When it comes to queer cinema, there are some movies that have become more popular to the general public, either because of Oscar/Award buzz (Moonlight, Brokeback Mountain, Call Me By Your Name, Carol, The Danish Girl etc), or a few classic comedies like Robin William's The Birdcage or Kevin Kline's In & Out.
However, every year there are tons of indie/smaller films that deal with those themes and are just as great - sometimes, even more so since they can be more prone to feature writers, directors, actors etc that are also LGBTQ+. And all of this is even more true if you're interested in foreign cinema. I feel like we constantly try to seek validation from multimillion dollar companies like Disney (such as a gay hero on the MCU), and while that is extremely important since those franchises are much more mainstream, it's also vital that we celebrate and support what's already been done instead of constantly hoping for representation in the next month, year, decade or whatever (and sometimes to be gifted with a two second kiss scene on the background, thanks Star Wars).
I don't think this thread will be super popular since LGBTQ+ members on Era are obviously a minority, but our straight friends are also free to post any example they know and like!
Pride (United Kingdom, 2014)
A lot of queer movies are dramas and try to tackle some very heavy themes - homophobia (internalized or external), violence/death, AIDS, sexual assault, conversion therapy etc. It's important to portray this stuff, but it does get tiring after some time when the majority of movies you watch end up this way, so Pride was a huge breath of fresh air. It's such a feel good film, telling the unusual story of the union and collaboration between LGBT activists and miners from a small British town fighting for their rights during Thatcher's awful government in the 80s.
God's Own Country (United Kingdom, 2017)
Also from the UK, but more of a straight-forward drama this time. It's kind of a modern, British take on Brokeback Mountain, with a bit of discussion on immigration as well after Brexit.
Dating Amber (Ireland, 2020)
Going out of the UK but still pretty close, this cute little Irish film from last year is probably the main reason I made this thread. I watched it very recently - it's available on Amazon Prime depending on your country - and it quickly became one of my favorite coming-of-age stories, queer or not. It features two teenager friends, a gay boy and a lesbian girl, that pretend they're a straight couple to protect themselves from bullying and rumors about their sexual orientation. I'm a sucker for stories of solidarity between different subgroups of the community so yeah. :P
A Fantastic Woman (Chile, 2017)
While this one is a Best Foreign Film Oscar winner, the fact that it is from Chile probably means not a lot of people are aware of it compared to the other examples I gave. The majority of Hollywood productions that feature trans characters (The Danish Girl, Dallas Buyers Club etc) end up using cis actors to portray them, which is awful and shouldn't be a thing from now on. Hopefully Elliot Page can be one of the forces of change on that front! Either way, the protagonist of this film is a trans woman portrayed by trans actress Daniela Vega. While it's more on the dramatic side as well (with plenty of transphobia so be warned), it's an amazing watch, and Daniela is a great actress.
Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan (India, 2020)
To end on another brighter note, one of the first Bollywood comedies to feature a gay couple as the main characters! While there have been a few LGBTQ+ Indian dramas before, to see a film that is very in line with your typical Bollywood spectacle, full of awesome music, dancing and larger-than-life performances was a welcome surprise. If you don't like this type of film, this is not the one that is going to change your opinion, but if you're into it it's more than worth it. Plus, Ayushmann Khurrana is one of the most charismatic actors I've seen, he has so many great scenes lol
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I think five examples is more than enough for the first post, but I'll probably hijack my own thread to keep posting more if necessary. I didn't plan to have two British and one Irish examples (I'm not even British haha), it just happened that two of my faves and a recent watch that I liked are all from there.
Anyway, let's discuss and post more.
However, every year there are tons of indie/smaller films that deal with those themes and are just as great - sometimes, even more so since they can be more prone to feature writers, directors, actors etc that are also LGBTQ+. And all of this is even more true if you're interested in foreign cinema. I feel like we constantly try to seek validation from multimillion dollar companies like Disney (such as a gay hero on the MCU), and while that is extremely important since those franchises are much more mainstream, it's also vital that we celebrate and support what's already been done instead of constantly hoping for representation in the next month, year, decade or whatever (and sometimes to be gifted with a two second kiss scene on the background, thanks Star Wars).
I don't think this thread will be super popular since LGBTQ+ members on Era are obviously a minority, but our straight friends are also free to post any example they know and like!
Pride (United Kingdom, 2014)
A lot of queer movies are dramas and try to tackle some very heavy themes - homophobia (internalized or external), violence/death, AIDS, sexual assault, conversion therapy etc. It's important to portray this stuff, but it does get tiring after some time when the majority of movies you watch end up this way, so Pride was a huge breath of fresh air. It's such a feel good film, telling the unusual story of the union and collaboration between LGBT activists and miners from a small British town fighting for their rights during Thatcher's awful government in the 80s.
God's Own Country (United Kingdom, 2017)
Also from the UK, but more of a straight-forward drama this time. It's kind of a modern, British take on Brokeback Mountain, with a bit of discussion on immigration as well after Brexit.
And unlike Brokeback, this one's ending is much happier. No "Bury Your Gays" bullshit in here!
Dating Amber (Ireland, 2020)
Going out of the UK but still pretty close, this cute little Irish film from last year is probably the main reason I made this thread. I watched it very recently - it's available on Amazon Prime depending on your country - and it quickly became one of my favorite coming-of-age stories, queer or not. It features two teenager friends, a gay boy and a lesbian girl, that pretend they're a straight couple to protect themselves from bullying and rumors about their sexual orientation. I'm a sucker for stories of solidarity between different subgroups of the community so yeah. :P
A Fantastic Woman (Chile, 2017)
While this one is a Best Foreign Film Oscar winner, the fact that it is from Chile probably means not a lot of people are aware of it compared to the other examples I gave. The majority of Hollywood productions that feature trans characters (The Danish Girl, Dallas Buyers Club etc) end up using cis actors to portray them, which is awful and shouldn't be a thing from now on. Hopefully Elliot Page can be one of the forces of change on that front! Either way, the protagonist of this film is a trans woman portrayed by trans actress Daniela Vega. While it's more on the dramatic side as well (with plenty of transphobia so be warned), it's an amazing watch, and Daniela is a great actress.
Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan (India, 2020)
To end on another brighter note, one of the first Bollywood comedies to feature a gay couple as the main characters! While there have been a few LGBTQ+ Indian dramas before, to see a film that is very in line with your typical Bollywood spectacle, full of awesome music, dancing and larger-than-life performances was a welcome surprise. If you don't like this type of film, this is not the one that is going to change your opinion, but if you're into it it's more than worth it. Plus, Ayushmann Khurrana is one of the most charismatic actors I've seen, he has so many great scenes lol
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I think five examples is more than enough for the first post, but I'll probably hijack my own thread to keep posting more if necessary. I didn't plan to have two British and one Irish examples (I'm not even British haha), it just happened that two of my faves and a recent watch that I liked are all from there.
Anyway, let's discuss and post more.
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