"Buddies" is so remarkable a gay drama that viewing it today, in a beautiful new transfer from DVD company Vinegar Syndrome, is akin to getting a queer-themed transmission from deep space.
Breaking Glass Pictures, a distributor that specializes in bringing independent LGBT cinema to the DVD and streaming markets, offers two films that take very different looks at the theme of young, first love.
At nearly two hours, Anthony J. Caruso's slow-paced film "Brotherly Love" feels a bit long. Yet there's something oddly likable about this low-budget indie, shot on location in Austin, Texas, with a local cast.
In "Vive L' Amour," a nervous real estate agent, her hip street-vendor boyfriend and a homeless gay kid find sanctuary along with sexual shenanigans in an empty, high-end Taipei, Taiwan apartment.
Derek Jarman's raw and captivating interpretation of Christopher Marlowe's play "Edward II" (1991) has been digitally restored in a pristine Blu-ray version just released by Film Movement.
The glorious new English film "Man in an Orange Shirt" premiered at Frameline 42, was originally shown on BBC Two last year, was broadcast on PBS' Masterpiece Theatre (and streamable for free through July 1) and is now available on DVD.
Chavela Vargas (1919-2012) progressed in her lifetime from pariah to icon. She is the subject of the documentary "Chavela," which won the Audience Award for Best Documentary at last year's Frameline,
Marilyn Monroe once cooed, "Give a girl the right shoes, and she can conquer the world." She may have had the right shoes, but alas not a pair of Manolos, since she died before he appeared on the scene.