Playlists > Best LGBTQIA+ Films

Best LGBTQIA+ Films
Description:

Although the LGBTQIA+ genre exploded onto the scene over recent years with releases such as “Call Me By Your Name” and “Moonlight”, the genre is less ubiquitous than one might believe.

I’ve tried to list the best LGBTQIA+ films I could find. This list is by no means complete - I’ll update it frequently.

NOTE: Some films are not released digitally, therefore they won’t be on this list.

Comment below if you have any suggestions!


Creator: RainPal
Posted: 2 years ago
 
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Movie: Call Me by Your Name ( 2017 )
In 1980s Italy, a romance blossoms between a seventeen-year-old student and the older man hired as his father's research assistant.
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Movie: Bent ( 1997 )
Max is gay and as such is sent to Dachau concentration camp under the Nazi regime. He tries to deny he is gay, and gets a yellow label (the one for Jews) instead of pink (the one for gays). In camp, he falls in love with fellow prisoner Horst, who wears his pink label with pride.
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Movie: Moonlight ( 2016 )
A chronicle of the childhood, adolescence and burgeoning adulthood of a young, African-American, gay man growing up in a rough neighborhood of Miami.
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Movie: C.R.A.Z.Y. ( 2006 )
A young French-Canadian, growing up in the 1960s and 1970s, struggles to reconcile his emerging homosexuality with his father's conservative values and his own Catholic beliefs.
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Movie: Monster Pies ( 2013 )
Mike has felt alienated and alone for as long as he can remember, until a new boy arrives at his school - awakening feelings and a world of possibilities he'd never before dared to dream of.
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Movie: Supernova ( 2021 )
Sam and Tusker, partners of 20 years, are traveling across England in their old RV visiting friends, family and places from their past. Since Tusker was diagnosed with early-onset dementia two years ago, their time together is the most important thing they have.
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Movie: And Then We Danced ( 2020 )
A passionate coming-of-age tale set amidst the conservative confines of modern Tbilisi, the film follows Merab, a competitive dancer who is thrown off balance by the arrival of Irakli, a fellow male dancer with a rebellious streak.
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Movie: Y Tu Mamá También ( 2001 )
In Mexico, two teenage boys and an attractive older woman embark on a road trip and learn a thing or two about life, friendship, sex, and each other.
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Movie: I Carry You with Me ( 2021 )
Ambition and societal pressure propel an aspiring chef to leave his soulmate in Mexico and make the treacherous journey to New York, where life will never be the same.
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Movie: Beyto ( 2021 )
Talented swimmer, motivated apprentice-- Beyto is in the midst of life, with a bright future ahead of him. But when the only son of a Turkish migrant family falls in love with his coach Mike, an ideal world falls to pieces.
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Movie: Just Friends ( 2019 )
Gewoon Vrienden (Just Friends) is a romantic comedy. The tough Joris doesn't come loose from his mother who is addicted to plastic surgery. Medical student Yad has snorted too much of various drugs and returns to his strict mother. Yad works as a domestic help for the grandmother of Joris. There they meet and they fall in love immediately, but before they can surrender to their love, they first have to balance things with their mothers.
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Movie: Consequences ( 2018 )
After being sent to a youth detention centre, 18-year-old Andrej has to fight for his place within the group of inmates while getting closer to Zeljko, their informal leader, and struggling to keep his repressed secret in the dark.
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Movie: The Man with the Answers ( 2021 )
Victor is a twenty-something ex-diving champion now working in a furniture factory and living with his sick grandmother in a seaside town in Greece. Distraught after her death, he decides to dust off her old car and travel to Germany to visit his estranged mother. On the ferry to Italy, he meets Matthias, a talkative, inquisitive young German who is on his way home. Matthias persuades Victor to take him along and as they drive north, Victor's uptight, repressive personality clashes with the more free-spirited Matthias. But they soon find common emotional ground as their summer road trip takes unexpected turns. A tender story of self-discovery, love and family, in its many forms.
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Movie: Luz ( 2021 )
What began as a friendship turns into a fierce romance in this heart-wrenching drama. LUZ is a story of survival, not only for the lives of both men, but for their relationship as it transitions to the world outside their cell.
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Movie: Loev ( 2016 )
A weekend trip between friends takes a sudden turn, making them each question what love is and what it means to them.
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Movie: Just a Question of Love ( 2000 )
After his gay cousin dies from hepatitis, young Laurent, who lives with his best friend Carole, falls in love with Cedric, a plant scientist. He's afraid to inform his conservative parents that he is gay.
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Movie: Mario ( 2018 )
Two young football players get caught up between the politics of the game and the politics of love.
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Movie: Summer of 85 ( 2021 )
What do you dream of when you're 16 years old and in a seaside resort in Normandy in the 1980s? A best friend? A lifelong teen pact? Scooting off on adventures on a boat or a motorbike? Living life at breakneck speed? No. You dream of death. Because you can't get a bigger kick than dying. And that's why you save it till the very end. The summer holidays are just beginning, and this story recounts how Alexis grew into himself.
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Movie: The Prince ( 2020 )
Chile 1970, just before the elections bringing Allende to power: Jaime, a narcissistic 20 year old, kills out of jealousy a guy known as The Gypsy, his till-then best friend. In prison he has a definitive encounter with "the Stallion", an older man who inspires respect and holds the power behind bars. Searching for protection, Jaime develops with the man a relationship of affection and tenderness, discovers love and the need to be recognized, and later, becoming "The Prince", finally rethink his sexual identity, and the reason for the crime that took him to prison.
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Movie: My Best Friend ( 2018 )
Lorenzo is a quiet teenager who lives with his parents and his younger brother in small city in the Argentinean Patagonia. One day, a family friend's son named Caíto moves south and settles in at Lorenzo's home. His family is going through difficult times and can't give much care to him. Caíto is very shy and hardly speaks. Lorenzo is supposed to help him feel at home. They become friends. They spend great amounts of time together. Although Lorenzo doesn't like sports, he puts up with Caíto's fascination for mountain biking. They share deep conversations too. They can be very different but they come to understand each other. It won't be long until everybody at home realizes Caíto is a difficult case. After a couple of days, Lorenzo's parents feel they've had enough. But then, Caíto makes a big confession to Lorenzo. He tells him the true reason why he was forced to leave his house. After that, Lorenzo takes charge of him so that his parents let him stay. He now has a secret to hold, a responsibility to take and a troublesome partner that will take him through new life experiences.
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Movie: I Am Jonas ( 2018 )
Two moments of Jonas's life intertwine, each reflecting the other: in 1995, when he was a secretive teenager, and 18 years later, as an attractive and impulsive thirty-something looking for balance in his life.
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Movie: Moffie ( 2021 )
Nicholas has long known he is different, that something shameful and unacceptable in him must stay hidden and denied. But South Africa's minority government are embroiled in conflict at the Angolan border and all white young men over 16 must serve two years of compulsory military service to defend the Apartheid regime and its culture of toxic racist machismo. The 'black danger' is the real and present threat; what is wrong with Nicholas and others like him can be rooted out, treated, and cured like cancer. But just when fear pushes Nicholas to accept unspeakable horrors in the hopes of staying invisible, a tender relationship with another recruit becomes as dangerous for them both as any enemy fire.
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Movie: The Shiny Shrimps ( 2019 )
Matthias Le Goff, an Olympic champion at the end of his career, makes a homophobic statement on TV. His punishment: coach the Shiny Shrimps, a flamboyant and amateur gay water-polo team. They have only one thing in mind: to qualify for the Gay Games in Croatia where the hottest international LGBT athletes compete. It's the start of a bumpy and joyful ride - Faster, Higher, Stronger.
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Movie: Cousins ( 2019 )
Young Lucas (Paulo Sousa) lives with the religious aunt Lourdes (Juliana Zancanaro) in a quiet country town. He helps his aunt promote cults with the region's beats in the living room by playing the biblical songs on his keyboard. But this little agitated life is with the days counted when the charitable aunt announces the arrival of another nephew Mario (Thiago Cazado), just out of jail. The clash of reality between the cousins would only be summoned up in embarrassing situations, were it not for the unexpected attraction that ends up happening among the boys.
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Movie: Sauvage / Wild ( 2018 )
Leo is 22 and sells his body on the street for a bit of cash. The men come and go, and he stays right here - longing for love. He doesn't know what the future will bring. He hits the road. His heart is pounding.
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Movie: Beauty ( 2012 )
Tells the story of Francois van Heerden, a mid-40s, white, Afrikaans-speaking family man living in Bloemfontein, who has become devoid of any care or concern for his own measure of happiness, so convinced of his ill-fated existence, that he is wholly unprepared when a chance encounter unravels his clean, controlled life.
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Movie: Maurice ( 1987 )
After his lover rejects him, a young man trapped by the oppressiveness of Edwardian society tries to come to terms with and accept his sexuality.
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Movie: Nevrland ( 2020 )
17-year-old Jakob wants nothing more than to feel alive. Uncontrollable anxiety attacks prevent him from doing so and force him to escape into virtual worlds. One night, he meets 26-year-old Kristjan in a cam chat. Their encounter marks the beginning of a transpersonal journey to the wounds of their souls.
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Movie: My Own Private Idaho ( 1991 )
Two best friends living on the streets of Portland as hustlers embark on a journey of self discovery and find their relationship stumbling along the way.
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Movie: BPM (Beats Per Minute) ( 2017 )
In the early 1990s, with AIDS having already claimed countless lives for nearly 10 years, ACT UP Paris activists multiply actions to fight general indifference. Nathan, a newcomer to the group, has his world shaken up by Sean, a radical militant, who throws his last bits of strength into the struggle.
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Movie: Brokeback Mountain ( 2005 )
The story of a forbidden and secretive relationship between two cowboys, and their lives over the years.
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Movie: Beach Rats ( 2018 )
A Brooklyn teenager spends his days experimenting with drugs and looking online for older men to meet with.
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Movie: The Way He Looks ( 2014 )
Leonardo is a blind teenager searching for independence. His everyday life, the relationship with his best friend, Giovana, and the way he sees the world change completely with the arrival of Gabriel.
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Movie: God's Own Country ( 2017 )
Spring. Yorkshire. Young farmer Johnny Saxby numbs his daily frustrations with binge drinking and casual sex, until the arrival of a Romanian migrant worker for lambing season ignites an intense relationship that sets Johnny on a new path.
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Movie: Love, Simon ( 2018 )
Simon Spier keeps a huge secret from his family, his friends and all of his classmates: he's gay. When that secret is threatened, Simon must face everyone and come to terms with his identity.
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Movie: Blue Is the Warmest Color ( 2013 )
Adèle's life is changed when she meets Emma, a young woman with blue hair, who will allow her to discover desire and to assert herself as a woman and as an adult. In front of others, Adèle grows, seeks herself, loses herself, and ultimately finds herself through love and loss.
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Movie: Prayers for Bobby ( 2009 )
True story of Mary Griffith, gay rights crusader, whose teenage son committed suicide due to her religious intolerance. Based on the book of the same title by Leroy Aarons.
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Movie: End of the Century ( 2019 )
Two men meet in Barcelona and after spending a day together they realize that they have already met twenty years ago.
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Movie: The Kids Are All Right ( 2010 )
Two children conceived by artificial insemination bring their biological father into their non-traditional family life.
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Movie: Pride ( 2014 )
U.K. gay activists work to help miners during their lengthy strike of the National Union of Mineworkers in the summer of 1984.
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Movie: Carol ( 2015 )
An aspiring photographer develops an intimate relationship with an older woman in 1950s New York.
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Movie: Longtime Companion ( 1990 )
The emergence and devastation of the AIDS epidemic is chronicled in the lives of several gay men living during the 1980s.
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Movie: Handsome Devil ( 2017 )
Ned and Conor are forced to share a bedroom at their boarding school. The loner and the star athlete at this rugby-mad school form an unlikely friendship until it's tested by the authorities.
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Movie: Alex Strangelove ( 2018 )
Alex Truelove (Daniel Doheny) is a well-rounded high school senior with a wonderful girlfriend Claire (Madeline Weinstein) and a bright future ahead of him - and with plans to achieve his last teenage milestone by losing his virginity. But things get complicated when he meets Elliot (Antonio Marziale), a handsome and charming gay kid from the other side of town, who unwittingly sends Alex on a rollercoaster journey of sexual exploration, kicking off a hilarious and moving adventure of love, sex and friendship in our liberated and confusing modern times. Written and directed by Craig Johnson (The Skeleton Twins, Wilson), produced by Ben Stiller, Nicky Weinstock, and Jared Ian Goldman.
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Movie: Tangerine ( 2015 )
A hooker tears through Tinseltown on Christmas Eve searching for the pimp who broke her heart.
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Movie: Stranger by the Lake ( 2013 )
Summertime. A cruising spot for men, tucked away on the shores of a lake. Franck falls in love with Michel, an attractive, potent and lethally dangerous man. Franck knows this but wants to live out his passion anyway.
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Movie: Philadelphia ( 1994 )
When a man with HIV is fired by his law firm because of his condition, he hires a homophobic small time lawyer as the only willing advocate for a wrongful dismissal suit.
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Movie: Boys Don't Cry ( 2000 )
A young man named Brandon Teena navigates love, life, and being transgender in rural Nebraska.
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Movie: Querelle ( 1982 )
The French naval ship, Le Vengeur, based out of Marseille, has just docked in Brest for an extended stay. The ship's captain, Lieutenant Seblon, can see the passion in his men, which can as easily manifest itself in violence as it can in sex. Seblon has in part become an officer to remain at arms length from his men, one of them, Querelle, with who he is secretly in love. Querelle goes to La Feria, a bar and makeshift whorehouse owned and operated by husband and wife Nono and Lysiane, one of the whores. La Feria is infamous and notorious as anyone wanting sex with Lysiane must first roll the dice with Nono, Nono winning meaning that he will get to sodomize the loser instead. At La Feria, Querelle is surprised to see his brother, Robert, who is Lysiane's current on-going sexual partner, and who did not have to go through the roll of the dice with Nono is his special position with Lysiane. That passion in Querelle extends to his brother, the two who share more than just a family resemblance. Outwardly, Querelle goes to La Feria as a place to sell opium. However, the opium may only be a pretense as Querelle is trying to discover who he is as a man. Everyone in this collective is also on a similar sense of discovery, some who may be more aware and open about their own thoughts about the lines between sex, desire and love, those who are not as open possibly feeling shame which leads to ways to deal with that shame. Including those already mentioned, this collective includes a local stone mason named Gilles who purports to desire Paulette, a young man named Roger, Paulette's brother, with who there is unspoken sexual tension with Gilles, and Mario who, at least in appearance, "polices" the activities at La Feria.
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Movie: Beautiful Thing ( 1996 )
In a suburb of London, young Jamie is escaping sport hours, to avoid being the victim of his comrades. Young Ste, his neighbor, is beaten by his father, and comes to sleep overnight. They discover new feelings, sleeping in the same bed.
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Movie: Booksmart ( 2019 )
On the eve of their high school graduation, two academic superstars and best friends realize they should have worked less and played more. Determined not to fall short of their peers, the girls try to cram four years of fun into one night.
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Movie: My Beautiful Laundrette ( 1986 )
An ambitious Pakistani Briton and his white boyfriend strive for success and hope when they open a glamorous laundromat.
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Movie: Boy Erased ( 2018 )
The son of a Baptist preacher is forced to participate in a church-supported gay conversion program after being forcibly outed to his parents.
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Movie: Before Night Falls ( 2001 )
The life of Cuban poet and novelist, Reinaldo Arenas.
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Movie: Kill Your Darlings ( 2013 )
A murder in 1944 draws together the great poets of the beat generation: Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac, and William Burroughs.
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Movie: The Danish Girl ( 2015 )
A fictitious love story loosely inspired by the lives of Danish artists Lili Elbe and Gerda Wegener. Lili and Gerda's marriage and work evolve as they navigate Lili's groundbreaking journey as a transgender pioneer.
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Movie: Portrait of a Lady on Fire ( 2020 )
In 18th-century France young painter Marianne, is commissioned to do the wedding portrait of Héloïse without her knowing. Therefore, Marianne must observe her model by day to paint her portrait at night. Day by day, the two women become closer as they share Héloïse's last moments of freedom before the impending wedding.
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Movie: Tom at the Farm ( 2014 )
A grieving man meets his lover's family, who were not aware of their son's sexual orientation.
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Movie: The Children's Hour ( 1961 )
A troublemaking student at a girls' school accuses two teachers of being lesbians.
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Movie: Viva ( 2016 )
When everything is for sale, what's the value of love? Jesus does make up for a troupe of drag performers in Havana, but dreams of being a performer. When he finally gets his chance to be on stage, a stranger emerges from the crowd and punches him in the face. The stranger is his father Angel, a former boxer, who has been absent from his life for 15 years. As father and son clash over their opposing expectations of each other, Viva becomes a love story as the men struggle to understand one another and become a family again.
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Movie: Desert Hearts ( 1986 )
A woman on the precipice of divorce becomes drawn to a ranchowner's daughter.
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Movie: Keep the Lights On ( 2012 )
In Manhattan, film-maker Erik bonds with closeted lawyer Paul after a fling. As their relationship becomes one fueled by highs, lows, and dysfunctional patterns, Erik struggles to negotiate his own boundaries while being true to himself.
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Movie: Happy Together ( 1997 )
Yiu-Fai and Po-Wing arrive in Argentina from Hong Kong and take to the road for a holiday. Something is wrong and their relationship goes adrift. A disillusioned Yiu-Fai starts working at a tango bar to save up for his trip home. When a beaten and bruised Po-Wing reappears, Yiu-Fai is empathetic but is unable to enter a more intimate relationship. After all, Po-Wing is not ready to settle down. Yiu-Fai now works in a Chinese restaurant and meets the youthful Chang from Taiwan. Yiu-Fai's life takes on a new spin, while Po-Wing's life shatters continually in contrast.
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Movie: Other People ( 2016 )
Follows David as he moves back home to be with his mother for the year between her giving up her fight against cancer and slowly dying. Davids relationship with his family is, at best, strained (especially in regard to his father) because of an apparent difficulty in accepting his homosexuality. Although the subject matter is genuinely distressing, his mothers death ultimately helps restore his familial bonds and become an integrated part of the family unit again.
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Movie: Personal Best ( 1982 )
The intertwined lives and loves of three highly-ranked athletes striving for the national team; Chris bounces between the beds of male coach Terry and her female friend, competitor, and role model Tory.
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Movie: Heavenly Creatures ( 1994 )
Two teenage girls share a unique bond; their parents, concerned that the friendship is too intense, separate them, and the girls take revenge.
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Movie: Making Love ( 1982 )
A successful young L.A. doctor and his equally successful television-producer wife find their happily-ever-after life torn assunder when he suddenly confronts his long-repressed attraction for other men. Zach and Claire live a comfortable life secure in their love for one another when Bart...
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Movie: Beginners ( 2011 )
A young man is rocked by two announcements from his elderly father: that he has terminal cancer and that he has a young male lover.
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Movie: Pariah ( 2011 )
A Brooklyn teenager juggles conflicting identities and risks friendship, heartbreak, and family in a desperate search for sexual expression.
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Movie: Dog Day Afternoon ( 1975 )
A man robs a bank to pay for his lover's operation, which turns into a hostage situation and a media circus.
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Movie: Sunday Bloody Sunday ( 1971 )
Divorced working woman Alex and well-to-do Jewish family doctor Daniel Hirsh share not only the same answering service but also the favours of young Bob Elkin who bed-hops between them as the mood takes him. Both Alex and Dr Hirsh are aware of the other's existence but prefer to live with the situation rather than risk losing Elkin completely. But a wet winter weekend in London can be difficult.
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Movie: A Fantastic Woman ( 2017 )
Marina, a transgender woman who works as a waitress and moonlights as a nightclub singer, is bowled over by the death of her older boyfriend.