December 27, 2024
Big Gay Movie Roundup: 13 Notable Films from 2024
Kilian Melloy READ TIME: 16 MIN.
The Summer with Carmen
Greek director Zacharias Mavroeidis and his co-writer Fondas Chalatsis go nuts with "The Summer with Carmen," a thoroughly meta, absolutely cinephilic, and appealingly sexy trifle that's got layers and layers of jokey, witty fun wrapped around a compassionate core... not to mention a winking, celebratory love of the nude male form.
Two gay buddies, Demosthenes (Yorgos Tsiantoulas) and Nikitas (Andreas Labropoulos) hang out at a nude beach, spinning ideas for a movie that will be a surefire hit. Their over-active imaginations cast others at the beach (a lurker, a showboating couple, a guy whose photo should appear in the dictionary under "Beefcake") as players in the movie notions they come up with. Interleaved with their musings are flashbacks that recount Demosthenes' breakup with Panos (Nikolaos Mihas), a parting of ways that led to Demosthenes' titular summer with Panos' dog. A complete success in its comic and dramatic ambitions, "The Summer with Carmen" is the gay movie equivalent of an everything bagel: It's so extra, and yet so perfectly balanced.
"The Summer with Carmen" is available on VOD platforms.
Kilian Melloy serves as EDGE Media Network's Associate Arts Editor and Staff Contributor. His professional memberships include the National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association, the Boston Online Film Critics Association, The Gay and Lesbian Entertainment Critics Association, and the Boston Theater Critics Association's Elliot Norton Awards Committee.
