Venus Boyz (2002), Forbidden Love: The Unashamed Stories of Lesbian Lives (1993), The Celluloid Closet (1996), Fox and His Friends (1975), Bound (1996), Tarnation (2003), Parting Glances (1986), The Lost Language of Cranes (1991) ... Let's take a look at the ranked list of the best Queer Cinema movies.
Storyline: This intimate look into the real world of drag kings -- women exploring their masculinity -- crosses continents, traveling through drag king nightclubs from New York to London. Through interviews and on-stage performances, every subject reveals a different reason for choosing the gender they have. The film is less a critique than an exploration of a world that is increasingly becoming mainstream, as the featured protagonists question exactly how gender works, and should work, in modern society.
Plot Keywords: documentary, lgbtq+, performance art, underground culture, new york, artists, social margins ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: This documentary about lesbians in Canada alternates between fiction and non-fiction. Along with interviews of real women who discuss coming to terms with their sexuality during the '40s, '50s and '60s, there are dramatized scenes based on the "Beebo Brinker Chronicles," a series of hard-boiled lesbian pulp novels by Ann Bannon published during the '50s. Meanwhile, the interviewed women talk about Vancouver and Toronto's gay scenes of the time, which were their own pulp-worthy underworlds.
Plot Keywords: documentary, lesbian, history, canada, oral history, social movement, female director ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: This documentary highlights the historical contexts that gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgenders have occupied in cinema history, and shows the evolution of the entertainment industry's role in shaping perceptions of LGBT figures. The issues addressed include secrecy -- which initially defined homosexuality -- as well as the demonization of the homosexual community with the advent of AIDS, and finally the shift toward acceptance and positivity in the modern era.
Plot Keywords: documentary, lgbtq+, film history, hollywood, film industry, historical, adaptation ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: Working class and middle-upper class worlds come together in this interesting look at class conflict within the gay world from the German director Reiner Werner Fassbinder. Fassbinder plays Fox, he is working class, a former circus performer who wins the lottery of DM 500,000. His life starts to look up and doesn't have to struggle financially. Fox can now have the life and things that he has always wanted. He begins a new relationship with Eugen, creates a business partnership, and his life is looking bright. While he wants to climb up the social ladder, it isn't without turmoil, and being torn between his old working class roots, and the shiny new facade of middle class consciousness.—Nathan Niessen
Plot Keywords: social critique, class conflict, exploitation, love story, tragedy, 1970s cinema, realism ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: Corky, a lesbian ex con hired to work in an apartment as a plumber, meets neighbors Caesar, who launders money for the Mafia, and his girlfriend Violet. The two women have a love affair and decide to steal $2,000,000 that Caesar has in custody before he gives them back to Mafia boss Gino Marzone. Caesar is set up by the two scheming women as a scapegoat but things start to go wrong when he reacts in an unexpected way...
Plot Keywords: crime, thriller, noir, lesbian, romance, mystery, violence ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: Part documentary, part narrative fiction, part home movie, and part acid trip. A psychedelic whirlwind of snapshots, Super-8 home movies, old answering machine messages, video diaries, early short films, snippets of '80s pop culture, and dramatic reenactments to create an epic portrait of an American family travesty. The story begins in 2003 when Jonathan learns that his schizophrenic mother, Renee, has overdosed on her lithium medication. He is catapulted back into his real and horrifying family legacy of rape, abandonment, promiscuity, drug addiction, child abuse, and psychosis. As he grows up on camera, he finds the escapist balm of musical theater and B horror flicks and reconnects to life through a queer chosen family. Then a look into the future shows Jonathan as he confronts the symbiotic and almost unbearable love he shares with his beautiful and tragically damaged mother.—Sujit R. Varma
Plot Keywords: documentary, autobiographical, experimental, lgbtq+, mental health, personal journey, low budget ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: As Michael and Robert, a gay couple in New York, prepare for Robert's departure for a two-year work assignment in Africa, Michael must face Robert's true motives for leaving while dealing with their circle of eccentric friends, including Nick, who is living with AIDS.—Travis Spence <00tdspence@bsuvc.bsu.edu>
Plot Keywords: gay, new york, 1980s, independent film, romance, love, breakup ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: A young gay man comes out to his middle-class parents, which has repercussions for his father who has long since been trying to repress his own sexuality.
Plot Keywords: gay, family, father-son relationship, secrets, coming out, identity, love ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: Robin Turner is a gay hairdresser. He hates his job. He loves old movies and will do his customers' hair in the style of an iconic movie star if they'll let him, and even if they don't. At his apartment, he is harboring his medically diagnosed schizophrenic friend, Liza Connors, who can no longer stand being institutionalized. After Liza convinces Robin to attend a drag ball dressed as Tallulah Bankhead, Robin begins to feel liberated. On Liza's further urging, Robin accepts a local club's offer to work as a female impersonator, he doing his own singing unlike most drag queens. As he progresses with his female impersonation work to great aplomb, he takes a shot at making it big in New York City. The money will have to come in since despite medical warnings to her not to do it, Liza has become pregnant (not Robin's baby), she deciding to have and keep the baby.—Huggo
Plot Keywords: lgbtq+, comedy, drama, mental illness, friendship, 1970s, canadian film ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: After a night of drinking and flirting at a bar, Bryan (Todd Stites) and Bill (Terry Curry) decide to head back to Bryan's place. They have sex and, shunning the awkwardness, soon find themselves engaging in a long conversation. Bill is actually named Brian, and is a man questioning his sexuality. Bryan and Brian discover a lot about themselves and each other while discussing several issues revolving around the homosexual community, including AIDS, prejudice and, of course, sex.
Plot Keywords: gay, romance, tragedy, independent film, 1990s, new york, relationships ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: In 1950's Hollywood, movie star Guy Stone must marry a studio secretary in order to conceal his homosexuality. Sally has no idea her marriage is a sham, though, and turns Guy's life upside-down. Then he falls in love.
Plot Keywords: psychological thriller, black comedy, hollywood, identity crisis, double life, social norms, repression ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: Youth culture meets identity politics in this part-thriller, part-gay love story set in London in 1977, days before the Queen's Silver Jubilee celebrations. The hedonistic world of pirate DJs Chris and Caz is shattered when a close friend is killed while cruising in the local park. The black community suspect the National Front, but the police pull Chris in as a suspect. This beautifully crafted period piece, a bold and stylish debut feature from Isaac Julien, paints a convincing picture of late-'70s London. The city is a carefully mapped out social landscape, open to all but offering safety to none, as we are taken to a Dalston barber, east London council estates festooned with Union Jacks, West End offices, soul clubs and city parks.
Plot Keywords: black culture, racial issues, london setting, independent film, racism, music scene, social realism ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: Junior high in a time of rotary phones. Cougars have been spotted in the area. Logan is 13, the odd kid, with an active imagination and few friends. His young, single mother seems stressed. Latency is giving way to puberty, and Logan, who keeps a tube of lipstick in his dresser, may be gay or, more mysterious, transgender. He stares at himself in the mirror. He becomes friends with Rodeo, older and more mature, good-looking, with girlfriends. They take walks. Logan calls Rodeo and pretends to be a girl. Will he disclose himself to Rodeo? The kids at school talk. The school wants to promote kindness and tolerance. There are stories of child suicide. How do we find our way?—<jhailey@hotmail.com>
Plot Keywords: homosexual, coming of age, teenager, loneliness, identity, sexual awakening, school life ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: Two attractive young lesbians, Maggie and Kim, meet in Vancouver, develop a passionate romance, and move in together. Meanwhile, Maggie's well-meaning but naive mother Lila gets divorced and decides to move to Vancouver and join the household. Soon after, Lila is befriended by Judy, a transsexual about to undergo a sex-change operation. Complications ensue as the conservative Lila learns the truth about Maggie, Judy, and their diverse group of friends.—Eric Sorensen
Plot Keywords: lgbtq+, romantic comedy, coming of age, independent film, 1990s, family drama, self-discovery ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: Max is a trendy, pretty, young lesbian, who is having trouble finding love. A friend sets her up with Ely, whom Max likes, but Ely is frumpy, homely, and older. Nor do they have much in common. Can Max learn to look past the packaging?—Reid Gagle
Plot Keywords: independent film, lesbian, romance, comedy, coming of age, 1990s, american film ...
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