Gay-Friendly Blu-rays (1 Viewer)

[Will Krupp]

Agreed. Excellent read!

Judi Dench...meow!

 

[Joel Arndt]

Judi Dench...meow!

Yeah. Really! "Mr. Ivory, as the Director of this picture, how dare you give me any directorial suggestions or leave any scene in which I appear on the cutting room floor. Unthinkable and unforgivable!"

 

[Will Krupp]

Mr. Ivory, as the Director of this picture, how dare you give me any directorial suggestions or leave any scene in which I appear on the cutting room floor. Unthinkable and unforgivable!

You left out "I'm a national trey-sure!" (I do love her, though, saltiness and all)

 

[Joel Arndt]

I do as well. Wonderful actress. Only having some fun.

 

[MatthewA]

Thank you for also curing me of my desire to ever see another Merchant-Ivory movie, either.

Another reason God's Own Country is superior: it's actually a gay movie.

 

[rsmithjr]

Thank you for also curing me of my desire to ever see another Merchant-Ivory movie, either.

Another reason God's Own Country is superior: it's actually a gay movie.

I just "Liked" this post, not because I agree with it, but because it makes me think.

I am not sure what you mean by a "gay movie", perhaps you would like to characterize that a bit. I would opine that a "gay movie" is essentially about being gay, which could be the problems, opportunities, attitudinal differences of gay folks. It might explore the "gay essence" or the "gay sensibility" for example. [Is there such a thing? Someone once said that there wasn't but it is very important anyway.]

By this definition, I would say that CMBYN is not a "gay movie". [I can't comment on GOC yet, Blu-ray is en route.] CMBYN is about more universal issues than sexuality IMHO. It is also my favorite movie of the year.

That does not mean that it is not a gay-themed movie or a movie that raises gay issues.

MatthewA, do you mind if I ask you what a "gay movie" is?

 

[MatthewA]

MatthewA, do you mind if I ask you what a "gay movie" is?

One where the lovers are only attracted to the same sex, and one that's just plain old gay. With gay male stories, I mean specifically stories where men are the prize to be won in and of ourselves, not something to settle for when no women are around. That's what made GOC such a breath of fresh air. It makes no apologies or qualifications for the two male lovers only liking men, and it has movie sex that's actually sexy. And it captures the full emotional impact of

Spoiler: plot twist

being cheated on

better than any gay movie I've seen lately. Even in and of itself, you won't be disappointed.

What's your second favorite movie of 2017?

 

[KeithDA]

As I’ve said earlier, I haven’t seen CMBYN yet and I am waiting for the Blu early next month. However, I thought I should prepare myself by reading the book, which I have voraciously consumed in two sittings.

Spoiler: CMBYN book spoilers

I am intrigued to see how it translates to the screen – obviously Italy, the villa and the two leads will be beautiful, but like GOC, so much of the story is internal. For me, the main theme is the connection between two people and not the fact that they may be labelled gay/bisexual/fluid whatever.

At this stage in my thoughts (having literally just put the book down) I can see why some reviews may feel it isn’t really a ‘gay’ story and also to contradict this, why some people may feel that the emotional ending is yet just another typical gay story trope. But to give of yourself to another person is the thing, which is universal.

As to rumours of a sequel – I can only assume that the film does not end in the same place as the book…… Later!

 

[Will Krupp]

I mean specifically stories where men are the prize to be won in and of ourselves, not something to settle for when no women are around.

What movie are you describing here? You're certainly not describing CMBYN (which, again, you haven't seen) and you're not really even describing BROKEBACK (which, I can agree with you, is a movie I don't care to ever see again.) In neither case are men "settling" for other men because there aren't any women around. I can't think of ANY movie that actually applies to, in fact (but I'm happy to be proven wrong.)

You're latching on to any negative bits about CMBYN that you can find in order to push a specific agenda and that includes that IMO wrongheaded "review" by Miz Cracker posted above. You started out by saying the movie upset you because the lead character is 17 but the goal posts keep changing every day as to why everyone else MUST also hate it, too. Now we're going so far as to say it isn't even "sexy?" Yeesh.

Not everyone is going to love the same things, I get that. What I don't get is why it's so important to you that everyone agrees with you and why you won't be happy until everyone acknowledges the "superiority" of one film over the other. Let people enjoy what they enjoy and if you don't agree with that then "oh well," welcome to the world.

No one is bashing GOC in this thread. In fact, we have been rather aggressively dissecting it and posting about it because we have found we have a passion for it we want to share. We all "get" that you don't "approve" of CMBYN but please give it a rest already. It's the same thing day after day after day and no one's mind is being changed one way or the other by this.

 

[Joel Arndt]

As I’ve said earlier, I haven’t seen CMBYN yet and I am waiting for the Blu early next month. However, I thought I should prepare myself by reading the book, which I have quickly consumed in two sittings.

Spoiler: CMBYN book spoilers

I am intrigued to see how it translates to the screen – obviously Italy, the villa and the two leads will be beautiful, but like GOC, so much of the story is internal. For me, the main argument is the connection between two people is what’s being said here and not the fact that they may be labelled gay/bisexual/fluid whatever.

At this stage in my thoughts (having literally just put the book down) I can see why some reviews may feel it isn’t really a ‘gay’ story and also to contradict this, why some people may feel that the emotional ending is yet just another typical gay story trope. But to give of yourself to another person is the thing, which is universal.

As to rumours of a sequel – I can only assume that the film does not end in the same place as the book…… Later!

Having read CMBYN prior to seeing the film, I couldn't agree more with what you're saying in your "book spoiler". Beautifully stated in few words.

And since you haven't seen CMBYN yet, all I'll say is that you're correct, the film ends in a different place than the novel, but I thought it was the perfect spot to end the film. Loved your reference to "later".

On the topic of GOC, my Blu-ray copy arrived yesterday, but I won't have time to watch it until the weekend. Again, I was fortunate to see it in a theater as well, so I'm most interested in the deleted scenes and commentary this time around.

Later.

 

[rsmithjr]

On another note:
Does anyone know or can recommend of any film with unfufilled gay love (of a gay man to a straight one)?
Besides Death in Venice.
I'm searching and can't find anything..

There must be many but three come to mind:

1. The Sergeant, with Rod Steiger and John Phillip Law. A very sad story which fits the stereotype of gay films from 1968. I haven't seen this since original release, and I suspect I wouldn't like it, but it is well-acted.
2. The Leather Boys, a British "kitchen sink" drama with Colin Campbell, Dudley Sutton, and Rita Tushingham. I projected this for a week in 1965 and saw it again recently, it really holds up. [Many British films from the 1960's have an interesting gay theme or element. Try A Taste of Honey, Darling, and The Victim.]
3. Ben-hur (1959 classic): When I first saw this, I heard the line "Nothing so sad as unrequited love" from Messala to Judah, and I wondered if it really meant what I imagined. Gore Vidal, who worked on the screenplay, has confirmed that the film has a gay subtext. It certainly makes sense in the context of the whole picture.

 

[rsmithjr]

...
What's your second favorite movie of 2017?

Phantom Thread. A very interesting picture that I am still sorting out in my mind.

 

[MatthewA]

And while we were debating, Canada produced a lesbian-themed animated short.

 

[Mark-P]

Twilight Time has just announced Next Stop, Greenwich Village, and though it's not specifically a gay film, it is known for having a supporting gay performance by Antonio Fargas. I'm ashamed to say I've never seen the film. I looked it up in The Celluloid Closet to see what Vito Russo had to say about it.
He wrote:

...Antonio Fargas is brilliant as Bernstein, a black homosexual of 1950s Greenwich Village. Here is a good example of a stereotype treated in an interesting and inoffensive manner. Fargas' Bernstein, who by his own description has been "brutalized physically and mentally," hides behind a phony name and a phony attitude. Marzursky is so good at evoking the period that we understand in some measure how gays like Bernstein coped with their self-hatred in the 1950s and survived because they found a tolerant pocket of civilization to inhabit. Bernstein has no gay friends in the film; he is accepted by sympathetic straights who in their own minds are just as weird as he is. The only gays he seems to know are the tricks (usually straight "trade") he picks up offscreen.

I'm always interested in historic treatment of homosexuality in film and in 1976 gay characters were still pretty scarce. Anyway, I'm looking forward to seeing it.

 

[PODER]

Just a quick warning on GOD'S OWN COUNTRY. With accents this thick, I would have assumed that
subtitles were just a given. I ended up quitting watching about 15 minutes in when I realized I'd understood
maybe a half dozen words so far. I now feel cheated out of what I expect is an outstanding film.

 

[KeithDA]

Just a quick warning on GOD'S OWN COUNTRY. With accents this thick, I would have assumed that
subtitles were just a given. I ended up quitting watching about 15 minutes in when I realized I'd understood
maybe a half dozen words so far. I now feel cheated out of what I expect is an outstanding film.

As per my post 1525 earlier, the dialogue script can be found here:
https://www.springfieldspringfield.co.uk/movie_script.php?movie=gods-own-country
As there's not much dialogue anyway, I don't think having to refer to this would be too distracting.... enjoy!

 

[Mark-W]

PODER,
I have the US DVD and the US Blu-ray.

The DVD did not have a menu option for subtitles, but when I went into my Blu-ray player's settings and options and set it to turn on English captions, they were there and worked.

The US Blu-ray does have a "set up" button on the main menu with the option to add English subtitles.

Best to you.

Just a quick warning on GOD'S OWN COUNTRY. With accents this thick, I would have assumed that
subtitles were just a given. I ended up quitting watching about 15 minutes in when I realized I'd understood
maybe a half dozen words so far. I now feel cheated out of what I expect is an outstanding film.

 

[bujaki]

Even with subtitles my wife and I had to decipher a lot by inference and context. Was it worth it? A definite YES!

 

[Mark-W]

Twilight Time has just announced Next Stop, Greenwich Village, and though it's not specifically a gay film, it is known for having a supporting gay performance by Antonio Fargas. I'm ashamed to say I've never seen the film. I looked it up in The Celluloid Closet to see what Vito Russo had to say about it.
He wrote:


I'm always interested in historic treatment of homosexuality in film and in 1976 gay characters were still pretty scarce. Anyway, I'm looking forward to seeing it.

I was looking up gay ballet dancers, ya know like everyone does now and then , and found a film, released in 1980, out on Blu-ray (!), about the most famous and talented male ballet dancer of the first half of the 20th century:

Nijinsky is directed by Herbert Ross (Funny Lady, The Goodbye Girl, Footloose) and stars Alan Bates, who only later did I found out had numerous homosexual relationships, including those with actor Nickolas Grace and Olympic skater John Curry.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Bates

The film opens with Bates's character offering a kiss to Nijinsky, and while the film is very open about the nature of their relationship, the amount of physical contact shown between them wouldn't make a nun blush.

It is an interesting (if also far from great) film precisely because of when it was made, who stars in it, and how they portrayed openly gay, historically correct, characters. I can imagine it would be a much different film if it were made today.

 

[Will Krupp]

It is an interesting (if also far from great) film precisely because of when it was made, who stars in it, and how they portrayed openly gay, historically correct, characters. I can imagine it would be a much different film if it were made today.

From what I remember, (and it's been awhile) I think it's a film that tried to be all things to all people and tried not to "offend" anyone. It's funny when you stop to think that CRUISING came out the same year!