Category: Comedy

Short Film Spotlight: Good Night

When Aram (Yianni Katsifas), a young Armenian man who only recently came out of the closet, goes out on a first date with the much more confident and experienced Jason (Robert Walker Jeffery), he must decide how far he’s willing to go in order to make sure they both have a good time.

When they go back to Aram’s place, his nervousness and uncertainty about what he wants leads to some majorly awkward – and boldly sexually-explicit – tension in bed. Taking place almost in real time, Good Night is a deeply unabashed 10-minute short about a sexual encounter that never quite gels.

Gorgeously shot in crisp black and white and featuring committed performances from lead actors Katsifas and Jeffrey, the film captures how uncomfortable it can be to hook up with someone when you’re not totally on the same page – especially when the whole experience is new to you.

Good Night is now available on Dekkoo.

Now Available: French director André Téchiné’s acclaimed coming-of-age drama ‘Being 17’

From André Téchiné, the renowned writer-director behind the queer classic Wild Reeds, comes Being 17, a moving exploration of unexpected adolescent love.

Damien and Thomas (Kacey Mottet Klein and Corentin Fila) are teens from very different backgrounds who go to the same school… and are constantly fighting. Damien is the gawky son of a doctor and a military pilot stationed abroad. He can’t seem to stop staring at Thomas, the handsome bi-racial son of local farmers who reacts with hostility to Damien’s longing.

Damien’s mother Marianne (Sandrine Kiberlain) is treating Thomas’s ailing mother at the farm, a snowy two-hour ride outside of town. When she needs to be admitted to the hospital, Marianne quite naturally offers to take Thomas into their home for a temporary stay. Forced to live together under one roof, the two boys must work through their hostility, emerging attraction and complicated desires.

Co-written by Celine Sciamma, the award-winning filmmaker behind Tomboy, Petite Maman and Portrait of a Lady on Fire, Being 17 is a critically-acclaimed coming-of-age gem that accurately captures both youthful friction and attraction.

Watch the trailer for Being 17 below. The film is now available on Dekkoo.

Short Film Spotlight: Nanoblood

From writer Nick Roth and director Lindsay Haun, Nanoblood is a short film that tosses comedy, neo-noir, horror and sci-fi all into the blender at once, telling the story of three young lovers and the bots that tear them apart.

Not for the squeamish (expect lots of blood and some thrillingly Cronenberg-influenced body horror), this 38-minute film follows Gary (Anthony Rutowicz), a painter recently out of a day job, and his wife Lisa (Amanda Fuller), a graduate student in nanobiology.

Lisa’s funding is contingent on her participation in an experimental trial to replace her blood cells with microscopic, artificially intelligent robots. When the pair decide to make some extra cash by renting Gary’s painting studio out to Toby (Gabriel Miller), a mysterious visiting scholar also participating in Lisa’s clinical trial, their bodies begin to change in unexpected ways… and sexual desire begins to emerge in unexpected places.

Ambitious, provocative, sexually-frank and surprisingly timely, Nanoblood tells a large, inventive sci-fi story on an intimate scale.

Watch the trailer for Nanoblood below. The full short film is available now on Dekkoo.

Ossan’s Love, a queer romantic comedy series from Hong Kong, comes to Dekkoo

Tin (Edan Lui) has been single his whole life. One day, he discovers that his boss secretly harbors romantic feelings and is even willing to leave his wife to be with him.

Tin confides this news to his friends, only to discover that his co-worker and flatmate, Muk is also deeply in love with him. Even though Tin has never ever thought about dating another man, he finds himself overwhelmed by his new popularity and slowly falling for the men who hold him dear.

Originally broadcast in Hong Kong, Ossan’s Love is a charming romantic series based on a Japanese drama of the same name. Both shows are notable as the first mainstream television series to feature gay love as a central storyline in their respective regions.

You can watch the full first season of Ossan’s Love now on Dekkoo!

Short Film Spotlight: Sleepover

An eight-minute short film from Swedish director Jimi Vall Peterson, Sleepover follows Emil and Adam, two seemingly straight young men who have been friends since junior high. After a night together at the movies, Emil decides he is going to crash at Adam’s apartment.

The two young men end up sharing a double bed. In the middle of the night, Emil awakens and his unspoken feelings for Adam start to become clear. But is he willing to test the boundaries of their friendship?

A simple, but well-executed short film Sleepover perfectly captures those youthful pangs of unrequited love.

Sleepover is now available on Dekkoo.

The Dekkoo-Original Comedy Series Marriage of Inconvenience is Now Available!

In the brand new Dekkoo-Original Comedy Series Marriage of Inconvenience, two total strangers entering a witness protection program must pretend to be a happily married couple in order to hide their identities from the dangerous people who want them dead!

Franklin (David Singletary) is an even-tempered English professor who prides himself on his attention to detail in every area of his carefully structured life. Owen (Jason T. Gaffney) is a messy, street-smart dropout with anger issues, forced into a life of crime against his will.

About the only thing Franklin and Owen have in common is that they’re gay. Now, living together in a very small house as “Mr. and Mr. Fulton,” they find they have something else in common: they can’t stand each other. But both men have complicated pasts, with some very bad people relentlessly hunting them down.

With their lives on the line, Owen and Franklin are stuck with each other, for better or worse, hoping that it’s not literally a “til death do we part” situation.

Watch the trailer for Marriage of Inconvenience below. The full first season is now available on Dekkoo!

A Dice with Five Sides offers up romance, sex and magic

In writer-director Riccardo Tamburini’s new romance A Dice with Five Sides, two strangers meet in an apartment for a hookup, but find a much deeper attraction to one another.

Too afraid to follow their hearts, Marcello and Herman decide to play a game – using ancient dice made of stone. They establish six actions to perform – one for each side of the dice. They can tell an uncomfortable or intimate truth about themselves, do something the other likes, invite a third person, do something blindfolded, leave the apartment or simply have sex.

Years go by while the gameplay continues. The conflict between their desire to be together and the fear of yet another failed relationship only intensifies. Will they be able to find the strength to make choices and break the vicious cycle they have entered or will the game continue until fate decides for them?

Watch the trailer for A Dice with Five Sides below. The film is now available on Dekkoo!

A married man falls for a much younger guy in the South Korean drama The Poet and the Boy

The Poet and the Boy follows an aimless, seemingly straight poet in his late 30s who has spent all his life on the same island, mostly living off the hard work and careful planning of his more responsible wife.

Spending most of his time daydreaming, he longs to express himself creatively, but his poetry lacks passion and depth – something that the other members of his writers group are quick to point out.

One day, the poet meets a teenage boy working at a donut shop and develops romantic feelings he has never had before. Suddenly, his life and work begins to improve. He’s finally found his muse while falling helplessly in love with another man for the first time. But when he discovers that his wife is pregnant, he is faced with a very difficult decision.

The feature-length debut of South Korean filmmaker Kim Yang-hee, The Poet and the Boy tackles marriage, creativity and longing in a refreshingly honest manner.

Watch the trailer for The Poet and the Boy below. The film is now available on Dekkoo.