Team Dekkoo

‘Love Is Blind’, a Dekkoo-original series, is available NOW!

Make tonight, ‘Date Night With Dekkoo’ now that ‘Love Is Blind’ is available to watch!

Is there really such a thing as love at first date? ‘Love Is Blind‘, the brand-new, original gay reality series from Dekkoo.com, is going to find out! Each episode introduces two sexy gay singles, both looking for love, then sends them on a zany, unpredictable, and totally blind first date. Best of all, we take you along for the ride. Get a voyeuristic peak into their day-long courtship. Watch as these men turn each other – and sometimes turn on each other. Our “matches potentially made in gay heaven” are subjected to sexy ice-breakers like wrestling matches, kink classes, surfing, aerial acrobatics, body painting and tantric yoga. After that, the lucky couple is whisked away to dinner where the drinks and conversation start to flow and the guys’ true feelings about one another simmer to the surface. Hosted by comedian and MTV/Logo host Mike Kelton, who provides hilarious running commentary and in-depth analysis throughout each episode, ‘Love Is Blind‘ is poised to match-make gay singles everywhere, one couple and awesome/awkward first date at a time.

‘Love Is Blind’ is now available to binge only on Dekkoo!

DEKKOO DISPATCH 008 – ‘THE BUBBLE’

Title – ‘The Bubble‘

Director – Eytan Fox

Starring – Ohad Knoller, Yousef Sweid, Daniela Virtzer, Alon Friedman

Release Date – September 7, 2007

_________________________________

Alright last week was light and sexy. This week I’d like to challenge you to watch a film that has more than shirtless boys at the center of its conflict (although they are present, don’t worry). For years conflict has plagued the Middle East, but throughout all of it there’s always been a strong spirit of life from the people that live there. No other film shows the intensity of the spirit of fun and being yourself throughout conflict than ‘The Bubble‘.

Eytan Fox (who also helmed the classic films ‘Yossi & Jagger’ and ‘Yossi’) returns to show the story of three best friends living in Tel Aviv together whose lives are changed forever by the presence of Ashraf, a Palestinian. Noam, a handsome Israeli soldier, falls head over heels for Ashraf and decides to conceal him in their bohemian apartment. He manages to get him a job and even bring him to parties. But eventually he’s recognized as a Palestinian and the pressure of his past family life threatens everyone.

The movie completely succeeds in both its portrait of youth living in the city of Tel Aviv (the gayest and most liberal city in Israel), but also its depiction of the angst that lies deep within the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Don’t expect a happy ending, but also don’t expect an entirely hopeless ending. Wars can end, but they only end when we all embrace each other and come to understand each other.

________________________________

Watch it with: Anyone who hasn’t seen this gay classic! Especially
someone who’s a bit clueless about the Middle East.

Mix it with: Manischewitz wine and hummus!

________________________________

DEKKOO DISPATCH 007 – ‘THE LAST MATCH’

Title – ‘The Last Match‘

Director – Antonio Hens

Starring – Milton Garcia, Reinier Diaz, Luis Alberto Garcia, Mirta Ibarra

Release Date – May 5, 2013

_________________________________

Being gay in many parts of the world is still hard. Much harder than the glossy world of shows like ‘Glee’ would lead many to believe. In some countries and cultures it’s still all about being discreet and being smart about how you go about your ‘business’. Antonio Hens takes us into that world in Cuba, a country that’s seeming to get a new breath of life with trade relations being re-established with the United States.

After ‘Doors Cut Down‘ and ‘Clandestinos‘ (both of which are also on Dekkoo) Antonio continues to probe the world of machismo homosexuality in ‘The Last Match‘. However, this time in Cuba, in the steamy world of male locker rooms and gambling halls. Both of the main characters in this story have female partners; Yosvani has a fiancee who he seems very hesitant to have sex with. Renier straddles the worlds of life with his wife and child and the arena of hustling where he meets rich men who seem to fall in love with his chiseled handsome features and promise him the world. The two handsome men eventually meet and a downward spiral of sex and violence ensues.

Reasons for watching this film are numerous. If the fact that these super sexy guys aren’t enough then you should at least watch it for its extremely interesting commentary on modern life in Cuba which should be an academic reason for you to watch said sexy guys getting it on. Also there’s a crazy mother-in-law that’s so bat-shit crazy you’ll fall in love.

________________________________

Watch it with: Your best friend that you know has latin
fever!

Mix it with: A Daiquiri or a Mojito

________________________________

DEKKOO DISPATCH 006 – “DESIRE WILL SET YOU FREE”

Title – ‘Desire Will Set You Free‘

Director – Yony Leyser

Starring – Yony Leyser, Tim-Fabian Hoffmann, Chloe Griffin, Amber Benson

Release Date – May 5, 2016

_______________________________________________

Christopher Isherwood once wrote of his time in Berlin, ‘I am a camera with its shutter open, quite passive, recording, not thinking.’ The director of ‘Desire Will Set You Free‘, Yony Leyser, who also co-wrote and stars in the film absolutely aligns with that principle
in this hybrid fiction-doc combo. After the wall came down in 1989 Berlin slowly started becoming the queer melting pot it was once famous for due to the growth of hedonistic techno clubs in large abandoned warehouses. ‘Desire Will Set You Free‘ documents this time around 2010-2013 when Berlin became the hip place for young people to move to for its cheap housing, plentiful parties, and sex positive atmosphere.

The film follows a group of queer friends led by Ezra (a Palestinian/Israeli writer) and Cat (a very fun and dominant bisexual) as they move through the clubs (and doing lots of drugs in said clubs), parks (and having lots of sex in said parks), and architecture (just architecture! get your heads outta the gutter. Jeez.) of modern Berlin. Along the way Ezra falls for Sasha, a Russian hustler who’s dealing with confusion regarding his gender identity.

The movie features an uber-large cast of famous cameos: Amber Benson (Tara on ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’), ‘Godmother of Punk’ Nina Hagen as Oracle, cult musician and performance artist Peaches, along with Rosa Von Praunheim, Rummelsnuff, Blood Orange, and Einstuerzende Neubauten and Blixa Bargeld (formerly of Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds).

________________________________________________

Watch it with: Your cool hipster friends

Mix it with: Weed, Cocaine, and MDMA

________________________________________________

‘Godless’ tackles the taboo topic of sibling passion

The film ‘Godless‘ was added to the Dekkoo library this week. It’s a film that deals with a taboo topic using intelligence and sensitivity. It screened at numerous film festivals around the country and comes from director Joshua Lim who also directed ‘The Seminarian‘.

After the death of their father, Nate (Craig Jordan) moves in with his mother, but his elder brother, Steven (Michael E. Pitts) continues his studies out of state. The brothers use this distance to end the incestuous physical affair they’ve shared since puberty. However, when their mother dies in a car accident, Steven returns for her funeral. During this time of mourning, the two brothers’ unrelenting love for each other threatens the secret they had buried.

Nathaniel Grey for Frontiers Media said, ‘What carries this film is that through the chemistry and performances of Jordan and Pitts, you want to know more about them. You wonder how have they retained their sanity and composure over the years while holding strong to their forbidden but shared love.’

He goes on to say, ‘…the film provides a great opportunity to experience a rarely offered and controversial topic.’

‘Godless’ is now playing on Dekkoo!

DEKKOO DISPATCH 005 – ‘BABY JANE?’

Title – ‘Baby Jane?‘

Director – William Clift

Starring – Alotta Boutte, J. Conrad Frank, Matthew Martin, Vincent De Paul

Release Date – June 10, 2010

____________________________________________

‘You wouldn’t be able to do these awful thing to me if I weren’t still in this chair!’

‘But you *are*, Blanche! You *are* in that chair!’

Ah ‘What Ever Happened to Baby Jane’…One of the undisputed camp classics of the sixties. The ultimate sibling rivalry film follows two sisters one of whom surpasses the other in stardom which leads to intense jealousy and eventually acts of violence. The original film from 1962 utilized two actresses who were also rivals, Bette Davis and Joan Crawford which added to its success with audiences.

‘Baby Jane?‘ a loving homage to the original takes an even more campy approach by casting the two leads as men in drag. With just as many hi-jinks and back-stabbings as the original, ‘Baby Jane?‘ will definitely make you think twice before trusting your crazy siblings!

____________________________________________

Watch it with: Your spiritual sisters

Mix it with: A dry martini (but don’t forget to eat din-din first!!)

____________________________________________

Short films go a loooong way!

We love the short film format. Just like a short story, a short film forces the filmmaker to be concise and exact with the tale he or she wants to tell. And while a short film is just that – short, it does not diminish its ability to tell a great story.

So far this week we’ve added two short films to the Dekkoo library that we think you’ll enjoy.

‘The 6 Gays You’ll Date Before You Die‘ is a short that plays like a pseudo-public service announcement. It outlines the six types of guys every man will ultimately date before they finally choose to settle down. It’s hilarious, a bit goofy and sadly, completely accurate!

‘Buddy‘, a short film from The Netherlands (which we absolutely had to have in our library once we saw it), is more dramatic story of two friends, former lovers, who share a scary moment together.

Take a peek at both and consider what elements of the story are purposely excluded in favor of other pieces of information being included and how do those decisions help the humor, drama or action of the story.

Dekkoo is now available as an Amazon Channel!

Are you an Amazon Prime member? Well, if you are and have spent any time cruising around their Amazon Channels department you may have come across Dekkoo as one of these channels. In our effort to make Dekkoo available to users across as many platforms as possible, we’re thrilled to announce the launch of this new partnership.

If you are an active Amazon Channel user, you may want to begin accessing Dekkoo via your Amazon Prime membership.

Please be aware that the Dekkoo Amazon Channel is a stand alone site operated as part of Amazon Prime. As such, a subscription there will not work on our stand alone Dekkoo.com service and vice versa.

DEKKOO DISPATCH 004 – ‘TEENAGE KICKS’

Title – ‘Teenage Kicks‘

Director – Craig Boreham

Starring – Miles Szanto, Daniel Webber, Anni Finsterer, Ian Roberts

Release Date – October 15, 2016

____________________________________________

A sexy and heartbreaking tale of family, friends, and repressed longing converge together in the explosive ‘Teenage Kicks‘. An expansion of his earlier short film, ‘Drowning’ (using the same actor – sexy Miles Szanto) Craig Boreham picks up the flag of another Australian director, Ana Kokkinos (‘Head On’, 1998) by exploring queer themes in migrant communities in Australia.

Seventeen-year-old Mik just wants to get stoned and watch porn with his best friend Dan like any other teenager. Things take a turn when he’s caught peeping on his masturbating brother which then sets a series of events in motion that result in his death. The family is ripped apart by the tragedy and Mik tries to find solace with his brother’s pregnant girlfriend and Dan who’s sadly distracted by rich-girl Phaedra who he starts dating.

A whirlwind of teenage emotions and intense angst, ‘Teenage Kicks‘ shakes up the gay coming-of-age genre with a deeply compelling style, spirit, and a lot of sexiness!

__________________________________________

Watch it with: That Australian guy you’ve been meaning to have over

Mix it with: Foster’s Lager

__________________________________________

DEKKOO DISPATCH 003 – ‘CONCRETE NIGHT’

Title: Concrete Night

Director – Pirjo Honkasalo

Starring – Johannes Brotherus, Jari Virman, Anneli Karppinen, Juhan Ulfsak

Release Date – November 11, 2013

____________________________________________________

Today we bring you ‘Concrete Night‘, Finland’s entry for the 87th Academy Awards. A moving, lyrical, and stunning film constructed by an award winning cinematographer turned director, the film focuses on young Simo as he struggles to find his way in an otherworldly Helsinki surrounded by the presence of both good and evil influences.

The film is without question one of the most beautifully lensed black and white films in the past five years. As we watch Simo playfully fight with his brother, skinny dip with his best friend, and become lost in an amusement park we’re constantly moved by an unyielding camera eye that doesn’t back down from the goal of piercing Simo’s outer layers.

Kyle Turner, in a critical essay on ‘Concrete Night‘, had this to say about its style, ‘Other queer films, or even films with latently queer films, generally shy away from bleakness, trading it in for melodrama or comedy (unless you go the genre route). But Pirjo Honkasalo paints a search for self as a Kafka-esque nightmare, the landscapes of Helsinki reminiscent of the chiaroscuro in Orson Welles’ ‘The Trial’ and David Lynch’s ‘Eraserhead’. The harsh contrast between dark and light creates jagged little edges on every object in every frame, transforming a falling feather in the air recalling the prologue from Lars von Trier’s ‘Antichrist’ not a symbol of solace or safety, but something more sinister and duplicitous.’

If your internet is fast enough make sure to choose 1080p to see ‘Concrete Night‘ in all of its intended glory!

_____________________________________________________

Watch it with: Yourself or a friend that appreciates a
critical discussion after a film.

Mix it with: Cappuccino

_____________________________________________________