NQV's newest -- THE MALE GAZE: NOCTURNAL INSTINCTS -- starts dark then grows pretty hot

Don't give up on 

THE MALE GAZE: NOCTURNAL INSTINCTS, the latest round-up of GLBT (this group completely G) short films, for although this collection begins badly, it slowly turns into something more interesting, ending up with one of the hottest, most extensively sexual pieces -- full-frontal with some semi-erections -- that I've encountered in all my New Queer Visions/NQV Media viewing so far. 

The company's choice of films seems most often to prefer exploring ideas, feelings and character rather than merely soft-core, in-your-face sex scenes, though the latter is certainly appreciated when handled well. (And it certainly is in this compilation's final sequence.)

The initial 16-minute film, called SPIRAL, looks like nothing so much as an audition for a longer and undoubtedly grizzlier horror movie with the "unnecessary" stuff -- like, oh, character, ideas, even plot -- simply left out. So we get handsomely bearded faces, hot bodies, blood, very dark visuals but not much sense. Should the writer/director Gustave Olsson finally make that longer version, let's hope he adheres more closely to something rich and strange like Heartless, rather than to the more common slasher schlock that dots screens these days.

From sex in Sweden we move to copulation in China, where two drugged-up fellows rut like rabbits, after which one of them apparently dies. What to do?  The left-alive guy turns to two female friends for help, and a few further events take place, leaving us at the finale with a what-the-fuck? moment of a not-quite-complete-visual of which to make sense. FLOATING MELON, the 19-minute movie written and directed by a team of Spanish (Roberto F. Canuto) and Chinese (Xiaoxi Xu) filmmakers, slathers a little cultural/political history over its "story," and so proves at least slightly more interesting than its predecessor in the collection.

The third film proves better, simply because we have more of a sense of character and motivation with less melodrama. British filmmaker Dean Anderson's 17-minute, three-character POOF tells the story of Aaron, a young man who works in construction with his typically British, typically no-big-deal homophobic dad, who meets the slightly older Mike, a relatively stable gay guy clearly attracted to Aaron. Self-acceptance is the theme here, and it is played out with credibility and finesse.

Self-acceptance is also the theme of the much darker 24-minute film, AFTER DAWN (Passée l'aube) in which it's the older man who's not come anywhere near fully to terms with his sexuality -- which has near-fatal results for the young man who is in love with him. As written and directed by Belgian-born Nicolas Graux, the film is sad and melancholy until it finally opens the door to the "closet," and we suddenly realize that this can also be a grave.

It's that final film, the 25-minute, NIGHT OF LOVE that certainly proves the most entertaining and maybe even the most fulfilling of these short films. As written and directed by Omri Loukas (above), who also stars in the lead role (note to Mr. Loukas: You are indeed adorable, but you might want to reconsider before placing that line of dialog, about you, into the mouth of one of the other characters), the movie tracks poor Yonathan, about to go into the army but, having been kicked out by his ex-boyfriend, needs a place to stay for the night. Mom's unavailable, Dad's unhelpful, and so our hero does one of those hook-up apps and finds himself the central attraction in a quintet of group sex.

Though Mr. Loukas is the star, the main visual event here is Sasson Betzalel (above, left), who plays the very hot and hunky Palestinian in whose apartment all the romping takes place. Mr. Betzalel is more than generous in allowing us to view his body and sexual equipment, and he is also a good enough actor to convey the genuine feelings he has for Yonathan -- who certainly experiences more than expected from this "night of love."

From NQV Media, in various languages (all with English subtitles), and running 98 minutes, The Male Gaze: Nocturnal Instincts, is available now via digital streaming -- for rental or purchase. Click here for further information.

NQV Media bounces back with new compilation of gay shorts, THE MALE GAZE: HIDE AND SEEK

Five different countries are represented in the excellent new group of GLBT short features from NQV Media, THE MALE GAZE: HIDE AND SEEK -- in which the "closet" figures ever so strongly in all but one of the films. (In that one, it is pretty much laughed at and refused even so much as a discussion.) 

This is yet another grouping of smart, subtle shorts in which NQV seems to specialze, and it's a nice comeback from the last grouping, which was "all American" and as obvious and one-note as you might expect from that location.

The first of these short films is actually spoken in English (it's a German/Brazilian co-production), and it's both charming and refreshing. LOLO, directed by Leandro Goddinho and Paulo Menezes, tackles the idea of too-gay vs heteroflexible, in its tale of rather young schoolkids coming to terms with coming out. This 14-minute charmer ends just at the moment that a further story is about to unfold, but it seems the perfect ending for this short, nonetheless.

THE DEN is among the darkest of the NQV shorts I've so far seen, as its Italian director Lorenzo Caproni details in just 15 minutes what happens when old flames Luca and Christian meet again after some years have passed. Bondage, S&M, and graphic sex pile up, and the film proves as ugly and sad as Lolo was appealing and sweet. Unfortunately it is probably a bit more believable, as well.

In Portuguese from Brazilian director Paulo Roberto, the titular character STANLEY is one we never see. What we do view are two hunky young men and their closet/beard female who take off on a motorcycle for a lakeside trip during which she falls asleep and the two guys have hot sex. TrustMovies must admit that the early scenes of plucking fowl did not fully integrate for him with the rest of the film. Still, the use of suggestion, the mix of memory and present moment and the realistic performances go far in making this 20-minute movie work surprisingly well.

Slovakia represents Eastern Europe in this compilation, but director David Benedek's IF ONLY YOU WERE MINE seems to me to be the least of this lot. Beautifully shot and well acted, its story, however, has been told so many times already that there's not much new to explore here, as a young man's first love turns out to a player and a user. Soap opera-like, the film also reduces the poor, smitten young woman who clearly cares about our hero to, as usual in far too many gay films, near-nothing status.  

In the London-set NO STRINGS, another theme we've seen quite a bit in both straight and gay romances -- the hook-up that just might turn into something more --  is given a most interesting workout via the pertinent and sometimes succulent details we learn about the two men involved, one from Wales, the other from Ireland. Director Eoin Maher draws wonderful performances from his two leads, and visually his 23-minute film is consistently alive and a pleasure to view.

The Male Gaze: Hide and Seek makes its debut from NQV Media this Friday, January 22 -- available worldwide on Amazon Prime Video and Vimeo. Click here to view the trailer, and here to learn more information.

A Russian emigrant diddles around in France: Claude Chamis' THE WANDERINGS OF IVAN

That sometimes fine line between art and pomposity gets a real workout in the latest offering from NQV, the 2018 film from French filmmaker Claude Chamis entitled THE WANDERINGS OF IVAN. 

Tracking a recent young emigrant from Russia as he wanders around a French city and then some woodland area nearby, the movie stars a hunky, auburn-haired actor named Aram Arakelyan (at right and below) who's got a great body and a handsome face that unfortunately he keeps pretty much in a single expression throughout the entire movie. Meanwhile, the so-so script graces us with a voiceover in which Ivan talks (and talks and talks) about the friends he left in Russia. Also tossed in is a little bit about how he left them -- but almost no why.

The movie opens with Ivan asleep in the automobile of the surprised young woman who finds him there and screams for him to get out. He then wanders around begging for money, which almost no one gives him. Are we to think that France is full of an uncaring populace? Rather like the rest of the western (and maybe eastern) world, I suppose.

The woods where he wanders turns out to be a major gay cruising spot, but Ivan's having no part of this. Well, he is willing to take the money from a john (Franck Zerbib, above) and then run instead of suck, but what happens here turns out to be a lot worse than merely that. 

Along the way, he gets to kiss one young woman (Camille Freychet, above) and then fuck an older one (Corine Watrin, below) and barely interact with a few of these woods' male hookers -- to just about no avail (and hardly more interest)  whatsoever. 

One of those hookers (Benjamin Baclet, foreground, below) gifts another (Pablo Alarson, background, below) with a book of philosophic musings (of course, this is a French film!), quite a lot of the content of which is droned at us via the narration. Uh.... yeah. These musings/life lessons are not dumb exactly, but the movie itself eventually becomes so. And pointless -- unless the point is to point out how difficult it is these days to make any connection with our fellow man.

There are no real characters here -- including Ivan himself -- just a bunch of good-looking ciphers. Meanwhile, the cinematography is nice, performances are mostly of the "look away so meaningfully" sort, and the film's finale may leave you with but a single question, "Who gives a shit?" As you can probably tell by now, TrustMovies didn't.

From NQV Media (whose offerings I usually recommend more highly than this one) and running just 75 minutes, The Wanderings of Ivan hit digital streaming last week and is available now. You can view it by clicking here, then scrolling down to the line that begins with WATCH and making the proper choice among several possibilities.

Streaming now, and in a darker mode: NEW QUEER VISIONS: RIGHT BESIDE YOU

Clearly titled with an eye toward irony, the latest installment from NQV Media -- NEW QUEER VISIONS: RIGHT BESIDE YOU -- makes that titular proximity mean both everything and nothing simultaneously. This is certainly the darkest compilation of GLBT shorts from this distributor that I've thus far seen. And if it is not maybe the best of the lot, it is certainly worth viewing and pondering.

This collection of five short films offers three that can in no way be interpreted as having a happy ending; another might have one in the best of all possible worlds, while one simply exists as a kind of brief character study. Another "plus" here is that both bisexuality and transgender are interestingly explored for a change. (Not for nothing was NQV's original company name New Queer Visions: Most of what we see harks definitely toward the gay.)

From Mexico, MY MOTHER'S LOVERS (Los Movios de mi madre) is all about a teenager, his best (and only) friend, and his mom. Dark as pitch and beautifully handled, the 22-minute film was written by Lorena Moleres and directed by Samuel Montes de Oca León. 

The 13-minute BOOTYFUL, from France, introduces us to a lithe and beautiful black man who attracts and is attracted to both men and women. What does this mean to our hero? A full-length film might further explore this; what we get here is a very nicely filmed introduction, well-written and -directed by François Barbier.  

ONLY WHAT YOU NEED TO NOW ABOUT ME (Apenas o que você precisa saber sobre mim) involves skateboarding, friendship, identity and ersatz closeness. As written and directed by Maria Augusta V. Nunes, this 15-minute film, in Portuguese from Brazil, handles a delicate subject with finesse, understanding and absolute empathy for all concerned.

JUNK refers to the drug and is by far the darkest of the short films presented here. Family, fallout, hard drugs, hopelessness, love and the need to save all jockey for position as our heroes' predicament grow more dire. From the United Kingdom, running 24 minutes, and written and directed by Joe Morris, this is another movie that cries out for expansion. (Though it might just be too much of a downer for many filmgoers.)

The most upbeat (well, maybe) is saved for the finale, as HIGH TIDE explores what happens when a hugely closeted (from himself, as much as from anyone else) Muslim man meets and finds himself attracted to a hunky younger fellow. From The Netherlands, running 22 minutes, and written and directed by Claire Zhou, the movie may open your eyes to the benefits of first closing them.

NEW QUEER VISIONS: RIGHT BESIDE YOU, with English subtitles and running 95 minutes in its entirety, is available now via digital streaming. Click here and scroll down for info on how to view the film.

Filippo Timi and Sebastiano Mauri's FAIRYTALE hits digital and DVD here in the USA

If you tend to be a sucker for very strange cinema (as am I), you probably won't find an odder example than FAIRYTALE (Favola), the Italian movie from 2017 based on the popular stage play by actor and sometimes writer Filippo Timi, one of my favorite performers, whom we get to see far too seldom here in the USA. TrustMovies interviewed Signore Timi back in 2010, when he played the role of Mussolini in Marco Bellocchio's Vincere. Versatile in the extreme, he sometimes proves nearly unrecognizable from movie to movie.

In the case of Fairytale, Timi (above, left) has co-written the screenplay (with the film's director, Sebastiano Mauri, above, right) as well as essaying the leading role of Mrs. Fairytale, an American housewife in the 1950s who is, pretty much unbeknownst (initially, even to herself), going through a process of heavy-duty self-discovery. On one level, this involves everything from mere temptation to adultery and murder, on yet another, it embraces cross-dressing, transgender, homosexuality, heterosexuality, pansexuality, depression and (societal-induced) mental illness.

As the film opens, our heroine (above) is flitting around her very 1950s home (as envisioned by Italians of the 21st Century), and all by themselves, the costumes, set and production design are reason enough to sit through this gloriously cockeyed movie. So is the tiny taxidermy-mounted poodle, Lady, who begins this bizarre concoction (in animated form) and then stays with us throughout, as some weird kind of security blanket for our thoroughly addled homemaker.

In addition to the eye-popping decor, we also get a dose of just about all your could ask from a film about America in the 50s: Doris Day, UFOs, straying husbands, unfaithful wives, the mambo and Douglas Sirk/Ross Hunter-inspired melodrama. As an encyclopedia of movie knowledge and references, we get quite a lot from Fairytale, too, including Mildred Pierce (below) and All About Eve (further below).

Timi is pretty much the whole show and he is, as always, exraordinary, but very good support is provided by Lucia Mascino (above and at bottom) as the next-door neighbor and friend who becomes quite a bit more over time,

and by Luca Santagostino (below, playing triplet brothers in this neighborhood with flair and versatility). And although daddy issues don't seem to raise their head in the course of the film,

mommy issues certainly do, via the funny, incisive performance of Piera Degli Esposti (below), in the role of Fairytale's rather commanding mother. As lunatic as the movie is, start to finish, it's also clearly trying to persuade audiences to think longer, harder and more pointedly about gender, the roles we assign to this, and the somewhat "iffy" results we continue to get.

While the USA, France and other western countries have all made their own mark on the subject, Fairytale seems to me the very peculiar Italian version of it all.

The fact the Signore Timi, whom I have found to be -- both on screen and in person -- among the "straightest," most "male" and powerful of actors and personalities has been, according to the IMDB, married to the film's director, Signore Mauri, for the past four years would seem to indicate that he has found his own gender-bending way to deal with all this. More power to him!

From Breaking Glass Pictures and running just 90 minutes, Fairytale makes its DVD and VOD debut this coming Tuesday, May 12 -- for purchase and/or rental. It's over-the-top and then some, but if you're looking for an escape from the world of our current and ever-present Covid-19 menace, this movie may very well get you the hell out of here. (It's even got an American flag for the "patriots" among us.)

Unhealthy obsession dominates Yuval Hadadi's Israeli mid-life-crisis-themed 15 YEARS

Dani is obsessed with Yoav, his lover of the titular 15 YEARS, and so is Alma, Yoav's best friend since childhood. Yoav is obsessed, too. With himself. And TrustMovies' best guess is that Yuval Hadadi (shown below), the writer/director of this new Israeli film, is also obsessed -- with the middle-aged but extremely hot-looking actor, Oded Leopold, who plays Yoav and who bears a rather striking resemblance in face, body and age,  to the filmmaker himself.

Mr. Leopold, shown below and further below, appears in nearly every scene of this film and is also prominent in every single publicity still I could find for this movie. Thankfully, he's a decent enough actor and is a consistent pleasure to look at, clothed or nude, throughout.

Because of all this, one might be tempted to imagine that 15 Years is possibly auto-biographical, but since I know nothing about Mr. Hadadi, I'll bring the subject up then leave it alone and concentrate on the movie itself.

15 Years is worth seeing for its extremely attractive cast, its look at haut-bourgeois gay life in Tel Aviv, and its often quite beautiful visuals: There's one composition featuring a plate of green apples and bright oranges that you'll want to immediately capture on canvas (its the image seen to the right of the screen through a window, not the later, less interesting image where the plate is centered). The expert, often gorgeous cinematography here is via Yaniv Linton.

The movie's plot, such as it is, concerns the sudden announcement regarding the pregnancy of Alma (Rute Asarsai, below, left) and how this affects the relationship between Dani, who might want a child of his own, and Yoav, who definitely does not. The idea of becoming a parent unleashes all sorts of negativity in Yoav.

Along the way we learn -- via a dying father whom Yoav does not want to visit and a scrapbook/wall of photographs -- about this fellow's problematic childhood. While no details are offered, we are meant to conclude that "family" is not a particularly positive part of Yoav's history. And this is the film's major problem: No details are offered about much of anything.

Late in the game Dani (Udi Persi, below, right) has an angry speech in which he lets Yoav know that their relationship has been mostly bad -- for Dani, at least. But we've seen little of this. Likewise, the bond between Alma and Yoav must be taken on faith. The performance are as good as they can be, given that character-creation does not appear an important part of the filmmaker's plan. The movie simply sets out its characters and situations and then does not go deep enough.

There are a couple of good sex scenes along the way, one of which -- simultaneously hot and creepy -- brings to the fore Yoav's capability for dominance and pain, even as his sex object seem to revel in the possibility of his own demise.

For all of the filmmaker's obsessing over Yoav, this too-loosely-drawn character seems far too narcissistic and egotistical to be worth this much attention (from the other characters or from us viewers) -- despite Mr. Leopold's enormous sexual charisma, which is on view consistently.

The film's most intelligent and upbeat character, a possible love interest for Dani (played with a graceful charm by Tamir Ginsberg), gives the movie a much-needed lift, but then we're back again with Yoav and his dire, dour problems. Sorry, but obsessions -- unless they're handled with the kind of skill Hitchcock could manage -- are more often than not difficult for an audience to fully share.

From Breaking Glass Pictures, in Hebrew with English subtitles and running 89 minutes, 15 Years hits DVD and VOD this coming Tuesday, April 28 -- for purchase and/or rental.

COUSINS--Mauro Carvalho & Thiago Cazado's sweet, gay fairytale from Brazil--opens in L.A.

Sweetness and charm can help a little independent movie go a long way. For the latest example, see COUSINS, a small delight from Brazil that the country's current right-wing dictator is no doubt hoping to ban or perhaps have its cast and crew "disappeared" forthwith. Meanwhile, the film -- co-directed by Mauro Carvalho (below) and Thiago Cazado (who doubles as screenwriter and triples as one of the film's two stars) -- opens this week in Los Angeles where it should attract a fairly pleased and loyal following.

Co-star Paulo Souza (shown below) plays a closeted young man named Lucas who lives with his aunt and is told by this religious but also quite caring woman that she must go away on some sort church-group trip, and that while she is gone he is to expect a visit from his cousin, Mario, whom Lucas he has never met and who is just now out of prison (don't worry: it's for a minor offense) and that Mario will be staying with them for awhile.

Of course that cousin (played by Cazado, below) turns out to be an adorable and very hot young man who shows a decided interest in Lucas, and before you can say, "OK: How long do we have to wait for the first sex scene?", they are going at it hot and heavy.

The sex is fun and quite sexy, and there's enough full-frontal to satisfy fans. More important, however: The two performances are lovely and real, and they help us glide easily over the screenplay's coincidence, happenstance and obviousness.

A naughty, jealous neighbor girl brings the plot to a boil, yet the film is so full of good nature and good humor (along with its good-looking cast) that there is really little to stop you from giving in to its sweetness and charm and simply going with the flow.

Sure, it's a fairytale, but it's a lovely one that might just make you forget, even momentarily, the downward spiral of a country for whom we had, for awhile at least, higher hopes. Still, who are we to throw stones, as the USA now has one of the world's prime sleazebags as its leader?

From TLA Releasing and running just 82 minutes, Cousins -- in Portuguese with English subtitles -- opens tomorrow, Friday, November 1, in Los Angeles at Laemmle's Music Hall 3. And as it's from TLA, there is sure to be a DVD/digital release in the offing soon.