Category Archives: Gay theme

2015, Amazon Prime, Drama, Explicit sex, Explicit sexual discussion, Gay theme, Nudity, Panic Attacks, Strange Ending

Steel (2015)

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From Amazon Prime:

Strong emotions – fear and panic, self-search and isolation, love and sex, self-denial and self-discovery – a ride on an emotional roller coaster while trying to find one’s way into life.

From Amazon Prime you can stream this 1 hour 47 minute film.

“Steel” is the story of a gay man Daniel who is a successful, seemingly self-confident TV interviewer but who increasingly is beset with serious panic attacks. Eventually these panic attacks become so overpowering that Daniel abandons his job (in the middle of a live TV interview with a criminal) and becomes a recluse who is even afraid to go outside and shop for food.  Along the way Daniel seems to be stalked by another very young gay man Alexander who boldly forces his way into Daniel’s troubled life.  How Alexander helps Daniel is most of the plot.

WARNING: Gay sexual activity is explicitly filmed. In addition there is much nudity.  Forget safe sex entirely.

Probably the end of this well-acted film will shock you into asking yourself “Could that be?”

2017, Alcoholism, British, Dark, Depression, Disturbing Image, Drama, Explicit sex, Farm Life, Father-son relations, Gay theme, Grim, Grungy, Mother-son relations, Netflix Streaming, Nudity, Personal Betrayal, Possibly depressing, Romance, Sex Scenes, Small British village, Yorkshire setting

God’s Own Country (2017)

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From IMDB:

Spring. Yorkshire. Young farmer Johnny Saxby numbs his daily frustrations with binge drinking and casual sex, until the arrival of a Romanian migrant worker for lambing season ignites an intense relationship that sets Johnny on a new path.

From Netflix you can stream this one hour 44 minute complete film.

Francis Lee won a Directing Award (World Cinema — Dramatic) at the Sundance Film Festival for this BAFTA-nominated film.

Yorkshire farming as vividly and unsparingly portrayed in this film shows what a grubby occupation such work really is.  No one it would seem gets to remain free of mucky mud for very long.

Meet the Saxby farming family: Johnny is the gay, lonely, desperate, dutiful son. Martin is the father now crippled by a stroke. Deirdre (played by the famous British actress Gemma Jones, who was 75 years old during the filming) is the mother.  What a cold, barely speaking trio they make! All the father does is bark out orders, despite his stroke impaired speech.  Affection does not fit into this unrelentingly grim world.

Lambing season arrives and so does the temporary Rumanian farm worker Gheorghe.  Watching Gheorghe do farm work is a pleasure. He seems to care about the “beasts” (as the family calls the animals). In one scene a lamb is born dead, which happens a lot. At the same time another newborn lamb needs a mother. So we watch (in unsparing detail) Gheorghe skin the dead lamb and wrap that skin around the orphan lamb so that the mother of the dead lamb will accept the orphan and allow it to feed.

As far as the gay theme goes,  the growing love between the two men is developed in remarkable subtlety.  Never in the film is it easy (or initially even possible) for Johnny to express himself openly. Johnny is probably one of the most repressed and inarticulate men you may ever encounter. Be prepared for full nudity and their initial somewhat violent sexual encounter.

To encourage you to enjoy this remarkable film I will reveal that the story, for all the intermittent setbacks, has a happy ending. So sue me for the mild spoiler!

 

2007, Abduction, Abuse of Women, Accidental Death, Action Film, Blackmail, Bloody scenes, Cold Cases, Contract Killing, Cooking, Corruption, Could Be Hard To Watch, Crime, DNA, Drug Dealers, Extramarital Affair, Father-daughter relations, Financial malfeasance, Forensics, Gangs, Gay theme, Happy Family Gatherings, Jealousy, jiu-jitsu, Kidnapping, MHz Choice, Mother-daughter relations, Murder, Murder Investigation, Pedophilia, Physical child abuse, Police Corruption, Prostitutes, Rape, Revenge, Sadism, Suspense, Swedish, Swedish crime series, Swedish Detective, Thriller, Torture, Violent, Weapons Dealer, Wife Beating

Irene Huss (2007)

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From MHz Choice:

From the best-selling crime fiction of Helene Tursten, Irene Huss is a ju-jitsu champion, a mother, and a detective inspector. Her husband, Krister, is a successful chef and luckily for Irene, he gladly shoulders a fair share of the household tasks. In her work with the Violent Crimes Unit in Gothenburg, Irene encounters criminal minds of all stripes: from drug dealers to serial killers to psychotic young girls. Each new case challenges her assumptions about herself and others.

From MHz Choice (only foreign films with subtitles) you can stream 2 seasons of this Swedish crime series. Each season offers 6 episodes where each episode lasts approximately 1.5 hours.

As is common in so many detective series, the main police investigator is constantly interrupted when she is with her family of devoted husband Krister  and two daughters.  Running through all the episodes is the theme of her family life and her husband’s career as a chef. Often, in sometimes threatening ways, the husband and daughters become involved in Irene’s investigations. At times the lives of all four family members are in danger.

Repeatedly throughout the series we see Irene engaged in jiu-jitsu training which goes hand-in-hand with her many physical combats with criminals.  Irene is portrayed as somewhat of a superwoman who is always ready to chase on foot after a villain even if she should be suffering from some injury. Just suspend disbelief and enjoy the action sequences.

Expect a lot of nasty crime and violence. Expect ugly and explicit details of brutality, including rape and torture. This is not a series for the faint of heart.

On the positive side it is a pleasure to watch Irene’s happy family together. Also each story is so compelling and suspenseful that I could not stop watching each episode.

2015, Acceptable for teenagers, Amazon Prime Brit Box, Beautiful Seaside Town, British Mystery Series, Detective, Eccentric cast of characters, Flirting, Forensics, Gay theme, Mediocre, Mother-daughter relations, Murder, Murder Investigation, Small British village, Surfing, Suspense

The Coroner (2015)

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From Amazon Prime (Brit Box):

A high-flying lawyer returns, after a messy divorce, to the small town she escaped as a teenager to take up the post of Coroner. She finds herself thrown together with her old flame who broke her heart twenty years ago – now the local policeman – and they are forced to work together.

If you want to see the offerings from Amazon Prime’s Brit Box then you have to subscribe separately to Brit Box which is very inexpensive.

Brit Box offers 2 seasons of “The Coroner”.  Each season offers 10 episodes. Each episode lasts about 45 minutes and is a complete story.

Jane Kennedy is the coroner and Davey Higgins is the local policeman and her old love. He is married and faithful although he only mentions his wife whom we never see.  All 20 episodes show this pair flirting and discussing their old life in this small,  beautiful English seaside town named Lighthaven.  Her mother has a lover. They are a bawdy couple who together run a seaside pub.

As crime series go, this one is somewhat mediocre, easy on the emotions and never very violent. Think “Doc Martin” plus a few murders.

 

2017, Abduction, Abuse of Women, Blackmail, Bloody scenes, Boating, Brother-Brother relations, Brother-Sister relations, Child custody, Corruption, Could Be Hard To Watch, Crime, Cynical, Dark, Drug Dealers, Ethical struggles, Extramarital Affair, Family Conflict, Father-daughter relations, Father-son relations, FBI, Financial malfeasance, Gambling, Gay theme, Grim, Large-scale gang activity, Lawyers, Mafia, Money Laundering, Mother-daughter relations, Mother-son relations, Murder, Murder by poison, Netflix Streaming, Orphans in Foster Care, Police Corruption, Prison, Revenge, Suspense, Teenagers, Torture, Uncle-Nephew relations, Uncle-Niece relations, Violent, Vulgar, Wonderful acting

Ozark (2017)

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From IMDB:

A financial adviser drags his family from Chicago to the Missouri Ozarks, where he must launder $500 million in five years to appease a drug boss.

From Netflix you can stream two seasons. Each season consists of 10 one-hour episodes. You need to watch both seasons to come to a conclusion of sorts. Conceivably  there could be another season.

Before saying anything more let me warn you that this series is very VIOLENT!

In several places I have read that Donald Trump debases everything and everybody he touches. For a step-by-step detailed textbook showing how evil spreads to engulf even the originally most innocent souls, this series will more than suffice. The process of moral debasement portrays at the same time the “Wages of Sin.” Many involved characters receive harsh retribution, most especially the loss of life, love and respect.

Those of you with strong stomachs may well find these episodes captivating for their attention to detail in the plot, excellent dialog, and superb acting. No wonder the series received 9 Emmy award nominations!  Personally I was as hooked as I was horrified.  Seems I have become very jaded.

Hats off to some remarkable performances:

  •  “Arrested Development” was my first encounter with Jason Bateman who plays Marty Byrde. In both cases Bateman exudes a somewhat-repressed, matter-of-fact, nerdish comportment. Nothing seems to rattle him.  At each shock, after a thoughtful and facially inexpressive pause, during which you can almost hear his brain cells clicking, he manages to smooth talk his way through the crisis. You must wait for almost 20 episodes before you can see his despair.
  •  Laura Linney, who plays Marty’s wife Wendy Byrde constantly flashes the always beautiful smile that launches a thousand crimes.  After a while I finally realized that for the most part Wendy is one of the most evil characters.  Here I am reminded of Hannah Arendt’s phrase “the Banality of Evil”.  One rationalization leads to another.
  •  Julia Garner, who plays Ruth Langmore, turns in a bravo performance as a “white trash” daughter of a convicted criminal. Ruth’s character, while never innocent,  grows to recognize the lowness of her given state in life and does mature to rise above and take responsibility.  Her improvement owes much to the fact that she was born with a very intelligent mind.

Assuming you can get through the first stomach-churners, you may well become as addicted as was I.

2018, Barely Acceptable Trash, Bisexual theme, Brother-Sister relations, Comedy, Eccentric cast of characters, Exaggeration Comedy, Fashion, Gay theme, Improbable details, Lot's of Fun, Love Story, Netflix Streaming, Often downright silly, Outrageous Behavior, Quirky, Remarkable Costumes, Romance, Witty dialog

Schitts Creek (2018)

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From IMDB:

When rich video-store magnate Johnny Rose and his family suddenly find themselves broke, they are forced to leave their pampered lives to regroup in Schitt’s Creek.

From Netflix:

After their business manager loots their family fortune, the Rose family relocates to the town of Schitt’s Creek, which they once bought as a joke.

From Netflix you can stream 4 seasons of this nutty series. Each season has 13 episodes. Every episode lasts for 21 minutes except that in season 4 episodes 7 through 12 last 22 minutes and episodes 13 (the finale of the 4 seasons) lasts 25 minutes.

Only for special streaming offerings do I apply the category “Barely Acceptable Trash”.  If ever there was a series that deserved such an accolade, this series hits the target. Of course, the title probably is a bit of a hint.

In addition I have invented the category “Exaggeration Comedy” to prepare you for utter and fun nonsense. Guarantee: you will either love or hate (i.e. probably be offended by) this offering.

All the actors are well chosen. Consider a few of the regretfully  unforgettable characters:

  •   Father Johnny Rose is a suited, never wrong, oblivious bungler.
  •  Mother Moira Rose never wears the same outfit twice (just as does the villain in “What/If”). Each outfit she wears is purposely an exaggerated, outrageous spectacle. Also in each appearance she wears a different wig from her wig wall. Ignore the fact that the family has supposedly lost all their money, are living in two rooms, and yet Moira has some 52 different outfits (in addition to her wig wall)!
  •  Daughter  Alexis Rose minces her way through all the series. There is hardly a moment that she doesn’t speak and move in an affected, cutesy way.  Probably at first you may find her constant mannerisms annoying.
  •  Son David Rose, as far as his mannerisms go, is a carbon copy of his sister. David is bisexual although he spends most of the series being gay.
  •  Patrick Brewer and David open a store selling pampered people personal products. Eventually they are gay lovers. Patrick is the perfect sensible, open, sincere, normal foil to David’s personal style.
  •  Roland Schitt is the mayor of Schitt’s Creek. He is played by Chris Elliott. Just in case you can’t place his face, recall that in “Everybody Loves Raymond” Raymond’s brother marries a girl whose parents are religious fundamentalists and whose brother Peter MacDougall is a total annoying loser. Chris Elliott played that brother in “Raymond”. Is that paunch which Chris sports in “Schitt’s Creek” for real?

Why on earth would I waste my time watching this dysfunctional family at work?  Well, at the end of day, lying in bed, and not wanting to think a single rational thought, these episodes are a hoot. And you must remember:

I LOVE TRASH!

2019, Abuse of Women, Acceptable Trash, Bad high school, Career Competition, Child abuse, Cold Cases, Complicated, Corny at times, Dancing, Detective, DNA, Drama, Emotional child abuse, Ethical struggles, Extramarital Affair, Fashion, Gay theme, Illegitimate Child, Mediocre, Melodrama, Mother-daughter relations, Murder, Narcissistic Personality, Netflix Streaming, Psychopath, Sex Scenes, Sociopath, Suspense, Uncategorized, Unscrupulous drive to power, Violent, Womanizing

What/If (2019)

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From IMDB:

An anthology series which tackles a different morality tale, and the ripple effect of a single decision that changes the trajectory of an entire life.

From Netflix you can stream 10 episodes of this soap opera. Each episode lasts between 40 and 60 minutes.

Anne Montgomery is the villain and most prominent feature of this acceptable trashy melodrama. She is played by Renee Zellweger (Bridget Jones) who looks awfully good for her 50 years. Of course it does not hurt her appearance to wear not only tons of makeup but to wear in each new appearance an astounding designer creation. Best of all you can hear her lisp for all ten episodes.

Harlequin Books, the leaders in trashy bodice-rippers, will send you a story plot and will pay you to fill in the details. Suppose, in similar fashion you want to write a Netflix Original screenplay. What should be in the plot to be current in 2019?  Here are some suggestions (where we were motivated by this marvelous series):

  • In each couple, one of the partners must be hiding some terrible, guilty secret which prevents that person from being truly open with the other person.
  • One of the couples must be a gay couple. They should engage in least some filmed threesome sexual activity.
  • For each couple there must be a third party who has some destructive relation to one of the partners.
  • Some character must be a homicidal sociopath.
  • Financial dealings must complicated by the fact that you can never know whom to trust.

Probably I could extend the list, but those selling points should be enough to tempt you to watch almost 10 hours of acceptable trash. As a further inducement to wasting all that time, I am happy to reveal that by the end of episode ten, all problems have been resolved. Moreover, the plot leaves an opening for another thrilling set of trashy episodes.

Thanks to former colleague Kellie Trainer for suggesting this binge-worthy series. She and I have a motto:

WE LOVE TRASH!

2015, 2016, Abuse of Women, Adopted child, Adultery, Ambiguous Conclusion, Blackmail, Bloody scenes, British, British Mystery Series, Cancer theme, Child abuse, Child Molestation, Cold Cases, Contract Killing, Corruption, Courtroom scenes, Depression, DNA, DO NOT MISS, Dysfunctional Lives, Emotional child abuse, Family Conflict, Father-daughter relations, Father-son relations, Gay theme, Incest, Male Prostitutes, Marital Infidelity, Mother-daughter relations, Mother-son relations, Murder, Murder Investigation, Netflix Streaming, Pedophilia, Personal Betrayal, Police cover-up, Police Politics, Prostitutes, Racism, Rape, Revenge, Romance, Sex with underage girls, Sister-sister relations

Unforgotten (2015)

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From Netflix you can stream the first two seasons of this excellent British cold-case series.

For the 6 45-minute episodes of the first season the plot starts with:

A skeleton found in the cellar of a building prompts investigation from DCI Stuart and her colleague into the murder of a young man that could potentially span back thousands of years.

For the 6 45-minute episodes of the second season the plot starts with:

Cassie and Sunny join together to investigate when a body is found in a suitcase when the river Lea gets dredged.

Although there are 5 seasons, I don’t know where to find the last three seasons.

In each season the plot runs as follows: First and foremost the challenge is to identify the victim. That process leads to a list of names associated with the victim. Each such name carries its own story. Eventually all the personal stories become entangled as the detectives struggle to make sense of the crime.

British crime series strike me as one big repertory group. You see the same actors over and over in different roles. If you want a list of those actors that keep reappearing, “Unforgotten” provides that list. Couple the list with the “Unforgotten” discussion in IMDB just in case you know you have seen that actor before but you just can’t remember who it is.

Both seasons are binge-worthy. DO NOT MISS!

 

2018, Amazon Prime, Amusing banter, Based on true facts, British, British Comedy, British Politics, Career Competition, Comedy, Conspiracy, Contract Killing, Courtroom scenes, Drama, Eccentric cast of characters, Explicit sexual discussion, Extramarital Affair, Farce, Gay theme, Homophobia, Lot's of Fun, Mother-son relations, Murder, Personal Betrayal, Sex Scenes, True Story, Witty dialog

A Very English Scandal (2018)

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From Amazon Prime:

The shocking true story of the first British politician to stand trial for conspiracy to murder. Jeremy Thorpe (Hugh Grant), the leader of the Liberal party, has a secret he’s desperate to hide. His ex-lover Norman Scott (Ben Whishaw) is putting Thorpe’s brilliant political career at risk so Thorpe schemes and deceives until he realizes there’s only one way to silence Scott for good.

From Amazon Prime you can stream a true one-season drama divided into 3 one hour episodes.

Recall that in 1967 Britain decriminalized homosexual acts between two men over 21 years of age. This true story takes place before and after that year, which influences how the characters behave. Do not be alarmed. Although the entire story centers around homosexuality in the British culture and law, the only sexual activity you will see is men kissing each other.

This drama is a COMEDY. You have to appreciate the restraint of British humor. Characters will say or plan outrageous events with a perfectly straight face.  Two characters will commit conspiracy to murder without showing emotion. But much of the time,  it is  tongue in cheek. Sometimes I had to laugh out loud.

Certain actors stand out:

  • An ageing Hugh Grant (he looks to me much older than his 58 years)  plays Jeremy Thorpe the plotting politician.  His facial expressions show him to be an accomplished actor.
  • Ben Whishaw plays the somewhat flamboyant Norman Scott who tends to break into tears now and then. He won a golden globe award for his role.
  • Alex Jennings is Jeremy’s best friend and co-conspirator. His 61 years also show. He played King Leopold in Victoria and also played Dr. Tim Finch in Unforgotten.

At the very end you get to see the photographs of the actual persons involved and how their lives turned out.  Norman Scott is still alive.

It is a HOOT!

 

2018, Acorn TV, Basically Sad, Brother-Sister relations, Drama, Extramarital Affair, Family Conflict, Fatal Neurological Disease, Father-daughter relations, Father-son relations, Forensics, Gay theme, Irish, Masturbation, Mother-son relations, Murder Investigation, Mystery Film, Suspense, Terminal Disease

Blood (2018)

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From Acorn TV:

Likened to Broadchurch and The Killing by critics, this psychological mystery is “must-see TV…taut, stylish, and suspenseful” (The Irish Times). BAFTA nominee Adrian Dunbar (Line of Duty) stars as a respected doctor in a small Irish town. When his wife dies, everyone believes it was an accident—except his daughter (Carolina Main, Unforgotten), who mistrusts her father because of a childhood trauma.

From Acorn TV you can stream the 6 episodes of the one season Irish drama Each episode lasts about 45 minutes.

Talk about family problems!  Better than your average soap opera, this superbly acted drama maintains the suspenseful atmosphere for all six episodes.  From the very beginning I sided with the daughter Cat and increasingly viewed the father Jim as some kind of narcissistic monster. But wait until you have seen  all six episodes before making a final judgment. Because I did not want to introduce a spoiler, there were categories that I did not add to the review header.

And don’t the Irish as portrayed seem to drink a lot of alcohol?

All the actors are perfectly cast. Probably you might recognize Adrian Dunbar who played Ted Hastings in “Line of Duty.”

If you hanker after family tension then do not miss!