In our latest thorough update to the list, we added titles like the documentary Welcome to Chechnya, about LGBTQ+ activists risking their lives for the cause in Russia Certified Fresh comedy Shiva, Baby and Netflix’s The Old Guard, a rare movie about super beings that showed a same-sex relationship between two of its heroes. There are broad American comedies ( The Birdcage), artful Korean crime dramas ( The Handmaiden), groundbreaking indies ( Tangerine), and landmark documentaries ( Paris Is Burning). Our list of the 200 Best LGBTQ+ Movies of All Time stretches back 90 years to the pioneering German film, Mädchen in Uniform, which was subsequently banned by the Nazis, and crosses multiple continents, cultures, and genres. Read: Critic Valerie Complex on Pariah, and how it changed her lifeĪll of these films stand on the shoulders of other LGBTQ+ films that have come before.Read: Critic Manuel Betancourt on seminal LGBTQ+ comedy The Birdcage.Read: Critic Ian Thomas Malone on seminal trans film A Fantastic Woman.Watch: Cinematographer James Laxton breaks down the swimming lesson from Moonlight.Meanwhile comedy Midas Judd Apatow is currently producing a gay rom-com starring Billy on the Street’s Billy Eichner, which will hit theaters in Summer 2022. And it wasn’t the last: A lesbian romance lies at the center of critically acclaimed high school flick, Booksmart, as well as last year’s Christmas rom-com, The Happiest Season.
In 2020, Pedro Almadóvar’s Pain and Glory would make a dent on the awards circuit, as would Celine Sciamma’s romance Portrait Of A Lady On Fire, one of the best-reviewed movies of recent years. Meanwhile, Love, Simon made history in 2018 as the first mainstream, wide-release teenage rom-com to focus on a gay character (a spin-off TV series, Love, Victor, enters its second season on Hulu this year). At the 2019 Oscars, Olivia Colman was named Best Actress for playing the lesbian queen Anne in The Favourite, beating out Can You Ever Forgive Me?‘s Melissa McCarthy, who played lesbian writer Lee Israel. In 2016, Carol earned six Oscar nominations, and just a year later, for the first time in history, Moonlight became the first LGBTQ+-themed movie to win Best Picture.
Many of the movies in this list served as such in Himberg's own life coming of age in the '90s.It’s been a big few years for LGBTQ films. She likens it to an "aha moment" that might spark the process of coming out to yourself.
Because most LGBTQ people grow up in heteronormative families, the first images we see of ourselves are often in media," Himberg notes. "Seeing yourself represented on the screen can be tremendously validating. "Movies are one of the key places that LGBTQ people, particularly youth, often find affirmation, identification, and even community,"says Julia Himberg, PhD, associate professor and director of film and media studies at Arizona State University.įor those in the LGBTQ community, exposure to stories similar to their own can be an essential part of self-discovery and -development, especially when the viewer has just begun the process. Not only are these movies enjoyable to watch, but many of them represent important steps in LGBTQ representation in media. And who could forget the classic, Thelma and Louise, about two ladies on the run from men and the law? Not all of these movies have received the recognition they deserve, but that just means they're under-the-radar cool. These 50 must-watch films will fit your every mood, from campy hidden gems like DEBS-basically a lesbian version of Spy Kids (count me in!)-to Disclosure, a documentary about transgender representation in media. Luckily, you don't have to waste time scrolling through every streaming service's offerings in search of something decent.
You could stream The Notebook for the fourth time this year-and be exposed to the same type of heteronormative love and gender expression you see in so many films-but you're in the mood to change it up with a movie about characters that identify as LGBTQ. It’s Saturday night, and you’ve found yourself in the exact same position as last week-popcorn ready to go, but not a single clue what movie to watch.