preppy-3 I caught this way back in 1991 at an art house. I had no idea what it was about but the gay papers were advertising it to a ridiculous degree. I thought it might be about gay men in London but it wasn't. It was about a bunch of largely uninteresting characters in the 1970s Britain. It threw in homosexuality, racism, murder...basically anything it could think of and ended up quite a mess. The plot kept veering all over the place never settling on a consistent tone. The acting was pretty bad too. There was however a hot male on male sex scene. Nothing explicit--it was mostly just a lot of kissing and no shots from the waist down. This was the only sequence that caught my attention and the only part that had any heat or passion. Aside from that this is a mess.

noitsme_habibi Been a long time since I saw this movie, but whenever I think of it, or even just hear that song from the soundtrack, I feel all happy and <ahem> gay. Funny thing is, I went back to see what I'd noted about it at the time (1991), and apparently I'd only considered it a so-so film!So, yes, perhaps the story line was a bit flimsy, perhaps all of the movie didnt amount to a whole much ... but if the memory of it still makes me smile after ten years, it must've been a lot better than I'd originally realised! ;-)

oldskool72 Firstly, lets get the negatives ironed out and set the record straight. Yes, the plot gets a bit lost towards the end, yes some of the acting is questionable, yes some of the storyline is a little far fetched. If we judged every film we saw on those merits alone we'd be very shallow people! Thank heavens British Cinema gets away with making films like this, that represent British History, Culture and lifestyle in a non-conformist, sensitive and "path less trodden" view. Yes it has a gay story line... and to correct another review only ONE of the two central characters is gay. What sets this film apart if we are discussing it within the genre of "Gay films" is that it tackles the delicate issue of men of Afro-Caribbean descent being gay in an interesting and uncompromising way. It doesn't pander to our expectations/stereotypical view of gay men, and utilises the sexuality angle as an integral part of the whole plot. "Jeffery" it aint! Nuff Said! The whole story is set in the Summer of 1977 - the Queens Silver Jubilee. Chris & Caz run "Soul Patrol" - a pirate radio station that plays Jazz Funk - marginalised at the time by Punk and Reggae. One of their close friend's is murdered in the park, and Chris finds a piece of evidence as to who the killer is. The film is Directed by Isaac Julien, who was shortlisted for a Turner Prize recently (2002) (A prestigious UK award within the art community) Julien has captured, by use of location (Dalston - East London) Lighting (capturing the hot summer of '77 perfectly) and Music (the soundtrack is a gem - Roy Ayers, Funkadelic, Blackbyrds etc) a mood and feeling that I've felt from no other film. In some ways "Young Soul Rebels" was ahead of its time, and was badly marketed and has been aired very little since its release in 1991. Its "Celebration & Integration" message is how we now live, as a mixed race/sexuality culture here in the Major towns of the UK today... it seems such a shame to mis-label it "A gay film" when there is clearly more to it than that.

hotspur95 Yey! Ive found a film that Ive seen and no-one has commented on! It's been that long since Ive watched it, that Ive forgotten all about it. All I can remember is that it was about some gay black guys and they run around for a bit... jeez... I think it was set in London. Oh dear :) I always remember that it sucked, but I suspect that it may have not been that bad. It may have irritated me at the time with the gay angle tho. Im certainly not homophobic, but things like this, such as, say, Queer as Folk, tend to get my back up, I guess it is my middle-class sensibilites being offended by 'having my nose rubbed in it'. I much prefer the more sensitive approach such as 'In and Out' (Frank Oz dir), or Wilde (Stephen Fry starred), both of which I rate quite highly.