Brokeback Mountain: Our Community's Common Bond > Brokeback Mountain Open Forum
Other gay-themed movies
Aussie Chris:
Hey ekeby, welcome, and thanks for your contributions. What a great resource this topic is turning out to be. Maybe we should start rating them? It may be helpful (and fun) to include a synopsis and review of films that others haven't heard of. I know it would help me when considering films to check out. For those reading this thread, let me know what you think, and any suggestions you might have to make this useful.
David:
Hi Ekeby!
Welcome to our Twisted Family. Jack Twisted that is! LOL.
I really liked Edge of seventeen too. I graduated in 1984 so the era was familiar with me too.
Loved Maurice. It was the first Gay themed movie I ever saw. I was in an "unrequited" love triangle at the time as well.
Latter days? OMG! Awsome! Kind of a BBM but with a happier ending.
Have you seen the "Broken Hearts Club"?? It is very good too.
ekeby:
--- Quote from: DavidinHartford on July 27, 2006, 07:36:05 am ---Hi Ekeby!
I graduated in 1984 so the era was familiar with me too.
I was in an "unrequited" love triangle at the time as well.
Latter days? OMG! Awsome! Kind of a BBM but with a happier ending.
Have you seen the "Broken Hearts Club"?? It is very good too.
--- End quote ---
Hey guys . . . glad to be here . . .
I graduated HS in 64, so I'm closer to J&E's age, had "my Ennis" experience in 66-67 . . . related the story somewhere else on this board (some introduce yourself page). Re "unrequited" . . . you are not alone, by a longshot. That's the amazing thing about this board, finding out you aren't the only poor sap who loved and lost . . .
I like Broken Hearts Club too. Another (non cine) board was posting worst gay movies, and somebody named BHC. Boy did I protest. I think it gets the tone of gay life and friendships just about right . . .
Synopses, a good idea. Here's my take on Our Lady of the Assassins . . .
Fernando, a famous 50-something writer who can no longer find a reason to live, returns to his hometown of Medellin, Colombia to wait for the end of his life. At a boy brothel he's introduced to Alexis, a stunning 18-year-old. "El mas fantastico chico en Medallin," says the proprietor, who suggests they come together, never to be parted. Alexis is on a gang's hit list. "These guys who're in love with me want to kill me. They love me in a hateful way." This unlikely pair falls in love, Alexis mesmorised by Fernando's quirky, irreverent personality, and Fernando astonished by Alexis's propensity to kill without giving it a second thought.
Adapted from Fernando Vallejo's novel. For me, this is an OMG film . . .
[Last night I saw Capote. Whatever. Heath was ROBBED!]
stevenedel:
"Beautiful thing" aired on TV a few nights ago, and I enjoyed so much watching it again. What an incredibly sweet and funny movie! Brings tears to my eyes for all the right reasons - a perfect antidote to the BBM spleen!
I've always had a weak spot for Maurice, too, because I am an E.M. Forster fan; I do feel though that that story requires a little more 'suspension of disbelief' than some other gay-themed movies. The idea of upper class Maurice and streetwise Scudder setting up house together... well, maybe I'm too pessimistic :-X
Something completely different I saw on TV a few weeks ago is a Dutch movie called "De vierde man" (The Fourth Man). More like a horror-thriller than a romance, about a gay novelist who befriends a femme fatale and falls in love (or in lust, rather) with her latest boyfriend and victim-to-be, and actually manages to seduce him. It is heavily symbolistic and somewhat surreal, but quite good, really. With all the fuss about the gay love scenes in BBM in mind, I was quite stunned by the frankness of it - the film was made in 1983 and has several gay sex scenes in it (one actually suggesting fellatio on a man on a crucifix...!) that make BBM look like The Sound of Music.
(A friend of mine had a very embarrassing experience with this movie when she was an au pair with a Mormon family in Stockton, CA. She came across it in a video store, Dutch spoken with English subtitles. Never actually having seen it, she though it might be really nice to show the family a movie that featured several famous Dutch actors, and which would allow them to hear what Dutch sounds like. As you can imagine, it made quite an impression... ::))
A few other favourites: Gods and Monsters; Stage Beauty; and Wonder Boys. In a completely different genre, Visconti's stunning "Ludwig".
And I shouldn't forget Angels in America, which is one of the most impressive things I've ever seen (both as a theatre play and as a TV-series).
ekeby:
--- Quote from: stevenedel on July 29, 2006, 06:14:20 am ---"Beautiful thing" - a perfect antidote to the BBM spleen!
The idea of upper class Maurice and streetwise Scudder setting up house together... well, maybe I'm too pessimistic :-X
"De vierde man" (The Fourth Man).
A few other favourites: Gods and Monsters; Stage Beauty; and Wonder Boys. In a completely different genre, Visconti's stunning "Ludwig". And I shouldn't forget Angels in America
--- End quote ---
Yes, Beautiful Films is one of those rare films with a gay theme that doesn't have a wrong frame in it.
Agree about Maurice and Scudder. I recall reading (maybe in the intro to the book?) that Forster had an alternate ending at one point that had M & Scudder working as loggers in a forest, and M's sister comes upon them. Or something like that. Agree, that relationship could not have worked in England. They would have had to go to some other country where the class differences wouldn't be obvious to everyone . . .
I've had 4th Man on my list, but per your enthusiasm, I'll move it up in position . . . Agree on the other films, except Angels in America. Maybe because the mere mention of Roy Cohn's name makes me physically ill. (Did you know that Baba Walters was his fag hag?) I got the idea that Angels was one of those things that probably worked better on the stage.
Oh Oh Oh Oh . . . Ludwig reminds me of another film in Europe w/ a castle: Something for Everyone (1970). A wickedly funny gem that isn't on DVD, unfortunately, and old VHS tapes very hard to find and expensive when they show up. Harold Price directed. Here's the IMDB summary: "Konrad [Michael York], a handsome country boy in post-war Austria, charms his way into a butler position at the castle of a widowed countess [Angela Lansbury] that lost her fortune. Before long the opportunistic boy is running the entire household. As he starts affairs with both the countess's son and the daughter of a wealthy businessman, the idea grows to get his two lovers to marry each other and make the house rich again." I read somewhere that a VHS version cut a scene that has Konrad and the son "swimming" together.
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
[*] Previous page
Go to full version