more queer cinema

It's official... with these three DVDs I've officially gone through the whole gay section at my video store... well, at least until he gets some more stuff in... and to be honest, I haven't gone through all the other racks to see if there's anything that's NOT in the "new and gay" section...

And interestingly enough, the "left over" stuff was actually some of the best I've seen so far...

Boy Culture
This was the DVD I actually wanted to get when I went in last week... but it was out. I'm glad it was in this week though, because it's fantastic! I read the book this is based on a while back, but I have to say, from what I remember of the book, this is actually better (which isn't something I say very often). It's probably a slightly updated version of the story, since I think the book came out in the 90's, but I don't think anything was really lost... plus you have the very sexy visuals of the three leads (Jonathon Trent as Joey particularly) to make up for it. On the downside, even though I'm fond of Patrick Bauchau as an actor, I probably could have done without the sex scene with him and Derek Magyar. But if I happen to find it somewhere on special it's definitely one for the collection.

50 Ways of Saying Fabulous
This one was kind of just there to make up the numbers... and it's probably a little uneven storywise, but at the same time parts of it hit very close to home. As far as the story goes I have to say, the main character really needed to develop some concept of secrecy... since it's probably something that every gay man learns at a very young age... those thoughts, feelings and actions that you know you shouldn't let anyone know about. Except the main character in this movie is just all out there all the time.... and especially since it's set in country New Zealand in 1975... you would think he would have worked it out already. Visually the movie is beautiful... but, having seen the making of documentary, you know that it's not all it appears... and they possibly lost more of the script than they possibly should have.

Shortbus
But I have to say, this was the crowning glory of my movie rentals today... this movie is AMAZING... yes, yes, I know... really and actual sex scenes... actual hardons, visible (hetro)penetration, male and female masterbation, visible male orgasm, actual oral sex... the whole nine yards... but when you put all of that to one side (especially after the first five or ten minutes or so, since a lot of the "extreme" stuff does seem to appear in the pre-credit and credit sequence), it's a fucking great story... complicated and real and very moving and touching. And it's kind of how a really story with sex in it should be... you should be able to see the nudity and the sex without either cutting around it or framing it out of the shot... just show the damn stuff and be done with it... it just makes it more real (okay, I'm not saying they should make actors have real sex in every movie, but there has to be some middle ground somewhere). Although having said that, I have to say that even I was a little surprised with the whole "orgasm" thing during the opening credit sequence... but by the end of the movie it wouldn't have shocked me one little bit (which is probably why it was in the opening scene). One thing that I did find quite odd is that I felt like I'd seen a lot of the male actors in other things... Raphael Barker as Rob and Jay Brannan as Ceth particularly, but the others too... but none of them have been in anything I've seen... very weird. And this one I definitely need to get a copy of.

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