I’ve already listed my favorite films of the past decade. Many of those films were gay themed, which started me thinking about the gay movies PJ and I have watched over the past ten years. Once I started thinking about it, it turned out to be a lot — without much effort I identified some 75 gay movies and documentaries from the past decade that I’ve seen. Since I regularly teach GLBT lit, it seems worthwhile to record my favorite gay films of the past decade.
To make it a little easier, I thought that I would identify my favorite gay film of the decade and then a) list the other films I most like alphabetically rather than try to rank them and b) separate them into two categories: features and documentaries. This blog will just be about the features. Not all of these are “great” movies. They are just the 25 (plus several tied for #26) gay films that I most enjoy, starting with my favorite:
Shortbus (2006)
My favorite gay film of the past decade is John Cameron Mitchell’s Shortbus. This movie is gay-affirming, sexy, sexually graphic, and just plain fun. What more could you want in a movie?! I originally blooged about Shortbus here.
Here’s the trailer:
The rest of my list will be in alphabetical order.
Big Eden (2000)
More than anything else this gay fantasy of communal acceptance is a sweet, romantic film. One of the things I love about this movie is that it starts out as one story — a gay man’s reunion with his earlier (straight) crush and then becomes something else.
Brokeback Mountain (2005)
This iconic film would undoubtedly make anyone’s list of the most important gay films ever, much less of the past ten years. It’s an amazingly affective movie. A hopeless romantic, I can’t help but want Ennis and Jack to live happily ever after. Its realism in depicting how gay men lived before the present era of openness is almost unbearable. And it’s a permanent stain on the history of the Academy Awards that its members’ homophobia prevented it from winning Best Picture. It says so much about our past and our present.And the soundtrack–the four notes on the guitar–is unmistakable.
Camp (2003)
When our former housesitter saw this movie, he made fun of it, but I love it. If I were a kid today, I would give anything to go to a summer camp like this one, and I’d surely fall in love with Vlad just like Michael does. It’s also a great sing-a-long movie. Here’s a brief scene from the movie, which also stars soon-to-be Oscar nominee Anna Kendrick as a ruthless wannabe Elaine Strich:
But the best song is “Here’s Where I Stand:”
Circuit (2001)
This movie is about the circuit party scene. I don’t know anything about these parties personally, so I can’t judge how realistic this movie is, but this movie seems like a realistic depiction of a gay former cop’s descent into drugs and sex. It’s both sexy and a cautionary tale.
East Side Story (2005)
I really like this movie’s tone. It has a little cultural diversity and a little romance. It’s a fun story of a swet, cute Latino man, Diego, who has been sleeping with a closet case, who dumps him rather than accept his sexuality. Diego quickly becomes attracted to another man, who happens to be partnered, which obviously causes some problems.
The Graffiti Artist (2004)
Here’s my original post about this movie.
Hedwig and the Angry Inch (2001)
One of the great gay films of all time and another John Cameron Mitchell film. I love musicals, and this is the gay musical.
The Houseboy (2007)
Here’s my original post about this movie.
The Journey of Jared Price (2000)
Dustin Lance Black wrote and directed this movie, which tells the story of young gay guy’s experiences in Hollywood. He gets involved with guy who turns out to have a partner already, leaving him with a difficult choice: stay in a bad situation or become homeless and jobless. Corey Spears is especially good as the title character. Here’s a clip:
Kinky Boots (2005)
This British movie is sort of in a similar vein to The Full Monty or Billy Elliot, neither of which I’m including here even though I like them (especially the latter). It’s about guy trying to save the family business, a shoe factory. He’s forced to start manufacturing shoes for drag queens. It’s a lot of fun.
Latter Days (2003)
This is another movie my former housesitter laughed at, but I love it. Sure it’s kind of simple-minded and overly romantic, but what’s wrong with that? It’s sexy and fun! It;s about a Mormon missionary who meets a slutty gay guy, a meeting that transforms them both.
Les Chansons d’Amour (2008)
This is rapidly become one of my favorite movies of all time. Louis Garrel singing! Here’s my original post about this movie. It’s sweet and entirely lovely.
Long-Term Relationship (2006)
Rob Williams is becoming one of my favorite gay independent filmmakers. And Matthew Montgomery is definitely my favorite gay independent actor. This one is about a guy who answers a singles ad — the question is what’s wrong with the gorgeous guy he meets.
Make the Yuletide Gay (2009)
A fun, gay holiday movie starring Adamo Ruggiero. This comedy is about a guy who goes home from college, where he’s totally out. The problem is that he’s not out to his family. So what’s he to do when his boyfriend unexpectedly shows up for Christmas? Here’s my original review of this movie.
Milk (2008)
Here’s my original post about this movie.
Presque Rein, or Come Undone (2000)
This is one of my favorite movies of the decade, so I’ll just refer anyone who’s reading this to my more general movies post.
Quinceanera (2006)
Here’s my original post about this movie.
Shelter (2007)
In a way, this is another coming out movie, but I really like it’s heart. It’s more than just a conventional coming out film.
Here’s my original post about this movie.
A Single Man (2009)
Here’s my original review of this movie.
Slutty Summer (2004)
This comedy about promiscuous gays in NYC is fun and sweeter than you’d think. And it;s the beginning of little gay franchise!
Socket (2007)
This queer sci-fi movie about electricity fetishists is sexy and fun. When I first saw this movie, I initially didn’t think I’d like it, but it stars my two favorite gay independent film actors–Matthew Montgomery and Derek Long–so how could I resist?
That Touch of Pink (2004)
This gay comedy is just plain fun — it’s not a great movie, but I love it. Alim has a Cary Grant thing. So much so that Grant appears to him and gives him advice based on his movies. When his mother comes to visit, he’s faced with a dilemma: come out and risk disappointing his mother or stay closeted and disappoint his lover, Giles, the gorgeous Kristen Holden-Ried.
3-Day Weekend (2008)
Another Rob Williams (and Derek Long) movie. Here’s my original review of this movie.
Y Tu Mama Tambien (2002)
One of the great “gay” films of all time. It’s not exactly “gay” — or maybe it’s more than “gay” — but whatever you call it, it’s great! I wrote about it in my favorite movies of the decade post.
So, those are my 25 favorite gay films of the decade. As I said at the beginning, some of them are “great” and some of them are just great fun. It’s difficult to choose just 25, since I’ve seen (and liked) so many gay films in the past ten years. So, here’s a list of films that are more or less tied for the 26th spot:
- All Over the Guy (2001)
- Boy Culture (2006)
- Brideshead Revisited (2008)
- The Broken Hearts Club (2000)
- The Bubble (2006)
- C.R.A.Z.Y. (2005)
- Dog Tags (2008)
- Far From Heaven (2002)
- The History Boys (2006)
- Infamous (2006)
- Kiss the Bride (2007)
- A Love to Hide (2004)
- The Mostly Unfabulous Life of Ethan Green (2005)
- Rock Haven (2007)
- Save Me (2007)
- Shank (2009)
- Summer Storm (2004)
- Third Man Out (2005)
- Transamerica (2o05)
- Under One Roof (2002)
- Walk on Water (2004)
- Were the World Mine (2098)
- You’ll Get Over It (2002)
[…] TLA Video was having a sale on gay-themed movies, so I decided to take the opportunity to purchase two of my recent favorite gay independent films: Shelter and Socket. I watched Shelter this past Thursday and confirmed how much I like it. I also […]
What about 300?
Also I can’t tell if this film is gay like Glee, or gay like Knight Rider:
http://www.backpagemovie.com/
here are the trailers:
http://www.vimeo.com/14868462
You be the judge,
Martin Delgado
Hey,
Thanks for the movie list. I just recently started a website for sharing/rating gay movies, so your list was invaluable in making sure I hadn’t left out any good movies. Hope you’ll check out the website and maybe join and add some of your comments/ratings.
In my last post, I realized that the website didn’t show up…
http://thegaymovielist.com
See what you think and if you like it, spread the word.
Thanks!
Far From Heaven doesn’t deserve to be at 26th place, Milk does.
(And not just for Tom Ammiano’s performance.)
And my film, BackPage, is supergay. An absolute pageant.
omg is that THE robert massey right above me…! (swoon)
just let me add “transamerica” ought to be relocated into the top ten – what isn’t there to like about that movie…? and it did EVERYHTING for the trans-community over here in pasadena (can only speak for myself ;-))
tq for the list!
I think I’m alone among everyone I know in despising “Kinky Boots.” The pallid heterosexual romance, the so-typical desexualization/celibacy of the androgynous character Lola, the painfully horrid journey to “tolerance,” the unlikely and cliched saving-the-day script more appropriate for a children’s movie. The fact that the straight folks in my film class (er.. everyone but me) had to really open up and stretch intellectually and emotionally to actually stomach this film disgusts me. (Even more than the fact that this was “the” chosen gay film for the class!) It’s a straight story from beginning to end– a straight story about some unusual and risque subject matter (to straight people, anyway). Critical reception was poor. I would have appreciated this film a lot more if Charlie and Lola had had a romantic connection, which would have made story-sense; all that stopped it was filmmaker homophobia. The filmmakers seemed as much tourists in Lola’s world as Charlie was.
I found your comment about “homophobia” and the Academy’s treatment of “Brokeback Mountain” interesting. Although I was crushed at the time that Brokeback didn’t win the “Best Picture” award (particularly after sweeping the Golden Globes… including that particular honor), I think the theme of the film had little if anything to do with the loss.
Rather, I believe that the sheer magnitude of well-liked top actors starring in “Crash” is what led to that movie’s success over Brokeback. Just think about it: for every top actor in Crash, there’s a manager and management company and their staff, a booking company, a PR company, etc., etc.–all of whom are typically voting members of the Academy. Not to mention that the top actors in Crash at that time were infinitely more popular than the four significant players in Brokeback. The latter simply didn’t have the political clout or “volume” to snag top honors. Regardless of the actual motivation of voting members of the Academy, it’s really a shame Brokeback didn’t win over Crash as it was clearly the better film in my opinion–certainly the more culturally and perhaps historically significant piece–and I think history will prove us both right on that count.
Did you see Yossi and Yaeger. An Israeli movie about a gay love affair between 2 Israeli soldiers. Bit of a tear jerker , immensely watchable . Mark Glasman. Melbourne Australia.