From Victim to Weekend, we remember some of the bt Brish gay films.
Contents:
- 10 GREAT BRISH GAY FILMS
- BETIFUL THG IS A MASTERPIECE OF GAY STORYTELLG
- INTERNATNAL GAY CEMA: 33 LGBTQ MOVI TO SEE OM AROUND THE WORLD
10 GREAT BRISH GAY FILMS
As we bid farewell to a terrible year, at least we n remember some excellent films tellg lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr stori, says Alex Davidson. * british gay films 2016 *
Nasty Baby starts as an timate study of the relatnship between a gay uple and a woman who offers to act as a surrogate mother for them, and fish a mad 15-mute metaphor for the llons of gentrifitn. Julianne Moore and, pecially, Ellen Page were good Freeheld as lovers who are faced wh homophobic legislatn when one of them falls termally ill and is unable to transfer her pensn benefs to her partner.
BETIFUL THG IS A MASTERPIECE OF GAY STORYTELLG
* british gay films 2016 *
Director Pl Feig nfirmed that Kate McKnon’s zany character the Ghostbters reboot was gay, but Sony ntered the script until only the most vout queer theorist uld read her as lbian. We’ve narrowed down the list to films easily available on DVD, although honourable mentn mt go to the über-rare Two Gentlemen Sharg (1969), a swgg slice of the 60s that hted at terracial homosexualy.
Sign up to BFI Flare emailsGet the latt #BFIFlare news and ticket release list should really be a Top 11 – the omissn of Sunday Bloody Sunday (1971), the first Brish film to feature a gay kiss, is borrle excable. Tom Shkolnik’s betifully observed The Comedian (2012), which a possibly gay, possibly bi thirtysomethg (Edward Hogg) tri to make as a standup the pal, also narrowly missed cln. A few d homosexuals n be found Aled Hchck’s early work (check out the swishy drsmaker 1925’s The Pleasure Garn), while Ivor Novello’s films play up the flamboyant star’s androgyny, playg very odd, allegedly heterosexual men The Lodger (1926) and The Man whout Dire (1923).
Victim (1961)Dirk Bogar, an actor who never acknowledged the mours of his homosexualy durg his lifetime, took a real reer risk playg a lawyer who, followg a strg of blackmail attempts agast gay men, begs to realise his own sexualy.
INTERNATNAL GAY CEMA: 33 LGBTQ MOVI TO SEE OM AROUND THE WORLD
Celebrate the bt gay movi wh our list of the 50 most sential LGBTQ+ films ever ma * british gay films 2016 *
It took another 10 years before partial crimalisatn took effect wh the Sexual Offenc act 1967, which allowed homosexual acts, private, between two men over the age of 21 – many feel Basil Dearn’s film helped liberalise attus and pave the way towards tolerance towards gay people. The Leather Boys (1964)The Brish ‘kchen sk’ dramas, foced around workg-class liv, that prevailed the late 50s and early 60s ocsnally ntaed sympathetic gay characters, such as Murray Melv’s stunt A Taste of Honey (1961) and Cicely Courtneidge’s ageg actor The L-shaped Room (1962).
Betiful Thg (1996)This favoure remas one of the sweett of all gay films, tellg the story of two troubled boys – one bullied at school, the other at home – who fd love each other’s arms. It’s a super play, but the film jt about tmps , thanks pecially to the performanc – Glen Berry retired om actg, Stt Neal played another gay role The Bill, while the scene-stealg Lda Henry beme a fixture on Bad Girls and EastEnrs. In a time when so many of the topics addrsed by the film -- poverty, the school-to-prison pipele, homophobia -- rema real issu vulnerable muni and Ameri, is ed a privilege to have a film like PeopleMolly Shannon di over the urse of a year the film Other People.
Decrimalisatn changed the way homosexualy and gay culture were portrayed on screen. * british gay films 2016 *
Gay edic characters rarely, if ever, receive this level of humany and CobraThe lurid tale of Brent Corrigan's early porn reer -- and the murr of a producer stmental to Corrigan's succs -- is the foc of Kg Cobra.
Dirk Bogar’s landmark role the 1961 crime thriller Victim is the touchstone, a film that actually helped change public opn and the law, when the 1967 Sexual Offenc Act partially crimalised male homosexualy. In the wake of this first step towards equaly, we were treated to unpleasant stereotyp galore The Killg of Sister Gee (1968) and Stairse (1969), but the 1970s saw progrs wh the sophistited bisexual love triangle of John Schlger’s Sunday Bloody Sunday (1971), Derek Jarman’s homoerotic Sebastiane (1976) and Ron Peck and Pl Hallam’s Nighthawks (1978), the first explicly gay Brish feature set the gay muny. Sign up to BFI Flare emailsGet the latt #BFIFlare news and ticket release raged agast the renewed ti of state-sanctned homophobia the 80s, while the 90s brought the much-loved Betiful Thg (1996).
A very slight relaxatn of dranian censorship l allowed a smatterg of hts that this man of the church is queer, that certa othg homophob know and are jumpg at the chance to get him the stocks. Dream A40 (1965)Wh mastream cema still reluctant to tackle gay characters and plots the mid-60s, Jamain actor-director Lloyd Reckord took matters to his own hands wh this extraordary unrground short that terrogat the psychologil impact of persecutn. When the Brish parliament passed the Sexual Offenc Act of 1967 – which stated that: “a homosexual act private shall not be an offence provid that the parti nsent thereto and have attaed the age of 21 years” – sought to legimate gay inty Bra, at least partially.
A look at the stand out gay films, masterpiec, and near-masterpiec of the year. * british gay films 2016 *
However, lbians do feature throughout the urse of this 50-year history and should be clud wh the bat around creased visibily – even if, when pared wh films about gay male experience, they are unrreprented. As Andy Medhurst explas his entertag and thoughtful search for “nebulo nanci” Brish films ma between the 1940s and 1960s, the aim of the queer spectator was to pick up on visual and verbal clu which would give away a character’s or actor’s “gayns”.
It was not until the 1950s and the high-profile trials volvg Lord Montagu, Michael Pt-Rivers, and Peter Wilblood for homosexualy that the issue received substantial social attentn. As well as suatg s gay polics wh a thriller narrative signed to appeal to a wir dience, is noteworthy for beg one of the first Brish films to st a well-known actor a gay tle role. Extra-textual elements about Bogar’s own private life as a gay man lend the film and his performance addnal meang and an thenticy which flects his performanc later films such as Joseph Losey’s The Servant (1963) and Darlg (1965).
Canadian-Amerin soclogist Ervg Goffman, wrg 1968 (a year after the Sexual Offenc Act was passed England and Wal), clus homosexualy as a social stigma – that is, a marker which disqualifi an dividual om full social acceptance. For the gay man, the uld range om (self-evint) sexual relatns wh someone of the same sex to ls obv symbols which have veloped society and culture over time – for example drag queens, effemate behavur and particular ways of drsg or actg.