘Another Gay Movie‘. Todd Stephen’s answer to straight raunchy pics like ‘American Pie’ and ‘Porky’s’ turned out to be a massive hit. It turns out that gay people were dying for a film that tossed the typical gay coming-of-age plot-line out the window and embraced a more gross and wild narrative that felt like the ‘R’-Rated movies that straight people got to see all the time.

It also helps that the movie followed an adorable group of graduating high school seniors that decided they need to lose their virginity by the end of the summer. There’s Andy – your typical awkward everyman that has an obsession with sticking stuff up his butt. Jarrod – the jock of the group who claims he’s a total top and has some insecurities. Nico – the ‘leading lady’ of the group who’s always able to cheer everyone up and Griff – the nerd of the group that logically tries to get laid. Of course there are so many hilarious side-characters and cameos. A few highlights: Graham Norton as Mr. Puckov, Scott Thompson (‘The Kids in the Hall’) as Andy’s dad, Daryl Stephens as a hot go-go boy, and Richard Hatch as Richard Hatch.

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Watch ’em with: Your friends who appreciate gross humor

Mix ’em with: 420 Apple Martinis

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New this week on Dekkoo – 5/19/17

The Monteiro and Campelo families live in the shadow of a crime committed in the past. But when chance puts Ramon and Romulo face to face, hatred turns into an unlikely love that can hurt parents, siblings, friends, and even themselves. ‘Romeu & Romeu‘ is available now!

‘Rag Tag‘ is a touching and earnest story of love about two friends who were separated through circumstance and reunite years later as young men. Entrenched in their West Indian and African cultures they must work out what family, friendship and love means to them. Then stake their future on it.

Chile, 1986. Young Luchito masturbates while watching Manuel, his 16-year-old neighbor, from his window. As Manuel discovers his sexuality, Luchito’s window turns into an erotic cinematographic world that awakens a curiosity in Luchito, with disastrous repercussions for Manuel. Watch ‘Blokes‘ now!

In ‘Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?‘ optometrist Weichung begins to question his marriage with his wife Feng, upon learning of her desire to have another baby. When he runs into an old friend dormant emotions are awakened in Weichung, setting him off on a quest for true romance and desire.

A gay thirty year old lives at home and is in the midst of a serious creative funk. Rejected by numerous art schools and lacking romantic prospects, he looks to his charismatic Uncle Alfred for inspiration. ‘Never Met Picasso‘ is available now!

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Coming next week: “One of the most powerful films about the Arab-Israeli conflict
that has ever been attempted on screen.” – Rex Reed

DEKKOO DISPATCH 019 – ‘BLOKES’ & ‘REMINGTON AND THE CURSE…’

Title – ‘Blokes‘

Director – Marialy Rivas

Starring – Alfonso David, Pedro Campos, Paula Zúñiga, María de Los Ángeles García

Release Date – May 22, 2010

Title – ‘Remington and the Curse of the Zombadings‘

Director – Jade Castro

Starring – Martin Escudero, Lauren Young, Kerbie Zamora, Janice de Belen

Release Date – August 31, 2011

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Heya! Hope everyone’s week is going swell. It’s that time of the year in the film world when everyone seems to be asking, ‘Are you going to Cannes?’ I’m not, but that doesn’t stop me (nor should it stop you!) from watching some Cannes-worthy films this week and it just so happens the short film, ‘Blokes‘, was an official selection of the Cannes Film Festival a few years ago!

Luchito lives in a poor apartment complex somewhere in Chile during the military dictatorship which lasted from 1973-1990. He lives with his nosy mother who keeps barging in on him while he’s trying to jerk off to thoughts of the hunky boy playing soccer in the courtyard downstairs. Luchito is a dreamer and to that end spends a lot of time staring out of his window. Finally he gets to see his crush naked with a girl, but that’s just the start of a cat and mouse game with an ending involving a really big ‘cat’.

‘Blokes‘ was based on a short essay by a famous queer Chilean author and activist named Pedro Lemebel. I can’t read Spanish, but the google translation hinted that it was written really beautifully.

Next, we’ve got a mega silly film that I couldn’t get out of my head for weeks afterwards: ‘Remington and the Curse of the Zombadings‘ is a super queer zombie/witchcraft-comedy out of the Philippines which is known for a very flamboyant gay community due to the presence of the ‘Bakla‘. Sadly, gay people are barely tolerated in certain communities and violence does occur which is one of the focal points of the film.

The story concerns Remington (a super-cute Martin Escudero) who was cursed at a young age by a Pops (Roderick Paulate) who he mocked for being gay while Pops was mourning for a dead lover. However the curse is hardly your average cut-and-dry you’ll die soon or you’ll get boils on your butt. No! It’s that Remington will become gay when he gets older! Fast-forward 10 or so years and the curse starts to take effect right at the same time a rash of strange murders begin to plague his small community.

Watch the trailer and you’ll quickly get a sense if this movie is your taste. I’d highly recommend it though. Where else can you watch a straight guy struggling with a gay curse and having mood swings between the girl he’s falling in love with and his ‘straight’ best friend while at the same time solving a murder mystery?!?

Some fun facts about the movie:

-Once Remington starts to ‘turn gay’ he starts talking in bakla slang like ‘Hi Mumsie!’ and ‘Must dash!’ and you’ll notice that those subtitles are in pink!

-There’s a cameo by Daniel Fernando who was in the classic film, ‘Macho Dancer’.

-Remington can’t control his ass in one dance scene; emoji’s and rainbows take over the frame and it’s legit one of the best parts of the film.

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Watch ’em with: Your mega-gay friends

Mix ’em with: A Mojito, or two, or ten…

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New this week on Dekkoo – 5/12/17

A quartet of stories in which characters’ lives are changed by unusual sexual encounters, ‘Fourplay‘ frames desire through themes of connection, eroticism, shame, fear, love, spiritual healing and self worth.

Long after the end of the world, five strangers sharing an abandoned desert motel are forced to decide between love and survival. ‘Goodbye Blue Sky‘ is playing now!

When Guy Simms is yanked out of his mundane routine mopping floors at the gay cabaret and accused of burning down the evangelical church by the town preacher, Guy overcomes his fear of authority to prove his innocence in this sardonic film about Leathermen, the Bible and fighting for freedom. Watch ‘Theft‘ on Dekkoo!

Set on the Isle of Wight, ‘We Once Were Tide‘ tells the story of Anthony and Kyle, and their last night together as Kyle moves away leaving Anthony to look after his terminally ill mother.

 

DEKKOO DISPATCH 018 – ‘FOGI IS A BASTARD’ & ‘BOYGAME’

Title – ‘Fogi Is a Bastard‘

Director – Marcel Gisler

Starring – Fredric Andrau, Vincent Branchet, Urs Peter Halter, Jean-Pierre Von Dach

Release Date – April 28, 1999

Title – ‘Boygame’ (as part of ‘Straight Men and The Men Who Love Them: Vol. 3‘)

Director – Anna Österlund Nolskog

Starring – Charlie Gustafsson, Joakim Lang, Sophie Adolfsson, Palmira Koukkari Mbenga

Release Date – December 3, 2013

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This week on the Dekkoo Dispatch we’re covering two films that center on youth and sexuality and the angst that arises from that potent combination.

‘Boygame’ (part of ‘Straight Men and the Men Who Love Them Vol: 3‘) is a masterful investigation into the limits (or lack thereof) of male bonding from Swedish director Anna Österlund Nolskog. Yup that’s right. One of the sexiest and deepest probing studies into straight guys maybe not being that straight is from a woman. The short centers around best friends John and Nicholas. They joke together, encourage each other to chase after their girl crushes, and even jerk off together. But once conversation turns to
the mechanics of sex and how they’ll be able to keep from cumming too quickly that’s when the line between friends and something more gets a little blurry. There’s so much about this short film to fall in love with, but personally my favorite part is right at the end studying the character’s faces to determine exactly what they’re thinking. Each time I come up with something different and it never fails to make me feel giddy in one way or another.

After you’ve fallen in love with John and Nicholas from ‘Boygame’ it’s time to keep up those reading skills with another foreign film. This time from Switzerland (French language), the land of mountains, watches, chocolates, and drug addicted rockers like Fogi, one of the main protagonists (although he could also be considered the antagonist) of ‘Fogi is a Bastard‘. I watched this movie for the first time when I was in high school or early college and really felt a connection with Beni, the main character since he was a
similar age and also looking for love. Now re-watching it later I’ve fallen in love with it even more since I can now recognize many of the tell-tale signs of impending romantic disaster which occur in the film quite frequently – that and I’m also just really into guys in collars now more than I was before.

15-year-old Beni goes to a rock concert one night and falls in love with Fogi, the lead singer of a so-so rock band. He quickly becomes a ‘roadie’ and Fogi introduces him to sex and tenderness which Beni sucks in like a sponge. At first Fogi isn’t really a ‘bastard’ as the title would suggest. He’s vulgar and off-putting, but those are qualities that rock stars usually posses and Beni admires that. After a while though one of Fogi’s band members
gets him back into heroin which has negative consequences on their relationship (obviously). Beni is persistent in his love for Fogi and won’t let go even when Fogi prostitutes him out to older men for drug money.

‘Fogi is a Bastard‘ is definitely a film that stands out from the pack for its tender study of drugs affecting a loving relationship. Parallels could be drawn to Ira Sachs’ ‘Keep the Lights On’ for it’s portrayal of two souls battling it out in the name of affection and love.
There are also some fantastic images in this film that refuse to leave my memory like when Beni curls up at Fogi’s feet and then Fogi pours milk on his face. Lactosploitation indeed!

Watch these films! You won’t be disappointed.

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Watch ’em with: A friend who enjoys sexy foreign films

Mix ’em with: A 6-pack of good beer

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