‘Center of My World’ – Coming soon to Dekkoo!
Tag: Gay Film
New This Week – 8/4/17
When his long-term partner hurls him headfirst into fatherhood, troubled TV personality Steven Evans starts to shed his playboy reputation and embrace his new loving family bond… until an unexpected visitor arrives to shake everything up. Watch ‘The Dream Children’ on Dekkoo!
New Year’s Eve 1999 finds college-bound Clark and Trevor concerned about the future of their friendship, and a request for Clark to be Trevor’s wingman ensures things will never be the same again. Watch ‘Tomorrow’ on Dekkoo!
‘Making It Big’ is a reality series that follows the lives of seven friends, each with a unique connec-tion to the LGBTQ+ community, living abroad in Barcelona. While attempting to establish their ca-reers in a foreign land, their struggles coming of age and coming out in Ireland and Great Britain are revealed.
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Coming next week: A harrowing relationship drama will linger with you long after the credits roll. It won the coveted Teddy Award at Berlin International Film Festival.
DEKKOO DISPATCH 028 – ‘VITO’
Title – ‘Vito‘
Director – Jeffrey Schwartz
Release Date – 2011
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Today we at Dekkoo are paying tribute to Vito Russo: activist, author, academic, film fanatic, and most importantly a friend and father-figure to every LGBTQ member of our community. Jeffrey Schwartz’s 2011 film ‘Vito‘ is a stirring tribute to this legendary trailblazer of queer cinema and HIV/AIDS activism.
Growing up and browsing the shelves at Blockbuster I’d always walk by a tattered old looking DVD entitled ‘The Celluloid Closet’. Once I finally had made my way through most of the sexy films I’d been dying to rent I finally checked it out one night. The amount of queer stories that had to be hidden underneath various guises through time was sobering of what I had been accustomed to given my young age. ‘The Celluloid Closet’ was based on Vito Russo’s novel of the same name published in 1981 with the subtitle “Homosexuality in the Movies”. It woke people up to queer tropes like the predatory lesbian and the sissy homosexual. Vito truly believed that these tropes were perpetuating the oppression of gay people and that media needed to change in order for society to change. Vito wasn’t just sitting at home writing though. He went on college tours lecturing about his work and about queer cinema in general.
After publishing ‘The Celluloid Closet’ Vito Russo went on to form the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation. That’s right, Vito Russo formed GLAAD! They’re the ones that to this day keep a very close eye on everything happening in media around the world and hold them accountable for their actions. And as much as I get annoyed with how much they hit me up for cash, they’ve done some great stuff like issuing a Studio Responsibility Index that ranks the major Hollywood studios by the quantity, quality, and content of LGBTQ representation in the films they produce.
Vito also left a big imprint on HIV/AIDS activism in the 80s through his involvement in the Gay Activists Alliance & ACT UP, his creation of a gay TV series called ‘Our Time’, and his participation in the 1989 Academy Award-winning documentary ‘Common Threads: Stories from the Quilt’. He told the story of his lover Jeffrey Sevcik who passed away from his battle with AIDS. The directors of ‘Our Time’ are Rob Epstein & Jeffrey Friedman. Besides directing masterpieces like ‘The Times of Harvey Milk’ and ‘Word is Out’ they also were the ones to lovingly direct ‘The Celluloid Closet’ after Vito had passed away from his own battle with AIDS.
I’ve left you with a very basic skeleton of what Vito Russo did with his life, but when you watch ‘Vito‘ you’ll actually see his whole body and hopefully see even deeper.
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Watch it with: A group of friends who appreciate gay heroes!
Mix it with: Beers!
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DEKKOO DISPATCH 027 – ‘PROTEUS’ AND ‘TONIGHT IT’S ME’
Title – ‘Proteus‘
Director – John Greyson, Jack Lewis
Starring – Brett Goldin, Jeroen Kranenburg, Rouxnet Brown, Tessa Jubber
Release Date – 2003
Title – ‘Tonight It’s Me‘
Director – Dominic Haxton
Starring – Neil Elliot, Caleb James, Christian Patrick, Jake Robbins
Release Date – 2014
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In case you hadn’t noticed, we’ve added another one of Dominic Haxton’s brilliant short films to Dekkoo. ‘Tonight It’s Me‘ stars Jake Robbins who appears in 2 of Dominic’s other films (to be added in the future!) and is also the star in Robert Hawk’s super sexy short ‘Home From The Gym‘. In ‘Home’ Jake felt far away and objectified. Here he feels merely objectified which isn’t bad for us! But seriously, in ‘Tonight’ we actually get to know more of what makes a muscled hustler like him tick.
The films starts off with CJ (Jake Robbins) dealing with one his usual ‘johns’; A fat older man who can’t stop insulting him and making his life miserable. Later on CJ stops off at a new trick’s house, Ash, who with his effeminate manner and his openness about sexuality and gender strikes a chord within CJ and he begins to open up more than he has with others in the past. The film is a masterpiece in subtle characterization and the hot interplay between the two main characters is the icing on top.
At Dekkoo we’re really proud to bring queer classics to the platform and John Greyson’s ‘Proteus‘ is one of those. Greyson has been a pioneering voice in the realm of queer cinema ever since hitting it big with the HIV/AIDS musical ‘Zero Patience’ back in 1993. His signature style of Derek Jarman-esque experimental narratives mixed with historical context and a few musical numbers thrown in for good measure combine to create significant works of cinematic art that still makes the festival and art-house cinema rounds to this day.
‘Proteus‘ was written and co-directed with Jack Lewis and concerns two men who were SPOILER ALERT! executed for sodomy in 1735 in South Africa. Normally I hate spoilers, but this is a historical film and it’s important to understand a little bit about history in order to grasp the subtle nuances throughout the film. Furthering the issue at the time was that they were a bi-racial couple.
Claas Blank and Rijkhaart Jacobsz are the two men at the heart of this story. Both of them are prisoners on Robben Island (an island on the west coast of Cape Town where Nelson Mandela was held for 18 years of his prison term). Claas is a Khoi, a native of southwestern Africa and Rijkhaart is from the Netherlands whose government had control over the so-called ‘Cape Dutch’ area until 1795 when the British stepped in. A botanist named Virgil realizes that Claas has a deep knowledge of the South African flora and puts him in charge of the prison garden. Rijkhaart becomes one of his helpers and then eventually his lover. At first their relationship is joked about and ignored, but eventually simmering tensions between some of the other prisoners and the guards becomes too much to ignore.
Greyson combines this intimate historical drama with fun quirks such as incorporating modern technology like typewriters complete with busybody secretaries that give us historical context for courtroom scenes. The scenes towards the end of the film are of course saddening, but this is the 18th century and it would be dishonest to present a ‘happily-ever-after’ scenario.
If you like this film stay tuned because there will definitely be more classic queer gems like this one to grace Dekkoo in the future!
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Watch ’em with: A friend or two who like historical dramas.
Mix it with: A white wine.
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DEKKOO DISPATCH 026 – ‘Animals’
Title – ‘Animals‘
Director – Marçal Forés
Starring – Oriol Pla, Augustus Prew, Dimitri Leonidas, Roser Tapias
Release Date – 2012
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Happy Outfest! I hope everyone who’s in sunny Los Angeles is having lots of fun and watching lots of sexy cinema at the film festival. If you’re not in LA then you should join in on the fun by watching the Outfest award-winning film ‘Animals‘ on Dekkoo which took home the Artistic Achievement prize back in 2013. I’m really psyched this film finally has arrived because it’s one of my all time favorites!! This is the first feature film of Marçal Forés who also directed ‘Everlasting Love‘ and while the two films are actually very different thematically, they’re very similar in regards to gorgeous cinematography (by Eduard Grau – ‘A Single Man’), exciting musical choices, and extremely attractive men. The soundtrack to the film in on vinyl and it’s one of my most played records. Soooo good!
When I was growing up there was always lots of talk about having an imaginary friend. I was always sort of jealous when I’d watch movies and all these kids that were my age had this intense connection to something that I couldn’t really fathom. I wanted to be crazy too!! While I didn’t have an imaginary friend I certainly had a favorite teddy bear. I slept with it every night all the way through high school in fact (there were one or two replacements along the way). But right when I went to college he went in the closet and I don’t really miss him. In the film ‘Animals‘ though a teddy bear named Deerhoof is both Pol’s imaginary best friend and sole companion.
Deerhoof can walk and talk (in English bizarrely enough!) and talks to Pol about life, music, and comic books. Early on in the film we see Deerhoof grabbed by a dog and we get our first glimpse of how attached Pol is to his best friend and companion. But its not only the dogs that want to steal away Deerhoof, but also Pol’s brother who you can tell used to have a closer relationship before he joined the police force. Now he just acts as a demanding parental figure that wants Pol to get rid of Deerhoof and face reality. Luckily Pol has a few friends at school like Laia (who has a major crush on him) and Mark.
Complicating Pol’s serene yet angsty life of comic books and cool Spanish punk music is Ikari, the new incredibly sexy boy in school. Pol can’t keep his eyes off him and eventually Ikari lets him inside a world that well… I don’t want to ruin the surprise, but the film definitely takes a turn! I feel like I’ve been making this movie seem normal minus the teddy bear, BUT IT’S NOT! Most people compare it to ‘Donnie Darko’ and I can’t really argue against that. It’s very surreal, goes unexpected places, and is quite serene and thought-provoking by the end. I had the privilege of being able to talk to the director right after watching it for the first time and I immediately asked him how much of an influence the short film ‘BUGCRUSH’ (which happens to be my favorite short film of alllll time) had on it and he smiled knowingly and said, ‘Quite a bit’. So if you’ve seen that then you know a little bit of the tone of the film at least.
Take a trip with Pol, Deerhoof, and the rest of the gang in the genre-bending and very queer film ‘Animals‘. On Dekkoo now!
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Watch it with: With a few of your ‘cool’ friends.
Mix it with: Being stoned sativa-style works for this one.
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‘You Can’t Escape Lithuania’ – Now available same day as DVD!
We’ve just added Romas Zabarauskas’ latest film, ‘You Can’t Escape From Lithuania‘ to t loosely on his own experiences. It’s a stylish and supremely sexy gay road movie loosely based Zabarauskas’ own experiences.
Zabarauskas, who made a name for himself with the short film ‘Porno Melodrama’ and the feature ‘We Will Riot’ in his native Lithuania, funded this entire movie though Kickstarter…and went naked for donors to raise money (something, you’ll be happy to know, his cinematic counterpart also does in the film).
Watch ‘You Can’t Escape From Lithuania’ now!
New This Week – 7/7/17
In 1952, Army Sergeant Bob Claunch was courted by his commanding officer Lieutenant Jack Reavley. In this self-narrated documentary, these two men recount the challenges they faced keeping their relationship intact, the issues they face growing old in a gay relationship, and their need for equal rights. Watch ‘Bob and Jack’s 52-Year Adventure’ on Dekkoo.com!
In ‘Tonight It’s Me‘, a hot young hustler finds himself in uncharted waters when he spends the night with a client who’s far from the “johns” he’s used to servicing.
Peter, a gay cabaret pianist, falls in love with Bill, a construction worker with intimacy issues. When Peter discovers Bill’s secret, he is determined to set him on a straight path, and when a shy young woman moves in across the hall, he puts his plan in motion, even as Bill seeks to strengthen his ties to Peter. Watch ‘Rhapsody’ on Dekkoo.com!
As their plane slowly makes its descent, a young couple is faced with their differences through sudden pockets of turbulence. Watch ‘Turbulence’, now available on Dekkoo.com!
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Coming next week – A stylish and supremely sexy gay road movie from acclaimed gay filmmaker Romas Zabarauskas.
DEKKOO DISPATCH 025 – ‘The Country Teacher’
Title – ‘The Country Teacher‘
Director – Bohdan Sláma
Starring – Pavel Liška, Zuzana Bydžovská, Ladislav Šedivý, Marek Daniel
Release Date – 2008
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It’s Wednesday!! Only 2 more workdays until 4th of July weekend! I don’t know what your plans are, but I’m venturing into the desert and drinking Tiki drinks poolside for 4 days straight. Heaven… Did everyone see the exciting news about ‘Screwed’ being picked up by Dekkoo out of Frameline?? I’ve seen it and it’s an incredibly sexy Finnish tale of first lust with a great sense of humor about it. I talked to a few people who saw it at the sold-out screening at Frameline and they said it was a super high energy screening. Get psyched!
As a city-living boy for most of my life I’ve always romanticized the life lived in the countryside. When I saw ‘The Country Teacher‘ at the Miami Gay and Lesbian Film Festival back in 2008 it completely fed into that romanticism and I was swept away by the golden fields of hay and the ancient practice of drawing of water from wells. Of course we’re also talking about a movie from the Czech Republic so in addition to the romantic stuff we’re also talking about insane Eastern European drunks that harass people and beat each other up. Although come to think of it that seems sorta romantic as well…
Anyways let’s talk about the characters at the heart of this emotional drama. Petr is a teacher that decides to move to the countryside from the busy city for unspecified reasons. After arriving and settling in (his landlord/boss gives him 6 months before he can’t stand the small town anymore and runs away) he falls asleep on a bed of hay and wakes up to find Marie standing over him, the woman who owns the farm he’s wandered into. She’s kind to him and invites him out to socialize with some of the villagers. He comes to realize that Marie is falling in love with him, but he’s too awkward to admit what we here at Dekkoo realize right away… he’s gay. He really likes her and feels affection for her, but he’s much more interested in her teenage son and offers his teaching skills to become more ingrained in his life.
I don’t want to go into much more detail because Petr goes through quite a journey in the film and it’s very emotional. By the end of the film you’ll absolutely fall in love with Marie who is so unbelievably kind and I fear that there aren’t many of her sort left in the world. ‘The Country Teacher‘ is a striking picture that combines the best of European art-house cinema and Queer self-discovery cinema into one wondrous picture that will leave you swooning.
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Watch it with: By yourself or someone else that won’t talk much. It’s very meditative.
Mix it with: Coffee.
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One Great Gay Shot – ‘BearCity’ (2010)
DEKKOO DISPATCH 024 – ‘I’M FINE’ IS BACK!
Title – ‘I’m Fine‘
Director – Brandon Kirby
Starring – Perry Powell, Lee Doud, Shaughn Buchholz, Ulysses Morazan
Release Date – 2017
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The wait is finally over! Episodes 5-8 of Dekkoo’s Original Series ‘I’m Fine‘ are online for your immediate on-the-go entertainment. Nate, Jeff, Andy, Brian, and yes even the legendary love-of-Nate’s-life Joey are back in action!
After binging the last 4 episodes of Season 1 I had soooo many questions for director Brandon Kirby. Below are a few of them for your enjoyment:
FD: So at the end of episode 4 Jeff reveals his more-than-friends feelings for Nate which to me was what I was most excited about with the release of episodes 5-8. Has that situation ever happened to you?
BK: Since moving to LA, I’ve played the Jeff role in that scenario numerous times, admitting my feelings to friends of mine, and once I was in the Nate position. With that friend, we actually ended up trying to be romantic with each other, but ultimately decided we are DEFINITELY only meant to be very close friends.
FD: Was there any inspiration for that hilarious party scene in Episode 5?
BK: The whole situation with the grandma’s painting, that actually happened to me a couple years ago at a house party in Hollywood on New Year’s Eve. I was drunk, waiting in line for the bathroom and bumped into a painting on the wall. The host called me out for it. The version of that happening in Ep5 is obviously dramatized.
FD: Speaking of dramatized… from money-hungry party hosts, to shady pool boy escorts, to awkward brunch guests you’ve painted a slightly depressing view of LA. At the end of the day do you have a positive view of gay life in Los Angeles or are we all doomed?
BK: Ha! I mean, we might all be doomed for other reasons. But in terms of Los Angeles and West Hollywood specifically, I do love living here but it took me a while – years, actually – to fully come around to it. So, in that time in between, I found a lot of the flaws and a lot of the things in the gay community that, y’know, aren’t the best. But of course any skewering I’m doing here comes from a place of love.
FD: You’ve teased a lot of new characters in the second half of Season 1. Which of them are you most excited to explore?
BK: I’m excited to explore Jeff’s roommate Louis, who we haven’t met before, and their new mutual friend Zachary, who plays an especially important role in Season 2.
FD: Well then you should totally dish on what’s going to happen in Season 2!
BK: Let’s just say the storylines go beyond just exploring why Nate is clinging to being “fine” but to his circle of friends, as well. We dive a bit deeper into everyone’s individual existential crises. And yes, it’s still a comedy!
FD: Well I’m super psyched for it. I’ll leave you alone after you tell me your top 3 films on Dekkoo.
BK: ‘Edge of Seventeen‘, ‘Concrete Night‘, & ‘Parting Glances‘
Discover great gay stories. 