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Lilting is an emotional and rewarding tear-jerker

Ben Whishaw stars in Lilting as Richard, a deeply sad young man trying to work through grief. He recently lost his lover, Kai (Andrew Leung), unexpectedly and far too early. Kai’s mother, Junn (Pei-Pei Cheng) is also in great pain as a result of the loss. Kai sent her to a nursing home temporarily while he worked up the nerve to come out to her and invite her to live with Richard and himself. Unfortunately, he died before he had the opportunity.

Richard is deeply concerned with his late lover’s mother well-being. He knows that Junn is unhappy in the nursing home and would like to offer her a way out. The problem is that she has no idea how important Richard was in her son’s life. In fact, Junn, thinking that Richard was just a roommate of Kai’s, seems to think that he was a bad influence on her son. Richard doesn’t want to betray Kai by revealing the truth about their relationship. On top of that, he and Junn don’t even speak the same language.

In an effort to get closer to Junn, Richard hires a translator (Naomi Christie) to help them communicate. But as time goes on and Junn becomes increasingly agitated and suspicious of Richard’s motivations, the truth starts simmering to the surface, practically begging to be revealed.

Lilting is a melancholy, but ultimately uplifting tear-jerker filled with likeable characters that help the emotions sink in. The only villain of the piece, the source of the film’s conflict, is Junn and even she’s sympathetic. She’s unreasonably difficult and treats Richard as an irritation even though he’s on a saintly mission to help her, but she’s also grief-stricken and all alone in a strange country where she’s not able to communicate.

Director Hong Khaou has a poetic sensibility and the cast is uniformly excellent, particularly Whishaw. He sells his character’s admirable mix of deep sadness and unyielding altruism so well that it’s practically a guarantee that your heart will break for him. Lilting is a touching meditation on death and grief that never neglects to celebrate life and love simultaneously.

Watch the trailer for Lilting below. The film is now available on Dekkoo.

10 Gay Films to Watch this Halloween!

If you’re anything like us, you enjoy a good scary movie during the month of October. Dekkoo has plenty of options that will satisfy your spooky seasonal needs, but we narrowed down the selection process to highlight these nine flicks worthy of Halloween viewing.

Alpha Delta Zatan

Starring an all-male cast of hotties, this low-budget homoerotic slasher flick offers up a fun, sensual spin on the “sorority massacre” sub-genre. A goofy but noble college kid is surprised when he’s invited to join his school’s most exclusive frat house… until he comes face to face with a masked psychopath who is picking off all of the half-naked muscle boys one by one.

Bugcrush

A small-town loner’s fascination with the new kid in town leads him into something much more sinister than he could ever have imagined. Released in 2006, Bugcrush was a massive critical hit on the film festival circuit. Writer-director Carter Smith went on to helm the cult feature-length films The Ruins and Jamie Marks is Dead.

Candy

In this short horror/thriller from director Mark Bessenger (Bite Marks, The Last Straight Man), a man calls into phone sex lines looking for a potential romantic partner. Vic, a college student, is interested, but is too nervous to accept, prompting the mysterious caller to take matters into his own hands.

Demons

Demons, a grisly and wickedly funny new short horror-comedy, follows Matt, a closeted serial killer on the hunt for love and acceptance… in a pretty messed-up world.

Knife+Heart

A masked madman stalks a gay porn set in 1979 Paris while its producer Anne, (French pop star Vanessa Paradis) tries to win back her editor and lover Lois by shooting her most ambitious film yet with her trusted, flaming sidekick Archibald. Shot in 35mm and featuring a killer retro score from M83, Knife+Heart is an ultra-stylish and blood-soaked ode to ’70s-era De Palma, Argento, and Friedkin.

Rift

Months after they broke up, Gunnar receives a strange phone call from his ex-boyfriend, Einar. He sounds distraught, like he’s about to do something terrible to himself. Gunnar drives up to the secluded cabin where Einar is holed up and soon discovers that there’s more going on than he imagined. The two men seem to be alone, but there’s some kind of supernatural force just beyond the walls that’s looking to get inside with them.

Romance is Dead

Finding it hard to cope with the loss of his fiancé, Donovan turns to his best friend, Adam, to implement a crazy plan to get him back. This stylish short film used witchcraft and demonology to tell a story of romance and heartbreak.

Tonight It’s You

When a young gay man hooks up with a guy he meets on a dating app, he encounters something much more sinister than even his most base fears could have imagined. Set in a God-fearing town, director Dominic Haxton sets us up to believe that the only thing to fear is local homophobia, but he’s really about to witness something truly unthinkable.

Vampire Boys

Jasin and his vampire brood’s time is running out. In order for them to survive, Jasin needs to find a mortal to turn into a vampire. It’s sort of like finding a husband… but for all of eternity. Luckily, a fresh-faced young lad named Caleb seems to be just what the witch doctor ordered. The cast is packed with cuties in this gay, low-budget indie in the vampire-romance vein of Twilight. Vampire Boys 2: The New Brood is also streaming now on Dekkoo.

The Year I Lost My Mind

After encountering him during a burglary, Tom begins stalking and antagonizing the attractive young Lars. When Lars finds out about Tom’s intentions, he manages to turn the tables on him, leading to a shocking confrontation. With something of a Single White Female vibe (with ridiculously attractive men swapped in for the leads), The Year I Lost My Mind is a sexy mind-fuck of a thriller from Germany.

Dekkoo offers up three special Halloween treats!

Every Wednesday, Dekkoo adds a new short film for your viewing pleasure. On October 30th, however, we will be offering up THREE extra-special seasonal treats to get you in the Halloween spirit!

You can check out some info from each of the films below and make sure to visit Dekkoo on October 30th to start bingeing these brand-new Halloween-ready shorts!

A Halloween Trick

When an oversexed party boy (Ben Baur) finds himself at odds with his stressed-out and sleep-deprived neighbor (Tiffany Shepis) in the days leading up to Halloween, he discovers that their miscommunication may have deadly consequences when he accidentally invites the wrong man home for the night.

A Dekkoo Original, this 13-minute short, writer-director Michael Varrati uses humor, horror and a killer ‘80s/John Carpenter-inspired soundtrack to tell a modern gay variation on “The Boy Who Cried Wolf.”

Leads Ben Baur and Tiffany Shepis have a terrific, easy chemistry – even when they’re being extremely bitchy to one another. This is A Halloween Trick you won’t soon forget.

The Latent Image

Art imitates life and vice versa in The Latent Image, a tense 21-minute short from co-writer-director Alexander Birrell.

A young writer (Joshua Tonks) retreats to an isolated cabin to work on a mystery thriller. One night, a mysterious stranger (Jay Clift) arrives at his door needing help. Has he found the perfect inspiration for his story or is he about to find his darkest fantasies coming to life?

Featuring terrific performances from the two leads, there’s some delicious ambiguity in The Latent Image. Not only are we never fully sure if this alluring stranger is a real-life danger or a figment of the writer’s imagination, but every scene feels like it could turn into a psycho-thriller or softcore erotica at any given moment.

The More the Scarier

What happens when a horny ghost haunts your apartment? That’s the question posed by The More the Scarier, a new 5-minute short from Brandon Kirby, the creator of the Dekkoo Original Series I’m Fine.

Looking for a little action, an attractive young gay man (Velizar Ionikov) takes to Grindr and invites over a kink-friendly date (Antoine Perry). In all the excitement, however, he hasn’t noticed the strange things happening around his apartment – signs of another horny participant from a different realm (Clint Keller).

Shooting in black and white, Kirby adds an audio track to the proceedings that makes it feel as if his short is playing out in front of a live studio audience. The mix of dark visuals, sexual subject matter and cheesy sitcom tropes gives The More the Scarier an uneasy feeling even before the blood starts flying.

Three couples get more than they bargained for during a weekend away in That’s Not Us

Now available on Dekkoo, writer-director William Sullivan’s That’s Not Us is an intimate portrait of three twenty-something couples.

James and Spencer (Mark Berger and David Rysdahl), Alex and Jackie (Sarah Wharton and Nicole Pursell) and Liz and Dougie (Elizabeth Gray and Tommy Nelms) travel to a beach house to enjoy the last days of summer. But what should be a fun and carefree weekend becomes an exploration of what it takes to sustain a healthy relationship and make love last in what is now being called the “gayest generation.”

Through each of the three couples – one gay, one lesbian, and one straight – That’s Not Us explores sex and relationships with a fresh perspective, finding that while sexuality and gender may vary, the struggles to keep love alive do not.

Watch the trailer for That’s Not Us below.

Athlete is a sexy and emotional new gay drama from Japan

Kohei, a swimmer with a wife and child, is shocked when, one day, his wife asks him to sign divorce papers. Drowning his sorrows in alcohol, he finds himself venturing into Tokyo’s gay neighborhood, where a fateful meeting awaits with Yutaka, an alluring younger man.

Yutaka makes his living in adult entertainment, but his dream is to become an anime creator. Both men are in strange places in their lives and find themselves increasingly needing one another to get through to the next day.

Sexy and emotionally gripping, Japanese writer-director Oe Takamasa’s debut feature Athlete has been a hit at LGBTQ film festivals around the globe.

Watch the trailer for Athlete below. The film is now available on Dekkoo.

Now Available: Men of Hard Skin

Teenager Ariel (Will Javier) lives a seemingly quiet life with his father and sister on their picturesque farm in a rural part of Buenos Aires. However, unbeknownst to his family, Ariel has been abused for years by Omar (German Tarantino), his neighborhood priest.

Having confused his mistreatment for romantic affection, Ariel takes it upon himself to free himself from their relationship and soon embarks on a secret affair with one of the male workers on his father’s property.

Meanwhile, as Omar continues to succumb to his urges, he forms a friendship with a much older priest who finds himself wrestling with similar desires.

Hard-hitting and defiantly unsentimental, the new Argentinian drama Men of Hard Skin is a richly textured exploration of sex, power and ecclesiastical abuse as well as a complex and often confrontational piece of work, posing many tough questions.

Watch the trailer for Men of Hard Skin below. The film is now available on Dekkoo.

Now Available: Fireflies

Ramin (Arash Marandi), an Iranian refugee living in Mexico, is trying to come to terms with his past, one that has left permanent scars on his body and soul. As he strolls through the port of Veracruz – a place where transient souls collide in search of a better life – the haunting memories of his long-distance lover begin to fill his heart with a profound sense of loneliness and repentance.

Ramin’s friendship with Leti (Flor Eduarda Gurrola), the young woman who runs the small hotel where he stays and teaches him Spanish, and an attraction to ex-con Guillermo (Luis Alberti) help him find himself as a gay man in a new home.

Beautifully shot and strikingly naturalistic, writer-director Bani Khoshnoudi’s touching cross-cultural drama Fireflies won the top prize in the Ibero-American Competition at the Miami Film Festival. Watch the trailer below. The film is now available on Dekkoo.

Don’t Miss the Critically-Acclaimed Doc Mala Mala

Mala Mala, the critically acclaimed documentary from directors Antonio Santini and Dan Sickles, explores the intimate moments, performances, friendships and activism of trans identifying people, drag queens and others who defy typical gender identities in Puerto Rico.

The film features Ivana, an activist; Soraya, an older sex-change pioneer; Sandy, a prostitute looking to make a change; and Samantha and Paxx, both of whom struggle with the quality of medical resources available to assist in their transition.

Hailed as “sensitive and thoughtful” by the New York Times and winner of the audience award for documentary film at the Tribeca Film Festival, Mala Mala is a deeply involving piece of work which boldly affirms that the quest to find oneself can be both difficult and beautiful.

Watch the trailer for Mala Mala below. The film is currently available to stream on Dekkoo.

New episodes of Bad Boy are available!

Sort of like The Odd Couple with the fast-paced sensibility of 30 Rock, the sexy and hilarious series Bad Boy – which has four brand-new episodes available now on Dekkoo – explores the dynamic between Mack (Tony Harth), a young, dumb-ish “bad boy” with a crazy past, and Scott (Artie O’Daly), a straight-laced man Mack has chosen to adopt as his “Daddy”… much to Scott’s frustration.

Both characters are gay (Artie is in real life; Tony, sadly, is not) and gay themes and undertones are woven into the comedy. Plus, there is a hell of a twist in store.

After releasing the first episode online, Bad Boy garnered hundreds of thousands of views. With limited resources, the creative team behind the show set out to complete what were clearly in-demand new episodes.

The lead actors originally met doing a play in Los Angeles. Artie, who also directs the series, is a prolific actor who has been on shows such as “Modern Family”, “Silicon Valley”, “The Big Bang Theory,” “General Hospital,” and the new, wildly acclaimed sketch series “I Think You Should Leave.” He also co-created the web series Successful People (which you can also watch now on Dekkoo).

Tony is a recent arrival to L.A. from the state of Wisconsin and has already appeared in multiple commercials and sketches. Together, they made Bad Boy, which took on a life of its own. Now they’re chasing it wherever it goes!

The first eight short episodes are all available now on Dekkoo!

Gerontophilia shows that controversial director Bruce LaBruce is romantic at heart

“My films, no matter how extreme or pornographic, have always had an intense strain of romanticism running through them. Whether it’s the relationship between a hairdresser and a skinhead, or a hustler and a john, the attachments are emotional and romantic, even when there is a very specific and sometimes extreme and taboo fetish involved. So I’ve always played somewhat ironically with rom-com conventions.” – Bruce LaBruce

In this wry “reverse Lolita” tale, an eighteen-year-old named Lake (Pier-Gabriel Lajoie) discovers he has an unusual attraction for the elderly. Fate lands him a job at an assisted-living facility where he develops an intimate relationship with Mr. Peabody (Walter Borden).

Upon discovering that the clients are being over-medicated to make them more manageable, Lake weans Mr. Peabody off his medication and helps him escape, resulting in a road trip that deepens their bond.

Always-provocative, Bruce LaBruce – the artist behind films like No Skin Off My Ass (1991), Hustler White (1996), Skin Flick (2000), The Raspberry Reich (2004) and L.A. Zombie (2010) – has built a prolific career out of pushing buttons and subverting expectations. Gerontophilia ranks among his best. This is a delicately perverse romantic comedy that is both darkly humorous and emotionally heartfelt.

Watch the trailer for Gerontophilia below. The film is now available on Dekkoo.