Category: Gay Film

DEKKOO DISPATCH 021 – ‘OUT IN THE DARK’ AND ‘VICTORY DAY’

Title – ‘Out In The Dark‘

Director – Michael Mayer

Starring – Nicholas Jacob, Michael Aloni, Jameel Khouri, Alon Pdut

Release Date – September 27, 2013

Title – ‘Victory Day‘

Director – Alina Rudnitskaya

Release Date – 2014

______________________

Happy #Covfefe day everyone! Today I want to feature two films that highlight the struggle of Non-U.S. attitudes towards LGBTQ rights and the people that have the bravery to stand up for love.

The short documentary ‘Victory Day‘ is a really touching look inside the lives of 6 LGBTQ couples living in Russia – a country that has time and time again refused to accept LGBTQ people as normal citizens. While homosexual sex was decriminalized in 1993, there are still no laws on the books that prohibit discrimination against LGBTQ citizens, meaning you can still be fired from a job or kicked out of your apartment. It’s also illegal to expose children to anything other than heterosexual relationships in books, movies, textbooks, etc. Since that law passed in 2013 (here we call it the ‘gay propaganda law’) there have been numerous arrests and censoring of Hollywood movies like the new ‘Beauty and the Beast’.

The short film goes into depth with the 6 couples about how they got together, their struggles with family, friends, and co-workers, and their views on the current political climate. The beginning of the short is definitely a bit chilling with the juxtaposition of Russia’s Victory Day celebrations consisting of tanks and soldiers with discussions of how long the couples have been dating, but overall it’s an uplifting journey because of the bravery of all 6 couples. If you’re curious about how normal LGBTQ people live their lives in Russia this is the doc for you.

Now we shift from Russia to Israel, a country that is unique in the Middle East for being very accepting of LGBTQ people. While you can’t marry inside the country you can be married somewhere else and then Israel will recognize that marriage. You can also adopt and anti-discrimination policies have been passed. However ‘Out in the Dark‘ decides to focus on the interplay of sexuality and politics between Israel and Palestine. The movie has a great combination of sexiness, political intrigue, and thrilling action.

The movie focuses on a cute, young Palestinian named Nimer. He studies Psychology and travels to Tel Aviv for his studies. His friend Mustafa introduces him one night to a ridiculously sexy Israeli lawyer named Roy. The differences between them are numerous – wealth, privilege, and citizenship to name just a few. But as in all the great romance movies they fall in love despite everything. Unfortunately things get complicated once
Mustafa gets caught by his Palestinian friends for being queer which then suggests Nimer might be queer as well. One of the most intriguing/disturbing facts about this film is it’s portrayal of how crossing over a simple border can completely change how society views you. You can be celebrated in Israel, but killed in Palestine.

However all seriousness aside, ‘Out in the Dark‘ is a stunner of a film. It played at almost every single LGBTQ film festival and has gotten rave reviews. It’s packed full of romance and action and it’s just an awesome film. Watch it tonight!

____________________________

Watch ’em with: Your friends who have no clue what’s happening outside of Rupaul’s Drag Race.

Mix it with: Russian Vodka.

____________________________

 

DEKKOO DISPATCH 017 – ‘SPRING’ AND ‘IN THE NAME OF’

Title – ‘Spring‘

Director – Hong Khaou

Starring – Jonathan Keane, Chris O’Donnell

Release Date – January 22, 2011

Title – ‘In The Name Of‘

Director – Malgoska Szumowska

Starring – Andrzej Chyra, Mateusz Kosciukiewicz, Maja Ostaszewska, Lukasz Simlat

Release Date – September 20, 2013

_________________________

Hey Dekkoo-ers! Hope your week is going swell. I’ve got two great flicks to talk about today, both with an inter-generational theme.

‘Will it hurt?’ asks the youth nervously to the camera. ‘Yeah it can’ replies the older and much more confident man sitting across the table at the cafe. Thus begins the movie ‘Spring‘, a short film about sadomasochism and Sub/Dom role-play. It’s a fantastically shot short film by Hong Khaou, the director of ‘Lilting’ and an intriguing investigation into a young man’s mind as he explore fetishes he’s only dreamt of. Definitely a short film you won’t want to miss!

A funny side-note about this film is that most of it was shot in a room that caused a bit of a scandal way back because ‘The King’s Speech’ was shot in it along with a gay porn film!

Alright after you’ve taken a bit of a break :ahem: post-‘Spring‘ it’s time to sit down with ‘In The Name Of‘. It’s a beautiful, poetic film centering on a country priest in Poland dealing with his repressed sexuality. The film deals with heavy issues, but spreads it out to great effect with sensitivity and beauty.

After having just been transferred from another parish, Adam sets up shop in the sleepy little town by opening up a halfway house for wayward youth. The rules are simple: work hard and don’t get into trouble. Adam is able to start a family in a way with these young men and seems to be really happy early on in the film. But just when everything seems to be going well a new boy joins the ranks who senses Adam’s growing relationship with Lukasz (whose looks draw an obvious correlation with Jesus Christ) and decides to shake things up amongst the guys.

The film really comes together in the final act so I definitely recommend staying with it through the admittedly slow first half. If you need motivation there’s plentyyyy of half-naked guys throughout the film. Right when the song ‘The Funeral’ by Band of Horses started playing over a religious procession through the country-side was when the movie really coalesced for me and became magical from that point on.

_________________________

Watch ’em with: Your local gay-friendly (or just plain gay) priest

Mix ’em with: Wine blessed by said priest

_________________________

 

New this week on Dekkoo – 4/28/17

Hosting a group of male friends at his family’s house for summer break, Fernando invites German, a team-mate from his taekwondo class. While the rest of the gang – usually clad in nothing at all – engage in random conversation, German wonders if Fernando is going to make a move. ‘Taekwondo‘ has been called the sexiest film of the year. Find out why!

From writer and director Adam Goldman (‘The Outs’) comes ‘Whatever This Is‘, a series about a diverse group of friends striving to achieve their dreams while struggling to make it as production assistants.

Alex is a paramedic who saves lives on London’s gay chemsex scene, but can he save himself from it? Watch the harrowing ‘G O’clock‘ on Dekkoo now!

London’s gay scene and one man’s search for love are the subjects of this groundbreaking 1978 drama – considered the first commercial gay feature ever made and released in the United Kingdom. Also featuring full-frontal male nudity, quite taboo for the time, and an early acting role for queer iconoclast filmmaker Derek Jarman, ‘Nighthawks‘ was ahead of its time in more ways than one.

‘Boy‘ tells the story of an undocumented Filipino janitor in Holland. He has no name and is constantly moving, but everything changes when his boyfriend auditions for a dance company and one of his employers commits suicide.

_________________________

 

Coming next week: Two Mormon missionaries succumb to their desire in a touching romance – the first film in a beloved trilogy.

DEKKOO DISPATCH 012 – ‘EVERLASTING LOVE’

Title – ‘Everlasting Love‘

Director – Marcal Fores

Starring – Joan Bentalle, Aimar Vega, Hugo Alejo, Adrian de Alfonso

Release Date – April 25, 2015

_______________________________

Is anyone else feeling a little dark these days? Is it just me? I’ve been thinking a lot about Marcal Fores’ film ‘Everlasting Love‘ lately and if you haven’t seen it and you’re in the mood for a sexy film involving intergenerational relationships and weird Spanish kids that take heartbreak a little too seriously keep reading!

I’ll set the scene for you: Dusk is still an hour or so away. You’re in a forest in the Northeastern area of Spain where various men and women are cruising for love and sex, but mostly sex. An older stud, Carlos, prowls the forest looking for his next trick, but instead happens upon one of his students, Toni. He doesn’t want to lose his job, but he also appears to have a voracious appetite for sexual pleasures and decides to have sex with Toni in his car (an incredible 4-minute sex scene taken in one continuous zoom
shot). I don’t really want to say what happens next, but I will say that I won’t mess with a group of Spanish youth ever!

Marcal Fores is a truly fantastic director and his first feature film ‘Animals’ (which you’ll be seeing soon on Dekkoo) also has a very similar surreal feeling. Marcal, like many young directors, puts a lot of emphasis on music in his films and in ‘Everlasting Love‘ he finds some very creepy tracks to put you on edge while at the same time keeping an humorous sensibility (especially in the end credits). I also really appreciate the honest nature of cruising in the film combining the reality of the endless hunt for sex (you can’t get lucky every time) with the fantastical element of women also being in the woods (a joke made early on in the film ‘Stranger by the Lake’ which many people compare to ‘Everlasting Love‘).

Combining sexiness, art-house techniques, horror elements, and honest-to-god romance, ‘Everlasting Love‘ is a 69-minute trip that you won’t soon forget!

_______________________________

Watch it with: Someone you can cling on to if you get scared…or horny.

Mix it with: Spanish wine and tapas! Maybe some poppers too.

_______________________________

 

DEKKOO DISPATCH 007 – ‘THE LAST MATCH’

Title – ‘The Last Match‘

Director – Antonio Hens

Starring – Milton Garcia, Reinier Diaz, Luis Alberto Garcia, Mirta Ibarra

Release Date – May 5, 2013

_________________________________

Being gay in many parts of the world is still hard. Much harder than the glossy world of shows like ‘Glee’ would lead many to believe. In some countries and cultures it’s still all about being discreet and being smart about how you go about your ‘business’. Antonio Hens takes us into that world in Cuba, a country that’s seeming to get a new breath of life with trade relations being re-established with the United States.

After ‘Doors Cut Down‘ and ‘Clandestinos‘ (both of which are also on Dekkoo) Antonio continues to probe the world of machismo homosexuality in ‘The Last Match‘. However, this time in Cuba, in the steamy world of male locker rooms and gambling halls. Both of the main characters in this story have female partners; Yosvani has a fiancee who he seems very hesitant to have sex with. Renier straddles the worlds of life with his wife and child and the arena of hustling where he meets rich men who seem to fall in love with his chiseled handsome features and promise him the world. The two handsome men eventually meet and a downward spiral of sex and violence ensues.

Reasons for watching this film are numerous. If the fact that these super sexy guys aren’t enough then you should at least watch it for its extremely interesting commentary on modern life in Cuba which should be an academic reason for you to watch said sexy guys getting it on. Also there’s a crazy mother-in-law that’s so bat-shit crazy you’ll fall in love.

________________________________

Watch it with: Your best friend that you know has latin
fever!

Mix it with: A Daiquiri or a Mojito

________________________________

 

DEKKOO DISPATCH 006 – “DESIRE WILL SET YOU FREE”

Title – ‘Desire Will Set You Free‘

Director – Yony Leyser

Starring – Yony Leyser, Tim-Fabian Hoffmann, Chloe Griffin, Amber Benson

Release Date – May 5, 2016

_______________________________________________

Christopher Isherwood once wrote of his time in Berlin, ‘I am a camera with its shutter open, quite passive, recording, not thinking.’ The director of ‘Desire Will Set You Free‘, Yony Leyser, who also co-wrote and stars in the film absolutely aligns with that principle
in this hybrid fiction-doc combo. After the wall came down in 1989 Berlin slowly started becoming the queer melting pot it was once famous for due to the growth of hedonistic techno clubs in large abandoned warehouses. ‘Desire Will Set You Free‘ documents this time around 2010-2013 when Berlin became the hip place for young people to move to for its cheap housing, plentiful parties, and sex positive atmosphere.

The film follows a group of queer friends led by Ezra (a Palestinian/Israeli writer) and Cat (a very fun and dominant bisexual) as they move through the clubs (and doing lots of drugs in said clubs), parks (and having lots of sex in said parks), and architecture (just architecture! get your heads outta the gutter. Jeez.) of modern Berlin. Along the way Ezra falls for Sasha, a Russian hustler who’s dealing with confusion regarding his gender identity.

The movie features an uber-large cast of famous cameos: Amber Benson (Tara on ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’), ‘Godmother of Punk’ Nina Hagen as Oracle, cult musician and performance artist Peaches, along with Rosa Von Praunheim, Rummelsnuff, Blood Orange, and Einstuerzende Neubauten and Blixa Bargeld (formerly of Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds).

________________________________________________

Watch it with: Your cool hipster friends

Mix it with: Weed, Cocaine, and MDMA

________________________________________________

 

‘Godless’ tackles the taboo topic of sibling passion

The film ‘Godless‘ was added to the Dekkoo library this week. It’s a film that deals with a taboo topic using intelligence and sensitivity. It screened at numerous film festivals around the country and comes from director Joshua Lim who also directed ‘The Seminarian‘.

After the death of their father, Nate (Craig Jordan) moves in with his mother, but his elder brother, Steven (Michael E. Pitts) continues his studies out of state. The brothers use this distance to end the incestuous physical affair they’ve shared since puberty. However, when their mother dies in a car accident, Steven returns for her funeral. During this time of mourning, the two brothers’ unrelenting love for each other threatens the secret they had buried.

Nathaniel Grey for Frontiers Media said, ‘What carries this film is that through the chemistry and performances of Jordan and Pitts, you want to know more about them. You wonder how have they retained their sanity and composure over the years while holding strong to their forbidden but shared love.’

He goes on to say, ‘…the film provides a great opportunity to experience a rarely offered and controversial topic.’

‘Godless’ is now playing on Dekkoo!

 

DEKKOO DISPATCH 005 – ‘BABY JANE?’

Title – ‘Baby Jane?‘

Director – William Clift

Starring – Alotta Boutte, J. Conrad Frank, Matthew Martin, Vincent De Paul

Release Date – June 10, 2010

____________________________________________

‘You wouldn’t be able to do these awful thing to me if I weren’t still in this chair!’

‘But you *are*, Blanche! You *are* in that chair!’

Ah ‘What Ever Happened to Baby Jane’…One of the undisputed camp classics of the sixties. The ultimate sibling rivalry film follows two sisters one of whom surpasses the other in stardom which leads to intense jealousy and eventually acts of violence. The original film from 1962 utilized two actresses who were also rivals, Bette Davis and Joan Crawford which added to its success with audiences.

‘Baby Jane?‘ a loving homage to the original takes an even more campy approach by casting the two leads as men in drag. With just as many hi-jinks and back-stabbings as the original, ‘Baby Jane?‘ will definitely make you think twice before trusting your crazy siblings!

____________________________________________

Watch it with: Your spiritual sisters

Mix it with: A dry martini (but don’t forget to eat din-din first!!)

____________________________________________

 

Short films go a loooong way!

We love the short film format. Just like a short story, a short film forces the filmmaker to be concise and exact with the tale he or she wants to tell. And while a short film is just that – short, it does not diminish its ability to tell a great story.

So far this week we’ve added two short films to the Dekkoo library that we think you’ll enjoy.

‘The 6 Gays You’ll Date Before You Die‘ is a short that plays like a pseudo-public service announcement. It outlines the six types of guys every man will ultimately date before they finally choose to settle down. It’s hilarious, a bit goofy and sadly, completely accurate!

‘Buddy‘, a short film from The Netherlands (which we absolutely had to have in our library once we saw it), is more dramatic story of two friends, former lovers, who share a scary moment together.

Take a peek at both and consider what elements of the story are purposely excluded in favor of other pieces of information being included and how do those decisions help the humor, drama or action of the story.

 

DEKKOO DISPATCH 004 – ‘TEENAGE KICKS’

Title – ‘Teenage Kicks‘

Director – Craig Boreham

Starring – Miles Szanto, Daniel Webber, Anni Finsterer, Ian Roberts

Release Date – October 15, 2016

____________________________________________

A sexy and heartbreaking tale of family, friends, and repressed longing converge together in the explosive ‘Teenage Kicks‘. An expansion of his earlier short film, ‘Drowning’ (using the same actor – sexy Miles Szanto) Craig Boreham picks up the flag of another Australian director, Ana Kokkinos (‘Head On’, 1998) by exploring queer themes in migrant communities in Australia.

Seventeen-year-old Mik just wants to get stoned and watch porn with his best friend Dan like any other teenager. Things take a turn when he’s caught peeping on his masturbating brother which then sets a series of events in motion that result in his death. The family is ripped apart by the tragedy and Mik tries to find solace with his brother’s pregnant girlfriend and Dan who’s sadly distracted by rich-girl Phaedra who he starts dating.

A whirlwind of teenage emotions and intense angst, ‘Teenage Kicks‘ shakes up the gay coming-of-age genre with a deeply compelling style, spirit, and a lot of sexiness!

__________________________________________

Watch it with: That Australian guy you’ve been meaning to have over

Mix it with: Foster’s Lager

__________________________________________