Robert Tanitch reviews the latest DVDs
After a 16-year break Russell T Davies returns to Manchester to look at the gay scene with another television series. If you saw his Queer as Folk all those years ago then you will easily guess what you are in for.
Davies explores the sexual diversity, drive and promiscuity of two generations of gay men and lesbian women and the impact their fears, their joys and their voracious appetites for sex has on their lives.
Cucumber is one long story about a naive middle-aged insurance man who is happiest when he is not having sex with his partner. Their 9-year relationship is falling apart. Will he ever come to terms with being gay? Is he to blame for what happens?
The first-rate cast is headed by Vincent Franklin, Cyril Nri, Julie Hesmondhalgh, Freddie Fox and Fisayo Akinade.
Banana is a series of eight short stories, written by different writers, and they concentrate on the LGBT younger generation and their casual no-big-deal attitude to their own and other people’s sexuality. Bethany Black is the first transgender actor to be cast in a transgender role.
Cucumber and Banana are two separate films but the minor characters overlap. The total result, always serious, is a mixture of comedy, tragedy, farce and horror.
Has the nation moved on in sixteen years? Are we less homophobic than we were? The two films are aimed at adult and mature audiences and, inevitably, there are going to be some people who will find them a bit too explicit and a bit too challenging for their taste.
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