#Lgbt movies

[daimiyamoto]

PAS DE VAGUES (dir. Teddy Lussi-Modeste, 2024)

[esqueletosgays]

DESERT HEARTS (1985)

Director: Donna Deitch Cinematography: Robert Elswit

[madeleineengland]

This is the funniest shot in Saltburn

[the-breath-in-air]

9 Queer Movies from the 1990s You May Not Have Heard Of

It's New Years, which means it's time for lists. And while everyone else is doing 'top X of 2023,' I've decided to list 9 queer movies from the 1990s. Why? Because I wanna. Plus, in discussions of representation, I often see folks talk about it with a heavy focus on mainstream 'Hollywood' produced movies, which leads folks to talk as though progress has been linear. As if, in the past there was no/'bad' queer representation and now there is 'good' representation. But of course it's not that simple. Plenty of amazing queer movies were produced in the past decades...they were just indie movies and thus difficult to find in a world prior to Netflix and Mubi and whatnot. But now we have streaming services, so allow me to share some of my favorites from the before times (specifically the 1990s).

Without further ado....here is an alphabetical list of queer movies from the 90s you may not have heard of (especially if you're under 30).

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Beautiful Thing (1996) (dir. Hettie Macdonald)

Before there was Heartstopper, there was Beautiful Thing. It's a story about two gay teens, one sporty and one very much not sporty...and about how they deal with pressure to come out and pressure to hide who they are. It's a very sweet coming of age story, really. However, unlike Heartstopper, in Beautiful Thing the economic class of the protagonists plays an important role in the story (the characters all live on a counsel estate in London). The characters stories are nearly as much about them being working class as it is about the two main character being gay. It's one of the first movies I ever saw about gay teens, and I loved it. I still get a wistful smile every time I hear Mama Cass Elliot's "Make Your Own Kind of Music." (cw for parental abuse)

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Edward II (1991) (dir. Derek Jarman)

The real Edward II was King of England for 20 years in the 14th century. At the end of the 16th century, Christopher Marlowe wrote a play about Edward's reign and eventual downfall. In 1991, Derek Jarman streamlined Marlowe's play and brought all the homosexual subtext between Edward and Gaveston way out front. In the film, Edward II is in prison and reflects on the events which have led him to that point. The trouble begins when Edward takes the throne and brings his exiled lover, Gaveston, back to England. All around them the rest of the aristocracy (including Edward's wife) conspire to bring Gaveston down. The movie itself is anachronistic (set in 1991), with minimal sets and costume, and staged a lot like a play. A lot of the dialogue is right out of Marlowe's play, though there are some changes to the story (notably at the end). It's honestly my favorite Derek Jarman movie, and frankly one of my favorite movies, full stop. (cw for blood, animal corpses, violent death)

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Fire (1996) (dir. Deepa Mehta)

Fire is the first film in the Elements Trilogy written and directed by Deepa Mehta. Each film in the trilogy is about different characters in India, with the connection between the three being thematic rather than plot or character. Fire is about two Indian women, Radha and Sita, who form a bond through their struggles living within a traditional "joint-family" (i.e. a family where all extended family live together and all money and resources are shared). The women in this family have very little agency and this film explores how the two main characters navigate through it. The men in this film are also repressed by the social structure in which they live, and this film spends some time looking at that as well. It's a film about queer desire between women living under patriarchy. (All the movies on this list are available on streaming services in the US, except Fire. However, I was able to find it uploaded to a random YouTube channel) (cw for someone catching on fire, brief domestic violence (a slap), and non-consensual kissing)

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Happy Together (1997) (dir. Wong Kar-wai)

In Happy Together, two men from Hong Kong travel to Argentina and eventually get stuck there when they run out of money and are unable to return home. The relationship between these two men is very tumultuous, with a lot of arguing and breaking up and getting back together. It's one of the first movies I saw in which queer folks have, just, regular ol' relationship drama - exasperated by the regular ol' struggles of life. (i cant remember if there are any content warnings i should put here; it's been a few years since i've seen it)

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Lilies (1996) (dir. John Greyson)

Lilies is a Canadian film in which a prisoner requests a bishop come to the prison to hear the prisoner's last confession. It quickly becomes clear, however, that the prisoners have something else in mind when they begin staging a play. It turns out the bishop and prisoner knew each other as teens, and the play is about the events in their lives that led up to the prisoner being put on trial. So you end up with a play-within-a-play (or rather a play-within-a-movie). The film weaves between the production staged in the prison and the memory of the events in a really fluid way. All the prisoners portray their characters in the 'memory' sections, which lends itself to some really great moments in the prison sections. And at the heart of this memory/story is a queer love story. (cw for parental abuse, murder, fire, and suicide)

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The Living End (1992) (dir. Gregg Araki)

This is a film about two young gay men who are diagnosed HIV positive. Unlike more mainstream films about HIV that came before (and after), The Living End wears its anger and pain on its sleeve. The entire world is entirely fucked up, and so these two men turn to a nihilistic outlook. The acting is just okay and some of the dialog is a bit ridiculous...but what draws me to rewatch this movie is the way that it conveys the emotion of the time. It's a ball of rage manifest on film. (cw for attempted suicide, rape, murder)

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Love is the Devil (1998) (dir. John Maybury)

One of the problems with the average biopic is that it attempts to portray a person's entire life in a single movie. Thankfully, Love is the Devil doesn't have that problem; it focuses on only 8 years of Francis Bacon's life - the time he spent with a man named George Dyer. By this point, Bacon was already an extremely famous artist (and, at least in the film, a bit of an asshole). Bacon meets Dyer as Dyer attempts to burgle Bacon's studio - and thus begins an extremely dysfunctional love affair. If you want to see Derek Jacobi and Daniel Craig portray this dysfunctional relationship, then this is the movie for you. Also, if you want to see a biopic that lets the subject of the film be portrayed as a shitty person, this is a film for you. (cw for bdsm, drug use, untreated mental illness, and suicide)

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Orlando (1992) (dir. Sally Potter)

From right out the gate, Orlando announces its queer themes by having Quentin Crisp portray Queen Elizabeth I, and Tilda Swinton portray Orlando (a man). From the first scenes it becomes clear that gender is going to be a main theme in the movie. Orlando is a young man who will never grow old and never die. He begins life in the 1500s, during Queen Elizabeth's reign, and we see him (and later, her) throughout the centuries between then and 'present' day (1992). The film is broken into thematic chunks (poetry, politics, society, etc). In each of these chunks we see Orlando's life as it reflects the social norms of the time (especially gender norms).

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Swoon (1992) (dir. Tom Kalin)

Like Rope (1948) and Compulsion (1959), Swoon is a film about the Leopold and Loeb murder. Unlike the earlier films, Swoon makes the gay relationship between Leopold and Loeb explicit. Their relationship in the film is fairly uneven, with Loeb being characterized as more of an explicit manipulator. Leopold, on the other hand, is driven more by wanting to please Leob. Complicating this dynamic is the way that Leopold is the one more interested in their sexual relationship. Is Loeb exchanging sex for help with his criminal activities? Or is Leopold committing crimes in order to elicit sex from Loeb? Or both...something a bit more complicated than either/or? The film, especially the latter half, eschews and lampoons the sensationalism of the reporting of the crime from the time. (cw for murder, blood (in black and white), and animal corpses)

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Honorable mention goes to more well-known movies I didn't put on this list, such as: But I'm a Cheerleader, Velvet Goldmine, Bound, Adventures of Priscilla Queen of the Desert, The Birdcage, To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar, My Own Private Idaho, Bent...there are actually a whole lot of queer movies from the 1990s, now that I think about it.

[henry-fox-biggest-stan]

Gonna let you all know than we I say normalize queer sex and intimacy on media I don’t mean people are free to fetishize it. I don’t mean all queer media has to include sexual content. I don’t mean than for a queer character to be seen as queer they have to have intimacy. I don’t mean fetishized content. I don’t mean fetishized content. I don’t mean fetishized content. I don’t mean fetishized content. I don’t mean

[celluloidrainbow]

WET SAND (2021) dir. Elene Naveriani A village on the Georgian Black Sea is full of friendly people convinced they know each other. One day, bar-owner Eliko is found hanged. His granddaughter, Moe, comes to organize his funeral and is confronted with a web of lies and the tragic consequences of Eliko’s hidden love life with Amnon, which lasted 22 years. The truth, however, frees Moe’s capability to love and forces the villagers to take a stand. (link in title)

[redpanther23]

ESSENTIAL GAY HISTORY MOVIES (according to me, with a focus on the controversial)

The Wizard of Oz (1939) - Included because I actually met a young queer person who didn't believe me that this is a historical lgbt movie. I'm sorry but if you haven't seen this I'm revoking your gay license.

The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1972) - Another one I'm including just in case someone hasn't seen it and needs a reminder to do so (I know teenagers read my blog.)

Pink Flamingos (1972) - A John Waters movie. His films are bizarre, gross comedies and unlike any others.

Female Trouble (1974) - Another John Waters feature, this one has one of my favorite lines from any movie, "son, why don't you stop fooling around with these straight women and find yourself a nice queer to settle down with?" (paraphrased)

Desperate Living (1977) - My favorite John Waters picture, this one is bordering on epic fantasy. It's set in a shantytown in the woods, populated by gay criminals, ruled by an evil queen.

Dog Day Afternoon (1975) - Based on a true story about a guy who robbed a bank to pay for his girlfriend's gender reassignment surgery.

The Forbidden Zone (1980) - THE OINGO BOINGO MOVIE. Not only is the soundtrack Danny Elfman's best work (in this writer's humble opinion) but it's also a beautiful movie about love for the controversial and perverse. Obviously it was made by queers and people of color, but they were trying to be offensive, so they do shit like, have characters in blackface, but also black actors, sometimes in the same scene (an artistic choice as confusing to a modern audience as it was when they made it.)

Killer Condom (1996) - A German murder mystery/comedy about a gay cop. Very corny and lighthearted, it feels more like an 80s movie.

Velvet Goldmine (1998) - A sweet and poignant romance between two male rockstars. This one feels like it came from within my own heart.

Cruising (1980) - Another murder mystery, this time centered around a bisexual cop, only this one isn't a comedy. They shot footage in actual gay bondage bars in New York, but the hardcore stuff got cut because I guess god hates us ( lol). You can still tell in some scenes they're really fisting dudes and shit.

The Gay Deceivers (1969) - Two straight men pretend to be a gay couple to dodge the draft. They move to a gay neighborhood and have to blend in with their neighbors.

Feel free to suggest more, I'm sure there's a lot I didn't think of.

[baemanlover]

Liv Hewson as Dorrie in Let It Snow (2019)

Happy Holidays!!

[cloudtinn]

Merry Christmas! 🎄

Carol (2015), dir. Todd Haynes.

[hime-jellyfish]

Finished watching Kinky Boots for the first time with my dad and he was listing off queer/lgbt movies from the 90s like The Birdcage and The Adventures of Priscilla and when I told him I never heard of them he said "how can you be apart of the lgbt community and not know these movies?"

[gothgleek]

Bottoms (2023) dir. Emma Seligman

[daimiyamoto]

UNA PELÍCULA BARATA (dir. Osama Chami, 2024)

[angelnumber27]

Jennifer’s Body (2009)

[madeleineengland]

This dialogue collects all the beautiful meaning of the movie but let's focus for a moment on Yori's "sorry I lied".

That child dared to disobey his own father and incur his punishment, again, just for Minato! These kids want so much to be together, freely and simply. They just want to be themselves with someone who truly understands them and to express their care. They want to never have to ask permission again. Why the social stigma shouldn't have let them experience their first love, their true identity?

And finally in the end they both let go of the shame. They no longer ask permission and accept themselves as they are.

- MONSTER (2023), dir. by Hirokazu Kore'eda

[starrycassi]

I think a lot of young queers folks (like me. Not trying to be all elderly about this I'm literally a gen z) today need to watch the good oldies about our community.

⚠️: I don't mean, in any way shape or form to insult the newer queer shows/movies. I love SPOP. I love TOH. I read and loved Heart stopper. However, because of the restraint of mainstream media, they have a very... palatable?? way to portray the community. I am NOT blaming the creators (who I'm sure would love to go a bit further down on their portrayals if given the option)

SO! I have nice recommendations that I, personally, enjoy a lot. They're in no particular order.

A classic, for starters. But I'm a cheerleader!: Very campy, barbie-y, funny and free on YouTube. A cheerleader is sent to a conversation camp when her social circle realizes that she might be into girls. (It has a very unrealistic portrayal of conversation camps, though. Very cartoony) my comfort movie fr fr

Priscilla, queen of the desert: A trio of drag queens travel across the desert on a big, old bus. They fight, there's some falling in love. They talk a lot about gender identity, queer childhoods and similar topics. I've only been able to find this one (and most of the ones on this list, since I don't have any streaming devices) on illegal websites. There's very, very direct homophobia, SA, physical abuse, child neglect, yk, the American dream. The queens are the funnier thing ever, the romance plotlines are absolutely delightful and well-rounded. Focuses a bit more on the community itself and interpersonal relationships. All around, a solid 10/10.

Kinky boots: A very prude, engaged man inherits a shoe fabric. He's running out of ideas to stay in business, until he meets a drag queen. Same warnings (and themes!) as the last one. This one has a stronger focus on how the characters become more accepting and how our queen navigates being faced with them. I've rewatched it like a hundred times.

The birdcage (2000's) or le cauge aux folles (1970'): A gay couple runs a drag club. Their son brings home a conservative girlfriend and her family. This is more comedy lenient, but funny as fuck nonetheless.

Paris is burning: this one is a documentary, btw. Focuses on the life of drag queens in the 80's. Nothing I didn't already say on Priscilla tbh.

Saving face: A chinese-american girl that lives in a VERY conservatory and secluded community is trying (and failing) not to fall in love with a ballerina. At the same time, her mother (a widow, how scandalous!) gets mysteriously pregnant and gets kicked out of their family home. This one will hit close to home if you're from any ethnic, homophobic household. Cried a lot. Then cried some more. Happy ending, though!

D.E.B.S: THIS IS THE FUNNIEST, CUTEST MOVIE EVER. It's a full on romance comedy for when the mind is a bit too tired! The main plot is that, in a school of girls being trained to be top-notch spies (very totally spies type) a girl who's the top of her class falls in love with the biggest villainess they ever faced. More of a coming of age thing, that also explores the good old dilemma of choosing what the hell you're supposed to do with your life once you turn 18 (relatable tbh)

And now, for a book (in Spanish, though) we have "Las Malas": Narrated by a trans, poor prostitute. Extremely realistic in its narrative voice, cruel and very hurtful sometimes. This is actually one of my favorite books ever, it's so fucking underrated that I'm going to die if no one reads it. There's EVERYTHING. It genuinely drives me crazy to read this. We have queer moms, a child found in a freezing park, suicides, literally anything happens. I love it.

If anyone has any suggestions PLEASE drop them. I'm begging u

[sageandred]

Some LGBTQ+ Shows + Movies that aren't talked about enough

□ Key : ❤️Netflix 💚Hulu+ 🧡Max 💙Amazon

Sense 8- a sci-fi series featuring queer and polyamorous relationships that follows 8 strangers, who become connected mentally and must survive as hunters view them as a threat to the world's order

Nuovo Olimpo- a story through the years that follows two 25 year old men who fall in love, get separated, and try to find each other again over 30 years

Mutt- a transgender man is swept into a whirlwind of emotions when people from the past return to his life over 24 hours

Merlí- a drama surrounding a philosophy teacher, along with his gay son, and the unconventional methods taken to influence the student's rebellion

Heartbreak High- an Australian tv series that features asexual, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and nonbinary characters navigating the ups and downs of high school, life, and romance

In the Flesh- a post-apocolyptic short series in which zombies get rehabilitated back into the normal world (disclaimer: was cancelled after 2 seasons)

Plan B- a comedy movie about a girl and her best friend who have 24 hours to track down the morning after pill following her regrettable first time experience, with commentary on women's sexuality + double standards

Pose- an upbeat drama mostly about trans women and gay men who are POC building a community in New York City during the late 80s and early 90s (disclaimer: season 2 gets darker, but it's still got some happier moments)

Vida- a story about 2 Mexican-American sisters who return home following their mother's death unearthing her secrets as one sister goes on journey of exploring her own repressed feelings

Gentleman Jack- a historic lesbian love story within the British monarchy

Looking- an intense look on how internalized homophobia can deeply impact life and love; there's some negative critiques in some areas, but it's a realistic look at how the way you grew up can affect, particularly in regards to gay relationships

Animal Kingdom (2016)- a crime drama centered around the dealings of a family involved in shady business when a teenager goes to live with them following his mom's od

Anne+ - Anne examines multiple past relationships and how they have contributed to who she is

The Blue Caftan- a middle aged man and his wife run a store where they hire a young apprentice that he falls for

Demain Nous Appartient (Tomorrow is Ours)- soap opera that features gay storyline after a plane crash accident in which a boy has lost his eyesight

Eismayer- openly gay soldier and a tough officer in the Austrian army fall in love

Glue (2014)- crime drama series that features a bl relationship (warning: tragic love story)

Le Paradis (The Lost Boys 2023)- a forbidden love story in which it is prohibited to engage in physical contact for boys at a detention center

The Trace of Your Lips- lockdown movie where 2 men living across the hall from each other break the rules