Film & TV Recs: Achillean Coming of Age Movies

Movies about gay teenagers just hit differently, don’t they? Which is why I am here with this list of ten coming of age movies where the main character is achillean. The list is a little bit chaotic, but I think that’s a good thing? It means you will find some more serious movies here, some more romance heavy, some with very little romance at all… A little bit for everyone!

Related: Sapphic Coming of Age Movies

The Way He Looks (2014)

dir. Daniel Ribeiro
Letterboxd
Rep: Brazilian cast & setting, blind gay mc, gay li

Why Should I Watch It?

Starting strong with an absolute classic, but really, you didn’t think this list could be complete without it, did you? It’s a story that has it all: a solid foundation of friendship, a slowly blooming romance, some jealousy that people grow out of, some gay panic manifesting as wanting to leave the country…

Closet Monster (2015)

dir. Stephen Dunn
Letterboxd
Rep: gay mc with PTSD, achillean li
TW: toxic parents, homophobia, past homophobic hate crime

Why Should I Watch It?

Not an easy movie, don’t let the shiny colors of the poster fool you. I mean, that whole aesthetic is very much visible in the movie, of course, but it’s a story abut a closeted teenager with parents who divorced. He’s going through a lot and none of it is pretty, but ultimately the movie leaves with you with some kind of hope.

Handsome Devil (2016)

dir. John Butler
Letterboxd
Rep: gay mc, gay characters
TW: homophobia, bullying, outing

Why Should I Watch It?

Probably the only movie with an outing scene, that I actually enjoy and don’t condemn (the movie, not the scene itself). Mostly because it was handled with great care and you can actually see all the consequences of that action hitting the boy with a holly might. You can see how much he learns and grows in the end.

Center of My World (2016)

dir. Jakob M. Erwa
Letterboxd
Rep: gay mc, bi/pan li, side sapphic couple

Why Should I Watch It?

Listen, this movie this movie took on a lot and not all of it worked out, I will admit, but the things that did? Absolutely wonderful. And yes, it is a story old as time, it is mostly just about a little twink falling in love, but really? Sometimes that’s exactly what we need. Also the editing in this was basically just a work of art.

Classmates (2016)

dir. Shouko Nakamura
Letterboxd
Rep: Japanese cast & setting, gay mc & li

Why Should I Watch It?

Frankly this is one of my comfort movies. When I first discovered it, I literally just watched it four times in the span of maybe a week? There’s this beautiful gentleness about it, both in the sense of the art itself, but also the story & the ways in which it progresses. You could argue this is basically a romance movie, but also both boys grow up through it all, so. Counts.

Being 17 (2016)

dir. André Téchiné
Letterboxd
Rep: Black gay mc, gay mc

Why Should I Watch It?

I told Charlotte what’s the theme of my rec list & the only question she had was: are you reccing Being 17? She’s right, too! What can possibly be gayer than two rivals forced into close proximity, only to discover that perhaps they don’t dislike each other as much as they thought? And that perhaps this is a vehicle for them to realise they’re not as straight as they thought either. This film has all that going for it and more!

Sócrates (2018)

dir. Alexandre Moratto
Letterboxd
Rep: Brazilian cast & setting, Black gay mc, achillean character

Why Should I Watch It?

This is a movie about a fifteen years old boy whose mom died suddenly and who doesn’t have any other support system, which means he needs to figure out how to survive on his own. It’s a movie about grief, and the things that grief makes a person do. It’s a very bleak story, but also at the same time – incredibly vibrant. And that’s thanks to the beauty of Sócrates himself. I would fight the whole wide world for him.

Dating Amber (2020)

dir. David Freyne
Letterboxd
Rep: gay mc, lesbian mc, lesbian & gay characters
TW: homophobia, internalised homophobia, bullying

Why Should I Watch It?

The best that lesbian/gay solidarity has to offer! It gifts us a fake dating relationship, but wait! It’s between the lesbian and the gay boy, and it’s about staying closeted until they’re ready to come out. And really, the whole thing is an incredible journey of both of them growing more secure in themselves. They do it in vastly different ways and at different pace, too, which is brilliant.

Giant Little Ones (2018)

dir. Keith Behrman
Letterboxd
Rep: achillean mcs

Why Should I Watch It?

Labels are great, for a lot of people, but also imagine this: a story about teens who figure out that they’re not cishet, that something in their hearts just beats differently, which doesn’t force them to put it into exact words and boxes. Ultimately, a movie about the freedom of exploring, of checking what makes sense & what doesn’t, what makes you smile & what makes you absolutely miserable. Or who.

Boys (2014)

dir. Mischa Kamp
Letterboxd
Rep: gay mcs

Why Should I Watch It?

Closing this list the same way I started it: with a classic. Because surely some of y’all are younger than me and haven’t seen it yet. This is a very sweet and soft story, in every sense of those words. There’s nothing tragic about it, which isn’t to say that the pacing is off & things don’t happen. Rather, it most definitely is a movie for the gay audience, to give us a little pocket of sunshine.

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