With the launch of the brand-new TLAgay.com, the Gay Cinema Video On Demand experience we have been offering for a long, long time was upgraded and improved. We have expanded (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 our TOP 5, by any means – just a handful of flicks we want to highlight.
2012, Australia, Canada, United Kingdom, United States
Following on the heels of Black Briefs, their first successful short film compilation (which we featured in this series last week), Guest House Films (the production company and distribution house from Rob Williams – the director behind Role/Play, 3-Day Weekend, Make the Yuletide Gay and the brand-new Happiness Adjacent) continued their series with Blue Briefs. This brilliant, engrossing and emotional collection features stellar gay shorts that focus on relationships and the unfortunate pain that often accompanies true love (something that most gay men know all too well). The collection includes the films Requited by Sal Bardo, Boys Like You by Daniel Armando, We Once Were Tide by Jason Bradbury, Revolution by Abdi Nazemian, The In-Between by Alain Hain and Frozen Roads by Mark Pariselli.
2016, Ireland
With bright red hair, a smart mouth and a penchant for sexually-ambiguous pop music, Ned (Fionn O’Shea) has always been bait for the bullies at his rugby-obsessed Irish boarding school. Determined to keep a low profile and weather another year with minimal abuse, Ned is pleasantly surprised when he develops a special friendship with his dashing new roommate Conor (Nicholas Galitzine), a rugby virtuoso who shouldn’t have trouble fitting in, but harbors a few big secrets. Ned encourages Conor’s passion for music, but when their pursuits start to take Conor’s focus away from rugby, their friendship is discouraged by the administration. A funny and observant coming-of-age tale from Irish novelist and filmmaker John Butler, Handsome Devil offers a touching reminder about the importance of loyalty, bravery and making sure that your voice, no matter how different, is heard.
1993, Germany
Unbridled queer punk energy (and sex) pulses through this gay tragedy about a threesome of gay lovers and the radical family they surround themselves with. Germany’s contribution to New Queer Cinema, Prince in Hell is a 1993 film that follows the lives of several junkies, queers, street performers and anarchists all living amidst glorious squalor in a trash-strewn, post-unification Berlin. At the time, it offered up queer romantic nihilism for a ravaged, turmoil-filled Germany – with pulsating music, raunchy BDSM and a “fuck life” attitude. The story’s main characters are two gay lovers who are about to break up. Stefan and Jockel (Stefan Laarmann and Michael Stock) live in a wildly painted trailer on the outskirts of the city. Jockel really, really likes his heroin, much to the chagrin of Stefan, who tries desperately to get his friend off junk. With very little story, Prince in Hell is an experiment in uneasy atmosphere – and there’s plenty of it. Something else there’s plenty of is nudity and gay sex! While no one would call the act of watching this film a picnic, it’s hard not to watch for more prurient reasons.
2008, United States
Sometimes in Life is the story of the lives of Jill and Rob (Sara Stepnicka and Gunhild Giil). Jill finds herself torn between focusing on her budding fashion career and feeling insecure about her relationship with her flirtatious girlfriend. Meanwhile, Rob, a thirty-something who’s not-so-cultured (and totally jobless), has just lost his father and finds himself doing some soul searching on his slacker lifestyle. When these two unexpectedly meet and begin to form an unlikely friendship, they realize they’ve both lost their way in life – but can they help each other get back on track or just further off course?
2016, Lithuania
After his star actress, Indre (Irina Lavrinovic), murders her mother, rich-kid filmmaker Romas (Denisas Kolomyckis) plans to help her escape from Lithuania before she’s captured by the authorities. His sexy Mexican boyfriend Carlos (Adrian Escobar) helps them reluctantly. On the road, Romas begins shooting an improvised experimental film centered around their harrowing trip with his smartphone. As events take an unexpected turn, their secrets, memories and emotions make this journey wilder than any film Romas could have imagined or planned for. Stylish and supremely sexy, You Can’t Escape Lithuania is a gripping gay road movie from acclaimed gay filmmaker Romas Zabarauskas, who based it loosely on his own experiences and real-life events. Another intersting face: He funded the movie though Kickstarter… and went naked for donors to raise money (something, you’ll be happy to know, his very cute cinematic counterpart also does in the film).