With the launch of brand-new TLAgay.com this summer, the Gay Cinema Video On Demand experience we have been offering for a long, long time was upgraded and improved. We have (and continue) to expand our selection of new and old gay-themed movies available for your viewing pleasure. Here’s just five of our current favorites, from various years, that you may have missed – ALL available to watch INSTANTLY! These aren’t out TOP 5, by any means – just a handful of flicks we want to highlight.
The Hour of Living (c) Optimist Creations Limited
2012, Switzerland
Young Theo is on a quest. He finds among his late mother’s belongings a Super-8 film, in which his dad looks really happy – and a little in love (maybe a lot)… but not with Theo’s mother. Theo never really knew his dad and now that his mom is also gone, he’s intrigued to find out who else there was in his father’s life. His quest leads him into the past – and eventually to Switzerland, high up into a remote Alpine valley. There he finds George (writer/director Sebastian Michael) who has been living as a recluse for a decade. For George, Theo’s dad was the love of his life. As the two men meet and get increasingly close to one another, slowly their lives start to make sense. With absolutely gorgeous cinematography, The Hour of Living takes the viewer on an emotional journey that doubles as a feast for the eyes.
All Yours (c) Breaking Glass Pictures
2014, Belgium
Lucas is a young and penniless Argentine escort who arrives in a small Belgian town to visit Henry, a gay bakery owner who fell in love with him online. Henry buys Lucas a plane ticket to Europe hoping he will fall in love with him and help out at his bakery. While Henry and Lucas’s ideas about living together clash, Lucas grows closer to his female employee Audrey. He soon finds himself caught in a complicated love triangle with Henry and Audrey. As dark as that synopsis may sounds, All Yours is surprisingly lighthearted and touching. It presents a love triangle that functions as a makeshift family and ultimately proves a poignant examination of unrequited love.
Last Summer (c) Breaking Glass Pictures
2013, United States
Before summer comes to a complete close, sneak in a screening of this thoughtful, tender movie – so beautifully atmospheric that it’s haunting. Last Summer tells the story of two high school sweethearts, Luke and Jonah, who spend their final months together over the course of a long, quiet summer in the rural South, contemplating their uncertain future and realizing that they soon must part ways. Jonah, sensitive, quiet and artistic, prepares to leave his small town for college, leaving Luke behind, but all he wants is for Luke to ask him to stay. But Luke, an athlete struggling through summer school, knows that his boyfriend needs to experience the world beyond their home.
Longhorns (c) TLA Releasing
2011, United States
The setting is a Texas college circa 1982. Here, men are men, women are just future wives (or current sluts), and there is nothing gay about helping a buddy get off! Good ol’ fratboy Kevin is straight as an arrow (if you don’t count his gay fantasies – or the fact that he loves jerking off his fellow frat brothers) but he begins to see things a little differently when he meets the sexy, openly gay César. Can a straight guy fall for another dude? And can Kevin continue going down on his pals under the belief that it’s just frat boy hijinks? And will kissing César change him forever? Never has a film featured so many straight men doing so many gay things! Beer is guzzled, pants are dropped and playful bed-hopping ensues. Fast, funny and sexy – what more could you want from a film?
Nate & Margaret (c) Breaking Glass Pictures
2012, United States
Featuring an astounding performance from former Roseanne star Natalie West, Nate & Margaret is something of a modern indie version of Harold & Maude. The film centers on a 19-year-old film student named Nate (Tyler Ross from The Wise Kids and Henry Gamble’s Birthday Party) and his best friend Margaret (West), a 52-year-old spinster who dreams of being a stand-up comedian and is taking steps in that direction despite being frequently misunderstood. Nate’s audacious classmate Darla (Gaby Hoffmann) sets him up on a date with James (Conor McCahill). Pretty soon, though, his new romance is demanding a lot of his time and stats to cause a rift in his friendship with Margaret, who must now go find a life of her own. We can’t overstate how deeply affecting Natalie West is in this film. She seems pretty reclusive as far as film and TV goes, but we wish she stared in a lot more movies. Once it’s over, Nate & Margaret will have you flipping through channels trying to catch one of her older episodes of Roseanne.
