- Hey, it's Rowan.
So this month's video is actually meant to be
a video essay around gaslighting in horror movies.
But I planned that before, you know, everything happened,
and I've been having a really crappy day today,
and I kind of felt like this is the sort of video
that I would need or want right now.
And I'd seen a lot of people making videos around,
and lists about, you know, movies and TV shows
to watch that are comforting right now.
So I thought I would make it, being me,
specifically around queer media.
So this is a list of comforting, heartwarming,
just lovely, gooey in the heart
queer movies that you can watch.
This is also probably a good time to mention,
if you're a queer movie fan
or you want to watch more queer movies going forward,
every single Saturday, me and my queer movie
podcast cohost Jazza are going to be
hosting these watch-alongs.
We're watching a different queer movie every single week,
and you can join in the discussion on Twitter and Discord,
I'll leave information about that
in the description.
I want to do a quick note with a disclaimer
about these movies.
Although they are all overall really feelgood
and positive and uplifting movies,
they will obviously deal with some aspects
especially of the queer experience
that some of you might find quite difficult
even when they're treated in a lighthearted way.
So, there are some that talk about conversion therapy,
there are some that talk about coming out experiences,
or estrangement from family members.
So if you want to watch any of these films
and you feel like those might be difficult for you,
please look them up beforehand
and check them with yourself
and make sure they're right for you.
So I've picked out 10 movies for this video,
but honestly, I could've done so many more.
I've a much longer list.
I'd really like to hear in the comments
any movies that you would recommend and why.
I kind of want to do another one of these,
maybe in a few months time,
but with your recommendations specifically.
So, yeah, if there's any you feel like
I've missed out on or that you think are really good
and want to recommend to other people,
put them in the comments,
and then if you are looking for more movies to watch
then check out other people's recommendations.
So without further ado, let's have a look at the list,
and this is in no particular order.
The first movie I want to talk about is
The Way He Looks.
I love this movie so much.
So, it was originally a short film
and the popularity and how well-received that short film was
means that they ended up getting to make
a feature of it with the same actors
and it's so delightful.
It's basically about this blind high schooler, Leo,
and it's all about his relationship
with his best friend Giovana
and his blossoming crush on the new boy in school,
and also him essentially wanting to move abroad,
and discover his independence
from his very protective family,
and it is so delightful.
It is like all of the warm fuzzy feelings.
There are these visual vignettes in this movie,
these moments that I just think about and have to smile.
The last shot of this movie.
(exclaims)
It is so good, oh my god.
So this is actually quite a good recommendation
if you're having a lot of trouble concentrating right now,
if you're feeling really anxious,
which I know a lot of people are,
I'm pretty sure the short film
is still available for free online,
and it's obviously a lot shorter than the feature.
So, that might be a nice little nugget
of goodness and niceness that you can watch instead.
For number two, I feel it will come as
no surprise to anyone who's ever met me,
but it's Pride.
I adore this movie so much.
It is based on a true story of
Welsh miners and queer activists who,
in the eighties, started working together
during what's known as the miner strike in the UK.
Basically, it's this incredible story of clash of cultures,
which is such a staple of British cinema,
of working class communities working together,
of just generosity and solidarity and it's so delightful.
Because the characters are wonderful,
it has some truly brilliant actors in it,
including big hitters like Bill Nighy,
but also George MacKay, who was in 1917,
if you've seen that movie.
Just such talent.
It will make you feel so positive, invigorated,
about the capacity of people to work together
and to find commonality and, just, ugh!
It's one of my favourite movies of all time,
put it that way.
Number three is a classic in the
lesbian British rom com genre,
which I guess is now a thing,
and something that, side note,
Bend It Like Beckham should be part of that group.
I forever am devastated about the fact
that that is not a gay movie.
Anyway, this one is Imagine Me & You.
It's the story of Rachel.
She is getting married.
And Luce, who's a florist at her wedding.
It is literally a florist wedding AU fan fiction
come onto the big screen.
It is absolutely spark at first sight
between these two women,
there's this developing romance between them.
It has some incredible mid-2000s clothing choices.
Also incidentally, it stars Anthony Head
as a very oblivious but supportive dad,
which is one of my favourite tropes
in these kind of queer films.
And him as an actual person in real life
is a noted LGBT ally, specifically trans ally.
I will let you Google that and find that
absolutely fricking delightful story
if you have never heard about it before.
It is (blows kiss) amazing.
We love him.
It is also where the infamous quote,
"you're a wanker number nine" comes from.
Which you may have heard of that context before,
especially in lesbian circles in Britain.
The context is this movie, so watch to find it.
Also the line, "are you gay?"
"Gay? I'm ecstatic!"
Which is, (blows kiss) beautiful.
So number four is a film that was
one of my favourite queer films as a teenager.
It's Shelter.
So, everyone I know who's watched it really likes it,
but not that many people have watched it,
and I think I watched it for the first time
with a group of my friends when we had a queer movie night,
a whole day, actually, where we just rented, no,
we bought five DVDs from Peccadillo Pictures
sort of at random and just watched them all
and this one really stood out.
It's about this aspiring artist Zach
who kind of stands to have a little bit of a crush
on his best friends' brother,
who comes back into town and
there's also this B-plot line which is
adorable and really heartfelt about
the fact that he is the de facto father
for his sisters' son, his nephew,
and also the best friends' brother is very good with kids
so it makes for some really really cute scenes
with those three together.
The film is set in San Pedro in California,
so there is a lot of street art and surfing.
It's also pretty cool.
It's a very sweet, satisfying watch
with a terrible trailer, I found out today
when I went to re-look at that trailer.
It's real bad.
And it is just that classic quintessential indie gay movie.
So with movie number five, have you ever wondered,
the super spy and the super villain to fall in love,
and also for those two characters to both be women.
Well, welcome to D.E.B.S.
I honestly don't know how to do D.E.B.S. justice
by actually explaining it with words.
It is so ridiculous and campy and just wild, a wild ride.
It's basically about this elite academy of super spy women,
and also the super villain they're going after,
one of them, they end up having this relationship.
It's really gay, just watch it.
If you want something that is just going to
take you to another world, just an escapist movie,
watch D.E.B.S.
Number six, Handsome Devil.
So this is a newer movie.
Some of these ones I've been talking about
are a little bit older.
I say "older," older in terms of queer movies.
Like from the 2000s.
This is from a couple of years ago.
It's an Irish comedy drama.
One of my favourite things about it
is the way in which it depicts
two different generations of gay experiences.
So on the one hand, there's the high schoolers' experience,
but you also get the teachers' experience.
Played by the teacher Andrew Scott, as well,
who, you know, the hot priest in Fleabag,
or Moriarty in Sherlock, depending on your references.
It's basically about Ned,
who's this kind of snarky, fairly ostracised,
but he doesn't really care because he hates
all of the boys at his elite rugby-playing school,
who has always had his own room,
and then this new boy Connor starts,
and he's been scouted to be
the top golden boy of the rugby team,
so obviously Ned immediately is like,
I hate my roommate, I never want to speak to him.
But the walls physically and metaphorically
start coming down and they start getting along
and actually being friends,
and maybe there might be something more to it.
But it's just like a really sweet, nice,
classic high school movie.
It has all of those tropes of like,
the sports game, and the talent show,
and the miscommunication, and all of that good stuff.
And on the Andrew Scott character side,
you have the story of this closeted male teacher
who's not really sure how open he can be
about his sexuality within the school and to the staff,
and that was also a really...
I mean, he's a very talented actor.
It's a very well acted bit of the story.
I just found the whole thing really sweet and nice to watch.
Number seven, Book Smart.
This keeps being missed out, I think,
from a lot of the LGBT movie lists,
but I've watched it and re-watched it a few times,
and I always think, "oh, it's not as funny
"as I remember it being,"
but it is really funny.
It's a really brilliant teen comedy,
female director, female leads,
and although a lot of the storyline
is really about this friendship between these two girls,
this straight girl and this gay girl,
who have been best friends forever,
and basically the plot line is that they have
basically done nothing bad in their high school careers.
They have been studious,
they have worked as hard as they can
to get into their top universities,
and they succeeded.
However, all of the kids who were having fun
and partying have also succeeded
to get into their universities while also having fun.
There's gonna be one last night of going crazy,
having an amazing party, doing everything
that they denied themselves before they go off to college.
And there is this really brilliantly scripted friendship
between these two girls,
but there is also the fact that
one of them is gay, her best friend doesn't care,
she's already out, everyone knows, it's not a big deal,
but she's never had a girlfriend before.
This is very much a B plot line happening
on the underneath of both of their romantic entanglements
that are very much B plot to their friendship,
but I don't necessarily think that that's a bad thing,
I think it's really nice to have it
as a casual thing within, it's a really stellar teen comedy.
Film number eight is Princess Cyd.
So, I really like this movie.
It came out last year.
It is about a girl called Cyd
who goes to stay with her aunt for the summer.
Her aunt is this well-known writer,
and it's just about what happens during the summer.
So, things like she starts to have
a little crush on this barista Katie,
and discover her sexuality,
and it's never treated as a fraught, "oh god" kind of thing.
It's just very casual.
She also attends these super queer
literary salons at her aunts' place.
Her and her aunt, their relationship grows and blossoms
and it's just such a nice film.
I think it does a really good job of having
a teenage character feel and act like a teenager.
So, not being the stereotypical mean girl,
or a paragon of virtue
who speaks in Vonnegut quotes all the time.
She says things that sometimes are inappropriate,
and she's quite blunt,
and she finds it difficult to apologise,
but she also means well,
and it just felt really fresh to me, and really honest.
I really like that.
There's also, the word isn't used within the text,
but I think it is pretty obvious
that her aunt is asexual,
and that was something that really felt like
an authentic portrayal of that identity
that I hadn't really seen before,
so that also had a special place in my heart.
Number nine is Boy Meets Girl.
It's really annoying and frustrating
that it is unusual, but it is unusual
for there to be a romantic movie with a happy ending
with a trans girl played by a trans girl.
This movie's it.
So our lead character is Rickie.
She is really dedicated to the idea
of her dream of being a fashion designer
and going to New York to study fashion.
So she basically spends her time
working at this coffee shop and hanging out
with her best friend since forever
and then she starts this blossoming romance
with this new girl who comes into the coffee shop.
It's just this classic romantic drama, self discovery,
and also romantic confusion, oh, who do I really like?
All that kind of stuff, the classic, you know,
boy who's been best friends with you forever
who maybe has a crush on you thing.
All of that tied together with all of the
specific experiences that being a trans girl might give you.
And finally, we've reached number ten,
an absolute, cannot overstate this, classic of this genre,
But I'm A Cheerleader.
So, Megan is your classic American high-schooler.
Cheerleader dating boy on the football team
kind of gal, except for the fact that she's a lesbian.
Her family all decide to stake an intervention
and ship her off to a gay conversion camp.
Which, admittedly, does not seem like
a recipe for very positive, feel-good movie,
but the way which they portray the camp
is just really ridiculous, over-the-top, pastiche idea.
She has this amazing relationship
that starts developing with a fellow camper
played by Clea DuVall.
It is generally regarded as one of the best
feel-good lesbian movies out there,
and with very good reason.
The final scene, just iconic.
It's just amazing, it's so good
and so stylized and so ridiculously over the top,
and RuPaul is in it, which I only remembered the other day
and Google imaged it, it fills me with joy yet again.
It is just a brilliant watch.
That is the list.
I'm going to give some honourable mentions.
San Junipero, which is an episode of Black Mirror,
but can be watched as a standalone.
It isn't necessarily what you would consider to be
overly positive the whole way through,
which is why I didn't put it in the main part of this list,
but ultimately is one of the only
Black Mirror episodes with a happy ending,
and it is pretty much beloved by all of the
queer women that I know, myself included.
Lastly, I want to recommend The Watermelon Woman.
So, this is an absolute classic of black lesbian cinema.
I watched it for the first time
just under a year ago at the BFI
and absolutely loved it.
Well worth a watch.
It's quite a contemplative film,
and there's a lot of really comedic moments.
It's about a woman who is looking for
the history of black lesbian cinema,
and so it's this really interesting mix
of documentary and fiction and
it's just such a brilliantly made film,
so definitely check that out as well.
So, that is the list.
Please let me know what you thought
about these movies if you've already seen them,
or if you end up watching them because of this video
in the comments, and as I said before at the beginning,
if people are interested I'd love to do
another one of these videos,
specifically with your suggestions,
so if you have a film you want to suggest,
put it below, put a little bit about why,
and I will maybe feature them in this next video.
And as always, if you'd like to help support me
making these videos,
I leave a link to my Patreon down below,
as well as all my social medias.
You can find me all over the internet.
Until I see you next time, bye.