Straight Men and the Men Who Love Them 3 [DVD]

This is a movie made up of five different short films. All are about men and their relationships as friends. Each film expresses some form of relationship in which there might be a homosexual tendency or curiosity. Many reviewers who gave bad reviews tended to not watch the entire movie because some of the short films are not easy to watch for those who don't have an open mind of the arts and possible reality of these situations. All these stories can be real stories even if it is hard for people to believe or accept. Though these short films are for mature audiences, sexual scenes are well done with no private parts shown for the most part.Quarters (American): A more typical story of a homosexual guy who has always been in love with his heterosexual best friend, but never shared how much he loved him until his friend is about to get married. One can see it as a last minute opportunity to win his friend's heart or just to get it off his chest that he was always sexually in love with his best friend but was suffering from his feelings by never revealing it before.Rubber Duckie (American): Not your typical story of two friends in which one mistreats the other, and sometimes via violence. Though this is an abusive relationship, they are still friends. The submissive one seems to accept the abuse because of his adoration of this abusive friend, but possibly because they are in an isolated place where he has no other available friend. Think of abusive husbands with wives who never leaves, that's what this story is about except it's two men instead.Boy Game (European): Two young heterosexual friends, coming of age, loves women, but don't know how to connect with women. Due to curiosity about sex, the two decides to experience/experiment with each other in order to prepare for their future encounters with women.Early One Summer (Australian): A high school student and a married teacher are befriended. They spend time with each other in tennis and camping and other activities. The teacher sees himself as a coach to the student while the student looks up to the teacher as someone who is supposed to know better. This relationship, however, is beyond social acceptance, and when the wife discovers how far this friendship goes, she approaches her husband on the subject. Think of this as an affair, but not with another woman.From Here to There (Asian/Hong Kong): Two young men attended college together, but 10 years later they meet again. During the time they were in college, they fell in love but also broke apart. Ten years later, the memory of their affection still exist, however, their lives changed. What happens at the end of their meeting 10 years later will surprise you, but can be expected. Excellent story about homosexual curiosity.Each film is done with good acting; and direction will depend on how you feel the story is told. Overall, the subject is difficult for some people to watch, but if you are okay with the idea of homosexuality or homosexual curiosity, then you will find these films pretty well done.

I have followed this series over the years and generally like the collection of short films presented. This third installment is no exception. As I have written in other reviews, I resonate with films, stories, thinking which posits the notion that human sexuality is a continuum. This notion, or my version of it, presumes that many if not most human beings have a basic "orientation," but throughout our lives, we may experience (either in fantasy or reality), varying degrees of many and diverse sexual expressions and desires. Why, why, why must we limit ourselves? Why, why, why are we so afraid to let our instincts and intuitions guide us in an area that is really one of the more exciting, interesting and challenging of all human existence. Well, the answer, as we know, lies in hundreds of years of conditioning, inculcation and taboo, which for many, have left a permanent, perhaps even genetic imprint. Nonetheless, Ameer is one film maker who loves to explore this territory. Though I must say, his effort with the first short film in this collection "Quarters," is not very good. The premise/context for the "truth or dare" game, seems a bit contrived to me. If you want a short that best describes the longings and feelings of a best friend as best man of the man he loves, see Tony Wei's short film "Best Man." The second short in the series, "Boygames" a Swedish offering hits all the right notes for me. What is not to like about two young guys very honestly and very directly assessing their current sexual state of desires, both psychologically and physiologically, without judgments and with an uncommon maturity. No therapist needed here.The third short is a layered and somewhat dark exploration of not simply gay and straight, but gay and straight and S&M. It may be hard for some to watch, but again the experiences the characters share, are on the continuum of sexual behavior and totally within the realm of exploration for some, perhaps many. For these two guys, there are no lines or boundaries--scary, huh? I am always delighted to see Asian stories told and the visually rich short of two Chinese men, is subtle, textured and beautifully rendered. One major technical problem, the translation, i.e., subtitles flit by in mere seconds, they blend with the set and the translation does not seem all that accurate--bummer. There is more, but to sum-up, this collection is worth a look.

Meh. I paid for it, so I made myself watch it. That's one hour and a half of my life I will never get back. The first segment was the best. It was about two old friends realizing that they love each other. Although one of the guys seemed to love his friend in a much different way than the other. The acting in the first segment was pretty good. I had problems with the other segments. Rape was featured in another segment. Another segment was about a sexual relationship between an adult man and a teenage boy. That was just plain wrong. The last segment had captions that were hard to read, because they were white and often were over a very light background. The final segment may have been a good segment had the captions been easier to read.

I love gay shorts but this guys films seem to have good subjects but the scripts are always somewhat weak and the acting as well. Theirs one or two that are truly good but the rest are just okay and I'd have to say I bought this because I saw a short from part two called 13 or so mins it was amazing but they don't offer it anymore I think they should get back to the amazing type work and please put part two for sale again you stand to make a lot.

Acting was watchable in all for of the shorts. Story lines were semi interesting. I'm not necessarily today that I spent money no matter how little on this film, but it's definitely not something I'd particular watch again. It was truly a film that is "meh" to "OK".

I enjoyed some more than others. There were a couple that I feel could have had a better ending. Still I found the actors realistic in their roles.

Like many collections, the quality varies from story to story, but the collection was entertaining overall ... some disturbing but give it a shot.

It's ok for being short stories, kind of cheesy. If you have nothing else to watch this is your movie.

one of the best collections of short films!