Pride Viewing Guide: 30 Films about the LGBTQ+ Experience

BY SCOTTIE KNOLLIN

Since the early days of cinema, suggestions of homosexuality have seeped into film. Many researches include a scene of two men dancing together in “The Dickson Experimental Sound Film” as the earliest recorded image of a same-sex relationship. Or, at the very list, the quick moving image showed two men participating in an action that seemed intimate and taboo.

In the early 1900s, homosexuality became more of a punchline and seen through the lens of gender-based conventions and stereotypes. If it was a queer male being portrayed, the actor would embody flamboyant and effeminate behaviors. Many iconic film tropes that still exist today existed even during the earliest productions, like male hairdresser characters or dancers and choreographers. For queer women, characters typically appeared in cross-dressed attire and spoke in deep voices.

It was the 1920s when the first same sex sensual kiss occurred on film, in Cecil B. DeMille’s 1922 film “Manslaughter.” Eight years later, in 1930’s “Morocco,” Marlene Dietrich became the first leading lady to kiss another female on screen. In fact, the film considered the very first Best Picture Oscar winner, “Wings,” featuring a male-on-male kiss.

Post-Great Depression, the introduction of the Motion Picture Production Code meant fewer queer characters were used in film, specifically when they were used in a way other than as the butt of a joke or the victim of a crime. Many films opted to change a character to avoid trouble with the Code. A notable example is 1941’ “The Maltese Falcon.” In the book on which it’s based, the character of Joel Cairo is clearly a homosexual, but those attributes are removed in the film.

Transgender and gender-nonconforming characters have also been around since even before Hollywood’s Golden Era. Though, like other queer characters, the idea of a traditional male in women’s clothes, or vise versa, was a plot device to bring shock value or laughs.

Towards the middle-to-end of the 20th century, filmmakers began exploring more personal and human presentations of queer characters. And, the rise of modern documentaries allowed wider audiences access to stories of the pioneers of queer rights. The ‘60s and ‘70s, especially, welcomed depictions of queer characters that were elevated beyond their sexual orientations.

Thought much of queer cinema, or the depictions of queers in cinema, focuses on common themes, like the AIDS crisis, or fragile and suicidal thoughts, in recent years, more celebrated fare has appeared on the big screen.

Looking to broaden your cinematic horizons? Want to celebrate Pride with some of the most fantastic characters ever put to screen? In the market for a well-written, captivating, and enlightening movie? Give these a shot, whether it’s Pride Month or not.

Angels in America (2003)

Directed by Mike Nichols
Starring Al Pacino, Meryl Streep, Patrick Wilson, Mary-Louise Parker, Emma Thompson, Justin Kirk, Jeffrey Wright, Ben Shenkman
The Basics: Based on the Pultitzer-prize winning play of the same name, this HBO miniseries is the story of a gay man living with AIDS who is visited by an angel.
Come For: The imaginative and artistic way director Nichols handles the heavy subject matter.
Stay For: The award-winning performances, led by Meryl Streep.

Boys Don’t Cry (1999)

Directed by Kimberly Pierce
Starring Hilary Swank, Chloe Sevigny, Peter Sarsgaard
The Basics: The based-on-a-true-story drama centers around transgender young man Brandon Teeva as he navigates life in rural Nebraska.
Come For: Hilary Swank’s Academy Award-winning performance as Brandon.
Stay For: The compelling and delicate way the story is handled (though, devote some time afterwards to read about the actual story).

The Boys in the Band (1970)

Directed by William Friedkin
Starring Kenneth Nelson, Leonard Frey, Cliff Gorman, Laurence Luckinbill, Frederick Combs, Keith Prentice
The Basics: Based on the Off-Broadway play of the same name, the film is among the first major American motion pictures to revolve around gay characters.
Come For: The milestone that it is for queer cinema.
Stay For: The first use of the word “cunt” in a mainstream American film.

BPM (Beats Per Minute) (2017)

Directed by Robin Campillo
Starring Nahuel Pérez Biscayart, Arnaud Valois, Adéle Haenel, Antoine Reinartz
The Basics: Set in the early 1990s, the film follows the AIDS activisim of ACT UP Paris.
Come For: The moving, but not melodramatic, plot.
Stay For: The youthful cast and engrossing look at an era that’s still yet to be fully reckoned with.

Brokeback Mountain (2005)

Directed by Ang Lee
Starring Heath Ledger, Jake Gyllenhaal, Linda Cardellini, Anne Hathaway
The Basics: This romantic drama is based on the short story by Annie Proulx that follows the complex romantic relationship between two men of the American West.
Come For: Heath Ledger’s Academy Award-nominated performance.
Stay For: Jake Gyllenhaal’s even more compelling Academy Award-nominated performance.

Call Me By Your Name (2017)

Directed by Luca Guadagnino
Starring Timothée Chalamet, Armie Hammer, Michael Stuhlbarg
The Basics: This book-to-screen adaptation chronicles the relationship between an older teen and a graduate student in a summer in northern Italy.
Come For: Timothée Chalamet’s star-making turn as the tragically in love Elio.
Stay For: Guadagnino’s handling of the material. Oh, and that peach scene.

Carol (2015)

Directed by Todd Haynes
Starring Cate Blanchett, Rooney Mara, Sarah Paulson
The Basics: As is common throughout history, the forbidden love story gets the limelight here.
Come For: Cate Blanchett’s delicious performance that should have won her another Oscar.
Stay For: The jaw-dropping cinematography and production design. Thought you loved Mad Men’s aesthetic? Give this a shot.

The Celluloid Closet (1995)

Directed by Rob Epstein, Jeffrey Friedman
Featuring Lily Tomlin, Whoopi Goldberg, Tony Curtis, Quentin Crisp
The Basics: Though it’s a documentary, the film is inspired by the book of the same name, which follows the history of queers in cinema.
Come For: The insight from some Hollywood legends about film classics you may not have realized are queer.
Stay For: The impeccable list of must-watch titles you’ll have added to your own list after watching.

Go Fish (1994)

Directed by Rose Troche
Starring Guinevere Turner, V.S. Brodie, T. Wendy McMillan
The Basics: A groundbreaking film for lesbian cinema, the film follows the plight of a lesbian college student in Chicago.
Come For: The fresh portrayal of life within the lesbian community.
Stay For: The surprising charms that would set the pace for Troche’s career after this breakout success.

God’s Own Country (2017)

Directed by Francis Lee
Starring Josh O’Connor, Alec Secareanu, Gemma Jones, Ian Hart
The Basics: Francis Lee’s directorial debut follows a sheep farmer in Yorkshire whose life changes after he meets a migrant worker.
Come For: Lee’s careful and beautiful delivery of the material, with a script also from Lee.
Stay For: The captivating cinematography; it’s some of the best of the most recent decade.

A Fantastic Woman (2017)

Directed by Sebastián Lelio
Starring Daniela Vega, Francisco Reyes
The Basics: Winner of the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar, the film follows Marina, a young transgender woman in Santiago, Chile.
Come For: Daniela Vega’s star-making performance.
Stay For: The feeling you feel knowing this film directly impacted Chile’s LGBTQ laws, including approval for transgender citizens to change their official details beginning in 2018.

Happy Together (1997)

Directed by Wong Kar-wai
Starring Leslie Cheung, Tony Leung, Chang Chen
The Basics: Part of the New Queer Cinema movement, the film depicts a turbulent and intimate romance for the ages.
Come For: Wong’s crafty and unique, stylized storytelling.
Stay For: The cinematography and how it plays into the plot’s longing and regret.

Hedwig and the Angry Inch (2001)

Directed by John Cameron Mitchell
Starring John Cameron Mitchell, Andrea Martin, Michael Pitt, Miriam Shor
The Basics: The stage musical comes to life in this fast-paced cult film.
Come For: The fantastic music.
Stay For: The fantastic costumes, wigs, and performances.

How to Survive a Plague (2012)

Directed by David France
The Basics: Using over 700 hours of archived footage, the documentary shares the early years of the AIDS epidemic.
Come For: France’s delicate and personal approach to telling the story, done in honor of his partner, Doug Gould, who died of AIDS-related complications in 1992.
Stay For: The thinking and researching you’ll do long after the credits roll.

Love! Valor! Compassion! (1997)

Directed by Joe Mantello
Starring Jason Alexander, Stephen Spinella, Justin Kirk, John Glover
The Basics: Adapted from the play of the same name, the film follows eight gay men who gather each summer in the midst of the AIDS epidemic.
Come For: How Terrence McNally adapts his script to a screenplay.
Stay For: The film’s earnest performances from its cast, especially that of Alexander.

Moonlight (2016)

Directed by Barry Jenkins
Starring Mahershala Ali, Trevante Rhodes, André Holland, Janelle Monae, Naomie Harris
The Basics: Told through three acts depicting different stages of life of the main character.
Come For: The grappling screenplay (which won an Oscar).
Stay For: The grappling cinematography.

My Beautiful Laundrette (1985)

Directed by Stephen Frears
Starring Gordon Warnecke, Daniel Day-Lewis, Saeed Jaffrey, Roshan Seth
The Basics: A young Pakistani man living in London rekindles a friendship, and soon romance, with an old friend.
Come For: Hanif Kureishi’s Oscar-nominated screenplay.
Stay For: Daniel Day-Lewis in one of his earliest screen roles.

My Own Private Idaho (1991)

Directed by Gus Van Sant
Starring River Phoenix, Keanu Reeves
The Basics: This road film is loosely based on Shakespeare’s Henry IV, Part 1, Henry IV, Part 2, and Henry V.
Come For: Gus Van Sant’s steady and personal perspective in storytelling that he’d already become known for thanks to “Drugstore Cowboy.”
Stay For: The reason River Phoenix is such a gone-too-soon legend is because of performances like this one.

Mysterious Skin (2004)

Directed by Gregg Araki
Starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Brady Corbet, Michelle Trachtenberg
The Basics: The coming-of-age drama features two tween boys who experience life-altering events as children.
Come For: Gordon-Levitt’s hard-knocked performance.
Stay For: Some clever early-2000s indie cinema tropes done well.

Pain and Glory (2019)

Directed by Pedro Almodóvar
Starring Antonio Banderas, Asier Etxeandia, Penélope Cruz
The Basics: Through a series of reunions, Almodóvar’s semi-autobiographical film shows the decline of a film director.
Come For: Almodóvar’s colorful and visionary style.
Stay For: Antonio Banderas’s Oscar-nominated performance.

Pariah (2011)

Directed by Dee Rees
Starring Adepero Oduye, Kim Wayans, Aasha Davis
The Basics: Rees adapted her own short film into this feature about a 17-year-old girl embracing her identity as a lesbian.
Come For: Adepero Oduye’s stirring performance.
Stay For: A glimpse of Rees’s talents that would only continue to grow as her career has continued.

Paris is Burning (1990)

Directed by Jennie Livingston
Featuring Dorian Corey, Pepper LaBeija, Venus Xtravaganza
The Basics: Ball culture of late-1980s New York City is chronicled with many of the real-life characters who contributed to the Golden Age of New York City drag balls.
Come For: The intimate and stripped-away glimpse at topics like race, class, gender, and sexuality.
Stay For: The people and names you’ll be Googling.

Pink Flamingos (1972)

Directed by John Waters
Starring Divine, David Lochary, Mink Stole, Mary Vivian Pearce
The Basics: In classic Waters fashion, this exploitation comedy stars Divine as a criminal proud to be the "“filthiest persona alive.”
Come For: Waters’ grotesque, bizarre, and crude humor.
Stay For: Divine’s performance. Hands down.

Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019)

Directed by Céline Sciamma
Starring Noémie Merlant, Adéle Haenel
The Basics: An aristocrat. A painter. A forbidden affair.
Come For: The sweeping visuals, including the incredible costumes.
Stay For: The tears you will shed.

The Queen (1968)

Directed by Frank Simon
Featuring Flawless Sabrina, Jack Doroshow
The Basics: Get a view of the esteemed definition of camp in this documentary that depicts the experiences of those competing in the 1967 Miss All-America Camp Beauty Contest.
Come For: Flawless Sabrina’s narration.
Stay For: The camp beauty of mid-century America.

Strawberry and Chocolate (1993)

Directed by Tomás Gutiérrez Alea, Juan Carlos Tabío
Starring Jorge Perugorría, Vladimir Cruz, Mirta Ibarra, Francisco Gattorno
The Basics: Set in Cuba in 1979, the film, based on the short story The Wolf, The Forest and the New Man, explores the attitude towards the LGBT community under Castro’s regime.
Come For: Perugorría’s and Cruz’s performances.
Stay For: The stark political statement the film makes.

Tangerine (2015)

Directed by Sean Baker
Starring Kitana Kiki Rodriguez, Mya Taylor
The Basics: Filmed with an iPhone 5S, Baker’s drama centers on a transgender sex worker making waves around Los Angeles.
Come For: Kitana Kiki Rodriguez.
Stay For: Baker’s vision of Los Angeles.

The Times of Harvey Milk (1984)

Directed by Rob Epstein
Featuring Harvey Fierstein, Harvey Milk
The Basics: Rob Epstein documents the political career of Harvey MIlk, San Francisco’s first openly gay supervisor.
Come For: The celebration of Milk’s place in history.
Stay For: Epstein’s masterful way of capturing real life.

The Watermelon Woman (1996)

Directed by Cheryl Dunye
Starring Cheryl Dunye, Guinevere Turner
The Basics: A young Black lesbian tries making a film about a Black actress from the 1930s.
Come For: Dunye’s refreshing look at mid-1990s lesbian culture.
Stay For: The filmmaking skills of creating fake 1930s film footage.

Weekend (2011)

Directed by Andrew Haigh
Starring Tom Cullen, Chris New
The Basics: Two men meet and begin a fleeting relationship the weekend before one of them plans to leave the country.
Come For: Cullen’s and New’s raw portrayals of the lead characters.
Stay For: Haigh’s attention to realness in his directing, which would show up again on HBO’s “Looking.”