Tag: Queer Films: 2022

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They / Them (2022)

2024 Entry #51 07-07-24 “They/Them” (or “They Slash Them”) is a 2022 American slasher film written and directed by the openly gay John Logan, in his feature directorial debut; he had previously been known as a critically acclaimed writer for film (“Gladiator”, “The Aviator”, “Skyfall”, “Spectre”, “Alien: Covenant”) & TV (“Penny Dreadful”, “Penny Dreadful: City of Angels”). The horror film follows a group of LGBTQ teens and a masked killer at a conversion camp and stars a host of LGBTQ talent, including non-binary actor Theo Germaine (“Work in Progress”, “The Politician”, “Adam”, “Holy Trinity”, “Equal”), openly gay Austin Crute (“Booksmart”, “Daybreak”), openly gay Cooper Koch (“Daddy”, “A New York Christmas Wedding”, “Swallowed”, “Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story”), openly trans actress Quei Tann, openly non-binary Darwin Del Fabro. The film also stars Kevin Bacon (“Queen’s Logic”, “Wild Things”, “Beauty Shop”, “Will & Grace”, “The Closer”, “Where the Truth Lies”, “The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special”, “RuPaul’s Drag Race”) & also features Carrie Preston (“My Best Friend’s Wedding”), Anna Chlumsky, Anna Lore, Monique Kim, Hayley Griffith, Boone Platt & Mark Ashworth.

The film is a fun & extremely queer take on films like “Friday the 13th”, which Kevin Bacon famously appeared in, only this time the film is very inclusive and the homophobic assholes are the villains – and while the film plays up the queer kids as victims, SPOILER, the only people that die have it coming – except for a poor dog who is shot in a bloodless offscreen death that is once again used to demonstrate who the villains are.

I had a good time watching this, but it’s not what I was expecting. The film is relatively tame as far as gore goes, which feels odd for this genre. And while the film plays up the evils of gay conversion, and the idea that the campers are safe in a Friday the 13th rip-off may seem refreshing but that twist is kind of lame too because at times it feels like nothing is happening. One of the other things I didn’t like was that there are several campers in the group who never speak or they aren’t developed enough to qualify as characters, even in scenes that would suggest that they would have to talk. I found myself wondering who those characters were and so anytime they showed up and continued to not talk it annoyed me. But this a pretty harmless movie all things considered with a lot of positive messaging and a few minor scares.

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Beautiful Beings / Berdreymi (2022)

2024 Entry #45 04-16-24 “Beautiful Beings” (aka “Berdreymi”) is a 2022 Icelandic coming-of-age drama film written and directed by Guðmundur Arnar Guðmundsson. Set in the suburbs of Reykjavík during the 2000s, the film focuses on a group of teenage boys and the violence that surrounds them.

As part of my pursuit of LGBTQ+ inclusive films to enjoy, I often rely on TLA Video and its various catalogs, which specialize in this arena. This year I actually decided to work my way through their most recent catalog and this film was included there. However, I’m not sure there are actually any gay characters in the film, which surprised me. By way of the plot, there is a gay rape that takes place (which is thankfully cut short by the intervention of a friend), but that’s the only representation we have here. I suppose there’s a bit of affection between a few guys, but it just seems friendly to me. I haven’t up to this point included instances that only consisted of male on male sexual violence and I don’t want to make a habit of it, but I did watch this movie and I did enjoy it overall. It had some odd messaging, but it was well done.

On September 30, 2022, the film was announced as Iceland’s submission for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film at the 95th Academy Awards. See less

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Please Baby Please (2022)

2024 Entry #42 04-14-24 “Please Baby Please” is a 2022 American musical drama film directed by Amanda Kramer, who co-wrote the screenplay with Noel David Taylor. It stars Andrea Riseborough (“Black Mirror”), Harry Melling (“The Old Guard”), Karl Glusman (“Stonewall”, “Nocturnal Animals”), openly non-binary Ryan Simpkins (“A Single Man”, the “Fear Street” trilogy), openly sexually fluid Jake Choi (“Front Cover”, “EastSiders”), openly non-binary Cole Escola (“Nurse Jackie”, “What We Do in the Shadows”, “Big Mouth”), Jaz Sinclair (“The Boys” / “Gen V”) and Demi Moore (“The Butcher’s Wife”, “Ellen”, “Will & Grace”).

Wow. That was interesting. My reaction during the film was that it felt like an odd crossing between David Lynch, John Waters and Bruce LaBruce. The film plays with gender, perception, sexuality and wraps it all up in greaser chic. Amanda Kramer and Noel David Taylor wrote the screenplay in 2018; Kramer has said that she was able to convince producers to finance the film by calling it “the gay West Side Story,” which Kramer described as “a lie” and “a Halloween trick”. I paused the film to get something to eat and my partner asked me what I was watching; I expressed interest in a certain event happening by the end of the movie – and without spoiling it – I got what I wanted. I’m not sure if it was great or not, but I was entertained. The only part I disliked featured the death of a character, which felt out of place, even if it was meant to highlight something or lead to something else later in the film; I had issues with it, but not enough for it to completely ruin my experience.

“Please Baby Please” won the 2022 Outfest Grand Jury Award for North American Narrative Feature and was named one of the “10 Best Unsung LGBTQ Films of 2022” by GALECA. The film also received a 2023 Queerty nomination for best Indie Movie.

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Punch (2022)

2024 Entry #39 04-12-24 “Punch” is a New Zealand gay sports drama film written and directed by Welby Ings (“Sparrow”, “Boy”). The story follows the central character Jim (Jordan Oosterhof), a highschool student and aspiring boxer whose former professional boxing father Stan (Tim Roth) is now an alcoholic whose health is fading. Jim befriends Whetu (Conan Hayes), an openly gay Maori boy who is an aspiring singer. The two face multiple hardships, some of them quite shocking, before a not completely satisfying ending.

I enjoyed most of this film. Though it was clearly a drama, I was a bit surprised by some of the serious events which were depicted, but it managed to keep a mostly positive outlook… which, I’m sorry to say, seems to have hurt the ending of the film, which seems rushed and nonsensical. I suppose this ending could have worked if the film took the time to set it up but there are a dozen details that are just wrong. For example, it appears that Jim is editing a video for Whetu during this finale (which he suggested earlier in the film was something he’d love to do for Whetu), but it’s made up of footage in which Whetu was alone – and SPOILER – just before the character was viciously gang raped. So tacking that on to a “happy ending” felt completely tone deaf. Perhaps they meant to imply that they recreated that time together for some kind of healing through Whetu’s art, but that doesn’t seem to make sense either, as Whetu leaves town to become a singer without saying goodbye to Jim – and openly kisses another guy during the concert at the end, which is played over Jim editing the video. It sucks, because as dark as the subject matter gets at times, this movie gets more right than it does wrong…so seeing it fall apart at the end like this is a bit frustrating. Any example I could have listed here would have been an unfortunate misstep if it were the only one, but combined they topple the film which had been running aggressively forward to the promised finish line just a half hour before.

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Chaperone (2022)

2024 Entry #38 04-12-24 “Chaperone” is 16 minute 2022 short film which was written and directed by Sam Max which stars Russell Kahn & openly gay actor Zachary Quinto (“Six Feet Under”, “Star Trek”, “American Horror Story: Murder House”, “American Horror Story: Asylum”, “Star Trek Into Darkness”, “I Am Michael”, “Star Trek Beyond”, “Hannibal”, “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt”, “Big Mouth”, “The Boys in the Band”, “American Horror Story: NYC”, “Down Low”). The story concerns Zachary Quinto’s mysterious chaperone who picks up his client (Kahn), accepts his money and after checking to see if the client has followed his instructions, takes him to an out of the way house where the client does drugs, has sex with the chaperone (via a toy) and when ready, is taken into the countryside where he takes a pill which seemingly fulfills its intended purpose and kills him. The chaperone covers everything up. The audience is not privy to why the young man wanted to die or why he went to such great lengths to do so. And the thoughts and feelings of the chaperone are suggested but remain a mystery.

Interesting, dark and well made. This is the kind of short that usually has a slew of comments from gay men who are pissed that it was included in a collection of gay shorts (“Boys On Film 23”) – the same ones that tend to rant about any inclusion of HIV related stories. Yet the tale being told is definitely queer. I like variety so I was pleased. And though I doubt I’ll ever watch this again, it was entertaining & creepy – and I like both.

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Of an Age (2022)

2024 Entry #028 “Of an Age” is a 2022 Australian romantic drama film by openly gay director Goran Stolevski (“You Deserve Everything”, “Housekeeping for Beginners”) who also wrote the film. The movie stars Elias Anton as Kol, a Serbian immigrant in Australia who enters a brief but intense romance with Adam (Thom Green), the brother of his ballroom dance partner Ebony (Hattie Hook).

This one broke me. Several sequences in this film mirrored experiences in my own life which I hold as sacred and so personal that I never expected to see them on screen unless I made the film myself. I wept more than once. But I also smiled and laughed. Nicely done. There are quite a few characters in this who are obnoxious (basically anyone who aren’t the main couple) but I think this was intentional. I’m glad I watched this, but I’m really not sure how others will react to it as my reactions were so heavily linked to my own experiences.

I’m curious to see more of Stolevski’s work. His follow-up film, “Housekeeping for Beginners” won the Queer Lion award and I’ve reacted to several previous winners, including “A Single Man”, “The Danish Girl” and “The Prince”.

I streamed this on Amazon Prime.

Edit 2026: I will also always remember that a friend of mine, after I posted this review, told me that they too had loved the film and found it worthwhile. He died suddenly on October 27, 2025 at the age of 40. I hope to revisit this film in his honor.

Rest in Peace Robert William Vuichard

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In from the Side (2022)

2024 Entry #022 01-17-24 “In from the Side” is a 2022 British romantic drama film from Matt Carter (“Jayson Bend: Queen and Country”, “Falling”) who directed it and also co-wrote it with Adam Silver. The film tells the story of Mark Newton (played by “not straight” Alexander Lincoln) and Warren Hunt (Alexander King), two players from a cash-strapped, divided gay rugby club, who embark on a romantic affair they struggle to hide from their partners and teammates.

I actually saw this film last March when I thought I’d be doing queer film reactions in 2023 as well, but I changed my mind about that and decided to take the year off. Now that I’m back I wanted to revisit what I had seen last year and this was the first entry I got back to. Honestly, the first time I saw this movie, I didn’t really enjoy it all that much. I kind of went in expecting one thing and got something very, very different – and there were a lot of things there that I wasn’t sure how I felt about. I enjoyed it a lot more the second time. It’s not a perfect film; it drags a bit at times, but it has a lot to say about honesty, dishonesty, infidelity, respect, self respect, decency, joy, life, relationships, heartbreak, friendship, team spirit and fellowship. It’s worth a look.

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Lonesome (2022)

2024 Entry #020 01-16-23 “Lonesome” is a 2022 Australian drama film which was written and directed by Craig Boreham (“Blow”, “Seaman”, “Booth”, “Pink Sheep”, “Transient”, “Love Bite”, “Drowning”, “William Yang: The Art of Seduction”, “Ostia: The Last Night”, “Gay4Pay”, “Teenage Kicks”). The film stars Josh Lavery (“Tasty”, “Bender”, “Lured”, “Perfect Boy Next Door”) & Zarif / Daniel Gabriel (“Right Here”, “Cut”) as Casey & Tib, two young men who make a connection neither of them expects or knows how to navigate.

I wasn’t sure what to expect when I watched this. I’d never seen a trailer but it had featured on my list of recent releases that I wanted to check out. I’d seen a single short film made by Craig Boreham (“Drowning”), which he later turned into a feature film (“Teenage Kicks”) which I never got around to seeing. But I thought this film was well made, with some memorable imagery and some impressive lead performances. The supporting cast felt hit or miss to me, but they tend to not be around long so they don’t distract too much from the story. And while most of the story beats have been told before, the story of queer youth struggling to survive without the support of their families is sadly still relevant.

For a minute I thought this was going to be a very sad movie with a very sad ending, but the film surprised me several times which several sequences of joy and we got what is probably the closest thing to a happy ending that this story would allow for, which feels more refreshing than unrealistic – indeed, for those who want a darker ending, one can easily imagine that the ending is a dream of some kind. YMMV.

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