Favorite Gayish Movies

[paul]

Just recently watched Running With Scissors, was good but not as good as the book. Augusten Burroughs is an amazing person, particularly after such a rotten childhood.

My all time favorite "gayish" movie is "A Home At The End Of the World." I could watch that once a month and not tire of it.

What's your favorite?

[elcharrom]

Originally Posted by paul

Just recently watched Running With Scissors, was good but not as good as the book. Augusten Burroughs is an amazing person, particularly after such a rotten childhood.

My all time favorite "gayish" movie is "A Home At The End Of the World." I could watch that once a month and not tire of it.

What's your favorite?

I would like to say I have one, but no, brokeback mountain was too boring, and its the only one I seen.

[BrentRichards]

I have a list ... I've seen MANY MANY MANY ... I've joked with some friends that I'm really only vicariously gay.

Goofy feel-good comedy-romance: Broken Hearts Club
Coming-of-Age: Get Real and A Beautiful Thing (I so want to produce this play before I die)
Religious-related: Mass Appeal or Latter Days
Hate-to-love and Love-to-hate: Queer as Folk (TV, not movie, I know)
More Serious Drama: Wilde
Nice romance: Big Eden
Foreign language: Summer Storm

Long list of powerful documentaries ...

Did I mention that I'm a cinema freak with no life?

[Ryanne Monday]

in my teenage years I'm more of a recent movie fan but I really like:

"But I'm a Cheerleader" and
"Imagine Me and You"

[pnggrad79]

I loved The Birdcage, and always been a fan of The L Word, although, I wasn't particularly fond of last season and hope that this season will be better.

[labguy22]

Torch Song Trilogy is an old fav.
I'm also with Ryanne, loved But I'm a Cheerleader What did they offer, a 5 step program to becoming straight?
And the Band Played On is also on my list.

[Pablo Rafael]

Everytime I see one of these "movie" threads, my Netflix queue grows longer.

If you want my favorite gay movie, I would probaby say Latter Days
Favorite foreign movies with gay themes:
Beyond the Fall, Borstal Boy, Yossi and Jagger

Originally Posted by BrentRichards

Long list of powerful documentaries ...

I love documentaries if they are well done. I'm here with pencil and paper in hand, so get listing.

Tu Amigo, Pablo

[wmanion]

A movie that really got to me was "Bent." The movie was very sad but for the characters to find love in such adverse circumstances overwhelmed me.

Bill

[Zerbie]

Wow, a lot of movies I haven't seen or even heard of on this thread! Like the 2 Paul mentioned in the opener.

Glad someone finally mentioned Torch Song Trilogy. That's one of my faves.

I agree Brokeback moves too slowly. Too many long views of grazing sheep. I liked it okay, but once was enough. Unlike so many of my friends who bawled and bawled at movie theaters and returned for second and third viewings.

One of my faves - okay laugh at me for superficiality here - is Adventures of Priscilla: Queen of the Desert. I know, I know, it's nothing but ABBA and drag and bitchy one-liners, but that's precisely what's so lovable about it. THOSE COSTUMES!! Jesus H Christ in a tin can, those costumes are AMAZING! Anyone here who hasn't watched Priscilla: go and rent it if for no other reason than to ogle those Faaaaaab-ulous drag costumes (and the phenomenal makeup)!

That and, it's an odd film. Surreal things like the Traviata excerpts, and the dude riding the shoe on the top of the bus through the Outback, and that chick who jogs across the continent alone with a machine counting her paces but you only see her 3 or 4 times. . . it's slightly surreal, and the situation is ridiculous. But the emotional authenticity can't be beat: a surreal campy ABBA-fest, with true-to-life emotional content.

It's rip-off, Too Wong Fu, is a cheap American imitation. Not believable but too matter of fact to pass for a surrealistic romp, and a self-conscious film that tries too hard.

I liked the Birdcage, especially the final scene. Even better, I liked the older French version. Just found it a whole lot funnier - was rolling and crying when I watched it in French. What's it called? La Cage aux Folles??

I haven't seen But I'm a Cheerleader - I really want to see that!! Hubby has seen it and he enjoyed it a lot. I feel left out.

Latter Days is good, and it really suckered me in to the story. I thought the kid was dead halfway through, and cried.

For some really heavy stuff, check out Aimée et Jaguar. About 2 women, one Jewish, who fall in love in Nazi Germany. Tragedy.

I hated that one about the 2 teenager girls, lovers, who kill one's mother. Yechhhhh!! Repulsive movie!

There's another one or two lesbian themed films with French names. Wanna say Therese et Isabel, and Claire de la Lune. Okay I guess, but not memorable.

Anybody else really enjoy Jeffrey when it was new? I liked that a lot at the time.

[Ryanne Monday]

Boy's Don't Cry is another great one. Very sad.

[paul]

Originally Posted by BrentRichards

I have a list ... I've seen MANY MANY MANY ... I've joked with some friends that I'm really only vicariously gay.

Goofy feel-good comedy-romance: Broken Hearts Club
Coming-of-Age: Get Real and A Beautiful Thing (I so want to produce this play before I die)
Religious-related: Mass Appeal or Latter Days
Hate-to-love and Love-to-hate: Queer as Folk (TV, not movie, I know)
More Serious Drama: Wilde
Nice romance: Big Eden
Foreign language: Summer Storm

Long list of powerful documentaries ...

Did I mention that I'm a cinema freak with no life?

Oh gee, me too Brent. One of my favorite things to do is sneak away from work in the middle of the day and go to the cinema. My t.v. is stuck on three channels, the documentary channel, TCM and IFC. I really like edgy weird movies. I get kind of tired of some of the more "popular" movies that rely on special effects vs. content, seems like a contest of who can bombard the senses into submission.


"Everytime I see one of these "movie" threads, my Netflix queue grows longer. "

Pablo, I think I need to get Netflix...I usually end up a Borders buying them, and then can't leave without a book also. I'm a documentary fan as well.

"Wow, a lot of movies I haven't seen or even heard of on this thread! Like the 2 Paul mentioned in the opener.
"

Zerbie, Ditto. I just got a lot added to my list. Which is pretty cool. I like getting movies that friends recommend because it also gives me insight into them as people as well.

Zerbie and Elcharrom,

I agree about Brokeback. Okay, I confess, I saw it three times because the guys were so hot and the love seens passionate, so now you all know how shallow I am. But, I did feel like the story line was simplistic, even formula. That's really just my own "feelings," I know, besides what can you do in a couple of hours?

thanks for your input everyone, my list of must see movies has grown. cool.
paul

[pnggrad79]

I saw Brokeback and while I thought it was good, not Oscar great, I left with a sense that every straight person thinks gay people, for whatever reason, can't be happy and in a vibrant relationship. The movie left me feeling as if they portrayed gay relationships as something you do to scratch an itch, but they persisted in living straight lives. Both were married, and had children, but had to be secretive about the person they really loved and wanted to be with. Jake Gyllenhaal wound up dead after somebody accosted him while walking out of a gay bar. And Heath Ledger is left with a shirt that smells like Jake. I guess it was accurate being that it was set in the 60's and spanned 20 years. Gay people are becoming a real force in politics, the equality movement and showing people our relationships can and do last.

Sorry to hijack the thread, but I had to throw that in there. Now back to our regularly scheduled program.....

[RedneckDyke]

1 But I'm a Cheerleader
2 To Wong Foo
3 episodes of Ab-Fab
4 My Brother's War (low-budget movie about a cross-dressing confederate soldier butch girl and her southern belle lover)
5 The Warriors (What's not to love about a 70's lesbian street gang? )
6 My Fellow Americans ( US presiden't life is saved by a freedom ring necklace)

[BrentRichards]

Oh yeah, Torch Song! My first gay-fave! Love Fierstein's voice! Maybe if I smoke enough I can sound like that too some day?

For silly, it's got to be L'Cage ... even the new version, because Nathan Lane is amazing.

NetFlix is a godsend ... you simply can't get any of these films in Lancaster County otherwise ... if the local Blockbuster put out a GLBT section, it would be Brokeback and nothing else ... BTW, I didn't find Brokeback shallow, does that mean I am?

I should also have mentioned TransAmerica ... not fantastic, but good.

I could not possibly watch Boys Don't Cry again ... it crashed me too bad.

Ok, Pablo ... here's your documentary list (don't feel bad, my NetFlix queue is over 200 titles):

Before Stonewall
After Stonewall
Times of Harvey Milk
Trembling Before G-D (5 Stars!)
Dangerous Living: Coming Out in the Developing World
Paragraph 175 (Gay persecution during the Holocaust, with survivor interviews, WOW!)

and two that are docudramas ...

The Laramie Project (Matthew Shepard related)
Road to Love (on being gay in the Arab World)


Zerbie, I cry 3 or 4 times every time I watch Latter Days (the snow scene outside the airport?! Gah!) ... here's how hopeless I am, I own autographed photos of Steve Sandvoss and Wes Ramsey (oh why can't they be gay and interested in me?).

[wmanion]

Okay, no one has mentioned "Trick," I enjoyed the movie. I admit it might have been because of the eye-candy, and I also saw Brokeback three times...I am so SHALLOW!!!

[Pablo Rafael]

Originally Posted by paul

Pablo, I think I need to get Netflix...I usually end up a Borders buying them, and then can't leave without a book also. I'm a documentary fan as well.

Paul, really do sign up for Netflix. You can get any movie ever made. Plus it is a lot cheaper than buying them or renting from a video store. Netflix works awesomely well. I'm not a Netflix employee either.

Originally Posted by pnggrad79

I saw Brokeback and while I thought it was good, not Oscar great, I left with a sense that every straight person thinks gay people, for whatever reason, can't be happy and in a vibrant relationship.

That is a problem I have with so many gay movies and books. Though being gay in our society can be a great tribulation due to societal and religious pressures, gay relationships don't need to be the tragedies they are aften portrayed as. That's what's cool about the Donald Strachey Mysteries; the gay characters are normal, healthy characters.

Originally Posted by BrentRichards

BTW, I didn't find Brokeback shallow, does that mean I am?
I own autographed photos of Steve Sandvoss and Wes Ramsey (oh why can't they be gay and interested in me?).

Brent, you are one of the LEAST shallow people I know. So if you think Brokeback Mountain was good, then Bill and I feel much less deeper. (I will speak for Bill whether he wants me to or not.) I thought it was excellent, though a happy ending would have been nice.

Autographed photos of Steve Sandvoss and Wes Ramsey? You lucky dog you. (I have a picture of Steve Sandvoss I sometimes use as my computer desktop screen. Not autographed, unfortunately.) And why do you really need them to be gay? You have that fireman locked up in your basement; that ought to be enough, really.

Thanks for the documentary list; I have seen only a couple of those mentioned.

Tu Amigo, Pablo

[labguy22]

How could I forget Paris is Burning and the lessons on "how to read"

[BrentRichards]

Originally Posted by wmanion

Okay, no one has mentioned "Trick," I enjoyed the movie. I admit it might have been because of the eye-candy, and I also saw Brokeback three times...I am so SHALLOW!!!

Loved Trick! Fun and feelgood ... "Enter you, voila it's showtime ..." (I will now be humming that all night)

I think the inability of Jack and Ennis to have a healthy relationship was what made Brokeback so poignant for me ... it really is (it seems to me) accurate to the context, and therefore heartbreaking. Ok, the eye-candy wasn't bad either.

Originally Posted by Pablo Rafael

That is a problem I have with so many gay movies and books. Though being gay in our society can be a great tribulation due to societal and religious pressures, gay relationships don't need to be the tragedies they are aften portrayed as. That's what's cool about the Donald Strachey Mysteries; the gay characters are normal, healthy characters.

More to the point, cinema need not always reflect reality, it can, in fact, point the way to a better reality. I also liked the Strachey Mysteries ... happy gay people and whodunnit ... doesn't get much better than that.

Brent, you are one of the LEAST shallow people I know. So if you think Brokeback Mountain was good, then Bill and I feel much less deeper. (I will speak for Bill whether he wants me to or not.) I thought it was excellent, though a happy ending would have been nice.

Autographed photos of Steve Sandvoss and Wes Ramsey? You lucky dog you. (I have a picture of Steve Sandvoss I sometimes use as my computer desktop screen. Not autographed, unfortunately.) And why do you really need them to be gay? You have that fireman locked up in your basement; that ought to be enough, really.

Oh! I already forgot about him! I'd better go feed him. Or something.

Thanks for the documentary list; I have seen only a couple of those mentioned.

Enjoy!

[tdogg]

Priscilla one of my faves!!! I LOVE that movie, own the video, watch it all the time. It never grows old for me.

Love L Word but hated Season 4. Well, other than a couple hot new chicks (the military closeted one and Marlee Matlin). Otherwise, same ole same ole.

Latter Days, great movie! Love Imagine Me & You (why did it NOT play in my area!?) - well, actually I love anything with Piper Perabo in it (HOT HOT HOT). A Beautiful Thing is a great movie! Can I help you with the play Brent???


The Birdcage and TST also! I loved Brokeback and was emotionally caught up in the movie, we bought it but haven't really wanted to see it again so far.

QAF - one of my favorite shows. I cried when they stopped at the end of Season 5. I couldn't believe that I wouldn't see all my friends again except in reruns!

Ok, my dorky new favorite TV show - Rick & Steve, the Happiest Gay Couple in the World. It's pretty funny and surreal all at the same time.

Looking forward to Itty Bitty Titty Committee, but don't think it will be playing everywhere, think it's only opening in LA and NY. Bummer.

[Pablo Rafael]

Originally Posted by Pablo Rafael

Brent, you are one of the LEAST shallow people I know. So if you think Brokeback Mountain was good, then Bill and I feel much less deeper. (I will speak for Bill whether he wants me to or not.)

Now that I see Brent quoting me I realize that I didn't make a bit of sense. It was supposed to be, "Bill and I feel much deeper".
I started with "less shallow" and decided "deeper" sounded better. And what I ended up with was... oh well.

You would think that teachers would have better writing skills.