S/D: Gay movies of arty qualities

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Are any even as satisfying as gay movies of porny qualities? I mean, sure, there's Un Chant d'amour and Pink Narcissus, but what else?

What is it about the really good ones (i.e. Tropical Malady or maybe Happy Together) that always inspires the demand "don't shoehorn them into those limited sexual alignments"? Like, they have to be bad to be "gay"?

... or should this be "Defend the Indefensible"? (Heap as much scorn on this thread as you can on the likes of Get Real and All Over the Guy.)

Eric H. (Eric H.), Wednesday, 21 September 2005 14:36 (twenty years ago)

I mean, I understand why there has to be a couple "very special afterschool special" type gay movies for the adolescents in the closet, but why do they have to dominate the niche? Why does every few years bring a bunch of PR nonsense about "this is totally new: a gay movie that doesn't treat it like an issue"?

Eric H. (Eric H.), Wednesday, 21 September 2005 14:39 (twenty years ago)

there is something a bit odd about classifying movies in this way. it makes sense if you're a programmer or (maybe) critic, you can have a nice festival strand put together out of 'gay cinema', but... i dunno.

N_RQ, Wednesday, 21 September 2005 14:41 (twenty years ago)

Yeah. That might be why the few seconds in Ladder 49 that Jay Hernandez had everyone believing he was gay were way hotter than all of Testosterone... even the split-second peek at Antonio Sabato's junior.

Eric H. (Eric H.), Wednesday, 21 September 2005 14:42 (twenty years ago)

Passing Glances?

i'd love to see the Genet film. is it available on DVD?

jed_ (jed), Wednesday, 21 September 2005 14:43 (twenty years ago)

In R2 if you have a region-free DVD player.

Eric H. (Eric H.), Wednesday, 21 September 2005 14:44 (twenty years ago)

god 'ladder 49' was bad (i'd say 'gay' were i a noise dude).

N_RQ, Wednesday, 21 September 2005 14:45 (twenty years ago)

Swoon is really good.

roxymuzak (roxymuzak), Wednesday, 21 September 2005 14:52 (twenty years ago)

There are 1000s:
Querelle (and in some sense all of Fassbinder)
Death in Venice, Ludwig (Visconti is always arty, soemtimes gay)
Salo (and most of the rest of Pasolini's output)
Last of England (Jarman defines arty/gay)
The whole Warhol/Paul Morrissey output
I'd count all of Larry Clark and Gus Van Sant
John Maybury's Bacon film (more gay than arty, though Maybury is very arty)


Guy Beckett (guy), Wednesday, 21 September 2005 15:08 (twenty years ago)

S:

Taxi zum Klo
A Thousand Clouds of Peace...


Jed, that's PARTING Glances, and nothing in it approaches Steve Buscemi's level.

Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 21 September 2005 15:13 (twenty years ago)

'The Leather Boys' is a good 1963 kitchen sink social drama about motorcycle clubs around London... it has gay overtones without any nasty scenes. I can't understand a word anyone is saying but I enjoyed it nonetheless.

andy --, Wednesday, 21 September 2005 15:13 (twenty years ago)

Young Soul Rebels?

JTS, Wednesday, 21 September 2005 21:16 (twenty years ago)

I'm not really a fan, but Flaming Creatures might qualify.

C0L1N B... (C0L1N B...), Wednesday, 21 September 2005 22:55 (twenty years ago)

There's an old flick called Becket with Peter O'Toole & Richard Burton that's about King Henry II that has gay undertones, but done in such a subtle manner so as not to offend the masses in the '60s when it was made. Anyone see this?

Wiggy (Wiggy), Thursday, 22 September 2005 00:43 (twenty years ago)

I haven't, but there are similar undertones in The Lion In Winter between Anthony Hopkins and Timothy Dalton (uh, that was a spoiler). But it's hardly a big feature of the film.

Casuistry (Chris P), Thursday, 22 September 2005 00:46 (twenty years ago)

"I'd count all of Larry Clark and Gus Van Sant"

'finding forrester'?

N_RQ, Thursday, 22 September 2005 07:34 (twenty years ago)

gay movies are for faggots :rolleyes:

ESTEBAN BUTTEZ!!!!!, Thursday, 22 September 2005 11:55 (twenty years ago)

Mrs. Doubtfire 2 is scheduled to come out next year. I don't know if it will be too arty.

A Nairn (moretap), Thursday, 22 September 2005 12:06 (twenty years ago)

Probably more arty than gay.

Eric H. (Eric H.), Thursday, 22 September 2005 12:16 (twenty years ago)

and probably better than Robin Williams in The Birdcage

A Nairn (moretap), Thursday, 22 September 2005 12:22 (twenty years ago)

it is taking all of my will power not to start an arty movies of gay qualities thread. just thought i would share that.


whatshisface from TLA, who literally wrote the book on gay/queer cinema(and it's a fascinating book), always put together really cool bills for the gay film festival in philly every year. there is SO much out there. and yeah, some is horrible, but that is true of everything.

scott seward (scott seward), Thursday, 22 September 2005 12:28 (twenty years ago)

I wanted to modify the "search/destroy" diad to "pitch/catch," or something like that.

Eric H. (Eric H.), Thursday, 22 September 2005 12:47 (twenty years ago)

I love Flaming Creatures, esp when the Magnetic Fields showed it before a gig at Bowery Ballroom and their 'sophisticated' gay and homophile audience booed the shit out of it.

Tho some might say 'not gay enuf,' I would mention Jenni Olson's "The Joy of Life," which has played in far too few cities.

http://imdb.com/title/tt0436457/

Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 22 September 2005 13:14 (twenty years ago)

Search:

Farewell My Concubine
Beau travail (it's not just a "gay film", but the gay theme is very strong, though mostly under the surface)
Half of Almodovar
Gods and Monsters
Lilies
Family Pack
Replay (La Répétition)
Surrender Dorothy
Suddenly (Tan de repente)

Tuomas (Tuomas), Thursday, 22 September 2005 13:41 (twenty years ago)

Which would have been pitch and which would have been catch, Eric?

Casuistry (Chris P), Thursday, 22 September 2005 14:10 (twenty years ago)

In the City Without Limits (en la ciudad sin limites) was great.
Also, are we just talking boys here? Because Show me Love rules.

Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Thursday, 22 September 2005 14:13 (twenty years ago)

Some movies both pitch and catch.

Eric H. (Eric H.), Thursday, 22 September 2005 14:28 (twenty years ago)

Yet this is not true in baseball, except with amateurs.

Casuistry (Chris P), Thursday, 22 September 2005 14:30 (twenty years ago)

>Some movies both pitch and catch.<

Or as teh Scarecrow said to Dorothy, "Some people go both ways."

Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 22 September 2005 14:43 (twenty years ago)

What about Bruce LaBruce? Heavy on the porn side, but arguably qualifies as arty too. S: Super 8 1/2.

xero, Thursday, 22 September 2005 14:43 (twenty years ago)

does anyone remember postcards from america? the movie someone made out of david wojnarowicz's writings? i really dug it at the time. i wanna see it again and see if i still like it.

scott seward (scott seward), Thursday, 22 September 2005 14:55 (twenty years ago)

IMDB's plot keywords for Postcards From America:


* Homosexual
* Independent Film
* Gay Interest
* Abandoned Building
* Adolescent
* Art Collector
* Brutality
* Childhood Friend
* Christmas
* Cruising
* Desert
* Domestic Violence
* Drag Queen
* Forest
* Gay Bar
* Gay Bashing
* Gun
* Highway
* Interview
* Kennedy Assassination
* Lake
* Male Nudity
* Memory
* Movie Theater
* New York City
* Prostitution
* Rape
* Same Sex Situation
* Same Sex Union
* Semi Autobiographical
* Small Town
* Truck Driver
* Violence
* Water
* Hitch Hiker
* Non Linear
* Pay For Sex
* Pick Up
* Porno Theater
* Sexual Imagery
* Sun Bathing
* Male Prostitute
* Depression
* Sadomasochism


scott seward (scott seward), Thursday, 22 September 2005 14:57 (twenty years ago)

no kenneth anger?

hstencil (hstencil), Thursday, 22 September 2005 15:00 (twenty years ago)

Silverlake Life if "arty" = "gritty, lo-fi mid-80s documentary"

gygax! (gygax!), Thursday, 22 September 2005 15:07 (twenty years ago)

Farewell My Concubine bothered me in '93 and when I re-watched recently. Another Ill-Fated Suffering Fag movie at the core, like The Children's Hour with eye-popping visuals.

Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 22 September 2005 15:09 (twenty years ago)

Wow. Postcards from America has Christmas cruising and non-liner sex-for-pay with hitchhikers!

Eric H. (Eric H.), Thursday, 22 September 2005 15:10 (twenty years ago)

water drops on burning rocks

joseph (joseph), Thursday, 22 September 2005 20:24 (twenty years ago)

Gregg Araki's The Living End

xero, Thursday, 22 September 2005 20:28 (twenty years ago)

I haven't seen The Celluloid Closet, but that's supposed to be pretty great.

search..uh.. Midnight Cowboy? The Conformist? Dog Day Afternoon? I guess those are just movies with gay people in them, though haha

I watched most of Latter Days with my last roommate. He didn't seem to find it all to, er, edifying, so.. destroy.

poortheatre (poortheatre), Thursday, 22 September 2005 22:39 (twenty years ago)

this thread makes me want to go rent apartment zero.

this site is funny:

http://campblood.org/

scott seward (scott seward), Friday, 23 September 2005 00:44 (twenty years ago)

and don't forget about my hero!!! I STILL haven't seen the sisterhood!! can you believe it? :

http://www.tlavideo.com/templates/results_list.cfm?v=0&sn=1&pid=8358

scott seward (scott seward), Friday, 23 September 2005 00:52 (twenty years ago)

You KNOW you want to see Ring Of Darkness:


"It all starts when the lead singer of a boy band just doesn't fit into the team anymore. So they do what all good boy bands do, the underwear-clad studs gather round the singer and suck his blood dry. To replace the lead singer the band, and their manager played with calm poise by Adrienne Barbeau (the actress, currently on "Carnavale" on HBO, is known for creating the role of Rizzo in Grease and playing Maude's daughter in the '70s TV show) decide to hold public concerts. Creating a sort of reality TV situation they select three contestants and invite the hunky boys to their private island where they will select the new singer. Immediately, there's friction with a girlfriend, a hero boy with a guitar on his back and lots of 6-pack abs and raised shirts. When the "good" contestant Shawn finds a secret cave with voodoo dolls, tons of candles, a torture rack and mysterious band photos, there's hell to pay."

scott seward (scott seward), Friday, 23 September 2005 00:55 (twenty years ago)

http://campblood.org/

OMG! That reminds me of a movie whose credentials as arty or gay are on probation, but Sleepaway Camp is the best slasher movie!

Eric H. (Eric H.), Friday, 23 September 2005 04:20 (twenty years ago)

seriously now i'm getting kinda puzzled why none of you seem to know kenneth anger.

hstencil (hstencil), Friday, 23 September 2005 06:01 (twenty years ago)

...Because I haven't been on this thread yet?

First gay fillum per se is Basil Dearden's Victim, starring Dirk Bogarde as a homo barrister in the days before Wolfenden, being scared to shit because bad men were bribing him with cottage photos. It's amazing. It's also on PBS affiliates about once every year, usually in a season with The Servant and other class-based dramas.

Also Paris is Burning seems to speak to/about the years I lived in NYC.

suzy (suzy), Friday, 23 September 2005 07:16 (twenty years ago)

still no anger, suzy.

hstencil (hstencil), Friday, 23 September 2005 07:22 (twenty years ago)

I was gonna mention movies like Victim (which is indeed amazing for a film made in 1960), Show Me Love (the best lesbian flick ever?), Beautiful Thing, etc, but I didn't think they were what Eric was after, since they're more "socially conscious" than "arty".

Tuomas (Tuomas), Friday, 23 September 2005 07:27 (twenty years ago)

I admit I was using "arty" as something of a red herring. Beautiful Thing is a lot better than most of the other coming out teen dramas.

Eric H. (Eric H.), Friday, 23 September 2005 08:42 (twenty years ago)

"Victim" was on Channel 4 last week, what a great 60s UK cast: Bogarde, Sylvia Syms (what a babe!), Dennis Price, Anthony Nicholls, Peter Copley, Norman Bird, Peter McEnery, Donald Churchill, Derren Nesbitt (hooray!), John Cairney (!), Nigel Stock, Charles Lloyd Pack, Frank Thornton ...

Raymond Douglas Dadaismus (Dada), Friday, 23 September 2005 08:57 (twenty years ago)

Anger's on the astrology thread

tokyo nursery school: afternoon session (rosemary), Friday, 23 September 2005 13:53 (twenty years ago)

Ha, I watched the trailer and determined no movie has ever been more for me.

soup of magpies (geoffreyess), Sunday, 14 January 2024 13:53 (two years ago)

Y'all should watch Winter Boy, a gay film of arty qualities released last year that covers some of the same ground yet is funnier and lighter.

poppers fueled buttsex crescendo (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 14 January 2024 13:57 (two years ago)

I don’t think All of Us Strangers was meant to be light

Wack Snyder (Eric H.), Sunday, 14 January 2024 14:32 (two years ago)

That's the problem.

poppers fueled buttsex crescendo (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 14 January 2024 14:42 (two years ago)

There really should be more light, funny films about grief

Wack Snyder (Eric H.), Sunday, 14 January 2024 14:47 (two years ago)

My problem mostly has to do with the ending.

jaymc, Sunday, 14 January 2024 14:58 (two years ago)

There really should be more light, funny films about grief

― Wack Snyder (Eric H.),

I recommended one!

poppers fueled buttsex crescendo (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 14 January 2024 15:01 (two years ago)

Hard pass then

Wack Snyder (Eric H.), Sunday, 14 January 2024 15:22 (two years ago)

Short read: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-features/all-of-us-strangers-bottoms-queer-storytelling-1235784736/

Wack Snyder (Eric H.), Sunday, 14 January 2024 17:17 (two years ago)

five months pass...

2 Criterion announcements of note:

https://www.criterion.com/boxsets/7581-gregg-araki-s-teen-apocalypse-trilogy
https://www.criterion.com/films/34514-all-of-us-strangers

Rich E. (Eric H.), Monday, 17 June 2024 20:26 (one year ago)

I am fine identifying as an All of Us Strangers gay

Rich E. (Eric H.), Monday, 17 June 2024 20:27 (one year ago)

I am fine identifying as a Gregg Araki gay

butt dumb tight my boners got boners (the table is the table), Tuesday, 18 June 2024 00:27 (one year ago)

I am fine identifying as a gay.

the talented mr pimply (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 18 June 2024 00:47 (one year ago)

I’m kind of a Todd Solondz gay too I guess

Rich E. (Eric H.), Tuesday, 18 June 2024 01:47 (one year ago)

eight months pass...

I watched ‘Hyacint’ (aka ‘Operation Hyacinth’) this evening. Stars absolute smokeshow Tomasz Zięntek as a cop in Warsaw in the 80s, investigating a murder of a rich gay guy, turns out to be a wild conspiracy, then he falls for his twink informant, and everything goes nuts. Honestly a good film! I didn’t know much about state repression of homosexuality in Poland, only that it existed… and since I lived there for nearly half a year, and had some rather wild sexual experiences too, it seems I should do some research.

Also tho: Tomasz Zięntek— fucking smokeshow.

butt dumb tight my boners got boners (the table is the table), Sunday, 16 March 2025 02:56 (ten months ago)

Maaaaaaaybe not arty, really, but had some arty elements.

butt dumb tight my boners got boners (the table is the table), Sunday, 16 March 2025 22:17 (ten months ago)

Alfred, interested in what you disliked about "Sebastian" (2024).

Is it because it portrays sex work as sad and desperate?

I mean, I honestly had a lot of fun when I was an escort, but can see where it could go pear-shaped quite quickly.

butt dumb tight my boners got boners (the table is the table), Sunday, 16 March 2025 22:27 (ten months ago)

(i haven't seen the film).

butt dumb tight my boners got boners (the table is the table), Sunday, 16 March 2025 22:46 (ten months ago)

It treats sex work as a gimmick: The Writer going undercover to learn Deep Truths. “Will I write a better novel as a sex worker?” he asks.

the talented mr pimply (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 16 March 2025 22:52 (ten months ago)

it's also lugubrious as hell

the talented mr pimply (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 16 March 2025 22:52 (ten months ago)

sure, that makes sense.

butt dumb tight my boners got boners (the table is the table), Monday, 17 March 2025 00:24 (ten months ago)

i was hoping it would be good because uh well Ruaridh Mollica is a smokeshow imho

butt dumb tight my boners got boners (the table is the table), Monday, 17 March 2025 00:26 (ten months ago)

my date today reminded me, in conversation, that i had never seen this, and now i have, and everyone should. (i collect vintage porn, so this is ultimately very very interesting for me)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Paux2eyki10

butt dumb tight my boners got boners (the table is the table), Sunday, 23 March 2025 23:36 (ten months ago)

(It's William E Jones, "The Fall of Communism as Seen in Gay Pornography")

butt dumb tight my boners got boners (the table is the table), Sunday, 23 March 2025 23:36 (ten months ago)

three weeks pass...

not explicitly gay, really, but pretty gay nonetheless, MONSTER was really good, i thought!!

butt dumb tight my boners got boners (the table is the table), Sunday, 13 April 2025 00:00 (nine months ago)

the Charlize Theron movie?

the talented mr pimply (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 13 April 2025 00:08 (nine months ago)

I’m assuming table means Koreeda. In which case I agree: wonderful film.

cryptosicko, Sunday, 13 April 2025 00:18 (nine months ago)

Agree too.

the talented mr pimply (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 13 April 2025 00:24 (nine months ago)

While we’re at it, a lesbian film, and not especially arty (unless foreign + quiet = arty), but I really liked All Shall Be Well, currently streaming on Criterion.

cryptosicko, Sunday, 13 April 2025 00:34 (nine months ago)

I am sick, explaining my movie bingeing — I had never seen ‘Happy Together’ until just now. Incredible film. Also Tony Leung is such a smokeshow it almost hurts.

butt dumb tight my boners got boners (the table is the table), Sunday, 13 April 2025 17:08 (nine months ago)

Otm on all counts

the talented mr pimply (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 13 April 2025 17:12 (nine months ago)

two months pass...

Henry Gamble’s Birthday Party (on Criterion) is worth the watch

czech hunter biden's laptop (the table is the table), Tuesday, 17 June 2025 01:24 (seven months ago)

Tony Leung is so hot! He was the co-star of In the Mood for Love (2000) with Maggie Cheung, one of my favorite films ever!!! He also starred in Chungking Express (1994) and Happy Together (1997).

I really liked Kore-eda's Monster, but it seemed very enigmatic

The film by Kore-eda that I loved the most is not gay. It is an early film, Nobody Knows (2004). It stars Yûya Yagira, a teenage boy of an alcoholic, absent mother who is trying to look after his younger siblings without any resources. I think he was the youngest person to ever win the Cannes best actor award.

Dan S, Tuesday, 17 June 2025 02:26 (seven months ago)

five months pass...

watched “North Sea, Texas” and “Summer of ‘85.” Both rather beautiful and sad.

a tv star not a dirty computer man (the table is the table), Saturday, 13 December 2025 22:42 (one month ago)

Man, I can't believe I still haven't seen Summer of '84, especially since I remember liking the novel (Dance on My Grave, by Aidan Chambers) so much.

I've never heard of the other film!

cryptosicko, Saturday, 13 December 2025 22:45 (one month ago)

Félix Lefebvre, the protagonist in the latter, is quite literally my platonic ideal of a young man.

a tv star not a dirty computer man (the table is the table), Saturday, 13 December 2025 22:46 (one month ago)

Oh! That’s the novel that gets the boys in trouble in ‘Boy Like Me’!! I should read it.

“North Sea, Texas” does have some of the hallmarks of young queer love stories— neglectful mother, bisexual and capricious love interest, etc. But its beautiful moments are so beautiful, and the relationship ends up being rather beautiful too. Very much about “young love” and a boy coming into himself.

a tv star not a dirty computer man (the table is the table), Saturday, 13 December 2025 22:53 (one month ago)

Summer of '85 was a much virtual cum shot in the grim fall of 2020.

The Luda of Suburbia (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 13 December 2025 23:03 (one month ago)

*much needed, haha

The Luda of Suburbia (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 13 December 2025 23:03 (one month ago)

The scene with them in bed definitely uh got me a little hot

a tv star not a dirty computer man (the table is the table), Saturday, 13 December 2025 23:04 (one month ago)

Mädchen in Uniform (1931) is I think one of the earliest films to contain overt (rather than covert) lesbian references and is very much recommended.

oh the traffic around here (Matt #2), Saturday, 13 December 2025 23:29 (one month ago)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M%C3%A4dchen_in_Uniform

oh the traffic around here (Matt #2), Saturday, 13 December 2025 23:29 (one month ago)

Assumed the thread revive would be for ‘Pillion’ which was quite brilliant and surprisingly funny. As if there weren’t enough reasons to live Harry Melling.

Dan Worsley, Saturday, 13 December 2025 23:41 (one month ago)

I think the reason I haven’t been interested in that one is that I can tell the plot from the trailer, and I don’t find any of the main characters attractive

a tv star not a dirty computer man (the table is the table), Sunday, 14 December 2025 00:36 (one month ago)

(I also have very mixed feelings on biker and leather culture in general)

a tv star not a dirty computer man (the table is the table), Sunday, 14 December 2025 00:36 (one month ago)

Matt, you should also check the Mexican remake of ‘Mädchen’ from the 50s if you can track it down

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Girls_in_Uniform_(1951_film)

donna rouge, Sunday, 14 December 2025 02:11 (one month ago)

Doesn't seem to be a subtitled version on YT unfortunately but I'll add it to the seek list!

oh the traffic around here (Matt #2), Sunday, 14 December 2025 02:32 (one month ago)

Watched ‘Departure’ starring Alex Lawther. Lovely film, some truly incredible camera moments

a tv star not a dirty computer man (the table is the table), Wednesday, 24 December 2025 18:33 (one month ago)

Also Lawther is a great actor!

a tv star not a dirty computer man (the table is the table), Wednesday, 24 December 2025 18:34 (one month ago)

'Heartstone' was good, sort of in the same vein as 'Close' but rather than the Belgian countryside, the setting is rural northern Iceland. Some of the shots were incredible— boys wandering fields next to cows as huge mountains loom in the near distance, desperate local chip shops where the teens gather as the site of fights, kids playing in a spring. Made me want to go to Iceland. (But yeah, fair warning: while the more sensitive/gay of the two boys doesn't die in 'Heartstone,' the ending is rather wrenching)

a tv star not a dirty computer man (the table is the table), Wednesday, 31 December 2025 03:15 (one month ago)


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