55 of the Greatest LGBTQ Films Ever Made

There are as many paths to exploring queer historical past as there are individuals who have lived it, and plenty of queer legends who’re almost forgotten and who, in a extra simply world, can be family names. Delight is a time to have a good time, honor, and keep in mind all of it, whether or not you’re trans, bi, ace, poly, pan, intersex, nonbinary, or anyplace else on the gender and sexual id and expression spectrum…or simply proud to help your queer associates.

These 55 films all replicate components of contemporary queer (LBGTQIA+) historical past—generally dramatized, generally documentary, and generally as a result of the movie itself made historical past. They replicate many years of affection, intercourse, activism, and artistry. Some name for tolerance, whereas others throw up a center finger in response to narrow-minded bigotry. Many ask us to like each other, however others demand that we take up the battle cry: Be homosexual, do crimes. Or simply put in your cha-cha heels and watch an excellent film. You do you.

BPM (Beats per Minute) (2017)

Set amidst the AIDS disaster within the early Nineteen Nineties, BPM focuses, to some extent, on HIV-positive ACT UP activist Sean (Nahuel Pérez Biscayart) and his creating relationship with newcomer Nathan (Arnaud Valois)—although the movie could be very a lot an ensemble piece within the combination, a undeniable fact that ties into its which means and messaging. Shifting focus permits the film to discover, dramatically and reasonably fearlessly, the altering nature of ACT UP’s actions and activism. The messy inside battles over technique, and questions as to how-far-is-too-far are half and parcel of each motion, and BPM fantastically dramatizes and personalizes these (nonetheless well timed) struggles. Author-director Robin Campillo and co-writer Philippe Mangeot introduced their very own ACT UP experiences to the movie. You possibly can stream BPM on Kanopy and Pluto TV or lease it from Prime Video.

A Incredible Lady (2017)

Trans lead Daniela Vega offers a superb, inspiring, gut-wrenching efficiency as Marina Vidal, a waitress and membership singer in Santiago, Chile. When her boyfriend Orlando dies unexpectedly, she’s subjected to a variety of indignities—she’s deadnamed and harassed by the police, who assume she should be a intercourse employee, and his household is after her to give up all of Orlando’s possessions and keep the hell away. By means of all of it, Marina maintains a spine of metal that does not detract from her plausible battle, however retains the story from turning into a tragedy. In 2017, this Oscar-winner appeared like a narrative of a robust girl in a very illiberal nation—however that was simply earlier than a world tide of transphobia swept away lots of the advances made in even international locations that when appeared extra progressive. You possibly can stream A Incredible Lady on Peacock or lease it from Prime Video.

Salomé (1923)

Within the roaring ‘20s, the principles governing depicting queerness in movie had been a bit looser than they’d be afterward. Germany produced a handful of queer-positive movies, at the same time as a number of American films performed quick and unfastened with gender and sexual roles. Working example: Salome, a biblical epic produced by, and starring, queer provocateur Alla Nazimova.

Nazimova (often known as simply “Nazimova”) was certainly one of Hollywood’s early energy gamers, and an achieved artist with a tackle Oscar Wilde’s play that included feminine characters performed by males in drag, overt sexuality, and silver lamé loincloths. It’s all splendidly campy and stylized, and it didn’t make a penny, but it surely’s a reminder that there have been queer folx making films that your great-grandparents might have loved.

With the rise of the Hays Manufacturing Code in America, and the Nazi celebration in Germany, it could be many years earlier than films may once more do way more than trace about unsanctioned relationships. You possibly can stream Salomé on Tubi or lease it from Prime Video.

Paris is Burning (1990)

Like Faulkner stated: “The previous isn’t lifeless. It’s not even previous.” It’s very true in terms of queer historical past, as Paris is Burning makes plain. Exploring New York’s drag ball tradition within the late Nineteen Eighties, director Jennie Livingston’s documentary shines a specific highlight on the Black and Latinx homosexual, trans, and genderqueer expertise, with facets each joyous and heartbreaking. A lot of what was transgressive right here has labored its approach into popular culture, for higher and for worse: Madonna will get credit score for voguing, however the fashion has roots in Harlem ballrooms. A lot of the language and tradition right here will make excellent sense to RuPaul or Pose followers, and lots of the doc’s darker components may even be acquainted: Racism, poverty, and anti-trans violence are all nonetheless very actual elements of the queer BIPOC expertise. All of the extra cause to understand authenticity and self-expression, and to throw up a center finger to gender expectations. You possibly can stream Paris is Burning on HBO Max and The Criterion Channel or lease it from Apple TV.

Mädchen in Uniform (1931)

The story of troubled schoolgirl Manuela (Hertha Thiele) who shortly will get scorching for instructor at her all-girls faculty, Mädchen in Uniform arrived at a pivotal second in German historical past: Paragraph 175, outlawing homosexuality, had been obtained its first important authorized problem a number of years earlier, and what would later be seen because the “decadent” Weimar period was in full swing. With queer ladies behind the digicam and loads of lesbian longing, and snogging, onscreen, the film was a success in a lot of Europe, whereas lobbying by a minimum of Eleanor Roosevelt ensured that American audiences bought to see the movie (a element I like). It’s a fantastically realized movie about romantic longing that by no means devolves into melodrama; it additionally invitations us to think about the sorts of female-centric films we would have had if there had been extra ladies behind the digicam through the golden age of cinema—and likewise what might need been had the Nazis not made anti-queer crusading a centerpiece of their rise to energy. You possibly can stream Mädchen in Uniform on Hoopla and Kino Movie.

Hedwig and the Offended Inch (2001)

Look, we’ve all had these nights. You get down. You are feeling had. So why not placed on some make-up, flip up the tape deck, and pull that wig down from the shelf? There’s a good likelihood you’re already singing alongside, however, if not, Hedwig’s a few musical a few genderqueer German rock singer whose botched gender reassignment surgical procedure left them with the titular offended inch. Anticipating a much-needed cultural dialog about gender binaries by over twenty years, it is usually an old-school rock opera par excellence, of the sort they only don’t make anymore. Based mostly on the stage musical of the identical title, the film made no cash in any way, however has earned a well-deserved standing as a cult basic. You possibly can lease Hedwig and the Offended Inch from Prime Video.

Bride of Frankenstein (1935)

Director James Whale (whose later life was dramatized in Gods and Monsters) adopted up what would have been the best of the monster films with probably the most spectacular feats in American cinema historical past: one thing altogether funnier, weirder, and way more queer, with homosexual icon Ernest Thesiger prancing via the Gothic units, providing bitchy rejoinders and seducing his outdated protegé into reanimating the lifeless only one extra time. His Dr. Pretorius comes again into the lifetime of Frankenstein (Colin Clive) simply because the physician is about to start life married to Elizabeth—however, given the selection, runs off to make life with Pretorius, as a substitute. That’s all earlier than Elsa Lanchester trades her Mary Shelley outfit for the Bride’s wire-cage wig, giving beginning to an icon. You possibly can lease Bride of Frankenstein from Prime Video.

Funeral Parade of Roses (1969)

On the peak of Japan’s New Wave, author/director Toshio Matsumoto created this basic that blends ultra-realism with hauntingly stunning, often psychedelic imagery. The plot takes inspiration from, and flips, the story of Oedipus Rex, seamlessly mixing the mythic with the mundane in following Eddie (Shinnosuke Ikehata) and different transgender ladies within the very swinging, very homosexual Tokyo of the Nineteen Sixties (“Roses” being a kind of pun regarding pansies). On the time, the film had no bother securing a Japanese launch, however struggled to get previous American censors. You possibly can stream Funeral Parade of Roses on Kanopy and Evening Flight.

The Boys within the Band (1970)

William Friedkin (The French Connection, The Exorcist and, reasonably extra notoriously, Cruising) directs the movie adaptation of the controversial off-Broadway play—controversial for the truth that each character is homosexual or bisexual, and controversial amongst queer audiences for, typically, portraying its characters as self-pitying. It’s not completely an uplifting portrait of being a homosexual man in America, but it surely displays one thing actual, if not at all times fairly, as a pre-liberation interval piece. And there are many facets right here that also really feel sadly related. You possibly can stream The Boys within the Band on Kanopy or lease it from Prime Video.

O Fantasma (2000)

Ricardo Meneses is Sérgio, a Lisbon trash collector who goes on an existential odyssey whereas looking for tough commerce after escaping the advances of his feminine co-worker. Director João Pedro Rodrigues conjures a compellingly seedy and completely sexy underworld of kink, with a thinker’s eye towards the which means of all of it. It is a uncommon existential journey that includes latex gear and erotic asphyxiation, and queers can take pleasure in the truth that our personal 50 Shades is kind of a bit much less embarrassing than the mainstream model. You possibly can stream O Fantasma on Tubi.

Stranger by the Lake (2013)

This 2013 French movie performs like an homage, partly, to the erotic thrillers of many years previous, in a lot the identical approach that among the higher thrillers of the ‘80s paid tribute to movie noir. Right here, Pierre Deladonchamps performs Franck, an everyday customer to a nude seaside and the encompassing woods, each widespread cruising spots. Franck begins a passionate relationship (which means: a number of intercourse within the woods) with Michel (Christophe Paou), who Franck later spots drowning somebody within the lake. Which, OK: crimson flag. However the D is simply that good. Because the investigation into that occasion heats up, Franck finds himself struggling to surrender an excellent factor, even within the face of homicide. We’re firmly coming into an period when queer folks will be each prey and predator, with out resorting to exhausting tropes. You possibly can stream Stranger by the Lake on The Criterion Channel, Kanopy, and Mubi or lease it from Prime Video.

Querelle (1982)

Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s dreamy queer movie is a few good-looking younger sailor who finds himself caught up in an internet of intercourse, sibling rivalry, and evenly sublimated lust at a French brothel. The plot right here is nearly completely secondary, although: It is all sexy vibes, stuffed with sweat and fully shameless sexuality. You possibly can stream Querelle on Tubi, The Criterion Channel, HBO Max, and Prime Video.

On the lookout for Langston (1989)

Filmmaker Isaac Julien’s gorgeously shot, impressionistic tone poem explores the work of poet and playwright Langston Hughes, alongside different figures of the Harlem Renaissance (Richard Bruce Nugent, James Baldwin, and Essex Hemphill) within the context of their queer identities, typically ignored even when the bigger significance of their work as Black artists is acknowledged. Mixing archival footage, scripted scenes, and Robert Mapplethorpe’s images, Julien units readings of Hughes’ work to scenes of queer love and sexuality, illustrating the worth of viewing artwork via the artist’s personal lens. You possibly can stream On the lookout for Langston on Vimeo, and it is broadly accessible on YouTube.

Nighthawks (1978)

It is possibly slightly too plausible in its faux-documentary stylings to trendy audiences—slightly narrative pep would possibly go a good distance—however what’s right here remains to be compelling as each a drama and a time capsule. Providing up a practical (or so I am instructed) portrait of homosexual London nightlife, the movie follows Jim (Ken Robertson) educating geography by day and hitting the golf equipment at evening. An virtually completely optimistic portrait of the homosexual scene of the time, with a latter portion of the movie devoted to a frank dialog between Jim and his class about his life. You possibly can stream Nighthawks on Prime Video.

Rope (1948)

Alfred Hitchcock labored with queer (out and in any other case) performers from the earliest days of his profession, having his first large hit with Ivor Novello in 1927’s The Lodger. I am unsure that he gave plenty of thought to queer id, and that really works to Rope’s benefit: it would not really feel like there’s any kind of pro-or anti- homosexual framing right here, only a homicide involving a few…as an instance “flamboyant” roommates. Based mostly on real-life lovers Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb, who murdered a 14-year-old simply to show that they might, and a subsequent play, the film removes any direct references to a same-sex relationship, but it surely’s all fairly onerous to overlook, particularly when the leads had been performed by the overtly (later in life) bisexual Farley Granger and homosexual actor John Dall. You possibly can lease Rope from Prime Video.

Feminine Bother (1974)

Numerous early queer-positive films had been aimed squarely at a straight viewers—depicting gays as angelic figures or as poor victims of society’s cruelty. John Waters skipped all of that well-intentioned nonsense by creating movies wherein there’s no better crime than being boring. Although Pink Flamingos (with its memorable climax set to the tune of “How A lot Is That Doggy within the Window”) is extra well-known, Feminine Bother refines the Waters fashion with its story of highschool reprobate Daybreak Davenport (performed by the drag queen Divine), who turns to a lifetime of crime when her completely sq. dad and mom received’t get her what she actually needs for Christmas: “Good women don’t put on cha-cha heels!” Their merciless denial of such a necessary accent sends Daybreak on a spree of intercourse and crime that performs a bit like a tribute to Mildred Pierce—if Joan Crawford had conceived her daughter on digicam.

On a rotted outdated mattress.

On the dump.

It’s all appropriately outrageous, and audiences had been outraged—however solely the boring ones. You possibly can lease Feminine Bother from Fandango at Dwelling or purchase it from Prime Video.

Un chant d’amour/A Music of Love (1950)

Two prisoners are plagued by a voyeuristic jail guard in Jean Genet’s quick movie, stuffed with homoerotic imagery that is likely to be much less surprising now, however no much less efficient. The 2 by no means contact, besides in a fantasy sequence, however seeing the 2 males share a little bit of smoke from a single cigarette stays certainly one of cinema’s hottest photographs. When you’re looking underneath the movie’s English title, do not get confused by the marginally extra straight 1947 Katherine Hepburn movie of the identical title. You possibly can stream A Music of Love on Kanopy and Vimeo, and it is broadly accessible on YouTube and the Web Archive.

Sufferer (1961)

It was generally referred to as the “blackmailer’s constitution.” Since 1885, English legislation had allowed for the legal prosecution of gay acts, although by the Nineteen Sixties, it was little enforced. Nonetheless, the mere menace of arrest, and the very public proceedings that might comply with, made it distressingly frequent for blackmailers (homosexual and straight) to make the most of well-off marks—on this case, a married London lawyer performed by Dirk Bogarde. Approaching the social concern by the use of neo noir thriller, Sufferer was an early occasion of a serious director and star taking a sympathetic strategy to portraying homosexual characters, inevitably surprising audiences and censors by even acknowledging that such folks even existed. It wasn’t an enormous hit, but it surely got here at an important second: The ‘60s had been properly and really underway, and attitudes had been starting to alter. You possibly can stream Sufferer on HBO Max and The Criterion Channel or lease it from Prime Video.

Earlier than Stonewall (1985)

If Stonewall often looks like historic historical past, it’s vital to keep in mind that queer historical past didn’t start there—not even remotely. Greta Schiller and Robert Rosenberg’s 1985 documentary seems on the earlier a part of the twentieth century by interviewing activists and writers who assist chart the evolution of what would turn into a motion amongst individuals who had been combating to dwell their lives authentically at a time when the broader tradition most well-liked to fake they weren’t there.

The movie is a crucial doc, having captured so many vital voices whereas they had been nonetheless with us, but it surely’s additionally inspiring, and infrequently joyous. It’s onerous to not smile fascinated with what these legends had been getting as much as whereas the remainder of America was sleeping. (It underwent an HD restoration a few years in the past, so it’s a very good time to test it out.) You possibly can stream Earlier than Stonewall on Kanopy and Dekkoo or lease it from Prime Video.

A few of My Greatest Buddies Are…(1971)

An interesting time capsule, and continuously entertaining cleaning soap opera a few homosexual bar on Christmas Eve, filmed and set only a few years after Stonewall. An enormous solid of characters wander via, some affecting, some simply loosely sketched character sorts, however representing broad swathes of the group. It was made at a transitional time, when queer activism and visibility had been on the rise, however hadn’t but had the influence that was to return, and so the movie offers off a vibe that alternates between joyous and petrified of what’s exterior the door of the welcoming area of the bar.

(If all that weren’t sufficient to safe the film’s place in queer historical past, it additionally options an early display look from Rue McClanahan herself, only a 12 months earlier than she teamed up with Bea Arthur on Maude.) You possibly can stream A few of My Greatest Buddies Are… on MGM+ or on MGM+ by way of Prime Video.

Comfortable Collectively (1997)

A fantastically darkish triumph from Wong Kar-wai, Comfortable Collectively follows a stunningly mismatched couple (Leslie Cheung and Tony Leung Chiu-wai) as their relationship falls aside throughout a visit to Argentina. The highly regarded however deeply codependent couple maintain being drawn again into one another’s orbits—they usually make being younger, homosexual, and in sweaty love look so cool that you could’t assist however hope they make it. The cinematography right here is gorgeous, with each single body feeling and searching like a mini murals. There’s additionally plenty of subtext right here having to do with the handover of Honk Kong from the U.Okay. to China, occurring proper across the time that the movie was made—a reminder that queerness includes layers of id. You possibly can stream Comfortable Collectively on HBO Max and The Criterion Channel or lease it from Prime Video.

Knife+Coronary heart (2018)

Foul deeds are afoot on the set of a French homosexual erotic movie shoot throughout this ultra-stylish, colourful, psychedelic tribute to not solely Italian gialli of yore, but in addition to the golden age of Seventies porn. Director Yann Gonzalez crafted a movie wherein the queerness is way over incidental: it is reasonably the entire level (beginning with the opening’s switchblade dildo), but it surely’s nonetheless probably the most efficient and delightful horror films of the previous decade. You possibly can stream Knife+Coronary heart on Tubi, Shudder, and AMC+ or lease it from Prime Video.

The Rocky Horror Image Present (1975)

I’ve seen Rocky at the very least a dozen instances, and may recite each line, however I nonetheless couldn’t inform you a factor in regards to the plot. (Which may have much less to do with the film itself than the state wherein one historically watches it… however let’s say it’s each.)

On one degree, it’s a celebration of many, many types of queerness, and presents even the very straightest straight folks an excuse to perform a little gender role-play. It’s bizarre, and slightly sloppy, and doesn’t make a ton of sense—and it is extra enjoyable for all of that. You possibly can lease Rocky Horror from Prime Video.

Screaming Queens: The Riot at Compton’s Cafeteria (2005)

Stonewall had been constructing for a protracted, very long time. It might need been the explosion of the trendy queer liberation motion, however there have been sparks for many years—certainly one of which was the Compton’s Cafeteria Riot in 1966. Transgender folks in San Francisco had been largely barred from homosexual bars (transphobia has by no means been an completely cis, straight phenomenon), and the all-night Compton’s Cafeteria had been a gathering place, an affordable espresso cease, particularly for trans intercourse staff. Their very presence, in fact, additionally made it a handy for the native police, who discovered prepared targets of harassment among the many cafeteria’s trans and cross-dressing patrons. The enduring picture of Stonewall stays a brick via a window, and the Compton’s Riot has an analogous little bit of iconography: a cup of espresso within the face of a cop who grabbed and tried to arrest a patron. What adopted was one of many first public queer protests in U.S. historical past, and the start of trans activism in San Francisco. You possibly can stream Screaming Queens on Kanopy or lease it from Prime Video.

Desert Hearts (1985)

By the mid-Nineteen Eighties, the tropes had been already starting to solidify: We had been starting a future of flicks (lots of them sensible) about HIV/AIDS, and sq. in the midst of an period of main movies (Dressed to Kill, Cruising, Silence of the Lambs, Fundamental Intuition) that related queer id with excessive violence. In the course of all that, Desert Hearts was an absolute breath of recent air: Vivian, an English professor in the midst of a divorce, meets Cay, an uninhibited sculptor, at a ranch in Reno. The course of real love by no means did run clean (or, on this case, straight), and so Vivian struggles a bit with the sudden lesbian attraction. This romantic drama by no means veers towards tragedy, and is all the higher for it. You possibly can stream Desert Hearts on HBO Max and The Criterion Channel or lease it from Prime Video.

My Stunning Laundrette (1985)

The very best queer-themed films perceive that no one is all one factor, and that any kind of queer id intersects with the entire different labels that we select for ourselves (or that others select for us). That’s why My Stunning Laundrette isn’s only a nice homosexual movie, it’s additionally an incredible movie about class, racism, and offers a vivid portrait of life within the Thatcher/Reagan-era Nineteen Eighties. You possibly can stream My Stunning Laundrette on Tubi, Pluto TV, Kanopy, and Prime Video.

Edward II (1991)

You need queer historical past? Advantageous. Let’s take it again to England within the 14th century for the story of Edward II, famously infatuated with courtier Piers Gaveston. Homosexual filmmaker, provocateur, and activist Derek Jarman removes any historic ambiguity from the connection between the 2 and imagines medieval Europe as a postmodern fantasia, rife with intentional anachronisms and Annie Lennox on the soundtrack. Suppose Sofia Coppola’s Marie Antoinette, however a lot, a lot gayer. It additionally made a star of Tilda Swinton, who adopted this up because the title character of one other queer basic, Orlando. You possibly can stream Edward II on Prime Video, Peacock, Pluto TV, and Kanopy.

Rafiki (2018)

The primary Kenyan movie to be screened at Cannes was additionally banned in its personal nation, because it challenged Kenya’s authorized ban on homosexual intercourse. The romantic drama follows younger ladies Kena and Ziki (Samantha Mugatsia and Sheila Munyiva) as they develop a romantic relationship among the many pressures to evolve from household and group. The love story is joyous and charming, however the film would not shrink back from the very actual challenges. You possibly can stream Rafiki (generally The Pal) on Kanopy or lease it from Prime Video.

The Birdcage (1996)

A slick, humorous, charming, and quotable little bit of Hollywood leisure starring among the greatest names of the period, The Birdcage made actual cash promoting a message of acceptance (despite a bizarre and completely pointless R-rating). Not like lots of the earnest queer-adjacent movies of the ‘90s, this one truly made it appear to be being homosexual could possibly be kinda enjoyable. And humorous. And customarily not tragic. Although the characters play into explicit stereotypes, the film makes clear that it’s approach higher (and completely OK) to be an outsized drama queen à la Robin Williams’ Armand than to be tedious and narrow-minded just like the senator performed by Gene Hackman. It’s all so scrupulously good-natured that it couldn’t assist however attract a broad viewers, and thereby assist pave the lengthy, winding highway to future queer-positive films. You possibly can stream The Birdcage on Prime Video and Peacock.

The Watermelon Lady (1996)

The mid ’90s noticed a string of gay-themed Hollywood films. These had been films with good intentions and big-name stars, even when they had been largely male, straight, and white: the aforementioned The Birdcage, plus Philadelphia and In & Out, to call the biggies. However, much more considerably, it was a golden age for indie filmmakers who had been starting to make extra private, genuine, and idiosyncratic films that transfer rejected heteronormativity—what got here to be often known as New Queer Cinema. Director/actor Cheryl Dunye performs Cheryl, who goes on the hunt for a fictional Black actress from Outdated Hollywood, exploring the life of somebody who lived on the margins. You possibly can stream The Watermelon Lady on Kanopy and The Criterion Channel or lease it from Prime Video.

Sure (1996)

Sure introduced main new directorial skills in Lily and Lana Wachowski, a pair of siblings who would go on to create The Matrix and different imaginative successes (together with some equally imaginative flops). The noir-inspired thriller mixes violence and humor in a narrative that additionally presents a lesbian relationship that feels actual, and an unashamed sexuality that by no means feels gratuitous—the chemistry between leads Gina Gershon and Jennifer Tilly is off the freaking charts.

The administrators stay amongst Hollywood’s highest-profile transgender filmmakers, and it began with this immediate basic. You possibly can stream Sure on Paramount+ and Kanopy or lease it from Prime Video.

All About My Mom (1999)

It’s not the queerest movie in Pedro Almodóvar’s very queer filmography—that’s most likely 1987’s Legislation of Want, involving a fancy love triangle between two cis homosexual characters and a trans girl. However All About My Mom solidified Almodóvar’s standing as one of many world’s high filmmakers, mixing his earlier, campier sensibilities with extra dramatic materials. When Manuela’s son is killed in a automotive accident, she units out on a quest to search out his different dad or mum, a transgender girl named Lola whose id Manuela had saved secret. On the way in which, she will get concerned within the lives of different ladies, together with scene-stealing trans intercourse employee Agrado and Rosa, an HIV+ nun additionally carrying Lola’s baby. The film was approach, approach forward of its time in depicting queer themes, and it’s nonetheless a wildly entertaining and considerate film about motherhood in all its kinds. You possibly can stream All About My Mom on The Criterion Channel or lease it from Prime Video.

Tongues Untied (1989)

An experimental tour de pressure from Black, homosexual poet and filmmaker Marlon T. Riggs, Tongues Untied approaches the silencing of the expertise of homosexual, Black males by each mainstream white and Black cultures, in addition to homosexual white society. With interviews, poetry, and a non-linear fashion, Riggs examines the expectations round folks like him, beginning a dialogue that continues to this present day, for higher and worse. You possibly can stream Tongues Untied on Kanopy and The Criterion Channel.

Saving Face (2004)

The success of The Pleasure Luck Membership in 1993 result in an enormous increase in films with Chinese language-American themes. And by “enormous increase,” I imply that Hollywood solely waited 11 years for the subsequent film to heart Chinese language Individuals.

(Sighs audibly.)

However! On the brilliant aspect, Alice Wu’s Saving Face is an enthralling triumph, telling a love story between a closeted surgeon and her boss’s daughter. The backdrop is the normal households and group of the 2 ladies, however in the end it’s a kind of romantic comedies the place you may’t assist however cheer on the leads. You possibly can stream Saving Face on The Criterion Channel or lease it from Prime Video.

Brokeback Mountain (2005)

There are a number of movies on this checklist that contain a bunch of straight folks making queer-themed films, with blended outcomes. Whereas Brokeback Mountain leans a bit too closely on tragic tropes (by 2005, we’d seen greater than sufficient films about gays doomed to die), there’s an plain properly of expertise each behind and in entrance of the digicam—greater than sufficient to make for an affecting expertise. The film’s place in queer historical past, although, rests as a lot on the backlash it impressed as on the acclaim it obtained. By the point the film misplaced Greatest Image on the Oscars to Crash (her?), the dialogue was extra about homophobia in Hollywood’s outdated guard and amongst film audiences on the whole than about both movie’s virtues. Brokeback began a dialogue, and, simply as considerably, reminded studio bosses that queer content material may get mainstream consideration and make main financial institution. You possibly can stream Brokeback Mountain on Prime Video.

Bent (1997)

Set largely at on the Dachau focus camp, Bent follows Max (Clive Owen), arrested by the Nazis within the wake of the Evening of the Lengthy Knives, and as a part of the Nazi’s focused persecution of homosexuals. It is harrowing and heartbreaking, in fact, however with moments of actual magnificence. it additionally obtained an NC-17 for no good cause, which has lots to say about how we deal with any movie with queer content material. You possibly can stream Bent on Peacock and Kanopy or lease it from Prime Video.

Paragraph 175 (2000)

A vital documentary in regards to the expertise of queer Germans through the Nazi years, made simply in time to seize interviews with survivors. There’s pleasure within the recollections of a extra open and liberal Berlin within the pre-war years, which naturally and horrifically turns to heartbreak because the Nazis transfer to focus on queer identities. It’s extremely particular in its approach, however feels timeless in its warning that progress can disappear with scary ease. You possibly can stream Paragraph 175 on Kanopy and The Criterion Channel or lease it from Prime Video.

Tropical Illness (2004)

This totally distinctive Thai movie payments itself as a “romantic psychological drama artwork movie,” and I suppose that provides you some concepts of its bizarre nature. On the outset, we predict we’re in a romance involving Keng (Banlop Lomnoi), a soldier stationed in a quiet village who meets native Tong (Sakda Kaewbuadee), kicking off a love story. That is earlier than the narrative splinters, and we’re following a soldier looking the jungle within the face of a difficult spirit. It was the primary Thai movie to debut in the primary competitors at Cannes, and the primary to win the Jury Prize. You possibly can stream Tropical Illness on Kanopy.

Pariah (2011)

It didn’t escape in a giant large approach, however Pariah nonetheless seems like the beginning of a brand new, extra assured period in queer cinema. For one factor, it’s completely beautiful, with gorgeous, expressionistic cinematography and assured, assured course from Dee Rees. It’s a world you will get misplaced in. Pariah manages to inform a coming of age, popping out story that’s so deeply private that it by no means seems like a queer message film, despite the fact that it has a lot to say about id via the journey of its younger, black, lesbian lead Alike. You possibly can stream Pariah on Peacock or lease it from Prime Video.

Delight (2014)

Through the British mineworkers strike within the ‘80s, activist Mark Ashton and others realized that there existed an actual alternative to forge an alliance between the miners and the queer group, each of which had discovered themselves shafted (ahem) by Margaret Thatcher’s authorities. Delight reworks the story of the ensuing motion (Lesbians and Gays Help the Miners) right into a genuinely pleasant comedy-drama (assume The Full Monty) in regards to the personalities behind the unlikely team-up that might in the end convey queer points to the forefront of British politics. You possibly can stream Delight on Kanopy or lease it from Prime Video.

Go Fish (1994)

It might be extra of a cult basic from our present perspective, however lesbian rom-com Go Fish made a pair million bucks (which was actual a refund within the day) on a particularly low funds, making it a bona fide mainstream hit. There was a minute or two throughout which individuals had been speaking in regards to the viability of lesbian characters and queer themes in films, and the way director Rose Troche’s movie may open he gates for additional illustration. That did not actually come to pas, however the movie presents up some verity-style New Queer Cinema swagger within the story of sexy faculty scholar Max (co-writer Guinevere Turner) and her numerous romantic issues. The one tragedy right here is Max’s mixed-up love life. You possibly can lease Go Fish from Prime Video.

Drunktown’s Best (2014)

There’s a lot about Drunktown’s Best that we’ve seen earlier than: Set round a Navajo group close to Gallup, New Mexico, it foregrounds poverty, alcoholism, and clashes between custom and trendy life. Reasonably than put off these stereotypical themes, trans Navajo filmmaker Sydney Freeland explores their actuality as a part of the broader scope of the lives of three younger Native Individuals, together with a transgender girl who goals of turning into a mannequin. It’s certainly one of a number of profitable movies of the previous couple of years to strategy characters on the intersection of queer and Native identities. You possibly can lease Drunktown’s Best from Prime Video.

Out within the Evening (2014)

In 2006, seven out Black lesbian ladies had been harassed and violently threatened in Greenwich Village. Once they fought again, the following brawl led to years-long jail sentences for 4 of the ladies, who had been charged as if they had been gang members. The press referred to as them the “New Jersey 4,” and a “lesbian wolf pack.” One headline warned of an “Assault of the Killer Lesbians,” although, in fact, nobody was killed. The queer group has at all times had a fraught relationship with the American judicial system, as have ladies and folks of coloration. The documentary speaks to the methods wherein that lengthy historical past lives on, particularly the place identities intersect. You possibly can lease Out within the Evening from Prime Video.

Tab Hunter Confidential (2015)

He was absolutely the epitome of mid-century, mid-American beliefs of masculinity and beauty: a barely bland however plain hotness. Together with his blond hair, killer smile, and chiseled options (in addition to a voice that landed him a few hit pop singles), he was a film star intentionally branded to make suburban teenage women go nuts. His public romances with stars like Debbie Reynolds and Natalie Wooden gave followers one thing to fantasize about once they weren’t actively swooning. In fact, even then there was gossip about Hunter’s sexuality, and he confirmed these rumors within the 2005 memoir upon which this award-winning doc is predicated. It’s a really private look into the actor’s life in Hollywood, and on the lengths to which the studio system went to maintain a few of its greatest stars hidden within the closet. You possibly can stream Tab Hunter Confidential on Prime Video.

Tangerine (2015)

Trendy tech has opened up alternatives for filmmakers that they might solely dream of again within the day. Think about if queer administrators of earlier generations had been in a position to shoot a film on their telephones with professional-looking outcomes? The tales that might have been instructed? Director Sean Baker and firm make a advantage of the intimacy and immediacy of that taking pictures on a few iPhones brings, and the outcomes don’t really feel shoddy nor low cost. It’s a girlfriend/buddy/revenge comedy about Sin-Dee Rella and Alexandra, two trans intercourse staff on the hunt for the person who did Sin-Dee improper. It’s a ton of enjoyable. You possibly can stream Tangerine on HBO Max and Kanopy or lease it from Prime Video.

Moonlight (2016)

Two phrases: Greatest Image. Moonlight truly received a ton of awards, however essentially the most groundbreaking by far was that Oscar. And, sure, they did by accident learn the improper card and make everybody assume that La La Land received—however after 89 years of Academy Awards, it was value an additional few seconds to study that the primary movie with a lead queer character (in addition to an all-Black solid) had claimed Hollywood’s greatest prize. Good films don’t at all times make historical past (and this can be a nice one), however Oscar winners positive do. You possibly can stream Moonlight on Tubi or lease it from Prime Video.

Kiki (2016)

Selecting up the place Paris is Burning left off, Kiki seems on the present state of the drag ball scene. It’s not a sequel, however in inspecting kiki tradition in New York Metropolis greater than 1 / 4 century after that earlier doc, it offers an enchanting glimpse of the whole lot that has, and hasn’t, modified for a group whose affect has solely grown. Lots of the identical struggles stay: HIV/AIDS hasn’t gone away, particularly for these with out the cash to pay for remedy, nor have over-policing and discrimination. However a broader cultural acceptance of queerness and the mainstreaming (to some extent) of drag have opened doorways for lots of the younger, typically trans folks of coloration the movie focuses on, who additionally manifest a fierce and galvanizing pressure of activism. You possibly can stream Kiki on AMC+ and Kanopy or lease it from Prime Video.

The Demise and Lifetime of Marsha P. Johnson (2017)

There are as many views on the Stonewall rebellion as there have been individuals who had been there, however when you’re trying to educate your self on these occasions, you can do worse than to start out with a detailed take a look at Marsha P. Johnson. Coming into the highlight throughout an period when labels had been very a lot in flux, Johnson self-identified as homosexual and as a transvestite who usually used feminine pronouns. She was additionally a intercourse employee and a drag queen, in addition to an activist, mannequin, and mentor—a usually fascinating one who was on the frontline when Stonewall went up in flames in 1969. Director David France’s movie explores not simply Johnson’s life, but in addition a current investigation into her tragic and mysterious loss of life in 1992, which the NYPD dominated a suicide with out a lot examination. You possibly can stream The Demise and Lifetime of Marsha P. Johnson on Netflix.

Happiest Season (2020)

They crank these items out by the dozens. There’s a whole, year-round trade devoted to feeding a whole nation’s insatiable urge for food for schmaltzy, made-for-TV vacation films, very continuously involving a hard-driving profession girl who discovers the true which means of the season whereas visiting her hometown for Christmas. There’s consolation in conformity, and so there’s been surprisingly little selection to the shape despite the sheer quantity of those films—at the very least till the final couple of years. Non-white faces have turn into only a bit extra frequent, and 2020 noticed the sudden look of not only one, however at the very least seven vacation films centering queer romances (and queer actors). Which solely is sensible—is there a greater viewers for campy, tacky, over-the-top love tales than homosexual folks? Hulu’s Happiest Season had higher advertising and marketing, barely larger stars, and an total higher pedigree than among the others, and due to this fact grew to become the most important focus of consideration. When you’re asking if it’s any good, you’re lacking the purpose completely: It’s dorky TV consolation meals, positive, but it surely’s dorky TV consolation meals with and about lesbians—and damned if that doesn’t really feel like progress. You possibly can stream Happiest Season on Hulu.

Purple, White & Royal Blue (2023)

Within the Happiest Season vein, this reasonably profitable adaptation of the Casey McQuiston feels schmaltzy in all the best methods—a rom-com a few prince and a President’s son for the gays. A shiny and competently made romance for the remainder of us. The place Royal Blue goes a bit additional, although, is within the warmth its two leads (Taylor Zakhar Perez and Nicholas Galitzine) generate. The intercourse is likely to be PG-13 at most, and would hardly make a stir in a straight film, however this seems like a leap ahead for the mainstreaming of cisgender man-on-man motion. You possibly can stream Purple, White & Royal Blue on Prime Video.

Disclosure: Trans Lives on Display screen (2020)

Illustration on display isn’t the whole lot, but it surely issues. For many Individuals, the whole lot they learn about transgender folks comes from media representations, and that’s additionally true for trans youth, who might haven’t any different function fashions than these they get from TV. Disclosure takes a take a look at over a century of transgender tales in movie and on TV (going approach again to A Florida Enchantment in 1914), an period of very, very, very gradual progress that’s taken an enormous leap ahead in simply the previous couple of years with the rise of widespread trans celebrities, lots of whom are interviewed right here. Whereas specializing in celebrities, the movie additionally acknowledges that added visibility carries risks as properly, and that the highlight hasn’t essentially made life safer. Disclosure investigates these usually problematic, typically fairly hurtful outdated films and exhibits to determine how they’ve tracked with the realities of trans lives, and the way far we’ve come. You possibly can stream Disclosure on Netflix.

Queen Christina (1933)

The actual-life Queen Christina of Sweden, like Greta Garbo who portrays her, loved a well-earned fame for gender ambiguity and queerness, a few of which is on show on this pre-code movie that sees her entertaining a number of suitors, each female and male. To some, she’s a weak-willed girl; to others, she’s unsuitably domineering. The outdated story: too sexy for some; too frosty to others. This was 1933, earlier than the Hays manufacturing code took a hammer to a lot of the intercourse and almost the entire overt queerness in American films, and it could be many years earlier than we would begin to claw again a few of what they stole from us. You possibly can lease Queen Christina from Prime Video.

Passages (2023)

Sensible and humane the place it might need been salacious, director Ira Sachs crafts a beautiful, shifting portrait of the disintegrating marriage between Martin and Tomas (Ben Whishaw and Franz Rogowski). Although lengthy in coming, the precipitating occasion is sudden: Tomas meets Agathe (Adèle Exarchopoulos), with whom he develops an immediate connection. Not solely is it a brilliantly acted movie, it is also a refreshing, matter-of-fact tackle trendy sexual fluidity. You possibly can stream Passages on Mubi or lease it from Apple TV.

The Celluloid Closet (1996)

As soon as you’ve got watched the entire movies on this checklist, get some added context by way of the important documentary in regards to the historical past of queer Hollywood. The movie examines the stereotypes, the hidden messages, the key codes—the whole lot that made the flicks queer, despite the restrictions positioned upon them. You possibly can stream The Celluloid Closet on Tubi or lease it from Prime Video.

I Noticed the TV Glow (2024)

Jane Shoenbrun wrote I Noticed the TV Glow, their trippy, psychological horror drama, within the midst of their personal transition, utilizing the movie to discover the sentiments that the method stirred: exhilaration, anticipation, and visceral horror on the decisions laid earlier than them. What does it imply to sacrifice stability and security in favor of authenticity? Whereas different trans coming-out narratives give attention to the exterior threats or emphasize the optimistic facets, Shoenbrun is not afraid to acknowledge and confront the inherent terror on this story of two teen associates who bond over a TV present that appears to steadily be drawing them into itself, and which more and more feels extra actual than actual life. Queer cinema of the previous typically handled themes in extremely metaphorical methods, as a result of talking overtly was way more harmful. Shoenbrun approaches transitioning via allegory, and with out worry. You possibly can stream I Noticed the TV Glow on HBO Max or lease it from Prime Video.