Reviews on 3 gay themed films available at Blockbuster

Review of 3 films
I’ve not watched this genre of movie in a long time and so was wondering what (no pun intended) was out there and if there was any kind of common denominators from what was readily available. So last week to accompany a huge pile of ironing I decided to pick up some DVD’s to help get me through the chore. That said Wil and Grace re-runs would have been more uplifting. There were a number of themes shared between these 3 films and all seemed to start with the letter D: dysfunction, despair, and drugs to name a few. I was not heartened by the offerings. I’m sure there must be some really fine cinema being produced of which I’m unaware (for the moment) that deals with gay lifestyle but is not mired in the shadow lands of destruction. Again I wanted to see what was readily available on the shelf at the corner store.
Denied: Is predominantly about two male roommates; the HS jock (who is gay) and his fuck buddy party-boy friend (who is ‘straight’). The big issue is that the straight boy won’t kiss the gay boy because that’s too gay and intimate but giving head is not. Finally as they’re breaking up (maybe) there is a kiss. Wow. I was on the edge of my seat! I think that the writer may have intended this to be about accepting who you really are but somehow that theme got lost on the cutting room floor.
Sugar: More big D’s. A lovely fairy tale about the world of prostitution and a beautiful boy who stumbles into it on his birthday….his little sister gives him a joint and some vodka and tells him to go down town and get laid. Everyone should have a wise 7 year old to guide them through the trials of coming out. Of course the boy meets and falls in love with a hustler. Somebody lives and somebody dies and it’s all very dark and sad and hopeless. There is nothing remotely sweet about sugar except perhaps for the hero’s face and smile.
Twist: Ripped conceptually from a rent boy Dickensian (as in Oliver Twist) world it’s got some of the same as above; pretty boy falls in love with drug addicted hustler. It’s peopled with the stereotypical men who prey on boys themes, power over, drugs and abuse used as tools to keep people down. Oh and lots of the ‘bad people’ die because they deserve to. It’s really just a happy and frothy confection about life in GAYWORLD as seen through either the eyes of a bitter gay man or a moralistic straight writer/director. I’m not sure and really don’t care except that life does not need to be portrayed in complete darkness as a new millennium version of last mid-century morality plays. Perhaps Blockbuster (the family video store) deliberately picks these kinds of films not based upon their merit but based upon their message (and warning about the dark, dangerous, disgusting world of ho mos).
I got the ironing finished but don’t feel any the better for being exposed to this ‘art’. It does however motivate me to write about gay life that doesn’t totally suck and see it made into film.
Please post suggestions for more uplifting films if you have them.