Written by Hannah Ehrlich
Compiled by Hannah Ehrlich, Okechi Apakama and Kyley Warren
With the rise of LGBTQ movies in recent years, we made a list of our top 5 favorite ones, number one being the favorite. Though there are a lot of good options to choose from, we decided to focus on the most diverse ones, providing you with different genres throughout the LGBTQ community. Some honorable mentions that didn’t make the list include, Boys Don’t Cry, Carol, Dallas Buyers Club, The Birdcage, and Brokeback Mountain.
5. Love, Simon
The high school love story we had no idea we needed, is how this movie would best be described. Simon Spier is hiding his true identity from everyone in his life, except an anonymous student at his school who also happens to have the same secret. We watch as Simon searches to find out who he is emailing that shares his secret. In the process of all this, Simon must also decide how to reveal his secret to those in his life, that he’s gay.
4. Blue Is The Warmest Color
Sacrificing three hours of your life to read closed captions on this groundbreaking French film will be one of the best decisions you make. Adèle, who is played by actress Adèle Exarchopoulos, goes through a rough few years of self-discovery when she meets Emma, who is played by Léa Seydoux. Adèle is young and naïve, so when she meets Emma she falls madly in love. The two show us what it means to fall in love and fall out of love. The raw depiction of a relationship will have you rooting for both of them to find love in one another.
3. Moonlight
The life of a young man named Chiron will show you the realistic viewpoint of what it means to be a minority within a minority. The coming of age story takes place in a broken down neighborhood in Miami where Chiron lives with his drug-addict mother. Relying on the support of others in the community, Chiron isn’t shown how to explore his sexuality or even given the opportunity to do so. The connection he makes with a few members in his community will touch your heart as you root for his success during each downfall.
2. The Miseducation of Cameron Post
The coming of age movie where no changing is necessary is this movie. Chloe Grace Moretz plays Cameron Post, a high schooler who is caught in a relationship with a friend. Cameron gets sent to a Christian conversion camp where she meets others who are in her same shoes. The way that Cameron normalizes her sexuality on screen, helps normalize sexuality off screen. She doesn’t have to give herself a label or have a coming out to be who she is. The way that each character is who they are naturally and effortlessly makes the movie beautiful.
1. Call Me By Your Name
May be the most romantic movie of the decade. The connection between 17-year-old Elio Perlman and his professor father’s grad-student assistant 24-year-old Oliver is electric. Taking place in Northern, Italy the two do things like biking through the city to swimming in the backyard, developing a lustful relationship over the course of one Summer. Their connection and hidden relationship leave us guessing what will happen next as the two fall madly in love.
