Prom Queen [2004] (REGION 1) (NTSC)

Customer Reviews:

"We may have to change with the times".......2005-08-08

Made for Canadian television obviously on a limited budget, and based on a true story, Prom Queen raises some interesting issues about the seemingly never-ending clash between religion and sexuality. As same-sex love and the Catholic Church are once again pitted against each other, Mark Hall, (played in the film by Aaron Ashmore), a fresh-faced, totally out teenager finds himself indelibly caught in the middle.

Mark wants more than anything else to go to his school prom, but there's just one problem: he wants to bring his boyfriend Jason (Mac Fyfe) to the dance. While the Catholic school he attends tolerates homosexuality, and openly accepts Mark as gay, they absolutely draw the line at allowing him to partner Jason.

The stage is set for a battle that reaches all the way to the Canadian Supreme Court as Jason, with the hidden strength of Superman, demands his Canadian Charter rights and fights the Local School Board, an institution that has for years lived by the rules of extreme religious doctrine. Instilled with an almost fairy tale like quality, Prom Queen paints a portrait of a young man who is determined to stand by the strength of his convictions while never reneging on his deeply held faith.

Mark is supported by his surprisingly understanding blue-collar parents, Emily (Marie Tifo) and Audy (Jean Pierre Bergeron). Emily, while deeply religious, decides to accept his son the way he is, and Audy - who works at the local mill where some of his co-workers are getting pink slips - is helped by local union organizer (David Ferry) to quietly and gently, support his son. Meanwhile, Mark's plucky and supportive school friends, Beau (a very attractive Trevor Blumas) and Carly (Tamara Hope) get a pair computer nerds, to start a set up a proactive website to "get Mark to the prom."

When the crusade goes public, and the media come up board, Mark gets the help of a publicity seeking highflying lawyer (Scott Thompson). But he finds his way stifled by the tight-lipped School Board Chair Lucinda Pilcher, (Fiona Reid) who is wonderfully controlling. Help for Mark comes in the form of As Miss Lawrence (Victoria Adilman), his liberally enlightened school teacher. But while the teacher does an excellent job of supporting human rights in the classroom, can she stop herself from caving to Catholic dogma in the courtroom?

Ever mindful of commercial breaks, director John L'Écuyer has done an admirable job trying to let the story flow, employing animated headings to bring the next scene back from black. And for the most part the pacing is good, although the story tends to lose a little steam at the ends. We hear of Mark and Jason's breakup, but we never really see it and the eventual court ruling comes our way via fax. Also, the soundtrack often doesn't sit that well with the dialogue, with the often inappropriately placed dance music often coming across as over-loud and clangy.

Despite its shortcomings, Prom Queen is a delight to watch, and it shows just how much the world around us is changing. Gay teenagers are coming out at earlier ages, and are becoming increasingly politically active, and also more accepted by their peers - especially in enlightened countries like Canada. It's such a pleasure to see a film about the triumph of the "little man," a small town teenager who had the guts to take on a bigoted institution and risk his future for a slow dance with his boyfriend. Mike Leonard August 05.

Customer Reviews:

Hey, might as well rent it........2008-03-09

OK, I felt a certain sympathy with Sebastian, but that just proved that I was gay, had memories of similar things, and confirms that I'm still breathing in and out - it's a familiar theme and I've seen it elsewhere. Nonetheless, worth renting (it costs little), and then you can form your own judgement and decide whether I'm being harsh. The scenes of Sebastian on the beach in speedos are quite enjoyable - now I'm sure I can't be the only one to think that :-)

A Short, But Sweet, Window into a Friendship.......2008-02-28

First, I would advise anyone considering to buy or rent this film that it is under an hour long. I found the synopsis was misleading, as the film has no conclusion and ends quite abruptly (leaving the viewer wishing to know more). The story charts a young gay man's relationship with his straight best friend, told in a dizzying combination of flashbacks interspersed with his present day activities. The mix is so complete that even one night in the present tense appears to have been sliced up and distributed across most of the hour! As another review mentions, this film makes more sense if watched twice.

I gave the film four stars as it was superbly and sensitively acted, the direction is superb and the use of scenery, language and music is very effective, however I found the narrative quite confusing and was disappointed by the abrupt ending.

Touching Coming of Age Movie.......2006-09-16

This is another great European example of a familiar theme being explored in a touching and affective neat narrative film that follows 18 year old Sebastien as he leaves school to find his fortune and love in Paris. The cast is not only attractive but likeably realistic in thier portrayals of two friends coming to terms with their sexuality and discovering all the pitfalls of love and happiness and sex.

There is nothing prurient about the graphic sex scenes but evocatively they serve to remind us all of first yearnings, first love and first time.

A really precious little moving film. With typical french passion it is directed and performed in a sensitive yet honest way.

Average customer rating:

Plenty of beef on show!

The Rights & Thongs of Male Erotic Photography

Beefcake [1999]
Starring: Daniel MacIvor , Joshua Peace , and Carroll Godsman
Director: Thom Fitzgerald
Manufacturer: Millivres Multimedia
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

All Drama | Drama | Categories | DVD | Video
All Gay & Lesbian | Gay & Lesbian | Categories | DVD | Video
Millivres Multimedia | Gay & Lesbian | Categories | DVD | Video
DVD | Format (binding_browse-bin) | Refinements | DVD | Video
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ASIN: B00014W9VI
Release Date: 2004-01-05

Customer Reviews:

Plenty of beef on show!.......2004-09-14

Beefcake is a fascinating docu-drama into the beginnings of gay porn in the USA.

Bob Mizer is a man with a mission. He loves taking photographs of hunky nude men, and soon discovers that there are plenty of straight guys willing to get their kit off in front of the camera and plenty willing to buy the magazines and photographs that feature these men!

The film features a dramatic portrayal of the events as they unfold, cut with recent interviews of some of the models; the fun times they had, the enjoyment pride they still have in baring all for art.

'Beefcake' is an enjoyable, if not a little long, movie and a great record of what is an important era for gay erotica. Filled with actual footage of many of the models posing, and plenty of re-creations of men posing in and out of their pouches, it also offers plenty of titillation to keep the viewers attention!

The Rights & Thongs of Male Erotic Photography.......2004-06-01

The film starts with a lengthy disclaimer about those being depicted in the film. Once that is out of the way the film gets underway as a docu-drama.

Depicting the genesis of the American male pin-up through the photgraphic agency the 'Athletic Models Guild', purportedly to give artists a resource of models. Bob Mizer, proprietor of AMG finds that the take up rate for bookings is not as popular as the selling of the photographs, there follows the production of the male model magazine 'Physique Pictorial'.

An eye opening display of lithe muscular young men in very little but posing pouches and smiles, sometimes just a smile, and the occassioanl hat. The point the film makes early on is that the publication of erotic male images is more heavily punishable than violent assaults, theft and robbery etc.

As it features interviews with some of the men that featured in these publications it becomes a mixture of biography, social history and erotic fantasy.

Enjoyable to watch - it is questionable whether it warrants an 18 certificate in this day and age although it must be said, there is a lot of full frontal male nudity and some subtle one on one action. Oh yes, and the odd bit of wrestling too.

I recommend it.

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