Boys on Film 1: Hard Love

I'd seen "Cowboy Forever" before and really liked it. It's the best film of this collection and is worth seeking out as a stand alone short and avoiding the mass of dross that the majority of the other films here are.

"Gay Zombie" was just awful and I fast forwarded through, giving up before the end. I;m not into this type of film metaphor for a gay plague or not. It might have helped had the voices not been so whiningly American.

I enjoyed "Le Weekend", a story within a story of a film graduation piece intersecting with a recording of real life events. It was nice to see the London of nearly 20 years ago too through the eyes of a tourist. The themes were germane and rang true in the context of a straight guy going as far as he could with a gay guy who fancied him like mad while needing to string the gay lad along for accommodation and entertainment. I thought the ending was great - the gay guy had just carried on with his life and the straight tease didn't get to apologise.

"Mirror Mirror" was cruel and plausible for all that it was an imagining. I'm not sure what a film about a tranny was doing here in a gay collection but I guess we have to be LGBT-inclusive. I enjoyed it; it said some home truths.

"Packed Lunch" was fast forwarded through. Boring and uninteresting unless you have a fetish for speedos. I don't.

"Scarred" showed what could have been a terrifying revenge, but also the progression of an aggressive closet case into acceptance of his sexuality. We learn in flashback the significance of the scar and its provenance. I was hooked.

For "Serene Hunter", I'm glad I can speak French as the version I watched had no subs for the French-language dialogue. I found the hero sexy and the story fascinating; it's a good illustration of how many gay men flit from "lurve" to the next coupling.

I'd seen "Summer" in the distant past and wasn't that interested. Unfortunately, in the version of the collection I had, the voices in this film were out of sync with the lips which made it unwatchable so I switched out.

"VGL-Hung". Well I watched it all the way through and thought it was interesting enough despite my dislike of this sort of fantasy sequence. What spoilt it for me was that the supposed raunchy, goodlooking guys were, to me, uniformly unattractive. The protagonist was irritating but I accepted that as a clever part of the film which finally got us to accept him. To me, the horniest guy was the one who fell asleep on the train.

So, five stars because of the utter duds and below average films here. It's always a shame when good films are dragged down by bad ones.

A couple worth the watch and others that should never have been made.

Summer - It's a shame to say that I found there to be not much point to this one and it had such potential as well. It could have been a cute story about two lads falling in love or at least one straight ones acceptance of the other, but the resolution didn't have enough detail and the ending seemed to come too quickly as if it was an instalment of a series instead and we had to wait for the next part.

Gay Zombie - Daft and very silly, but fun in a way and with a couple of cute guys. I would have liked a bit more nudity for the comedic effect as much as anything else.

I also did wonder, just from a moment near the end, whether it might be a metaphor for aids?

Serene Hunter - Although the story was a little bit weak, I liked the nudity. It could be made longer and with more detail the story could flourish.

Le weekend - The two leads are very cute, I think that Seb is cruel for keeping his secret from Rafael, but it's an interesting turn around I suppose. I like the general idea of the film and Seb's journey.

I could have done without the Anglo bashing, don't forget who came to your rescue in WWII my French friends.

Cowboy Forever - I'm not normally in to these docu-drama type of things, but this was quite cute and so were the guys. Oddly, for a short film, it was a bit long, especially as his English was quite monotonous, but no doubt better than my Brazilian (Accent that is, I don't manscape like I should).

Scarred - I don't like films that leave things unfinished, but otherwise this has the beginnings of what could be a deep and interesting story about Raffi's coming out experience and what he learns from his mistakes. Or an opportunity to come to terms with what has happened to him and wear his scar with Pride!

Packed Lunch - There is an Aussie Bum DVD out there somewhere which is very similar to the theme of this film, but it is done with far more class, style and sophistication and without a monotonous narration.

This one is badly produced, with terrible sound and a group of Speedo fetishist clones. There's not enough diversity.

Get this idea to someone who can make something beautiful with it. There are millions of Speedo fans desperate to see a good version of this documentary.

Mirror Mirror - I don't usually bother too much with Trans stories, but I found this one to be quite simply thoughtful and clever.

VGL-Hung - I instantly hated the lead character, which I'm sure was deliberate, but it was way too much. His voice grated in such a bad way.

The film was trying to tell a rekrvajt message about a very superficial lifestyle and the world of the gorgeous that we live in but it just got lost in the too cheesey moments and silly comedy.