User reviews

After watching ' Cruel Britannia ' in this collection of the questionable title of ' Boys on Film ' ( would Men on Film seem a bit more mature ? ) I watched these nine films and wondered exactly what the LGBT world actually thinks about itself ? I also wondered why there was not one film from another country. It would have added to the diversity of homosexuality in other places. If I watch more in this collection perhaps I might find some. ' Cruel Britannia ' lived up to its title and worth its 2 hours and a half but I did not expect this over 2 hours and a quarter onslaught of both body horror and self hatred. Only the film ' Dawn ' and to some extent ' Closets ' moved me while the rest left me cold in every sense of the word. The two overtly ' sexual ' films, ' Trouser Bar ' and ' G- o'clock ' seemed to wallow in banal soft porn. The observations were in essence that the prurient should watch beautiful men, and then have a collective kiss in the first film while in the second that GHB can be highly dangerous. I will pass on. ' Sauna the Dead ' was a kind of nauseating parody of a zombie film while having a happy ending, which some will find funny. I did not. ' Polari ' was mercifully short, and the accumulative effect of this whole cinematic journey was a sickening feeling of body horror and self hatred. In ' Nightstand ' the horror of a brutal assault mixed in with self hatred, and it worked. I could see it was inevitable from the start of the film and was just numbed when watching the outcome. I give this only a 3 because such a high dosage of nausea, disgust and pathetic and unconvincing sexuality could be toxic for sensitive and mentally vulnerable viewers. Sadly ' Closets ' which is in my opinion was fit for young teenagers will be prohibited from seeing it by the 18 certificate.