Just wanted to share with everyone my two favorite gay romantic comedies. I saw Touch of Pink about a year ago on DVD and just fell in love, it's funny, sweet, caring and just a great movie.
Here's a synopsis of Touch of Pink; Alim is an Ismaili Canadian who lives in London, thousands of miles from his family, for one very good reason--he has a boyfriend. His ideal gay life begins to unravel when his mother (Nuru) shows up to find him a proper Muslim girlfriend and convince him to return to Canada for his cousin's extravagant wedding. Nuru was born and raised in Africa. She was fond of watching Doris Day and Cary Grant classic movies, and wanted to be like her. After the death of her husband, Nuru leaves her young son Alim in Africa with her sister and immigrates to Britain, hoping to leave behind her grief and start a new life. Alim is four when she leaves him. Nuru returns after being rejected by the England, and suffering racism. Nuru and her sister Dolly immigrate to Canada with their families and Alim grows up in Toronto. Fast-forward to the present. Nuru is going to attend her nephew Khaled's wedding but feels that she is missing part of herself because of her separation from Alim. She longs for him to marry a nice Ishmali Muslim girl and raise a family in Toronto. She goes to London to convince Alim to come home. What she does not know is that Alim is living with someone in - but that someone is not Muslim, nor a female - but a male Caucasian. Watch as events unravel this mystery for Nuru when she finally gets to meet her son's life-mate.
Harry and I went to see Guys and Balls in the theater. It's in German but has English subtitles. And since Harry is from Austria this was a must for us. We walked out of the theater and both of us were willing to go right back in and watch it again. I LOVE THIS MOVIE. Here is a review of Guys and Balls that I really liked; Guys and Balls, another German import, about a star goalie named Ecki who's booted off a "straight" local soccer team after he's caught tongue-wrestling with a guy. This old-fashioned, feel-good flick, which chronicles Ecki's scheme to exact revenge, nabbed a bunch of honors, including a 2005 Outfest LA Audience Award for best feature. Sort of a cross between The Full Monty and Bend it Like Beckham, this sweet, irresistible root-for-the-homo-team story lives up to its clever title. I compare it to The Full Monty not because the guys bare all (sorry, fellas) but because Ecki's revenge plot involves assembling a motley crew of misfits to take on his former soccer team in a big grudge match. Unlike much of queer cinema, which relies on buffed eye candy to gloss over the shortcomings of a film, Guys and Balls has cast normal guys with beer guts, shabby clothes and—gasp!—body hair.
Among Ecki's new teammates are the closeted barfly soccer fanatic, the beautiful Turkish waiter with a crush on Soccer Adonis David Beckham, the wiry soccer whiz who looks like a boy but is really a lesbian, the pair of hunky Brazilians, and the effeminate bookseller who is really straight. Got all that? My favorites are the leather-daddy threesome that Ecki finds at the dungeon-esque Steel Pipe bar. The tender scenes of them snuggled in their black vinyl waterbed together, shot from above, are oddly heartwarming. One of them is actually a real daddy, now divorced, who has a thing or two to prove to his distraught young son. The star of the newly formed gay team, at least in Ecki's eyes, is Sven, the male nurse. The two boys fall head over heels for each other, but complications arise when Sven discovers that Ecki is using the team more for personal vengeance than for the love of the game.
The team finds a coach in an alcoholic, homophobic, has-been soccer star who warms up to the boys after watching their pathetic practice attempts. Predictably, when Ecki reveals that he's gay, his father pretty much disowns him. He finds loving support from his sister, Suzanne. In the do-or-die showdown between the bros and the homos, the stakes are high. Not only is Ecki fighting for respect as a gay man (and, by extension, for all gays) but he's desperate to regain his stature as an athlete, and as a son. Remember, this is Germany where, like much of the entire world besides the U.S., soccer is not just a sport, it's a religion. Will the gays prevail? Will Ecki win back Sven's heart? The climax may not be a surprise, but it's engaging nonetheless. Like a kick-ass soccer match, Guys and Balls wants nothing more than to entertain, and on that level it scores big. Though the screwball comedy is yet another take on a coming out tale in the "I'm gay, so what!" vein, the refreshingly appealing ensemble and richly textured narrative elevate it beyond standard fare. The curly-locked Brückner makes a winning screen debut as the innocent yet determined Ecki. To be sure, the film churns out annoying been-there-done-that gay platitudes, such as when Suzanne says about Sven, "Why the heck does every nice-looking guy have to be gay?" And the logic of actually assembling such a gay team is painfully strained. But, for the most part, these lapses are easy to forgive.
Directed by Sherry Hormann, who reportedly knew nothing about soccer when she signed on, the film boasts lively field action sequences that register as authentic. Unless you're a pro, you'd never know the actors also had no soccer experience and were required to join a training camp to polish their moves before cameras started rolling.
Watching Guys and Balls, it's easy to see why films with sports themes are such a hit with gay audiences. It's about the triumph of the underdog, overcoming prejudice, self-discovery, and extracting the hidden joys out of life. And, of course, helping to dissolve the taboo of gays playing sports in a straight world.
Hey everyone I just got back from seeing Pan's Labyrinth.
I'm sure I'll be posting the going on's down there when I get back.
