“Keep the Lights On”
Director: Ira Sachs
Cast: Thure Lindhardt, Zachary Booth, Julianne Nicholson
Synopsis: It seems as though it’s love at first sight for Erik and Paul, until the latter begins to succumb to his drug addiction.
What You Need To Know: Arguably still Sachs’ best film to date, this celebrated Sundance Film Festival selection features powerhouse performances from both Thure Lindhardt and Zachary Booth and earned four 2012 Independent Spirit Awards nominations, including Best Feature. Perhaps because of its stars’ lack of notoriety (they shockingly never broke out afterward), the film has already been slightly forgotten despite the fact it features arguably one of the most realistic depictions of a gay relationship ever put to screen.
“Love, Simon”
Director: Greg Berlanti
Cast: Nick Robinson, Katherine Langford, Alexandra Shipp, Jorge Lendeborg Jr., Jennifer Garner
Synopsis: Closeted gay teenager Simon Spier puts his secrets at risk when he strikes up an online correspondence with another closeted boy at his high school.
What You Need to Know: Say what you will about whether this film is normative/boring/whatever, it’s the first major studio film to focus on a gay teenage romance, so it’s going on this list. I understand the critiques of “Love, Simon,” but I’m not sure how someone can live out their whole adolescence without any mainstream gay stories and then walk away from this one without feeling at least a little bit charmed. (For the record, I was, and remain, a lot charmed.) With winsome performances from its whole cast of newcomers and a Jennifer Garner monologue that will give you chills, “Love, Simon” might not be radical enough for some, but it is nonetheless revolutionary. As our own Kimber Myers wrote in her review, “’Love, Simon’ never feels like it exists merely because it should; its endearing charm makes it a film that viewers will watch regardless of its valuable social impact.” And its $60.8 million gross isn’t a bad signifier for future mainstream gay cinema, either.
“Milk”
Director: Gus Van Sant
Cast: Sean Penn, Emile Hirsch, Josh Brolin, Diego Luna, Alison Pill, Victor Garber
Synopsis: This biography of groundbreaking gay activist Harvey Milk follows the San Francisco politician from his move to California to his assassination.
What You Need to Know: This moving biopic garnered an outstanding eight 2009 Academy Award nominations, including Best Director for Gus Van Sant. A longtime giant of New Queer Cinema, “Milk” offered Van Sant the opportunity to finally become a household name after such arthouse triumphs as “My Own Private Idaho” and “Elephant.” Perhaps most importantly, “Milk” offered mainstream audiences a look at one of the foremost gay figures in American history, with an Oscar-winning performance from Sean Penn as Harvey Milk. Sure, it’s a pretty straightforward biopic with a straight actor playing the gay lead (plus, sigh, James Franco), but it also compelled anyone watching the Oscars that year to wonder who Harvey Milk was – including 14-year-old me. And I’m definitely better off for having asked.
“Moonlight”
Director: Barry Jenkins
Cast: Trevante Rhodes, André Holland, Janelle Monáe, Ashton Sanders, Jharrel Jerome, Naomie Harris, Mahershala Ali
Synopsis: Chiron, a black boy growing up in Miami, grapples with masculinity and homophobia as he transitions from childhood to adolescence to adulthood.
What You Need to Know: Like “Call Me by Your Name,” “Moonlight” hardly needs an introduction. This masterpiece from Barry Jenkins clogged cinematic discourse for months in 2016 and 2017 before going on to (ever-so-awkwardly) win the Best Picture Oscar. Its historic contributions to LGBTQ cinema, as the first LGBTQ film to ever win Best Picture and the first Black LGBTQ film ever nominated, are innumerable. A $4 million dollar film with a cast of unknowns, this bildungsroman showed $65.3 million-worth of audiences a world they otherwise might have never known – and gave Black LGBTQ viewers a long-overdue glance at themselves. As Gregory Ellwood notes in his review, “Each snapshot of Chiron’s life could have taken place yesterday or 20 years ago. As you read this, his story is happening to someone else, and there’s nothing to suggest that it won’t happen to another Chiron tomorrow.” As stunning as it is moving, “Moonlight” ignited cinephiles around the world, earning it a permanent place in canons both gay and straight.
“Mulholland Drive”
Director: David Lynch
Cast: Naomi Watts, Laura Elena Harring, Justin Theroux, Ann Miller, Robert Forster
Synopsis: Aspiring actor Betty finds her life enmeshed with that of an amnesiac woman in this dreamy, vignette-laden exploration of Hollywood surreality.
What You Need to Know: What can I tell you that you don’t already know? “Mulholland Drive” is an all-time classic for a reason, and not just because it’s directed by experimental legend David Lynch. The film deconstructs narrative, critiques Hollywood shallowness, delivers some eye-popping visuals, and it scored Lynch a Best Director Oscar nomination. Oh, yeah – it’s also a surprisingly moving, complex lesbian love story. In the Venn diagram of pretentious film geeks and lady-loving-ladies, the overlapping middle is filled with “Mulholland Drive” fans. As a proud resident of that middle ground, I can never forget the first time I saw this movie (in, aptly enough, a Film Studies classroom). Having watched it countless times since, I still can’t confidently tell you what the hell it’s about, but I can confidently tell you it’s genius. Hazy, outré, surprisingly gay genius. Even with its odd, Bury-Your-Gays ending, you can’t deny – this film is so good, it will leave you llorando.
“Mysterious Skin”
Director: Gregg Araki
Cast: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Brady Corbett, Michelle Trachtenberg, Mary Lynn Rajskub, Elisabeth Shue
Synopsis: Eighteen-year-olds Brian and Neil are haunted by the same trauma. Brian has repressed their shared history and become fascinated with alien abduction, while Neil plasters over his own pain by pursuing dangerous sexual encounters with other men.
What You Need to Know: This 2004 film from illustrious New Queer Cinema auteur Gregg Araki is as disturbing as it is arresting, an unconventional tale of human connection that will haunt you for days afterward. Based on Scott Heim’s novel of the same name, “Mysterious Skin” unapologetically shows how we can embody trauma and repress memory while simultaneously representing nascent gay identity in a rural setting. Acclaimed for its beautiful and sensitive portrayal of some incredibly difficult material, “Mysterious Skin” shows off Araki’s well-honed creative skills as both screenwriter and director. After one viewing you might never want to see this movie again, but you’ll certainly feel compelled to give Araki’s long filmography another look.
“Novitiate”
Director: Maggie Betts
Cast: Margaret Qualley, Dianna Agron, Morgan Saylor, Liana Liberato, Melissa Leo
Synopsis: Teenager Cathleen Harris joins a convent run by a ruthless mother superior during the dawn of the Vatican II changes to the Catholic Church.
What You Need to Know: Perhaps my favorite LGBTQ cinematic experiences are those very few films that I stumble into without knowing there will be any gay content whatsoever. These surprises are truly euphoria-inducing, and perhaps the best one I’ve ever experienced came from Maggie Betts’ 2017 Sundance competitor “Novitiate.” This engrossing tale of convent adolescence and crises of faith packs a significant punch already, but its artfully developed lesbian plot that kicks in somewhere around Act III is nothing short of genius. Through the lens of lesbian lust, Betts examines questions of godly servitude and female agency with breathtaking results. The homoerotic tension of convent life is a significant piece of lesbian/feminist culture (as cinematically reproduced in Su Friedrich’s short film “Damned If You Don’t”), and “Novitiate” brings that motif to its logical end. Much like “Disobedience” offers a unique religious experience of lesbian identity, “Novitiate” offers a landmark take on the intersections between faith and desire.