The Israeli movie Antarctica opens with a brisk ten-minute montage of extremely steamy, frenetic sex scenes with numerous dark-eyed, dark-haired and hard-bodied men. Then a title card announces the passing of three years. As I was concentrating on reading the sub-titles, I found myself confused and lost with the plethora of characters and plots and sub-plots. Who was who, where was the supposed main character from the beginning and what in the world was really going on? Since I was sharing a bottle of wine with a friend while viewing, I decided to watch the movie again the next evening.

Those first sexually-charged ten minutes of vignettes was actually a clever way to introduce all of the main male characters, as they experience Boaz’s revolving bedroom door. And Boaz (Ofer Regirer) is outrageously attractive with movie-star looks.

In a series of split-screen encounters we meet the young shy dancer Danny (Yiftach Mizrahi), sexy journalist Ronen (Guy Zo-Aretz), slightly flamboyant Miki (Yuval Raz) and the somewhat reclusive librarian Omer (Tomer Ilan). Each encounter is a perfect snapshot of the characters’ personalities.

Omer is miserable because he’s about to turn 30 in two days, not having found his place in life or his ideal man. In the meanwhile, Omer’s friends Eitan (Oshiri Sahar) and Miki (Yuval Raz) have lots of wild sex and vex over the meaning of life.

After going on a blind date with Danny, Omer becomes intrigued by the young 20-year-old dancer, who energizes his libido but not his ambition. Meanwhile Omer resists the attentions of Ronen, the handsome journalist, who understands him and sparks his imagination.

Oh by the way, Danny is Ronen’s roommate and the relationship between ex-boyfriends and current roommates is a minimalist study in jealousy and still flickering desire. While Omer’s sister Shirley (Lucy Dubinchilk) breaks off her engagement for a lesbian relationship with her boss, Boaz runs into Danny at a dance studio, they having had enjoyed a month-long fling three years earlier. While the guess-who’s-coming-to-the-birthday party doesn’t quite result in the climax that seems to be slowly building, there are surprising twists at the end in who picks whom for a mature relationship – and don’t forget the potential alien invasion plotline.

Except for the disquieting use of an Israeli drag queen as Omer’s mother, I really did come to fully enjoy the depth and scope of Antarctica after a second viewing and highly recommend it.

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“Shank” has its sweet and tender moments but it generally is a dark and gritty movie. With the opening scene of thugs filming their brutal assault on a man, with jarring gangster rap music in the background, I questioned if “Shank” was my cup of tea. But by the end of the film, I was sitting on the edge of my seat wondering if any of the fascinating characters would live happily ever after, especially after the brutal climax, which left me in tears.

The story is a look at the sociology of gang members, where two of them are closeted gays. Baseball-capped, gold-chain-adorned teenager Cal (Wayne Virgo) is obviously deeply attracted to fellow testosterone-fueled gang member Jonno (Tom Bott), who in turn hasn’t even recognized he is attracted to Cal.

During one scene when the two are shirtless and smoking pot in Cal’s car, Jonno gives Cal a “blowback” or “shotgun” and it just reeks of raw male sexuality. If a cellphone didn’t go off a few seconds later, these two stoned lads would have been all over each other.

The gang leader is Nesse (Alice Payne), a ruthless leader who appears to be Jonno’s girlfriend, but also has a history with Cal. The gang goes about looking for immigrants, gays, anyone not like themselves, to beat up.

When Cal unexpectedly rescues French Art student Olivier (Marc Laurent), the victim of a gay bashing by the gang, and embarks on a tender romance with the gentle student, his relationship with Nesse and Jonno changes radically.

Being both disturbing and erotic, “Shank” skillfully tackles the issues of working-class British homophobia, and youth and gang violence, building a convincing picture of gay life at street level.

“Shank” is a unique “coming out” story – a highly recommended dark cinematic tale worth experiencing.

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I have always enjoyed Christmas and being gay – so I just knew that I would enjoy Make the Yuletide Gay.

Olaf “Gunn” Gunnunderson (Keith Jordan) is a 22-year-old gay college student who is totally out on campus and yet remains closeted to his quirky parents. So much so that on the way home for the Christmas holiday, he stops at a public restroom to “de-gay” himself.

Originally from the Midwest, Gunn’s father (Derek Long) is now a Southern California College professor and a heavy pot smoker who appears to have killed a few brain cells over the years.

The character of the Wisconsin mother Anya Gunnunderson, played by Kelly Keaton, provides most of the spirit and humor to the film with her ever-bubbly “don’tcha know” accent that reminded me of the St. Olaf tales that The Golden Girls’ Rose used to tell.

Everything is fine until Gunn’s more flamboyant and wealthy boyfriend Nathan, played by out Canadian Adamo Ruggiero, surprises him by showing up on the Gunnunderson doorstep. With Nathan not knowing Gunn was still closeted this leads to all kinds of awkward and amusing situations.

Jordan and Ruggiero are adorable together and if you are in a mood for a sweet, simple gay-themed holiday comedy – then Make the Yuletide Gay is for you, don’tcha know?

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“Were the World Mine” is a wonderful gay-themed musical adaptation of William Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.”

The film takes the familiar scenarios of high school angst and adolescent crushes and gives them a wonderful musical spin.

Timothy (Tanner Cohen) is a gay student in an all male prep school located in a bigoted small town. Even Timothy’s blue-collar mother, Donna (Judy McLane), is unsupportive – asking him, “Why are you gay? What did I do?”

Timothy frequently has lucid daydreams – sexually themed musical interludes that release him from the misery of the daily put downs and beat downs by towel-snapping jocks. The film blends spontaneous fantasy sequences with brutally honest high school dialogue. In the meantime Timothy harbors a secret crush on school’s über-jock, rugby star Jonathon (Nathaniel David Becker).



The school’s drama teacher (Wendy Robie), a witch for all seasons, pulls the strings behind the production of the senior play and casts Timothy as Puck in an all-male version of “Midsummer Night’s Dream.”

While studying his lines in the play’s script, he deciphers a hidden formula for Cupid’s love-juice, a potion that causes love at first sight, just like the one in the Shakespeare play.

Creating his magical pansy that spurts dust, everyone begins to fall in love with the first person that they see, forcing him or her to speak in iambic verse. In time-honored tradition, merry havoc reigns but Timothy is having too much fun to think about the lives he’s altering. Soon the entire rugby team is paired off, the coach has declared his love for the principal, and Timothy and Jonathan are officially an item.

“Were the World Mine” has the theatrical spirit of a Broadway show, complete with dancing rugby players and a rock-opera finale. Using Shakespeare’s verse as lyrics, the enchanting songs not only work, but most soar.

“Were the World Mine” is a highly recommended enjoyable “feel-good” gay musical fantasy.

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I found the movie Surveillance 24/7 to be interesting in which personal privacy is increasingly threatened by new technologies, in particular camera surveillance in England.

Like many suspense mystery thrillers, Surveillance 24/7 is the story of attractive Adam (Tom Harper), a gay school teacher, and his one-night sexual encounter with Jake, the son of a mega-media mogul who he meets in a gay bar and who soon thereafter goes missing and is presumed dead.

Adam then finds himself suddenly monitored, attacked, followed and eavesdropped on by unknown person or persons, not knowing exactly why.

The film is frequently presented as a series of closed-circuit and webcam photography, which is visually fascinating and quite a provocative concept, giving Surveillance 24/7 its distinct style.

The movie ending twist came as a surprise to me. Surveillance 24/7 is perfect for those looking for something a little different – a fast-paced thriller where the main character is gay.

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I have enjoyed watching the openly gay actor Chad Allen playing the role of gay detective Donald Strachey in “Third Man Out” (2006) and “Shock to the System” (2007).

Even though this is a mystery, before I watched the movie, I opened a box buried deep in my closet and found an old yellowed paperback of Richard Stevenson’s book “On The Other Hand, Death“, circa 1984 – back then it was only three dollars and fifty cents. It was pleasure re-reading and I looked forward to watching how the story would be presented on film.

The writers of the film version have taken Richard Stevenson’s book and used it as the foundation, or perhaps better said, as a basic framework, adding their own twists and sub-themes, updating for today’s audience.

When the residents of a neighborhood are offered huge sums of money to sell their homes to a developer, the only ones to refuse are an elderly longtime lesbian couple, Dorothy and Edith, played by Margot Kidder and Gabrielle Rose. Soon after the couple’s home is vandalized with hate messages spray-painted around the home.



As Donald Strachey investigates, he digs up old secrets, old wounds, evil intentions, and as in any good mystery, there is a fair amount of credible misdirection.



I would fully consider that the book and the film are two totally different stories, both deserving of attention.

For example, in the film Don Strachey and his partner, Timmy Callahan (Sebastian Spence), portray a healthy and monogamous gay relationship, whereas in the book the attractive Don Strachey many times uses sex to get his answers, to the dismay of the usually ever-loyal Timmy Callahan.

Like the previous two movies, “On the Other Hand, Death” uses tongue-in-cheek references to the 1940’s noir-like style of filming, from the stereotypical opening scene of a woman walking alone down a dark alley, to a score appropriate to the genre, namely jazz. The movie is filmed in muted, washed-out colors, mostly in scenes of browns and yellows or dark grays and blues, with a heavy emphasis on shadows.

The ending of the movie “On The Other Hand, Death” genuinely surprised me and I know that you will enjoy it.

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At times funny and other times sad, “Chris & Don: A Love Story” is an extremely touching documentary about the affair that began in the 1950’s between American teenager Don Bachardy and three-decades-older Christopher Isherwood.

In an era when most gay people were closeted and long before anyone was talking about gay marriage, that’s what British author Christopher Isherwood and American portrait artist Don Bachardy had: a long-term intimate relationship as an openly gay couple.

Christopher Isherwood, born in 1904, began to discover his homosexuality as a teenager and finally went to bed with another man when he was in college. On a journey of self-discovery in the gay underground of Berlin his adventures with a succession of working-class German boys later became the Berlin Stories, which inspired the 1972 film Cabaret.

With Europe facing war, Christopher Isherwood immigrated to America in 1939 with his poet friend W.H. Auden.

Don Bachardy grew up in Los Angeles, a handsome, gaptoothed artistic young man who loved the movies and was fascinated with Hollywood celebrities. When Don Bachardy was 16 years old, he and his brother met Christopher Isherwood on a Santa Monica beach, whereby Christopher Isherwood enjoyed a couple of one-night stands with Don Bachardy’s older brother, Ted.

It was in October 1952, when Don Bachardy was a youthful looking 18-year-old, that he kissed Christopher Isherwood at a gay dinner party. It was in February 1953 that they spent the first night alone and became lovers, staying together for more than three decades, until Isherwood’s death in 1986 at the age of 81.

Don Bachardy was ushered into a world of celebrities but frequently found himself dismissed or simply ignored by many of his older partner’s famous friends as just the boy toy until he developed his own identity and experienced professional success as a portrait artist.

Friends remarked on how quickly the California born and raised Don Bachardy adopted Isherwood’s British accent and mannerisms, with the tongue lifted aristocratically toward the roof of the mouth, and they were sometimes mistaken for father and son.

Don Bachardy’s vivid memory and his way with words make him a wonderful storyteller, particularly when he’s talking about how he fell in love not just with Christopher Isherwood but Hollywood as well.

Their lives, to judge by the array of film clips, were glamorous ones, surrounded by Christopher Isherwood’s high-profile friends: Tennessee Williams, E.M. Forster, Bette Davis, Igor Stravinsky.

“Chris & Don: A Love Story” is a beautiful story of men and romance.

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Whirlwind is an independent film set in New York City centering on a tight-knit group of gay men on the verge of simultaneous crises.

Bobby (Alexis Suarez) and Sean (Bryan West) have been in a monogamous relationship for over three years and even though they agree to buy a place together, Sean isn’t sure he really wants to fully commit. Desmond (Brad Anderson) has stability issues that take the form of one-night stands. Mick (Mark Ford) still clings to the grief over the death of a lover. JD (Desmond Dutcher) is considering yet another bad career change.

It is true that Whirlwind follows a formula where something comes to disturb and test the friendships, namely when Drake (David Rudd) infiltrates the group. Having been dumped by a longtime boyfriend, the hot and hairy Drake has apparently resolved that if he can’t enjoy a long-term relationship then nobody else can.

Drake leads each man down a different path of temptation, playing on their fears, insecurities, and faults, starting with the group’s sole couple Bobby and Sean. Sensing that Sean feels somewhat uncomfortable with Bobby’s single-minded drive toward domesticity, Drake seduces Sean back into the non-monogamous pleasures he has given up, successfully breaking up the couple, at least temporarily.

But Drake’s manipulative maneuverings don’t always produce the expected results. Not surprisingly, the members of the group still retain deep and honest feelings for each other, they all emerging stronger at the very satisfying film ending.

The cast consists of some of the best theatrical actors in New York City with Bryan West being my favorite eye candy, followed by Brad Anderson and Alexis Suarez.

Whirlwind is an enjoyable recommended movie, worth at least renting.

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De-Lovely (2004) is a recommended musical-biography about Cole Porter (1891-1964) who many would consider one of America’s most gifted and prolific songwriters.

De-Lovely begins in the final moments of Cole Porter’s life, played by Kevin Kline. Visited by the archangel Gabriel (Jonathan Pryce), Porter is guided to an empty theater to watch his past glories and misdeeds unfold onstage and in flashbacks, with Porter offering direction and corrections.

De-Lovely is primarily about Porter’s extraordinary 35-year relationship with his wife, Linda Lee Porter, played by Ashley Judd. Meeting in Paris in 1918, they soon were married with Linda willingly accepting Cole’s homosexuality, saying, “You like men better than I do.” All that Linda asks is that Cole is discreet.

From his seat in the audience, the elderly Cole Porter insists that their marriage wasn’t one of convenience as history suggests. “The physical side, well, we could take it or leave it. It was the intimacy that was stunning.”

Knowing that Cole Porter preferred young hunks gives new meaning to lyrics like “There’s something wild about you, child, that’s so contagious. Let’s be outrageous, let’s misbehave.”

Love was Cole Porter’s inspiration, his fascination and what puzzled him the most. “I love you always sounded better with music underneath,” he mused, a fact that is best described in his song “What is This Thing Called Love? Who can solve its mystery, why should it make a fool of me?”

In one of my favorite moments in De-Lovely, while in preparation for a Broadway show, Cole Porter coaches the performer (John Barrowman of Torchwood fame) to sing “Night and Day” properly. As the two face each other and begin to sing the song together, the camera circles around Kevin Kline and John Barrowman so that it seems they are, indeed, singing the song to each other – quite an emotional duet.

“Like the beat beat beat of the tom-tom
When the jungle shadows fall
Like the tick tick tock of the stately clock
As it stands against the wall
Like the drip drip drip of the raindrops
When the summer shower is through
So a voice within me keeps repeating you, you, you
Night and day, you are the one
Only you beneath the moon or under the sun
Whether near to me, or far
It’s no matter darling where you are
I think of you,
Night and Day”

When Cole Porter fails to show up at one of his own opening night parties, he having sex with the duet singing man (John Barrowman) in Central Park, and doesn’t come home until the following morning, Linda Lee Porter finds it impossible to ignore his indiscretion and leaves for Paris.

Linda, the ever loyal, understanding, broadminded and loving partner was back at his bedside after a horseback riding accident crushed his legs and stayed with him until her death.

De-Lovely highlights Cole Porter’s ability to combine clever lyrics with unforgettable melodies, leaving a legacy of magical music like “Anything Goes”, “Let’s Misbehave”, “Be a Clown”, “Love For Sale”, “In the Still of the Night”, and “True Love”.

“Birds do it, bees do it
Even educated fleas do it
Let’s do it, let’s fall in love”

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“A heartbreaking modern romance with lessons in the honest expression of love and sexuality within the masculine role identity of today’s contemporary man.”



Andy Forte (Bart Fletcher), a seemingly free-spirited young man, was drifting through the desert when he fatefully crossed paths with Nate Merritt (Paul Preiss), on leave from boot camp, both being lured to make some quick cash by doing a modeling shoot. Little did they know that the sleazy producer had planned on it being a “Straight Marine’s First Gay Sex” porn shoot.



Bolting out the door, Andy’s offer of a ride begins their journey together, as they share stories, dreams, and influence each other’s lives. Andy doesn’t tell Nate that he is gay and Nate never asks. To further complicate things, Andy has fathered a child in a moment of party drunkenness.



Initially their very real and appropriate bond is purely platonic as they share similar emptiness because of the loss of a father figure.



Andy, the troubled gothic gay guy, becomes a catalyst in Nate’s life, especially during a shower scene when he encourages Nate to decide if he wants to join him without regard to what he has been taught, but in response to what he really wants. It is not about the labels – it’s just simply about how it feels.

Eventually the smoldering chemistry is undeniable, as it sizzles into something sensual, the rough and hard edge of anger making way for the craving of tenderness. It is a shame that the physical intimacy had not been more firmly depicted on film instead of just hinted at.

A stray dog, a picture frame, an abandoned drive-in movie theater screen, and a set of Dog Tags all fit into place in the haunting mystery of who Nate is.



Dog Tags is a heartbreaking love story between two men that can not change each others destinies but they can both chose to be better men than they’d ever hoped or planned to be by wiping their own slates clean.

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