My Top 5 LGBTQA+

To kick off PRIDE month, here are my Top 5 LGBTQA+ Movies (in no particular order!) :

1. The Birdcage (1996)

The much-missed Robin Williams (Armand) and the hilarious Nathan Lane (Albert) play a long-term couple who own a drag club in South Beach, Florida, USA, where Albert’s drag persona is the star attraction. The couple shares a 20-year-old son, Val (played by Dan Futterman). Val becomes engaged to Barbara (Calista Flockhart), who is the daughter of ultraconservative senator Kevin Keeley (Gene Hackman). Obviously, the young couple wants their parents to meet, but how do they explain Val’s flamboyant parents to the rather drab conservative couple?

Shenanigans, of course, ensue when the conservative couple visits Armand and Albert’s home above the drag club (this was before drag went mainstream, remember). Subterfuge is employed with the use of Albert’s alter-ego, which results in the funniest dinner party scene in cinema history – in my humble opinion. The cast list is stacked, with a special shout-out to Hank Azaria as Armand and Albert’s butler! The ending scenes are also very touching.

Available to stream on YouTube and Amazon Prime Video.

2. Heavenly Creatures (1994)

Going in the other direction now with a film based on the 1954 Christchurch murder revolving around the relationship of two teenage girls.

Juliet Hulme (Kate Winslet), a 13-year-old English teenager, moves to a new school in Christchurch, New Zealand, where she meets Pauline Parker (Melanie Lynskey) aged 14. Despite being from different ends of the class spectrum, Juliet and Pauline bond immediately over their shared chronic illnesses and vast imaginations.

Over the coming years, the two become extremely dependent on one another. They even share a fantasy world they refer to as ‘The Fourth World,’ complete with a made-up religion, they speak in invented languages, and even bathe together. The duo’s parents become increasingly concerned over their respective daughters’ co-dependency and sometimes disturbing relationship. Pauline’s mother even consults a doctor who diagnoses Pauline as a “homosexual” (considered a mental illness at the time). The families contrive to separate the two girls, but upon discovering this, the pair become hysterical. Both vow never to be separated; they will do anything to remain together…even murder.

The film is beautiful and haunting in its execution, written and directed by the one and only Peter Jackson. The scenes in which the girls enter into their shared fantasy world are particularly entrancing. Lynskey and Winslet embody these strange and damaged girls perfectly.

Available to stream on YouTube.

3. Call Me By Your Name (2017)

Yes, the two main actors now have very eh…different public personas, but back when  Timothée Chalamet was pretty much an unknown (and had better hair), he played 17-year-old Elio. Spending the summer of 1983 in his family’s summer home in rural Northern Italy, Elio meets his professor father’s graduate assistant, 24-year-old Oliver (Armie Hammer). Elio becomes fascinated by Oliver, and the two begin a brief but intense love affair.

Despite its simple premise, the film is beautiful, with its sun-drenched shots of the Italian countryside interspersed with the multiple languages used throughout the film  (Italian, French, and English). It is truly a feast for the eyes and the ears! The film is comforting in the sense that the only true antagonist is the passage of time, counting down to the end of summer when Oliver and Elio will have to separate.

Call Me By Your Name has many metaphysical quotes and observations which perfectly illustrate the fleeting nature of love, adolescence, and identity.

Available to stream on Amazon Prime Video and Google Play.

4 Luca (2021)

This Pixar film might not technically be an LGBTQA+ film, but many celebrate it as such. On a surface level, Luca is about a sea monster boy called Luca (voiced by Jacob Tremblay) who, with the help of his new best friend Alberto (Jack Dylan Grazer), discovers he can transform into a human on land. The pair form a close bond, and Luca sneaks off, despite his parents’ warnings, to join Alberto and have adventures in the human seaside town of Portorosso.

The LGBT themes are obvious with Alberto and Luca’s close friendship. Their dream is to run away together on a vespa. Luca is discovering this whole new side to himself with Alberto’s help and support. Alberto teaches Luca how to be brave and silence the fearful voice in Luca’s head (silenzio Bruno!). Alberto even becomes jealous of their new female friend Giulia (Emma Berman) when she and Luca bond too much for his liking. Many fans have even likened the part where Luca ‘outs’ Alberto as a sea monster to confronting internalized homophobia.

Fans have also pointed out the similarity of Luca and Call Me By Your Name! Both take place on the Italian Riviera, both are coming-of-age stories taking place over a summer, and Luca and Alberto even look like animated versions of Oliver and Elio! There is even a heartbreaking ‘goodbye’ scene on a train platform.

All in all, it’s a very sweet movie, and the opening scene of Luca shepherding his family’s fish flock lives in my head rent-free.

Available to stream on Disney Plus and Amazon Prime Video.

5 Lilies (1996)

My memory still occasionally wakes up screaming when I remember my mum having to describe this film to the HMV clerk and him replying, “Oh yeah, we do have that film, I just didn’t think you’d want to know about it”. But teenage me got the video; she is a good mum.

Anyway, Lilies is a Canadian film which takes place in a Quebec prison. Bishop Jean Bilodeau (Marcel Sabourin) comes to hear the confession of his old childhood friend Simon Doucet (Aubert Pallisco). What actually happens is that Simon and his fellow inmates put on a play about the events from their teenage years in 1912, attending an all-boys catholic school, which led to the death of Simon’s lover Vallier (Danny Gilmore).

The majority of the film takes place within the play/flashback. All the characters are played by men, even the female characters. This is done so convincingly that it doesn’t take you out of the story. The cinematography is beautiful with its breathtaking shots of the autumnal Canadian countryside, and the scenes themselves have the intrinsic style of religious Renaissance paintings. The couple’s sex scene is also particularly touching in its artistry.

Lilies is available on DailyMotion.