meaninglessbark

Baisers cachés is essentially an "after school special" level film. The story is basic: Two teenage boys coming to terms with their sexuality and how their families and classmates handle it.

This would be a good film for teen viewers but most adults who are familiar with queer cinema will probably find it to be overly familiar and not particularly enraging.

Feral is one of those gays-of-our-lives shows and movies, the sort of TV shows and films that have no real story but just focus on the day-to-day lives of various characters. But unlike many in that genre Feral is well crafted with characters you can actually identify with or feel for.

The characters in Feral seem genuine and they're fairly far from most the gay cultural cliches seen in queer films. The cast is good and though the acting at some points sort of feels amateurish it always feels authentic, sometimes to the point of feeling like a documentary.

The series looks great, nicely shot in a manner that can make drab, run down houses and overcast days in a dreary city look poetic. It's also a great sounding show with interesting music used well.

I was watching Looking and aspects of the story and scenes seemed familiar and I eventually realized I'd already seen the movie a year before but had completely forgotten about it. I might have been tired when I first watched it or maybe under the influence of a martini. But having now seen the film twice I think the reason I couldn't recall it is the film is surprisingly forgettable.

Technically Looking should be great. It's a good looking film, it's mostly well acted, and there are multiple stories to explore. Plus it was directed and co-written by Andrew Haigh who made Weekend, one of the best films about queer male relationships I've ever seen and one of my favorite films.

But despite all those things going for it Looking is flat and listless. Almost all the characters are forgettable, the conversations aren't that interesting, and much of the drama feels like "OK, we need to have some drama here."

It's not a bad choice if you want something queer to watch, it's just a film that probably could have been a whole lot better.