I just saw the original soundtrack (OST) of 2gether The Movie on YouTube today and it’s very romantic. It’s been a year since the YouTube series was released, which coincides with the lockdowns. The series somehow made the lockdown bearable and it became an inspiration for several Filipino boys’ love (BL) series.
I saw Ron Martin Angeles in the BL series “Ben X Jim” and since then, I became a fan. I am delighted to know that he’ll be appearing in another BL series called “Limited Edition”. He may still not be one of the main characters, but I’ll still watch it for him.
I love his personality on these series – he project an aura of being very happy.
Ron Martin Angeles, shirtless
I had the time to browse numerous gay movies at Gay Torrents and I downloaded these movies from 2018 to 2021. I haven’t seen the trailers of these movies before specially the Pinoy movie “Run”. Here are the summaries of these movies:
The Man With The Answers (2021)
Victor is a twenty-something ex-diving champion now working in a furniture factory and living with his sick grandmother in a seaside town in Greece. Distraught after her death, he decides to dust off an old car and travel to Europe. On the ferry to Italy, he meets Matthias, a talkative, inquisitive young German who is on his way home. Matthias persuades Victor to take him along and as they drive north, Victor’s uptight, repressive personality clashes with the more free-spirited Matthias. But they soon find common emotional ground as their summer road trip takes unexpected turns. A tender story of self-discovery, love and family, in its many forms. (Los Angeles Greek Film Festival - lagff)
This film has not been shown in our country (Greece) yet and it's not even listed / mentioned in cine.gr (the Greek imdb)
Beyto (2020)
Talented swimmer, motivated apprentice: Beyto is in the midst of life, with a bright future ahead of him. But when the only son of a Turkish migrant family falls in love with his coach Mike, an ideal world falls to pieces.
Drive Me Home (2018)
Antonio and Agostino grew up together in a small town in Sicily; they dreamt of living a different life, somewhere else. Now thirty-year-olds, they both live abroad but they lost touch years ago. When Antonio discovers that the house he grew up in, which had been empty for a long time, is about to be sold at auction, he decides to leave and reconnects with his childhood friend. But their lives have changed a lot. Old conflicts and new revelations bring them through Europe on a truck journey.
FAG / PD (2019)
An amazing and wonderful short film against homophobia
Thomas, a 17-year-old high school student, finds himself attracted to Esteban, another boy from his school. The rumor of Thomas's homosexuality is spreading fast, and he begins to suffer the gaze of others.
A short film about homophobia, prejudice, friends, love and the desire to be yourself.
Homophobia is a hatred of homosexuals and homosexuality based on myths and prejudices. This is the best, most beautiful and most perfect short film in several years with a kind message to the whole world to stop a homophobia! The great job and wonderful actors!
Only we ourselves, all people around the world, are able to stop a homophobia.
RUN the Movie (2021)
Starring JR Versales, Keann Johnson, Zhay Cuevas & Miko Manapul
Written, produced and directed by Mel Magno.
Subtitles are white, and burned into the video. They are easy to read.
PLOT: The film is about Mark Merano (Keann Johnson) and Gene Villarama (JR Versales), two gay guys who are (as the title implies) running away from an unaccepting society and not from themselves nor from their families that have known their sexuality from the day they were born.
“I would say that Run tackles the topic of homosexuality in a deeper manner,” explained Mel who has done two films, Ripples and Bata, Gabi Na Saan Ka Pupunta?, with Run as his first foray into BL territory. “Bata touches on homosexuality but not as deep as does Run. In Run, malalim ang pagtalakay sa homosexuality. It deals with a part of my own life, although the story is a composite of the lives of people I know, including mga pananaw (opinions) ko sa lipunan which has not fully accepted the reality of homosexuality. I would say that the whole film is my statement. Which of the two characters am I? I am Gene Villarama but I want to be Mark Merano, gusto kong matanggap ako ng isang Mark Merano.”
“When you are in love, whether with a girl or with another guy,” claimed Keann, “you hold hands, you hug and you kiss. Love should be above gender, beyond gender.”
“They were cooperative,” related Mel, “but initially during the shoot of the shower scene with another actor, I had to explain to them that they had to do it. I told them, ‘Forget that you are Keann and you are JR...think that you are your characters Mark and Gene. You are actors; embrace your characters.’ Do it, otherwise baka tapos na ang pandemic ay hindi pa tayo tapos. They were already shaking from the cold. My strategy worked.”
And, according to Mel, what worked was the songs he played during the shoot.
“I wrote 14 original songs for the movie,” shared Mel, “and every song fitted every scene in which it was played, not just partially but in full. For that shower scene, I played Mahal, Huwag Kang Matakot.”
It’s good to know that in spite of Duterte’s shutdown of ABS-CBN, the network continues to hire artist through Star Magic. In their recent Black Pen Day event, more than 40 artists signed a contract with the network.
I’m interested only with the guys though. There were some renowned artists like John Arcilla, Sandino Martin, Marc Solis and Jake Ejercito. Most are pretty much new faces, including:
Vance Larena https://www.instagram.com/vancelarena/ -- On his IG, he describe himself as an artist, into Lyka gems and has a single on Spotify called “Tama”. He’s also the lead actor in 2018 film “Bakwit Boys”.
Paolo Gumabao https://www.instagram.com/paologumabao/ -- He’s 22 years old and stars in the film “Lockdown” by director Joel Lamangan. He’s an actor, performer, endorser and proud Bicolano. He likes “Friends” and “The Big Bang Theory”.
Luis Vera-Perez https://www.instagram.com/imluisveraperez/ -- This guy is all over social media. He’s on FB, IG, Kumu, TikTok, Twitter, YouTube and Lyka. He doesn’t say much about himself on these accounts.
Migo Manikan https://www.instagram.com/migomanikan/ -- He’s also on Kumu and the son of Spanky Manikan and Susan Africa.
Vitto Neri. https://www.instagram.com/vittoneri/ -- He plays guitar from time to time and also on Kumu. Full name on IG is Vitto Luis Juan J. Neri.
Zach Castaneda https://www.instagram.com/zach.castaneda/ -- He’s a commercial model. I last seem him in that Bingo commercial. He describes himself on IG as the “Prince of TVC”. Check out his article here.
Aljon Mendoza https://www.instagram.com/aljonmendozaa/ -- He’s also on social media like TikTok, Twitter, IG and FB. He’s a vlogger.
JC Alcantara https://www.instagram.com/imjcalcantara/ -- He’s from RISE Artists Studio. He starred together with Tony Labrusca in the Boys’ Love (BL) series “Hello Stranger”.
Kiko Estrada is from Arnold Vegafria’s ALV Events International. He recently broke up with Devon Seron. He has a Wikipedia entry so quite famous.
Poppert Bernadas https://www.instagram.com/iampoppert/ -- He’s a singer and actor and is managed by A Team and Star Magic. His song “Payakap, Inay” is on Spotify.
Gian Magdangal https://www.instagram.com/gianmagdangal/ -- Is also managed by A Team and is into photography. His song “All The Way” is also available on Spotify.
Davey Langit https://www.instagram.com/iamdaveylangit/ -- Is a singer / songwriter.
Anthony Barion https://www.instagram.com/anthonybarion/ -- He’s from Ogie Alcasid’s ATEAM (Alcasid Total Entertainment & Artist Management, Inc). He is a model, host and vlogger.
Tan Roncal https://www.instagram.com/tanredroncal/ -- He is a housemate of Pinoy Big Brother 8 – “Ang Kulitisoy ng Davao”. He has a YouTube channel.
Richard Juan https://www.instagram.com/richardjuan/ -- He described himself on Instagram as an actor, host, entrepreneur and dreamer. He’s a podcaster.
Kobie Brown https://www.instagram.com/kobierhysbrown/ -- is from the recent Pinoy Big Brother. Check out his article here.
The boys’ love (BL) series that started it all – is now a movie! I can’t wait for the continuation of Sarawat and Tine’s love story.
2gether The Movie coming soon.
