Category: Comedy

The queer indie classic ‘Wild Tigers I Have Known’ comes to Dekkoo

Visionary director Cam Archer is a master at portraying the lives of teens in awkward gay love.

Originally released in 2006, Wild Tigers I Have Known was a hit at the Sundance Film Festival – as well as countless LGBTQ+ film festivals all around the globe. The film stars Malcolm Stumpf as Logan, a middle schooler who is crushing on an older classmate named Rodeo (Patrick White). As the pair spend time together, Logan’s infatuation grows.

Exploring gender fluidity for the first time, he invents a female persona named ‘Leah’ and starts making sexually provocative phone calls to Rodeo at night, hoping to get even closer to the object of his affection. Meanwhile, wild mountain lions have been straying into the populated areas of town. When one happens to wander onto the school’s campus and is shot dead, it signifies an important moment in Logan’s coming-of-age.

For the film’s 15th Anniversary, indie distribution label Altered Innocence put together a restored version of this long-unavailable experimental queer classic.

Kim Dickens and Fairuza Balk co-star in this wildly inventive, achingly sympathetic ode to the highs and lows of adolescent love.

Watch the trailer for Wild Tigers I Have Known below. The newly restored version is now streaming on Dekkoo.

Short Film Spotlight: Two-Headed Calves

The 29-minute short Two-Headed Calves follows bride and groom Johannes and Marie (Andreas Hammer and Jennifer Sabel).

At the beginning of the film, a torrential downpour breaks out in the middle of their outdoor wedding reception… and that turns out to be the least of their problems.

The biggest issue is that Johannes has been keeping a secret from Marie for the entirety of their relationship. He’s gay. He always has been, and he always will be. But that hasn’t stopped his meddling, conservative parents from trying to fix what they perceive as a problem.

Working with an unorthodox personal conversion therapist, Johannes momentarily believes he has overcome his own sexuality and can bring happiness to every disapproving person in his life – even if it comes at the cost of his own.

But when everything that can go wrong does go wrong during the wedding, it seems like a sign that he needs to start being open and honest – especially with his new bride.

Using a found footage aesthetic, German director Benjamin Kramme crafts a painfully funny family comedy that also brilliantly skewers the entire notion of conversion therapy.

Watch the trailer for Two-Headed Calves below. The short film is now streaming on Dekkoo.

John Benjamin Hickey stars in beloved filmmaker Eytan Fox’s cross-cultural romance ‘Sublet’

Tony Award-winning theatre veteran John Benjamin Hickey stars in Sublet as Michael, a travel columnist for The New York Times who reluctantly goes on a trip to Tel Aviv to write an article after suffering a tragedy.

Leaving behind some unresolved relationship troubles with his husband, Michael just wants to do his research and fly back home as soon as possible. But when he sublets an apartment from Tomer, an incredibly attractive young film student played by newcomer Niv Nissim, he suddenly finds himself drawn into the life of the city.

The intense bond he forms with this casually seductive younger man ends up transforming both their lives in unexpected ways.

The newest feature from acclaimed Israeli filmmaker Eytan Fox, the writer-director behind Walk on Water and Yossi and Jagger, Sublet is sexy, charming, thought-provoking and ultimately life-affirming.

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

Get seduced by the erotic, mystical queer allegory and stoner comedy ‘A Dim Valley’

Young actors Whitmer Thomas and Zach Weintraub star in A Dim Valley as ecology grad students Albert and Ian.

The pair are spending the summer collecting samples with their curmudgeonly advisor played by ‘Midnight Mass’ and ‘The Haunting of Hill House’ star Robert Longstreet. At his woodsy cabin along the Appalachian Trail, close quarters foster comical friction and unexpected bonds between the two young men.

When three mysterious, enigmatic female backpackers (played by Rachel McKeon, Feathers Wise and Rosalie Lowe) crash into their lives, they push the men to open up to one another… and their true feelings and desires soon begin to deepen.

A clever new indie gem from writer-director Brandon Colvin, A Dim Valley is partly a queer allegory, partly a hilarious stoner comedy and partly a transcendental meditation on mysticism and love.

Watch the trailer for A Dim Valley below. The film is now streaming on Dekkoo.

Short Film Spotlight: Hotter Up Close

Screenwriter and star Christopher Matias Aguila delivers a heartwarming and hysterically funny lead performance in the delightful 15-minute comedy Hotter Up Close.

He plays Chris, a barista who is nursing his wounds after a recent break-up and feeling some apprehension on the eve of his 30th birthday. His self-esteem takes a nose dive after an awkward encounter with Aiden, a hunky coffee shop customer and distant Facebook friend played by Francisco San Martin.

But when Aiden invites Chris and his plucky best friend Dana (played by a scene-stealing Liz Jenkins) to a gay pool party, he gets an unexpected opportunity to show off his new swimming trunks and, just possibly, win over the man of his dreams. He’ll just need to learn to accept the fact that sometimes ‘awkward’ can be ‘cute.’

Packed with quotable dialog and hilarious supporting performances, Hotter Up Close is a winning short rom-com that we only wish was longer. We’ll just have to wait to see what Aguila and director Leland Montgomery have in store for us next.

Watch a short teaser trailer for Hotter Up Close below. The film is now streaming on Dekkoo.