Review: “Boys on Film 21: Beautiful Secret” celebrates acting boldly and loving fearlessly Boys on Film 21: Beautiful Secret unspools a collection of defiant gay shorts from Europe, the UK, and Down Under
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Boys on Film 21
Secrets hidden, exposed, or shared in confidence bind relationships of all sorts in the short films compiled in
Boys on Film 21: Beautiful Secret (★★★★☆). The latest edition of the long-running shorts collection from Peccadillo Pictures comprises a nine-film, 143-minute journey with characters who risk safety, security, or liberty by living their queerness with complete honesty.
Remarkably, given a theme that might have veered towards shame and struggle, the prevailing sense in these films is of courage and defiance. The queer men and boys here stand up to cruelty, oppression, homophobia, peer pressure, their parents, and even the Nazis in writer-director Joe Morris’ exquisitely produced German and English-language drama