Dating – Page 27 – Discover great gay stories.

New This Week – 4/13/18

Set in Sri Lanka, where old colonial laws permit the imprisonment of gay and lesbian people, ‘Frangipani’ tells the story of two young men and one woman entangled in a lustful – and incredibly dangerous – love triangle.

Twelve year old Erik goes swimming with Sofie and her dad. Sophie wants Erik as a boyfriend but he seems to pay more attention to her dad. Watch ‘ Breath’ now on Dekkoo!

Co-written and directed by stand-up comedian Jason Stuart, ‘Mentor’ follows a middle-aged gay Jewish man and a straight, starry-eyed kid who form a friendship while trying to make a name for themselves in the cold, hard business of Hollywood.

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Coming next week: A film about Portuguese poet Alberto Raposo Pidwell Tavares arrives on Dekkoo weeks before DVD!

DEKKOO DISPATCH 066 – ‘SHORT FILM ROUNDUP!’

Title – ‘Turn It Around‘

Director – Niels Bourgonje

Starring – Valentijn Avé, Tonko Bossen, Timo Dries, Faye Gunther

Release Date – 2017

Title – ‘Breath‘

Director – Margien Rogaar

Starring – Yannick de Waal, Moo Miero, Roeland Fernhout

Release Date – 2007

Title – ‘It Gets Better?‘

Director – Stephen Riscica

Starring – Gys de Villiers, Luka Fric, Samuel Ashkenazy, Adam Davenport

Release Date – 2016

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Three short films – Three snapshots of queer life at three different points in a gay man’s life. I’ve been focusing too much on features lately so this week I decided to take a glance backwards at some of the short films that have been added to Dekkoo’s catalog. I found three recent additions that speak of love at different stages in life and they’re all exquisitely crafted! I’d recommend starting from young to old. In this case from ‘Breath‘ to ‘Turn It Around‘ to ‘It Gets Better?‘.

‘Breath’ is an heartwarming poetic coming-of-age short film from The Netherlands. Infused with a warmth you can only get from shooting on real film, ‘Breath‘ focuses its camera on 12-year old Erik. He’s fascinated by the world around him and constantly observes his surroundings with the remnants of child-like awe. His friend Sophie invites him to the beach where he meets her handsome and playful father. Clearly Sophie has a bit of a crush on Erik, but Erik has his eyes on her father. Margien Rogaar definitely has an eye for colors, occasionally flashing us with bright swatches of color reminiscent of scenes from ‘Beginners’ by Mike Mills. The whole film felt like falling into a dream for me – a dream that put me in the shoes of my childhood self and reminded me of what having a crush at that age was like.

Ten years later in the same country Niels Bourgonje created ‘Turn It Around‘. A film set squarely in the post-‘It Gets Better’ world with the coming out process being awkward rather than difficult. In the short 15-year old Bram is attending a house party with his girl crazy friends. We can tell immediately that he’s your typical closeted gay teenager – lazily reacting to girls his friends point out as ‘hotties’. But then Bram spots Florian at the party and immediately falls for him. In the span of just ten minutes we’re witness to the beginning of a really adorable love story. If you can only watch one of these shorts make it this one! Soooo cute and heartfelt.

Lastly we enter old age with ‘It Gets Better?‘. Getting older is something very few people (especially gay people!) want to happen to them. This feeling is programmed into us from a very young age where being attractive and youthful is prized above almost everything else. Slowly, but surely more narratives are changing that view point and ushering the values of old age corresponding to wisdom and insight into the cultural consciousness. In this short we meet an older man who’s watching an ‘It Gets Better’ video on the internet. In the video we see a teenager repeating the same monologue we’ve heard a million times before, but it’s affecting this man differently. Instead of being calmed by it he’s agitated by the teenager’s words. After drinking a heck of a lot of wine we finally hear what’s on his mind. Gys de Villiers (who is actually a pretty famous South African actor) is unbelievably compelling as the anonymous older gay man who tries to impart some of his wisdom (and melancholy) to a jaded modern culture.

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Watch it with: A friend or two!

Mix it with: A glass of white wine.

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New This Week – 4/6/18

Ian McKellen delivers an award-winning performance as Hollywood horror director James Whale. It’s 1957, and Whale’s heyday as the director of ‘Frankenstein’, ‘Bride of Frankenstein’ and ‘The Invisible Man’ is long behind him. Retired and a semi-recluse, he lives his days accompanied only by images from his past. When a handsome young gardener (played by the beautiful Brendan Fraser) enters the picture, the pair develop an unlikely friendship. Watch ‘Gods And Monster’ now on Dekkoo!

When the fifteen year old Bram meets Florian at a house party, he immediately falls for him. There’s only one problem: nobody knows Bram is gay. Watch ‘Turn It Around’ now on Dekkoo!

A successful stay-at-home graphic novelist, has hit a mid-life and creative crisis. When his wife begins to suspect an affair she is surprised to learn he’s spending all of his time with his gay neighbor. ‘Finding Neighbors’ is now available to stream on Dekkoo!

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Coming next week: A gay story from Sri Lanka, where being gay is illegal.

One Great Gay Shot – ‘Turn It Around’ (2017)

Stream ‘Turn It Around’ only on Dekkoo!

DEKKOO DISPATCH 064 – ‘IN BLOOM’

Title – ‘In Bloom‘

Director – Chris Michael Birkmeier

Starring – Kyle Wigent, Tanner Rittenhouse, Adam Fane, Jake Andrews

Release Date – 2013

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Love is always best in the early stages when it’s ‘In Bloom‘. Chris Michael Birkmeier’s first feature film captures the innocence and tragedy of first love with a delicate touch reminiscent of Andrew Haigh’s ‘Weekend’. Although whereas ‘Weekend’ features leads from the UK that you can barely understand, ‘In Bloom‘ takes place in Chicago with super cute clean-cut American boys that definitely speak our language 😉

As the film opens we’re introduced to Kurt and Paul who after running into each other awkwardly at a party try to be amiable with each other until… flashback! :SEVEN MONTHS EARLIER: A much more carefree Kurt smokes a joint in his bedroom while a frazzled Paul stocks shelves in bland looking grocery store. They’re a couple still in the early stages of love where they live separately, but spend all their time together. They go to the beach and play the ‘which guy is the hottest’ game, they have hot sex, and they go to parties together. We quickly find out the reason why Paul’s working hard and Kurt isn’t is because Kurt sells weed. Which isn’t to say selling weed isn’t hard work, but… it just isn’t.

Kurt and Paul’s relationship is tested by the arrival of Kevin, a new client/customer of Kurt’s. A wildly cute young-and-carefree type he definitely is someone that Paul could never be – younger, cuter, and a non-paranoid stoner. We can tell immediately that Kurt is trying his best not to be unfaithful to Paul, but it’s hard when Kevin is the one to make the first move and kiss Kurt. Gasp!! Of course this throws Kurt into a realm of uncertainty about Paul if he’s his one true love. Is he supposed to commit to this person if he’s interested in someone else? If only he didn’t smoke so much weed… Paul also is going through his own issues. “Don’t you get tired of doing the same thing over and over?” He wants to go to Paris and explore. Kurt just wants to ‘chill’ and have sex.

When I first saw this film I was really taken aback by its honesty and its emotional connection that I could completely relate to. I was lucky enough to meet the filmmakers at their screening at Outfest and was thrilled to meet a group of people who were just like the film they created – smart, in touch with the gay community, and eager to make more films. The director has cited most of the film coming from his own life experiences and it totally shows. Here’s to hoping he creates more feature films – in the meantime he’s been busy creating queer music videos in Los Angeles.

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Watch it with: An ex you’re friendly with.

Mix it with: Beer and weed!

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DEKKOO DISPATCH 062 – ‘SASHA’

Title – ‘Sasha‘

Director – Dennis Todorovic

Starring – Sasa Kekez, Predrag Bjelac, Ljubisa Gruicic, Zeljka Preksavec

Release Date – 2010

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It’s Wednesday and tonight you deserve a good ‘ole heart-warming hump day movie! I proudly present to you the crowd-pleasing gay coming-of-age/romance/daddy film ‘Sasha‘ directed by Dennis Todorovic. This film went under the radar back in 2010, but it really shouldn’t have and Dekkoo is the perfect place for you to re-discover this gay gem!

‘Sasha‘ rises above movies of it’s ilk due to a few factors, but the most noticeable one is the fact that Sasha comes from a family of immigrants. Mistaken for the most part as Serbians (although really from Montenegro) Sasha’s family now lives in Germany and are outsiders for the most part. The only piece of Sasha’s life that really connects him to his peers is his love of music. He’s a piano player and a very serious one at that. He trains hard to be accepted to the best music school in Germany and that’s where our love interest comes into play. Sasha’s love of music isn’t the only thing propelling him forward, but also his instructor who he’s madly fallen in love with. Enter Gebhard – the classic stereotypical hunky German guy in his late-30s who’s passionate about music, life, and swimming in really skimpy swim suits!

When Gebhard tells Sasha he’s leaving the city Sasha realizes that the next few weeks are his ‘now or never’ moment. If he wants to be with the love of his life (Daddy!) he needs to come out and confess himself. If only it was that easy… He also has to focus on the upcoming piano audition, pay attention to his best friend Jiao (a violinist) who’s totally in love with him, and deal with his crazy immigrant family – of which his father is pretty homophobic, so there’s that all to deal with.

Fun Fact: Gebhard (played by Tim Bergmann) played another gay man 14 years earlier in ‘Regular Guys‘ which is also available on Dekkoo! So if you’re in love and can’t get enough Gebhard there’s more!

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Watch it with: All of your romantic-leaning friends.

Mix it with: A German wine.

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New This Week – 3/9/18

When John discovers his sister’s fiance is Jack, his childhood crush, passions ignite and his life spirals out of control…losing his job, his playboy reputation and his underwear, all while rushing to the altar to finally confess his love! ‘John Apple Jack’ is available to stream now on Dekkoo!

Pepijn and Sjors’ steady, seven-year relationship is shaken up after they allow a young student named Cas to sleep on their couch. Watch ‘CAS’ now, exclusively on Dekkoo!

A mischievous disabled girl absconds to London to find love and opportunity, but finds an unlikely outcome in her life when she hooks up-with a washed up male escort. Watch ‘Little Devil’ now on Dekkoo!

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Coming next week: A wonderfully acted and taut love story of two outsiders.

DEKKOO DISPATCH 061 – ‘CAS’

Title – ‘Cas‘

Director – Joris van den Berg

Starring – Kevin Hassing, Wieger Windhorst, Felix Meyer, Yootha Wong-Loi-Sing

Release Date – 2016

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Hallo from the Netherlands (or Holland if you’d prefer)! The home of Rembrandt, Van Gogh, and the inventor of solid chocolate! Ooh la la! It’s also home to a boatload of cute gay couples just waiting to invite you into their apartment so you can sleep on their couch while you worm your way into their lives without realizing it. Well at least I assumed from the movie ‘Cas‘ I just watched that that’s the case. Well I’ll just pretend to myself that it happens allll the time. You’ve gotta live for something…

‘Cas‘, a film directed by Joris van den Berg is actually a made-for-TV film which makes me instantly sad that I don’t live in the Netherlands and can’t have something like this broadcasting over the air permeating my entire body with it’s emotional and sexy brilliance. Running at only 48 minutes it’s a breath of fresh air as to what Joris is able to accomplish in such a short amount of time. The way in which the viewer enters the film and is quickly able to take stock of the current situation of the relationship is incredibly strong. We’re immediately aware that we’re in the presence of a couple that’s at the make-or-break stage. They love each other, but they both have long-term needs that could conflict.

Enter our main character Cas who will decide for them if they’re made for this pairing or if they just wish they were. Invited by Sjors to crash on their couch while he looks for a place to live, Cas shows up one day to Pepjin’s surprise. While we’re a little confused at first how the two met, it’s eventually revealed that Sjors had met up with him a few times previously. Pepjin’s reluctance gives way to a welcoming attitude once Cas’ love of 80s music and ‘Twin Peaks’ comes to light. Eventually after a drunken night out the three end up sleeping together and then the real relationship tests really start.

There’s so much to like about this film. Pepjin’s emotional fragility, Sjors’ tender daddy personality, and Cas’ puppy dog-like charm are a few of them. But other topics like the contrasting desires and goals in a relationship and the nature of monogamy are explored with such a delicate yet strong touch that reminded me of my own relationships and made me question what I want in my future relationships. All in all this is a fantastic 48 minute film and I can’t wait to see what Joris van den Berg is able to do with 96 minutes next time!

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Watch it with: Your boyfriend and your houseboy.

Mix it with: A Heineken (it’s from the Netherlands!!)

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One Great Gay Shot – ‘CAS’ (2016)

‘CAS’ is now available exclusively on Dekkoo!

New This Week – 3/2/18

Maki is a young gay music student who’s completely smitten with his classmate Ruiku, who plays piano with incredible passion but is cold and distant to everyone. Maki decides to do whatever it takes to get Ruiku to return his feelings. ‘Melody of Our Love’ is available to stream now, only on Dekkoo!

In the gay short comedy ‘Bed Buddies’, gay friends wake up after sleeping together and try to make sense of the unclear line between friendship and love.

Friends and filmmakers Tim (26) and Nicolaas (29) go in search of the boundaries of their own sexuality. They’re both gay, at least, they think so. But how sure are they? What would it be like to experiment with the other sex? Is their sexual identity really as fixed as they think? Watch ‘Gay Meets Girl’ now on Dekkoo!

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Coming next week: A positively adorable, uplifting, sexy and very funny romantic comedy!