Matcollis This Movie Can Only Be Described With One Word.

Comwayon A Disappointing Continuation

Breakinger A Brilliant Conflict

Walter Sloane Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.

bob the moo My exposure to the work of Russell T Davies has been quite limited, as I never watched a lot of his stuff from years past. I watched Cucumber out of interest, as it did seem like a large 'event', although I did not watch the supporting shows of Banana or Tofu (I think the former followed minor characters and the latter was more of a discussion show around the issues). Set within the Manchester gay community, we follow older Henry as a series of moments see him and his long-term partner breaking up, and him living with a small group of much, much younger (and adventurous) gay men.From the start the show has a lot of energy, with plenty of colorful characters, excessive language, dialogue, and of course full-frontal male nudity. To some this will be enough to put them off whereas if the show had straight characters and female nudity, they would not be. I was unsure how I felt about this element of the show for some time – was it the fact that I saw this as 'alternative' the issue that meant the sexual material seemed like an issue? For me personally it was not, but for sure the show's obsession with sex was a barrier in and of itself. Perhaps it is my distance from this community that meant it felt over-the-top and a little tiresome in its constant sexual energy, however it remains that it did feel this way.It is a shame because there are some real people in here, and the show is really driven by Franklin's performance as Henry. Too often he is thrown around in the sea of sex, with its fast edits, its boundless energy, and polished presentation. However at times the script gives him space to be a person within this world, and in those moments his performances works really well. It is a shame that the same was not said for the others and too many just felt like easy caricatures without any fleshing out. Even those characters which have more to work with, they still don't really manage to fight their way through the energy and bustle to make a mark.It is a shame, because I did also quite enjoy elements of the energy, sex, and sense of lifestyle. However it does feel like these elements were always first and foremost on the agenda, and it always seems like the characters and moments of genuine feeling just came about for the purpose of having a frame for all of the main material, not the other way round.

Five5Creative Anyone who vilifies this show because they feel it paints a "stereotypical" or "negative" portrait of what gay men are like are either painfully naive or living in denial. This show is not only frighteningly accurate but smartly written, beautifully shot, superbly acted and stylishly edited.As a 47 year old gay man, I found this (unlike many other gay-themed TV series) to, at long last, finally depict characters with which I am familiar and with whom I identify on many levels.It's both raw and honest and yet tempers the darker aspects of gay life with humor and respect.As much as we would like to be perceived as no different than our straight counterparts, the reality is we are different. And for good or ill, most of us gay folk do indeed behave in the manner that is depicted in this show. It was refreshing to not see our lifestyle sugar coated.In our fight for equality, too often we try to pretend that things are not what they appear. But they are. They always have been, and they always will be. Gay men are, after all, men. And men have a single-mindedness when it comes to behavior and desire. If this show was about straight guys, we'd all say, "Well yeah. Men behave like that." But because it's specifically about gay men, so many would like to say "gay men don't really behave like that." But we do. That is the harsh reality we need to accept.I've been out since I was 20 years old. In the 27 years of being an out (and proud) gay man, I have seen and encountered all of these characters in my life and still, to this day, see and encounter them. Stop cry-babying that this show perpetuates negative stereotypes. If you don't like what you see in this show, then don't watch the show. But you will see no different in the real world. This is gay life. We love, we lose, we win, we make mistakes and we have sex... a lot of it if we're lucky. And when we're not having sex, we're looking for it. Not because we're gay. But because we're guys. Cucumber depicts what men do and how men behave when those men happen to be gay -- the joy, the misery, the heartache, the loss, the triumphs, the failures, the sex and the never-ending quest for it.That is the reality of the world we live in. Sorry if you find that harsh. That's what happens when a mirror is held up and you don't like what you see. I personally had no problem with what I saw when I watched this show. I make no apologies for who I am and what I do. I'm far from a minority of one in that respect.The problem is not with what this show portrays. The problem is that the portrayal is accurate. And that problem is, quite frankly, our problem and no one else's.Learn to live with it.

Foux_du_Fafa I really don't know what to think of "Cucumber". It's certainly gripping but it also left me rather uncomfortable and wondering what I was doing to myself. To give you a bit of context: I'm from the Manchester area and it took me until my early-to-mid 20s to buck up the courage to come out. In the past few years since then, I've encountered a variety of gay people. Some are scene- obsessed, others don't have anything to do with the scene. Some are intelligent, some are stupid. Some seek alternative lifestyles, some don't. Some are quite conservative regarding sex and relationships, others far from. The fact is that sexual orientation does not necessarily define one's lifestyle or personal beliefs, nor should anyone try to beg to differ.Though not as sleazy as the earlier "Queer as Folk", "Cucumber" portrays a stereotypical world of gay people (particularly gay men) who are narcissists, sex-addicts and general sleaze-balls. True, these people exist, and perhaps it's good to see gay people who are broke and on the fringes of society instead of fabulous, perfect- bodied and super-successful people who live in penthouses in LA or Manhattan. For someone who doesn't want to be shoved in a category and only interact with people of my own sexual orientation, it's quite frankly insulting. I understand that it's meant to be an over- the-top comedy-drama series and that it shouldn't be taken as realistic, but the fact of the matter is that some less informed people may watch it and come to see it as how gay people act and live. Feel free to make up your own mind on the programme, but just be warned.

Aaron Dodo Why do we watch drama? Why do we watch movies, read books, listen to news? And why is it that the imaginary lives of distant people not even remotely related to us often bring us into deep thoughts or emotions?Because that is what we do. We extract and we associate. We learn. Because truth, the universal truth, MUST ring true wherever you look.And sometimes, because we're so adapted to our mundane life, it takes a story slightly outside of our comfort zone to illustrate these universal truth to us. Make no mistake, Cucumber is sarcastic and intense. It puts on a satiric or even comedic voice, but it should be immediately obvious to the audience that there is an incredible intensity behind it. Some people may be confused, thinking "a suicide is not funny" --- Exactly. It is not. It is not supposed to be. The suicide should make you feel uncomfortable, should make you question Henry's choices, and should make you question MORE than just Henry's choices. That's what satires are supposed to do, it should make us think and think BIGGER than what's shown on the screen. Seeing flashing moments between Henry burying himself in his own daily worries and fantasies, and the problem that others are facing, should shake us: it's not just him, it's all of us, so buried in the thoughts of picking up our children and saving 50 cents on the next grocery purchase that we don't bother to look up into the world. Then you should stop and wonder: can we change that? And then, some of you will be more optimistic, others may come to the sad conclusion that no, not all the time. The mundane WILL drown out the worldly voices as many of us have noticed in our own lives, and it doesn't matter how much you fight it, it's bound to happen at least occasionally. And THAT, is a powerful message, one that transcends simple do and don'ts and illustrates reality. It's a very sad message. So don't be confused, if you feel uncomfortable watching that part of the episode, it means you've picked up the right feeling that they're trying to send out. Throughout the whole series, there's a lot of very dark messages. For those who try to bound these messages to only gay men or gay men of a certain age, make no mistakes, what was described in the show can apply to anyone and everyone. Like the show said, we make roads, we make grids, and as long as we are confined in certain grids we are safe --- but anyone who ventures out of that grid either voluntarily or not, will find that it is you versus the wild. These gay men on the show just illustrates this point better, because they're often closer to the side curb than your typical happily married straight couples, hence they have a greater chance of venturing outside of the norm and discover the nature that we are not supposed to discover. The idea of "possibility", the illusion of a "dream", the enormous social pressure that many of us have already molded our lives for, and the fragile mind that cannot grasp at a few themes at any given moment, these are problems that are in EVERYONE's life. Or they will be. So, I disagree with some other reviewers that this show illustrates the dark side of gay life --- it illustrates the darker side of what humans typically praise, period. Lust. Envy. It's everywhere. And it's here to stay.