Category: Classic

The queer ’90s classic ‘Broadway Damage’ is now available on Dekkoo

Originally released in 1997, the romantic comedy-drama Broadway Damage plays like a valentine to ‘90s New York indie cinema when viewed through today’s lens.

Mara Hobel, Michael Lucas and Aaron Williams star as Cynthia, Marc and Robert, a trio of recent NYU grads who score a great apartment together in Greenwich Village. Marc is a struggling actor, Cynthia is desperately trying to break into the magazine publishing world and Robert, an actor/songwriter, is secretly harboring feelings for Marc – who is, sadly, oblivious.

Burning with youthful ambition, all three are ready to take New York City by storm. But when a sexy new neighbor enters the picture, the realities of life, love and career goals start to test their dreams and the dynamics of their friendship in unexpected ways.

A winner of numerous awards at LGBTQ film festivals when it first debuted, Broadway Damage is ready to take you back to a different, but no less complicated time.

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

Acclaimed Danish director Christian Tafdrup’s breakthrough film ‘Awakening’ is now available on Dekkoo

Danish actor and director Christian Tafdrup made a big splash on the international film scene last year with the shockingly violent thriller Speak No Evil.

Back in 2008, he took a similar aim at taboo subject matter with the 39-minute drama Awakening, which has recently been restored by the cult distribution label Altered Innocence.

Awakening stars “True Blood” alum Allan Hyde as Carsten, a sixteen-year-old boy who is taking a trip to meet his girlfriend’s parents at their summer house.

Throughout the weekend, Carsten becomes increasingly bonded with his girlfriend’s father, played by Lars Brygmann. It seems these two men share the same secret – and their time together, which involves a furtive kiss, puts their carefully-constructed relationships in major jeopardy.

Though it may sound racy, Tafdrup handles the developing friendship between two closeted men of differing ages with a great deal of sensitivity and heartfelt honesty.

Watch a clip from Awakening below. The full short film is now available on Dekkoo.

Now Available: Holding the Man

Based on the beloved and hugely successful memoir and stage play of the same name, Holding the Man tells the warm, funny and achingly sad story of the love affair between Timothy Conigrave and John Caleo, who met when they were teenagers at Xavier College in Melbourne in the 1970s.

Tim (Ryan Corr) was an aspiring actor. John (Craig Stott) was captain of the football team. Their romance lasted 15 years and endured a good many trials. When John died of AIDS at 33, Tim was forbidden to speak at his lover’s funeral. He set out to write a memoir about their relationship that would show the depth of tenderness they shared.

Featuring moving performances by lead actors Corr and Stott, Holding the Man also includes some legendary Australian actors in supporting roles. Guy Pearce, Anthony LaPaglia, Kerry Fox, Geoffrey Rush and “Succession” star Sarah Snook are all on hand to lend their talent to this powerful true story.

Deeply romantic, even in its tragic denouement, Holding the Man is keenly in touch with the lived experience of its characters, offering a loving tribute to those we lost during the AIDS crisis while celebrating a relationship that blossomed and endured in the face of prejudice and adversity.

Watch the trailer for Holding the Man below. The film is now streaming on Dekkoo.

Queer Classics: Edge of Seventeen

A high-water mark of queer cinema in the ‘90s, the coming-out classic Edge of Seventeen was recently remastered for a new director-approved HD restoration – now available on Dekkoo.

Written by Todd Stephens, the director behind Gypsy ’83, Another Gay Movie and the acclaimed recent release Swan Song, and based on his own coming-of-age story, Edge of Seventeen is set in Sandusky, Ohio during the summer of 1984.

Chris Stafford stars as Eric, a closeted young man who has just finished his junior year of high school and takes a job serving food at the local amusement park. When he meets Rod, an attractive, slightly older co-worker played by Andersen Gabrych, he finds himself exhilarated, but somewhat terrified by his sudden attraction.

Their heated flirtation slowly brings Eric out of his shell, but his sexual awakening is complicated by his family life, his undefined relationship with his best friend Maggie (played by Tina Holmes) and, ultimately, the time period itself – it’s the Reagan era, after all.

Featuring Lea DeLaria in a scene-stealing supporting role and a pitch-perfect soundtrack that includes Bronski Beat, Flock of Seagulls, Thompson Twins and the Eurythmics, Edge of Seventeen is an unflinchingly honest and deeply touching gay romance than still resonates today.

Watch the original trailer for Edge of Seventeen below. The film is now streaming on Dekkoo.

Queer Classics: We Were One Man

Years ahead of its time, We Were One Man is a period piece, originally released in France in 1979, that dared to depict a budding romance between two men.

From director Philippe Vallois, the film tells a story of gay love between two soldiers. Guy (Serge Avedikian), a peasant farmer, is trying to live a simple life during the turmoil of World War II. He lives in a small farmhouse outside a sleepy village in France, where he has almost no friends.

Everything starts to change when he stumbles across Rolf (Piotr Stanislas), an injured German soldier. The simple, naive Guy brings Rolf home and nurses him back to health. While convalescing, a relationship slowly builds between the two men.

Soon the pair are frolicking naked in the woods and swimming in the stream. Thin, boyish Guy is a contrast to the blond, hard bodied Rolf. The passion that stirs between them that becomes hard to deny. As their connection grows deeper, they find a happy escape in one another, content to be sheltered and loved… until the war asserts itself back into their lives.

We Were One Man is now available on Dekkoo.

Girls Will Be Girls is celebrating its 20th anniversary!

Celebrating its 20-year anniversary, the drag-tastic queer comedy classic Girls Will Be Girls stars Jack Plotnick, Jeffrey Roberson and Clinton Leupp (better known as drag icon Coco Peru) as three actresses at various places on the Hollywood food chain who navigate the minefield of love, aging and irrepressible ambition.

Plotnick stars as Evie Harris, a washed-up, alcoholic, aging C-list actress who lives a Norma Desmond lifestyle in a woefully out-of-date bungalow. Her roommate, Coco, is a lonely doormat of a spinster who carries a torch for the handsome young doctor who performed her abortion years ago.

When the pair take in new roommate Varla Simonds, the voracious, starry-eyed daughter of Evie’s former rival, their lives are turned upside down. Tensions and jealousies among the three women reach a boiling point and treachery soon rears its ugly head.

Paying homage to camp classics like Valley of the Dolls, What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? and Mommie Dearest – not to mention All About Eve – Girls Will Be Girls is a delightfully outrageous comedy that revels in good old-fashioned drag bitchery.

Watch the trailer for Girls Will Be Girls below. The film is now available on Dekkoo.

Pride Month Spotlight: Queer Docs

For Pride Month this year, we wanted to shine a spotlight on some amazing documentaries.

A mix of films both underseen and celebrated, heartbreaking and triumphant, with varied tones and subject matter, this collection of docs take us deep inside true queer stories of life, loss and love.

Bridegroom, Matt Shepard is a Friend of Mine and Gemmel & Tim tell true stories of people taken from us too soon, but whose lives and legacies have left us left us changed for the better.

50 Years of Fabulous, Oriented, A Queer Country and Pride & Protest take us to specific places to celebrate the power of community. Drag Race star Jamal Sims’ doc When the Beat Drops offers up a fun and fast-paced history of bucking in Atlanta.

An Act of Love and This is What Love in Action Looks like capture activism in unlikely places. Finally, Electroboy and Scotty and the Secret History of Hollywood explore two fascinating queer figures from two very different time periods.

The Pride Month Spotlight: Queer Docs collection is available on Dekkoo now – and all throughout the month of June.