“Locked Up” (2004)
Although this German movie is classified as a drama, it almost feels like they made it on the budget of a porno - the quality of film and acting are about on par. Still I couldn’t help but get wrapped up in this simple, captivating story. Not to mention the additional bonus that German Television is not squeamish about full frontal male nudity.
Imagine a low-budget, hour and a half movie version of Oz. Young Dennis, played by Marcel Schlutt (no joke on that last name) is arrested for Credit Card Fraud, and thrown into a maximum security penitentiary. He has little choice but to fall in with the dangerous crowd in his cell block – a rowdy group of heterosexuals into drug dealing and gang banging. They keep a wispy whipping-boy that shyly introduces himself to Dennis, often providing warnings about the ways of his abusers.
But through the bars of his dreary cell, Dennis often notices a well muscled black man (Mike Sale) doing manual labor in the yard. The man sees Dennis watching and stops to look back. Instead of the hostile stare-down you might expect between jailbirds, they seem to form a silent bond. When out in the yard, Dennis witnesses the man exerting some degree of authority over others around him, but he softens when Dennis works up the courage to introduce himself. His name is Mike, an American who is in the middle of serving a 15 year sentence…we suppose, for murdering his wife.
This first encounter was adorable – like two kids meeting in the school yard and arranging a play date. Mike invites Dennis to visit him in his cell, on a different block, during recreation break the next week. Sure enough, Dennis stays true to his promise and sneaks over to visit Mike instead of going out into the yard. Mike’s cell is homey – a lot more so than his own, especially since the man has an electric heating element to make real coffee for the two of them. As expected, Mike begins to come on to Dennis, but as he moves in for a kiss, the younger man clutches him in a tight hug. Soon the two begin kissing, but Dennis feels uncomfortable and decides to go. However, he returns to visit Mike again the next week, admitting his inexperience with other men. The two end up having sex on Mike’s word that he will go easy on him.
Meanwhile the rowdy boys from Dennis’ cell block start to wonder why they haven’t seen their mate outside in a while, and raise suspicion with the guards. Subsequently he and Mike get caught red handed and thrown into solitary confinement, but the walls are thin enough that they can still talk to one another. Dennis wants more than anything to move into a 2-person cell with Mike, but will the warden allow it? Furthermore, Dennis is only in for a 2 year term while Mike still has 7 left to serve.
In the end I really liked this film. Although they brought in some of the shady business expected in a prison, they didn’t overdo the fear and violence that we’re used to seeing from shows like Oz and Prison Break. For instance, Dennis gets gang-raped by the rowdy boys, and Mike starts a fight with their leader to defend his lover’s honour. Mike kicks a knife out of the leader’s hand, and obtains it after beating the man down. I was scared Mike was going to kill the guy, but instead he avenges Dennis by slicing open the backside of the leader’s pants and jamming his hand in. A clever way of taking an eye for an eye!
The sex scenes were hot, and very realistic…in fact, too realistic to be fake. My suspicion is that they really were having sex, but chose camera angles that did not show it as gratuitously as in a porno. Still, they were not shy to show shower scenes, and even inmates beating off in the privacy of their cells. In a way this gave the film an honesty seldom seen in the overly censored shows on mainstream television. It shows that love can bloom in the strangest of circumstances.

“Beautiful Boxer” (2003)
I remember seeing that this film was shown at Fairytales Film Fest a few years back, so I took this opportunity to finally watch it for myself. It is based on the life story of transsexual Thai kickboxing champion Nong Toom Prinya Charoenphol (played by Asanee Suwan), but how on earth did a young boy who always felt like he was a girl get caught up in such a rough sport?
We go all the way back to Nong Toom’s childhood, where tragedy strikes – his mom is put in jail for a legal infraction with their house, and his dad suffers a fall and breaks both ankles. The young boy has to provide for his stricken family while juggling obligations to the Buddhist Monastery. While visiting his mother, he crosses paths with a transsexual woman and realizes his own feeling that he is the wrong gender.
As he grows up, he crosses paths with the sport of Kickboxing and soon discovers he has a natural talent for it. He is able to continue supporting his family by competing and winning the generous payout from matches. But he continues to feel very different from the other boys in his training camp. He is too shy to shower with them, and often hides in the bathroom to try on makeup and lipstick.
He finds a number of female friends that understand his feelings, including the wife of Pi Chart (Sorapong Chatri), his kickboxing instructor. Pi Chart walks in on them as the two are trying on makeup in front of the mirror, and he is surprisingly accepting of it. Soon, with the encouragement of Pi Chart, Toom is wearing makeup in the boxing ring. At first the audience laughs, but his opponents underestimate him. He becomes renowned for his fighting skill and his unorthodox practice. But he keeps having fleeting glances of a woman – an externalization of his desired identity.
As Toom ascends the championship ladder, promoter Pi Mo (Somsak Tuangmukda) markets Toom’s gender bending as a gimmick, but in an interview with the press, Toom finally reveals that once his family is on stable ground, he will use his winnings to have a sex change operation. In the meantime, he begins to take female hormones which sap his strength in the ring, and he descends into further confusion about his identity.
It is a very well done film, with an intricate storyline. It has funny and poignant moments that are mixed in with lots of action and triumph from the kickboxing matches. I can’t think of anyone that wouldn’t benefit from seeing this film.
Movie rental courtesy of Zip.ca. Online DVD rentals carrying a huge selection of GLBT themed DVD’s as well as standard brand new releases, TV shows, classics and more. No Late Fees, No Due Dates, and 57,000 Titles.
http://www.zip.ca