#queer films

[sevinohl]

I'm trying to watch more queer cinema this year—if anyone has recs, I'd love them! I just finished Sabar Bonda, Christopher and His Kind, The Favourite, and short films Tommies and Dandelion, and am ravenously looking for more!!

I've already got Wilde, Carol, Another Country, Ponyboi, Paris is Burning, God's Own Country, Mean Boys, Queer, On The Sea, and Portrait of a Lady on Fire on my to-watch list, and I intend to rewatch Maurice and Kill Your Darlings.

[stagghost]

People ! What are some good lesbian movies/tv shows? Preferably with darker themes cuz im…. Theres smth wrong with me idk. Like not heartstopper, think Hannigram or just good shows

Cuz me and my friend went to go see Girls like Girls and Leviticus and i was like oh two queer movies that release on the same day and someone was saying to watch em both cuz like barbenheimer and

Girls like Girls was not good. Not a good movie, Leviticus was pretty good.

But it made me think, wheres the GOOD lesbian films at ? Gimme reccs okay thank u goodbye („• ֊ •„)

[twittercomfrnklin2001-blog]

So Vam

I’ve reviewed Alice Maio Mackay’s SO VAM (2021, Shudder, AMC+) before but wanted to share her films with a friend, so you’ve got four more to go over the next ten weeks. At 16, Mackay produced her first feature for just $12,000, and it’s more exciting than a lot of films coming out of the major Hollywood studios. It’s an obviously low-budget take on the vampire movie. They can’t fly or change shape, and sunlight only irritates their eyes a bit. Some of the effects betray the low budget. But you can’t put a price tag on the queer utopia Mackay develops in this and her other early films. She has an original vision, and it’s fascinating to watch it develop out of her and her friends’ experiences as part of Australia’s queer community.

Gay high school student Kurt (Xai) is relentlessly bullied by schoolmates both male and female. He dreams of moving to the big city and becoming a drag star, but that could be derailed when he’s picked up by Landon (Chris Asimos), a vampire who drains him and leaves him for dead. He’s saved by April (Grace Hyland) and Harley (Iris Mcerlean), good vampires who turn him and initiate him into their world. Unlike Landon, who preys on the innocent, they feed off people seen as evil — murderers, bigots and, in one scene, a pair of preachers running a conversion camp. And though one may not condone such vigilantism in real life, on screen it can be very fulfilling, for as Liliane Montevecchi sings in NINE (the good version), “Dreams are what le cinema is for.”

Inexperience and lack of funds create some problems for Mackay. A fire effect and a melting corpse are laughably low-tech. She also tends to go to blackout at the end of a scene, which creates a choppy effect. You may expect a commercial to pop in. A fortune teller (Etcetera Etecetera) interested in the conflict isn’t fully developed. And there’s a big drag number at the end that seems to go on forever without adding anything much to the plot beyond the performer’s identity. They have a great image, with big pouty lips and liquid eyes, and perform expertly, but it goes on long after you get the point.

There’s an earlier drag number, however, that’s a triumph of directing on a low budget. Mackay creates the barroom setting with just a few spotlights and the audience’s shadows. It’s mesmerizing. It’s also impressive that she gives the film a consistent color palette, built around light blues, pinks and whites — the colors of the trans flag. And the ideas behind the film are as well-worked out as they are subversive. The worm turns is a common horror film trope, but there’s something liberating about seeing it played out by a gay teen who holds onto his gayness even as he’s taking on murderous bullies. This is an exciting first film, and the next films on Mackay’s resume expand on its promise.

[gayfilmgeek]

How I Love You (documentary, 2004) dir. Akram Zaatari

[crowdhangoutofficial]

Pride 2026 Day 27: Queer TV and Media

Representation is important, and while queer people are severely under or misrepresented in media, there are some really good films and TV out there!

Films

Political Films

Pride (2016) Billy Elliot (2000) A Fantastic Woman (2017) Buddies (1985) Tongues Tied (1989)

Animated Films

Strange World (2022) Wendell & Wild (2022) The Mitchells vs The Machines (2021) Nimona (2023) My Dog Tulip (2009)

Romance Films

Love Lies Bleeding (2024) Ammonite (2020) The Thing About Harry (2020) Disobedience (2018) Happy Together (1997)

Queer Themed Films

Swiss Army Man (2016) I Saw The TV Glow (2024) Moonlight (2016) Electric Dreams (1984) Tangerine (2015)

Fanon Queer Films

Dead Poets Society (1989) Luca (2021) The Road To El Dorado (2000) Fried Green Tomatoes At The Whistle Stop Cafe (1991) The Lego Batman Movie (2017)

Shows

Queer TV Shows

Heartstopper (2021) First Kill (2022) I Am Not Okay With This (2020) Pose (2018-2021) Good Omens (2019-2026)

Kids Queer TV

Steven Universe (2013-2019) She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018-2020) The Owl House (2020-2023) Dead End Paranormal Park (2022) Kipo and the Age of the Wonderbeasts (2020)

Plays & Musicals

Rocky Horror Picture Show (1978) Ride the Cyclone (2009) My Son's a Queer (But What Can You Do?) (2021) Everybody's Talking About Jamie (2021) Closer To Heaven (2001)

Happy Pride, Crowd Hangout.

[ghostkittysweets]

Does anyone know any sapphic comedies i want something romantic but i don't want to cry? So no tragedies pls.

[telephonepolebit]

i watched a (pretty decent) video on queer film recently and i was sorta like. Hmmm 🤨 about one offhanded comment made where OP was showing examples of films that “punish gay characters” to like, y’know separate them from the films that started showing queer people in this unapologetic and transgressive light and DDA and MC were mentioned and like…I don’t really understand the sentiment entirely maybe I’m too defensive of both films (MC especially) but I think it’s reductive to just write them off as like “bad queer representation.” like I’ve talked about my opinions on the whole “is midnight cowboy a homophobic film” thing but I wouldn’t consider DDA a homophobic type film either i mean for its time it even feels fairly sympathetic towards its queer subjects. curious to see where you fall on this topic though.

finally found time to answer this and yeah i agree i dont rlly understand where theyre coming from with the idea of MC and DDA being movies that punish queer characters/bad rep in general...for DDA ive never seen that specifc argument for why the characters are bad rep

from what ive seen the reason people think DDA is bad rep is usually entirely about Leon, and the basis of that argument is usually just bc shes played by a man which is a valid thought imo tho i dont agree it makes her bad rep, and ive also seen people argue that it's bad rep bc like Sonny is a bad person, but that's genuinely just like. a media literacy problem imo, because the idea that good rep can only be found through Morally Correct Good characters is SOOO stupid to me. and i think this also relates to Midnight Cowboy as well, because Joe and Rico aren't necessarily bad people i'd say like Sonny but they obviously Love their slurs and i think that raises peoples hackles and makes them immediately assume it's bad rep

i did an essay for class on how DDA opposes the kind of like...the new scope of Mainstream Queer Rep and i said this: "There has been a visible pattern of character types when it comes to modern queer media. Queer characters are aesthetically pleasing, middle-class, young, educated, unthreatening, and incredibly boring." i was mainly Complaining about shit like Heartstopper (show that i have a massive hate boner for) and i also said this: "“A new gay ‘type’ has emerged—the best friend next door” (Cinema of Outsiders). Again, this relates to film as identity, and also the idea of humanization. [Characters found in mainstream queer media] do not act like real people, instead they are monoliths of what straight people want queer people to be: quiet and unassuming." This is a kind of attitude, that moral correctness is equal to good rep, is one that i think has skewed peoples perception of movies like Midnight Cowboy and Dog Day Afternoon, because neither really Sanitize their characters for straight audiences, yknow what i mean? Like Joe, Rico, Sonny and Leon are very raw and real characters, they feel like people who have been through SHIIIT (or shee-it as Joe would say) and theyre also incredibly messy people, they make mistakes and hurt themselves and each other, and that's just like...what makes them good characters

that's another thing that i think is happening with queer media rn, queer characters are kinda being forced into this box where their stories or the meanings behind their media can Only be about queerness, which i think is doodoo. Like MC and DDA are queer stories 100% but they also have like INSANE other stuff going on, and other meaningful commentary outside of the queer aspect. That's what i think makes great queer stories imo, kinda the acknowledgement that not all problems queer people have revolve around their queerness in a way? that's not to say their queerness should be Irrelevant and shouldnt impact thier lives/stories it's just no person or character should be defined by One Aspect of their life and identity yknow what i mean?

this relates back to what the person in the video said about MC and DDA "punishing their queer characters"...my thought on that is like...the movies are just...Punishing Their Characters Like A Movie Should??? Like, it's not like Joe Buck or Rico or Sonny or Leon are being slapped around solely because theyre queer, theyre being slapped around for a Multitude of reasons. This is implying that's what this person meant by "punishing queer characters". Like, Joe and Rico in-universe face discrimination for being Outsiders, because of class disparity, poverty, disability, lack of education, etc., like their misfortune is not JUST because of their queerness.

With DDA, Sonny's downfall In Universe is more linked to his queerness, however the movie goes out of its way to show the nuance of the situation, which is also accurate to what happened IRL. Some parts of the queer community disavowed his actions, others praised them. in the Meta of the movie his downfall to the audience is because he is an abusive asshole! Like, THAT'S why Sonny is punished by the narrative, because of his selfishness, he dug his own grave now he's gotta lie in it type shit. Leon doesn't really fit into this idea of queer punishment either, like the movie doesn't want us to think "yeah this trans woman deserves all this shit" the movie ACTIVELY wants us to SIDE WITH HER! If the movie was punishing Leon for being trans, they would've painted her as delusional and painted Sonny as this misunderstood hero who's being manipulated by this evil transsexual, but the movie DOESNT do that. the play kinda does. thats a different story. This is an aside but genuinely the character that DDA treats with the Least respect is Angie, Sonny's freaking cisgender ex-wife! The movie Knows how to make an audience dislike a character, and make them out to be an Enemy to us and to our main character, and they DELIBERATELY dont do that with Leon.

thats what i dont rlly understand about the whole punishing queer characters thing bc it's like....do you just not want them to go through anything?? bc yeah rep that's just queer people being awesome and having an awesome life is baller and all but also like Most Media In General is about characters going thru The Horrors and i dont think queer characters should be exempt from that just bc theyre queer?? idk maybe im misinterpreting the phrase

but yeah idk im also very defensive about DDA bc obviosuly thats my special baby movie but i DID get a 95/100 on the essay i wrote about it so...telephone opinions backed by science math magic my sources and my professor

i could go on and on about how much i hate heartstopper. and also how much i hate heated rivalry. however i havent seen heated rivarly. but i feel like i know enough to make a formal statement about it. I DONT LIKE IT! official telephone controversy #cancelled