Ang Pagdadalaga ni Maximo Oliveros (2005)

Maxi (Nathan Lopez) is a 12-year-old effeminate gay boy who lives in the slums of Manila with his father and brothers who are petty thieves. His world revolves around his family, who love and protect him in return for Maxi's devotion to completing domestic chores (his mother died) and covering their tracks when they commit crimes. The story primarily revolves around the conflict between his puppy love for handsome young police officer Victor (J. R. Valentin), and his family's illegal livelihood. He behaves like a girl, wearing clips in his hair, bangles on his wrists, even lipstick. He is teased by neighbors and former school friends, but his sexuality is fully accepted by his two brothers and by his father. One night he is accosted by two men who attempt to molest him, but he is saved by the appearance of Victor, who does not have a girlfriend and his sexuality is never revealed. He rebuffs Maxi's advances, even when the boy steals a kiss, only affectionately stroking the boy's head. The two become fast friends and Maxi learns he can have a better life, which incurs the disapproval of his family. Victor's relationship with Maxi and his family has an unexpected and tragic result.

After Maxi's father is killed by Victor's boss, Maxi resists Victor's attempts to renew their friendship. The closing scene shows Maxi walking past Victor who has parked by the roadside on Maxi's way to school. He ignores Victor as he passes him, hesitates momentarily as he crosses the road, then goes on his way. This last scene is a clever homage to the final scene of "The Third Man".

This neorealist film is a tale of lost innocence and redemption amidst the poverty of Manila's slums. It's an expertly structured coming-of-age story with dramatic momentum, complicated motivations, and surprising outcomes. The digitally-shot feature made its U.S. debut at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival and was the official Philippine entry of the 2007 Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language film. It has also garnered several film festival awards including the Teddy Award at the 2006 Berlinale Film Festival and Best Asian Film at the 2006 Rotterdam Film Festival. Pepe Smith and Mike Villegas composed the original music, Michiko Yamamoto wrote the screenplay, and Auraeus Solito directed. In Tagalog with English subtitles. The English title is "The Blossoming of Maximo Oliveros".

The Lion in Winter (1968)

In this 12th-century version of "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?", Henry II of England (Peter O'Toole) on Christmas Eve 1183 has summoned the following people for the holiday: his wife Eleanor of Aquitaine (Katharine Hepburn); his mistress Princess Alais (Jane Merrow), whom he wishes to marry; his three sons (Richard, Geoffrey, and John), all of whom desire the throne; and the young but crafty King Philip of France (Timothy Dalton). With the fate of Henry's empire at stake, he hopes to name his successor, and everybody engages in their own brand of deception and treachery to stake their claim. King Philip insists that Alais marry John as agreed years before, or he wants back her dowry, the lands of the Vexen. Eleanor has already given the province of Aquitaine to Richard, so the outcome of this may decide the very future of England. Each of the sons has some flaw that makes the decision to name a successor difficult. You won't want to miss the famous homo-erotic exchange between Philip of France and Richard the Lionhearted (Anthony Hopkins). Both actors were making their feature-film debuts.

"The Lion in Winter" is fictional. There was no Christmas Court at Chinon in 1183, it was at Caen in 1182. None of the dialogue and action is historic, though the outcomes of the characters and the background are historically accurate. In reality, Henry had many mistresses and many illegitimate children. The "Rosamund" mentioned in the film was Henry II's mistress until she died.

James Goldman won an Oscar for his screenplay, based on his Broadway play. The story is mostly in the speeches the people make, and the action is kept to a minimum, but the dialogue is sharp as daggers. The humor is wicked and black and delivered with dry precision. Sparks fly and the screen sizzles whenever Hepburn and O'Toole tango, which is often. Both were nominated for Academy Awards for their great performances. (She won, but he didn't.) John Barry composed the original music and won an Oscar for Best Music Score. James Goldman wrote the script from his stage play, and Anthony Harvey directed.

Der Bewegte Mann (1994)

Axel Feldheim (Til Schweiger) is a handsome, open-minded heterosexual whose girlfriend Doro (Katja Riemann) has just thrown him out for cheating on her. Seeking a new home, Axel is introduced to Walter "Waltraut" (Rufus Beck), a homosexual who finds Axel quite attractive. Walter takes Axel to a gay party where they meet Norbert Brommer (Joachim Król), who has a big apartment and is more than willing to let Axel stay for a while because he thinks he can seduce him. Preening cross-dresser Walter and sad-faced Norbert offer us a choice of gay stereotypes. Suddenly, Axel goes from hunter to hunted as he tries to fend off the advances of Norbert and a host of other homosexual suitors. But as Axel becomes closer to his new friends, they think that maybe he is gay, maybe not. This gives room for a lot of funny incidents between the gay world and the so called "normal".

Meanwhile, Doro finds out that she is pregnant from Axel and she tries to get him back, not knowing that he now lives among homosexuals. Doro shows up at the apartment and is not amused to find Norbert, naked, hidden in a wardrobe, but Axel manages to convince her that nothing happened. Axel is very happy about becoming a father and getting back together with Doro and forgets about his relationship with Norbert. Doro goes into labour and Norbert drives her to the hospital, explaining everything to her. Unfortunately, just when you think the film is liberating and subversive, the finale ends up endorsing the heterosexual couple it's been trying to undercut.

Billed as the most successful German comedy of all time, much of the dialogue in this funny film was taken directly from the two gay comic books "Der bewegte Mann" and "Pretty Baby" by underground cartoonist Ralf König. Though the comics were written from a gay perspective, the film is slanted towards heterosexual couples. Torsten Breuer composed the original music, and Sönke Wortmann wrote the screenplay derived from Ralf König's comics. Sönke Wortmann directed. In German with English subtitles, although there is a dubbed English version available. The English titles are "Maybe, Maybe Not", "Most Desired Man", and The Turbulent Man".

Sordid Lives (2000)

As the film begins, Sissy Hickey (Beth Grant) is awaiting the funeral of her sister Peggy Ingram (Gloria LeRoy), who recently died in a motel room after tripping over the detached wooden legs of her adulterous lover G.W. Nethercott (Beau Bridges) and smashed her head against the bathroom porcelain. As if Sissy doesn't have problems enough in the wake of five failed marriages, she's struggling to quit smoking, popping Valium like candy, and having to cope with a dysfunctional family. Niece Latrelle Williamson (Bonnie Bedelia), whose husband is off with Jimmy Carter building homes for the poor, is in denial over the homosexuality of son Ty (Kirk Geiger), an aspiring actor in LA, and contesting the decision of her sister LaVonda DuPree (Ann Walker) to clothe Mom in her favorite mink stole for the burial in 110-degree Texas heat. Latrelle thinks her brother should be released from the institution and has a perfect right to attend their mother's funeral. Meanwhile, Peggy's son Earl "Brother Boy" Ingram (Leslie Jordan), a homosexual transvestite, has been confined to a mental institution for the past 23 years. In LA, Ty is suffering a sexual identity crisis, and is on his twenty-seventh therapist. Striving hard to accept his homosexuality, he realizes that there is no way he can return home for his grandmother's funeral without coming out to his mother.

This mixture of white-trash comedy and coming-out melodrama starts out as a farce, then midway the emphasis shifts to a drag queen unfairly held in a mental institution and the dead woman's grandson, an actor in Los Angeles who hasn't come out to his mother. The tone shifts wildly, and the humor depends on the viewers' taste for the white-trash genre. This politically correct film espousing gay rights won't appeal to everyone, but several of the performances are surprisingly good. Jordan is great as Earl, who spends his life dressed up as county singer Tammy Wynette, and has a permanent gig entertaining his fellow inmates in the asylum. Sometimes the movie's humor becomes shrill and a little forced. The film is followed by the 2008 TV series "Sordid Lives: The Series". George S. Clinton composed the original music, and Del Shores wrote the script from his own stage play and directed.

Last Exit to Brooklyn (1989)

The story is set in the early 1950s in Red Hook, Brooklyn, a waterfront town of boarded-up storefronts and striking factory workers. Harry Black (Stephen Lang), a machinist put in charge of the local union strike office, suddenly finds himself one of the most important men in town. But for all his sudden power, there's something disturbing Harry. He rejects his wife's caresses and discovers himself infatuated with a frail young man who calls himself Georgette (Alexis Arquette), who has a crush on well-muscled hood Vinnie (Peter Dobson). But Harry doesn't confront his problem head-on until he falls in love with Regina (Zette), a local transvestite only interested in money. As the strike becomes more intense, Harry sinks deeper into an obsessive affair with Regina, using the strike fund to shower Regina with personal gifts. As Harry sinks into obsession, other characters float through the decaying streets. There's the attractive prostitute Tralala (Jennifer Jason Leigh) who falls in love with a young lieutenant from Idaho about to be shipped overseas. There is also an agreeable young man named Tommy (John Costelloe) who is beaten by his soon-to-be father-in-law Big Joe (Burt Young) for making his daughter Donna (Ricki Lake) pregnant. Everything comes to a tragic conclusion as the workers' strike escalates into a violent confrontation.

This depressing, violent, and haunting movie is as noirish as they come. It features good performances, including the scene of Tralala raped by dozens of men in an abandoned car. It's a sad and moving mix of union dispute, confused sexual identities, anger, and misplaced love--a good film, but not really a piece of entertainment. Filmed at Bavaria Filmstudios in Munich, the German title is "Letzte Ausfahrt Brooklyn". Hollywood does a more realistic job of making movies set in NYC. This film doesn't look exactly like 1950s Brooklyn. There is no New York skyline, the streets tend to look European, but the actors are very American and the vintage cars and props look impressively authentic. Mark Knopfler composed the original music. Desmond Nakano wrote the screenplay derived from Hubert Selby Jr.'s 1964 novel. Uli Edel directed.

The Angelic Conversation (1985)

An unseen woman recites 14 Shakespearean sonnets as a man silently seeks his heart's desire. The photography is stop-motion, the music is ethereal, and the scenery is often elemental with boulders and smaller rocks, the sea, smoke or fog, and a garden. The man is on an odyssey following his love. But he must first, as the sonnet says, know what conscience is. Before he can be united with his love, he must purify himself. He does so, bathing a tattooed figure and humbling himself in front of this being. He also prepares himself with water and through his journey and his meditations. Finally, he is united with his fair friend. This experimental film at first appears to be the internal fantasy of one man. In reality, the story is about the love between two gay men (acted by Paul Reynolds and Philip Williamson), seen against a backdrop of bleak industrial cityscapes or abstract landscapes. The sound of a ticking clock, and the voiceover of Shakespearean sonnets add poignancy and a sense of the brevity of life to the relationship of the two men.

If your idea of a good time is watching a bunch of men dressed in bed sheets dragging logs through a stream in slow motion, while listening to Dame Judi Dench intone Shakespeare's sonnets, you're in for a treat. Alternately, several segments take place in a cave, wherein several young men seem to be annointing another young man sitting on a throne. The symbolism is implicitly homoerotic, as is the entire subject matter of the film. Most of Shakespeare's sonnets are presumed to have been written to his young lover, Harry Wriothsley, Duke of Southampton.

"The Angelic Conversation" is an arthouse drama with its tone set by the juxtaposition of slow moving photographic images and Shakespeare's sonnets. The film consists primarily of images of homosexuality and opaque landscapes through which two men take a journey into their own desires. Furthermore, the image of two men wrestling, groping and kissing will confuse many viewers since they do not understand that these images are symbols of the attainment of True Self-Knowledge, the Twins Conjoined. They won't understand the eerie symbolism of the preparatory anointment of the tattooed man which refers to the preparation of the body for the Enthronement of the Realized Self. They won't cry in recognition of the Rising Sun on a male figure because they have not done the "wet work." And they will fail to understand the seabathing sequence as a metaphor for Baptism.

This is not a movie for the masses. But those prepared to view it will be overwhelmed by the harmony and balance of the film elements and will be deeply moved. There is a market for this kind of film, for those who are fed up with the decline in culture and education, with the stupefaction that ordinary movies provide. Director Derek Jarman described the film as: "A dream world, a world of magic and ritual, yet there are images there of the burning cars and radar systems, which remind you there is a price to be paid in order to gain this dream in the face of a world of violence." The soundtrack to the film was composed and performed by Coil (John Balance, Peter Christopherson, and Stephen Thrower), and it was released as an album of the same title.

Two of Us (1987)

Set in an era when homosexuality was still considered deviant, the story evolves around two young school boys from Brighton Beach, Matthew (Jason Rush) and Philip (Lee Whitlock). Matthew is an extremely handsome boy, a swimmer who dropped out of school and hangs around the swimming pool of the school Phil attends. They are both in love with each other. Phil starts questioning his sexuality after an initial lesson by a teacher at the beginning of the movie. He has no problem with his bisexuality and considers himself twice blessed. Phil, roughly 17, has a banal, mean-spirited girlfriend, Sharon (Jenny Jay) who realizes that something is going on between Phil and Matthew. As their relationship grows more intense, Sharon and his classmates become vindictive and aggressive.

The two friends find themselves ostracized by both friends and family. Matthew is already known as gay and Phil comes out and splits up with Sharon. Then Matthew gets attacked by unknown assailants, and his father confronts him with some gay magazines. Phil and Matthew decide to leave town by hitch hiking toward the south seaport. They call it their honeymoon. But they are still subjected to a prejudiced world. On the beach they get caught sleeping together in a small tent, then they befriend a homeless girl who finally gets caught by the law. The movie ends with Sharon coming to see them, and Phil plans to return with her. But love triumphs, Phil returns to Matthew at the beach, and they run together into the ocean.

Originally meant to be part of a series known as "Scene" intended for British students, this benchmark BBC production was seriously edited (so much so the ending turned from pro to anti gay) and was only allowed to be shown at nights on TV. Now on DVD you can see this sweet tale of a youthful homosexual romance in its original, unedited form. The British accents can be a little hard to follow at times for Americans. There is no nudity. Both boys wear underwear and swim suits in the shower and locker rooms. There is some hugging and kissing. This was made for TV (the original was edited and cut because of the times) explaining the conservatism in the movie. David Chilton and Nicholas Russell-Pavier composed the original music, Leslie Stewart wrote the script, and Roger Tonge directed.

Happy Birthday, Gemini (1980)

Francis Geminiani (Alan Rosenberg) has a romantic affair in college with Judith Hastings (Sarah Holcomb) until he drops her after a few nights of intimacy. Filled with guilt and misgivings, Francis is eventually forced to admit that he is really in love with her brother Randy (David Marshall Grant), who does not live up to his name. Randy is a wealthy, conservative Harvard student and Francis is a poor and liberal Harvard student. When Judith visits Francis during the vacation, she finds he thinks he is gay. Pressures from Judith and his macho father causes him to experience a crisis of sexual identity that destroys his 21st birthday party. This comedy-drama about coming out of the closet features Bunny Weinberger (Madeleine Kahn) as a salty, warm-hearted, and very promiscuous neighbor, and Nick Geminiani (Robert Viharo) as the outgoing father.

This film is funny and touching at times, with some good performances. The actors capture the essence of the ethnic characters they are portraying and the social condition they are living in very well. It shows the difficulty that many people face when opening up and talking about personal emotions out of fear the other person will feel differently about them. Beneath the shallow appearance of everyday life, deeper themes are at work. In a way, this film helped start the trend that picked up pace through the 1990s and one can look at it as one of the precursor "coming out" films that undoubtedly inspired some people in a positive way. Cathy Chamberlain and Rich Look composed the original music. Richard Benner wrote the screenplay based on Albert Innaurato's play "Gemini", the off-Broadway smash of the 1970's, and it loses some of its magic on the big screen. Richard Benner directed.

Coming Out Under Fire (1994)

This documentary film about homosexuality in the American military during World War II features interviews with 10 gay men and women who served in the armed forces. Phillis Abry, a radio technician in the Women's Army Corps, was able to carry on a homosexual relationship without being detected and receive an honorable discharge. Others, like Marvin Liebman, who was in the special services of the United States Army Air Corps, were identified as gay, having "psychopathic" personalities, and were discharged as undesirable. Mr. Liebman was interrogated when military censors read a letter he had written to a friend whom he addressed as "darling".

Another veteran, identified as Clark, was an Army clerk and typist who helped create a mimeographed newsletter, The Myrtle Beach Bitch. The campy publication, which was circulated privately among gay servicemen, eventually got him into trouble. He was court-martialed and served nine months in prison. He has spent years challenging his undesirable discharge status. Many of these veterans had to lie to avoid persecution from within the military ranks and prosecution from without. In the witch-hunt atmosphere that pervaded the military, people suspected of being gay were relentlessly interrogated and manipulated into identifying other homosexuals. Many were sent to psychiatric hospitals or imprisoned for months in "queer stockades." Discharged as undesirable, they often found themselves pariahs, unwelcome in their hometowns and unable to find work.

Servicemen staged drag entertainments for one another in which many of the performers were gay. As Tom Reddy, who served in the Marines, recalls: "I went in at 17 and came out at 21, and I knew I was a man. It took nerve to put on a dress and run out there in front of 500 or 1,000 of your peers that were all pretending to be so macho." These and many other personal testimonies are woven into an portrait of 1940's military life that uses Army training films, newsreels and period documents. The final exchange between Senator John Warner and Colonel Margarethe Cammermeyer regarding the implementation of the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy ends the film with a bang.

This 72 minute reflective documentary based on the book of the same name by Allan Bérubé is simplistic with a bitter undertone. There are brief flashes of humor, but it is mostly upsetting in the dark secrets that it reveals. The documentary shows not only the long tradition of gays in America's military but also their tradition of serving with distinction before meeting with betrayal. Mark Adler composed the original music. The screenplay was written by Arthur Dong and Allan Bérubé from Bérubé's book. Arthur Dong directed.

Eban & Charley (2000)

Charley (Giovanni Adrade) is turning 15. For the past year, since his mother's (Pam Munter) death, he has lived in Seaside, Oregon, with his stern military-man father (Ron Upton). During one grim Christmas break Charley meets Eban (Brent Fellows), a young-looking 29-year-old teacher, home for the holidays to see his parents after being driven from Seattle by a controversy at the school where he taught. They have things in common: both sign (Charley's mother was deaf), both play the guitar, and both are gay. As their relationship deepens during walks on the beach, singing, and talk of poetry, we see it from their point of view and also from the points of view of both of their fathers. Eban acts with complete reserve and restraint, while Charley makes the first move and proclaims that age shouldn't matter if they love each other. "What if there's nothing wrong with me?" Eban asks about an hour or so into the film. Charley's loneliness gives way to happiness when he's with Eban. When their friendship deepens into intimacy, both of their families condemn it and threaten to call the police. With tensions high, and the stakes even higher, Eban and Charley face the most dangerous decision of all, and the two have to deal with the legal and social ramifications of the relationship.

This earnest underdramatized movie depicts an affair between a 15-year-old and a 29-year-old. The actors give naturalistic performances that some viewers might find tedious and others may find refreshing. It's a good film, restrained, careful, and provocative, with pacing problems and some awkward line readings. The message is ambiguous. Is a 15-year old capable of giving consent to an intimate relationship with an adult? Should we see Eban as a dangerous predator and criminal pervert? Some of the dialogue is a bit too preachy and stagy, and some scenes seem a bit too melodramatic and contrived. Stephin Merritt of indie-pop band Magnetic Fields composed the original music. James Bolton wrote the screenplay and directed,