Movie Review: Children of God

Summary:

Overlapping stories in the Bahamas involve anti-gay bigotry and other attitudes that keep the characters from happiness. Kareem Mortimer’s award-winning film challenges homophobic views while revealing breathtaking scenery.

Text:

Writer/director Kareem Mortimer expands his short film Float into a candid look at homophobia, sexism, and violence in the Bahamas. Despite the sometimes sad or brutal content, he creates a beautifully photographed film.

An art teacher sends the talented but creatively bland artist Johnny (Johnny Ferro) to the island of Eleuthera, where she wants him to explore obscure and evocative landscapes. Instead, he finds the alluring and captivating Romeo (Stephen Tyrone Williams).

Johnny, though obviously gay, includes a fear of physical contact among his many phobias. Romeo won’t give up on Johnny and wants him to experience the joy of floating in the beautiful tropical water. Soon, their limited touching becomes something more. Unfortunately, Romeo isn’t as brave or out among other people, which quickly complicates their relationship.

Lena (Margaret Laurena Kemp) spouts anti-gay bigotry even more vehemently than her husband, the pastor Ralph Mackey (Mark Richard Ford). Van Brown also plays a pastor, but one who provides a voice of moderation and compassion.

Kareem Mortimer casts all the roles perfectly. The actors all give natural performances that reveal a variety of fears, attitudes, hopes, and concerns. He also chooses his locations perfectly: the settings provide flashes of wonder and beauty amid a sometimes troubling collection of intermingled storylines.

By raising questions and allowing his characters to counter hateful attitudes, Mortimer creates a film that can spark much needed dialogue in the Bahamas and around the world. Children of God has received fourteen awards. Read more about it at the Children of God home page. Watch the movie at YouTube.

Thanks for visiting my blog! Please read about my small-town fiction collection The Acorn Stories and my free eBook Degranon: A Science Fiction Adventure.

Degranon: A Science Fiction Adventure, winner of a Pride in the Arts Award, has been added by a hundred Goodreads readers!


The brilliant scientist Taldra loves her twin gay sons and thinks of them as the hope for Valchondria’s future, but one of them becomes entangled in the cult of Degranon, and the other becomes stranded on the other side of a doorway through time. Can they find their way home and help Taldra save their world?

bn.com
Fishpond.co.nz
Fishpond.co.au
Degranon: Kindle eBook
Germany
Excerpt: We’re Glad Our Son Is Gay
Excerpt: The Maintainers Arrive
Degranon: Reading Group Questions
Book Trailer 1
Book Trailer 2
Gay Science Fiction Worlds
Gay SciFi for Canadian Readers
Gay SciFi UK
Gay Science Fiction at bn.com

Gay Movie Review: Violet Tendencies (Revised 3/2/25)

Summary:

Violet enjoys the admiration of her gay friends but also wants true love. Her attempts lead to funny situations in this Casper Andreas film.

Text:

Director Casper Andreas and writer Jesse Archer (both from A Four Letter Word) team up for another comedy, this time playing supporting roles in a film that stars Mindy Cohn as a woman who spends her time with a large group of gay friends. Cohn, known first as Natalie from TV’s The Facts of Life but now as a stage and voice-over performer, carries the movie well with her bluntness and charm.

Archer’s script relies on a mixture of comic timing, awkwardness, and crudity, but mostly just likeable characters. In fact, even the meanest or most manipulative characters evoke sympathy or win over the audience in some way. Unfortunately, some of the scenes feel too desperate in attempts to make the audience laugh or care.

As Violet, Cohn keeps trying to find love through the dating site Frisky Friends. Her gay friends shower her with attention, but she begins to wonder if they hold her back, especially after a new suitor (played by Armand Anthony) enters the scene. Her dates provide some of the film’s biggest laughs, but they also reveal how she tends to sabotage her chances at fully connecting with someone.

The film rarely gets too deep or serious, looking instead at some of the more outrageous antics of its characters. However, it reveals how much friends can mean to each other. The other roles also receive loving treatment from the actors, including Marcus Patrick as a well-grounded go-go dancer. Samuel Whitten and Adrian Armas are both in relationships that take discomforting directions. Kim Allen plays a snobbish but funny co-worker who doles out advice to Violet. Randy Jones of the Village People also appears in a likeable role.

Andreas and Archer followed up Violet Tendencies with a film adaptation of Going Down in LA-LA Land. Novelist Andy Zeffer explored Hollywood in that gay-themed novel.

Thanks for visiting my blog! Please read about my small-town fiction collection The Acorn Stories and my free eBook Degranon: A Science Fiction Adventure.

Elks taking over Banff, Alberta! Funny video for nature lovers.

The Degranon Goodreads page includes discussions of its themes, and a chance to mention other gay-themed scifi or fantasy works. Please join in the discussion and suggest more titles! More than 95 Goodreads readers now list Degranon among their Goodreads lists.