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10 comforting queer flicks to soothe the soul in a discomforting time
As the dog days of winter drag on, the odds of ending up sick in bed rise. Then again, with Donald Trump daily F-bombs, it’s a wonder every sane person in America hasn’t come down with a nasty case of nausea.
Fortunately there are plenty of options when it comes to movies to keep us company and distract us from reality. The list assembled here comprises of the equivalent of comfort food—gay films we love to watch again and again that put us in a good mood, rather like old friends. These are not necessarily the the “best” movies, flicks that challenge us artistically or intellectually and gobble up festival honors. Instead, they warm our hearts by reminding us of the beauty of same love, community and pride.
Check out or revisit these queer flicks for a little comfort, and some warm & fuzzy feelings…
1. The Broken Hearts Club
Before he produced superhero TV, Greg Berlanti (Arrow, Supergirl) tried his hand at writing and directing an indie film. The result, The Broken Hearts Club, became a latter-day classic of queer cinema, a love letter to the surrogate family of the LGBT community. These days it plays like a shocking who’s-who of stars on the rise: Justin Theroux, Zach Braff, and Timothy Olyphant all have early roles, as does Dean Cain before he became a Trump surrogate and spokesman for dermal filler. John Mahoney steals his scenes as an aging gay restaurateur, and becomes the emotional center of a film as tender as it is funny.
2. The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert
For a dragtastic good time, check out this gem from Oz about three cross dressers in the Australian outback. The film helped launch the stateside careers of Guy Pierce and Hugo Weaving, and reminded the world of the considerable talents of the great Terrence Stamp. With Oscar-winning costumes that have to be seen to be believed, and one of the most fabulous soundtracks to ever grace the screen, Priscilla, Queen of the Desert affirms the family-like glories of gay camaraderie. Even the most stoic viewers will get in touch with their inner drag queens, thanks to the sharp dialogue and irresistible music.
3. Trick
Two gay guys do their best to hook up in this romantic farce, and along the way, they realize something curious: they actually like one another. Christian Campbell (Neve’s brother) and John Paul Pitoc play said horny dudes, though the real joy of the movie comes from (of all people) Tori Spelling as Campbell’s ditzy friend. Who would have thought that the actress could actually steal all of her scenes as a wannabe Broadway actress? Likewise, noted drag performer Coco Peru gives a memorable performance as one of Pitoc’s one night stands. Trick’s premise is hardly original, nor are its characters. Yet, as a charming portrait of boy-on-boy romance, the movie succeeds and will no doubt leave a smile on the face of a queer audience.
4. Latter Days
The closeted Mormon sexual fantasy has far surpassed cliché in recent years. In fact, thanks to the Church of Latter-Day Saints’ role in the passage of California Prop. 8 and other anti-LGBT legislation, anything Mormon grates more than fascinates (ok, Book of Mormon notwithstanding). Latter Days came out in 2004, and memorializes the last moment when queer culture found Mormon culture fascinating. As written and directed by C. Jay Cox, Latter Days chronicles a flamboyant Los Angeles gay falling for his closeted Mormon neighbor. Much like several other films listed here though, the romantic leads get upstaged by the eccentric supporting characters, and a supporting cast that includes Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Amber Benson, Mary Kay Place and Jacqueline Bisset. Though ostensibly a comedy, Latter Days does feature some disturbing scenes of conversion therapy, suggesting that if made today, the film would veer more toward the dramatic. In that sense, the film has a certain innocence about it, making it a charming, if naïve meditation on coming out and first love.
5. GBF
If a mass hit like Mean Girls hinted at the dynamic between cliquish teen women and their gay besties, GBF indulges the idea, and becomes a hilarious answer to hetero-elitism. Part of director Darren Stein’s ongoing fascination with teen girls (his film Jawbreaker covered similar ground), GBF follows the rivalry between two young, gay high schoolers, one out and the other closeted. While their semi-feud provides plenty of laughs, GBF has a darker undercurrent—one highlighting the hypocrisy of straight women who want gay friends, but refuse to acknowledge gay relationships or homophobia. Even with the film’s serious edge, GBF keeps the humor coming, making it as familiar and comforting as other high school/queer interest movies like Mean Girls or Clueless.
6. Shared Rooms
A queer answer to holiday relationship movies like Love, Actually or The Family Stone, Shared Rooms follows a trio of gay couples all in various states of commitment over the week between Christmas and New Year’s Eve. A fresh-faced cast lends credence to what amounts to a meditation on love and family as a hook-up turns serious, a roommate arrangement masks hidden feelings, and a happy married couple takes in a young, gay ward. The unrated movie also features plenty of nudity from its very attractive cast, including the full frontal variety (actors Justin Xavier and Alexander Neil Smith might actually spend more of the movie’s runtime showing off the full Monty rather than dressed). Rather than titillate though, the nude scenes add a layer of honesty to the story, somehow making the characters all the more believable. The film’s one misstep lays in the film’s adoptive subplot: at times half of the married couple seems a bit too excited to have an adoptive gay teen, to the point it borders on creepy. Still, Shared Rooms has a great deal of charm, and some heartwarming scenes of a gay surrogate family becoming a real one.
7. Boy Culture
Q. Alan Brocka directed this adaptation of Matthew Rettenmund’s novel about a hooker with a heart of gold. Boy Culture doesn’t play like the gay version of Pretty Woman, however. In fact, it smashes the Cinderella nonsense of that film precisely by introducing a set of realistic characters, led by X. As played by Derek Magyar, X makes no apology for his questionable line of work. On the contrary, he seems to feel more shame for being part of a love triangle with his two hottie roommates, Andrew and Gregory. With a multi-racial cast and a melancholy backdrop of Seattle, Boy Culture unfolds less as a gay film about sex than a thoughtful drama about finding love in an oversexed world. For a queer audience, Boy Culture surpasses the fairytale silliness of most romantic comedies—gay or straight themed—with believable characters and some real introspection.
8. Billy’s Hollywood Screen Kiss
Sean Hayes burst onto the indie scene just prior to his tenure on Will & Grace with this queer romance. Hayes plays Billy, a Los Angeles photographer who falls for one of his models named Gabriel. But is Gabriel gay? Billy spends most of Billy’s Hollywood Screen Kiss trying to realize the issue isn’t Gabriel’s sexuality—it’s if he’s attracted to Billy personally. The premise does wear thin over the film’s 92 minute runtime, though Hayes gives such a winning performance, he buoy’s the film when its shortcomings should sink it. Billy’s Hollywood Screen Kiss belongs to that trend of late 90’s-early 2000’s indie films more preoccupied with gay characters being gay rather than telling an interesting story. At the same time, sometimes a queer audience just needs a movie that understands the life of LGBT folk, and in that sense, the film comforts, even when it wears thin.
9. Lazy Eye
Writer-director Tim Kirkman examines the One That Got Away in Lazy Eye, a film that postures as a love story. Loaded with sharp, naturalistic dialogue and featuring two fine performances from Lucas Near-Verbrugghe & Aaron Costa Ganis, the story centers on two middle-aged men rekindling a long-ago romance. As the film unfolds, it begins to reveal its true subject. Lazy Eye is less about lost love than nostalgia for youth, confronting past idealism and ultimately, growing up. In that way, the film could easily work as a sequel to one of those “I’ll never forget that summer” coming of age films. Ganis and Near-Verbrugghe have a magnetic chemistry, and like Shared Rooms, Lazy Eye features a good deal of nudity and graphic sex, though not in a pornographic way. Rather, the film has a voyeuristic quality which adds to the underlying feeling of realism. Gabe Mayhan’s photography captures the majestic beauty of the desert on par with the most glorious images of Lawrence of Arabia, and if the movie leaves a bittersweet taste, it feels like a comfort rather than revulsion. The two leads find something even better than closure—they find themselves.
10. The Wedding Banquet
Before Ang Lee raised the bar on queer films with Brokeback Mountain, the director helmed this heartwarming tale about a gay Chinese man reconciling his traditional family with his American queer life. For lead character Wai-Tung, that means marrying a traditional Chinese woman with the titular traditional Chinese ceremony, even while he keeps his longtime boyfriend Simon at home. The Wedding Banquet succeeds thanks to a perfect blend of drama and comedy, an appealing cast, and Lee’s astute direction. In the end, the movie isn’t so much about being gay or being Chinese as it is about balancing family expectations, and becoming a fully-formed adult. Years ahead of its time, The Wedding Banquet remains an overlooked classic of queer cinema, and a comforting one at that.
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