#queer-romance

#queer-romance

We're Nothing at All kicks off with a moment of rupture: on a seemingly ordinary Valentine's Day in Hong Kong, a double-decker bus suddenly bursts into flames. The deadly explosion triggers a police inquiry led by Lung (Patrick Tam), a skilled forensics specialist whose investigation reveals a maze of intersecting lives. From inspecting the charred bodies of the victims rendered in lurid closeup to retracing CCTV footage, Lung's gathering of clues is crosscut with flashbacks concerning those involved in the explosion.

“Taiwan Travelogue pulls off an incredible double feat,” wrote Natasha Brown, chair of judges, said in a press release. “It succeeds as both a romance and an incisive postcolonial novel.” Judges describe Taiwan Travelogue, which won the 2024 National Book Award for translated literature, as a “captivating, slyly sophisticated” book. The novel presents as a rediscovered (and fictional) travel memoir from 1930s Japan-occupied Taiwan, as its two main characters embark together on a culinary tour across Taiwan.

Unless you've been living under the straightest rock imaginable, you've surely heard of, read, watched, and rewatched Red, White & Royal Blue. And perhaps you've heard, it's getting a sequel! This 2023 romantic comedy tells the story of Alex Claremont-Diaz (Taylor Zakhar-Perez), the son of US President Ellen Claremont (Uma Thurman), who falls head over heels into a cake with Prince Henry of Wales (Nicholas Galitzine).

I grew up in a hockey town where there was no escaping Canada's beloved sport. Our suburban streets doubled as rinks; the choppy slap of tennis balls reverberating against hockey sticks a constant sound. As pre-teens, my friends and I would put on lip gloss and tight jeans to hang out at the Friday night junior hockey games. I still find comfort in the sound of skate blades slicing across ice and that sweaty, chemical odour of public arenas.

Enter Heated Rivalry (Saturday 10 January, 9pm, Sky Atlantic), a Canadian queer romp so hot it threatens to scorch the ice it skates upon. Shane Hollander and Ilya Rozanov are star players from Montreal and Moscow respectively, mysteriously drawn to each other on the rink, in the full glare of the media. Well, not that mysteriously. The co-leads get down to business almost immediately, with a not-quite meet cute in a shower room.

Trouble is fermenting in the febrile heat of Rome. Violent political struggles are breaking out between militant neo-fascist, far-left organisations and the Italian state. Amid this tense unrest, Federico Fellini makes his opulent masterpiece, Casanova, and Pasolini makes his final film, Salò, an eviscerating and prophetic parable about the dangers of fascism. Olivia Laing's novel The Silver Book is a compelling noir thriller and queer romance, taking us into the heart of Rome's famous Cinecittà studios - Italian cinema's dream factory.

Queer writer/director Julia Jackson ( Bonus Track) has crafted a stylish and clever queer romance with 100 Nights of Hero. The film, opening in area theatres December 5 and adapted from Isabel Greenberg's graphic novel, The One Hundred Nights of Hero, is set in a fictional medieval land where a woman's place is to marry and have sons, not to read or write.

The "kinky" film stars the True Blood actor as the leather-clad biker daddy Ray, who entices the meek traffic warden and barbershop-quartet fan Colin ( Harry Potter 's Harry Melling) into a dom/sub relationship. We first see Colin performing in a pub as a member of his dad's (Douglas Hodge) barber shop quartet. Across the bar he spies Ray playing darts and hanging out with other bikers.

"What you can expect from the sequel is a glimpse into Alex and Henry's life after the confetti has finished falling from the first movie."

Sex is notoriously difficult to write. Some authors avoid it entirely; even those who have been called great can come a cropper.