The Scorching Gay Love Story You Probably Haven’t Seen Yet

If you live in or near a major city and blinked just once last week, you probably missed your chance to see the feature film Firebird in the theater. The 2021 gay love story played in some festivals last year (mostly overseas, with one in Los Angeles and one in San Francisco), but made it’s official wide release in the United States on April 29th. In many locations, however, it played for just one week (boo!).

I managed to check my AMC Stubs listings in the nick of time this week, and caught a viewing on its final day in the one local theater it was playing (to see if you’re in one of the few U.S. cities that can still catch a showing, check here). With the tagline “Fight For Love,” the film from director Peeter Rebane is based on a true story—the original memoir A Tale About Roman by Sergey Fetisov, a member of the Soviet Air Force during the Cold War (read more about his story here).

The film starts in Soviet-occupied Estonia in 1977, where we meet young private Sergey (out English actor Tom Prior, who appeared in Kingsman: The Secret Service). He yearns for an escape from the base and a life back home in Moscow, and also has acting aspirations—but he gets distracted by the arrival of fighter pilot Roman (dashing Ukranian actor Oleg Zagorodnii, who I want to eat with a spoon). At the same time, Sergey is swooned over by base secretary Luisa (Diana Pozharskaya). In an era where homosexuality was illegal (before Russia changed the law in 2013), Sergey and Roman soon strike up a dangerous affair in dangerous surroundings.

Beautifully shot (and in some very effective locations in Malta), Firebird is at once romantic, thrilling, poetic and heartbreaking. It also stretches its modest budget admirably, its cinematography and visuals enhancing the mood (I was also a fan of the score, which heightened the tension, sexual and otherwise). The film’s biggest assets are the two leads, both oozing charisma and charm—and combusting when they’re alone together. And yeah, if it matters (it shouldn’t), they’re both hot as fuck—especially when shirtless (which isn’t nearly enough for my liking…sorry not sorry).

The film toys with our emotions as the tortured romance spans many years, checking in with these two men at various points in their life and giving us hope that they can make it. I think Firebird would have benefited from an extra 15 minutes or so to slow down some of the momentum and let the initial encounters build more organically. Some of the standard “Hollywood gay love story” tropes intrude (especially involving the Luisa character, who Pozharskaya gives as much depth as the story allows). But given the extremely horrid environment this true story took place in, I imagine some of the plot points aren’t as questionable as they might initially seem

Fans of skin may be disappointed; this is a scorching love story, but it doesn’t rely on a lot of sex scenes to create its chemistry (which I find refreshing). It may feel a smidge sanitized for a more mainstream audience, but I don’t fault it for that. (If you want to see more of Prior’s amazing body—hello abs!—I suggest you peruse his Insta…and Oleg, who gives me young Billy Campbell vibes, is also looking pretty fine.)

The film is a co-production between England and Estonia, and the actors speak English with Russian accents. Prior (who also co-wrote the film) and Zagorodnii are magnetic together, and make you root for them despite the odds being stacked against them. Firebird is a small film that isn’t breaking new ground, but it’s a powerful love story that I can’t get out of my head and want to see again as soon as possible.

And given the unfortunate timeliness the story has given the Russian conflict in Ukraine—and with gay rights in Russia and around the world at a crossroads (dear lord what does the Supreme Court have in store for us?!)—Firebird has added emotional heft that will hit you hard. I highly recommend it.

Check out the trailer below, and if you can’t catch in in the theaters, put in on your streaming wait list.