美少年之恋 (1998)

Jet (Stephen Fung) is a handsome gay hustler, the star gigolo in Hong Kong, whose sex appeal and arrogance seem to have no bounds. Everyone wants to make love to him, but he is in love with no one but himself. Things change drastically when he notices a young couple in a shop, Sam Fai (Daniel Wu) and Kana (Qi Shu). At first sight, he falls in love with Sam and begins following the two around. Jet's friend Ching (Jason Tsang), who is also a hustler, places an ad in a gay magazine for Jet, imploring Sam to contact Jet. At first, Jet is angry with Ching for not asking him, but his wrath ends when he meets Sam again in what seems like a chance encounter, but actually is an outcome of the personal ad. Sam turns out to be a police officer, the hunkiest policeman to ever pound a beat on Hollywood Road, and Jet starts to befriend him, hoping it will turn into a relationship. But Sam does not seem to notice Jet's intentions towards him. Jet tries to change into someone he is not: innocent, sweet, clean, and pure.

Unknown to Jet, Sam had a homosexual affair with pop star K. S. (Terence Yin) five years earlier. At the same time, Ching had been in unrequited love with Sam (then calling himself Fai) when the two were still office workers. Ching goes to his apartment shared with Jet when Jet and Sam are there, instantly recognizes Sam as Fai and is furious with Jet for stealing his beloved.

A gay romantic mystery, this film is based on the biggest scandal to hit the Hong Kong Police force. A cache of photographs was discovered of handsome young men in police uniforms, some of them half nude, others holding law enforcement paraphernalia such as clubs in suggestive poses. An investigation by the Police revealed that some of the men were policemen, whereas others were hustlers and gigolos. The focus of the movie is not the scandal, but the unusual meeting of two different worlds, illustrated in the romantic entanglement involving a policeman, two male prostitutes, and a gay pop singer. The film starts with a simple love story, but tragedy is inevitable. It begins on a good premise, however it slowly slides into comfortable melodrama with a predictable ending. Chris Babida composed the music, and Yonfan wrote the screenplay and directed. The English titles for "Mei shao nian zhi lian" is "Bishonen". The language is Cantonese, with English, Chinese, Bahasa, and Thai subtitles available.

A low down dirty shame (1994)

Andre Shame (Keenen Ivory Wayans) is a black private detective formerly of the LAPD, who left the force after failing to crack the case on notorious drug lord Ernesto Mendoza (Andrew Divoff). The investigation of Mendoza's case was a personal one for Shame, because his ex-girlfriend Angela (Salli Richardson) was caught in the middle of a love triangle with the two men. He now works as a private eye, taking on cases for peanuts and barely scraping by. His disapproving secretary Peaches (Jada Pinkett) wants him to get his act together but he's too busy wallowing in self-pity. Just when things are about to collapse, Shame is hired by an officer of the Drug Enforcement Agency to find $20 million dollars in missing drug money. Sonny Rothmiller (Charles S. Dutton), Shame's ex-colleague who is now working for the DEA, tells him that the Mendoza case is being re-opened, and though he has his doubts, Shame decides the case is too intriguing to pass on, and tells Sonny to count him in.

Shame's drug czar adversary, Mendoza, is rumored to be dead but actually alive and well and living with Shame's former sweetheart, Angela. In a movie in which almost everyone is a crude stereotype, Mendoza conforms to the typical Hollywood image of a Latin American drug czar. The situation gets rather complicated when Shame's old flame Angela resurfaces in his life, and he also realizes that some of his allegiances aren't what they seem to be on the surface. The film is partly a comedy, so Shame deflects the charge of three vicious Dobermans by doing a James Brown imitation. From a private dick, Shame abruptly transforms himself into a caricature of the godfather of soul, barking instructions to his backup singers on how to perform "Say It Loud, I'm Black and Proud." Caught up in the spirit, the dogs stop their attack and begin rotating their heads in time with the beat. The movie isn't afraid to offend. One running gag involves an interracial gay couple who are presented as mincing, lisping clowns.

"A Low Down Dirty Shame" is not much more than all the cop movie clichés arranged in an order to make a coherent story. It is funny, entertaining, unpredictable (except for the ending), with realistic action scenes. It's the "Shaft" of the 1990s. The production design is dated because action films have evolved and Wayans often shoots non-action scenes like a TV sitcom, and his light-hearted editing reminds you this is not a totally serious movie. Marcus Miller composed the original music, and Keenen Ivory Wayans wrote the screenplay and directed.

Coming Out (1989)

High school teacher Philipp Klahrmann (Mathias Freihof) during his first day at work collides with female teacher Tanja (Dagmar Manzel) in one of the school's corridors. As a result Tanja and Philipp get to know each other and develop a romance. While going out with Tanja, Philipp gets dragged into a gay party and meets Matthias (Dirk Kummer), a shy 19-year-old who becomes interested in Philipp. After they meet again by chance, Matthias invites Philipp to his birthday party that evening. After some hesitation Philipp ends up going and the two of them go back to Philipp's apartment and sleep together.

The situation with Tanja deteriorates as Philipp becomes distant and worried, as he begins to come out to himself. He is forced to come out to Tanja, after he and Matthias embrace during the intermission at the opera. Matthias is distraught upon learning that Philipp is married and runs out of the opera house. Over the next few weeks Philipp searches for Matthias, until one night he finds him in a bar with another man, one of Philipp's students. Matthias, still very hurt, pushes Philipp away. Philipp goes to another bar and becomes aggressive with an older gay man. He calms down and tearfully listens as the older man explains that he understands what Philipp is going through, because 50 years earlier he and his boyfriend were arrested by the Nazis and imprisoned in a concentration camp. In a speech designed to please the SED and DEFA, the older gay man explains how the communists helped him through his struggle.

The film ends with a scene in the classroom, as the headteacher--who obviously has discovered Philipp's sexual orientation--says that she and a group of teachers need to observe his classes to see if he's still suitable to teach. Philipp is quiet for a long time and this prompts the headteacher to say "Kollege Klahrmann!" to which Klahrmann simply replies, "Ja." Actor Mathias Freihof claims that this single utterance signifies the recognition by Philipp of his sexual orientation and all its baggage. In a depressing classic German cinema ending, Philipp loses his boyfriend, his girlfriend, and his job. The film closes with a shot of Philipp leaving his apartment block on his bicycle.

This is a predictable, drawn out, but good film--the first and only film about gay life produced in the former communist East Germany. "Coming Out" debuted the night the Berlin Wall fell. Stefan Carow composed the music, Wolfram Witt wrote the screenplay, and Heiner Carow directed. In German, available with or without English subtitles.

Victor Victoria (1982)

Set in 1934 Paris, starving opera singer Victoria (Julie Andrews) is helped by gay cabaret performer Toddy (Robert Preston). When Victoria wears Toddy's ex boyfriend's clothes and then sends the abusive ex away with a loud shout and a right hook, Toddy is hit with inspiration: he'll pass her off as a female impersonator. She asks, "You want me to be a woman pretending to be a man pretending to be a woman?" With the help of the flamboyantly gay nightclub singer, she invents her alter-ego "Count Victor Grezinski", a female impersonator who is hired to sing at a fashionable night spot. Interwoven throughout the comedy and musical numbers are some astute observations about gender perceptions, discrimination and the battle of the sexes. It all goes well until Chicago mob boss King Marchand (James Garner), starts to investigate, sure that a man like himself could never fall for another man. The revelation of King's infatuation with Victoria brings his gay body guard "Squash" Bernstein (Alex Karras) roaring out of the closet and sends his spurned moll Norma Cassady (Leslie Ann Warren) off to Chicago to take revenge with King's other "business associates". Victoria must decide what she really wants: to be true to herself by giving up her career in Paris to be with her lover, or to continue with her show biz career and risk losing Marchand.

This classy slapstick musical farce involves transvestism and sexual identity as central themes. It's a character driven film where everyone is allowed to shine. Musical highlights include Victor/Victoria's "Le Jazz Hot" and "The Shady Dame from Seville"; Toddy's ode to "Gay Paree"; Warren's funny burlesque number, "King's Can-Can"; and "You and Me," done in a small club by Toddy and Victor in tuxedos. Legendary composer Henry Mancini won his last Oscar for the music score. Blake Edwards wrote the screenplay derived from Reinhold Schünzel's 1933 script, based on a concept by Hans Hoemburg. Blake Edwards directed.

Kiss Me Guido (1997)

Frankie (Nick Scotti) is a young macho, homophobic Italian-American living with his family in the Bronx, New York. He works in a pizza parlor but, inspired by Al Pacino and Robert DeNiro, he wants to be an actor. After catching his fiancee cheating on him with his brother, Frankie decides the time has come to move out and pursue his dream. He starts by checking the classifieds for roommate ads. He finds an ad from a "GWM." In classified-speak this stands for "gay white male", but Frankie and his friend Joey (Domenick Lombardozzi) interpret it as "guy with money." The GWM in question is Warren (Anthony Barrile), an actor who's recently broken up with his director boyfriend, and is five months behind in his rent. Frankie and Warren each have some initial misgivings--Frankie over Warren's being gay, Warren over Frankie's being a "Guido" or stereotypical Italian--but Warren lets Frankie move in.

Warren's ex, Dakota (Christopher Lawford), returns and offers Warren a part in his new play. Warren initially accepts but after being injured in an attempted gay bashing, has to withdraw. Frankie has the chance to take his place on stage--but only if he can play a gay man in a kissing scene. Frankie replaces him, but the kissing scene makes him nervous. At the premiere Frankie gives a good performance, although he hesitates on the kiss, leading his scene partner to hiss "Kiss me, Guido!" for an audience that includes his family. His father leaves in disgust, and his mother faints, but they come to understand and accept his decision to become an actor.

This fast moving and entertaining comedy is quite a good movie. The bitchy and witty criticisms of some of the gay characters are a treat, and manage to transcend the stereotypes because of the humor. You have to suspend your disbelief regarding Frankie's incredible naivety and ignorance of the gayness he encounters. In other words, the plot is not very realistic, but it is funny. The soundtrack includes 13 songs, but in the opening credits of my video there is a disclaimer that some of the song titles had been changed. Tony Vitale wrote the screenplay and directed. CBS brought "Kiss Me Guido" to TV in 2001 under the title "Some of My Best Friends". It was not a success and was cancelled after one season.

Licensed To Kill (1997)

Attacked by gay bashers in 1977, filmmaker Arthur Dong probes the hearts and minds of murderers convicted of killing gay men. He interviews them in prison cells and asks them directly: "Why did you do it?" The seven convicted killers are diverse in race, sexuality, sexual experiences, and abuse. Additionally, there is a range of feelings about the crimes. One person says, "I regret it." Another says, "At least this created a hate crimes law in my state." But one murderer basically says, "So what?" One man says, "Is it better to rob a convenience store for $20 and get caught or to rob a homosexual for hundreds of dollars knowing that he won't go to the police?" The most popular reason was that "God told me to". Many of the interviewees purposely targeted gay men. Some claimed to be harassed, but using the victims' credit cards contradicts that claim.

An important problem is misinterpretation or misunderstanding. In many instances gay men mistook straight men's friendliness for flirtation and paid for it with their lives. Some killers showed no remorse whatsoever while others felt completely disconnected from their crime. Most of them hate homosexuals and this they claim gives them a license to kill. These inmates include a wide range of distinct profiles: a young man who claims he justifiably killed as protection from his victim's sexual advances--a defense known as "homosexual panic"; a self-loathing, religious gay man who killed because of his own homosexual tendencies; a victim of child abuse who feared losing his manhood; an army sergeant angry over the gays in the military debate; and a self-described homeboy looking for easy prey. The film ends by covering each interviewee's sentence and the sentences are long.

The central theme of this documentary is in the title and the criminals rationalize why they believed it was OK to kill gay men. This film provides interesting insights into the motivations for sexual orientation crimes, and shows just how deep and fierce anti-gay sentiment is. Miriam Cutler composed the incidental music, and Arthur Dong wrote the script and directed.

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.