Category: Comedy

A man attempts a turbulent journey out of the closet in the moving drama ‘El Houb (The Love)’

Having spent decades hiding his sexuality from his family, Moroccan-Dutch businessman Karim (Fahd Larhzaoui) decides to come clean after his father catches him in bed with a man.

Caught up in a panic over the thought of coming out to his traditional Muslim parents (Slimane Dazi and Lubna Azabal), he barricades himself in their closet… literally.

As he feverishly revisits his childhood memories, negotiates a budding romance with a new Ghanaian boyfriend (Emmanuel Boafo) and wages a long-delayed battle royale to uproot his family’s conservative attitudes, a series of darkly hilarious and unflinchingly frank conversations begin – and the family is finally forced to confront the truths that have so long been avoided.

Loosely based on the theater work and actual experiences of lead actor and co-screenwriter Fahd Larhzaoui, El Houb (The Love) cascades through time. Director Shariff Nasr manages to straddle a line between uproarious comedy and heartbreaking drama while examining family dynamics, cultural taboos and hard-won self-acceptance.

Watch the trailer for El Houb (The Love) below. The film is now available on Dekkoo.

A well-to-do gay couple cause neighborhood conflicts in the dark comedy ‘Concerned Citizen’

Concerned Citizen follows Ben and Raz (Shlomi Bertonov and Ariel Wolf), a young, attractive and financially secure gay couple who move to a migrant neighborhood in Tel Aviv.

After buying a renovated apartment, they begin to seek a surrogate to help them start a family. Their attempt to create a cozy life is disrupted, however, when Ben, looking to beautify his new street, plants a sapling on their corner.

The tree is not welcomed by all and soon becomes a source of conflict. When matters turn physical, Ben gets the police involved. The situation thrusts his internal prejudices to the surface, racking the liberally-minded Ben with guilt, and forcing him to grapple with his own complicity in the systems of oppression surrounding him.

Winner of the Best Screenplay Prize at the Jerusalem Film Festival, Israeli director Idan Haguel’s film is a morally complex, refreshingly smart dark comedy about personal responsibility and the uneasy balance between assuming the identity of a “concerned” citizenry and the adoption of a victim complex.

Concerned Citizen is a challenging, satirical parable for our times, with themes as relevant to contemporary Tel Aviv as any large city in the world.

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

Brian Jordan Alvarez wrote, directed and stars in the sexy gay dramedy ‘Everything is Free’

From writer, director and star Brian Jordan Alvarez, an accomplished character actor you may recognize from countless viral TikTok videos, the ‘Will & Grace’ reboot, and films like 80 for Brady and M3GAN, Everything is Free is a sexy and playful comedy-drama about a particularly tricky love triangle.

Ivan (Alvarez), an American painter, has relocated to a coastal town in Colombia to focus on his work.

After some time apart, his straight best friend and former roommate, Christian (Peter Vack), comes to visit, bringing his younger brother, Cole (Morgan Krantz), along for the trip.

When a spark forms between Ivan and Cole, the pair start sleeping together, but attempt to keep their new affair secret. Once Christian discovers the truth of their relationship, the otherwise idyllic summer takes a turn – bringing up difficult and surprising emotions in not just the three men, but also their diverse circle of fellow American expats and tourists.

With exceptional cinematography and a memorable soundtrack, Alvarez navigates gay cinema tropes with self-awareness, humor, gravity, and a very modern sensibility.

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

Short Film Spotlight: Xmas Eve Eve

You know that scene at the end of almost every romantic comedy where one lover chases another to the airport to catch them and profess their love before they fly out of each other’s lives forever? Well, the short film Xmas Eve Eve takes that concept, expands on it and turns it completely on its head.

Set on a cold December night in 2020, while New York City is still in a state of semi-lockdown, this 13-minute rom-com follows Dennis (Christian Elán Ortiz), a young Brooklyn resident who is planning to leave the city for good just two days before Christmas. When he runs into Tom (Javan Nelson), a recent ex-boyfriend, while in route to La Guardia, his plans get a little more complicated.

A frantic chase through several New York boroughs soon ensues, with long held frustrations, lingering feelings, a particularly heavy suitcase and some clunky N95 masks along for the ride.

Featuring terrific performances from lead actors Nelson and Ortiz, and expert direction from up-and-coming filmmaker Dazhi Huang, Xmas Eve Eve is like the lost gay subplot of Love, Actually that you didn’t even know you needed.

Watch a short teaser trailer for Xmas Eve Eve below. The film is now streaming on Dekkoo.

Nico Greetham co-stars in the charming ’90s-set theater kid comedy ‘Dramarama’

It’s the end of the summer of 1994 and Gene (Nick Pugliese) is preparing for his high school drama friends’ final murder mystery slumber party!

The theatrical hostess, Rose (Anna Grace Barlow), will fly off to start college the next morning, followed by the earnest Claire (Megan Suri), charismatic Oscar (‘Love, Victor’ and ‘American Horror Story’ heartthrob Nico Greetham) and sarcastic Ally (Danielle Kay).

Before they head off to begin their separate lives, however, Gene wants to come out of the closet – but he’s terrified of what his sheltered Christian friends might think… especially Oscar.

The feature-length debut of prolific short film director and producer Jonathan Wysocki, Dramarama is like a perfect mix of The Breakfast Club and The Big Chill. Featuring winning performances from the pitch-perfect ensemble cast, the film offers up a nostalgic and deeply funny coming-of-age tale and a poignant love letter to drama nerds, late bloomers and the intense friendships that mark our youth.

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

Short Film Spotlight: The Station In-Between

Swiss actors Peter Fischli and Carlos Leal star in the tender and visually lush short film The Station In-Between as Theo and Louis, two gay men with little in common who are compelled to go on an emotional journey together.

Louis’s husband, who was also Theo’s best friend, was recently killed during a homophobic attack. The pair are traveling by train to Paxmal, a spiritual peace monument in the Swiss Alps, to scatter their beloved friend and partner’s ashes.

Along the way, almost as if by fate, they meet a variety of memorable characters. Some confront them with traumas of the past, while others remind them of the good things in life and the beauty that surrounds them even in the darkest of times.

Gorgeously crafted by director Sven Schnyder, this touching and compassionate 19-minute short film is an ode to unexpected friendships, as well as life, death and everything in between.

Check out the poster for The Station In-Between below. The film is now available on Dekkoo.

Russell Tovey and Arinzé Kene release some long-simmering sexual tension in ‘The Pass’

Young adults Jason and Ade have been members of a famous London football club since they were eight years old. On the night before their first-ever Champions League match, they find themselves sharing a hotel room in Romania.

Though both of them should be sleeping, they’re over-excited. They skip, fight, mock each other, prepare their kit and even watch a teammate’s sex tape. And then, out of nowhere, one of them kisses the other.

In a sporting world where macho image is everything, the impact of this “pass” ends up reverberating through the next ten years of their lives – a decade of fame, failure, secrets, lies… and intense longing.

Based on a stage play of the same name by John Donnelly, The Pass is an intelligent and thought-provoking drama featuring exceptional performances from lead actors Arinzé Kene and Russell Tovey who commit wholeheartedly to the story’s simmering sexual tension.

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

Coming out gets more complicated than usual in the charming Italian rom-com ‘Tell No One’

Fast-paced, funny and even a little tear-inducing when it counts, Tell No One is a charming family comedy about successful young man who is long overdue to start telling the truth.

Mattia (Josafat Vagni) is about to move from Rome to Madrid to start a new job and marry his long-distance boyfriend Eduard (Jose Dammert). This will solve two problems: 1) He will be much closer to the man he loves; 2) He won’t have to bite the bullet and finally come out to his family.

His plan hits a major snag, however, when Eduard, having no idea that Mattia is still in the closet, announces that he has planned a surprise trip to Rome so that he can meet his boyfriend’s folks and ask for their son’s hand in marriage.

Stunned by this unexpected news, Mattia has to compose himself quickly and decide whether or not it’s time to tell the truth to his old-fashioned Italian parents.

Though the whole film takes place during one fateful day, director Ivan Silvestrini and screenwriter Roberto Proia use narration and a variety of creative visual flourishes to jump around in time and give the audience the full scope of Mattia’s family life.

Blending clever dialog and comic set-pieces with heartfelt moments of emotional poignancy, Tell No One should resonate for anyone who has spent a little too much time in the closet.

Watch the trailer for Tell No One below. The film is now streaming on Dekkoo.