Late Bloomers (1996)

When a married high school secretary falls in love with the girls' basketball coach, she risks losing her job, her family, and her community. But she decides that for love, it's worth it. Late Bloomers is a deliciously cheesy, delightfully 90s, lesbian romcom with a positive message of acceptance—something still relatively rare during its time of release.

Director: Julia Dyer

Runtime: 1h 47m

Genres: Romance, Comedy, Drama

Watch if you like: In & Out (1997), Imagine Me & You (2005)

The Incredibly True Adventure of Two Girls in Love (1995)

Randy is the weird gay kid who lives with her lesbian aunts, and Evie is the popular girl who lives with her wealthy mother. Their differences don't seem to matter, however, as the two girls fall in love. If only the world around them were as simple as their feelings for each other. The Incredibly True Adventure of Two Girls in Love captures all the eagerness and all the awkwardness of first relationships in this authentic coming of age story.

Director: Maria Maggenti

Runtime: 1h 34m

Genres: Coming of Age, Romance, Comedy, Drama

Watch if you like: But I'm a Cheerleader (1999)

Denied (2004)

Troy is a former high school football jock living with his best friend and unrequited love, Merrick. Stuck between high school and whatever comes next, Troy feels listless and lost as he struggles with his identity and his feelings for his friend. While Denied has a production value consistent with its low-budget, its compelling story telling and authentic performances more than make up for it. If you are willing to look past shaky shots and muffled audio, you will find a lot to love in this movie.

Director: David Paul Scott

Runtime: 1h 36m

Genres: Coming of Age, Drama

Watch if you like: You & I (2014)

C.R.A.Z.Y. (2005)

Set in Quebec in the 60s and 70s, C.R.A.Z.Y. follows Zac, the fourth of five sons, as he clashes with his conservative father and his rebellious eldest brother. When his family discovers he is gay, those already tumultuous relationships become strained to the point of snapping. For the first twenty-five minutes of its two hour runtime, C.R.A.Z.Y is one of the finest queer films I have seen in recent years; from its aesthetics to its unique story-telling, I was completely drawn in. Unfortunately, the movie soon lost me with unlikable characters, a meandering plot, and incestuous undertones. For me, the film's only redeeming features are the soundtrack, the cinematography, and those first twenty-five minutes.

Director: Jean-Marc Vallée

Runtime: 2h 7m

Genres: Drama, Comedy, Coming-of-age

Watch if you like: Get Real (1998)

Shiva Baby (2020)

Danielle is stuck at a shiva for a woman she barely knew, in a room with her ex-girlfriend, her sugar daddy, his wife, and their wailing baby. And she is coming apart at the seams. Shiva Baby is a dark comedy that, in less than 90 minutes, manages to convey a feeling of anxiety and claustrophobia so realistic that it borders on unwatchable.

Director: Emma Seligman

Runtime: 1h 18m

Genres: Comedy, Drama

Watch if you like: Bottoms (2023)

Golden Delicious (2022)

As his final year of high school begins, Jake tries to balance his feelings for his longtime girlfriend, Valerie, with his attraction to Aleks, the cute new kid and literal boy next door. Things are no less complicated at home, where tensions between his mother and father are becoming unbearable. With the added pressures of school, basketball, and social media, Jake finally reaches a breaking point. Golden Delicious is an eager and earnest film, and one I really wanted to like. Unfortunately, the amateur acting, clunky dialogue, and messy plot made this movie a hard watch. That being said, I am no longer the target audience for this film—perhaps tweens and young teens will get something out of it.

Director: Jason Karman

Runtime: 1h 59m

Genres: Coming of Age, Drama, Sports

Watch if you like: The Half of It (2020), Love, Simon (2018)

The Boys in the Band (1970)

In 1968, a group of gay friends gather for a birthday party in Michael's Manhattan apartment. Although the evening starts off well, it soon becomes clear that tension is simmering just beneath the surface. The Boys in the Band is a landmark of queer cinema as one of the first major American films to focus exclusively on gay characters. It also exists at an interesting intersection of queer history: it was released just two years after the Hays Code ended and just one year after the events of Stonewall. The play on which it is based, however, was written in 1968, meaning there were major social and political shifts between the story's initial creation and the film's release. (Read Tony Kushner's introduction to the screenplay for more information on the movie's unique cultural context.)

Director: William Friedkin

Runtime: 2h 0m

Genres: Drama

Watch if you like: Rope (1948)

- taiju