reviews, releases and recommendations of LGBT media
This year this is a very short post. We weren’t really watching a lot, let alone LGBT media. How that happened? Who knows! Maybe next year will be our year and we’ll finally become actual connoisseurs of gay cinema?
Do you want to check out what we loved in 2021? Here’s the post. Otherwise, enjoy!
Christmas celebrations start tomorrow (if you’re Slavic, like me), and so I am finally here with a bunch of movies (and shows) you can watch to get in the mood! And if you don’t celebrate, you might still enjoy some winter-y silliness & gay kisses.
Funnily enough, though, some of my favourite gay Christmas movies are actually in Part I of this rec list, which I made last year. I strongly encourage you to check that out, too!
This post could have a lot of different titles, to be frank: gay romances, gay melodramas… But really, it’s just a compilation of movies with gay love at their centre. Hence the title I actually settled on. (And of course, achillean as the more inclusive term, since there’s a few bi characters or ones who don’t really use labels.)
The first movie I thought of for this rec list was Moonlight, so that should tell you all you need to know about it.
Full disclosure at the start of this rec list: neither me nor Anna are the biggest fans of horror, so these recs are really, what we have found that we’ve either a. started and not finished (mostly me, this one), or b. managed to get through without being hidden behind a sofa. There’s a variety of horror here: things you might consider more conventionally horror, some slashers, some horror-comedies, and some more paranormal things. Hopefully, then, something for everyone.
I just want to note here, before we start, that I’ve tried to put accurate CWs in each of these entries. However, having failed to watch all of the recs on this list, inevitably some of them will be lacking. So I’ll be coming back to update those (or, if you’ve watched, feel free to let me know what to add there).
The final one of our guest posts for Pride takes you on a trip of the world in 160 films and short features! If you’re looking for a great way to close out the month, this is it!
This wonderful post was written for us by Gabriele, and you can follow them on twitter and their own blog too.
Listen, okay, lets be real. Sometimes you just have like 15 minutes to spare. Or sometimes 15 minutes is all that your attention span affords you. But don’t worry! Even with that limited time, you can watch amazing LGBT movies!
In a shocking turn of events, both of us are reccing the same number of titles this year! And there was only one movie among Charlotte’s choices, that we actually both wanted to include. I hope we’re all proud of Charlotte for watching so much gay shit!
If you want to see what we loved in 2020, here’s that post. Otherwise, enjoy!
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!
Christmas is just around the corner, so it’s high time for a rec list of movies to watch while you cosy up with some hot chocolate. Those are basically all new releases, since Happiest Season coming out last year gave studios a kick to bring us more LGBT Christmas movies. Finally. And no, I’m not including Single All the Way on my list, because you probably already know about it (and because, well, I didn’t really enjoy it much).
I made a part one to this, with gay Christmas movies, two years ago, and I obviously encourage you to check it out, but also I have to be honest: most of the good stuff came out since then.
There are also 11 movies on this list and that’s because one of them is a short feature, so it’s like a cute little bonus.
In a shocking move, Anna is not the one behind today’s film & tv rec list. Namely because Anna does not watch crime dramas, but I do, and I have been craving gay crime dramas above all. So, here are the fruits of my research, to share with you. A little confession though: I haven’t really…finished all of these shows, so some of the CWs may be lacking (I’ll come back to update when I do, for now I’ve made notes of when they cover up to, episode-wise. The number episode will be the last I watched), because apparently I have such little staying power even for shows I’m really enjoying… Who knew.
Before we get into the rec list proper though, I do want to note that there is a sad lack of trans rep in it. That’s because I had three (apparently insurmountable) standards for reccing trans rep in crime dramas: 1) that the actor is also trans, 2) that the trans character is not a murder victim and/or does not die horribly, and 3) the trans character is not the murderer and/or a psychopath. Maybe I should lower my standards next time.
However, I did come across a couple that fitted some of those categories, which I’ll share with you here if you really want to watch them: Bellevue (trans character played by a trans actor, but is the murder victim—although she is properly developed as a character and is given screentime, if that decides you) and Big Sky (trans side character played by a nonbinary actor, but seems minor).
And finally, because it’s just occurred to me, a note on CWs: I’ve tried to add all I’ve noticed while watching, but I feel there also needs to be a general one here, for the types of things you generally see in crime dramas (i.e. dead bodies, gore, autopsies).
My small offering to you in these horrible times is a list of ten LGBT movies made outside of the US (or even UK, for that matter). It’s good to remember that the world doesn’t start and end with North America, and LGBT people actually live everywhere around the globe. You might also be interested in one of my previous posts, about movies with two QPOC leads.
And a quick reminder that on this blog we do not recommend movies with trans characters played by cis actors, ever.
Sounds weird to use terms associated more with literature, but really, when I say “new adult characters” what I mean is characters in their early or mid 20s. Young people trying to figure adult life out.
I ended up with 11 titles, and because I cheated and am claiming the last one only half fits the theme & that’s why it can stay. I was also tempted to put And Then We Danced and God’s Own Country on here, but eventually figured you all must know about them already.
I don’t know if you guys are aware, but the LGBT History Month is celebrated at different times in different countries. And in the UK it’s in February. Which I figured is a perfect reason for me to recommend you some documentaries. It’s actually always a good time to learn something about our history.
Like Larry Kramer said, “we are entitled to our history. We are entitled to know who these people were. I don’t think you can be a people until you have a history”.
There will most definitely be a part two to this rec list, since it’s in no way comprehensive, but still: below you will find ten titles I have seen (or found) recently. Enjoy, and happy learning! (And of course, sadly, a general tw of homophobia, transphobia, violence for almost all of those titles.)
Since we added a section about movies, shows and other media to our monthly wrap-ups, we of course also had to let you guys know which of the titles we loved most.
And if you paid attention to said wrap-ups, you probably noticed that Charlotte doesn’t watch as much stuff as I do (Charlotte is definitely the Reader part of this blogging duo). That’s the reason why my section is longer than Charlotte’s. And why The Half of It, And Then We Danced, and Schitt’s Creek are not among my choices – I loved them too, a lot, but it was either let Charlotte pick them or agree to this post being just five titles for each of us.
Anyway, below are 25 great stories we have watched (or listened to) in 2020. Enjoy!
Okay, before we start: yes, there’s only one movie with trans rep and it’s a short feature at that. I know. (I made the list 11 titles long instead of the usual 10 to counterbalance that.) I was going to include Boy Meets Girl (which features a trans actress in the main role, in case you didn’t know), but frankly I have very mixed feelings about that movie. It feels a lot like a film for cis audience and not at all for trans people, and I really, really don’t understand why they didn’t go the sapphic route all the way.
I will tell you about an upcoming romcom with a trans main character played by a trans actress, though! Right now it’s called Re-Live: A Tale of an American Island Cheerleader and it stars Rain Valdez in the main role. Look out for that in 2021!
