Pride Month Recommendations
June 1st marks the start of Pride Month – dedicated to celebration and commemoration of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender pride. While I am not personally a member of the LGBTQIA+ community, I am someone who is a passionate ally, with many friends and family members that belong to this community.
I believe there have been some extraordinary films made throughout history that tell terrific stories featuring LGBTQIA+ characters which have helped increase awareness and shown the world that love is love, period. Along with the help of some social media friends who provided their recommendations, here is a list of some of the best, most important films featuring LGBTQIA+ actors, characters, and narratives.
If you want to see where these movies are streaming, go to justwatch.com which is a fantastic app/website for finding this information.
*All movie synopses are directly from Letterboxd*
(Movies Listed Chronologically by Release Date, Newest to Oldest)
Love Lies Bleeding (2024)
Recommended by: Joey & Liz
Directed by: Rose Glass
Revenge gets ripped!
Reclusive gym manager Lou falls hard for Jackie, an ambitious bodybuilder headed through town to Las Vegas in pursuit of her dream. But their love ignites violence, pulling them deep into the web of Lou’s criminal activity.
All of Us Strangers (2023)
Recommended by: Joey, Dan, and Reel Rate
Directed by: Andrew Haigh
All of us hurt. All of us hope. All of us love.
One night, screenwriter Adam, in his near-empty tower block in contemporary London, has a chance encounter with his mysterious neighbor Harry that punctures the rhythm of his everyday life. As Adam and Harry get closer, Adam is pulled back to his childhood home where he discovers that his long-dead parents are both living and look the same age as the day they died over 30 years ago.
Bottoms (2023)
Recommended by: Liz
Directed by: Emma Seligman
A movie about empowering women (the hot ones)
PJ and Josie start a fight club as a way to lose their virginities to cheerleaders. The fight club gains traction and soon the most popular girls in the school are beating each other up in the name of self-defense. But the pair find themselves in over their heads and in need of a way out before the plan is exposed.
Nimona (2023)
Recommended by: Joe
Directed by: Troy Quane, Nick Bruno
A new hero takes shape.
A knight framed for a tragic crime teams with a scrappy, shape-shifting teen to prove his innocence.
The Inspection (2022)
Recommended by: Joe
Directed by: Elegance Bratton
Ellis French is a young, gay Black Man, rejected by his mother and with few options for his future, decides to join the Marines, doing whatever it takes to succeed in a system that would cast him aside. But even as he battles deep-seated prejudice and the grueling routines of basic training, he finds unexpected camaraderie, strength, and support in this new community, giving him a hard-earned sense of belonging that will shape his identity and forever change his life.
Stay on Board: The Leo Baker Story (2022)
Recommended by: Joe
Directed by: Nicola Marsh, Giovanni Reda
Celebrated skateboarder Leo Baker shares the details of their rise to fame and the clash between their career and self-discovery as a trans person.
The Fallout (2021)
Recommended by: Luke
Directed by: Megan Park
Nothing will ever be the same.
In the wake of a school tragedy, Vada, Mia and Quinton form a unique and dynamic bond as they navigate the never linear, often confusing journey to heal in a world that feels forever changed.
Kajillionaire (2020)
Recommended by: Reel Rate
Directed by: Miranda July
Know your worth.
Two con artists have spent 26 years training their only daughter to swindle, scam and steal at every turn. During a desperate and hastily conceived heist, they charm a stranger into joining them, only to have their entire world turned upside down.
Shiva Baby (2020)
Recommended by: Joey
Directed by: Emma Seligman
Death, family style.
A college student attends a family shiva where she is accosted by her relatives, outshined by her ex-girlfriend, and face-to-face with her sugar daddy and his family.
Uncle Frank (2020)
Recommended by: Joe
Directed by: Alan Ball
No one comes home without baggage.
In 1973, when Frank Bledsoe and his 18-year-old niece Beth take road trip from Manhattan to Creekville, South Caroline for the family patriarch’s funeral, they’re unexpectedly joined by Frank’s lover Walid.
Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019)
Recommended by: Dan & Kirby
Directed by: Celine Sciamma
Don’t regret. Remember.
On an isolated island in Brittany at the end of the eighteenth century, a female painter is obliged to paint a wedding portrait of a young woman.
Rocketman (2019)
Recommended by: Kirby
Directed by: Dexter Fletcher
Based on a true fantasy
The story of Elton John’s life, from his years as a prodigy at the Royal Academy of Music through his influential and enduring musical partnership with Bernie Taupin.
Love, Simon (2018)
Recommended by: Luke
Directed by: Greg Berlanti
He’s done keeping his story straight.
Everyone deserves a great love story. But for seventeen-year old Simon Spier it’s a little more complicated: he’s get to tell his family or friends he’s gay and he doesn’t know the identity of the anonymous classmate he’s fallen for online.
God’s Own Country (2017)
Recommended by: Dan
Directed by: Francis Lee
A young farmer in rural Yorkshire numbs his daily frustrations with binge drinking and causal sex, until the arrival of a Romanian migrant worker.
Moonlight (2016)
Recommended by: Reel Rate & Small Reviews
Directed by: Barry Jenkins
This is the story of a lifetime.
The tender, heartbreaking story of a young man’s struggle to find himself, told across three defining chapters in his life as he experiences the ecstasy, pain, and beauty of falling in love, while grappling with his own sexuality.
Tangerine (2015)
Recommended by: Dan & Small Reviews
Directed by: Sean Baker
Merry Christmas Eve, bitch.
It’s Christmas Eve in Tinseltown and Sin-Dee is back on the block. Upon hearing that her pimp boyfriend hasn’t been faithful during the 28 days she was locked up, the working girl and her best friend, Alexandra, embark on a mission to get to the bottom of the scandalous rumor. Their rip-roaring odyssey leads them through the various subcultures of Los Angeles, including an Armenian family dealing with their own repercussions of infidelity.
Pride (2014)
Recommended by: Kirby
Directed by: Matthew Warchus
Based on the inspirational true story.
Set in the summer of 1984 – Margaret Thatcher is in power and the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) is on strike. At the Gay Pride March in London, a group of gay and lesbian activists decides to raise money to support the families of the striking miners. But there is a problem. The Union seems embarrassed to receive their support.
Blue is the Warmest Color (2013)
Recommended by: Andrew
Directed by: Abdellatif Kechiche
Adele’s life is changed when she meets Emma, a young woman with blue hair, who will allow her to discover desire, to assert herself as a woman and as an adult. In front of others, Adele grows, seeks herself, loses herself, finds herself.
The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012)
Recommended by: Luke
Directed by: Stephen Chbosky
We are infinity.
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 1991. High school freshman Charlie is a wallflower, always watching life from the sidelines, until two senior students, Sam and her stepbrother Patrick, become his mentors, helping him discover the joys of friendship, music and love…
Weekend (2011)
Recommended by: Andrew
Directed by: Andrew Haigh
A (sort of) love story between two guys over a cold weekend in October.
After a drunken house party with his straight mates, Russell heads out to a gay club. Just before closing time he picks up Glen but what’s expected to be just a one-night stand becomes something else, something special.
A Single Man (2009)
Recommended by: Andrew
Directed by: Tom Ford
The life of George Falconer, a British college professor, is reeling with the recent and sudden loss of his longtime partner. This traumatic event makes George challenge his own will to live as he sakes the console of his close girl friend Charley, who is struggling with her own questions about life.
Milk (2008)
Recommended by: Reel Rate
Directed by: Gus Van Sant
Never blend in.
The true story of Harvey Milk, the first openly gay man ever elected to public office. In San Francisco in the late 1970s, Harvey Milk becomes an activist for gay rights and inspires others to join him in his fight for equal rights that should be available to all Americans.
Brokeback Mountain (2005)
Recommended by: Kirby & Luke
Directed by: Ang Lee
Love is a force of nature.
Two modern-day cowboys meet on a shepherding job in the summer of ’63, the two share a raw and powerful summer together that turns into a lifelong relationship conflicting with the lives that they are supposed to live.
But I’m a Cheerleader (1999)
Recommended by: Joey
Directed by: Jamie Babbit
A comedy of sexual disorientation
Megan is an all-American girl. A cheerleader. She has a boyfriend. But Megan doesn’t like kissing her boyfriend very much. And she’s pretty touchy with her cheerleader friends. Her conservative parents worry that she must be a lesbian and send her off to “sexual redirection” school, where she must, with other lesbians and gays learn how to be straight.
Happy Together (1997)
Recommended by: Andrew
Directed by: Wong Kar-wai
A couple take a trip to Argentina in search of a new beginning, but instead find themselves drifting ever further apart.
The Birdcage (1996)
Recommended by: Liz
Directed by: Mike Nichols
Come as you are.
A gay cabaret owner and his drag queen companion agree to put up a false straight front so that their son can introduce them to his fiancé’s conservative moralistic parents.
My Own Private Idaho (1991)
Recommended by: Andrew
Directed by: Gus Van Sant
Wherever, whatever, have a nice day.
In this loose adaptation of Shakespeare’s “Henry IV,” Mike Waters is a hustler afflicted with narcolepsy. Scott Favor is the rebellious son of a mayor. Together, the two travel from Portland, Oregon to Idaho and finally to the coast of Italy in a quest to find Mike’s estranged mother. Along the way they turn tricks for money and drugs, eventually attracting the attention of a wealthy benefactor and sexual deviant.
Paris is Burning (1990)
Recommended by: Small Reviews
Directed by: Jennie Livingston
Having a ball…Wish you were here
Where does voguing come from, and what, exactly, is throwing shade? This landmark documentary provides a vibrant snapshot of the 1980s through the eyes of New York City’s African American and Latinx Harlem drag-ball scene. Made over seven years, Paris is Burning offers an intimate portrait of rival fashion “houses,” from fierce contests for trophies to house mothers offering sustenance in a world rampant with homophobia, transphobia, racism, AIDS, and poverty. Featuring legendary vogues, drag queens, and trans women – including Willi Ninja, Pepper LaBeija, Dorian Corey, and Venus Xtravaganza – Paris is Burning brings it, celebrating the joy of movement, the force of eloquence, and the draw of community.
Parting Glances (1986)
Recommended by: Small Reviews
Directed by: Bill Sherwood
A (very) independent film
Michael and Robert, two gay men living in Brooklyn, spend their last day together before Robert leaves for Africa on work assignment. Michael still has feelings for his best friend Nick, who has AIDS.
Did we miss any of your favorite LGBT films? Be sure to let us know, by either contacting Movie Friends (@MovieFriendsPod) or The Revisionist’s Almanac (@RevAlmanac) on social media.
A list of everyone that contributed to this article:
Dan - @danlovesfilm on Instagram
Joe B - @gettoitwhenigettoit on Instagram
Joey R - @joey0314 on Twitter/X
Kirby - @popcorny.movies on Instagram
Liz - @lizandamovie on Instagram
Luke - @lryj06 on Instagram
Reel Rate - @reelrate on Instagram
Small Reviews - @thesmallreviews on Instagram
