Category: Drama

‘At Night All the Cats Are Black’ is a stylish, sexually-charged and deliberately strange cinematic exercise

At Night All the Cats Are Black, a stylishly-crafted, deeply unusual and deliberately scandalous new queer thriller, concerns a film crew is shooting a surreal and sexually-charged costume drama in the French countryside.

When Valentin, the film’s director, suddenly disappears, the local police set out to investigate. The shoot continues, but takes an odd turn as dreamlike visions portend doom for their beloved maestro and Robin, the cameraman and director’s lover, soon follows through on a mysterious promise he made to his missing partner.

If that sounds strange, you may be surprised to find that the film itself is actually stranger than described. Made without a finished script, At Night All the Cats Are Black was entirely improvised by the cast and crew and has been described by filmmakers Valentin Merz and Robin Mognetti, who plays versions of themselves, as “dreamy, impulsive, coherently illogical, shamelessly artsy and hell bent on surprising its viewers.”

However you feel about the aggressively experimental finished product, the film is packed with bold visual delights and is never afraid to push the envelope in terms of sexuality or structure.

Watch the (not safe for work) trailer for At Night All the Cats Are Black below. The film is now available to stream on Dekkoo.

Now Available: LUV Don’t Live Here

From Philadelphia-based writer, director and co-star Mikal Odom, LUV Don’t Live Here tells the story of Reggie Hamilton (Nathaniel Ryan), also known as poet, dancer and performance artist Reggie Luv, a seemingly confident gay man whose life drastically changes once he becomes severely ill.

Not so easily willing to succumb to his decaying yet humbling new life, Reggie finds it difficult to accept help from others – even when he so desperately needs it.

Reggie soon finds himself not only fighting for his health, but also fighting against the people who love him most. Soon, he’s forced to unearth harsh truths about himself and the relationships he holds dear.

Winner of the Audience Award for Best Feature at the 2015 qFLIX Philadelphia Film Festival, LUV Don’t Live Here is a deeply emotional drama that will resonate with anyone who has suffered a severe illness or taken care of a close friend or family member who has.

Watch the trailer for LUV Don’t Live Here below. The film is now available on Dekkoo.

Acclaimed Danish director Christian Tafdrup’s breakthrough film ‘Awakening’ is now available on Dekkoo

Danish actor and director Christian Tafdrup made a big splash on the international film scene last year with the shockingly violent thriller Speak No Evil.

Back in 2008, he took a similar aim at taboo subject matter with the 39-minute drama Awakening, which has recently been restored by the cult distribution label Altered Innocence.

Awakening stars “True Blood” alum Allan Hyde as Carsten, a sixteen-year-old boy who is taking a trip to meet his girlfriend’s parents at their summer house.

Throughout the weekend, Carsten becomes increasingly bonded with his girlfriend’s father, played by Lars Brygmann. It seems these two men share the same secret – and their time together, which involves a furtive kiss, puts their carefully-constructed relationships in major jeopardy.

Though it may sound racy, Tafdrup handles the developing friendship between two closeted men of differing ages with a great deal of sensitivity and heartfelt honesty.

Watch a clip from Awakening below. The full short film is now available on Dekkoo.

Short Film Spotlight: Fire at the Lake

The short film Fire at the Lake follows Felix (Hervé Lassïnce), a French farmer who lives an isolated day-to-day with his elderly mother (Isabelle Rama). When he returns home from guarding his cows in the pasture, he’s shocked to find her lying unconscious in bed.

Before he can contact the proper authorities, Felix gets a notification from an attractive younger man (Pierre Moure) who has contacted him on a dating app. At that moment, something inside of him snaps. Instead of checking on his mother’s well-being, Felix flees, driving several miles away to meet up with the alluring stranger in person – and their encounter proves incredibly steamy despite the strange circumstances.

An Official Selection of the Cannes Film Festival, Fire at the Lake is baffling and captivating in equal measure. This twisted, mysterious and sexually-charged short film from writer-director Pierre Menahem that examines what happens when repressed desire is finally unleashed.

Watch a short trailer for Fire at the Lake below. The full short film is now streaming on Dekkoo.

Short Film Spotlight: Cruisers

This charming and ultimately bittersweet six-minute film, packs a lot of guarded emotion into its short running time.

Cruisers stars Christopher Matias Aguila and writer-director Leland Montgomery as Paul and John, two young men, strangers to one another, who are attempting to share a casual hook-up.

Whenever they’re about to embrace, however, something manages to stop them. As they wander around together through the East Bay hills, they share details about their lives both big and small, trying to establish some sort of intimacy to break the tension.

We learn that John has recently returned home for his mother’s funeral and finds himself as a bit of a crossroads. Paul, who has a boyfriend, might not be ready to take on such tricky emotions.

Well-acted and beautifully shot, Cruisers explored what happens when casual anonymous sex goes awkwardly wrong.

Watch a short teaser for Cruisers below. The full short film is now streaming on Dekkoo.

Anthony Rapp and Jonathan Bennett star as husbands to be in the charming wedding comedy ‘Do You Take This Man’

Daniel and Christopher (Anthony Rapp and Jonathan Bennett) are very different – in their interests, their choice of friends and the ways in which they handle life’s stresses.

Despite all that, the two men are very much in love. They’re getting married tomorrow… or, at least, that’s the plan.

Triggered by the unexpected arrival of a long-lost childhood friend of Christopher’s, the grooms-to-be confront their differences, and lean on their friends and family to get through a day filled with surprises, stresses and uncertainties about their future together.

A crowd-pleasing hit on the LGBTQ+ film festival circuit when it premiered back in 2016, Do You Take This Man features a terrific supporting cast – including Thomas Dekker, Mackenzie Astin, Marla Sokoloff, Lee Garlington and “How I Met Your Mother” and “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” star Alyson Hannigan – and offers up a realistic and absorbing look into what it takes to make a marriage work in this day and age.

Watch the trailer for Do You Take This Man below. The film is now available on Dekkoo.