Gay films

[canundra]

Can anyone recommend to me some good gay-themed films? With the exception of Brokeback Mountain, I have not seen a single good gay-themed movie. None that was well written. None that was well acted. None that was well directed. And it's depressing!

 

And not just any gay-themed movie either. I'm looking for positive films. Films about people falling in love and living happily ever after and whatnot. While Brokeback Mountain was an excellent movie, it was terribly heartbreaking and devastating. It was one of the saddest movies I've seen. And it seems like many of the gay-themed movies that I have seen that were even moderately good have focused more on gay tragedy than on anything positive.

 

I just finished watching one. Defying Gravity, I think it's called. It's a relatively positive film. But it's a terrible movie. The acting was terrible. The writing was terrible. The directing was terrible. But it's still one of the better ones that I've seen, but that's not saying much...

 

Do you guys have any suggestions? Or any comments on the lack of quality positive gay films?

[canundra]

Oh, with that said, there are TONS of good gay-themed short films. Just not feature films.

[Graeme]

Your first problem is defining what is a "gay film". Is it a film that includes gay characters? Is it a film that has some aspect of homosexuality as its main focus/theme? To pre-empt James, films aren't gay. There are films about gays, that are popular with gays, and/or feature gays.

 

Off the top of my head, two mainstream films that feature positive gay relationships are: The Object of My Affection and The Sum Of Us.

 

I don't watch a lot of movies, so I'll leave it to others to come up with a longer list

[Tiger]

I do not know of good gay-themed movies, but I do happen to know that you can get Queer as Folk on DVD. I've actually be watching the DVDs. The show is really good. It's similar to an R-rated movie.

[NaperVic]

I remember a thread from way back about Gay Themed movies and found it .

 

Here's a link with an awesome list of suggestions.

 

Gay Themed Movies thread

 

*edit* apparently Myr set this up too! http://movies.gayauthors.org/

Hope this helps!

 

Vic

Edited January 19, 2008 by NaperVic

[wildone]

One of the first 'gay themed' movies I saw was Torch Song Trilogy. If I were to give it a one sentence review it would be : A story about a New York Drag Queen who wants more in life than one night stands and finds love a few times, loses it, but ends up happy and fulfilled in the end.

 

Since it was the first one I saw, I guess it left a lasting impression. It was made back in the late eighties, based on a Broadway play. The movie isn't as 'crisp' as todays movies, but I think it was well done.

 

It also is a bit of an emotional rollarcoaster, but all life's journey's are in one way or another. Right?

 

Steve

[FrenchCanadian]

There's a nice canadian movie, called C.R.A.Z.Y., it's very good, it's a coming-of-age-story about a gay boy in the 1970s it's very well made, and was canada's pretender to the oscar for foreign movie not long ago

[Tiger]

There's a nice canadian movie, called C.R.A.Z.Y., it's very good, it's a coming-of-age-story about a gay boy in the 1970s it's very well made, and was canada's pretender to the oscar for foreign movie not long ago

I've seen that movie. It was actually pretty good. I actually watched it fairly recently. It also sheds light on the fact that some have a hard time accepting their sexuality.

[writeincode]

I love Boy Culture and Latter Days

[Menzoberranzen]

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: Kinky Boots. An entertaining, amusing and heart-warming story with a sound-track that's to die for.

 

Menzo

[Tiger]

I love Boy Culture and Latter Days

I have both movies added to my Netflix queue. I look forward to seeing them. I'm still working on QAF and Noah's Arc though.

[BeaStKid]

I love Boy Culture and Latter Days

Even I liked Latter Days a lot!!

 

Here's a site that lists some awesome gay-themed movies. While I'm not a fan of this site due to piracy issues, it does provide a list...

 

http://gaythemedsite.blogspot.com/

 

Eating Out is another hilarious gay-themed movie..

[scoopny]

What did no one mention summerstorm? Or did we forget about that thread from last week already? ;-)

 

I also like the British movie Beautiful Thing and the American film Edge of Seventeen and the french film Come Undone.

[corvus]

If you're searching for quality films...

 

My Beautiful Laundrette. A Pakistani immigrant opens a little laundrette with the help of his boyfriend, a former gangster from the other side of town, and deals with everything that comes with an inter-racial and inter-cultural relationship during Thatcher UK. This films was made by the same guy who made The Queen last year, and co-stars a really cute Daniel Day-Lewis.

 

Maurice. EM Forster, of A Passage to India and Howard's End fame, wrote this novel about a gay English lad growing up and becoming a gay man in the shadow of Oscar Wilde. It's a sweet, though-provoking story, made by Merchant & Ivory, who are famous for their period adaptations (Howard's End, Remains of the Day, etc).

 

Wedding Banquet. Before Ang Lee made Brokeback, he made this gem of a film, which is about a Taiwanese man living in New York with his American boyfriend. His mom wants him to get married, and she wants a huge banquet to go with it. What's a filial son got to do?

 

Farewell My Concubine. This isn't exactly gay-themed, but it's an incredible film anyway. A boy is abandoned by his mother and forced to join the Beijing opera troupe, where he specializes in the role of the concubine. This stage identity takes over his life, and he has to deal with falling in love -- during the Cultural Revolution -- with a very straight guy. (Can't blame him -- he's in love with the luminous Gong Li.)

 

None of these films are gay the way Latter Days or Eating Out are. But they're amazing and deserve to be watched.

[sparrow]

I agree with all of the suggestions above...especially Edge of Seventeen, C.R.A.Z.Y., Summerstorm, My Beautiful Laundrette, and Latter Days.

 

In terms of happy ending type movies, these are probably my favorite ones that no one has mentioned yet:

 

All Over the Guy

Guys and Balls

Just a Question of Love - this one is the best of the bunch I think

I Think I Do

Another Gay Movie

 

And these are some "gay" movies that I think are uplifting, although some of them don't have a romantic storyline in them, or the characters don't end up together at the end:

 

Bear Cub

Cowboys & Angels

Eternal Summer

Edited January 19, 2008 by sparrow

[colinian]

If you're searching for quality films...

 

Wedding Banquet. Before Ang Lee made Brokeback, he made this gem of a film, which is about a Taiwanese man living in New York with his American boyfriend. His mom wants him to get married, and she wants a huge banquet to go with it. What's a filial son got to do?

Wedding Banquet is very funny. Doug is Chinese, and when we saw this movie (on cable) we totally cracked up. Doug kept saying "Yes! Yes!" as things would happened because that's how some of his relatives are.

 

Another funny movie with a gay element, though that part is a little dark, is Monsoon Wedding.

 

Colin

[AFriendlyFace]

Can anyone recommend to me some good gay-themed films? With the exception of Brokeback Mountain, I have not seen a single good gay-themed movie. None that was well written. None that was well acted. None that was well directed. And it's depressing!

Personally, I didn't care for Brokeback Mountain at all. In fact I've carefully avoided watching it for a 2nd time (not an easy task considering I have so many friends who love it ).

 

I love Boy Culture and Latter Days

Yes, these two are excellent! "Boy Culture" is actually the most recent gay movie I've seen.

 

Another Gay Movie

Another Gay Movie, is also very amusing, but it really is like "American Pie"...only even more of a parody, so don't watch it if you're looking for something serious.

 

I would also recommend:

 

Trick, Better Than Chocolate, The Trip, The Broken Hearts Club, Beautiful Thing, Friends and Neighbors, and Transamerica. Forgive me for not finding links for them, but I enjoyed them all! There are move good one's I've seen, if I can think of anymore I'll let you know.

 

Take care

Kevin

[Rigel]

Tarnation is a interesting film by gay documentarian Jonathan Caouette, made for very little money using the standard software that comes with a Mac.

 

If you'd like to see gay films from an earlier era, Boys in the Band from 1970 was one of the early gay movies (pre-AIDS) about a group of guys in Greenwich Village, New York, and Sunday Bloody Sunday (1971) involved a menage a trois in London where one of the pairs is between a gay man and a bisexual man, and is remarkable for a movie of its time because the homosexual character isn't a flaming queen, but rather a dignified doctor and fully drawn sympathetic character.

 

You might also look into the films of gay director Gregg Araki.

 

--Rigel

[scoopny]

Another interesting pre-AIDS movie is Dog Day Afternooon. One of the best AIDS-era movies is Longtime Companion and I can't believe I didn't recommend you all see Angels in America, a really excellent miniseries.

[Hylas]

Some filipino films I would recommend:

 

Ang Pagdadalaga ni Maximo Oliveros (The Blossoming of Maximo Oliveros)

 

 

An international award winning poignant film about a 12-year old effeminate gay who falls in love with a policeman. It's one of the movies I really really want to see.

 

Manay Po

 

(A play on the filipino phrase: "Mano Po", which is what someone says (it's actually a request, kinda like 'May I kiss your hand, sir/madam') before kissing/touching the forehead to the hand of an elder - a sign of respect, especially to parents. Manay means 'Sister', a popular slang for effeminate homosexuals here)

 

A lighter hearted movie about a mom who finds out that all three of her sons are gay. Hehe.

 

I've got a crush on Polo Ravales (the guy in the gray jacket), LMAO.

 

[rec]

One movie that I didn't notice on the list was Sugar, with Andre Noble and Brendan Fehr. Well acted and written, but not uplifting.

[Drewbie]

I agree with above about beatiful thing and sommersturm

 

 

Has anyone seen Rock Haven, it's been advertised on tla dvd site.

 

Rockhavenmovie.com

Edited January 20, 2008 by Drewbie

[BeaStKid]

The Dante's Cove television series.... I'm a sucker for sci-fi/fantasy!!

[Former Member]

Oooooh C.R.A.Z.Y is my favorite movie. Im so glad for english subtitles lol. That movie makes me laugh i love it. Theres also another 1 i seen on The Movie Network called Cote D'Azur about a guy pretending to be gay to piss off his dad & just alot of crazy funny things happen its a really good movie.

 

LOL & wouldnt harry potter's be a gay movies now that Dumbledore is gay jk jk. Though we all know Harry & Draco so should have had a thing going on lol

[pitchan]

I also recommend Kinky Boots, My Beautiful Laundrette, Shelter, and Beautiful Thing. I'm definitely going to check out the Filipino movies.

 

Some Spanish movies:

 

Plata Quemada

Two gay bank robbers are forced to flee across the country to avoid the police...Not a Bonnie & Clyde type of story though xD

La Mala Educacion (A film by Pedro Almod