From Victim to Weekend, we remember some of the bt Brish gay films.
Contents:
- 10 GREAT BRISH GAY FILMS
- 10 GREAT GAY ROMANCE FILMS
- INTERNATNAL GAY CEMA: 33 LGBTQ MOVI TO SEE OM AROUND THE WORLD
10 GREAT BRISH GAY FILMS
* british gay films *
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.
10 GREAT GAY ROMANCE FILMS
Celebrate the bt gay movi wh our list of the 50 most sential LGBTQ+ films ever ma * british gay films *
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.
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). A newlywed (Col Campbell) havg marriage problems fds pe through mararie wh a biker gang – and don’t realise that his dynamic and fatly misogynist bt iend (Dudley Sutton) is gay.
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.
INTERNATNAL GAY CEMA: 33 LGBTQ MOVI TO SEE OM AROUND THE WORLD
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 films *
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. 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. Deon Lotz’s performance, tense and bristlg wh ill-fastened rage and ternalised homophobia, is entirely extraordary; for a plementary portra of hidn gay inty morn South Ai, follow up wh John Trene’s equally imprsive, tough-md The Wound.
Decrimalisatn changed the way homosexualy and gay culture were portrayed on screen. * british gay films *
MichaelQueer cema existed mostly d form for the middle s of film history, but go back to the silent era, and you may be surprised by the untempered LGBT sympathi of landmark films like Ernst Lubsch’s r, stereotype-challengg cross-drsg edy I Don’t Want to Be a Man, and this piercg tale of unrequed gay love and longtime pannship by Danish master of stery Carl Theodor Dreyer.
NighthawksAt a time when the Brish tn system is saddled wh bate over whether LGBT relatnships should be tght schools, Ron Peck’s unassumg but lgerg character study of a gay schoolteacher 1970s London serv reappraisal: s most extraordary scene, his stunts barrage him wh jeerg qutns about his sexualy, only to be taken off guard when he rponds wh lm, rmative ndour. Elsewhere, ’s a textured, thentic portrayal of everyday gay life the big smoke, verg sual sex and the club scene – a pre-Grdr realm that nohels isn’t entirely removed om today’s realy – wh the same ank, straightforward approach as s protagonist.
As the strangers peel away om the club for a night of walkg, talkg and – here’s where gets a ltle ls like a gay Before Sunset – panic at the sexual health clic, what emerg is a h, strikg snapshot of young gay love and sexualy the antiretroviral Sun, Ragg SkyA lot of the films on this list have been chosen for their social and polil ronance alongsi their entertament value, but I have to be hont about the re virtue of Julian Hernanz’s 140-mute epic of sire and physily: ’s really, really, really hot. The third a trilogy of sensual gay experimental films by the Mexin tr – the other two, A Thoand Clouds of Peace and Broken Sky, are both well worth your while – is the most ravishg of the lot, tanglg the rtls earthly bodi and urg of young gay men wh eerie spirual challeng and plitns. Homosexualy was crimalized by Brish law 1967 – only private between nsentg adults aged 21 or over, and only then England and Wal (Stland and Northern Ireland fally me out favour the 1980s).