Category: Drama

The charming comedy ‘Nate & Margaret’ examines a May-December friendship

Natalie West, an accomplished Chicago theatre actress best known for her recurring role as Crystal on the original incarnation of ‘Roseanne,’ delivers an incredible under-the-radar performance in Nate and Margaret, a charming indie comedy from writer-director Nathan Adloff.

West plays the titular Margaret, an aspiring comedian in her fifties who lives alone, works at a coffee shop by day, works on stage skills at open mics by night and shares an unusually deep friendship with her neighbor, a much younger gay film student named Nate, played by Tyler Ross.

When Darla, an audacious classmate played by Gaby Hoffman, sets Nate up on a date with an eager young suiter named James (played by Conor McCahill), everything starts to change.

Swept up in feelings of young love, Nate suddenly has less time for his middle-aged friend and a bittersweet tension grows between them.

With shades of the Hal Ashby classic Harold and Maude, Nate and Margaret is a heartfelt and smartly observed comedy-drama about two very particular people who are each coming-of-age… despite the considerable difference of those ages.

Watch the trailer for Nate and Margaret below. The film is now available on Dekkoo.

Short Film Spotlight: Bettas

A seemingly trivial couple’s fight turns unexpectedly violent in Bettas, a frenzied and deliberately over-the-top short thriller from director Benjamin-Shalom Rodriguez.

Lovers Frank and David (Jose Diaz-Oldenburg and Nick Ley) are showering together in a bathroom that isn’t their own. They’re away from home celebrating both Frank’s birthday and the wedding of his best friend.

David is harboring some resentments at the start of the film. Not only is he salty about having paid for the trip, but he’s not happy that Frank coerced him into having sex by the public pool of their hotel.

After a particular song comes on and Frank declines David’s invitation to dance, all hell breaks loose – and their simmering relationship troubles come to the fore in a shockingly bloody crescendo.

Uncomfortably funny and made with a brisk, kinetic energy, Bettas is a deliciously twisted “anti-romance.” We recommend watching it on a date night with your significant other – if only as a cautionary tale about anger management.

Check out the poster for Bettas below. The full short film is now streaming on Dekkoo.

A sex worker gets into a tricky relationship with an older man in the Belgian drama ‘All Yours’

Prolific actor Nahuel P̩rez Biscayart (Glue, Persian Lessons, BPM) stars in All Yours as Lucas, a young and penniless Argentine escort who moves to a small Belgian town with the help of Henry (Jean-Michel Balthazar), a lonely Рand much older Рgay bakery owner who dreams of saving him from a life of prostitution.

Henry fell completely head over heels for Lucas when he first spotted him as a web cam model. He bought Lucas a plane ticket hoping that he would not only help out in the bakery, but share his bed.

With very different ideas about living together, the two men find their personalities and expectations clashing. Things get even more tense when the predominately straight Lucas starts falling for Audrey (Monia Chokri), a single mother who also works for Henry.

A complicated love triangle soon develops in this tender, award-winning character study from acclaimed writer-director David Lambert.

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

Oscar nominee Colman Domingo stars in the profoundly moving 30-minute drama ‘North Star’

Colman Domingo, Malcolm Gets, Laura Innes and Kevin Bacon make up the primary cast of this astounding 30-minute short film that challenges the meanings of freedom, faith and family.

A winner of countless awards at film festivals all around the globe, North Star is easily one of the most acclaimed gay short films ever made.

Domingo, who also produced the film, stars as James, a rural rancher who makes incredible sacrifices to care for his dying husband – all while his zealot sister-in-law attempts to impose her will and a pair of televangelists peddle shame, fear, and division as the cornerstones of faith.

A deeply personal film by writer-director P.J. Palmer, based on his own experiences of being in same-gender, multi-cultural relationships, North Star is a profoundly emotional drama that will linger with you love after the credits roll.

Watch a short teaser trailer for North Star below. The film is now streaming on Dekkoo.

A mysterious drifter comes between two rich siblings in the stylish queer thriller ‘Palace of Fun’

After a chance meeting in a nightclub, a summer romance begins to develop between young lovers Lily and Finn (Phoebe Naughton and Andrew Mullan). Instantly smitten with one another and not looking to part ways too soon, Lily ends up inviting Finn to come stay with her at her parent’s opulent Sussex home.

As her folks are vacationing in Italy, the pair expect to have the estate all to themselves. Their alone time is broken, however, by the arrival of Lily’s mischievous brother Jamie (George Stocks).

When Jamie discovers a revealing secret about Finn on the internet, he uses it to blackmail the handsome young man into performing increasingly uncomfortable favors – playing a dangerous and sinister game with his sister’s new flame.

Paying knowing homage to Patricia Highsmith’s ‘Ripley’ novels, classic three-hander thrillers like Knife in the Water and even a little bit of Some Like it Hot, co-writer/director Eddie Stocks’ Palace of Fun is a smart and supremely tense sexually-charged thriller.

Watch the trailer for Palace of Fun below. The film is now streaming on Dekkoo.

The provocative queer punk classic ‘Fögi is a Bastard’ gets a brand-new HD restoration

Set in Zurich during the early 1970s and boasting a killer soundtrack that includes the likes of punk legends The Stooges and The Velvet Underground, Fögi is a Bastard is an unflinchingly honest depiction of teenage infatuation and obsession from director Marcel Gisler.

Vincent Branchet stars as Beni, a sensitive 15-year-old romantic who has become completely besotted by Fögi (Frederic Andrau), the super-sexy front man to a local punk outfit called The Minks.

The wide-eyed, seemingly innocent Beni – who begins his courting of Fögi with lovingly penned letters – is welcomed into the gay punk musician’s world of partying and playing gigs. However, as Fögi slowly drifts from an ambitious music career to the addictive world of drugs, a wedge forms in their relationship.

Soon enough, Beni has become a submissive “dog” in their relationship and also begins supporting his lover through sex work.

With its raw depiction of urban life, ghettoized youth, working class angst and kinky gay male sex without compromise, Fögi is a Bastard is a must see for fans of coming-of-age cinema with alternative queer teen sensibilities and aesthetics.

Originally released in 1998, the film has been given a brand-new restoration by the cult distribution label Altered Innocence. It’s now available to stream on Dekkoo. Watch the trailer below.

A weekend of mischief becomes a battle for survival in the stylish British thriller ‘B&B’

A gay couple pays a price for exercising their rights in this award-winning thriller from writer-director Joe Ahearne.

Sean Teale and Tom Bateman star in B&B as partners Fred and Marc. A year before the main events of the film, they were denied a room at St. Jude bed and breakfast by its fundamentalist Christian owner Josh (Paul McGann). They took the matter to court, won a discrimination suit and have now returned.

Though Fred would happily take the victory and move on, Marc is excited to rub some salt in Josh’s wound – insisting on sleeping as a married couple in the home of a man who has made his resentment known.

Events take a deadly turn when another guest, with far more sinister intentions, arrives. Marc and Fred’s weekend of fun turns into a suspenseful battle for survival.

With plenty of twists and turns, this clever Hitchcock homage will keep you guessing to the bitter end.

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

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.