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Macky
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Really getting into it |
Location: USA
Registered: November 2008
Messages: 973
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Rainy day here in Pa.
I am going to watch 'Brokeback Mountain' with my wife. I've never seen a gay love story before. What is your favorite male love story?
Behold, how good and how pleasant it is
For brothers to dwell together in unity!
Ps 133:1 NASB
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I don't really do love stories as such: I find the formula of true love meeting obstacles a bit too depressing!
But movies where same-sex love is a major component - well, a couple of very different ones:
"IF ..." (dir. Lindsay Anderson). The gay sub-plot runs gently through the film, the shot of the two boys together cuddled is bed in truly touching, unforced, and in context ... and when I first saw it (1968 or 9, the year it came out) was a major liberation for me. The rest of the movie is pretty good, as well!
"LES AMANTS CRIMINELS" (dir. François Ozon) A very dark movie indeed - it starts with a rather bloody murder, and gets more intense. An extremely disturbing exploration of the power of sexual attraction and those who consciously manipulate it, it has a deeply anti-feminist undertone that holds a rather unpleasant fascination for me. Not a movie for the faint-hearted.
"YOU ARE NOT ALONE" (Du er ikke alene dir.Ernst Johansen / Lasse Nielsen). The boys are sweet, the setting is pretty, the plot is improbable. Watching this movie reminds me of eating an enormous bowl of popcorn: unsatisfying, and leaving me feeling full and slightly nauseated, but knowing that I'll almost certainly do it again.
"The ultimate weakness of violence is that it is a descending spiral, begetting the very thing it seeks to destroy. ... Returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night devoid of stars." Martin Luther King
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timmy
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Has no life at all |
Location: UK, in Devon
Registered: February 2003
Messages: 13796
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I fear this is not really a love story. Instead it's 135 minutes that could so easily have been really good and emotional, and totally failed to achieve anything except a mild notoriety.
[Updated on: Fri, 03 April 2009 14:29]
Author of Queer Me! Halfway Between Flying and Crying - the true story of life for a gay boy in the Swinging Sixties in a British all male Public School
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timmy
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Has no life at all |
Location: UK, in Devon
Registered: February 2003
Messages: 13796
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I agree with "You are Not Alone".
In a weird way "For a Lost Soldier" which was a love story, albeit with a socially unacceptable age difference.
The Talented Mr Ripley is, in its way, a love story, too.
Then there is, of course, the gay classic "The Guns of Navarone", not that I liked the film, but it is a classic.
Ah, "If..." was wonderful. And so much a documentary of my school days. Well, up to the café scene at least!
[Updated on: Fri, 03 April 2009 12:23]
Author of Queer Me! Halfway Between Flying and Crying - the true story of life for a gay boy in the Swinging Sixties in a British all male Public School
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Dear Macky,
I don't think I have a favourite. Perhaps I like too many. I don't consciously rate them as I read or on finishing.
I haven't see Brokeback Mountain. I have Annie Proulx's short story and I don't think it would be fair to describe it as a love story. I find it depressing, probably because the self-knowledge of the characters is so inadequate to their needs. I do find films nowadays tell their stories in such short takes that I frequently find I've missed something important and only discover what the story really was when talking about it afterwards.
But I have taken Sylvia to see some very strange films in the Lesbian and Gay film festival. When we lived in St Albans we could get to the National Film Theatre and the Bristol venue (they always seem to choose the least attractive half of the films to tour with) is not too far away.
I bought "Summer Storm" and we watched it together because Donny gave it a glowing report on here. I think I have found the most erotic films to watch were not intended to be for gay people. Have you seen 'Bicycle Thieves' or 'La Strada' or 'Crin Blanc'?
Those are all rather old because we scarcely go to the cinema any more. The last film we saw was the last Harry Potter.
Love,
Anthony
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Macky
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Really getting into it |
Location: USA
Registered: November 2008
Messages: 973
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Well, thats the second thumbs down for Brokeback. I think I'll just chuck it and see if I can get "IF" or "Not Alone" or one of the french films you mention (are they more love story or more erotic?). I hate wasting my time on bad movies.
You lived in St. Alban's? Judy and I were there for about a week in 1990, right before my son was born. There's a chunk of flint in the garden, that we picked up at the train station there. We made it our base and took the train into London, then rented a car and drove very fast on the wrong side of the road. Lucky you, we haven't been back for 20 years.
I have a special thing for Harry Potter. He has a certain smile that reminds me of the first boy I ever fell in love with.
Behold, how good and how pleasant it is
For brothers to dwell together in unity!
Ps 133:1 NASB
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timmy
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Has no life at all |
Location: UK, in Devon
Registered: February 2003
Messages: 13796
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Brokeback is a curiosity rather than a love story. It's more a tale of lonely rutting than anything erotic.
You Are Not Alone is charming, slightly weird, sweet, and somehow unfulfilling.
If... is definitely surreal! Not at all erotic, more amorous.
For a Lost Soldier is a real love story, yet harsh in a way. I felt dreadfully sorry for Jeroen, and yet happy for him as well.
You could do worse than Edge of Seventeen, set in Sandusky, Ohio, or Get Real, set in Vagueville, UK. I also liked the UK original series one of Queer as Folk. The second series was pointless and the US series went of for ever.
Author of Queer Me! Halfway Between Flying and Crying - the true story of life for a gay boy in the Swinging Sixties in a British all male Public School
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I think my favourite gay film remains 'Get Real' with Ben Silverstone. What a QT and so frustrating. I think there must have been something in his contract about not removing his trousers. (Cf Arthur Lowe in 'Dad's Army' [and 'If…']) Still it has its funny moments as well as the sad ones.
I'm surprised no one mentioned 'Death in Venice'.
There is a Swedish coming of age film called 'Sebastian' which I have on VHS somewhere.
'You are not Alone' I found difficult to follow because of the awful colours and the lighting is dreadful, not to mention the long hair of the boys and their fashions. I would like to see a remake of that where I do the casting and wardrobe of the boys.
'If…' has connotations for me from the time I lived in hall in London. It came out about the time the midnight movie was introduced in cinemas. Before going I went back to my room to fetch my coat and discovered the boy I should have made my boyfriend seducing my up to then hetero roommate.
Coincidentally forty years on I live well within ten miles of the settings for 'If…' The café on the motorbike ride has long been demolished.
Hugs
N
I dream of boys with big bulges in their trousers,
Never of girls with big bulges in their blouses.
…and look forward to meeting you in Cóito.
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timmy
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Has no life at all |
Location: UK, in Devon
Registered: February 2003
Messages: 13796
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What happened to that boy today?
DinV is not a love story, though!
[Updated on: Fri, 03 April 2009 21:34]
Author of Queer Me! Halfway Between Flying and Crying - the true story of life for a gay boy in the Swinging Sixties in a British all male Public School
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Oh! Nigel, I feel for you. What an awful thing to happen to you, but do I read too much into it? Were you aware THEN that you should have made him your boyfriend?
I was no good at seduction. All I could do was make sheeps' eyes and appeal (not always mutely). I could never have been a salesman!
Maybe if I had been able I'd have found a male lover. As it was I failed to do that and instead found a female one. The only men I loved were not available to me.
Love,
Anthony
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Lewis, the boy who should have become my boyfriend, was openly gay. At the age of 20 in the mid sixties I was too naïve to recognise it, or do I mean admit it? I was dealing with the battle of my own sexuality at the time and unfortunately hadn't lost it yet. With that incident the scales fell from my eyes as far as Lewis was concerned, but not as far as myself was concerned. By the time I was mentally prepared for a relationship our ways were about to part and it had no future. I was about to go abroad for 15 months and Lewis was about to drop out of college.
Regrettably I never spoke to Keith my roommate about it. He had a lovely girlfriend that even I could fancy. I think Lewis used all his skill to seduce him and it was probably a one night stand. Keith was certainly in bed alone when I returned at 3 am.
It was not a shock for me or even a bad experience. Rather illuminating really. The only regrets came later in life when I admitted to myself I was gay and realised that I had missed some great opportunities, but I'm not screwed up about it or anything.
Hugs
N
I dream of boys with big bulges in their trousers,
Never of girls with big bulges in their blouses.
…and look forward to meeting you in Cóito.
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I don't know. At the end of the academic year we went our separate ways and our paths never crossed again. We only shared for one term anyway.
Hugs
N
I dream of boys with big bulges in their trousers,
Never of girls with big bulges in their blouses.
…and look forward to meeting you in Cóito.
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timmy
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Has no life at all |
Location: UK, in Devon
Registered: February 2003
Messages: 13796
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I've seen Beautiful Thing on stage and as the film, and read the script. I'd say it is best as a stage production, which the script suits it for very well, but that it makes a poor film.
I wasn't happy with the production I saw, though; it came over as harsher than it ought to have been.
Author of Queer Me! Halfway Between Flying and Crying - the true story of life for a gay boy in the Swinging Sixties in a British all male Public School
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Cameron
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Toe is in the water |
Registered: January 2008
Messages: 70
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I liked Brokeback Mountain a lot. I also liked Get Real and Maurice quite a lot.
Cameron
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... all with prominent gay romantic leads (sometimes fulfilled, others unrequited), each worthy of your viewing not-with-standing their often-times "B" caliber status amongst the film festival cognoscenti.
Defying Gravity
(U.S.A., 1997, Directed by John Keitel, 92 min., Wolfe Vidéo, Boom Pictures, [EN], UPC 754703761538)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0156460/
Big Eden
(U.S.A., 2000, Directed by Thomas Bezucha, 118 min., Wolfe Vidéo, Chaiken Films, Big Eden LLC, [EN], UPC 754703761804)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0212815/
Regarding Billy
(U.S.A., 2005, Directed by Jeff London, 80 min., Guardian Pictures, Jeff London Productions, [EN], UPC 827912031683)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0482579/
Breakfast With Scot
(Canada, 2007, Directed by Laurie Lynd, 90 min., Capri Releasing, Mongrel Media, Capri Films, Miracle Pictures, Scot Pictures, [EN], UPC 629159035581)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0910847/
Like It Is
(U.K., 1998, Directed by Paul Oremeland, 97 min., First Run Features Home Vidéo, Channel Four Films, iFulcrum, Deep In You Films, [EN], UPC 720229908887)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0146990/
Fighting Tommy Riley
(U.S.A., 2004, Directed by Eddie O'Flaherty, 109 min., Freestyle Releasing, Visualeyes Productions, Jellyworks LLC, [EN], UPC 025192798320)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0366444/
Southside [aka Cock & Bull Story]
(U.S.A., 2003, Directed by Billy Hayes, 109 min., Wolfe Vidéo, Pantheon Entertainment LLC, Hawkemedia, Southside-The Movie LLC, [EN], UPC 754703762283)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0271798/
The Nature Of Nicholas
(Canada, 2001, Directed by Jeff Erbach, 97 min., Domino Film & Television International, Full Stop Films, Manitoba Film & Sound Development Corporation, Téléfilm Canada, Critical Madness Productions Inc, [EN], UPC Unknown)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0305882/
Sugar
(Canada, 2004, Directed by John Palmer, 78 min., Velocity Home Entertainment, TH!NKFilm, [EN], UPC 821575519878)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0374252/
Borstal Boy
(U.K./Ireland, 2000, Directed by Peter Sheridan, 93 min., Strand Releasing, Ventura Distribution, Hell's Kitchen, Bórd Scannán na hÉireann, Dalota Films, [EN], UPC 712267211326)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0221838/
Also on my gay-themed romantic thread "worthy of note" list are:
The aforementioned "Get Real", "Beautiful Thing", "Brokeback Mountain" and "Du Er Ikke Alene" [aka You Are Not Alone]; and the thus far not spoken of "Latter Days", "Strákarnir Okkar" [aka Eleven Men Out], "Soldier's Girl", "Priest", "Wilby Wonderful", "Yossi & Jagger", "The Fruit Machine" [aka Wonderland], "New Year's Day", "Philadelphia" and "Luster" [aka Muse] just to mention a few.
Warren C. E. Austin
Toronto, Canada
[Updated on: Mon, 06 April 2009 13:32]
"... comme recherché qu'un délice callipygian"
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