Category: Comedy

Multiple characters intersect in the new eight-part British anthology series ‘Patterns’

There’s something for everyone in Patterns, an exciting new British anthology series.

Like a cross between Sex Education and Black Mirror, each episode of Patterns tells a full self-contained story, but they all take place in the same universe. A minor character in one episode may reappear as the lead in another and vice-versa. It’s an ambitious format, playfully executed by director Rex Glensy and writers Daniel Mannheim and Asad Moghal.

Stories include Reverse Catfish, about a hot young rugby player who finds that people only date him for his good looks and sets about trying to change their perception. SuperBen follows an imaginative boy who gets up close and personal with his superhero crush. Delivered is about a hungry young man on an oppressive diet who becomes unusually obsessed with his pizza delivery guy. And there are many more episodes where those came from.

Catch up on all the action in this charming and refreshingly sex-positive new comedy series. The full first season of Patterns is available now on Dekkoo and a second season is currently in the works! Watch the trailer below.

Todd Flaherty wrote, directed and stars in the sharp-edged indie comedy ‘Chrissy Judy’

Reminiscent of the freewheeling spirit of Noah Baumbach and Greta Gerwig’s Frances Ha, the witty new indie comedy Chrissy Judy peels back the layers of the East Coast’s queer triumvirate – New York City, Fire Island, and Provincetown – and examines the realities gay men face in their pursuit of love and acceptance.

Wyatt Fenner and writer-director Todd Flaherty star as Chrissy and Judy, respectively. Besties by day and cabaret drag partners by night, the two longtime pals find themselves at a crossroads when one of them couples off and moves away from New York.

As the duo drifts apart, the remaining queen must reinvent himself or risk becoming an irrelevant solo act both onstage and off.

Flaherty’s previous film, the gorgeously-directed short relationship drama Let’s Meet Again at the End of the World (also available now on Dekkoo), marked him as a writer, director and actor to watch.

Brilliantly written and beautifully shot in crisp black and white, Chrissy Judy delivers on that early promise, exploring the pain of breaking up with a best friend and asking the difficult question, “What do you do when your chosen family no longer chooses you?”

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

Now Available: Sublime

How do you avoid losing something precious when it’s the very thing tearing you up inside?

Whether he’s writing music with his garage band buddies, having dinner with his family or sneaking off into the woods with his girlfriend, 16-year-old Manu (Martín Miller) is never quite present. He’s consumed by a secret that’s been eating him up inside.

In his dreams, Manu and his best friend Felipe (Teo Inama Chiabrando) lie in bed together, staring longingly into one another’s eyes while inching closer and closer together. Though they never kiss, the desire is clear. That desire simmers beneath the surface of writer-director Mariano Biasin’s moving new coming-of-age drama Sublime.

Featuring beautiful cinematography, an exceptional soundtrack and palpable chemistry between lead actors Miller and Inama Chiabrando, this award-winning new film follows one teen whose affection for his best friend can only stay suppressed for so long.

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

Short Film Spotlight: Dogfriend

An intelligent and wickedly funny 18-minute short from Germany, Dogfriend follows a kinky hook-up that gets incredibly heated… just not for the reasons you might expect.

Screenwriter Lamin Leroy Gibba also stars in the film as Malik, an attractive young man of color who is anticipating the arrival of Phillip (Til Schindler), a newer, unmistakably white and ambiguously political lover.

A classic over-thinker, Malik isn’t sure that this new relationship has legs. Phillip has a confident and casual demeanor that often conflicts with Malik’s neuroses. When Phillip finally arrives, presenting a pair of handcuffs and asking Malik to dominate him, the night takes a wildly unexpected turn.

Malik cuffs Phillip to the bed, but can’t seem to locate the key. Once the men find themselves discussing race relations, Malik starts to realize that he finally has the upper hand and Phillip, flush with white privilege, finds himself more vulnerable than ever before.

Watch a short clip from Dogfriend below. The full short 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.

Short Film Spotlight: A Pipe Dream

Plans for a casual Grindr hook-up go horribly wrong in A Pipe Dream, a unabashedly scatological 8-minute comedy from writer-director-star Ethan Wayne Smith.

The film follows an attractive young student (Smith) living in a cramped New York apartment with a very messy, nightmare roommate.

After making plans to meet up with a charming top from his past, he rushes off to their shared-space bathroom to prepare – not expecting to be thwarted at every turn by unfortunate happenstance.

Not for the squeamish, A Pipe Dream will make you laugh while you squirm in your seat.

Watch the trailer for A Pipe Dream below. The full short film is now streaming 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.