some actually good gay films to close out pride month
Some of my personal favorite queer movies! Image limit is 10 per post, but thereâs some others Iâve really liked so I might make a pt. 2!
Alex Strangelove - (Available on Netflix as of 4/19.) Dir. by Craig Johnson, 2018. Teen Comedy following closeted queer high school senior, Alex Truelove. Alex is a straight A student with a perfectly nice longterm girlfriend but his world is flipped upside down when he meets the handsome, charming and out gay kid from the other side of town. This is one of the lighter films on this list, for when you need some feel-good vibes and a nice laugh.
Boy Erased - Dir. by Joel Edgerton, 2018. In this Drama Coming-of-age film based off the memoir by Garrard Conley, the son of a small town Baptist pastor is outed to his family and sent away to a conversion therapy program. While there, he struggles with understanding the twisted and often backwards logic of those leading them. Troye Sivan played a very interesting character in this! This is definitely one of the tearjerkers on this list and contains some pretty dark material (including rape, physical and emotional abuse, religiously motivated abuse, and suicide) but I still highly recc it if youâre in the right emotional place to handle that.
But Iâm a Cheerleader - Dir. by Jamie Babbit and released in 2000, this teen Comedy is a satirical and light hearted take on a serious subject, conversion camps. It also features two beloved actors now known for their repeated playing of queer characters, Natasha Lyonne and Clea Duvall, as love interests. Highschooler Megan considers herself to be the typical prototype of an American teenage girl. She has a football playing boyfriend (who she doesnât particularly enjoy kissing) and a group of fellow cheerleader friends (who she might look at a bit too often.) Sheâs shocked when one day the people in her life sit her down, accuse her of being a lesbian, and ship her off to âTrue Directions.â
Carol - (Available on Netflix as of 4/19.) Dir. by Todd Haynes and released in 2015, this period drama is based off the 1952 novel âThe Price of Saltâ or âCarolâ by Patricia Highsmith. Therese Belivet meets Carol Aird in December 1952 while sheâs looking for a doll for her daughter. Carol is going through a divorce, Therese is relunctant to get serious with her boyfriend. The two women become fast friends and their relationship quickly develops into something more. People have some pretty divided opinions on this one, but I enjoyed it. The cinematography was beautiful and its a nice film for when you want to sit back and immerse yourself in something. Parts of it made me cry, but for the most part it was just a relaxing experience that didnât take much emotional energy or brain power. This movie is also the reason you see queer women thirsting after Cate Blanchett all the time.Â
Ek Ladki Ko Dekha Toh Laga - (Available on Netflix as of 4/19.) This Hindi-language Coming of age comedy drama is directed by Shelly Chopra Dhar and stars both Sonam and Anil Kapoor. It tells the story of Sweety Chaudhary, a young closeted lesbian Punjabi woman, from childhood to present adulthood as she struggles to reconcile her sexuality with her familyâs expectations and her culture. This! film! was! amazing! Itâs what inspired me to make this list and I canât reccomend it enough. I cried SO HARD. I laughed SO MUCH. It was such an enjoyable, cathartic, touching experience and its so important to support. Itâs subtitled on Netflix in 5 language options (English, Spanish, French, Simplified Chinese, and Traditional Chinese).
Love, Simon - Dir. by Greg Berlanti and released in 2018. This comedy-drama follows closeted gay 17 year old Simon Spier as he begins interacting on the internet with and falling for an anonymous gay kid who goes to his school. This is probably one of the most popular queer films out there but I did watch and enjoy it and thought I would rec it anyways. It was genuinely so good! Itâs another one of the lighter films on this list, and at times it had me simultaneously laughing and crying. Keiynan Lonsdale was cast as the love interest, is queer irl, and he makes some amazing music including his very gay single âKiss the Boy.â
Moonlight - (Available on Amazon Prime Video as of 4/19.) Dir. by Barry Jenkins and released in 2016, this drama takes a look into three distinct chapters or stages in the life of Chiron, a young, queer black man growing up in Miami. It follows his journey to manhood as heâs guided by his family, friends, and community. Janelle Monae made her film debut in this!! iâm assuming most of you already know who she is, but if not: Janelle is pansexual and has been making some amazing, super immersive concept albums over the past decade. âMoonlightâ is both the first LGBT-related film and the first film with an all-black cast to ever win an Oscar!!Â
Rafiki - Dir. by Wanuri Kahiu, premiered in 2018 at film festivals. Okay so Iâm just gonna go ahead and admit I havenât seen this personally yet because it hasnât had itâs US wide release yet (but itâs slated for sometime in 2019!!!) and I canât afford film festivals, but i already know from the trailer that itâs gonna be amazing and Iâm gonna love it. âRafikiâ tells the story of Kena and Ziki, two young queer Kenyan girls, as theyâre forced to choose between their personal truth and the desires of everyone around them. This was the first ever Kenyan film to be screened at Cannes Film Festival and was actually banned in Kenya.Â
The Handmaiden - (Available on Amazon Prime Video as of 4/19.) Loosely based off the novel âFingersmithâ by Sarah Waters this film was directed by Park Chan-wook and released in 2016. Itâs primarily in Korean with some Japanese, and English subtitles are available. Ive seen it described as a âlesbian revenge thrillerâ before and thats pretty accurate. Set in 1930s Korea under Japanese occupation it tells the story of a orphaned pickpocket sent to relieve a wealthy lady of her inheritance.
The Miseducation of Cameron Post - dir. by Desiree Akhavan and based off the novel of the same name by Emily M. Danforth, this coming of age drama is set in the early 90s and follows teenager Cameron Post after she is outed as gay and sent away by her Aunt to âGodâs Promiseâ a Christian gay conversion camp. While there she befriends Jane Fonda, a disabled lesbian raised on a hippie commune and Adam Red Eagle, a lakota two spirit whose father recently converted to Christianity.