Everyone (2004)

Ryan (Matt Fentiman) and Grant (Mark Hildreth) are a perfect gay couple in Vancouver, Canada. Completely devoted to each other and ready for marriage, all signs point to a long and loving relationship for the grooms. They are having a small ceremony in their backyard, and they've invited their families. When the happy pair start fighting over what to call it, it's not an auspicious sign. The guests arrive for their intimate backyard ceremony, and Ryan and Grant are forced to deal with everyone's children, infidelity, and mourning problems. They begin to wonder whether marriage is an option worth considering at all. From betrayal to overbearing parents to bitter resentment, and a mysterious guest who seems to have an eye for one of the grooms, it will take a lot of luck for Ryan and Grant's ceremony to be a success. We see that all people, gay and straight, have issues. Some of the issues are resolved, others are not. Those who like films neatly tied up at the end will not be too pleased about this. "Everyone" is quite good, with subtle humour throughout, it moves at a good pace, and uses dramatic pauses to great effect. Music for the film is very good. Winner of the award for Best Canadian Film at the Montreal Film Festival, it was written and directed by Bill Marchant.

Total Eclipse (1995)

In 1871, Paul Verlaine (David Thewlis), a successful poet, invites boy prodigy Arthur Rimbaud (Leonardo DiCaprio) to live with him and his young pregnant wife, Mathiltde Maute (Romane Bohringer), in her wealthy father's home in Paris. The wild, eccentric Rimbaud displays no manners or decency whatever, scandalizing Verlaine's pretentious, bourgeois in-laws. Rimbaud's uncouth behavior disrupts the household as well as the society of French poets, but Verlaine finds the youth fascinating. Drunk with absinthe and filled with resentment, Verlaine abuses Mathiltde. Verlaine is seduced by the 16-year-old Rimbaud's physical body as well as by his unique originality and creative mind. He and Rimbaud become gay lovers and abandon Mathiltde. There are reconciliations and partings with Mathiltde and partings and reconciliations with Rimbaud, until in 1873 the sad climax arrives in Brussels. An enraged and practically insane Verlaine shoots and wounds Rimbaud, and is sentenced to prison for sodomy and attempted murder. In prison, Verlaine converts to Christianity. Upon release he meets Rimbaud in Germany, seeking to revive the relationship. However, the two men part, never to meet again. Bitterly renouncing literature in any form, Rimbaud travels the world alone, finally settling in Abyssinia (modern day Ethiopia) to run a "trading post". There he has a mistress and possibly a young boy-lover. A tumor in his right knee forces him back to France where his leg is amputated. But the cancer spreads and he dies at the age of 37. Rimbaud's sister says her brother had accepted confession from a priest before he died, so only the censored versions of his poetry should survive. Verlaine pretends to agree but tears up her card after she leaves. Later, Verlaine, drinking absinthe to which he has become addicted, sees a vision of Rimbaud that expresses the love and respect Verlaine has earned.

Based on letters and poems, this film presents a historically accurate account of the passionate and violent relationship between two 19th century French poets at a time of great creativity for both of them. The most powerful thing about this movie is the fascinating on-screen chemistry between DiCaprio and Thewlis, though individually their performances are rather bland. Audacious, demanding and provocative, it doesn't deal with the actual poetry of the men enough. The photography is stunning. Screenwriter Christopher Hampton, a Rimbaud scholar at Oxford adapted "Total Eclipse" from his 1967 play, and said the story is a "means of posing a number of questions around a central puzzle, namely, what does it mean to be a writer? What could one reasonably hope to achieve? What were the pleasures and torments and what, if any, the responsibilities? Might one change the world, or would it prove beyond one's abilities even to change oneself?" Agnieszka Holland directed.

Hey, Happy (2001)

In the not-so-distant future, a variety of environmental disasters have led to the final collapse of Western civilization. Society as we know it may have been lost, but sex and dancing are still in style in this funny post-apocalyptic satire. Sexually ambiguous hipster Ricky G. (Johnny Simone) leads an encampment of rave kids who have created a makeshift city on the outskirts of Winnipeg, Canada. One of the community's leading citizens is DJ Sabu (Jérémie Yuen), whose sexual appetite has led him on a mission to seduce 2,000 men before a looming flood destroys the village. Sabu is close enough to hitting the magic number to have chosen the special man he wants to be Mister 2,000--Happy (Craig Aftanas), an attractive but socially gauche and paranoid UFO-ologist who is able to communicate with alien life forms. Happy works at a pig-slaughtering factory, and routinely inhales industrial waste so that he can hear strange alien voices warning him of the end of the world. He is told that if he gives himself to Sabu, the aliens will take him with them. His romantic encounters with Sabu lend moments of tenderness and affection to the film, plus a bit of serenity in the midst of the surrounding madness. However, Sabu has a rival for Happy's affections--evil body-modification advocate and hair stylist Spanky O'Neil (Clayton Godson), who tries to foil Sabu's plans by abducting Happy. Spanky is a twisted male version of the Wicked Witch of the West. The action unfolds at a series of raves on an old garbage hill in an industrial landscape populated with characters right out of a John Waters movie. They have names like Dildo Queen and Magnolia Thunderpussy.

This authentic, tripped-out rave movie doesn't make much sense. It's an amazingly sexy, experimental, trippy, explosive, psychedelic ride, unique and hilariously bizarre. But it's also kind of weird, a conceptual nightmare, absolutely outrageous in a daring and progressive kind of exploitation movie that offers little to the mainstream public, but does represents an important niche in the cinema world. "Hey, Happy" was shot in 16mm Cinemascope with expansive views of the prairies around Winnipeg, and its railroads. The design is striking, and the colors vivid against the bleak post-industrial, pre-apocalyptic locations. The music score is varied and the story is a good blend of dystopian science fiction, sadism, and romance. Noam Gonick directed this Canadian film.

Uomini Uomini Uomini (1995)

This film chronicles 6 months in the lives of four middle-aged homosexual friends, each of whom is a neurotic wreck. The film opens in a gay disco with very hunky Italian Go-Go boys and moves on through the lives of each of the men. As we watch the problems plaguing them, we also see their sense of humor, as they spur each other to perform outrageous pranks and sexual games. They love, suffer, fight, are good or bad, and are generous or envious. All four characters are shown as lonely, pathetic, predatory, misogynistic and incapable of sustaining an intimate long-term relationship--but they laugh at the cards that life has dealt them. Sandro (Massimo Ghini) is a television producer who discovered his homosexuality after having started a family. Dado (Alessandro Haber) is a successful orthopedic surgeon. Tony (Leo Gullotta) is a women's tailor who lives with his possessive mother. And Vittorio (Christian De Sica) is an architect in love with an associate who is about to be wed. Together, the four men party through Rome, sharing adventures, practical jokes, and some disappointments. There is a sobering and frightening climax with a very handsome, naive, and vulnerable straight young man.

The movie is intelligent and mature, yet full of young-at-heart lust and desire, as well as pain and pathos. All four actors give excellent performances, lending depth to their characters and making them sympathetic. Sandro, the most macho of the group, is particularly intense. Yet as good as the actors are, they cannot compensate for a gag-driven script that is predictable, with gay stereotypes. Basically, the film is a series of vignettes in which the characters' growth is substantially limited. Yet it is an entertaining, enjoyable movie, despite its lack of continuity. Christian De Sica's direction is almost perfect, making one to wonder what level of success he might attain with a decent screenplay. De Sica wrote the screenplay. The English title is "Men or Not Men".

Garçon Stupide (2004)

20 year-old Loïc (Pierre Chatagny) works in a chocolate factory outside Bulle, Switzerland by day and spends his after hours in Lausanne pursuing one-night stands with older gays contacted on the Internet, day after day, night after night. He has a hard time differentiating desire from pleasure, friendship from sex, and admiration from success. By filling his life with meaningless sexual encounters for extra cash he can block out the fact that he's unhappy. Loïc has delusions of grandeur, vague dreams of doing something big, but can't figure out what or how. For example, he imagines he's a good photographer because he takes pictures with the built-in camera of his cellular phone. In Lausanne, Marie (Natacha Koutchoumov), a childhood friend who works as a museum guard, provides Loïc with a place to stay after his urban flings. Marie isn't judgemental, and refuses to be a mother, big sister, or a nurse to him. Then one day he meets Lionel (Lionel Baier), who pulls aside the curtain of anonymity and seems more interested in Loïc's life than his body. Loïc arrives at one of the most crucial crossroads of his life and begins to take notice of Marie and himself. His journey to self awareness is told through a series of episodic events, including the suicide of his best friend, his growing infatuation with a local soccer player, a car accident and subsequent hospitalisation that reunites him with his parents. He says, "You can be interested in someone without wanting to fuck them." At the end of the film he realizes that he can be his own person and he recites a list of things he will never do in order to fit in and belong. He won't be a stupid boy anymore.

Overall this coming-of-age drama is an an exceptional film with good acting, a great soundtrack, unique camera angles and film styles, a wonderful story, and it is well-directed. Director Lionel Baier shares the writing credits with Laurent Guido and based this film on his own experiences. With rave reviews from the New York Times, Variety, and the L.A. Times "Garcon Stupide" tells a realistic story of sexual awakening. This French/Swiss film is in French with English subtitles

Violet's Visit (1995)

Australian girl Violet (Rebecca Smart) is weary of her single mother's wild romantic life, filled with boyfriends old and new. When Violet's mom introduces her to the latest "dad", she runs away from her boring small hometown in search of her estranged father she has never met. The fiesty 15 year-old prefers the nickname "Scooter" and believes he lives in Sydney with his new wife. In fact he is in a gay relationship with his long-time lover. With his address given to her by her grandmother, she turns up on his doorstep to surprise him. Gym owner Alec (Graham Harvey) and lawyer Pete (David Franklin), a pleasant pair of well-buffed, domestically partnered gays are very shocked! The three negotiate a "La Cage aux Folles" relationship with humor and sensitivity. This inevitably leads to changes and readjustments all round as Alec gets to know the daughter he never wanted and hardly knows. After agreeing that Violet can stay on a trial basis, the boys soon realize that having a teenager around the house is not easy for two gay men whose sole previous family was a pair love birds. Violet finds the gay world of her father heady but also confusing. Scooter takes to the streets. Her long absence only brings the couple together in a new appreciation for the importance of family and their mutual love for Scooter. The way in which the story is resolved is predictable but genuinely warm and tender.

This sweet Australian film is well paced, and never makes the error of going over the top in its depiction of Scooter's plight or the way gay people are portrayed. All of the male actors are handsome and so comfortable in their roles that their sexuality is simply an aside. Graham, Franklin, and Smart give excellent performances and their screen presence is realistic and warm. One aspect of the film that may present a problem for non-Australian viewers is that the Aussie accents are so thick that the dialogue at times is indecipherable. But that also adds to the flavor of this significant film. It was written by Andrew Creagh and Barry Lowe based on a story by Richard Turner, who also directed.

Drôle de Félix (2000)

After the death of his mother, Félix (Sami Bouajila), a carefree gay Arab man, loses his job as a ferry worker in the north of France. He discovers a box of letters from his father, who deserted his mother before he was born and decides to find him. Leaving Dieppe, and promising to meet his lover Daniel (Perre-Loup Rajot) five days later in Marseille, Félix takes to the road. He decides to hitchhike across France, avoiding all major cities en route. Carrying with him only a small bag, his HIV medication and a rainbow kite, he meets an assortment of interesting, unsusual characters along the way: a teenager who Félix teaches to draw; a lone old woman who shelters him in her house; a young man with whom he has a brief sexual encounter; a mother of three; and a middle aged fisherman. As he calls each of these characters "brother", "cousin", and "grandmother", he constructs a family and new understandings of life through this odyssey. There is an unnecessary subplot about a witnessed murder, but it has a moving conclusion. Bouajili carries the film very well, switching from comedic moments to Félix's search for himself. There is one scene where he and a man emerge naked from the bushes, but much of the film is about straight people. Félix's humor and sunny disposition light up the movie, no matter whether he actually meets his real father at the end of the story. This beautiful "road movie" adventure seduces the viewer, submerging us in the French countryside. Directed and written by Olivier Ducastel and Jacques Martineau, the English title is "The Adventures of Felix".

A Very Natural Thing (1974)

The film begins with a documentary clip of NYC's 1973 Gay Pride parade with a lesbian declaring that being gay is "a very natural thing." David (Robert McLane) is a 26 year-old ex-monk who leaves his monastery to become a public school teacher by day, and looks for true love in gay bars by night. One evening David meets businessman Mark (Curt Gareth). They spend the night together in a one-night stand, but David says he'd like to see Mark again. Soon the pair begin a monogamous relationship and David moves in with Mark. But when Mark wants to have sex with other men, the relationship starts to fall apart. Mark rejects the idea of modeling a gay relationship on heterosexual marriage, and he is irritated that David wants to "keep pushing this romantic thing." A year later the couple go to Fire Island for a weekend in an attempt to spice up their relationship. David tries to please Mark by entering an orgy, but cannot go through with it. After a fight, David temporarily moves in with his friend Alan (Jay Pierce), who offers David his perspective on what happened. In a later encounter with Mark at Coney Island, David finally realizes that there can't be a reconciliation, as Mark is more interested in sex than a romantic relationship. After months of loneliness, David meets a divorced photographer named Jason (Bo White) at the 1973 Gay Pride rally which began the film. Jason goes with David to his apartment and they talk. David believes he has found someone willing to pursue a romantic, committed relationship with him. Jason takes pictures of David while telling him things to say other than "cheese", and the film ends with the two men splashing naked in the surf at Cape Cod.

This film is more or less a gay version of "Love Story" (1970), the movie famous for the phrase, "Love means never having to say you're sorry." Mark tells David, "Love means never having to say you're in love." Straight film critics thought it was, "an argument rather than an entertainment". Gay critics felt the film was not political enough, the characters were too apolitical, too middle class, and by rejecting free love the movie was rejecting the gay liberation movement. Director Christopher Larkin said, "I wanted to say that same-sex relationships are no more problematic but no easier than any other human relationships. They are in may ways the same and in several ways different from heterosexual relationships but in themselves are no less possible or worthwhile". This very good timeless film is still relevant. It was not restored for the DVD release, so it loooks old and grainy with some off-colors. Gordon Gottlieb and Bert Lucarelli composed the original music. Joseph Coencas and Christopher Larkin wrote the screenplay. Christopher Larkin directed.

Gefangen (2004)

Arrested for credit card fraud, Dennis (Marcel Schultt) is sent to a prison where inmates either give in to the drug dealers or run the risk of being raped. From his cell window, he spots an older black prisoner Mike (Mike Sale) and immediately falls in love with the muscular hunk. Though their first encounters are tentative, a passionate romance develops. They face hostile prison officials and inmates in their attempts to become a loving couple. "Gefangen" reveals bizarre characters (a gay guard who enjoys watching the lovers in their private moments) and a painful prison bureaucracy that shows how inmates negotiate with prison guards in order to have time together.

Filmed entirely in an abandoned German jail, "Gefangen" boldly confronts romance and sex within the prison system. It's a fierce story of love behind bars featuring intense drama, steamy romance and attractive men. There are many full frontal nudity scenes, not much of a plot, and the ending doesn't make sense. This was made by Cazzo Productions, the producers of hard-core gay porn for All Worlds Video in the U.S.--so to some extent it's a soft-core love story. The language often jumps from English to German and back in the same conversation. Christian Messer composed the original music, and Jörg Andreas and Peter Oehl wrote the screenplay. Jörg Andreas directed. This powerful and provocative German drama has the English title "Locked Up".

We Think the World of You (1988)

Set in1950's London, Frank Meadows (Alan Bates) is a gay middle-aged businessman who has a relationship with married Johnny (Gary Oldman). When Johnny is sent to prison for burglary, Frank offers to help out, meaning he's prepared to offer financial help. But Johnny asks Frank to take care of his Alsatian dog, Evie, and Frank immediately refuses. Frank later has reason to regret his refusal. While Johnny is behind bars, his beloved German Shepherd Evie becomes the center of a heated custody battle between himself, his wife Megan (Frances Barber), his mother Millie (Liz Smith), his stepfather Tom (Max Wall), and finally Frank. While Millie and Tom are busily worshipping Dickie (Ryan Batt), Johnny's baby, Evie is neglected and mistreated. Frank begins to take an interest in Evie, becoming more enamoured with the scene-stealing dog than he is with Johnny. Suddenly everyone is fighting to keep the dog, and yet no one really wants her. A set of tragi-comic relationships evolve with the dog representing the hold they have over each other. The story explores the characters' ability to make their own and other's lives miserable through their fear of freedom and inability to fulfill their dreams.

Gary Oldman as the weasel-like Johnny is great in his role. Alan Bates is wonderful as Frank--the man who gets mixed up with people he wished he'd never met. But it's the story of Frank's relationship with Evie that makes the film. This is not a sentimental animal movie, it's about love and possession. The phrase "we think the world of you" crops up throughout the film. Frank is sick of hearing it, as it becomes a term used to cloak and excuse all sorts of neglect and abandonment. Love and commitment in the film exist only between Frank and Evie, and while this movie is funny, it also has serious overtones. Julian Jacobson composed the original music, and Hugh Stoddart wrote the screenplay based on a semi-autobiographical novel by Joseph R. Ackerley, one of the first modern authors to come out as openly gay. The film was directed by Colin Gregg.