In the past few years, there has been an explosion of Oscar for best picture (after a mild fiasco).
The representation of various LGBTQ storylines in film has resulted in a wide array of truly beautiful works. It seems every year has a new LGBTQ movie added to the award nominations (this year's included Portrait of a Lady on Fire). With Hollywood's interest in LGBTQ films rising, here is a list of the top 10 LGBTQ films according to IMDb.
Freier Fall
Written and directed by Stephen Lacant, Freier Fall, translated to Free Fall, is a German film that follows two policemen, one a new recruit, Kay (Max Riemelt), and the other an expecting father, Marc (Hanno Koffler). The two fall in love with the drama centering around Marc's love for his pregnant girlfriend and his newfound love with Kay. Their love comes up against rampant homophobia from fellow officers, Marc's family, and internalized homophobia within Marc himself.
The film's title comes into play as Kay disappears and Marc's life starts to spiral. The film was well-received by a wide range of queer film festivals including The Berlin International Film Festival and L.A. Out Fest. Fans of Netflix television series.
Maurice
Before starring as the powerful English Labor Leader with Ben Wishaw in A Very English Scandal, Hugh Grant (Clive) played a gay aristocrat in the film adaptation of the E.M. Forster Novel of the same name. The film is set in early 20th century England, where homosexuality risks jail time or worse, a loss of social status. Maurice is initially in love with Clive but is rejected by him after another aristocrat is punished for promiscuous homosexual behavior. He then starts a relationship with Alec (Rupert Graves), who is on his way to Argentina.
Opposed to many LGBTQ films (like Free Fall) Maurice ends happily, as Alec forgoes Argentina to pursue a relationship with Maurice instead.
Philadelphia
Tom Hanks as Andrew Beckett and Denzel Washington as Joe Miller star in one of the first major motion picture films that address AIDS and HIV. Beckett is a partner at a law firm who gets ousted because of his suspected HIV status. Determined to fight against this injustice (the only way he knows how), Beckett decides to sue his previous employer, taking on Joe Miller as his attorney. The film is a typical courtroom drama but with AIDS as a taboo twist.
As Beckett continues to deteriorate while the case drags on, Miller learns to overcome his initial homophobia and fight for Beckett.
Brokeback Mountain
This 2005 film starring Jake Gyllenhaal as Jack Twist and Heath Ledger as Ennis Del Mar is directed by the famed Ang Lee. The movie is pastorally appealing as much as is it romantically devastating. While Twist and Del Mar work one summer "up on Brokeback" watching over sheep, they find themselves attracted to each other. Their relationship continues throughout their lives, but as each year es by it gets harder and harder to see each other. They diverge not just in geography but economic class and family dynamics.
Other big stars include Michelle Williams. Fun Fact: it was actually on the set of Brokeback Mountain that Heath Ledger and Michelle Williams met and started dating.
All About My Mother
Widely considered a queer classic, All About My Mother was released in 1999. It is one of the first LGBTQ movies to win an Oscar, winning for Best Foreign Language Film in 2000. The film follows young Estaban who aspires to be a writer. Before he can achieve his dream, he is hit by a car. His mother, Manuela, works as a nurse who supervises organ transplants. She has the painful decision to give her son's heart up after it is clear he will not recover.
After her son's death, Manuela journeys to find his other mother, a transgender woman named Lola. The film deals with transgender characters, sex work, HIV, homosexuality, and love in a widely acclaimed film.
Pride
A historical comedy-drama, Pride takes place across the pond in the U.K. during the National Union of Mineworkers strike in 1984 against Margaret Thatcher's government. It is a heartwarming film, where the intersection of marginalized workers (miners) come into with the marginalized queer community.
The two forces come together, with gay activists helping the miners with their strike. Unfortunately, their strike fails, but the film, which came out in 2014, offers an interesting lens to look through when considering what kinds of stories an LGBTQ movie can tell.
The Normal Heart
The Normal Heart is directed by Ryan Murphy, who has gifted television with American Horror Story, Pose, Glee, among others; he is an LGBTQ content powerhouse. This HBO made for TV movie is an adaptation of the 1981 play written by Larry Kramer. The film follows a scrappy gay writer, Ned Weeks, played by Mark Ruffalo, who is trying to raise awareness about HIV in the queer community during its early years. He finds resistance from both inside and outside the queer community as the body count rises.
It is a raw film, and certainly worth a watch if not only for its educational value. In addition, it has many popular gay actors cast in it: Jonathan Groff, Matt Bomer, Jim Parsons, and more.
Call Me By Your Name
A movie that shot Timothée Chalamet to stardom and revived Armie Hammer's career, Call Me By Your Name centers around Elio (Chalamet) who is the young son of a classics professor. The family summers in Italy in a beautiful estate on the sea while housing a graduate student each year. This year they take on Oliver (Hammer), whom Elio quickly falls for.
Elio's desire is confusing, but when it is clear their attraction is shared, the film blossoms into a wrenching romance. It is a film filled with subtle literary references as much as subtle inclinations of attraction.
Bridegroom
One of two documentaries on this list, Bridegroom covers Shane Bitney, whose boyfriend, Tom Bridegroom, suffers a tragic accident and dies after falling from a roof. The two were engaged to be married just after DOMA (The Defense Against Marriage Act) was struck down in California.
Already a tragic story, the documentary only gets worse from there as Tom's family denies Shane access to Tom's body or the funeral. Effectively cut out from the life of the man he was going to marry, Shane's tale in Bridegroom is one many LGBTQ couples can relate to.
Paris is Burning
A documentary that took the world by storm when it premiered in 1990, Paris is Burning follows the ballroom scene in the 1980s. A coveted look into a unique queer subculture, the documentary doesn't just cover LGBTQ lives, but lives of the poor and the disenfranchised in New York City. The film is framed as an educational documentary, chronicling the various shows, slang, and types of queens in the drag scene, but the truly earnest interviews of various characters give the film its depth and is what earns the film its rank of number No. 1.
