The Cinderella Effect promises to be a lot more ambitious than your average gay movie short: this tongue-in-cheek romance pays homage to some classic fairytales and Hollywood endings with an original score of musical numbers.

Randall Grimm is a young dreamer who ends up at an L.A. gay film festival after-party and imagines it into a kind of Walt Disney romp, turning the cynical movie execs into evil stepsisters in his head, and a handsome leading man (to be played by Matthew Montgomery) into his Prince Charming. Oh, and there’s a fairy godmother in there too.

Continue Reading »

(Dir. Q. Allan Brocka. US, 2011. 90 mins).

Depending on your point of view, you might think a gay movie franchise modelled on, but hitting below, the juvenile American Pie comedies is a positive thing … or you may not. There’s no denying this successful film series has found its niche and fans of Eating Out 1, 2 and 3 will certainly enjoy this latest entry.

To bring you up to speed: Casey (played by twinky Daniel Skelton)- the cousin of Kyle, star of the first two movies, who died after an oral sex related car accident – is now with gorgeous Zack (the stud he tries to snare in Eating Out 3 by posting a fake online profile) but the sex is dwindling and the spark seems to have gone. So when they both get accepted to summer acting school – ‘Dick Dickey’s Drama Camp’ – on the back of their gay slasher short film, Zack uses it as an excuse to avoid his feelings and Casey starts to feel like that nerdy reject again, especially when Zack’s libido cranks right back up for his hot new roommate, Benji (Aaron Milo)… with me so far?

Continue Reading »

(Dir. Christophe Honoré. France, 2010. 72 mins).

Christophe Honoré’s cinematic love letter to gay porn star François Sagat doesn’t really have enough meat on its bones to justify a full-length feature and will likely rely on its graphic sex scenes and Sagat’s status to pull in an international audience.

The movie starts with a male rape scene between lovers Emmanuel (Sagat) and Omar (Omar Ben Sellem) as the latter, a young filmmaker, is overpowered by his muscled boyfriend while he prepares to leave for New York. This brutal end-point in their relationship is also the start of much figuring-out as the two men, separated by an ocean, try to get over each other with a series of sexual encounters.

Continue Reading »

(Dir. Bernard Shumanski & Richard Shumanski. US, 2010. 68 mins).

The Shumanski Brothers follow up controversial gay movie Wrecked with this simple, effective and sexually explicit film about a not-so-perfect crime, tapping the red-hot themes of gay marriage and closet extremists in the process.

The film’s provocative title and initial set-up, wherein two young lovers decide to blackmail a closeted, homophobic evangelist, betray a surprisingly tender and fleshed-out story.

Sam is a rejected son turning tricks to pay his way through college in Chicago. His long-distance boyfriend, Aaron, isn’t too happy about it and when he identifies one of Sam’s sexually aggressive clients, Andrew Tucker, as a gay-hating religious figure from the media, he sees an opportunity for Sam to get out of prostitution for good.

Continue Reading »

(Dir. Jean-Claude Schlim. Luxembourg/Germany, 2009. 121 mins).

This confident, semi-autobiographical period drama from first-time writer/director Jean-Claude Schlim comes across like an updated Cabaret with Amsterdam substituted for Berlin and a very different kind of threat hanging over these creatures of the night.

The film is presented in three acts: in the first we meet determined, sexually confident gay teen Frank as he escapes the school bullies and his misunderstanding middle class family by running away to the red light districts of 1984′s Amsterdam. Here he finds employment and lodging in the ‘House of Boys,’ a gay brothel and erotic dancing club run by ‘Madame’ (played by Udo Kier).

Act II settles into the film’s main storyline as Frank falls in love with his straight roommate, Jake, a young American and House of Boys’ biggest draw. Jake sleeps with men for money and sneaks his girlfriend into their room at night, breaking Madam’s house rules in the process.

Continue Reading »