In a follow up to my previous post of my top 30 gay films, I realized there were a lot more I wanted to share. Some of these should have appeared on the first list. Others are more obscure films. So here re 25 more. Have fun.
1977 – The Consequence. This 1977 West German film directed by Wolfgang (Das Boot) Petersen is about the son of a prison warden who falls in love with a prisoner. They begin a life together when the prisoner is released, but no one will just let them lead their lives. This was a time when gay films were almost required to have an unhappy ending.
1978 – In a Year with 13 Moons. More Fassbender. Erwin transitions to Elvira, but finds nothing but alienation from family and friends. She struggles to find meaning and purpose while visiting her past.
1980 – Taxi zum Klo. Directed, written and starring Frank Ripploh, this film was groundbreaking at the time in its sexual frankness and honesty about a teacher’s life in Berlin, caught between wanting no romantic restrictions and a lover who wants a monogamous relationship.
1983 – The Fourth Man. An early psychological thriller directed by Paul Verhoeven, it follows a bisexual writer who has sex with a woman, then falls for and seduces another of her lovers, only to find out she’s a witch.
1983 – Lianna. In this early film written and directed by John Sayles, a married woman realizes that she is attracted to women and has an affair with a college professor.
1992 – Swoon. Director Tom Kalin’s dramatization of the crimes of Leopold and Loeb, focusing more on their sexual relationship.
1992 – The Living End. Writer/director Gregg Araki’s early entry in the new queer cinema follows a gay hustler and a movie critic, both HIV+, who meet and fall in love. In what is called a gay Thelma and Louise, one kills a homophobic police officer and the two go on the run.
1993 – Farewell My Concubine. Directed by Kaige Chen, two boys meet in 1924 at a Peking opera school. They friendship lasts their whole lives informed by their country’s turbulent history, one in unrequited love with the other.
1996 – Killer Condom. Written and directed by Martin Walz, from a comic book by Ralf Konig, this German film that takes place in New York, revolves around a condom with teeth that goes around murdering people in a hotel called Quicky. It’s up to a gay police detective who is, shall we say, well blessed, to find the murderous rubber.
1997 – Steam: The Turkish Bath. A man inherits a Turkish bath from his aunt and restores it, leading to his realization that he likes men. Directed by Ferzan Ozpetek.
1997 – The Hanging Garden. Writer/director Thom Fitzgerald’s feature debut is a British/Canadian film about a morbidly obese gay young man who is caught about to have sex with another man. Ostracized by his parents, he considers hanging himself, but leaves home to return ten years later for his sister’s wedding, having lost all his weight and at peace with being gay.
1999 – All About My Mother. Pedro Almodóvar wrote and directed this Spanish film about a mother who, after her teenage son is killed in a traffic accident, tries to find his father who has transitioned into a woman. ‘
2000 – Confusion of Genders. From France and Ilan Duran Cohen comes this story of a bisexual attorney who is sleeping with his boss, his client, his client’s girlfriend and a young man who ends up living with him.
1999 – Aimee & Jaguar. In German director Max Faberbock’s historical drama, it’s 1943 Berlin and a Nazi officer’s wife has an affair with a Jewish woman.
2005 – C.R.A.Z.Y. In French Canada, the youngest brother of a conservative and homophobic Catholic family tries to come to terms with being gay.
2006 – Dark Blue Almost Black. Daniel Sanchez Arevalo’s feature follows two best friends. One whose infertile brother asks him to impregnate his girlfriend since he is in prison. The other who spies on a gay masseuse and discovers he knows one of the clients, leading him to find out something about himself.
2006 – The Bubble. Eytan Fox’s Israeli drama updates the Romeo and Juliet story to modern day Tel Aviv as an Israeli and Palestinian fall in love.
2008 – Antarctica. Another film from Israel. Written and directed by Yair Hochner, a gay man turning thirty drifts from one sexual encounter to another until he finally finds someone who can melt his heart.
2012 – Out in the Dark. Michael Mayer directed this thriller about an Israel lawyer and a Palestinian who fall in love. But their relationship gets complicated when the secret police want to use the Palestinian to help capture those working against the government.
2013 – Stranger by the Lake. In this Alain Guiraudie film, a young man spends his days at a gay cruising spot at a lake. He is attracted to one of the regulars. He sees the man kill someone, but still begins a sexual relationship with him.
2017 – A Fantastic Woman. Winner of the Best International Feature at the Oscars, this Sebastian Lelio drama focuses on a transgendered woman who has to come to terms with the death of her older boyfriend, while confronting his family.
2017 – The Cakemaker. Ofir Raul Grazier wrote and directed this drama about a pastry chef living in Germany who starts an affair with a man visiting from Israel. When the man dies, the chef goes to Jerusalem and takes a job at the widow’s café without telling her who he is.
2017 – Thelma. Directed by Joachim Trier. Thelma comes from a very conservative religious family. When she goes to college, a fellow female student falls in love with her. But Thelma’s denial of her true feelings causes her to subconsciously release her telekinetic power resulting in tragedy.
2021 – Flee. This feature was nominated for Best International Feature, Best Documentary, and Best Animated Feature and under the direction of Jonas Poher Rasmussen tells the story of a young gay man and his family trying to flee to safety after the Soviet Union withdraws from Afghanistan.
2021 – Benedetta. Paul Verhoeven’s over the top, campy treatment of a young 17th century girl who has visions. This leads her to joining a convent and rising to the top while having an affair with a fellow nun.
Happy Holidays.
Meanwhile, listen, like, follow or comment on my podcast, POP ART, the podcast where we find the pop culture in art and the art in pop culture. Every episode, my guest chooses a movie from popular culture and I’ll choose a film from the more art/indie/foreign/classic side of cinema that has a connection to it.
On ITUNES https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/pop-art/id1511098925, Anchor: https://anchor.fm/howard-casner, and Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/5jX4noVGArDJdmcFtmrQcG , Sticher: https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/pop-art, Google Podcasts: https://podcasts.google.com/…, Breaker: https://www.breaker.audio/pop-art, Pocketcasts: https://pca.st/vfjqj6j6, Radiopublic: https://radiopublic.com/pop-art-GExxNb and other streaming sites
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