Tag Archives: LGBTQI+

Movie Review – The Wound (Inxeba) (2017)

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TL;DR – The Wound sits on the precipice of culture, tradition, and masculinity, and shows the damage on inflexibility.     

Score – 3.5 out of 5 stars

Post-Credit Scene – There is no post-credit scene

The Wound (Inxeba). Image Credit: Urucu Media.

Review –

I have been spending the day brushing up on the many foreign films that I just haven’t been able to see, and the next stop on my trip around the world is South Africa. African cinema is one area where I need to explore more because this is the first film I have ever seen in Xhosa. With that in mind, let’s look at a film that explores the world of becoming a man in a very traditional society.

So to set the scene, throughout the year Xolani (Nakhane Touré) or X to his friends spends his time working and living alone in the city. However, once a year he comes back to the mountains to be a helper in the Ulwaluko ceremony. This is the Xhosa ceremony that marks the transition from boy to manhood. However, while he is there as a guide to help the initiates, X is also there for another reason, because it is the one time he gets to connect with Vija (Bongile Mantsai) a friend and secretly his romantic partner. This year X is being put in charge of Kwanda (Niza Jay Ncoyini) who is considered soft because he grew up in the city and does not care for tradition.

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Movie Review – A Moment in the Reeds (2017)

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TL;DR – A very contained film exploring relationships as they form in the intensity of a single moment.      

Score – 3.5 out of 5 stars

Post-Credit Scene – There is no post-credit scene

A Moment in the Reeds. Image Credit: Wild Beast Productions.

Review –


Today I have been rained in, so with everything I was going to do put on hold, I thought I would take some time and explore some of the films available on-demand here in Australia. The first one I came across was a film out of Finland that explores a bond that is formed over a weekend working in the Finish countryside.

So to set the scene, Leevi (Janne Puustinen) is coming home to Finland after a long time away in Paris. He is home to get some research done on his thesis but whilst he is there he feels compelled to visit his father Jouko (Mika Melender), even though they have a strained relationship after the death of his mother. When he arrives at their summer cottage, Leevi discovers that his dad is renovating it, getting it ready to sell, and since he had no idea Leevi was coming he had hired someone from a job agency to help him. That is how Tareq (Boodi Kabbani) arrives at the cottage, and it is a good thing Leevi is there because Tareq is a Syrian refugee and he doesn’t speak Finish, and Jouko’s English is not that great so Leevi can act as a translator. However, things heat up when the two are left to their own devices and discover each other.

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Movie Review – Bohemian Rhapsody

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TL;DR – At the heart is the powerful story of Freddie Mercury, but you can see the difficulties of adapting a life as grand as his into a standard film runtime.     

Score – 3 out of 5 stars

Post-Credit Scene – There footage during the credits that you want to stay back for.

Bohemian Rhapsody. Image Credit: 20th Century Fox

Review –

There have been a lot of productions that have been stuck in ‘production hell’ for years before they get made (and some never exit it) and one of the big casualties of this was the Queen/Freddie Mercury biopic. It had gone through multiple directors and leading cast before finally going into production, only to find out that the difficulties were not done there. With clashes on set and the inevitable replacement of the director befalling production. When this has happened in the past, it has led to at best an uneven film, but often times the final product is a complete mess. Thankfully, Bohemian Rhapsody avoids the latter but you can still see the problems under the hood.

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Movie Review – Boy Erased

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TL;DR – This is at times a very difficult film to watch, but it is an important film because abuse is abuse and that is what this is.

Score – 4 out of 5 stars

Post-Credit Scene – There is no post-credit scene

Boy Erased. Image Credit: Focus Features

Review –

There are many reasons you can make a film, okay well other than making a profit, it is a business after all. It can be to entertain, it can be to inform, it can be to titillate, it could be to scare, or even to keep the kids entertained for 90 minutes so the parents can clean the house. However, sometimes a film exists to shine a light on a subject people might not know about, but they should. Today with Boy Erased we are looking a just such a film as explores the Pray the Gay Away industry in the United States and the dangerous harm it does to people.

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TV Review – Sense8: Amor Vincit Omnia

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TL;DR – The Series Finale brings closure in a way only Sense8 could by focusing on family and the power of love. If you have liked the show up until this point you will want to see how it ends, if you haven’t I don’t think this will change your mind.

Score – 4 out of 5 stars

Sense8 banner

Review –

Endings, no one wants their favourite show to end, lest of all when it is not ending on their own terms. The television landscape is filled with shows that I have deeply loved and we will never know how they ended, and while every now and again we get a Brooklyn Nine-Nine or Farscape many more shows have left the world on a cliffhanger never to be seen again. For a long time, it looked like Sense8 was going to join the long list of shows that never got to say goodbye properly, which was a real shame. While it didn’t always work, the show was always fascinating and it had a level of detail you don’t normally see as the show gallivanted across the globe. However a show like this was expensive, and while I was disappointed I understood when it was announced that it would not be picked up for a third season. However, if it is one thing you should never underestimate that is the power of fans, and in this case, that power has used for good, and today we get to see the outcome of that with a special final episode Amor Vincit Omnia or Love Conquers All.

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Movie Review – Love, Simon

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TL;DR – A great story about love and everything that it takes to get there.

Score – 4 out of 5 stars

Post-Credit Scene – There was no post-credit scene

Love Simon

Review –

Your last year in high school is difficult at the best of times, but when you have a secret that could rip your life apart, it adds to it a bit. In Love, Simon, that secret is that the titular Simon (Nick Robinson) is gay, and he hasn’t told anyone yet. So today we are going to look at a story that is part coming of age, part love story, and party mystery novel.

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Movie Review – Call Me By Your Name (Chiamami Col Tuo Nome)

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TL;DR – A beautifully films film, with a great cast, but the story does not always work for me

Score – 4 out of 5 stars

Post-Credit Scene – No

Call Me by Your Name

Review –

So I have to admit this was a hard film to track down near me, which is why this review is quite late compared to many others, however, after an hour trip into town I finally got the chance to give Call Me By Your Name a watch. Well as my father never says, better late than never, so let’s dive into the world of the Italian countryside in the 1980s.

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