Tag: Robin Campillo

Title – ‘Edge of Seventeen‘

Director – David Moreton

Starring – Chris Stafford, Lea DeLaria, Tina Holmes, Andersen Gabrych

Release Date – 1998

Title – ‘Go-Go Reject‘

Director – Michael J. Saul

Starring – Heath Daniels, Josh Babich, Korken Alexander

Release Date – 2010

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Hi everyone! We’re halfway through Pride Month now and I’m definitely not ready for it to be over yet. Tomorrow kicks off Frameline’s LGBTQ Film Festival in San Francisco which is always a great time. Let us know if you see any awesome films there you think should be added to Dekkoo!

Last week was a little on the dark side, so this week I’m lightening it up with two super cute ones! Start your movie night with a bit of glitter with ‘Go-Go Reject‘. Daniel is a your average queen that hangs out at go-go bars with friends and dreams of leaving his day job at Yogurt World. One day Daniel realizes he needs to fulfill his dreams of becoming a dancer. More specifically Daniel wants to be exactly like Jennifer Beals in ‘Flashdance’ minus the steel mill of course. Sadly Daniel isn’t exactly the hottest guy ever and can’t quite convince club owners to hire him so he takes matters into his own hands. The best thing about this short film is the unbridled enthusiasm of the main character played by Heath Daniels (who also stars in several other films by Michael J. Saul such as ‘Adults Only‘ which he also wrote!) and the really hot skinny guy he dances with at the end (call me!).

We’re traveling to the 80s gentlemen! Hold on to your mascara! Boom! The year is 1984 and it’s summer vacation. Eric Hunter is about to start his first day of work at a theme park in Sandusky, Ohio with his best friend Maggie. They both share a love of Toni Basil (Hey Mickey!), Eurythmics and making fun of their lame high school classmates, but right when Maggie seems to be having feelings for Eric that go beyond friendship Eric meets co-worker Rod. He’s older, sexy as hell, and is out and proud about being gay. Thus begins a sexual awakening for Eric that takes place over a year of his life, but only 103 minutes for us.

‘Edge of Seventeen‘ was written by Todd Stephens (‘Another Gay Movie’, ‘Another Gay Sequel‘) and was actually based on his life as a teen in Sandusky. Originally slated to direct the pic, the duty fell to his friend David Moreton (‘Testosterone’) at the last minute who took the reigns on this touching and ground breaking feature. The movie was filmed in 1998, but you’ll swear it was filmed in the 80s due to the awesome music (supposedly 80s music was unpopular to license at that point in the 90s so the filmmakers were able to get it for cheap), rad costuming (polyester everywhere!), and muted color grainy cinematography (filmed in 16mm and then blown up to 35mm). On Dekkoo we’re presenting the brand-new HD Restoration which looks gorgeous!

‘Edge of Seventeen‘ is one of those films where I could go on a very long rant about interesting facts. I’ll just talk about the case for brevity’s sake!

• Chris Stafford who plays the main character, Eric actually left the world of acting shortly after starring in ‘Edge’ and became a lawyer. I was browsing the deep reaches of the internet one day and actually saw his speech from the University of Miami at his graduation where he was the class valedictorian!
• You might find the girl who plays Maggie familiar. She plays the older sister character in the popular gay film ‘Shelter’.
• Lea DeLaria who plays the lovable boss Angie is now super famous for her role in ‘Orange is the New Black’.
• Andersen Gabrych (Rod) has a cameo role in every single Todd Stephens film. My favorite one is in ‘Another Gay Movie‘ where he gets puked on!

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Watch ’em with:  A large group of fun queens!

Mix it with: One of those blue drinks.

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Title – ‘Eastern Boys‘

Director – Robin Campillo

Starring – Oliver Rabourdin, Kirill Emelyanov, Danil Vorobyev, Edea Darcque

Release Date – February 27, 2015

Title – ‘Johnny‘

Director – Micah Stuart

Starring – Tony Abatemarco, Luca Alexander, Brandon Crowder, Nikita Kochnev

Release Date – July 10, 2016

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Welcome to the new Dekkoo Blog everyone! It’s your new one stop shop for everything in the world of gay cinema. I encourage you to add Dekkoo.blog to your blog feed (or click the follow button below) and let us know if you have any suggestions to make it better.

This week we’ve got two dark and sexy films (both with hustlers) that we think you should watch ASAP!

First up is ‘Johnny‘. While there have been a glut of films that have dealt with an older man finding himself through a younger prostitute, I found that ‘Johnny‘ did it with an amount of grace and sexiness that few have come close to.

One night a random John (Sam) picks up the sexy Johnny for a hot time at a sleezy motel. What neither of them expects is the human connection that forms and the secrets that both reveal over the course of their encounter. Personally my favorite part of this short is the intense sex that occurs between the two characters. It’s rare to see such a hot inter-generational encounter in a short film like this. Even rarer to see poppers being brought into the fray. Woo!

After ‘Johnny’ you’re ready to go deeper into the world of hustlers with ‘Eastern Boys‘. This film is directed by Robin Campillo who was the writer of the Palme D’or winner, ‘The Class’. His new film ‘120 Beats Per Minute’ was just in the official selection at Cannes and is hyped as one of the best French films dealing with the ACT UP movement. The film follows a lonely gay man named Daniel. He seems well-off, but is lacking love and friendship in his life. The beginning of the film starts off showing the train urchins at the Gare du Nord station in Paris. It’s hard to tell where they’re from, but you can assume it’s somewhere in Eastern Europe. They had to leave to escape the poverty and now they’re looking for a way to make money. In walks Daniel looking for some company and he finds Marek. A rendez-vous is scheduled and when someone knocks on Daniel’s doors it’s not Marek, but a child claiming to be Marek.

I really don’t want to give too much more away. One of the best things about this movie is its wonderful balance of tension, romance, and action. I’ll tell you that I’ve never had a film make me sweat as much as this film does in the first 30 minutes. It’s nerve wracking!! ‘Eastern Boys‘ brilliantly tackles the fears and desires of both older gay men and young homeless immigrants all in just over two hours.

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Watch ’em with: You and maybe one other person whose hand you can grab onto during parts of ‘Eastern Boys‘.

Mix it with: Red Wine.

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