From Victim to Weekend, we remember some of the bt Brish gay films.
Contents:
10 GREAT GAY ROMANCE FILMS
The urse of gay love rarely ns smooth on screen, but happy endgs are not as rare as they once were. Wh Merchant-Ivory’s Mrice currently back cemas, we celebrate gay films at their most romantic. * british gay romance movies *
Until the 1980s, most gay men on screen end up miserable or ad by the time the end creds rolled, such was society’s view of the poor, margalised creatur. In the UK, male homosexualy was illegal until the 1960s, so ’s unsurprisg that gay characters ntemporary dramas found hard to reach a happy endg.
In 2018, male homosexualy is crimalised more than 70 untri worldwi – gay liv are rarely picted at all films om the natns, and when they are, ’s seldom a posive light. As dienc for gay cema have grown, films such as God’s Own Country and Call Me by Your Name (both 2017) have proved that gay love stori n attract huge dienc and cril acclaim.
10 GREAT BRISH GAY FILMS
* british gay romance movies *
” Kenh Anger’s dreamlike film, about a boy who is beaten up by sailors a horrific homophobic attack but whose oral is followed by a moment of bliss when he wak up to a male lover his bed, is a fascatg slice of the avant-gar, ma when Anger was still a teenager. After s of seeg gay characters as villas or victims, Peter Rome me to the rcue wh a strg of short erotic films that are both sexy and artistic.
Mrice (1987)Years before his acclaimed performance as disgraced polician Jeremy Thorpe A Very English Sndal (2018), Hugh Grant played a very different gay character Jam Ivory’s 1987 adaptatn of E. Forster began wrg his novel, about a man who falls love wh two very different men the early 20th century, the 1910s, although owg to s ntent (male homosexualy was illegal until 1967 England) wasn’t published until 1971, a year after his ath.
Grant plays a man who rejects his te nature and choos to supprs his homosexualy, marryg a woman and shunng his lover, Mrice (Jam Wilby), who seeks love elsewhere. It’s superbly acted, wh a marvello endg, all the more strikg given was ma the 1980s, when homophobia, triggered by wispread terror of the AIDS crisis, was at a high.
That's right — not every gay movie has to end wh heartbreak. * british gay romance movies *
Edward II (1991)Christopher Marlowe’s play about the allegedly gay Brish monarch ends tragilly for the kg, wh a horrible ath by red hot poker, a grisly mise dismissed as a mour by many historians. Derek Jarman brgs his artistic eye to the tragedy and manag to make the tale even queerer, drawg direct parallels between the homophobic persecutn of Edward II and his lover, Gavton, and the anti-gay sentiment whipped up by the tabloids unr the tenure of Margaret Thatcher.