A Horny Vampire

Directed by Wakefield Poole ****1/2 I decided to watch Take One because of Evan Purchell's Ask Any Buddy podcast. I've been following him and his film for a little while, desperate to see it and to seek out some of the films used to create it. Gay erotica is an interest of mine, especially this vintage stuff which I think can tell stories about sex in a way that mainstream cinema and even porn nowadays refuses to do. So, I was delighted to see that he was releasing a podcast where he would discuss each of the 186 films he used at length. I'll be trying to watch and listen at roughly his pace. WARNING: For your enjoyment, do not try to understand this film: there is nothing to understand. It is only real people doing reel things and making them reel together. Poole's delightful, dreamy Take One feels distinctly un-porn like. Yes, there are the requisite sex scenes, but structurally, Poole plays with levels of reality and fantasy, the two constantly intermingling and unde...

Directed by Arthur J. Bressan, Jr. ***** Incredible. Bressan's debut feature is a remarkable work of erotic cinema that feels unlike anything else I've seen. It's less interested in fucking than it is about romantic connection, bridging the gap between experience and coming out and the yearning to be with someone. The first half is a beautiful but quietly devastating portrait of loneliness, the black-and-white cinematography just making their sadness more stark. Yet, there are moments of light and passion. The sex is hot and the artistic flourishes Bressan uses are delightful. A dreamy bubble sequence is full of intense close-ups and joy. In the film's second half our two lovers meet and the world bursts into gorgeous colour. What struck me most about this wasn't that it was some fantasia. That beach date and subsequent sex are rooted in reality. Flying a kite together is stupid and silly but it's also so so sweet. It kinda reminded me of my first dat...