<< BACK TO POP CULTURE | LGBTQ BOOK COLLECTION
May 26, 2022:
June is Pride Month. For LGBTQAI+ people, many of whom are under relentless attacks from the more hateful parts our society, pride is more important than ever. Toward that end, I’m recommending a handful of queer-themed movies which feature young people and which I’ve found inspiring over the years. Some of these choices are relatively new, others go back decades, and some you may have never even heard of. But they all have one thing in common: they provide an uplifting and optimistic view for queer people about their futures, themselves, and their place on this planet.
So, in no particular order:
May 26, 2022:
June is Pride Month. For LGBTQAI+ people, many of whom are under relentless attacks from the more hateful parts our society, pride is more important than ever. Toward that end, I’m recommending a handful of queer-themed movies which feature young people and which I’ve found inspiring over the years. Some of these choices are relatively new, others go back decades, and some you may have never even heard of. But they all have one thing in common: they provide an uplifting and optimistic view for queer people about their futures, themselves, and their place on this planet.
So, in no particular order:
|
Shelter:
Released in 2008, Shelter remains one of my favorite LGBTQAI+ movies, partly it contains so few of the usual tropes that beset films about gay men. There are no gay bars, no parades, no drag queens, no theats of violence, and no one‘s depressed to the point of being suicidal. Set against the backdrop of the Southern California surf culture (a surprising choice on its own), Zach (Trevor Wright) is an aspiring artist who’s put his dreams on hold to take care of a disabled father, a deadbeat sister (Tina Holmes), and her neglected five-year-old son (Jackson Wurth). In the narrow place between working two jobs and holding his dysfunctional family together, Zach reconnects with former surfing buddy, Shaun (Brad Rowe). Through their rekindled acquaintance — and plenty of surfing — the two men discover much deeper feelings for each other. In the end, Shelter is an unpretentious and highly relatable story about finding personal happiness. |
|
The Geography Club:
Based on a popular YA book of the same title, the movie is a far superior product thanks to strong performances and a more coherent plot. Cameron Deane Stewart stars as Russell Middlebrook, a high school student anxiously looking forward to his first boyfriend. Using online dating apps, the boy he finds is actually the school’s star quarterback, Kevin Land (Justin Deeley). Kevin is anxious for the physical part of a relationship, but is not willing to risk his alpha male reputation by coming out at school. Frustrated by this, Russell finds support in a gay-straight alliance group which is also in the closet (they call themselves “The Geography Club” to hide their true purpose). In the end, Russell and his friends decide the closet is no place to live and stage a very public coming out event. The question is… will Kevin be a part of it? |
|
Giant Little Ones:
Giant Little Ones is filled with characters who are exploring both sexual and gender identities. Franky Winter (Josh Wiggins) and Ballas Cole (Darren Mann) have been best friends since early childhood. But when they share a sexual experience on Franky’s eighteenth birthday, it creates both questions and fear. Despite living in a more tolerant society, Franky finds that being gay — or even questioning his sexual identity — is not that easy. He’s deeply conflicted about his father, who came out late in life and left his mother for another man, and devastated when Ballas and his girlfriend start spreading rumors about him in order to shift suspicion away from Ballas. The latter is a monstrous betrayal, but one Franky successfully navigates with the support of his transgender best friend, Ballas’s sister, and his father whom, he realizes, is not a villain afterall. |
|
Boys (Jongens):
Like Shelter, this made-for-TV movie from the Netherlands is smart, uplifting, and mostly free of the gay coming-out clichés. The two main characters, Sieger (Gijs Blom) and Marc (Ko Zandvliet), are on the high school track team together. Marc is clearly interested in Sieger, and is not shy about expressing it. Sieger’s intrigued, hesitant, but also distracted by the rising conflict between his older brother and his widowed father. Boys does not stray into the usual tropes about self-loathing young gays. Sieger’s family and friends are supportive, Marc is patient and forgiving. And Sieger’s allowed to find his own path in his own time. The film is in Dutch and subtitled in English. |
|
Maurice:
This is a landmark film partly for when it was made, and partly for the book which inspired it. Produced in 1987, Maurice was the first of the highly acclaimed Merchant & Ivory films based on the novels of E.M. Forster. Maurice the novel was written in 1914, but wasn’t published until after Forster’s death in 1971. In the early twentieth century, a frank novel about two Oxford university students falling in love was beyond the pall for Edwardian society. Probably, a frank film based on the book was pushing some boundaries in the mid-1980s, as well. Still, Maurice is a lavishly produced and beautifully acted film about being gay in a time when this was synonymous with being a criminal. Despite the ominious overtones, Maurice has a happy ending (mostly) and will make you appreciate just how far LGBTQAI+ people have come in the interval — despite plenty of work to do. |
|
Doing Time on Maple Drive:
Produced in 1992 at the height of the AIDs epidemic, Doing Time on Maple Drive was unique in showing a sympathetic gay character at a time when the community was in turmoil. The film has multiple sub-plots about an “all American family” built on a foundation of lies, but the main thread follows Matt (William McNamara), a Yale honors student who’s just become engaged to his wealthy girlfriend (Lori Loughlin). The engagement, and Matt’s life, come crashing down when his fianceé discovers that his previous relationship — and the love of his life — was with a boy name Kyle (Bennett Cale). Bibi Besch and James Sikking are excellent as Matt’s passive-agressive parents who have to face an uncomfortable fact: accept their son or continue to live a massive deception. |
|
Dare and The Dare Project:
These short, independent films took the internet by storm starting almost twenty years ago. Dare (2005) was a “night in the life” style film about an awkward and unpopular high school boy named Ben (Adam Fleming) and his unrequieted crush, Johnny (Michael Cassidy). When Johnny keeps blowing his lines for the school’s production of A Streetcar Named Desire, Ben offers to help him study for the part. Cooperation is hampered by a sense of mutual antagonism however, at least until they realize that neither one of them is exactly what they seem. The Dare Project was produced thirteen years later with the same cast. Now professionals in their 30s, Ben and Johnny stumble upon each other at a house party, and memories of a fleeting encounter and an unrealized blowjob lead to some interesting follow up discussions. In the end, the films are not so much about finding your identity as about realizing that identity is often nebulous. |