Inspired by Todd Hayn’ Carol, explore our potted history of great films that pict gay liv on screen.
Contents:
- THE GAYT MOVI THAT AREN’T ACTUALLY GAY, OM ‘BARBIE’ AND ‘BURLQUE’ TO ‘VENOM’ AND ‘ROAD HOE’
- 10 GREAT FRENCH GAY FILMS
- INTERNATNAL GAY CEMA: 33 LGBTQ MOVI TO SEE OM AROUND THE WORLD
THE GAYT MOVI THAT AREN’T ACTUALLY GAY, OM ‘BARBIE’ AND ‘BURLQUE’ TO ‘VENOM’ AND ‘ROAD HOE’
Celebrate the bt gay movi wh our list of the 50 most sential LGBTQ+ films ever ma * classic gay film *
Culled om a longlist of hundreds, movi nsired for the list promently feature gay, lbian, trans, or queer characters; ncern self centrally wh LGBTQ+ them; prent s LGBTQ+ characters a fair and realistic light; and/or be seen as a touchpot the evolutn of queer cema. And we regnize that some of the films the list will re-igne healthy bat that have been fixtur of discsn around LGBTQ+ films — straight actors playg gay characters, cis actors playg trans characters, and the historil domance of whe male perspectiv. For our most recent update to the list, we’ve add mastream edi Fire Island and Bros, thriller Knock at the Cab (featurg two pairs of hbands whose vatn is terpted by the potential apolypse), Disney feature Strange World (wh the stud’s first openly gay lead character), Blue Jean (a Brish drama set durg the Thatcher premiership), the extremely well-reviewed Girl Picture), France’s magil realist The Five Devils, and Cann 2023 buts Monster and Strange Way of Life.
While the film certaly touch on the stggl of beg gay and closeted—the tular Simon (Nick Robson) isn’t yet out to his iends or fay— is fundamentally a sweet, earnt high school rom where the guy gets the guy. The film clus a number of ntroversial scen that uld be triggerg — so, watch at your own Now Advertisement - Contue Readg Below8 'The Bter Tears of Petra Von Kant' (1972) Courty Everett CollectnThe Bter Tears of Petra Von Kant is a sapphic classic that has bee a key entry the largely gay male-domated non of high mp. In I Killed My Mother, Dolan documents the ght relatnship between a gay teenager and his sgle mother dreamy, heart-wrenchg NowAdvertisement - Contue Readg Below13 'Cisg' (1980) ©Uned Artists/Courty Everett CollectnA crime thriller set agast the backdrop of the 1970s leather scene, Cisg is a polarizg film wh a plited legacy.
) In recent years, though, the film—which featur Al Paco as a New York p who go unrver the cy’s S&M scene to vtigate a serial killer targetg gay men—has been reevaluated and is now nsired by many as a classic. Set the world of the New York ballroom scene, Port Authory—which was executive produced by Mart Srse—tells of the love story between a whe man who has jt arrived New York whout a penny to his name (Fnn Whehead) and a Black transgenr woman wh ep ti to the cy’s ball culture (Leyna Bloom, the first Black trans actrs to star a film at Cann) Now Advertisement - Contue Readg Below15 'Young Soul Rebels' (1991) Courty EverettDcribed as a “part-thriller, part-gay love story, ” Young Soul Rebels—a film not often clud U.
10 GREAT FRENCH GAY FILMS
Wh BFI Flare: London LGBTQ+ Film Ftival upon , we ntue our celebratn of queer cema wh a look at some of the bt lbian, gay and trans films om Sndavia and the Nordic untri. * classic gay film *
The first Hollywood movie to center on Che-Amerins sce The Joy Luck Club some 11 years before , Savg Face tells the story of a closeted Che-Amerin woman fallg love for the first time and stgglg to rencile the relatnship wh her and her girliend’s tradnal (read: homophobic), close-kn New York Cy muny. " Why 's important: The film brought wispread attentn to the story of Harvey Milk, an outspoken gay activist and polician who was also the first openly gay mayor elected to public office California. In his own words, he felt “pafully isolated, strand between the sual homophobia of most ‘normal’ people and the flagrantly gay Hollywood subculture – where [he] was even ls fortable and ls accepted.
INTERNATNAL GAY CEMA: 33 LGBTQ MOVI TO SEE OM AROUND THE WORLD
We look back at the bt French gay cema. * classic gay film *
Gaynor and Adrian were succsful durg a time when any sort of evince of their homosexualy would have hurt their reers, so ’s not surprisg that there isn’t ncrete evince about the tth of their relatnship. Cast a few top-shelf gay ins there — your Bette Middlers, your Joan Crawfords, your Faye Dunaways playg Joan Crawford — and pecially have them reparteeg bchy l tearg each other to piec, and have an athetic that’s outre and unironilly mp, and you’ve got the wng-formula starter-pack for somethg licly fabulo and queer, even if not by tentnal sign.
* classic gay film *
But settg a precent for movi now nonized by gay culture that don’t technilly have any (non-d, anyway) gay characters were some of Hollywood’s most all-time legendary actrs: Bette Davis “All About Eve” ma “’s gog to be a bumpy ri” an idmatic quip, while Elizabeth Taylor then ma Bette Davis’ “what a dump” even more inic aga the openg le of “Who’s Aaid of Virgia Woolf, ” livered while gnawg down on a chicken wg. Ed Bianchi’s 1981 “The Fan, ” meanwhile, livered perhaps the greatt gift to gay film fans of a certa era stg Lren Ball as an agg actrs stgglg to hold onto her legacy while beg stalked by, what else but, a psychotic gay fan. There’s also, of urse, the trend many of the movi of men beg huiated and based — somethg the gay mal the dience love to partake — leavg our inic women wh all the chips the end and whom we n leave the theater rootg for.
Why ’s gay: Ameri’s arguably greatt director is normally regard as heteronormative (Wterns, war films, John Wayne, Amerin history), but his work is full of subtextual gay tert, rarely as much as here.
From the tfight the powr room to the over-the-top dialogue to the jaw-droppg mil numbers and not one but two montag that serve as md-bogglg time psul of the ’60s, the film is so outrageo that spired generatns of gay viewers to scream, “Sparkle, Neely, sparkle! Why ’s gay: A wacky sexploatn film wh high mp productn valu and a killer theme song, Barbarella mt fight the evil Durand Durand (om which inic New Wave band Duran Duran took s name), while scg a shirtls Aryan angel and outlastg an evil sex mache.