This month is Pride month. June has been chosen to commemorate the Stonewall riots, which occurred at the end of June 1969. The streets of the world are holding many pride events to spread the love and recognize the impact LGBT people have had in the world. To follow the spirit, I share with you my favourite LGBT films that used cinema as a tool to open people’s mind and change things. Because after all, cinema has this super power to touch people and help for social changes.
1. The historical one: Paris Is Burning (1990), Dir. Jennie Livingston
This documentary reveals the drag movement’s debut by following drag balls’ performers during the 1980’s in the Bronx. This thoughtful exploration of race, class, gender, and sexuality shows that everyone is allowed to put on a show to express themselves. To show their true colour. The images show the beauty of these night birds struggling through life to be themselves but prove that with a sense of community and self-acceptance, everything is possible as long as you’re allowed to vogue through the night.
Available on Netflix
2. The classic one: Brokeback Mountain (2005), Dir. Ang Lee
When one thinks about LGBT films, Brokeback Mountain is usually the one that comes to its mind. The reason behind that is because it revolutionised the genre of cow-boy cinema. When guns, hats and horses cantering in the desert were synonyms of virility it has been switched to a love story between two lost men, bringing the status of cow-boy to a thoughtful and deeper level. Even if it is a desperately sad story in many ways representing a tale of two wasted lives showing two lovers unable to consume their passion due to the society’s convention, it is a beautiful movie sharing a strong message: the fact that most of our lives, gay and straight, are defined by one moment in which life seems glorious and naturally right until social criteria infect this perfect way of seeing our existence. Ennis and Jack, show that gay men can exist without living a lie; they fight not just against discrimination, but insensibility and ordinariness.
Available on Youtube, Google Play
3. The hot one: Blue Is The Warmest Colour (2013), Dir. Abdellatif Kechiche
Abdellatif Kechiche is known for his PG kind of scenes where you probably don’t want to share pop corns with your parents. But in Blue Is The Warmest Colour, he shows the beauty of homosexual relations while asking the right questions such as: What does it mean to be gay without participating in gay culture? Why is there such a distinction when it comes to gay love? Kechiche uses the lovers’ bodies to create with their tensions, its comedy and its fury, a metaphor of their complex but deep conversations. It is a film about tolerance and inclusion despite its controversial sexual scenes.
Available on Youtube, Google Play and Netflix
4. The denunciatory one: Boy Erased (2019), Dir. Joel Eldgerton
After The Miseducation of Cameron Post, conversion therapies seem to take their place on the screen with Boy Erased this year. But as opposed to the first one, Boy Erased shows with crude and powerful scenes but also sometimes shocking ones, that behind religion and faith people can mistake their love. This movie shows the brutality of these institutions that are still practiced today in the world (including Europe and America…) leaving an emotional impact on those who go through them. Because no, homosexuality is not a disease, and yes it is a normal way of loving and cannot be cured.
Available on Youtube, Google Play
5. The poetic one: Call Me By Your Name (2017), Dir. Luca Guadagnino
Luca Guadagnino’s film seduced everyone who’ve seen it. This coming-of-age film depicts the reality of sexual desires in general with beauty and even humour (everyone remembers the scene with the peach…). Through a tribute to art in all its forms (cinema, music, painting, poetry and literature), Guadagnino depicts two human beings falling in love in a peaceful Italian setting where this passion can take form without too many risks. It calls for a more open-minded Hollywood where love stories are normalised homosexual relations in which everyone can see itself.
Available on Youtube, Google Play
6. The overwhelming one: Moonlight (2016), Dir. Barry Jenkins
Barry Jenkins’ aesthetic brings us in an immersive and breathtaking journey following a man discovering his sexuality. Being a macho bodybuilder with gold teeth who got out of jail starting a new life in Atlanta, Georgia, dealing on street corners, Black is not sure of why he feels this way when being with another man. The film highlights the doubts felt when coming-of-age people face their true desires. It is a film about masculinity, love and self-acceptance that makes you feel ready to accept everyone as they are whilst blowing your mind away through its original aesthetic.
Available on Youtube, Google Play
7. The delicate one: The Way He Looks (2014), Dir. Daniel Ribeiro
This Brazilian film tells the story of a blind teenager falling in love with the new student of the school. If the plot can seem heavy, it is a super light film full of tenderness and honesty. Ribeiro’s young cast is wonderful and makes us want to feel our first love again. His camera enters the intimacy of every small movement that could be hints as much as misleading information; it is not only a film about love but also about finding independence and proving ourselves in a world where we are vulnerable.
Available on Youtube, Google Play
